in the homage he exacts from his Creatures imitate the Deity they worship and centre in themselves in every thing they do or that they who serve an arbitrary Deity should expect to oblige and render him partial to their interest by the multitude of their services Hence arose the conceit that the divine favour and beneficence might be monopolized by certain persons was appropriated to particular places or annexed to the performance of peculiar Rites and happy they that had the secret of that Monopoly the mystery of engrossing the divine protection and care Hence every Family had its tutelar Gods and singular Rites and they changed the Shrine the Rite or the place when any ill success defeated their expectation Fugiuntque penates quisque suos sua cuique domus funesta videtur quia causa latet locus est in crimine notus Ovid. Met. l. 7. So Balaak repeated the Sacrifice and shifted the place in hopes at last to make the God he supplicated favourable to his request Numb 23.13 He said unto Balaam Come I pray thee with me unto another place and Curse me them from thence So the Syrians having fought unsuccessfully with the Israelites upon the Hills resolve to change the place and to have recourse to the Gods of the Vallies in hopes of better success 1 Kings 20.23 Their Gods are Gods of the Hills therefore they were stronger than we but let us fight against them in the plain and surely we shall be stronger than they Hence such who found by success that their interest in their Gods was great boasted this reward of their Superstition and trampled upon such who seem'd neglected of the Deity or greatly fallen from his favour and protection Whom God had forsaken either for their neglects of his service or for the arbitrariness of his own will casting them out of his protection they look'd upon as abandoned to neglect and contempt and cruel treatments If kindness were due to any it was only to those whom God distinguished by his Favours or who served him in the same manner with themselves and that kindness too was arbitrary and precarious as well as partial and ever gave place to the efforts of a narrow stingy and selfish Spirit Hence also the Spirit of Persecution became an ingredient of false Religion the Friends and Favourites of God as they thought themselves conceited they did him service in destroying his Enemies or at least that they had right to use as they pleased to crush and ruin those despicable Wretches who were reprobated and out-law'd and fallen from the protection and care of Heaven But Christianity teacheth us to serve God not as if he needed such service but for the reasonableness and excellency thereof because his service is perfect freedom and true Religion the perfection of Man. It teacheth us to seek our improvement and happiness in subjection to those laws of God which are the transcript of his most perfect and blessed nature and are design'd for the perfecting and felicitating ours and contains in them the true Elements the certain principles and necessary means of such felicity It teacheth us to consider God not as a respecter of persons but as God both of the Jews and Gentiles the universal Father of the whole Family of Heaven and Earth governing by the eternal measures of Wisdom and Goodness and by Laws that respect and provide for the welfare of the whole As the inexhaustible Fountain of Goodness ever communicating himself to all his Creatures according to their Capacities and requiring only such service as capacitates for the enjoyment of him It directeth us to seek the glory of God not in the triumphs of his Arbitrary Power but in the consummate effects of his infinite wisdom and goodness the perfection of his works and especially of that grace he hath bestowed on Men in the most perfect communication of himself to them which is life and happiness everlasting And as our God so our Religion is love Charity is the summ and substance of it generous goodness the most courteous gentleness the most perfect humanity the truest greatness of Mind and largeness of Heart are the genuine and excellent fruits thereof It obligeth us to consider our selves but as stones in the great building of God disposed by the wisdom of the Almighty Architect with regard to the whole Fabrick and that we become useless and insignificant by centring in our selves and minding only our own things without respect had to the common interest Rom. 12.3 4 5. Just as the members of the body are beautiful in conjunction and considerable in their operations conspiring to the common welfare for the Eye doth not see for it self but looks out for the whole Body and the hand is useless whilst it grasps to it self but its ministrations to the Body are necessary and excellent It obligeth us to account all the gifts of God as designed to render us useful to others not to make us glad and full of our selves In short the whole oeconomy of the Gospel travels with this design to better the Societies of Men and perfect the Communion of Saints to edify the Body of Christ in the Spirit of Love ruling in all its Members to render Believers of one Heart and one Soul as their God their Faith and their Hope their Profession Business and Interest are one that they may be one as the Father and his Son Jesus Christ by a Communication of the same excellent nature and communion in the same divine riches and treasures And the Christian thus instructed values himself and expects his approbation from God not by his enjoyments but by his usefulness not by the number of his talents but by the improvement he makes of them This is the true spirit of Christ's Religion and excellent proceed of his Kingdom the true Members whereof being by a right and lively Faith fixed upon a solid Foundation firmly perswaded of the mercy of God and of Eternal Life of the necessity of Holiness and the efficacy of the divine Assistance are built upon this Faith into a most excellent temper inform'd and govern'd by the spirit of sincerity and purity delighting in the spiritual worship of God united to him in filial trust and affection placing their Happiness and seeking their Interest not in the things of this World but those of a better pursuing them with tender and warm affections having their spirits enlarged by the knowledge of God and fill'd with generous goodness in imitation of the divine beneficence do seek their own felicity in the perfection and consummation of the Kingdom of God. For the effecting hereof Christ hath left with us the Record of his Doctrine and Life that we beholding therein the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 may be changed into the same Image from glory to glory by the spirit of the Lord. To minister hereunto is this Tract designed First By exhibiting the true Principles of Christian Doctrine levelled
