keep silence in the Church Now here I cannot but observe the most insufferable contradiction of the practice of the Roman Church to the Apostles determination The Apostles you see would not allow that the prayers of the Church should be uttered in an unknown tongue but there they pray in a tongue unknown unto the people The Apostle would not allow this no not in them who spake by immediate Inspiration they practise contrary to the Apostles express Decree and that where no such Inspiration can be pretended with the least appearance and shew of reason The Apostle supposes no man edified by the prayers which he doth not understand they either judge that a man may be edified by such prayers or that they may be duly used although the Church be not edified by them both which expresly contradict the Apostle If the Church of Rome be in the right then the Apostle is mistaken if the Apostle be not mistaken the Church of Rome doth grosly erre in judging such prayers edifie which St. Paul affirms cannot edifie or in judging them fit to be used in the Church although they do not edifie at all And is it not now a wonderful thing that they who so grosly so expresly contradict the Doctrine of Sr. Paul should boast themselves to be infallible Is it not yet a greater wonder that any who have had the education where the Scriptures are read in a known tongue should suffer themselves to be overborn into a belief that they are infallible who erre in so plain and clear an instance and in a thing of such concernment Certainly if men were not infatuated by most unreasonable lusts and passions they would never apostatize never adhere to such a Church as sound nay infallible in all her Doctrines who uses its publick Prayers and Offices in a tongue unknown unto the people a thing so contrary to common sense and to the practice of primitive times and to what the Apostle himself teaches in as full and clear and express words as any thing possibly can be spoken 2. But to proceed to the second kind of the extraordinary gift of prayer which was when a man received all the conceptions in prayer from an immediate Inspiration but so far used his understanding as to contrive the expression of them into a tongue known to them that heard him and into plain and easie expressions in that tongue Concerning this I must observe that it was a gift of the Holy Ghost peculiar to the Apostles times or at least to those that immediately followed as the rest of those miraculous powers and gifts were which God did then bestow on the Church to confirm the truth of Christianity I do not deny but that God doth still in some cases suggest to the minds of good men that is convenient for their condition and what it is they should pray for I do not deny but that when they fall into such straits as that they know not what it is best to pray for God doth direct and guide their minds by the assistance of his Spirit For as there is need of such assistance in such cases so God denies not what is needful to such persons And this is the meaning of the Apostle Rom. 8.26 Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought He speaks in this place of times of great distress and danger when the Christians were often in such perplexities and doubts of mind that they knew not what to pray for at least with faith and resignation entire resignation to Gods will Now here it was that the Spirit of God directed them to pray for such things and in such a manner as might tend effectually to Gods glory though to their sufferings in the world And thus far I doubt not may we expect the like assistance of Gods Spirit in the like cases if we heartily pray for it But now for any man in these days to expect an immediate Inspiration of all the conceptions of a prayer such as the Apostles arid Prophets had in the primitive times of Christianity for any man to pretend to pray by the same immediate Revelation Whereby they prayed in the Christian Churches is a very groundless and great presumption And therefore when you hear men pray with a great torrent and flow of words you are not presently to imagine as divers ignorant persons do that such a man prays by an immediate Inspiration that what he speaks is just then dictated and suggested by the Holy Ghost as things were suggested to the Apostles unless he could also speak with tongues and heal the sick and cure the lame and in a word do such Miracles as they did and give the same proof of his Inspiration which they did evidently give of theirs which is a thing that is not done by any that now pretend unto it and therefore shews the pretence is vain and the Pretender to be deceived if not a cheat and Impostor likewise Is there then no way in these days whereby a man may truly be said to pray by the Spirit in the sense and language of the Scriptures and that in ordinary and common cases Yes that there is For 2. Such is that other way of praying which I have before mentioned to you which is when a man prays in the use of Faith and Hope and all the Graces of Gods Spirit and with such pious and good affections as are the effects of those Graces though not by immediate Inspiration that is to say the immediate dictate of the Spirit Such is the prayer our Saviour supposes in those words Joh. 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth not carelesly and without attention not without the affections of the heart and inward sense of the mind and spirit as the Jews had worshipped him in former Ages but fervently heartily and sincerely Such is the prayer the Apostle mentions Eph. 6.18 where he requires them to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit that is with spiritual and holy minds with fervent and devout affections Like whereunto was that singing also which he represents in these words Speaking to your selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your hearts Eph. 5.19 Where you plainly see that the holy offices wherein the heart was moved and affected are said to be spiritual on that account See also Col. 3.16 Now concerning this way of praying by the Spirit wherein men pray in the use of Faith and with real and hearty and devout affections though not by immediate Inspiration I shall observe several things 1. That this way or manner of praying is grateful and acceptable to God This is in truth such a worship of God as our Saviour himself did understand when he said that they that worship God must worship him in spirit and truth This is the worship that God requires and therefore
this he accepts also This is really prayer in Faith in belief of the promises God hath made and certainly God accepts such prayer This is a prayer put up to God with devour and humble and holy affections for so I state the nature of it and such was that the Apostle required Eph. 6.18 and therefore supposed to be grateful to God and so will every one believe who knows that the heart is in such prayer and that it is the heart which God requires And to say no more such prayer as this although it doth not proceed from an immediate Inspiration a present dictate of the holy Spirit yet is it the mediate effect of the Spirit as being the effect of that Faith that Hope that Love and Charity and Humility which is the fruit of the Spirit of God It is the fruit of these Graces and. whatsoever else is of the same nature and these are the fruits of the Spirit of God Gol. 5.22 23. 