Prophet was no other than Christ Jesus it was not John Baptist nor Paul nor Peter but Christ that was promised to be raised there was such an absolute Command went along with that Prophecy That all should hear him and it had a threatning at the end of it That all that will not hear him shall be cut off Are there not Whoremongers and Drunkards and Lyars that will not hear this Prophet They will not hear him because they love their Sins what becomes of them They are cut off from the enjoyment of the Love and Favour of God And when they did draw nigh to God in Prayer and other Religious exercises it was with them as it was with Cain Sin lies at the Door When they come into a storm at Sea or are Arrested with sickness and Death looks them in the face they would have Peace but there is Distress and Trouble in the Room of it what is the matter wast thou not baptized into the Christian Faith Did not the Minister tell thee That thou art a Child of God and an Inheriter of the Kingdom of Heaven Alas my Sin lies at my Door Oh that I had time to live a better Life What ails thy life Man My Life hath been a Life of Deceit Lust and Vanity Corruption and Hycrisie Did not thy Teacher teach thee that a believer hath no guilt upon him but that all his Sins are pardoned from the day he became a believer This Doctrine will not hold in a storm though it will do in fair Weather when men are swimming in their pleasures it will serve them but when they come to deal with their Maker no Faith will serve them but that which purifies the heart and that which makes a change from the Earthly Image to the Heavenly It were better for you and I and every one of us to take these things into consideration while we have health and strength and while some Sand as I may so speak is in our Glasses to consider what is my Faith What is the Object of it Have I a dependency upon my Duties and Alms and good Deeds They will fail me But if my dependency is upon Christ as a Saviour and a Sanctifyer and my Sanctification is carryed on gradually He that hath begun a good work in me will perfect it And if the reason of my going to Meetings and going into my Closet and bowing my self before the Lord is to keep close to him that carries on the Work of Sanctification he will work all my work in me and for me I cannot expect to live in this World but I shall meet with Temptations the Devil will Tempt me but my Saviour will be nigh me as nigh to me as the Devil can be If I Keep close to him he will keep close to me My Father saith Christ is greater than I and none is able to pluck you out of your Fathers hands I must expect to be tempted For the Adversary the Devil goes about like a Roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour Alas saith one though I have made some progress in the work of Sanctification yet for all that he may one day betray me Am I grown strong enough to resist his Temptations And wise enough to foresee all his Gâ—ns and Traps which he lays to insnare me But I know who can see them and defeat them I have my Faith fixed upon one that can bind the strong Man and cast him out The Life that I now live is not in my own Parts and by my own Understanding and Sence But the Life that I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God This is that Faith that gives me victory the Apostle had a battle for it I have fought the good fight and henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness and not for me only but for all them that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ And that come to have familiarity with Christ with his Spirit and Truth in their Hearts with his Grace and Word though these are several Expressions they all signifie one Immortal seed of Life by which men are United to God It is a Leaven there to Leaven them into the Divine Nature Whenever such a one his Tempted he resists not the Tempter in his own power but he waits to feel the arisings of that Life and Power and Vertue that was in Christ Jesus and is in him still he waits for that power that in the name of Christ he may say Get thee behind me Satan Being fortifyed by Christs Name and armed with his power What is it that a Christian cannot do What Valiant Noble and Wonderful things have they done that have been shielded with this Faith See the Eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews All the Repetitions of that Chapter from one end to the other in all of them the Apostle he ascribes all the Valiantness and Couragiousness of those noble Acts to the power of Faith they looked to Jesus before ever the Virgin Mary brought him forth of her body The Prophets did earnestly seek to know those things which the Spirit of Christ that was in them did signifie That there was to be a Prophet before ever the Virgin Mary was born So that Christ was always the Object of a true Believers faith tho' under the Law they had an high Priest and he was placed at the Altar and they had Offerings burnt upon it Yet they had an Eye unto Christ They had an undervaluing of all that their Sacrifices could do for them If thou wouldst have had burnt Offerings saith David I would have given them I would not have with-held them from thine Altar thou shouldest have had enough of them He was bold to say in respect of Acceptance and Reconciliation Burnt Offerings and Sacrifices thou wouldst not a Body hast thou prepared me for it is written in the Volume of the Book I come to do thy Will O God He had an Eye unto Jesus that was to come upon whom help was laid there was a Redeemer that should come from Sion and a Lawgiver from Jerusalem they had an Eye beyond Sacrifices unto Christ In all Ages the People of God they have had the Answer of their Souls which is Reconciliation and the Favour of God they that had this Answer never had it but by Christ No Man can be accepted with God can never have the desire of his Soul Answered in Peace and Reconciliation with God till his Faith be placed on Christ Jesus Neither can any man have Faith in Christ at a distance and thereby be Reconciled unto God but must know his Spirit I must have an experimental knowledge of his Power and Wisdom and this I cannot have without his Spirit Let me believe never so Orthodoxly except I have the Spirit of Christ it will do me no good it will be of no Advantage to me This is the Word that was in my heart as a well
spake or wrote it It was not the Blood of Bulls or Goats nor the Blood of a Ram that could purge away Sin from their Consciences And after the Apostle had opened the Mystery of Divinity who had a Divine and Spiritual Skill in unfolding the Restoration of Mankind he declared plainly that when the Offering was made by Aaron for Sinners even then there remained still a Conscience of Sin for it was not possible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sin so that their outward performances and their outward services they did but point out the Mediator they had a pointing finger as it were to the Real True and Everlasting Mediator Christ Jesus who is made a Mediator betwixt God and Man that by and through him man might be again Reconciled to God So that now in these Gospel days wherein God is opening the Mysteries of Life and Salvation to the intent and purpose that the Sons and Daughters of Men might be restored again unto their Primitive Enjoyment of the Favour of God Now in these days it is the Duty of all Christians and of all that are seeking the welfare of their Immortal Souls that they have their Eyes and their Hearts unto Jesus as unto one that is able to Reconcile them unto God To him it is committed to him Wisdom and Power is committed and to him Authority is committed that he should be an Everlasting High Priest and that all the Services and all the Worship and Religious performances that People offer up to God should be in his Name that so by him they might be Recommended to God For none will ever find Acceptance with the Father unless in all their performances they have an Eye unto him So that it comes plainly to pass according to that short and confident Assertion of the Author to the Hebrews That without Faith it is impossible to please God But it is possible to Offer Sacrifices without Faith and possible for People to perform Religious Services without Faith as woful Experience have taught us in our days That many have been exercised in a kind of a Religious Service and Worship that never in their Lives had Faith enough to believe the things that they pray for And they are without Faith For when People Pray to God to send his Holy Spirit into their Hearts that they may keep his Commandments to their Lives End they have not Faith to believe it And when they Pray Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven This is a Religious performance but I question whether it be done in Faith if not it is but an Increasing in Sin an Addition to Sin Where is the Man that is exercised in praying to God that believeth that ever such a thing is like to come to pass Go where you will in this or the other Nation and Inquire of People about their Faith they believe there is no possibility of Extirpating and Rooting out of Sin while they live upon the Earth therefore all their Prayers for it are vain and their Faith a vain Faith and it is high time in such a day as this when men are Faithless and Unbelieving to preach up the object of Faith the Lord Jesus Christ People are of divers Faiths and of divers Beliefs but we have found by experience that they do them no good they do not bring a thing to pass that of necessity must be brought