ut jam tumens saeviens placaretur Caecil in Minut. Foelic And with the Philosophers themselves their most labour'd Discourses did not conclude strongly but inferred only a feeble hope and a disputable probability They proved Man capable of Immortal Happiness but a mind overgrown with corruption depress'd with guilt and a terrible dread of the Divine Majesty could not strongly conclude that God will finish that Capacity and confer so great a Blessing nay could scarce entertain a thought or desire of it God therefore sent his Son from Heaven that he might bring life and immortality to light to make a plain discovery of the important truths relating to Eternal Life and to make Faith of them in an easy and convincing method rational and sure in it self and yet aptly accommodated to the meanest understandings God hath pledged his veracity for the truth of what Jesus taught in this matter by the Miracles which he and his followers wrought and confirmed our Faith by raising him from the dead His Resurrection is a demonstration of the possibility and certainty of ours and a pledge of his coming to judge the World. And if we believe not we make God a Lyar because we receive not the Record that God gave of his Son and this is the record that God hath given to us Eternal Life and this life is in his Son 1 Joh. 5.11 12. Moreover the Declaration of the Divine Goodness and the propitiation and redemption through the bloud of Jesus by exciting our love of God and creating a hope in him do facilitate our Belief of this his gracious Promise how vast soever the contents of it be Thirdly It was also necessary in order to the restoring of true Religion to reveal and declare the object of Worship the true but to the generality of Mankind unknown God whom they served not at all or ignorantly worshipped The service of innumerable Patron deities as immediate superintendents of humane affairs had jostled out the service of the supream God who had no publick offices nor proper Rites appropriated to him and the worship of wrong objects alienated the minds of the Worshippers from the true one They served Creatures so much more than the Creator and gave his glory in such sort unto them that 't was impossible for understandings so anxiously superstitious and given to Idolatry strongly to intend the true Deity or to retain any tolerable knowledge of him The worship proper to God was rendered to Angels or Heavenly Intelligences and to the Sun Moon and Stars their reputed Seats or Temples to Aerial Spirits the Messengers and Ministers of the Celestial ones and to Baalim or the Cannonized Ghosts of departed men and such too according to the report of their own Writers whose Lives had nothing worthy of God in them And what was still worse the Spirits of darkness these Enemies of God and Man exacted divine honours from their ignorant Vassals who offered to them the dearest pledges of their Lives and Fortunes they sacrificed their Sons and Daughters unto Devils Psal 106.37 They served these with mournful barbarous cruel and unnatural Rites as authors of evil they atoned them that they might not hurt His ne noceant c. Arnob. adv gent. l. 7. or might drive evil from them Yea they pay'd their homage not only to intelligent beings but to Images and Shrines to inanimate and irrational Creatures to bruit Beasts and to the most vile and mischievous of them to Dogs Oppida tota canem venerantur c. Juvenal Sat. 15. and Serpents and Crocodiles Yea they superstitiously venerated every thing that look'd high or great or strange lofty Trees thick Groves and dark Grots great Rivers Lakes and Ponds were regarded as having Divinity in them Lucus frequens arboribus altissimis specus in magnam laxitatem excavatus animam quâdam Religionis suspicione percutient Magnorum fluminum capita veneramur Stagna quaedam vel opacitas vel immensa altitudo sacravit Senec. Epist 41. To such madness doth superstition indulged carry men to such reprobation of mind are they liable who depart from the spiritual service of God and by sensible objects of worship change his Glory into a Lye who first serve the Creature beside and then more than the Creator who is Blessed for ever Whilst the minds of men were thus debased with unworthy and distracted with various objects of worship God set up his memorial with the people of Israel and taught them to direct their worship aright to the Maker of all things the Possessor of Heaven and Earth Who also was the God that redeem'd them from Aegyptian Slavery by terrible wonders and a mighty power that appeared gloriously on Mount Sinai that went before them in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire that afterwards sat down between the Cherubims as on a Throne and dwelt in the Temple as in a Royal Palace the God and King of Israel The Laws he gave and the Rites he appointed them had this name intent to be signs and bands of unity between God and them to direct their worship to the true object and to restrain them from wandring after the Gods of the Nations that were round about them But as this remedy was appropriated to one people so neither did it effectually cure their Idolatry but they continued still fond of the way of the Heathen and made frequent Apostasies into it God therefore in the fullness of time sent out of his Bosom his Son That Eternal Word and Prince of Angels neither unbegotten like God nor created like Man who unites the Creator and the Creature and is the Mediator betwixt them as Philo describes him Phil. Jud. lib. de Haered rer divin This eternal Lord and Heir of all things who presided over the Israelites in the Cloudy Pillar who appeared to Moses and the Elders on the Mount burning with Fire who exhibited a glorious presence in the Tabernacle and Temple and delivered infallible Oracles from between the Cherubims he in the fullness of time tabernacled in our Flesh and dwelt among men as one of them and exhibited a more true and divine Sheckina or presence for his glory was as became the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Joh. 1.12 In him the Father was manifested and revealed by him who hath expresly commanded all men to repent of their Idolatry and to worship God only to direct their Prayers to God in Heaven and not to seek him in any symbol on Earth nor through any medium but that of his Eternal Son Heb. 1.3 Colos 2.9 Joh. 10.30 39. who is the brightness of his glory the express image of his person in whom the Godhead dwells the Father being in him and he in the Father so that the Father and he are one Right reason confesseth the Unity of God inasmuch as he being supream knows no equal and being All-sufficient needs no Partner and necessity of Existence can't
reasonably be affirm'd of more than one most perfect Essence But understandings depressed by sense and depraved by Worldly Lust first sought God in a Symbol and chain'd him to a place for the better resort to him on all emergencies And when they had framed in their imaginations a local God their Fancy multiplied Deities as their Superstition did Shrines and 't was a pleasure to think they had so many Patrons of their persons and affairs Gods to address themselves unto or to go before them upon all occasions This gross but pleasing delusion could not be sufficiently detected but by a light from Heaven God from thence revealing and asserting the perfection and unity of his Essence letting the World know assuredly that there is none beside him nor any other Image or Symbol of his Divinity but the Eternal Son who is the brightness of his Glory and never to be conceiv'd of without the Father nor any other Minister of his Providence worthy of divine honour but that the Holy Ghost the Author of all divine gifts is so being the Eternal Spirit of the Father and the Son. Upon this Basis he hath fixed the wandring minds of Men determined and directed their worship condemning the conceit of many Gods and many Lords or Mediators as false and wicked for that there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. This one God that made the World and all things therein is Lord of Heaven and Earth and dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is worshipped with Mens hands as though he needed any thing but he it is that giveth unto all Life and Breath and all things Acts 17.24 Fourthly To restore true Religion 't was necessary to redeem Men from their vain conversation received by