2. The second thing which I must observe concerning this way of praying by the Spirit is that it is applicable to a form of prayer The words of Scripture are a form of words and will any men say that he cannot read or hear those words read unto him and heartily believe what he hears or reads and be as heartily affected with it If he cannot do this let him confess that he doth not believe the Word of God when he hears it read and that he is nothing affected with is but if he will not confess this let him confess that faith and zeal faith and pious and holy affections may be applied to a form of words and consequently to a form of prayer 2. Most of those persons who disallow a form of Prayer and thanksgiving to God allow and practise a certain form in singing Psalms and what are such Psalms but certain forms of Praying and rendering thanks to God and if men can heartily pray to God in verse or meeter why not in prose as well as in verse 3. All the Protestant Churches of other Nations all the Christians Churches in the World have set forms for their publick Offices and so hath the whole Church had for fourteen hundred Years at least and therefore certainly it was and is the sense of the universal Church not only that it was very lawful but most expedient and useful also that the publick Offices of the Church should be performed in a set form and that men might pray in a set form and pray by the spirit at the same time that is to say in Faith and Hope and with holy and devout affections 4. Add hereunto that there are divers forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture a form of benediction whereby the Priest was to bless the People Numb 6.23 24 25 26. a form for the offering of the First-fruits Deut. 26.5 6. c. That David composed many of the psalms as the titles of them expresly shew to be used as publick forms of Prayer in the solemn worship of God in the Temple That our Saviour himself gave that which is called the Lords Prayer as a form of Prayer to his Disciples according to the custome of the Jewish Doctors and John the Baptist who did the like for their Disciples Now had it not been a possible thing for men to use a form of Prayer with faith and zeal and holy affections as every man always ought to pray we should have had no forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture 5. And to conclude the present point were not faith and zeal and devout affections applicable to a form of Prayer no man could heartily joyn in a Prayer which he hears uttered by another person for all such prayers whatsoever they be to him that speaks are certain forms to them that hear them to them they as are limited forms when they are spoken as if they had been printed and read for the words are still the very same and all the sense contained in them And so I conclude the second observation that is that a man may pray by the spirit that is in Faith and holy Zeal and pray by a Form at the same time 3 I must further observe unto you that as the way of Praying by the Spirit is applicable to a form of Prayer so that it ought in very truth to be applied to every Prayer we make to God whether it be with or without a form God hears no Prayers accepts no service offered to him where there is no attention of mind no Zeal and Affection in the heart It is a great neglect of God a dangerous irreverence to our Maker not to attend to what we speak or what is spoken in our name when we make our addresses to him by Prayer doth any man speak unto a Prince not minding what he speaks unto him doth any man make an address to a King without giving heed to his own address and if we judge it a great irreverence to speak to a Prince without attending to what we speak what shall we judge of that affront men do to God when they atend not to those Prayers which they themselves offer to God or are offered by others in their names in their presence and behalf And then for Faith and Zeal and Fervour these are the very life of Prayer Prayer is but sound and noise without them Men may pray and pray acceptably where they do not utter express words Rom. 8.26 but the most excellent words in the World are not true and real Prayer where there is nothing of desire nothing of affection added to them Confess your faults one to another faith S. James cap. 5.16 and pray one for another that ye may be healed The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man avai leth much 'T is the fervent Prayer that is effectual the effectual Prayer that is useful to us and who can wonder that God should not hear those Petitions which are void of affection and desire if we our selves neglect our Prayers those very Prayers we seem to make how much more will God neglect them why should he grant what we our selves do not desire especially since it is an affront a mocking of God to ask of him what in truth we do not really desire what we have no mind to receive from him which is indeed the very case when our Prayers have nothing of attention nothing of zeal and affection in them What then shall we say to all that coldness all that remisness which appears in our publick and solemn worship of God By this we lose those spiritual joys those sensible warmths and feeling comforts which always attend fervent Prayer and tend to the strengthning of Faith and Hope and all other Virtues and Christian Graces By this we fail of Gods acceptance and of gaining the things we ask of him By this we give scandal to other persons who take occasion from our remissness and want of zeal in our
and that in a very signal manner for when they were assembled together on the day of Pentecost suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance Acts 2.2 3 4. which same Spirit also then endued them with all other kinds of gifts and powers requisite for the infallible preaching and sure confirmation of the Gospel And as these miraculous gifts and powers were now bestowed upon the Apostles so afterwards on great numbers of other Christians First on those that were Jews by birth as you may see Act. 4.3 8.17 and afterwards on the Gentiles also as it appears from what we read Act. 10.44 Then came it to pass that all the Churches wherein the Faith of Christ was planted much abounded with such persons as had the miraculous gifts of the Spirit but no where were there more of these than in the famous Church of Corinth which as it was zealous of these gifts 1 Cor. 14.12 so had it a plentiful measure of them as plainly appears from the 13 Chapter of this Epistle Upon this account the Apostle directs them in this Chapter how they should use these spiritual gifts Namely for the edifying of the Church so you read vers 12. for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts seek that ye way excel to the edifying of the Church and because the Church could not be edified by any thing uttered in an unknown tongue unless interpreted in one that was known he adds as follows vers 13 14. wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret for if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful that is my spiritual gift is exercised but my understanding is not exercised so as to render what I say intelligible and useful to other persons which being so he puts this question what is it then that is to say what is the most desireable thing what should we desire in point of Prayer to which he answers in these words I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also That is the thing to be desired is that when the Spirit suggests and dictates a prayer to any man as he did to many in those ages by an immediate inspiration he my so far use his own understanding when he prays in a publick congregation as to utter the prayer in a known tongue and in easie and intelligible expressions that others may be edified by it Now from these words compared with other places of Scripture I shall take occasion to observe That there were two ways of praying by the Spirit in the first Age of Christianity 1. The first of these was extraordinary as when the Spirit dictated a prayer by an immediate Inspiration 2. The other ordinary as when a man prayed heartily and fervently but not by immediate Inspiration but in the use of