his own Graces to us and derive certain measures of the same holy Spirit upon us which himself as man had without measure because in him the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily Why should it be thought strange that this holy Spirit that united GOD and Man in one Person should as really unite us to our own Nature in CHRIST the Body to the Head the Branches to the Vine and make him dwell in us and us in him him one with us and us with him as the Scripture speaks If any man think our Union with CRIST to be merely Political that is no more than you may conceive between King Bramble in the Parable and the rest of the Trees his Subjects he is in a very novel and gross mistake To which I shall at present only oppose the words of two or three sound Divines of our own Church Though the Holy Ghost doth work Faith and other Graces in our Souls yet he doth not by these unite our Souls or Spirits immediately to himself but unto CHRISTS Humane Nature So the profound Dr. Jackson CHRIST is as truly united to me and I to him as my arm is united and knit to my shoulder So the Judicious Hooker in plain English By the influence of his present life CHRIST undergoes as it were a second Incarnation living and dwelling in our hearts by his Grace and reigning powerfully in our souls by Faith So the Learned Chillingworth to add no more So that upon the whole matter the sum of our Ambassy is this That JESUS CHRIST is both the Author and finisher of our Faith that he hath solemnly promis'd to give his holy Spirit to them that ask him that if men be not wanting to themselves but resign their hearts to his Conduct nay if they don't forcibly resist him and quench the holy flames he kindles in their Souls through his Servants Ministry he will make them real partakers of the Grace of CHRIST by working in them a firm Hope fervent Love pure Conscience clean Heart sober Mind chast Body pious Soul holy Life and first and last a true Faith in JESUS CHRIST without which it is impossible to please or to be reconciled to GOD. And if these things be so I cannot but animadvert a while upon those false Apostles and deceitful Workers who instead of building are ever pecking at the Foundation of our Faith with their Axes and Hammers in great Blasphemies and lesser Criticisms to change the old sound word of Reconciliation for new Ideas and devices of their own and other mens Brains That would supplant Christian Religion with Natural Theologie and turn the Grace of God into a wanton Notion of Morality that impiously deny both the Lord that bought them and his Holy Spirit that should seal them to the day of Redemption making Reason Reason Reason their only Trinity and sole Standard whereby to measure both the Principles and Conclusions of Faith that preach up Natural and Moral Religion without the Grace of God and Faith in Christ which is at best beginning at the wrong end and making Superstructures without a Foundation For the Jew cannot be saved by the Law of Moses much less the Gentile by all the Works of the Law of Nature which unless actuated by a lively Faith are no better than the cutting off a Dogs neck or the Sacrifice of a Fool. A Truth that Socrates himself in an ancient Dialogue ascribed to Plato makes no scruple to consent unto when he says ingenuously that no man can be good and vertuous by Nature Art Discipline Example or any other manner of way but only by Divine Inspiration So far do they out-strip a very Heathen that teach a good Life will carry men to Heaven though they be Jews Turks Antichristians or never such damnable Hereticks in point of Faith If any such as these be crept in among us unawares I am sure there is as much need of a Test for them how slily soever they carry it by amusing the World with other fears as for the rankest Errour in all the Pope's Dominions And I beseech you Brethren in our LORD beware of them Ye shall know them by their Fruits as He Himself foretels you He does not mean the Fruits of their Lives for they are the closest of all other Hypocrites they go demurely in Sheeps clothing too But the Fruits and Consequents of their Doctrine which are dismal enough one would think to make themselves afraid as Moses was of his own Rod turn'd into a Serpent For they are such as these That there is no such thing as supernatural Grace That CHRIST dyed in vain That ye are yet in your sins and every man must be his own Saviour or he is damn'd for ever From which Good LORD deliver us and GOD grant that by the Wisdom and Vigilance of the Defender of our Faith and his Prelates under Him no such Foreign Poyson may be privily conveighed through Press or Pulpit into our Church That those black-mouth'd Authors bearing date from Irenopolis may receive so timely and publick a check as that we