tradition from their Fathers by setting them a perfect pattern of Life both to demonstrate what is the service agreeable to God and that such holy living is practicable by Man. False Religion was not only wrong in the object but also in the matter and instances of worship it lost the true God amongst the croud of lesser Deities and his true worship amongst the heap of childish and unprofitable Ceremonies Its Votaries were very busy and its service full of noisy labour of pomp and pageantry but the Rites some of them were unreasonable and foolish much below not only the Majesty of God but the dignity of Man others lewd or cruel magical and unnatural contrary to humanity a reproach and provocation to the Author of our Beings but singular symptoms of reprobate minds and badges of slavery to wicked Spirits And whilst their Gods were represented as Patrons of Vice and their most sacred mysteries were shameful works of darkness their Religion ingaged them in lewdness and inhumanity what could be expected in common conversation but such a deluge of wickedness as is described Rom. 1.29 filled with all unrighteousness fornication covetousness maliciousness envy murder deceit malignity void of Piety Charity Mercy Faith yea even of natural Affection This vain conversation was received by Tradition and confirmed by custom and better Examples were very rare and those extreamly defective and the Discourses of Philosophers whom the vulgar regarded as a few singular and odd men and suspected of Atheism were of little force against the torrent of custom in which themselves too were not a little involved Tradition Law and Custom had made Religion to consist in performing the wonted Rites but solid vertue as no part thereof but a needless and impracticable theory was abandoned to the speculation of the Learned Jesus therefore came to restore Religion not only by the light of Heavenly Doctrine but by the Lustre of a great Example His Life demonstrated wherein the Kingdom of God consists the Works that are acceptable and the Persons that are dear to him His Example exhibits an invincible conviction of the necessity the beauty and the practicableness of a holy Conversation of a Life wise and good and useful of a Spirit unbiass'd by the interests of the Flesh and the World deaf to their solicitations and unshaken by all their terrours He demonstrated to the World that the Servants of God must not be slothful or idle but busy Ministers of his Providence and Grace and be shewed too that their business did not consist in operose Ceremonies Bodily exercises In operosis Ceremoniis ritibus ad digitos tantum pertinentibus Lactant. or trivial Rites but in doing good and distributing the gifts of Heaven in watching over our selves and others in a persevering practice of Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety in charitable and humble ministrations unto men and a professed service and constant imitation of the true God. By his own Example and that of his immediate Followers as so many concurring Lights making a path to shine after them he described the way to Heaven and the enjoyment of God demonstrated beyond exception the necessity of holiness to the Vision of God and the possibility of that purity which qualifies for the enjoyment of him Lastly To the restauration of Religion and of Man 't was necessary to quicken those who were dead in trespasses and sins not only by a great Example but with a divine Principle and supernatural strength Instruction and Example were proper to awaken the understanding and to excite the Conscience but the Law in the Members is not so easily subjected to the Law in the Mind Inclination and Passion is too strong for the efforts of naked Reason beloved Lust and enslaving custom will not give place to wiser emulation so that this struggle between the Flesh and Spirit doth but demonstrate the power of corrupt inclination and the strength of vitious habit They who with the mind served i. e. approved and consented to the Law of God were still by reason of the Flesh subjected to the Law of Sin. Though the Conscience was awaken'd the Will was enslaved and whatever feeble desires and imperfect choice Rom. 7. an inlightened understanding might produce yet they that were accustomed to do evil could not find how to perform that which is good the good they would they did not but the evil they would not that they did Their judgment condemned their practice but though an awaken'd Conscience set the Man against himself yet inclination and custom mastered the judgment and carried all before them and held them in Captivity to Sin and thereby to the powers of darkness Under this wretched Slavery the generality of Mankind was insensible and harden'd but those that felt their yoke were nevertheless subjected to it and whilst they disputed about the origine of Sin submitted to the dominion of it They could not tell whether Man in his present state were the ruins of somewhat that had been great or whether his nature had only the Rudiments and Foundation of some greater excellencies
to be built upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Isid Osir 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simpl. in Epictet c. 34. whether there were two first Principles the one of good the other of evil which was the most ancient and universal opinion as Plutarch tells us or whence else those lapses and errours of the humane Soul should proceed whence it was that the brutish part had enslaved the rational and the sensitive appetite broke loose from the governing power They knew not the head of this over-flowing Nile but found themselves involved in the Inundation whilst their understandings reasoned tolerably well of Vertue their inclinations engaged them powerfully in Vice So that either despairing of liberty they tamely yielded to the torrent of inclination and custom or else with great perplexity but little success strove against the mighty stream and in so great a streight as was natural look'd up to God Plutar. de superstit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is the hope of Vertue but not the Patron of Sloth and Cowardize Although they sometimes magnified humane nature yet experience of their own infirmity at other times extorted this confession from them that a divine impulse was necessary to make a Man truly great and good Nunquam vir magnus sine divino afflatu Cicero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag Aur. Carm. and that there is something divine in holy men that informs and guides them Which differs but little from that of St. John 1 Ep. c. 2.20 Ye have an unction from the holy one and know all things But the knowledge of their remedy was not equal to the sense and pressure of their Disease they could cry out with St. Paul Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me but could not answer with him I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the Redeemer of the World who by a divine strength hath relieved the weakness of Man and by the law of the spirit of life Rom. 8.2 made them free from the law of sin and death The Sun of Righteousness just before his rising upon the benighted World had emitted some twilight Rayes into the darkness of it by raising up some eminent Philosophers Preachers of Righteousness to check the superstition and madness of the Priests and to scatter some rayes of knowledge among the people thereby to prepare the way to the Eternal Word who was to bring with him the treasures of divine Knowledge and Wisdom But when this glorious Sun was risen he not only shed a divine light but quickening