Faith and Hope and all such other Christian Graces as are the fruits of the holy Spirit and the causes of holy and good affection 1. The former of these that is the extraordinary gift of prayer seems to have been of two kinds likewise 1. In the former whereof the understanding of him that prayed seems to have been wholly passive so far as not to have employed it self either in the inventing of the conceptions of the prayer or in the uttering those conceptions in a tongue commonly understood Such was the prayer the Apostle mentions verf. 14. of this Chapter If I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth that is the spiritual gift that is in me but my understanding is unfruitful that is to say my understanding doth not imploy and exercise it self to express the conceptions of this prayer in a tongue or manner known to all them that hear me 2. In the latter kind of this extraordinary gift of prayer prayer by immediate Inspiration the understanding of him that prayed seems to have been passive and active likewise passive so far as to have received all the conceptions of the prayer from the immediate Inspiration of the Holy Ghost active so far as to have imployed and exercised it self to express and utter those conceptions in a tongue unknown to them that heard and in a familiar easie manner And such was the prayer the Apostle mentions in these words I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also I will utter the very same conceptions which the holy Spirit suggests to me but I will use my understanding to utter them in a known tongue and in easie and familiar expressions Concerning both these several ways I have something to observe unto you 1. Concerning the first wherein the understanding was wholly passive wherein a man used both the gift of tongues and received the conceptions of the prayer from an immediate Inspiration I observe the Apostle did not allow the use of this in Christian Assemblies unless that either the person that prayed or else some persons present had the gift of interpreting what was said The ground of which his determination was that nothing was to be spoken in the Church but what might edifie all that were present even the most illiterate persons and that such as these could not be edified by that which was uttered in an unknown tongue though dictated by the holy Spirit unless it was afterwards interpreted I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also i. e. so that others may understand And so should every man pray in the Church else says the Apostle when thou shalt bless with the spirit how should he that occupieth the room of the unlearned how should a vulgar illiterate person say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understands not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified ver 16 17. So then the Apostles judgment is this That no office is to be performed in the Church but so that all may be edified by it that no man is edified by that which he doth not understand and therefore that an unknown tongue was not to be used in the offices of the Church unless there were some that could interpret So he suggests at the 18 19 verses I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue So he more expresly concludes vers 27 28. If any man speak in an unknown tongue let it be by two or at the most by three and that by course and let one interpret But if there be no interpreter let him
this end that it be a hope of the very happiness God hath promised unless it expect that happiness upon those terms and no other whereupon 't is promised in tha Gospel and those are faith working by love those are as God himself declares to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in the world Whence that of the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 12. vers 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. he that hopes for happiness without these terms cannot by virtue of that hope be any way moved to practise these so far is such a hope as that from moving men unto their duties that it gives them the very greatest encouragement to live in the perfect neglect of them What need they to deny themselves and their vicious appetite and desires What need they to offer any violence to their sinful lusts and inclinations Why should they part with a right hand why should they pluck out a right eye forego the pleasure lose the profit of any lust if they can hope for eternal Glory in the fruition of their lusts and reconcile the hopes of Heaven with all the desires of flesh and blood and soft indulgence to those desires From whence I conclude that that hope which purges the hearts and lives of men must be a hope of that happiness that God hath promised upon those terms and those only whereupon 't is promised in the Gospel 3. And yet further we must observe that it is only a firm assurance of arriving at that eternal happinefs upon the performance of those terms that shall enable us to perform them Conjecture is too weak a thing to overcome those strong temptations that dare men into sin and folly No man will deny himself what he feels to gratifie his sensual appetites at the present upon meer guess of what may possibly be hereafter Strong desires are not subdued by weak hopes Men will not deny their present ease their present pleasures their present joys though never so contrary to the Gospel upon meer probabilities and peradventures they will be sure of something future before they part with what they have they will be sure of something better before they forsake what they feel or apprehend to be good and useful at the present And it was want of this assurance in the Philosophy of former days that made its Precepts and Institutions so ineffectual in the World and so Lactantius then observed Omnia ibi conjecturis aguntur ideo nemo paret quia nemo vult in incertum laborare Philosophy affords but meer conjecture in the point of suture life and happiness and therefore no man observes its precepts because no man will labour at all adventures From whence I conclude that that hope which shall effectually perswade with men to obey the Precepts of our Lord to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit must be a firm and strong assurance of gaining the happiness God hath promised upon the terms that he requires sincere obedience to his Precepts 4. But now because it is impossible for flesh and blood in this degenerate state of man and in the midst of these temptations which daily assault him in this state sincerely to obey those Precepts without the assistance of Gods Spirit there is yet a further qualification that is required in that hope which shall enable us so to do which is that it wholly grounds it self upon the promise of Gods grace and moves a man to apply to God for the assistance and help thereof in the purifying of his heart and life Nature will never raise it self to a supernatural state of life or to a supernatural end Man is of the earth earthy and in no capacity so to elevate his own thoughts so to advance his own desires as to prepare and fit himself for that happiness which lies in likeness to God himself in perfect purity and incorruption without the assistance of Gods grace And therefore that hope must of necessity be successless must fail to cleanse and purge our hearts to purifie us as God is pure which shall not be so far instructed as to teach us to apply to God for the assistance of his Spirit in a work above the power of Nature But now to recollect the summ of what I have said upon this point that hope which fixes on that happiness which God hath promised in the Gospel consisting in purity and immortality which is a hope of this happiness upon those terms and those only whereupon it is there promised to us which is a firm and