shall not need to fear their growing the only Divines in Vogue by the next Age That we may never live to see our Youth trained up in the Cracovian Catechism never live to hear our selves called by any other New Name but that of GOD'S own giving That as the Disciples were first called at Antioch so they may be last called CHRISTIANS here in England And now I come to the third and last part of my Text The manner of the true Ambassadors Address in those words As though GOD did beseech you by us We pray you in CHRIST'S stead Which is first modest and humble We pray and beseech Let those Haughty Polish Envoys swagger themselves and others out of their Creed Let the Disciplinarian Agents Reprobate all the World but their own private Elect Let the Pope's Legates à Latere Lord it over mens Estates and Consciences let Them will and require all upon pain of Damnation to put their necks under his feet who in the Pride of his heart writes himself Servus Servorum that is in the Vulgar Translation Lord of lords As for us we have no such Message we have not so learned Christ We only pray you as men for whom CHRIST died quit your selves like men and fly to Mercy speedily lest you fall into the hands of Justice by letting your Sun go down upon the Wrath of God You have all a merciful Saviour who never did never will refuse a sincere Penitent if you will take his own word for it Him that cometh unto me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will in no wise by no means cast out We beseech you as Christians who have not only heard there is a Holy Ghost but are baptized into the name of the Eternal TRINITY have often tasted of the heavenly Gifts and Powers of the World to come We beseech you let the love of CHRIST constrain you to improve the
Talent put into your hand and suffer his Holy Spirit to blow up those sparks of Grace ye have covered o're with ashes in your hearts O let not that Blessed Comforter depart finally from you for the World as he did from Saul for then an Evil Spirit will soon possess and vex and send you to Endor But if ye have neglected his Grace and fallen into sin as who can plead Not-guilty Who can tell how oft he offendeth implore his assistance heartily wait his approach humbly and attend his motions earnestly and he will raise you again to Newness of Life he will bring you fresh Auxiliaries from your glorified Saviour and in due time unite you so firmly unto Him that your sins shall be chargeable only upon Him His Merits put on your Accompt and sufficient Vertue shall go out of Him to cleanse you from all Unrighteousness 2. And lastly be their Address never so humble it runs in a more then Humane stile for We pray you in CHRIST'S stead and however you put us off till a a more convenient season Yet as the voice from Heaven said hear HIM HIM that once took the Curse of God upon him for you and is ever at his right hand interceding for his Blessings on you HIM to whom all power is committed both in Heaven and Earth who even as Son of Man is now Lord of Angels Lord of all The Requests of Kings have been used to go for Commands with dutiful Subjects And when the KING OF KINGS prays and begs but one thing of you can ye possibly deny Him Sure no Man can be so much a Monster no Gentleman so much a Jew We pray you in Christ's stead What shall I say more Yes not only the glorified Son of Man but GOD himself doth beseech you by us too Wonder not that he speaks to you by men of like-passions with your selves unless you wonder at his infinite Mercy For ye can neither see nor hear HIM and live one glimpse ye know even of CHRIST'S glorious Body struck Saul to the ground blind and half dead Speak Thou with us said Israel to Moses and let not GOD speak with us lest we Die. Besides it is GOD'S Prerogative alone to shew his own Strength by the most weak Instruments It was not a man of mean Person and Presence and then a Prisoner at the Bar too that made the stout Felix shake and tremble It was not Elijah's word a silly plain Prophet that fell like Thunder upon the great guilty Ahab and struck a Palsie into his Joynts and forc'd him to his Sackcloth and Ashes but the Word of the Living God which if as soft Fire it cannot melt like a strong Hammer oft breaks the Rocky Heart in pieces The same GOD doth not now thunder and threaten but pray and beseech you by us Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth The Almighty Creator becomes as it were an humble Petitioner to his own Creature and to shew he is in good earnest because he could not swear by a greater he hath sworn by himself upon his own Life and Honour As I live saith the LORD I will not the death of a sinner Who can despise such ardent Love Who can spurn at such infinite tender Bowels Who can resist that still small Voyce