heat and influence upon the benummed and frozen World. He revived the dead restored the languishing redeem'd the Captive and enabled Slaves to break off their Fetters Joh. 8.36 and those whom the Eternal Truth set at liberty were free indeed He plentifully poured out that Spirit that rested on himself even the Spirit of wisdom and understanding Isa 11.2 of counsel and might of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. By the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost he awaken'd the stupid World and called them into his Church an unconquerable never-failing Principle of Eternal Righteousness By the abounding of this grace he hath provided Rom. 5.21 that as sin hath reigned unto death so righteousness may now reign unto Eternal Life The Gospel preached in the demonstration of the Spirit made a speedy and wonderful reformation in the understandings tempers and lives of Men and yielded a most powerful conviction that God was both able and willing to restore his lost Image in them And all the treasures of this divine Spirit are promised to those that humbly ask and are willing to receive them The Conscience therefore awakened by the light of Truth is no longer amazed or distracted but confiding in the divine aids and strengthened with his Heavenly Grace pursues its conflict with the Flesh to a compleat Victory Every good motion is from the same Spirit of Truth and Grace which hath made such admirable Conquests over Ignorance and Lust and he that hath the same Principle in himself can't but have a good hope of the same blessed Fruits The Soul that feels a divine strength cannot but expect from the same Fountain a constant supply and thus united to God in the same design of restoring his Image and animated with the holy Spirit can't fail to master all opposition for greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World. This therefore is the Foundation on which Christs Kingdom of Righteousness and Grace is built viz. Faith establishing the heart by a full and certain perswasion of these Fundamental Points viz. That God is Reconciled and Pardon and gracious acceptance sure to returning Sinners That a future Judgment and Eternal Life and consequently the difference of moral good and evil are indisputably certain and unquestionable realities That there is but one God the Creator of all things and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the only object of worship and Fountain of Blessing whom we must glorify in and worship through as he blesseth us by the Eternal Word and Spirit That the true service of God consists in the imitation of him of which the Life of Jesus is our Pattern that such Holiness is indispensibly necessary certainly practicable and can never fail of the divine acceptance That the corruption of nature and the power of inclination and custom are infallibly conquerable by the grace of God and God most ready to prevent and follow us with his grace and that he will never fail to assist and prosper our endeavours till they are crowned with Everlasting Success This is the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon these fundamentals of religious Belief must the Superstructure of Holiness and Happiness be raised and built Now Christians even of the meanest Capacities believing Jesus to be the Son of God and receiving that account the Evangelists give of him have thereby most evident demonstration lively perswasion and certain knowledge of these fundamental truths such as the most learned Philosophers could not attain unto and the generality of the World were extreamly far from This Foundation being laid sure God having made Faith of these truths to all men in a most easy and certain way and most powerfully and solemnly attested them by the miraculous effusion and demonstration of the Spirit that which remains for restoring Religion and Man for perfecting the Kingdom of Christ is to build upon this holy Faith the true Image of God and Spirit of Holiness to pluck up those prejudices that debauched Mens minds the Sources and Tap-roots of false Religion and to inculcate those truths which contain the true Spirit and Genius of pure and undefil'd Religion With this design the Doctrine and Life of Jesus travail viz. to introduce amongst his Followers that excellency of Spirit that was in himself which is the true Image of God the glory and the perfection of Man. And as this spirit
obtains so his Kingdom comes with effect and when it shall rest universally upon his Followers then shall come salvation and strength the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ Rev. 12.10 c. 11.15 for the Kingdoms of the World shall become his and he shall reign for ever and ever This is the Summ and Accomplishment of all these glorious Prophecies concerning the Kingdom of the Messiah That the Knowledge of the Lord shall fill the Earth as the Waters cover the sea Isa 11.4 The plentiful effusion of this spirit upon the primitive Christians made them hope for the speedy accomplishment of these Predictions and speak of the perfection of Christ's Kingdom as near at hand But so great a Reformation was a work of time and Christ had foretold not only a failing of the spirit of Christianity but a reviving of the Kingdom of darkness an Apostasie from the Faith such a return of the ejected prejudices and depravation of Religion as should undermine the very Foundations 1 Tim. 4.1 c. and subject men again to the ignorant infidelity anxious Superstition abominable Idolatry and foolish Lusts of the benighted Pagans But that himself in due time will again set up his Kingdom and restore to his Followers 2 Tim. 1.7 the spirit of power of love and a sound mind make truth righteousness and peace to reign and so break the Empire of Satan that he shall never be able to erect it more In the mean while he hath left with us his Heavenly Doctrine and holy Life as an Antidote against those delusions which are the passages to and the very Sinews and Strength of Satan's Kingdom whether Pagan or Antichristian and powerfully to inculcate the contrary truths which constitute the genuine Spirit of Christianity building men up into the Image of God and into the Glorious Kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ First Sensuality and the Love of Sin is the inlet of errour the root and sap of false Religion but Purity and the Love of Righteousness inculcated in the Doctrine and Life of Jesus is the Friend of Truth and Wisdom and the way to be filled with the knowledge of God. They who love their Lusts cannot love the truth that is contrary to them nor endure the light that discovers their vile deformities An impure mind is unmeet to receive the knowledge of a pure and holy God and a guilty mind cannot bear it The effect of such knowledge upon impure spirits is dread and that quickly converts into Superstition For a guilty Conscience like a drowning man that catches hold of every twig embraces every expedient offered to compound with an offended God and will do any thing to please save only the rendring that holy obedience that he requires of him If atonement may be made by Sacrifice the Altars shall flame and smoke continually their Flocks and Herds be all devoted they will make if possible Rivers of Oyl to run from the Sacrifices yea they will not spare their own Bowels but give the fruit of their body Mich. 6.6 an expiation for the sin of their Soul. They will not fail to build Temples and adorn Shrines nor to visit them devoutly nor think much of a costly and painful devotion if they may have but hope to fatisfy God for the arrears they are