full assurance of that happiness upon the performance of those terms which grounds it self upon the assistance of Gods Spirit in that performance and therefore moves to apply to God by fervent prayer for the attaining of that assistance which is never denied when so desired that is the hope the Apostle intends in these words that is the hope that purifies us as God is pure Which leads me to the second general 2. Where I am to shew the several ways whereby it hath these effects upon us and these I refer to two particulars 1. This hope moves and excites to strong endeavours in order unto this end namely the purifying of our selves 2. It is of such a nature as cannot but render those endeavours truly effectual unto that end 1. It moves to strong endeavours in order unto this great design which is the purifying of our selves from all our inordinate lusts and passions and the reason is because it hath firmly fixed the soul upon future glory and immortality as its only happiness and perfection the only thing that is fit or worthy to be made the end and design of life and also fixt and setled this as a most sure and certain truth that the purifying of a mans heart and life according to the Laws of Christ is the only and certain way of attaining to that bliss and happiness God hath made us all of such a nature that we cannot forbear to love our selves nor can that creature forbear to desire his own happiness that cannot forbear to love himself nor can the desires of that enjoyment wherein a man hath placed his happiness cease to urge and press endeavours in order to the attainment of it Suppose we then that a man believe that true happiness lies in the purity and immortality that God hath promised in his Kingdom suppose he believe that a holy life is the only means to attain this happiness suppose these things fixed and setled upon his heart by the operation of Gods Spirit can we imagine but that the hope of such an end should most effectually excite and move him to purifie himself as God is pure Will he not be content to resist his sinful lusts and appetites subdue his inordinate inclinations in consideration of such a happiness Will he not be content to deny himself all the unlawful joys
ends wherein the best and wisest men shall be esteemed the very worst superstitious cold and formal men by those that are zealous in some Faction and know no Religion but that zeal because such times as these may be it is safest to content our selves in gaining those rewards and blessings that are peculiar to Religion the testimony of a good Conscience and life eternal in the World to come 3. And then lastly Because hypocrisie is so deceitful and sly a sin as always serving worldly interest which is apt insensibly to blind the eyes and infatuate the minds of the wisest men and yet hide it self from them themselves it will concern us to be very frequent and impartial in the examination of our selves to weigh our counsels to try our ends to prove our designs in every action relating any way to Religion It will be needful to consider whether we indeed design it really intend to promote and practise it whereever we make a profession of it And then because that God alone knows the heart and because his Grace is most needful to discover our selves unto our selves in the midst of the many sins and passions that may infatuate and beguile us let us earnestly pray for his Holy Spirit to deliver us from all the infatuations and all the seductions of our lusts Let us make the Address which David did Psal 139.22 24. with whose words I shall conclude Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting The Eleventh Sermon John 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me The whole verse is thus Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me THESE words are a preface to a very large and kind discourse made by our Lord unto his followers wherein he delivers the main foundations of Christianity as well in matter of Faith as Practice which is the reason why he begins it with such words as might effectually stir them up to give both attention and belief to all that he should deliver in it Ye believe in God believe also in me In which words we have two parts 1. A concession or supposition Ye believe in God that is ye believe that there is a God and what is consequent hereupon that he is to be trusted and obeyed although some others read the words not as a Declaration Ye believe in God but as a Command Believe in God but there is no reason to depart from our own Translation in this matter 2. Here is a Precept also Believe in me that is to say believe that I am the Son of God sent by him into the world to reveal the Gospel of life eternal and therefore judge your selves obliged to believe whatsoever I reveal and obey whatsoever I command you Now being that belief in Christ in the sence I have now explained unto you is here required as an addition or further accession to the mere belief in God only as he may be known by the light of nature The Subject which the Words before us offer to our consideration is That the belief of Christian Doctrine as it is revealed to us in the Gospel over and above that knowledge of God which the light of Nature affords unto us is necessary to our eternal happiness In the prosecution of which Point 1. I must first consider That the firm belief of the Gospel of Christ is most expresly required by God and the denial of such belief forbidden under no less a penalty than the utter loss of life eternal Salvation is always promised to them who believe in him who hath revealed it and become his Followers and Disciples to other persons it is not promised As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.14 15. Nor is it only promised to those and those only that so believe but denied to them that believe not to them that refuse to yield their belief to him whom God hath sent and sanctified to be the Saviour of the World He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And so again omitting several other places of the same sense and signification in the first Epistle of St John chap. 5. ver 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son Thrice did God bear this Record and owne our Lord to be sent by him by an express voice from Heaven once at his Baptism in these words Matt. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased A second time at his transfiguration upon the mount with some addition to those words Matt. 15.5 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him And yet again a third time a little before our Saviours passion when praying to God in these words Father glorifie thy name he was answered by a voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again John 12.28 To all which clear and express testimonies given by the Father to his Son I might first add the glorious miracles wrought by Christ during his life then his resurrection from the dead and the effusion of his Spirit upon the Apostles sent by him and all the miracles wrought by them and all his other followers also which being evident demonstrations that he was the very son of God and sent by him to save the World highly aggravate the great sin of infidelity and unbelief and teach us to forbear to wonder that it should be punished with death eternal and that Christ himself should thus pronounce Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned 2. But then secondly lest you should think that God will have us believe the Gospel meerly because he will have it so and that he had no further end in the truth therein revealed unto us than that we should believe them only I further add that the belief of those truths is greatly necessary to several ends of infinite moment and importance 1. For the full and perfect knowledge of the duties which he requires from us 2. For the like knowledge of the great motions to those duties 3. For our better support under all our tryals fears and dangers 1. The belief of the great truths revealed unto us in the Gospel is necessary for the perfect knowledge of the duties which God requires from us and that upon several considerations namely 1. because that though the light of nature well improved may in some measure direct us to very many of them yet