to pass ere they can be Reconciled to God their Faith doth not cleanse the Heart nor extend so far as to believe that ere they shall be cleansed In all the Worship and Religion that they perform they come not to this Faith that they shall be made clean All that is done is but in sin and uncleanness they cannot bring a clean Sacrifice out of an unclean Vessel And our Lord Jesus Christ saith concerning this Subject An Evil Tree cannot bring forth Good Fruit. But there must be good Fruit brought forth how must we do it Make the Tree good and the Fruit will be good When that Mens vain janglings about Religion and Religious fancies must come to an end Then all that Religion will appear to be in vain and will not answer the end for which it is performed till men believe that it will make the Tree good and cleanse the Heart and Transform men by Renewing the Spirit of their Minds So that Religion it must begin within And it is not our changing our forms of Worship from one form to another and taking up this and the other Opinion that doth change our hearts Sad Experience doth teach us that men may carry over their old Lusts into a new Religion we can carry over our old Inclinations into our new Opinions For though the form of Worship be changed the Heart remaining unchanged and the Lusts unmortified their Religion is in vain let them be of what persuasion they will Now the remedy of this great Calamity that hath overspread all sorts of People for there is no sort of People but there are those among them that are under this great Calamity of holding the profession of Godliness with an Ungodly mind and the profession of Truth with a false and treacherous Spirit Now for the remedying of this there is but one way that all Mens Eyes be brought off from having their Eye unto their Performances and to the Doctrines and Tenents that they hold and do as the Apostle saith Fix their Eye upon Christ and look upon Jesus that is the first thing that must begin our Religion for Christ must be the Alpha of our Religion as well as the Omega of it If I begin not there let me begin where I will I begin wrong Let me begin at the most serious and sound Doctrines and at the most Apostolical Religion If Christ and his Apostles were here upon the Earth if I walked among them if I believed all they said and did I should begin wrong if I did not fix mine Eye upon Jesus Christ that is the taker away of sin and is the sanctifier of the Soul by his Spirit There must be the first beginning and there must be the conclusion he is the Author and the finisher of all true Faith There are Authors of other Faiths Men have different Faiths and their Creeds and Articles And they have exposed and imposed them too but this is the worst of it none of them are right let them be exposed and imposed with never so much force and violence none of these will cleanse the heart but that Faith which is delivered over by Christ Jâ—sus that hath the quality of cleansing and purifying that is the Faith when all is done that will do the work that is it that will save and sanctifie and do the business that all the World is about every one would have a Reconciler with God and Sin rooted out and be as God would have them be this is the publick profession of Christendom at least they
working in the Soul tend to beget a Love to God and fervent desires after being cleansed and purified from Sin and earnest Prayer to the Lord to make that Holy Fire to kindle that would burn it up The more the Soul trusteth in Christ the more doth this Heavenly Fire burn up our Lusts and then a Man feels a great change in his mind The things saith he that I delighted in are now grievous to me I hope I shall never be found in those things again my mind is now taken off them who took it off Didst thou not strive before to take it off I did but I could not do it There are many I believe in this Assembly before the Lord that are my witnesses in this matter that when they came to Christ the Mediator he changed their minds and he untyed the Devils fetters they were tyed to their Sins and Lusts but he hath unloosed them and set them at liberty and they now find such a change that they hate those things they loved and when they come to think of them they are ashamed they are ashamed of those things that they formerly took pleasure in What fruit saith the Apostle had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed So I say what pleasure have you in Sporting and Gaming and Drinking and Company-keeping What pleasure have you to think of your Wanton Discourses What pleasure in Pride and Vanity What pleasure in Wrath and Bitterness of mind And what pleasure in Malice and Envy What pleasure have you in those things whereof you are now ashamed So far as you are convinced you are ashamed to think of them I am ashamed to think that the Devil at such a time by such a Temptation should prevail over me I would to God you were all come to this to be ashamed that you might remember your past evil Ways and Actions with sorrow and shame There is a secret Joy in this Sure it is better to be ashamed than to continue in impudence God hath wrought this change at last and who shall have the Glory of it God shall have the glory of it for his own Works will praise him What men do many times they do for their own praise but when they are at their wits end and know not what to do they cast themselves upon their Maker to see if he will have mercy upon them if not they must Perish then for what he doth he gets the Glory and the Praise of it There are some here that are bound to praise God while they have a Day to live for what he hath done for them They could never have loved God with all their Hearts but they would have continued Strangers to God and the Devil would have led them Captive at his Will They would not have loved God with all their Hearts had not God first shed abroad his love upon their hearts and constrained them to love him it is he that hath first loved them and wrought in them both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Whatsoever we are we are by the Grace of God this Grace is magnified in them that believe and obey the Gospel My Friends we know there is so much Peace and Pleasure in the ways of God so much Soul-satisfaction in Walking with God and loving of him with all our Hearts That I should be glad that every one of you were of the same mind and had experience of it We Labour diligently for this purpose and we would set before you these two things First how we may come to know our miserable State by Nature What a blessed and happy Sâ—ate they are in that have been Converted and Changed that have been translated out of the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of God's Dear Son Consider your State by Nature is Evil we hope that many of you in hearing the Reports of the Gospel concerning the goodness of the Lord his great love in sending his Son into the World to seek and save you that were lost and that you may believe in him And we are perswaded that by the Foolishness of Preaching God will save some of you that you may be his Redeemed Ones and trust to no other Saviour for there is not any other Name under Heaven but the Name of Jesus by which you can be saved He only can take away the Sâ—ns of the World his Spirit searcheth the Heart and tryeth the Reins which he promised to send into the World when he was leaving it Now I dare Proclaim that Holy Spirit to be the Spirit of the God of Heaven that now sees what Resolution thou art of and what thou art now proposing to do whether to go on in Sin or to return to God This I can speak without Blasphemy it is God's Spirit that searcheth thy Heart and knoweth thy thoughts and purposes and convinceth thee of thy Sin God hath sent his Son Christ Jesus into the World to enlighten you that by his Light you might see him and that by his Grace you migh Receive him and that by his Grace you might be saved To him I commit you all and these words that we have spoken are in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit according as he hath wrought in us I must tell you we were never called of God to Study Sermons for you nor to Preach things that are made Ready to our hands but as the Lord our God hath wrought in us and as God hath been pleased to make known his mind to us and by his Spirit given us utterance So we speak and so we Preach You that are come to believe and receive the things of the Spirit you will Judge what I say I speak unto you that are Spiritual Judge ye what I say saith the Apostle so when I speak of Divine and Heavenly things you that are Spiritual Judge what I say and as you come to Judge and Determine in your selves that these things are true you will feel the Power of them in your own Spirits And we shall all be of the same mind and as we have One God we shall serve him in sincerity and Worship him with Reverence then his Name shall be Exalted in the midst of us and we shall Edifie one another in Love and we shall instruct one another and call upon one another Come let us go to the House of the God of Jacob He will Teach us and Preserve us in his way and do us good and keep us from all Evil. Turn your minds inward and consider that God is a God at hand ready to help you and he requires no more of you than of other People in former times to love the Lord with all your Hearts and to abstract and withdraw your minds from all other things that do come in Competition with him and be sure to have no Trust or Dependance but upon him Then see what God will do for you no Tongue can express nor Pen Write neither