in to his Justice And when they have labour'd it hard they begin to hope it may do and that God will surely be pleas'd that they have done so much to gain his favour 2 Thess 2.11 And just it is with God to send them strong delusion and give them over to the belief of lies who loved not the truth nor were obedient to it But the Spirit of Obedience is the Spirit of Children to be followers of God makes us dear to him and the doers of his will shall know the Doctrine this is the Lesson which Christ inculcates A pure mind hath a lively perception of truth is very apprehensive of Errours dishonourable to God and that deface his Image and such purity it is that the Doctrine and Life of Jesus travel to produce all Knowledge is of no further value than as ministring to proceeding from or accompanied with it All the Sacrifices of the wicked are declared an abomination but the delight of God is in those that love him and do his Commandments for they shall be loved of God he will manifest himself unto Joh. 14.21 22 23. and make his abode with them Secondly Sense and Imagination Fondness for external shew and pomp is the way of Superstition and false Religion but the love of spiritual worship and a rational service is the spirit of Christ and that way of his Kingdom God is a Spirit and chiefly to be worshipped with ours And although so long as we are cloathed with Flesh our Religion must have a Body as well as Soul yet by an uninstructed fondness for the Bodily part Men have ever departed from God into dotage and superstition and rendred themselves a prey to the powers of darkness This is the mistake of the vulgar especially or of Souls as mean and unimproved as theirs though hang'd with better trappings By this fondness for representation pomp and solemnity the Patriarchal Rites which were few and grave grew up at length into a theatrical and magnificent Religion that required a great Ministry and a huge body of Rubricks for the exact performance of it For now the height and magnitude and shape of the Altar the number of its steps and horns and innumerable things of like sort entred into Religion and exercised the servile Superstition of the Worshipper At this door came in Images with all their train of Foppish and Idolatrous Ceremonies and became stumbling blocks to the souls of men and snares to the feet of the unwise the singular diligence of the Artificer helping forward the ignorant to more superstition This devising of Idols was the beginning of spiritual Fornication the invention of them the corruption of life Wisd 14. The proneness of the Jews to revolt unto the way of the Heathen the fondness of those that became Christians for their old Rites whether of Paganism or Judaism the great multitude of these early obtaining in the Christian Church together with the necessity that the Apostles and first Reformers found of indulging for a time the accustomed Rites and Ceremonies these are convincing demonstrations of the power of this Childish fondness for somewhat sensible and pompous in Religion and of the danger of falling into false Religion by multiplying Rites to the subverting of spiritual worship or laying the stress of Religion on such bodily service But Christianity teacheth a spiritual worship and rational service viz. that of the Mind illuminated with true Knowledge and quickned with a lively sense of God and referring all unto him And the very bodily part is either the spiritual Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise or the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments
for spiritual ends and purposes for the help of Faith Devotion and Resolution and the more effectual uniting the heart unto God in fervent love in thankful and dutiful affection Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost for he that in these things serveth Christ is accepted of God and approved of men But he that has a mighty opinion of bodily labour that values a Ceremony before a Vertue his opinion about a Rite before Charity or Peace that acts his fancy more than his understanding is more nice and curious about the bodily than the spiritual part of worship such an one is departed from the genuine spirit of Christianity entred in at the gate of Superstition in danger of all the extravagance and dotage thereof and thereby of Apostatizing into the Kingdom of darkness Thirdly 2 Tim. 1.7 A dark and servile dread of God is the temper and spirit of false Religion but the Spirit of Christianity is light and love and a sound mind When Men become alienated from God by wicked works and serve him chiefly with their vain imaginations then they lose the true and amiable notion of him they consider him only as terrible and dreadful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarc de superst who is the supream good and only happiness of his creatures They conceive of him altogether as arbitrary power who is Eternal mind and wisdom and the glory and perfection of whose nature it is that as he can do whatever he will so he can will nothing but what is wise and good The Dreams of such dark and timorous minds are very frightful wild and extravagant they worship the Idol of their own brains express their own ill nature and disturbed imaginations in that worship which should be a confession of the excellency and perfection of the Deity Hence Men came to place Religion in solemn darkness in cloud and mystery venerable because hidden or unintelligible Rites obscure Oracles sacred Paradoxes and Arks and Clefts full of divine and wonderful secrets of which the Priest and the Devil taking advantage made themselves absolute Masters of the belief and reverence of the people and by these of their Estates and Fortunes But this is the Message which we have heard of Christ 1 Joh. 1.5 that God is light and in him is no darkness at all That the Principles of his Service are Knowledge and Love and he regards not the Religion of those that worship they know not what nor why That we direct our Service and Obedience by what we clearly know of him and that the more we know the better we shall please him who will not be served with a blind submission nor with unintelligible mysteries but with our best understanding not with a servile Flattery and Court-like Address by many Intercessors with a ritual niceness or a pompous Pageantry or any such devices of ignorant and superstitious Minds but with purity of Heart and Life with a spirit of Love and of a sound Mind not with Terrour and Melancholy but with Hope and Alliance not with scruple and perplexity but generous Resolution not as an Arbitrary Tyrant but as a wise and loving Father Fourthly The Devil is the God of this World and the Spirit of errour is an earthly and secular one but the Kingdom of Christ is Heavenly and such is the spirit and genius of his Religion The love of the World and an inordinate estimate of the goods thereof was ever a mighty source of Superstition and Pillar of Satan's Empire With such Worldly-minded Men Interest is always more ponderous than Truth and that Religion best that most effectually provides for their temporal concerns To such secular Spirits 't was a very agreeable conceit to imagine that every business of theirs was under the especial care of some Patron Deity whose Rites if they carefully performed their affairs should succeed according to their wish The multitude of such Tutelar Gods for Cities Families and particular affairs the superstitious regard to Oracles and Prodigies the observation of times and all the Arts of divination and augury which made up the Pagan Superstition plainly shew the