Lord as the treasures of his own House and what was still more dishonourable to cut off the Gold from the Doors of the Temple and the Pillars which he himself had made v. 15 16. Yet such it should seem was Sennacheribs treachery and false dealing that having as was before related spoiled Hezekiah of his treasure he presently contrary to his promise sends up an Army towards Jerusalem the dread whereof filled that City with great amazement and confusions In these confusions had the Prophet Isaiah an intimation that God would exalt his mighty power in the deliverance of Hezekiah and of the City of Jerusalem from these so great and imminent dangers and also confirm the same deliverance and give secure and setled times The former whereof the Prophet declares v. 5. The Lord is exalted for he dwelleth on high he hath filled Sion with judgment and righteousness the latter in the following words And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Stability signifies strength and settlement stability of times safe secure and certain times times not so lyable unto change as that the fear of domestick Troubles or foreign violence should either disquiet the minds of men or interrupt them in their duties to God or their neighbours or themselves And then that wisedom or that knowledge by which the times should be thus established is the knowledge of God and of his will and hearty obedience thereunto in the whole compass of his Laws as well of those which prescribe our duties to one another as of those that direct us in Gods worship I need not say that this is the sense wherein wisdom is frequently taken in the Scriptures for that 's a thing that all acknowledge who pretend to any skill in them nor need I labour much to prove that this is the sense of wisdom and knowledge in the words which I now insist upon for plain it is that what the Prophet stiles judgment and righteousness in the words immediately antecedent is here stiled wisdom and knowledge He hath filled Sion with judgment and righteousness So he speaks in the fifth verse and then immediately adds the effect those things should have under the name of 〈…〉 and knowledge for so it follows and wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times that is to say judgment and righteousness shall be so He varies the words but not the sense for then his discourse would not be coherent Add hereunto that what he had styled wisdom and knowledge in the beginning of the verse is immediately called the fear of the Lord wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation the fear of the Lord is his treasure Where he suggests that although Sennacherib had spoiled Hezekiah of his treasures which are the usual nerves of War and the common instruments of defence yet that he had such a treasure still namely the fear of the true God as should give stability to his times For as much as this is the truest wisdom and such wisdom the firmest foundation of peace and settlement This reaches all the ends of wisdom and therefore justly bears its name So that the sense of the words in hand is the same with that of those before chap. 32. v. 17. The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Now the words taken in this sense offer two things to our consideration 1. The former whereof is a blessing promised which is stability of the times setled quiet and easie days 2. The latter the proper means or terms whereby this blessing is procur'd which is obedience to Gods will in the whole extent of his holy Laws styled by the Prophet wisdom and knowledge For so he speaks to Hezekiah and in his person to the nation wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times I shall begin with the blessing promised which is stability in the times a singular blessing to a Nation being such as most effectually tends or is at the least wholly necessary to the producing of all others whether we consider it with relation 1. To the advantages of this World 2. Or those that concern a better life Of the former of these I should not speak being not so suitable to this place were it not proper for the occasion were it not seasonable in point of time and now if ever to be considered when the great Council of the Land is studying how to settle the Nation to confirm our Peace to establish true and firm foundations of future settlement and tranquillity and may expect to have an account of the usefulness of their undertakings opened and laid before the People But being these are our present circumstances I judge I may justly take occasion to insist a while upon those advantages which every Nation may expect from quiet certain and stable times 1. And first of all such times as these give ease of heart vigour of mind a free and chearful and active spirit take off the weights of fear and sorrow that troublesome times generally hang upon men's minds and so prepare and dispose to diligence and give incouragement thereunto by promising good success in it For in such times may every person duly hope to reap the fruits of his own Labours to gain advantage by his diligence to find an account in his undertakings he now believes that he serves himself or his posterity which he values equally with himself And this as it gives a great incouragement to his diligence So it sweetens the labours that attend it and makes him easie to himself as well as useful to publick ends It is not so in troublesome and distracted times In such times every man suspects that one may sow and another reap one may build and another inhabit one may plant and another probably gather the fruit as we have seen in our own age and many felt by sad experience And this is a very great discouragement to every man's diligence in his calling Where is the man that will toyle and labour weary his body or his mind where he cannot hope that he or his heirs shall find advantage by all his pains who will imploy and busie himself at all adventures build or plant or lay up treasure when he hath reason to suspect that he is labouring for a stranger or preparing rich and pleasant spoils for an enemy to feed his lusts upon And what 's the effect of these discouragements but a disconsolate useless sloath or else a diversion from those labours whereby he might profit himself and others to live by spoyl on other persons which when it once becomes common ends in general want and poverty and brings destruction upon a Nation So useful nay so wholly necessary are stable times to give encouragement to care and diligence in those labours whereby every man serves himself as the publick good is served by all 2. Stable and settled times give