SEVERAL SERMONS OR Declarations OF Mr. Stephen Crisp Late of Colchester in Essex Deceased Exactly taken in Characters or Short-hand as they were Delivered by him at the Publick Meeting-Houses of the People called Quakers In Grace-Church-street and Devonshire-House London And now Faithfully Transcribed and Published Together with his Prayer at the end of every Sermon LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1693 TO THE READER THough the Writer of these Sermons doth out of modesty decline to Print his name yet he is very willing to give all reasonable satisfaction to any sober Inquirer that he has not in the least altered or imposed upon the Authors sense either in the Taking or Transcribing of them And he does further assure the Reader that he neither is nor ever was one of those People called Quakers but always of another Persuasion Yet being willing according to the Apostles Rule to Try all things he has sometimes been present at their Meetings and having the Art of Short Writing he has Taken many of their Sermons and Prayers from the Mouths of divers of their Preachers and among others those of Mr. Stephen Crisp deceased which upon Review appeared to him as well as to three or four other eminent Persons of another Way to contain so many Gospel â—ruths delivered with such Plainness Zeal and Demonstration and generally agreeable to the known Doctrines of Christianity that it is hoped the Publishing of them may be useful to the World And that the Design and Intent of them may be the more readily comprehended there is a Title given to every Sermon agreeable to the Subject Matter Chiefly Treated of If any desire to be further satisfied by speaking with the Writer they may be gratified therein by applying themselves to the Bookseller Nath. Crouch Sermon I. The Great Mediator of the Everlasting Covenant Preached at Grace-Church-Street April 25. 1688. My Friends HOW should we all admire the workings of the Holy Ghost You may know from your own Experience that all the Operations of the Holy Spirit from the beginning have been in Order to the Cleansing and Purifying and Preparing you for the Kingdom of God This Experience is given to a little Remnant of the the manner of his working that the End Aim and Dâ—sign of all the Operations of his Powâ—r is for our good and in order to our Eternal Happiness Now this is a great ingagement upon the minds of the People of God diligently to wait upon him that they may be opened more and more into the Mystery of Life and Salvation that hath been hid from Ages and Generations and is now revealed by his Spirit And they that are thus exercised with the measure of Grace given unto them they do grow and increase in Holiness and Righteousness by the working thereof and they increase in Knowledge in the great things of his Law and the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Grace that the Eye which God hath opened may discern that the working of his Power in all Ages has been for the Extirpating Rooting out and Destroying of that Root of Iniquity that hath brought forth such a Crop of Sin and Wickedness which was not of his Planting nor of his Creating For from the beginning of the Creation of God unto this day God hath had a singular Love and Favour to the Sons and Daughters of Men as being as I may say the Master-piece or greatest piece of the Creation most nearly related to himself Created in his own Image in Righteousness and Holiness and in that they now are not so but Marred and Spoiled from bearing the Heavenly Image is not the Lords doing but hath been wrought by the Enemy both to God and Man And the Lord continuing his Love unto the Work of his hands hath from Age to Age Revealed and made Known hss Power for the restoring and bringing back again Lost Man Fallen Man Sinful Man to be Reconciled unto him that he might as was intended Enjoy and Possess the Love and Favour of his Maker but there was no possibility found for his Reconciliation with the Holy God but by making him Holy For as the making him Unholy separated him from his Maker So the making of him Holy again would Unite him again unto his Maker So that there must be a way and means for the Reducing of him to his Primitive State before he could enjoy and obtain his Primitive Enjoyments that is the Love and Favour of God And there hath been a General Universal sense upon the Sons and Daughters of Men of this Alienation and Estrangedness from God and they have put themselves upon divers ways and methods to obtain Reconciliation and to try if they could restore themselves and they have found out ways and tryed and proved the Inventions and Imaginations of their own Minds in their fallen Wisdom what they might do to please God and be Reconciled to him We are Sinners and we will Sacrifice we will bring a Sacrifice for our Sins and when they have brought a Sacrifice it hath not been accepted because there hath not been a Mediator known that might Mediate for them with the Lord so that all the Sacrifices they have Offered have never been accepted with him in order to an Attonement and Reconciliation Now only those that have Relation to the Mediator by Faith in him doth he Intercede for that he might present them again to God and this hath been the difference between Sacrificer and Sacrificer from the days of Cain and Abel unto this day Some have had Relation to the Mediator in all their Services and Sacrifices and some have had Relation only to the thing offered and the service performed but they have not in all Ages sped alike They whose Services and Worship was performed to God with a Relation to the Mediator they have found Acceptance and they whose Worship and Service was performed only with a Relation to the thing offered or done that was but their own Act that was but their Will-Worship and that was always turned back again upon them For there is no Name given under Heaven by which any can be saved but only the Name of Jesus Christ that is the Mediator of the New Covenant for the Old one was broken And when Aaron was set up to be an High Priest to God he was appointed to offer Sacrifices for the Sins of the People and they that committed a Sin was appointed by the Law to bring an Hee-Goat of the Flock unto the Door of the Tabernacle and to deliver it to the Priest and he was to make an Offering for the Sin committed after such and such a manner and it was to be an Attonement with God for them So here was seemingly a Reconciliation by a Sacrifice And some saw no farther than the bringing of a Goat and a Ram and the performance of the Priests Office and they counted all was well And others saw farther long before the Apostle
would find out something by which it might be done Others are willing enough to continue in Sin and Drunkeness Whoredom Lying and Hypocrisie these are a sort of Fools that make a mock of Sin and that swim in the stream of pleasure and what care they so long as they make a profession of Christianity But I am speaking of a People that are strugling under their corruptions that would mortifie Sin and serve God in Holiness and Righteousness and do Gods will on Earth as it is done in Heaven and do it not in form but would have power to do it And they try several ways to have it done it is not done many have been at this work till Gray Hairs are upon their Heads and it is not done Now God hath given Christ to make Reconciliation now how can we that have the Love of God extended to us But extend our Good-will to our Friends and signifie to them that all the travel and pains they are at and all the Prayers they make that all will do nothing till they have their Faith fixt upon Jesus that is able to save and deliver them and save to the uttermost all that come to God by him But here some will object and say It is true what you say But is it needful to preach such Doctrines to us for we all believe in Christ that is the only Mediator and Saviour We know that Christ Jesus is the only Mediator and that unless he Commend us to God we cannot be Accepted of him This is our General Doctrine therefore what need it be urged and pressed upon us that are come into the the Faith already Let me search into the matter it is of greater concernment than to search into a Bargain of Worldly things men would fain have others open and discover to them wherein they may be Cheated to prevent their being Imposed on in a wordly bargain I hope then they will hearken to know how and wherein they may be deceived by themselves and deceived by others in matters of Eternal concernment There are no Protestants but they reject any Mediator but Jesus Christ and believe that no Mediator can Reconcile them to God but Christ alone and they say he is the Object of their Faith I would ask them this Question Whether they believe in Christ at a distance or as present really present with them If their Faith be Historical and at a Distance that they believe in Christ as one born of the Virgin Mary and was Crucified and Dead before they were born and Arose again and Ascended into Heaven and is set at the right hand of God if the reason of my belief be I have heard of this Relation of Christ Or whether the reason be because by his Spirit he hath visited me in this Age The one is I believe because good men have told me so but the other is I believe because by this Spirit he hath promised to send to lead me into all truth he hath visited me Now whether I am aware of such a Spiritual visitation by this quickning Spirit which is the Lord from Heaven and not only