the secret but piercing and importunate whispers of his Holy SPIRIT in your hearts which the Tongue of Men and Angels cannot express no nor all the powers of Men and Devils without your own consent render ineffectual And what doth the Lord thy God thus require nay request and beseech of thee O Man If he had bid thee do some great thing to cure thy natural Leprosie wouldst thou not have done it How much rather then when he saith unto thee only wash in the blood of the Covenant and he clean Only be reconciled be hearty friends with thy God make what returns thou canst of his wonderful Love Indeed the tinckling of three little Bells in a Country Steeple and the Peasants flocking to the Towns end and crying GOD SAVE THE KING adds not much to the Majesty of a Potent Monarch yet as that great Preacher and Prelate observes it is all they can do it shews their honest love and hearty affections and so sounds well and pleases the Royal ear Much more will your merciful God accept the will for the deed And let but men husband their proportion of Grace as well as they can let them but shew their integrity of heart and earnest desires and then do their faithful endeavours to serve love and honour Him and he asks no more being ready to supply all their defects and imperfections out of the inexhaustible Fountain of CHRISTS Righteousness This is all that God doth beseech you by us and if any man will deny him this he must needs confess his Damnation is just which GOD forbid and I have done For we are Ambassadors for CHRIST as though GOD the HOLY GHOST did beseech you by us We pray you in CHRIST GOD THE SON'S stead be ye reconciled to GOD THE FATHER To which Eternal TRINITY ONE GOD be the Eternal Kingdom Power and Glory AMEN FINIS A Catalogue of some Sermons c. printed for and sold by Henry Brome since the dreadful Fire of London to 1675. A Guide to Eternity by John Bona useful for Families and fit to be given at Funerals Dean W. Lloyd's Sermon before the King about Miracles 6 d. His Sermon at the Funeral of John Lord Bishop of Chester 6 d. His Sermon before the King in Lent 1673. 6 d. The Seasonable Discourse against Popery in quarto 6 d. The Defence of it quarto 6 d. The Difference betwixt the Church and Court of Rome in quarto 6 d. The Papists Apology to the Parliament answered 6 d. Mr. Naylor's Commemoration Sermon for the Honorable Col. Cavendish 6 d. Mr. Sayers Sermon at the Assizes at Reading 6 d. Mr. Tho. Tanner's Sermon to the scattered Members of the Church 6 d. Mr. Stanhop's four Sermons on several Occasions octavo bound 1 s. 6 d. Papal Tyranny as it was exercised over England for some Ages with two Sermons on the fifth 〈◊〉 November by Dr. Du Moulin in quarto 1 s. 6 d. His Sermon at the Funeral of Dr. Turner Dean of Canterbury 6 d. Bishop Lany's last Sermon preached before the King against Comprehension Principles and Duties of Natural Religion By John Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester Mr. Farindon's 130 Sermons in Folio
suffer shame and be Nick-named Fops Formalists and Thinking-Fools by men of the same spirit with them that said the Son of GOD himself had a Devil But yet these Hero's might remember in their cold blood and sober intervals if they have any that as it is against the Law of Nations to cast dirt upon and offer indignities to an Ambassador so the affront aims chiefly at his Prince and such as despise them despise him that sent them who will in due time redeem his own Honour and pay them that they have deserved Mean while we 'll be reveng'd of them too but only in our Churches Prayer and God speed it well that it may please him to forgive our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and to turn their hearts But 2. You need not fear the Sons of Levi should take too much upon them in this high Title if you consider their more special Character as they are Ambassadors for CHRIST A King indeed but one whose Kingdom was not of this World Who never used more secular Pomp in all his life but once riding into Jerusalem upon an Asses Colt A King indeed but his Courtiers poor Fishermen and Publicans his Scepter a Reed his Crown made of Thorns and his Throne an ignominious Cross And his Disciples are not greater than their Lord they pretend not to dispose of Crowns and Kingdoms let Him at Rome answer for that who says we know by what Right and Precedent All these will I give thee They claim no Secular Honours or Priviledges but what they owe to the pious Bounty of Christian Princes who are graciously pleas'd to treat them as Prophets and shall therefore receive a Prophets reward Their power says a Learned man is armed only with a spiritual Sword the wounds whereof are little felt or dreaded in this World supported mostly with a mean temporal Fortune yet it