very nature of things themselves that peace and war strength and weakness health and sickness are as consistent each with other as quiet times with restless lusts peace with wickedness and irreligion The wicked are like a troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isaiah 57.20 21. Sin is uneasie to it self a constant disease a daily vexation to the sinner and it is so to a Nation likewise when it is national and universal And sure it is one of the greatest vanities to hope that God should preserve by miracle where people wilfully serve those lusts which naturally work their own destruction Whensover providence works a miracle to preserve a person or a Nation it is to preserve those that cannot not those that will not preserve themselves but wilfully rush upon their ruine But is there any man in the world that wilfully studies his own destruction do we not all wish and long for such stability in the times as may give us easie and quiet minds secure our Affairs succeed our labours confirm our strength and deliver us from all those fears and dreads that have given us so much pain and sorrow I make no doubt but that we do desire such days with all our hearts I make no question but there are many of such a Spirit that they would willingly undertake the greatest labours to procure them I do not question but that the generality of the Nation if they were assaulted by an Enemy would hazard their fortunes expose their lives adventure what was dearest to them to maintain their ancient rights and liberties And would it not be as easie for us and more efficacious to these ends to reform our lives to forsake our sins and turn from the evil of our ways Why should a man be willing to spill his very blood and unwilling to reform his sins for the security of his Country Why are we willing to use those means that are more grievous and less effectual for our welfare namely to hazard life and fortune for securing these very things themselves and neglect the easie and efficacious the reformation of our lives Would it be a burden to love God with all our hearts to place our hope and trust in him to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all our days Would it be troublesome and uneasie to love our neighbours with sincerity and to be so beloved by them to be freed from mutual fears and jealosies from all animosities each to other O how blind are the minds of men not to see the things that concern their peace not to observe that Christs commands are a light an easie a gentle yoke but rather to study their own security by those very things that overthrow it by fraud or violence or worldly craft than by the practice of those vertues which would ease their minds secure their fortunes succeed their labours and make them happy as well in the life that now is as in that to come How blessed and happy might we be if we would follow Gods directions how easily might we spend our days even in this frail and mortal life how firmly might we settle the times which are now so wavering and uncertain if we would spend but half that time in the subduing of our lusts that we do in the gratification of them if we would but take half that pains to possess our hearts with love to God and mutual Charity each to other and in fervent Prayers in humble thanksgivings in Holiness Righteousness and Sobriety that we do in the service of our lusts This would undoubtedly amend the days settle our Interests and bless us with quiet and stable times This would be a fair return to God Almighty for the favour which we now commemorate for restoring our Prince our Laws and Religion after we were deprived of them by former Ruines and Confusion Thus God of his mercy open our eyes that we may timely understand and practise the things that concern our peace then should there be no breaking in nor going out no. complaining in our streets and happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Psal 144.14 15. God of his mercy grant c. The Second Sermon PSALM 68.28 Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us The whole verse is thus Thy God hath commanded thy strength Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us THIS Psalm as judicious men conceive was written by David when he removed the Ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to Sion Which may be the reason why it begins with these words which Moses used on the like occasions namely when he removed the same Ark which are recorded Numb 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee So David here in the first verse Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered and let them that hate him flee before him And having lived to see the day wherein the holy Ark of God the Symbol of his especial presence was to be fixed in its own place which God himself had chosen for it he thought it meet to recollect the many other favours and mercies which God had granted the Jewish Nation and to render him hearty thanks for them namely for his singular Providence in conducting the People thorough the Wilderness after their deliverance out of Egypt 6 7 8. verses for his planting them in the promised land a land flowing with Milk and Hony and fruitful even to a miracle so at the ninth and tenth verses for the powerful Aids of his gracious Providence in dispossessing the former Inhabitants in scattering the Armies of their Kings that his people might possess their Countries 12 13 14. And having then in the following verses largely returned his thanks to God for all the great and admirable things which he had wrought for the Jewish Nation in order to their strength and settlement he prays for the continuance of his favour and of their present peace and welfare Strengthen O God what thou hast wrought for us In which words you may observe these two generals 1. An acknowledgement made to God that it was he and he alone who had planted and settled them in the land and wrought those great and mighty works whereby they were planted and settled in it Whath hath been done saith he hast wrought for us 2. An ardent Prayer to God to strengthen that is to continue what he had pleased to work for them Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us 1. I begin with the first which is the acknowledgement made to God that it was he who had planted and settled them in the land and wrought those great and mighty works whereby they were planted and settled in it where I must not omit to take some notice that divine
was so far from being terrified either by his bonds or death it self that were it not for their sakes to whom his life might be more useful he should rather desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ He further acquaints them with his design to visit them again in order to their support and settlement if God should rescue him from his bonds In the mean time gives this admonition Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing thing terrified by your adversaries That ye stand fact c. In which words you have an account what are the most effectual means for any Church which God hath blessed with the true Faith of Christianity still to abide and continue in it Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it close union amongst themselves zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation and courage against such oppositions as others may possibly make against it 1. Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it which is suggested in these words Stand fast that is to say as it there follows in the faith of the Gospel 2. Union amongst themselves Stand fast in one spirit with one mind 3. Zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel 4. Courage against such oppositions as other persons make against it And in nothing terrified by your adversaries These are the methods which our Apostle here propounds for a Church to retain the true Faith that is to continue a true Church 1. The first of which is firmness of mind in every mans private belief of truth For feeing that every particular Church is made up of particular persons so far as particular Members fail in the true Faith so far is that Church they are Members of maimed and mutilated in its parts and the whole in tendency to dissolution Now seeing the firmness of belief depends upon clear and evident proof I might here offer a demonstration of the truth and excellency of Christianity But being this is neither so needful nor yet so seasonable to the occasion of our meeting I shall rather chuse to address my self to what the occasion now requires which is to shew the truth and excellence of Christianity as it is professed in our own Church in opposition to that of Rome which I shall do by comparing theirs and ours together in point of Faith and Worship and Manners 1. And first of all for matter of Faith we firmly believe the holy Scriptures and every thing therein contained to be the infallible Word of God We believe the Scriptures do contain all things necessary to Salvation according as St. John assures us Joh. 