the Lord in Heaven Whether I am aware of such a quickning Power and Vertue which I have received upon my Spirit that he is not only at the right hand of God on high in Heaven but that now he is come to knock at the door of my heart and hath raised in me a Life as opposite to sin as his was Now if I be aware of a secret touch of his quickning vertue upon my Soul whereby he hath begotten me into a Life opposite to sin so that if sin remains it remains as a Burthen and Oppression upon me so that I am a sufferer forasmuch as I am quickned and made sensible of a better life of a godly Life I would fain be at it and live in it but Iniquity Lust and Corruption lies in the way He that hath quickned me so far as to bring me to a sense of the Burthen of sin my Faith tells me he will take the Burthen off else my faith will do me no good if that Corruption still prevail upon me if my Faith tells me this it will tell the wickedest Man in the World as much But if my faith tells me I am a sinner and my sin consists of this and the other evil thing I do and am inclined to do it tells me again that he that hath quickned me and brought me to a sense of sin he can take the burthen off from me Here now is a true Faith that begins in Conviction and ends in true Conversion this is the word of Faith which was delivered to the Saints and which we are to Preach They said of Oâ—d that the word of Faith which they had to Preach was that which was nigh in their mouth that they might heaâ— it and do it I have something nigh that reproves me for sin if I be Obedient to it then Faith giveth me victory over that which is sinful for which the word reproveth me and as I see Faith gives me victory over any Corruption which I have been strugling under Here I am incouraged to fix my Faith upon him that hath thus quickned me So that this is the difference between Faith in Christ at a distance and Faith that quickneth me by Gods Spirit that Spirit which hath been so much slighted in our days by the highest Notionists in our Age they have supposed it to be a meer fiction some have mocked and derided and others have been discouraged to speak of the Spirit of Christ and his operations upon the Soul some have declared it both in the Press and Pulpit that they have had no experience of the touches of Gods Spirit upon their Souls But our experience hath brought us to another degree of knowledge We know and you may know if you please and that before you sleep that there is a way opened God hath made a way for his Spirit to reach the Spirits of men to signifie immediately to their Spirits without means herein thou dost wrong and herein thou mayest have life and seek after it Now the Spiritth at thus worketh is the Spirit of Christ the Spirit that proceeds from the Father and the Son that Voice in Man that tells them they might believe and be saved When he comes saith Christ He will lead you into all truth How shall the World know this is he He shall convince them of sin If there be any convincement that ariseth in Man of this and the other sin it must be from the way the holy Spirit hath upon their Spirits he hath a way to speak to men and every one that is a Lover of their own Souls are bound to hearken unto that voice In the latter days saith the Lord When I shall raise a Prophet in the midst of you whosoever will not hear that Prophet shall be cut off All Commentators agree on this Text that that
wisher to the Souls of all Men As God hath done good to my Soul So I cannot but wish well to the Souls of others That as he hath found out a way for my Redemption and Salvation so likewise I wish the same for others that are bond-men and bond-women and under the Power of their Corruption Gods work hath been to destroy the Bondage and the Oppression and to destroy the Tyrant that Reigns over the Souls of his People God having made them for his Glory and the Devil hath Stolen them away that they do not that which pleaseth God But God's good pleasure is that all may be Saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth And God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not Perish but have Everlasting Life And he is called The Lamb of God which takes away the Sins of the World He can take away Sin if my Sin do not obstruct my Faith and Confidence in him he will take it away and if he takes that away then he makes the Tree good Nothing hinders us from the injoyment of God but Sin and if Christ will take it away by the blood of his Cross no matter for all the Scorn Contempt Hardship Reproach and Persecution of this World no matter for he hath not deceived us but told us before hand If we will be followers of him and be led by him we must expect these things suffering Reproaches Persecutions Disdain Envy these things come not uncertainly upon us the World loves its own and cannot love them that are not of it but they that are now of the World may be brought to the terms of God and they may not be any longer of the World Christ Prayeth not that his Disciples may be taken out of the World but kept from the evil he prayed for them that did not believe So that Christ is a Mediator for all men and a Propitiation for all men and he is working by his Spirit for the Redemption of all men That to as many as believe in him to them he gives Power to become the Sons of God The sum of all is this that we have an opportunity put into our hands we cannot deny it you must all upon search confess that the Grace of God doth often work in your hearts against any Corruption against any Evil Let not this prize be put into our hands in vain as into the hands of fools If I knew that this and that was a sin I would leave it let us be of that mind and we shall soon know it Then say If I knew such a thing to be a sin If I could get a thousand pounds by it I would not do it why should'st thou love sin for profit or pleasure I am sure it is an ill bargain when it is done Whatsoever I am convinced of is a sin I will not it Resolve upon this and there the Grace of God will be at work we shall soon see that we must leave off sinning there is such a thing I must leave God hath set up a Judgment in my mind against it though it bring profit and pleasure away it must go here is a step a following step to follow Christ he that will deny himself will follow Christ My Redeemer shews me this to be an evil I will not do it but follow him and imitate him Here the Soul is led step by step even by Christ the Captain of our Salvation till it is gradually cleansed from sin and reconciled unto God and this can be done by no other means for Prayer and Alms will not do it All that can be done by us will not dot it none can do it but Christ alone that God hath laid help upon that you may all wait for the Divine Operation of his Grace in your hearts that is it which we Labour and Travel for as knowing that God hath wrought wonderfully by it for the Redemption of all those that love him more than they love their pleasures more than they love their sins it must be concluded that following of him and leaving Father and Mother Husband and Wife Children Brethren and Sisters all these things as they stand in competition with him and the Obedience of his Spirit all these must be looked upon as nothing to him Then above all things I must not displease him He can speak Peace and none can take it away and if he take it away none can give it If we follow Christ when this is done then all is done according to the Will of God then the blessing of God descends upon the whole Creation then every man will speak truth to his Neighbour and every man will govern his Family with discretion So God is Glorified and his name comes to be Exalted who is worthy to be Loved Adored and Exalted above all Blessings and Praises to him be Glory who is God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Amen His Prayer after Sermon MOST Glorious God of Life and Power and of Everlasting Kindness a God of Long-suffering and Patience else we had not been here at this day Lord we are Monuments of thy Mercy thou hast spared us long and hast called unto us in a day when we turned away our Ear from thee thou hast stretched out thy hand all the day long and thou hast gathered a little Remnant of the lost Sheep of the house of Israel to partake of thy Pastures of Life and now all our Souls have been greatly refreshed and comforted since we come to understand and comprehend with the rest of thy Saints the Height and Length and Breadth and Depth of thy Love which in the Son of thy Love thou hast Revealed to us And blessed Father of Life our Souls do breath and cry unto thee on the behalf of Strangers which are Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel that are yet breathing and inquiring after thee And asking the way to Sion O Lord remember them and hear their cry and let their sighing and complaining enter into thine Ears that all they in whom thou hast begun to kindle up holy desires after thee may have them grow into a flame to burn up all their Enmity to thee that so they may be purified by thy judgments and receive of thy Heavenly Grace This is the way which thou hast used with thy Children thou hast commanded them to Worship thee in thy dwelling place thou hast taken them into thy house and fed them with thy finest Wheat refreshed them with thy Loving-kindness and filled them with thy Holy Spirit Dearest God of Love this is the design and purpose of our Meeting together that we may enjoy thy Presence and feel the operation of thy Word and have Communion with thee and thy Son Jesus Christ through thy Holy Spirit the way into Rest and Life is with thee thou canst open and none can shut Lord open the hearts of this People to receive of thy