spirit of its Votaries viz. that their hopes and fortunes were Embarqued in this World and that they regarded the good and evil thereof as the sole reward of their labour or punishment of their negligence in Religion This principle the Idolatrous Jews plainly avowed to the Prophets Head when he expostulated with them concerning their sorsaking of God Jer. 44.17 that they would burn Incense to and serve the Queen of Heaven as their Fathers had done to good purpose for then they had plenty and saw no evil whereas since they had left off their service all things had gone to ruin Nor was this a vulgar conceit but the best defence the greatest Men among the Pagans could make for the worship of those many Lords Caecilius in Minut. Felic Orig. c. Cels l. 8. Jul. Ep. 51. that by their singular care the good things of life are distributed to men so Caecilius Celsus and the Emperour Julian defend the Cause of Daemon-worship It is also a mighty temptation unto Men to imagine that God must needs love such Riches Magnificence and Glory in his Service as they find themselves to be extreamly delighted withal that the long flourishing of a Religion is a demonstration of the truth of it and the misfortune and calamity of Men an argument against their way of serving God. Thus they are apt to conclude who mind Earthly things and over-rate the concerns of this Life and judge every petit affair thereof worthy of a divine decision But Christianity teacheth us to consider our selves as Strangers and Pilgrims here whose estate and interest doth not lye in sublunary things but in spiritual Promises and Immortal Hopes We are Citizens of Heaven and only travelling through this World thither Upon this our Heavenly Relation and Interest only we may value our selves and ought to love our Religion because it secures these to us and designs the improvement of our Spirits for the eternal Vision and Enjoyment of God. We are instructed therefore to have our affections very moderate and cool towards Earthly things but warm and tender towards Heavenly Objects This is the finishing Lesson and most excellent effect of the Christian Religion which is a Heavenly Philosophy and to make it truckle to the affairs of this Life or turn it into Maxims of secular Policy is the greatest abuse and subversion thereof Lastly The spirit and genius of false Religion is selfish narrow and stingy but that of Christianity Charitable and generous and large as the Kingdom and goodness of God. Superstition converts Religion into a private Commerce imagining God to gain by the service done him and expecting the return of that service only in personal and private Blessings And no wonder if they who conceive God to seek himself
that their credit might not need the support of an Oath This is the substance of our Saviour's Sermon in Matth. 5.20 to the 37 verse Farther he enjoins that his Disciples should excel in meekness and patient bearing of injuries not resisting evil but over-coming it with good That they should not violently impose their Religion on Men nor yet endeavour the destruction of such as with violence opposed it To call for Fire from Heaven on the Churches Enemies to kill extrajudicially a bold Seducer of the Brethren from true Religion were acts of holy zeal once commended and rewarded but Christians are required to be of another spirit Luke 9.55 And the son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them He calls his Followers to the most excellent heights of all vertue that they may shine as Lights before Men and become as the salt of the earth to season the manners of others and keep them from stinking corruption So that whereever his Religion should come it should produce many eminent lights and incomparable Examples and should have such a general influence as to render the Conversations of all more tolerable and savoury Such is the instruction contain'd in the preaching of Jesus exhibiting to us the true Principles of Christian Religion declaring the genuine spirit and temper of it He moreover asserted his own Authority and Mission from God to restore his true Religion and Worship he confirm'd the former Revelations and taught a just Reverence of them he reveal'd many things concerning the following state of his Church and promised farther information in those matters by the pouring out of his Spirit upon it But these are things foreign to our present business I shall therefore here shut up the first Chapter CHAP. II. The manner of Christ's teaching instructive to us how we ought to profess abett and maintain his Doctrine JEsus the great Prophet that was to come into the World did by his Preaching Inlighten the Darkness and dispel the gross prejudices of it he did moreover by the manner of declaring his Doctrine recommend it to our regard and instruct us how to profess and propugn it For first It is frequently taken Sect. 1 notice of by the Evangelists Matth. 7.29 Luk. 4.32 Mark 1.22 that he taught as one having Authority and not as the Scribes that the people were astonished at his Doctrine because he spake with Authority i. e. as became the Majesty of divine truth without affectation or artifice without ostentation of Wit or Eloquence not dealing in subtilties nor descanting upon the traditions of Elders or referring to the testimonies of famous Rabbies but he delivered plain and useful Instructions in a grave sincere and authoritative sort as a Messenger of God fully satisfied of the truth of what he spake and referring to the Conscience of his Auditors appealing to the Scriptures and demanding audience and credit for his works which proved his Mission from God. The things of God must be reverently handled his truth is a sacred depositum which as we must not be ashamed to own so we must not triflingly expose 'T is too great and noble a thing to be brought forth barely to entertain or divert the Company it carries its own Authority when solidly proposed and confirm'd by Sacred Writ but 't is enfeebled and diminish'd when dress'd with exquisite art as if it needed trimming or varnish It is profaned if we so blend it with Fancy Wit Eloquence or other small Arts that it serves only for an occasion of shewing our selves or that it appears not in its native beauty and majesty by reason of the spots and bedeckings that we bestow upon it to shew our art not to serve the Interest of the truth Religious truths are venerable they had their proper seat in the Conscience must be received thither with a full Conviction and rule there with a divine sway and we must endeavour to transmit and fasten them in the Conscience of others with all that Authority and venerable regard that they have or ought to have in our own Secondly It 's noted of Jesus that Sect. 2 he taught with becoming freedom and boldness his very Adversaries confessed he taught the way of God in truth not regarding the person of men Matth. 