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name Which we could not have if every thing necessary to Salvation was not written was not contained in this very Gospel of St. John Nay further yet we believe and receive all Creeds that were ever received in the Catholick Church These Creeds are taken into our Liturgy they are repeated in our Churches we signifie our assent to them by standing up when they are repeated and are we still to be judged Hereticks and deficient in the Catholick Faith On the other hand the Roman Church deny the Scriptures to be a compleat Rule of Faith they build their faith upon Tradition a thing uncertain They rely upon Councils which may erre nay upon such as have grosly erred They vary as well from the Primitive Church in many cases as from the holy Scripture it self And last of all they pretend a power of making new Articles of Faith that is such as were not made by our Blessed Lord and his Apostles which being so let reason judge whether they or we be likeliest to erre in point of Faith 2. For matter of Worship in the second place their publick Prayers are made and used in a tongue unknown unto the people ours in a tongue which we all understand And here let St. Paul decide the controversie that is between us I Cor. 14 15 16 c. I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified From whence it appears what edification may be expected from their prayers that is to say none at all And therefore the Apostle further adds I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue But to proceed as we make our prayers in a known tongue so in them we invoke the true God and him only We use no other Mediator no other Patron but only Christ whom God hath appointed so to be For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 But they that are of the Church of Rome make their addresses to Saints and Angels as well for patronage and protection as for their prayers to God for them and some of those the Virgin Mary do they invoke in as magnificent and high a stile as they invoke God himself We pay no worship to any Images seeing that God hath expresly said Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them But they bow down and prostrate themselves before the Images of Christ and others And though they affirm that the honour they give unto the Image passes through it to the person whom it represents yet still they acknowledge they worship the Image that this at least is a transient object of their Worship And then again we give the Sacrament of the Lords Supper unto the people as well as the Priests in both kinds So it was instituted by Christ himself so it was given all along for many Ages but others in perfect contradiction to the Institution of our Lord deny the Cup unto the Laity We believe that after Consecration the Bread and Wine set apart and consecrated for the Sacrament do still retain the natural substance of bread and wine And so the Apostle himself believed when he stiled that bread of
And now to conclude with some reflections upon the words 1. If every man that hath this hope purifie himself as God is pure then first of all hence it appears that whosoever doth not this whosoever indulges his sinful lusts hath not really that hope as it hath been described unto you he either hopes for nothing at all after this life or for another kind of happiness than that is which God hath promised or to gain it without a holy life or so to live without the assistance of Gods grace and application to God for it or he reels and staggers in his hope and is not firm and stable in it Some or other of these defects do always attend that hope which doth not purifie and reform the lives and hearts and spirits of men and that which I take to be the general and great defect in those that profess the Christian Faith is that they hope for life eternal without performing those conditions whereupon it is promised in the Gospel namely repentance and reformation Although there be scarce one single page in the whole Gospel wherein it is not expresly said or clearly implied that no man shall ever be admitted into eternal bliss and glory who doth not yield sincere obedience to Christs precepts and purifie himself as God is pure yet will they not see what is most visible they will not believe what is revealed they will trust to a fruitless liveless Faith or to some Penances and Satisfactions and Commutations made with God doing what he hath not required instead of what he hath commanded No perswasions shall prevail to move and excite them to do this no reasons arguments or demonstration no not the express words of God that it is necessary to be done or to forbear to censure them as enemies to the grace of God who do with clear and express Scripture shew the absolute necessity of it They blindly and wilfully shut their eyes to the light that shines as clear as day in the very Oracles of God himself and so they stumble and fall and perish and brand and revile all those persons who refuse to erre and perish with them 2. But secondly if every man that hath the hope before described purifie himself as God is pure Hence we learn the great advantage the Gospel gives us for the purifying of our hearts and lives For it hath given the firmest reasons to settle that very hope upon and qualifie it with the very conditions which may make it useful and efficacious to purge and cleanse us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit The Gospel hath promised eternal glory upon these conditions and no other it hath also promised the Spirit of God to them that ask it to enable them to yield sincere obedience to Christs precepts that is to perform those conditions The Gospel hath given firm foundations of that true and powerful hope which where it is never fails to purge the impure to humble the proud to soften the hard and bring them to eternal happiness 3. But what then what if the Gospel have done this done it to infinite satisfaction to all that believe and entertain it Why then take heed of departing from the living God by an evil heart of unbelief Take heed lest a promise being left you of entring into eternal rest any of you should come short of it Fix your hope on eternal glory but hope not for it on other terms than those whereupon it is promised to you than in obedience to our Lord than in conformity to Gods image than in mitation of that God of whom you expect and hope for it Fix and settle this kind of hope in the very bottom of your hearts and when you have done use it in every part of your lives and live by the power and virtue of it Ask its counsel in all the temptations that any forbidden joys or pleasures any unlawful gains or profits offer to you and it will confute and resist them all it will not suffer you to embrace a trifle a shadow a perishing vanity instead of eternal life and glory Ask its counsel in all the temptations whereby the dangers of the world may attempt your innocence and integrity and it will resist them also and make you chuse rather to suffer the greatest evils in this life with patience courage and perseverance in your duties than lose your part in Gods Kingdom It will subdue and overcome all the inordinate desires and appetites of the fruitions of this world It will remove the fears and dreads of all its sufferings and calamities It will make you sober just and holy It will make you wise and strong and patient It will establish you in obedience and place and settle you in that Kingdom which is in righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost The Eighth Sermon Galat. 