and length and breadth of thy Love in Christ Jesus that in the Sense of the freeness and greatness thereof all thy Children here and every where that in an everlasting Covenant of Grace thou hast gathered to thy self may have Communion with thee and thy Son and Spirit and may return thee the honour Glory and Praise of all thy Love and Mercy and Grace for thou alone art worthy who art God over all Blessed for ever and ever Amen Sermon III. The First and Great Commandment opened Or The Heart given up to God Preached at Devonshire-House May 27. 1688. VVHen God gave forth his Law on Mount Sinai which Israel was to hear and to obey The first great Commandment was Thou shalt have no other Gods before me here is the sum and substance of all the true Religion that ever was on the Earth to this day all the Commandments all the Precepts Prophecies and all the dealings of God with his People from that Day to this have been all contained in this short Precept thou shalt have no other Gods but me and as long as Israel stood in Obedience to this Command their Blessings were multiplied upon them their good things were increased from Day to Day The Lord was with them as long as they were willing to be his Pâ—â—ple he appeared as their God as their Defeâ—der wrought their Deliverances sought all their Battles for them gave them Dominion and Strength Courage and Wisdom Ministred out of his Treasury all good things unto them For the great Care of God Almighty was with all his People he had regard to them and visited them at all times to keep them from Idolatry I am saith he a Jealous God take notice of me to be so I am Jealous of my Name If thou wilt be mine thou shalt have no other Gods buâ— me And all the Precepts about Offerings and Sacrifices and making attonement for Sinners and the divers Services and Worship the various Offices in the Temple and Sanctuary they were all as outward means appointed of God to keep this outward Church in an inward Conformity to the Command of God This Command was written in Tables of Stone and these Tables were laid up in the Ark of God and all this pertained to the First Covenant and all this Typed and Figured out the Dispensation of the New and everlasting Covenant that God would make with his People not like unto the old How not like it Not like it in the outward Shadows the Types and Shadows of things but he would bring forth the Susbtance of all those Shadows and Types and would alter the Form and outward appearance of things For as God is unchangeable so his Law is unchangeable Moses saith the first and great Commandment is thou shalt have no other Gods but me This was put into the Stone Tables Christ Jesus saith the first and great Commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind Mat. 22 27. This is put into the Tables of the Heart So here is a difference between the first Commandment by Moses and the first Commandment by Christ they both acknowledge the first and great Command to be the subjecting of the Creature to him that made him as his God that he may only serve him that he may love him with his whole Heart The Jew could prove this by his Stone Tables and Christ proves this by the Fleshly Tables of the Heart for there he is bound to love the Lord with his whole Heart and to serve him onely him onely shalt thou serve Now here is the Jews Law brought over to the Christians in the greatest Point of Religion that ever was Preached that shuts out all Idolatry all Superstition all variety of Religions all is shut out by this Commandment and the Christian that hath the Law written in his Heart according to the new Covenant he can go as readily to it and read it as ever the Jew could go to his Stone Tables and read the Law there you cannot deny that if there be a thing written and Graven in my Heart I can go as readily to it as I can go to any Book or Table though I have the keeping of it But the Jews had not the keeping of it generally it was laid up in the Ark of God Now Friends that which lies upon my mind to speak to you at this time and that out of the great Love that I have to all your precious and Immortal Souls as God hath had a Love to mine is that you would all consider and weigh in the fear of the Lord whose presence is among us which of you and how many of you are come to the Obedience of this Commandment I do not doubt but the most of you can say them all but a happy People are you if you can do one I dare pronounce that Soul a blessed Soul that can perform this one Commandment that can or dare stand before his Maker and say O Lord I love thee with all my Heart with all my Soul and with all my Might my love is withdrawn from all other things in comparison of thee there is nothing in this whole World hath a place in my mind but as it is in subjection to the love of thee Here is the first and the great Commandment the unchangeable Law the Law that was good in Moses his Days and good in Christs Days and it holds good in our Days and indeed it is such a definitive Law that the Breakers of it can neither be good Jews nor good Christians there is an absolute necessity lies upon us of abstracting and drawing away our minds and Souls from all other Gods from all Images and other dependencies and trusts that People are naturally liable to trust to And to have their whole Confidence set upon the Lord but alas with Grief of Heart I speak it there are but a very few that as yet have known the right giving forth of the Law and there are a great many fewer that are subjâ—ct to it This Law was not given forth at first without Thunder and Lightning and a terrible noise and the Mountain smoaking he that hath an Ear to hear let him hear in so much as Moses himself said he feared greatly and he Quaked exceedingly because of the Thunder of the Almighty and the Mountain that smoaked and burned with Fire so that Israel could not draw nigh Now I say there are but a few that have come to the Knowledge of the giving forth of this Law that have certainly known those Thunders and that Terrible Work that the Lord of the whole Earth makes when he comes to set up his Law for a great many that have come nigh to it and might have heard and received the Words of the Law of God they have gone backward they have done like unto the Jews of old though they had suffered much and gone through much and had seen the Wonders of
Tenet and the other Tenet this Text and the other Text For my part I should only desire for you to Understand this Text and I should not doubt your going to Heaven Here is the Sum Here is all at once Here is the Quintessence of all Religion of all Types Shadows Figures Ceremonies and Priesthood and all that ever was or could be Named and Practised in the World all brought to this The Heart given up to God our Love set upon him What is this sufficient will some say This will make you a good Moral Man but what is this to the Christian Religion You may be led into Error and become an Heretick for all this How can this be that I should not be of a sound Faith but led into Error and Heresie for all this When People let in Error and Heresie and Unsoundness of Faith Where do they let it in Do they not let in the Principles of Errour and Heresie into their Hearts I believe this and that and the other Error it comes into the Heart and hath a seat in the Heart but how can we do that How can we let it into the Heart When the Heart is given up to God Cannot he keep out Error and Heresie if I give up my Heart and Soul to him Cannot I trust him with all This kind of talk of Error and Heresie hath come among Men that have had the keeping of their own Souls they have taken their own Souls into their own hands and have ordered their Religion themselves or have gotten some body to order it for them and a great many of them have met together to make Creeds and Catechisms and Confessions and Orthodox Doctrines that might certainly be professed and subscribed Afterwards some have come and found fault with them then they must have a Council to try them then these go off and are laid aside and others are given in the room of them so that these Men have set up for themselves These would not be under the Government and Prescription of God as Children under the Government of a Father but they will set up Religions themselves and say to the rest of the World if you own any thing contrary to our Principles you are an Heretick and being an Heretick you are to be rooted out and cut off Do not you read in the Scripture that whosoever hears not the Prophet that was to come into the World shall be cut off What will you not hear Christ speak in the Church Will not you hear Christ speak The Church cannot speak without a Head If you will not hear the Church you shall be cut off Then they have fallen to Hanging and Burning and Killing and Destroying People and Nations not a few And this comes from their making Faiths and Creeds and ordering Religion themselves all their Barbarous and Inhuman Cruelties Martyring and Dungeoning of People comes from their making Faiths themselves and of all things nothing is more desparately wicked and they did not know it The Heart is deceitful above all things and desparately wicked who can know it Men know not how Proud and Arrogant they themselves are and yet they would be ordering the Hearts and Minds and Consciences of others and out of this hath Sprung all Superstition and Idolatry