22.16 He conceal'd no necessary or useful truth for fear of offending He freely and sharply reproved the Scribes and Pharisees though the most potent Faction of greatest interest and repute He neither courted the people nor their Rulers he desisted not from refuting popular Errours though they more than once took up stones to cast at him nor was discouraged when he was told that Herod sought to kill him Go ye saith he and tell that fox that I cast out devils and do cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfected Luk. 13.31 There was nothing more offensive to the Jews than his healing on the Sabbath days and the Pharisees who were exceedingly Superstitious in that point watched him with an evil Eye yet he cured the sick in their presence and confounded their superstition with his free discourse upon that subject Is it not lawful to do good on the Sabbath days and which of you having an Ox or an Ass fallen into a Pit will not streightway pull him out on the Sabbath day Luk. 14.1 5. Thus he taught us sincerely and freely to profess necessary and useful truth and boldly to refute Errour and reprove Vice not to hold the truth with respect of persons nor in the just defence of it to fear the Faces of Men. Yet thirdly Jesus taught with Sect. 3 great Wisdom and Prudence taking fit seasons and accommodating himself to the needs and Capacities of Men. By familiar and apt Parables from things well known he did instruct the vulgar and at the same time did escape from the insidious and captious did pass by the obstinate and untreatable leaving them in their blindness or he shut their Mouths and defeated their Snares He pointed and barb'd an Arrow which flew more directly and stuck the faster in their Consciences for the Parable it was winged with Such was the Parable of the two Sons whom their Father commanded to work in his Vineyard representing the inexcusable obstinacy and impenitency of the Pharisees and that of the Husbandmen miserably destroy'd for refusing to their Lord the fruits of his Vineyard for killing his Servants and at last his Son whom he sent to reclaim them for they themselves confessed the justice of the proceed against those wicked Men and therein past Sentence on themselves even whilst they knew that he had spoken these Parables of them Matth. 21.41 45. With like Wisdom he defeated their captious questions and put them to silence with his Interrogatories Thus he asserted the Rights of God and the King and yet avoided the snare of the Herodians when they asked him concerning paying tribute to Caesar Matth. 22.21 So he asserted his own Divinity
the glory of the Gentâ—â—… and whom the Seas and Wind and ll things obey'd he having all Power in Heaven and Earth What can we possess of comparable value to all this or what can we contrive or bring to pass comparable to the undertaking of Christ and the great design of his Doctrine and Miracles of his Life and Death But we have much more reason to be humble for whereas the great indowments of Jesus were not blemish'd with any fault of his we have nothing but folly and shame to call our own Repentance is our best Wisdom and that is a conviction of Sin and Folly and yet we are unsteady in our Repentance and frequently depart from our better purposes and have reason to blush and be humbled for so doing Besides it was the Wisdom and Perfection of Jesus that kept him from being cheated or imposing on himself Pride is all errour and delusion but humility is truth 'T was humility that made all his other excellencies illustrious and render'd him at once highly beloved of God and Men. And from his Example we learn that he that humbleth himself shall be exalted for we see Jesus for his humility exalted to the right hand of God and Crown'd with glory and honour Lastly As for particular relative Sect. 6 Virtues Christ indeed did not enter into all Relations but his Example was sufficiently compleat without it He intended us a pattern in special of the most eminent Virtues and most difficult to our frail and corrupt natures of substantial and zealous Piety universal and fervent Charity generous contempt of the World invincible Fortitude and gentle and self-denying Meekness and Humility and he that follows him thus far will need no farther instruction but may easily become his own guide He in whom Christ is thus formed will certainly adorn every relation and excel in it 'T will be natural and easy for him to conceive what the holy and charitable the meek and lowly Jesus would have done in such circumstances if he had entred into them and then he hath his pattern to go and do likewise Nor yet are we without the Example of Jesus for our direction in several instances of this sort His subjection to his Parents is upon record and his tender care of his Mother even in his last extremities making provision for her on the Cross by recommending her to the care of his beloved Disciple Joh. 19.27 His quiet subjection to Governours when unjustly prosecuted by them His pious care for the instruction of his Family and training them up in Religion and Piety But as I said before he that hath received the Spirit of Christ will not fail to express it in every condition and he that acts by the measures of Piety and Charity Purity and Humility shall discharge himself of the duty of every relation and be a true Follower of Jesus in it This therefore may suffice for an extract of the Life of Christ as a perfect unparallel'd pattern of all Holiness Virtue and Goodness that which follows is That we apply the Light of this Illustrious Example for our instruction in the absolute necessity genuine nature due extent and admirable excellency of true Holiness and the Christian Life CHAP. IV. The particular instruction we reap from the Life of Christ THE Life of Jesus consider'd as Sect. 1 our Example doth fully inform and perswade us First Of the absolute necessity of holiness in order to the Vision of God and that the undertaking of Christ for us will no farther avail us than as we are made partakers of his Spirit and do copy out the Excellencies of his Life 'T was a design worthy of the Son of God to plant and restore Holiness in the World by his Doctrine and Example by his Life and Death by all that he said and did to minister instruction and help thereunto and to bind it upon us with such sacred Obligations and fast ties as are not easily to be broken It is true that Holiness in general that Piety Justice Charity Sobriety in particular do attract us with their native Beauty and proper lustre we can't but discern the necessity of these Virtues to the perfection of our nature to the attainment of Peace and Happiness to the good and welfare of Society and to the rendring us capable of injoying God. But because the voice of reason is too faint and low and its representations too languid and feeble to be much regarded in the croud and noise of impetuous Lusts and Passions and authority example and custom false notions and prejudices and levity of mind oppose themselves strongly to the dictates of Conscience and endeavour to hide the shame and abate the folly and absurdity of Vice Behold therefore God hath spoken from Heaven to awaken our drowsy Faculties and sent his Son to shew us the only way thither We may now be infinitely certain that there is no entring into the glory of God by any other path than that which Jesus walk'd in that we can become the Children of his love no other way than by being conformed to the Image of his dear Son that we are not capable in this life of any greater good than to have Christ formed in us for this was God's ultimate design in giving his Son to us that we through him might be made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.3 What a veneration for Religion and love of Holiness should this consideration beget in us that it is the best thing we are capable of the sum of all God's merciful and kind intentions towards us that best of Gifts which the charitable Jesus by his Incarnation Life Death Resurrection Ascension by all that he hath done or shall do for us to the end of time doth aim to bestow upon us to indow us withal What a foolish and wretched judgment do we then make if in opposition to the Wisdom and goodness of God we prefer Lust and Folly and sensual delights What divine Light and Grace do we resist and despise if we still abide in darkness continue in sin And how foolish false and insignificant are all our pretences to be Christians whilst we are led by another spirit than that of Christ and follow any Example sooner than his For this is to reflect upon the Wisdom of God and to despise his Grace to reject his counsel for our Salvation and to judge our selves unworthy of Eternal Life Secondly From the Life of Christ Sect. 2 consider'd as our Copy and pattern we are infallibly informed wherein pure and undefiled Religion doth consist or what are the things undoubtedly pleasing unto God. The Life of Christ was designed to be a perfect and unerring Example such as the World needed but never had before nor should receive again There can therefore be no heights nor degrees of perfect goodness which his Life was a stranger to But from his practice we learn what are the things most agreeable to the mind of God