has stood hitherto against all Opposition and shall stand for ever But whether they meet with Friends or Foes Love or Hatred Frowns or Favours here they are sure of a Reward most glorious hereafter if they can but give their Master who is since declared King of kings a good account of their great Errand and Business here on Earth Which leads me to the second thing considerable The subject matter sum and purport of their Ambassy in those words Be ye reconciled unto God Reconciliation imports a returning into Favour and Friendship after a former Enmity or Falling-out between Parties Now though man be the sole Party offending that made the breach by sin his own voluntary act yet God hath been graciously reconciled to Him ever since the hour of CHRISTS death which he accepted as a full and perfect satisfaction for the sins of the whole World All the difficulty is which so many Ambassadors are daily sent about to prevail with man to be reconciled to God Reconciled Surely that must be an hard saying clogg'd with some impossible Condition that makes men start so at fly from and not endure to hear on 't Yes it is so for it requires them to do What shall I say to do just nothing in comparison rather to be passive as the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is and not hinder God from making them happy Yes it requires them to renounce their own Merits and that 's a mighty piece of Self-denial for wretched sinners that never had any and then cry Peccavi before they can obtain Mercy It lays that grievous burthen upon them to be Friends with God or rather to suffer God to be so far Lord of their Wills as to advance them like the great Abraham to be his bosom Friends and Favourites In a word and not to mince the matter there being no name under Heaven whereby we can be saved but the name of JESUS it requires us all to believe stedfastly in and depend wholly upon Him both for pardon of our sins and power against them 1. For Pardon we must sue that out in and through his Death for without his precious Bloodshed there is no Remission of sins and without our acceptance none for us however Though there be Balm in Gilead and a Physician there yet if men will not use them no wonder if they perish and their blood be upon their own heads They may think never so well of their own Works and Ways but when all is done they must take Sanctuary in that new and living Way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his Flesh Hebr. 10. or they 're undone for ever For as we are not of kin to CHRIST but only by the Mother's side as he is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone and God the Father doth forgive no mans sins but for Christ's Merits offer'd in our Nature upon the Cross And so doth he convey this and all other Blessings to us only through his Son as our Mediator that is through his Humanity as the only Band by which we are united and reconciled to the Divine Nature Wherefore 2. We must depend upon him also for Grace and Power against sin by virtue of his Resurrection and Life to purifie our Hearts and Consciences and keep that Tyrant Sin from reigning at least in our mortal Bodies Never did the most Gracious Prince pardon Rebels but upon that one Condition That they would turn Loyal Subjects Therefore says St. Paul if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature he has a new heart new desires new principles new life all things new He 's not the same man he 's quite chang'd like the Prodigal Son come to himself to a sense of his former follies and present wants or like the man among the Tombs who when the Devils were gone out of him sate dutifully at Jesus feet clothed and in his right mind This is indeed the hardest Chapter in all our Word of Reconciliation but yet he that runs may read it if with holy David he takes the right course Commit thy way unto the Lord and put thy trust in him and he shall bring it to pass For is there any thing impossible with God The heart of all men even of Kings says Solomon is in the hand of the Lord as Rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever he pleaseth What though Nature of it self be weak and impotent so long as it is now endued with power from on high Indeed our Saviour tells us plainly to shew us our own insufficiency without Me ye can do nothing But St. Paul as truly answers for himself and us also I can do all things through CHRIST that strengthens me And when we read that such Vertue went out of Christ whilst in the form of a Servant that it cur'd the Woman of her Bloody Issue upon but touching the Hem of his Garment why should it seem incredible that his glorified Humane Nature now he is Lord of all should distil his vertual Presence and Life upon our Souls to heal our infirmities that he should impart