because men would not give up their Hearts to God Thou shalt have no other Gods but me This Commandment is great in it self strict in the terms Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy self Their Neighbour could not see with their Eyes therefore there must be Hanging and Burning and Destroying one another But blessed be who is now bringing forth true Christianity upon its old Basis and Foundation whereon it was placed at first for Christianity hath been justled off from its first Foundation for instead of Loving God with all their Hearts and Loving their Neighbours as themselves they Hated them Now this is the Day O Friends the weight of it is great This I say is the Day whereâ—n God is bringing Christianity upon its old Foundation I would not have you think that I am here judging our Fore-fathers that are fallen asleep that therefore they are gone to Hell because they saw not this Day and Lived not to see the benefit of it that we enjoy I am far from it This was the thing that they believed and prayed to God for they did not see this Day outwardly but they saw it by Faith I my self when I was a Child I remember the People of God when they got three or four together they would rejoice in the Hope of what they Foresaw they gave Thanks to God for the Blessed Days that he would bring forth though they could not tell when they did say and believe that God would scatter the Foggs and Mists and bring forth an Happy Day wherein his People should have the Gift of his Spirit when they saw the Impositions and Persecutions of these times when they that did not Conform and Comply were cast into Prisons and thrown into Dungeons and Goals Well it will not always be thus say they there is a Day a coming wherein the Lord will set his People free from all the Yoaks of Oppression and from the Oppressour Indeed my Soul did rejoyce when I was hearing the Prophetical sayings of these good men and I thought I might live to see that Day Blessed be God that hath Preserved my Life to this Day and to this Hour to enjoy what they Prayed for They Prayed to God to scatter the Mists and Fogs that they might no longer Cloud and Darken Men's Minds and hinder them from enjoying God's Teaching Blessed be God that we are now in the injoyment of the Prayers of the Faithful that left the World before we were in it Now the Day is come that they Prayed for and Enquired after How strangely doth the Man Talk will some say concerning the Christian Religion The Christian Religion is all England over go to any Meeting in London except one and they will tell you they are Christians I would to God they were that is the worst I wish them all But what should we talk of the Christian Religion without the Christian Life Except we find that amongst them What signifies the Name and Profession of it And the Christian Doctrine is wanting in many places too There be many in this City urging this very Command of Loving God with all their Hearts and their Neighbours as themselves as fervently as I can do or any body else and yet they will tell you in the next breath that no man in London nor in all the World can do this No Man can possibly Love God with all his Heart Never a Man can be found that can perform such an Act as to Love his Neighbour as himself Not every Neighbour it may be but some one choice Associate he can pick out that he can Love and bear with his Infirmities and
in your Sins whether I go you cannot come O Friends lay these things to your Hearts what have I to do but to tell you that the Love I have in my Soul to you all makes me desire in my Heart that you might be saved This is the Will of God that you might all be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth Blessed are they which know the Truth the Truth as it is in Jesus Truth in the inward parts hath a speaking Voice and if thou hearken to it it will tell thee that thy state is nought Canst thou believe the Truth when it tells thee so That thy state is nought and that thou art like to go to Eternal Destruction unless there be Repentance and Regeneration to prevent it Canst thou believe this Doctrine when it sounds in thy own Heart If thou canst not Believe it Unbelief will be thy Ruine The Spirit of Truth is come to convince the World of Sin because they believe not in Christ he tells them their Condition and they will not believe him The Spirit of Christ convinceth men of Sin and they believe him not The Spirit of Truth convinceth thee of thy Sin but thou believest him not Thou Lovest thy Pleasure and thy Profit and thine Honour then thou Lovest not God with all thine Heart and then thou art not a Christian but out of Covenant with God Art thou sensible that thy condition is bad were it not best to get it mended After we are convinced of our own sinful state Is it not our best course to seek to have it mended Who shall mend it Saith one I have done all I can to mend my Life and I cannot mend it I have concluded so in my younger years I have Fasted and Prayed and spent time in Hearing Reading and Meditation and did all in my own Power and all to mend my state but I could not mend it and as I grew up in years Sin and Corruption more prevailed and there was no help and I came so far as to believe there was no help and that if God did not help me I was undone to all Eternity I many times wisht that I had never been born I went to Ministers and Meetings and to all sorts of separate People and to all manner of Ordinance and to all manner of Means to mend this bad Heart of mine to see if I could get a Power that would give me Victory over my Corruption but my Arm was never so long as to reach thereunto it was far out of my Power and Reach Many have sought to get this Power of Reforming their Hearts and Lives to attain it by their own hands by their own endeavours but they could never do it they could never better their condition nor bring forth fruit worthy of amendment of Life I wish that every one was come to that pass that they knew not which way to turn them that they were come at last to their Wits end they will come to it sooner or later the sooner the better I have done all I can I can do no more I am at my Wits end and know not what to think concerning my Eternal State I know not what to judge of it I strive against my Lusts and Corruptions but for all that they prevail upon me Temptations come before me but I cannot conquer them O I am glad when People are come to that pass that they know not what to do but to despair of their own Arms of their own Strength and their own Wit and despair of all other help in the World I am glad of that But I am not Preaching up Despair of Gods Grace and Mercy but let me tell you when Men Despair of their own doings and of all outward means and helps then they are fit Objects for the mercy of God and not till then When the Lord looked and saw that there was none to Save and Deliver then his own Arm brought Salvation God will not save tâ—ll then God will not reveal his Power till Men have done with their own Power they will never Trust God while they think they can do something for themselves All the Forms of Religion of the several People of this Nation will do them little good without the Power What is the meaning of that Principle that have such Masses and Prayers and Performances What is the meaning of it let us search to the bottom They say we are Sinners when we Pray to God for his Blessing and for Salvation by Christ there is this at the bottom They think these Duties and Performances will be very helpful to their state helpful towards the knowledge of it to speak plain English these are their Gods If I speak of Prophane and Wicked People I would say their Lusts is their Gods But when I speak of Righteous People that are meer Formalists then I say their Duties as they call them are their Gods When they have done all they can do nothing for them then they have no Gods at all they are Godless And if God doth not help them they are undone to all Eternity When poor Creatures are Cast out as it were into the open Field to the loathing of their Persons not salted at all nor swadled at all but lying in the Guilt of their Blood When I passed by thee saith the Lord and saw thee polluted in thy own Blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy Blood yea when thou wast in thy Blood I said unto thee Live When I passâ—d by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was a time of Love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy Nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine What was it a time of Love when I was such an Obeject in my own Eyes that I thought I was the most miserable Creature in the World One that could not make a good Prayer nor Dispute for Religion nor Perform any Duty a Poor Creature Cast out into the open Field to the loathing of my Person Lost all that I Gained my Name was from among the Living my Days were passed over in Sorrow and I said there is nothing but Darkness and Death and Misery for me I used all means and tryed all things save only a living Trust in God a trust in God alone and that Flesh and Blood cannot do Flesh and Blood cannot know him therefore Flesh and Blood cannot trust in him Alas said I I cannot trust in the Lord I cannot cast my Soul and all my Concernments my Fame and Reputation in the World I cannot cast all upon the care of the Almighty I cannot know him nor trust in them how can I do it No body can do it They that know my Name saith the Lord they will put their trust in me never a truer word was spoken but how they should know God and trust in him I know not When thou comest once