most powerfully and indispensably to be followers of him in the Excellencies of his Spirit and of his Conversation God gave his Son to be the Light of the World not only by the Introduction of more excellent Rules of Life but also by the lustre of a great Example and his purpose and decree was that we might thereby be conform'd to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many brethren Rom. 8.29 Therefore Jesus hath commanded us to learn of him Matth. 11.29 and he that saith he abideth in him ought himself to walk as he also walked 1 Joh. 2.6 the sum of our Christian Profession and Duty is to put on Christ Rom. 13.14 i. e. to imitate the whole Body of his Sanctity to bear the Image of the Heavenly to resemble our Lord and Master in the Excellencies of his Spirit and in the actions of his holy Life And this was the end not only of his Life but his Death too he suffer'd for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 His Blood was the expiation of our Sin but his Death too was a great Example of Self-denial and Charity of Constancy in the truth of resignation to God of Patience and Meekness and other suffering Graces and the design was to reconcile our wills as well as our Persons to his heavenly Father 'T is of great use to us to have a living Rule an unerring Pattern of the divine and happy Life Such a Perfect Exemplar the World wanted all that had gone before having been blurred and blotted the best of Men were Examples of Vice as well as Virtue and the Precepts of wise Men though short of perfection were held for impracticable because they themselves lived not as they taught the Wisdom of their Discourses serving but to reproach the folly of their actions Nor could Virtue plant and support it self by Philosophy and argumentation whilst Vice had got the reputation of custom and the advantage of mighty Examples God therefore sent his Son from Heaven to redeem men from their vain conversation received by tradition confirmed by the custom of their Fathers not only by laying down Rules and Precepts of a Divine Life and holy Conversation but by setting a perfect amiable and inviting pattern of it Now he that hath vouchsafed us so great a grace hath obliged us to use it and he that gave the Example wills us to follow it Beside since the Life of Christ is but the transcript of his holy Precepts our imitation is obedience and duty and if we neglect to walk as he walked we at once renounce his authority and despise his grace and frustrate the design of his undertaking for us But secondly The obligation of so Sect. 2 great an Example is not greater than the energy and assistance of it So that if we but look unto Jesus and consider his Life it will by a holy influence and efficacy assist to the conducting of ours For besides the general advantage of an Example which is ever more prevalent than Precept that of Jesus hath a singular influence and eminent advantage to recommend and assist Piety and Goodness For First In it the whole circle of our duty is represented as possible and easy and suitable to our Life and State. Jesus so conversed with Men that they after his Example might converse with one another He propounded himself to our imitation as a Man of the same mould with our selves in a Conversation fitted to our circumstances and complying with the weakness and necessities of our state His Life was Natural Easy Innocent Useful well consistent with humane Society and greatly advancing it We can't indeed arrive at his spotless Purity but we may Copy out his Integrity his Constancy his fervent Devotion and industrious Charity he hath shewn us by his Example that his Yoke is easy and his Commandments are not grievous The Life he led approves it self to our Reason and Judgment as fit for us and therefore practicable by us It is not a Life of transports and prodigious Sallies there wants nothing but a reasonable resolution and holy prudence to make us followers of him and he hath promis'd his Spirit to supply that to us and therefore hath in all things chalk'd out a way for us proportion'd to our strength complying with our needs and suitable to our Capacities Secondly In the Life of Jesus we discern the Beauty of Holiness to attract and invite our love and pursuit of it How lovely and with what majestick Beauty did his Innocence and Goodness shine How magnificent and generous did his Charity and his unshaken resolution how amiable decorous and inviting did his whole Conversation appear With what assurance of Mind serenity of affections greatness of Spirit did he discourse and act enjoy and suffer pursue all his designs and bear all that befel him Who can consider his demean in the hardest circumstances even when oppos'd revil'd and persecuted and would not wish to be in his case and do as he did who acquitted himself so well in every point and enjoy'd so much of God in every Lot Instructions may gain the understanding but such an Example possesseth our choice and affections and draws the whole Man to follow willingly in those ways that appear on all sides so beautiful and pleasant Thirdly Every difficulty in our way is easily removed or conquer'd by looking unto Jesus Pride and backwardness to condescend must needs be ashamed and blush and vanish when we consider Jesus the Son of God in the form of a Servant ministring to the needs of all Men and humbling himself to the Death of the Cross Impatience at affronts or injuries will no longer seem reasonable or tolerable than till you look unto the meek and patient Jesus and see him unmoved at the greatest Calumnies and Insolencies praying and dying for the most outragious Enemies We shall cease to complain and repine under our hard fortune when we bethink our selves that we are Sinners and that Jesus who was free from Sin bore with perfect submission those heavy and grievous loads which God laid on him by reason of ours The timorous and bashful the faint-hearted must be confounded or else inspired with vigorous resolution if they but cast their Eye upon Jesus standing before the Chief Priest witnessing a good Confession before Pontius Pilate hazarding his Life frequently in publishing the truth and shedding his Blood willingly for the confirmation of it For in all this we are to consider that it is pride and mistake of our selves that creates the difficulty of doing or suffering the will of God we have reason we think to resent affronts or to deny such condescensions or to complain or to shift for our selves and to be excused from hazardous employment And yet Jesus who was the most perfect and excellent the best of Men and the Son of God served God without reserve resign'd himself to him without conditions