they would give more reverence and respect to it It is this that brings those that Preach Christ to Preach him in those terms and under those Denominations that he is nigh them We do not doubt of Christs being born of a Virgin in the Land of Canaan and that he wrought Miracles and Preached many Godly Sermons and that he was Crucified Dead and Buried and Rose again from the Dead for these things are certainly true we would have him our Saviour in this Age we would have a nearer knowledge of him and a sense and feeling of the virtue of that Power by which he saved them that lived in former Ages He is not a Christ and a Saviour of one Age only but of all Ages to this Day from Adam to the last Man that shall live upon the Earth That Age and Generation that knoweth not Christ will not be saved by him if there be any Age wherein he is not known There is no other Name under Heaven by which you can be saved if you ask where is this Saviour Say not in thy Heart who shall Ascend into Heaven that is to bring down Christ from above or who shall Descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the Dead The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy Heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach He is nigh thy Soul he is the Lord of Life and a Quickenning Spirit If I know that Quickening Spirit after this I know the Lord Christ when he comes to work in me by his Power changing my Heart and translating me from Death to Life then I know the true Christ God hath manifested in all Ages that it is the Duty of People to come to the knowledge of the Son of God for he hath sent forth his Spirit for to teach us and to lead us into all truth For when Christ was with his Disciples he told them that he would pray the Father and he should send the Spirit the Comforter and when he came he would be known by his Divine and Inward Teachings and Operations guiding and leading them into all Truth that was his work to them But what shall other Folks do He will be made known to others too When he comes He shall convince the World of Sin So that his work to his Disciples was to lead them into all Truth and his work to the Woâ—ld is to convince the World of Sin Who will deny but that there is a Spirit in our Age as well as in other Ages that will convince men of Sin Is this the Spirit of God that convinceth the World of Sin or is it the Spirit of the QUAKERS only When People come to consider really and truly how they may serve God aright they will find there is no serving God aright unless they come to Christ the Mediator that in and by him they may put up suppplications to God and through him they may expect at the hands of God Peace and comfort and there is no other way nor never will be The Jews they had another way they had an outward way of serving God this stood in divers Offerings Sacrifices Washings and Observations this was a way of worship of Gods own institution to that People but what came of it When the Apostle came to grasp it he said The commers thereunto were not made perfect What were the transgressors of it then They that would sin on and continue in sin and not bring a Goat or a Ram or other Oblation they that did observe it and came up to the point of the Law they did bring their Offering when they were convinced of their Sin If a man sinned he was to bring a Hee Goat and to bring it to the Door of the Tabernacle but when he sinned the conscience of sin the guilt of sin remained upon him For it was impossible saith the Apostle that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away the Sin For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the Unclean Sanctifieth to the Purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit Offered himself without spot to God Purge your Consciences from Dead works to serve the Living God When there is no hope of attonement and reconciliation with God by all those offerings under the Law he tells you of one offering of the Son of God himself through the Eternal Spirit by which he became a a Propitiation for thus will it do If I believe that Christ offered an Holy Offering to the Father for my sins I believe he offered his Body and that through the Eternal Spirit that he might be a propitiation for sin and take away sin and have Power over Sin and Death and conquer Death and Darkness the Apostle drives the matter farther you must come to the inward Work of this outward Offering this Eternal Offering that was in due time Offered to God you must come to know the Operation of it by the sprinkling of the Heart from an evil Conscience so that there was to be an Applicatory Faith for the offering of that The way to a Saviour was not made by Man no more than the way of Salvation by Christ was found out by Man No more than the Application of the benefits is effected by man Where it pleaseth God to call a People by his Grace he calleth them to his Son not by this and the other Form No man cometh to me saith Christ except the Father which hath sent me draw him The first thing that a Man or Woman comes to be aware of is the secret sense and feeling of the Lords Divine Power upon the Heart to seek Christ Jesus As soon as they feel this and embrace it this will be a Token of the Love of God I hope all this Congregation will acknowledge that they have sometimes felt his drawings and that they have not embraced and closed with them so well as they ought When the People are aware of these drawings Inwardly to Holiness and Righteousness and are sensible that they should with care and intention close with them for the good of their Poor Souls and that it concerns them to be happy in the other World that World that is to come and therefore resolve to be led by these drawings of the Spirit of God these are not weeds that grow in the Field Naturally These are sparks of Divine Fire kindled in the Hearts of Men by God himself No Man comes unto God till God cometh to him and touches him and gives him sense and motion these are the motions and stirrings of Gods Holy Power in the hearts of many that are wicked and Abominable Yet the Lord doth not despise the work of his own hands but reacheth to such When the Lord meets with these that Despise not but highly Prize this wonderful Grace and Close with it and are Glad of it such a one
then I will go step by step by following my Guide I shall be sure to be makeing some progress every Day to that state to which the Spirit of Christ will lead me These Persons come to a certainâ—y of knowledg by their own Experince Some will say take heed of being deluded and decieved by the Quakers so say I too Take heed of being deluded by any body if any go about to perswade thee to believe that which thou knowest to be a Lie I am sure they are about to delude thee I would have every one to have an evidence in themselves of what they believe Doth a Man believe such a One is a Drunkard because the Scripture declareth Judgment against the Drunkards the Scripture saith Wo to the drunkards of Ephraim There are Judgments denounced against Drunkards in the Old Testament consider the Scripture doth not tell such and such by Name that they are Drunkards but the Spirit of God by a Work and Operation upon a mans Conscience singles him out and charges him with the guilt of Drunkenness There is great condemnation pronounced against Whoremongers in Scripture but it doth not tell such who they are by Name but their Consciences find them so and give infallible judgment against them and saith Thou art the Man thou art a person that God doth Judge and Condemn Whoremongers and Adulterers God will Judge but that doth not concern thee and affect thee except thou be one I may read this an hundred times in Scripture and not have a reflection in my own Conscience except I be guilty But when God meets with a guilty person and Judgeth and Condemneth him there will be an infallibility in what such a one knows If a Whoremonger is reflected upon by his own Conscience if his Conscience tell him he is the Man if all the World should flatter him and say he is not guilty he would certainly know that they tell him a Lie So that here is no Dependance upon any mans judgment but upon an invisible Judge in a mans own Heart Who shall delude and deceive this Man that hath this experimental knowledg Those persons will not deceive a Man that would turn him from the evil of his ways these do not go about to deceive him that will tell him he must hearken to that Principle of Truth and Holiness in his own Heart they would deceive him that tell him he is converted when he is not and leave him there But when he is really converted and turned from Sin to God some will tell him he is deluded and deceived I pray God every one of us may be so deceived saith the Apostle We are Deceivers yet True All that are truly converted though Men cry out they are deceivers though they are deceivers yet true they are come to the savour of the knowledg of God through Christ and so they shall certainly Come to be partakers of the inheritance that is undefiled and that fadeth not away Friends you know that this hath been the Proposition of all the Prophets and Apostles from the beginning to this Day the thing that they have proposed to the Sons and Daughters of Men hath been to enquire after the knowledg of the true God It hath been wonderful to consider what the Devil hath done to present divers Doctrines that he hath found out and stirred up others to invent a Company of Gods that other People have Adored and Worshipped It is hard to find any Nation that do not Worship some God It is Natural for Man to desire to come to some God he thinks he must come to some God and cannot be happy if he come not to God But the Devil hath invented so many Gods and set People a Worshipping of Idols the Work of Mens hands such Gods that are so far from helping their Worshippers that they cannot help themselves they cannot wipe off the Dust from their own Faces And if they fall down they cannot rise again But this is not our case we have but one God Preached among us and but one Lord Jesus Christ the Mediatour between God and Man Our condition is happy in having but one God in comparison of theirs that have many Gods If the true God that you Worship were but trusted in you would be the happiest People in the World If you do but search you will find that the Devil hath in this Nation and in this Age stirred up People to worship as many Gods as he did in other Nations in Antient times among the Sidonians the Amorites and others But you will say we Worship one God and trust only in one God and one Christ and one Holy Ghost the only living and true God Do not tell me what God a Man professeth to worship but what God he trusteth in that gives it the Name Whatsoever a Man trusteth in that he makes his God whether it be Gold and Silver or the Honours and pleasures of this World if he trusteth in these things he maketh them his God Let a Man but search and try himself and he will find something hath got a place in his Heart that he cannot part with for Christs sake He will be ready to say I cannot part with my House and Land with my Wife and Children and my Goods and Possessions because I have a Confidence in them and believe they will do me good and be a Defence for me I may trust in times of Peril that these things may do me good then Here is a Divine Adoration here is that trust that Confidence that all true Christians ought to have in the true God And this is placed in these Earthly things now wheresoever the trust and Confidence is placed in Transitory and Earthly perishing things these Men trust in transitory Gods Nothing so shewes that a Man makes the Lord his God as when he casts all his care on him and puts his whole trust in him when he makes a profession and acknowledgment of his dominion and greatness and of all his other Perfections that by his Wisdom he can procure for them all that is good and by his Power put off from them and secure them from Evil. When I make the Lord my trust and refuge and trust him for my God I chuse him before all the Gods of the Heathen and trust in him above all things under Heaven upon the Account of the profundity of his Wisdom and the Almightiness of his Power when a Man hath this sense upon him he will walk before the Lord with Resignation of Mind and be willing to be at Gods disposal and he will not only give up himself to God but he will hearken to him hear his Voice when he speaks to him God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last Days spoken to us by his Son But Where is his Son you will say He is in Heaven but though he is the High and Lofty one
that inhabits Eternity yet he dwells with meek humble and contrite Hearts that tremble at his word If I be one of the number of those that tremble at Gods word I have Gods promise that he will come Home to me and dwell with me It is well for thee if the over-ruling Power of God hath prevailed upon thee that thou canst be willing to be at Gods Disposal and say Lord What wouldst thou have me to do Therefore Friends I would advise you all in Love to your Souls that when God desires your Hearts that you would give them up to him that there he may delight to dwell and have his habitation Hearken to Gods Voice and have regard to his word which is a more sure word than any Man 's in the World There is a more sure word of Prophecy saith the Apostle unto which you will do well to take heed This will check you and reprove you when you do Evil and shew you wherein you have Transgressed and will encourage you and be a Comfort to you when you do that which is good This will make you wise to Salvation and throughly furnish you and give you understanding for every good work This word will tell you this you must not do lest you offend God and wound your Conscience and grieve the Holy Spirit this word will help you so to speak as to Administer Grace to the hearers such a one as hath regard to this word hath a Chaplain in his own Bosome That will direct and teach him how to stear his course and order his Conversation among Men and how to serve God acceptably This High Priests Lips will preserve knowledg even Jesus Christ The Righteous who speaks to us in his Word we can do nothing but by his Direction If you come to him to lead to you into all truth he will bring you the Father reconcile you to him that you may obtain his Favour and Everlasting Life when one of Christs Disciples said Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Jesus saith unto him He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And How sayest thou then shew us the Father If you subject your selves to Christ and to the Government of his Spirit he will bring you to that Life and Immortality that fadeth not away This hath been our Labour and Travel from time to time to Preach Christ among you and not to Preach our selves and gather a Church for our selves but to gather a People in to Christ who is Lord of Heaven and Earth We would Preach Christ Jesus the Lord we would not have you Admire Mens words and sayings and charge your Memory with them But we would have you remember the words and sayings of Christ who is the great Mediatour to reconcile Man again to God that you may know him by his Power working effectually in your hearts we Labour for nothing else and we want nothing else We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Christs stead be ye Reconciled to God That you may so Live that whether you Eat and Drink or whatsoever you do you may do all to the Glory of God your great Creatour that hath given his Son to Die for you and Redeem you from all Iniquity that you might be a peculiar People zealous of all good Works Therefore let God have all the Honour and Glory for all his mercies and Blessings Let us render to him Hearty Praises and Thanksgivings for his wonderful Love and ackowledg that it is a great priviledg that we may obtain by Jesus Christ even to be brought again to the true knowledg of the living God which we lost by our Transgression His Prayer after Sermon GLorious art thou in thy Appearances O Lord and very wonderful is thy Power and thy ways past finding out And in this thy glorious Day thou art opening a way for the Sons and Daughters of Men to return to thee And O Lord those whose Eyes thou hast opened rejoyce and are Glad because they have seen the way of thy Salvations and the breathings of their Souls are that their Feet may be kept therein and that they may make straight steps in their way to thy kingdom And O Lord we are sensible that our strength and our Power and our Ability is only in thee and therefore are the Souls of thy Children bowed and subjected to thee Waiting for the Renewing of thy Power that as our Temptations are renewed from Day to Day that thou wouldest make known thy Power in us that we may feel the stretching forth of thy hand to save thy little Ones out of the hands of the Destroyer And so Powerful God of life break forth more and more in thy Glory and make known thy Power in expelling the Clouds of darkness and ignorance and bring the Minds and Understandings of thy People to know thee more and more till they come to the blessed Inheritance among the Saints in Light Holy and Powerful Father break in upon thy People by thy Almighty Power and scatter the dark Clouds of Temptation and cause the light of Life to shine upon them thou that hast commanded the Light to shine out of darkness do thou shine into the Hearts of the Sons and Daughters of Men. Open their Hearts that they may receive thy Truth and make tender their hard Hearts that they may live to thee that Created them and give a comfortable Account to thee of their Thoughts Words and Actions and let them turn to thee before it be too late to repent them Powerful God of Life thy mercies and loving kindness do abound to a little Remnant that do believe in Christ and do trust in thy great Name Thou hast been with them in their fiery tryalls and tribulations and to this Day thou hast been the glory of our Assemblies and the joy of our meetings We are sensible of thy holy Power working in our Souls and of thy renewing thy love upon us All that want a full sense thereof that are seeking and crying after thee for it O let them be brâ—ught to a due sense of God O arise for the help and the Comfort of the Sorrowful the Sighing and the needy Soul pour forth the treasures of thy love upon them that follow hard after thee and breath for deliverance that so Powerful God of life praises may arise to thee for all thy mercies and abounding blessings for thy goodness and loving kindness bestowed upon us from time to time Most Powerful God of life and light let the Eye of thy Favour be turned upon this Land of our Nativity spare the inhabitants of this City and Nation that they may seek after thee let them know the weight of thy Hand upon them to bow them down to humility and brokenness of Heart Give them Repentancee for their Sins Living God of life display thy Power to all from the highest to the lowest among us and advance the kingdom of our