5.13 Ye have been called unto liberty only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh ALthough the Law given by Moses was so heavy a yoke upon the Jews that they themselves who were otherwise apt to glory in it sometimes complained of the burden of it saying What a weariness is it Malach. 1.13 Yet were there some of the very Gentiles and these converted to Christianity who were willing enough to embrace that yoke which the Jews themselves were not able to bear S. Paul had no sooner planted the Gospel amongst the Galatians a Colony of Gauls seated in Asia but there arose some false Apostles amongst these Converts to Christianity who taught the necessity of Circumcision pretending they could not be saved without it and so fuccessful was this attempt as strong pretences use to be upon ignorant and unsetled minds that the Galatians began to waver and yield themselves to the importunity of those that opposed the Apostles Doctrine Upon this account he stirs them up to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and that they should not suffer themselves to be intangled again with the yoke of bondage v. 1. of this Chapter And because they might judge that Circumcision was less troublesom and more needful than the other Rites of Moses his Law he assures them that they that submitted themselves to that institution of the Law left all the advantages of the Gospel Behold I Paul say unto you That if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing v. 2. And this he proves in the next words For I testifie again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to the whole Law that is to say to all the rest of its ritual Precepts and to the penal Sanction it self in all its rigour and severity and therefore no gainer by the Gospel And having shewed in the following verses what is the summ of Christianity namely faith working by love having perswaded them to persist in the Faith which he himselfe had taught them having sharply censured the false Apostles who laboured to pervert that Faith he adds what you
he hath given greater knowledge and greater abilities to obey him who can deny either of these and if these cannot be denyed certain it is that there is now since the Revelation of the Gospel a greater degree of natural duties required from men where that Gospel is revealed than was accepted or required before the Revelation of it 3. To all this add in the third place that there are now some certain duties enjoyned unto us which the light of nature can in no wise discover to us such are the Sacraments of the Gospel Baptism and the Supper of our Lord such is the worship of Jesus Christ as Mediator and such no doubt is the invocation of the Holy and ever blessed Trinity all which duties purely depend upon Revelation and are not in any wise suggested by natural light howsoever improved If it be said that these duties are not required where the Gospel is not revealed and published this is no answer no excuse for those persons who live where the Gospel is revealed They are required to practise these as well as any natural duties and sure the wilful neglect of them is wilful disobedience to God and therefore renders the guilty person liable to death eternal from all which instances it appears that a belief in Jesus Christ a full belief of his Gospel is absolutely and indispensably necessary for the full and perfect understanding of the duties which God requires from us 2. And secondly it is equally necessary for the clear and full and perfect knowledge of the great motives to those duties namely 1. that of eternal life and 2. the admirable love of God to men declared and evidenced in Jesus Christ and 3. the express and clear promises of the assistance of his Spirit to enable us to perform our duties 1. Certainly the promise of life eternal upon condition of Faith and Holiness is the highest motive to obedience but such a motive as is so far from being clear to the light of nature that there was a sect amongst the Jews who had not only the light of nature but the Law and Prophets to inform them that is to say the sect of the Sadducees who denyed the being of Angels or Spirits and the immortality of mens Souls Nor was there any one sect amongst the Philosophers but either flatly denyed this as the Epicureans and some others or else spake doubtfully in the point as the Academicks or those of Plato's School or had infinitely false as well as useless conceptions of it as the Pythagoreans had of old who held the transmigration of mens Souls out of one body into another yea into the bodies of brute Creatures so that this chief and principal motive to obedience the very immortality of mens Souls much more that of their bodies also was either doubted or disbelieved or else believed in such a manner as rendered it useless to that end amongst the wisest of the Heathen And as for the common sort of people who were led by the fictions of the Poets those did at best no more than fansie a sensual Paradise after death which could no more purge and cleanse them from sensual appetites than the hope and desire of a carnal happiness can make men holy pure and Spiritual 2. But then further what shall we say of the incomparable love and kindness that God hath declared to mankind in the Gospel of our blessed Lord which all the skill of humane wisdom the most improved natural light could never have discovered or imagined That God should send his beloved Son into the world to take our nature upon himself and reveal eternal life to men and shew them the way to attain unto it by the example of his life that he should give him to dye for us to make expiation for our sins that he should raise him from the dead and give him power to raise us and make our very Redeemer himself to become our Head and give him authority to be our Judg who knows our frailties by his own experience and sense of them are demonstrations of such an incomparable love to us such a concern for our salvation as would never have entred into the thoughts of mortal men had it not been thus revealed unto us These were mysteries hid from Ages discoveries of a greater love than natural light could have imagined Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Herein is love saith St John 1 Ep. 4.10 not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins And so St Paul Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Now the Gospel having clearly revealed infinitely more of the love of God to mankind than the light of nature could discover hath likewise given us infinitely greater and stronger motives to love God and trust in him and consequently to obey him than the light of nature could afford 3. Add hereunto the express promise which God made us in the Gospel of giving his Holy Spirit to us to strengthen our faith to confirm our hope to inflame our love to enable us to perform the Duties which we cannot perform by the strength of nature So our Saviour Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Could all the skill of humane wisdom or the best improved natural light give us such assurance of God's assistance in order to a holy life as this express Promise gives us Did the Philosophers ever speak at this rate Did they dream of Divine assistance to make them wise and just and holy What saith Tully in the name of Cotta on this Point lib. 3. de natura Deor. Virtutem nemo unquam acceptam Deo retulit No man ever judged he had Vertue from God And afterwards Nunquis quòd bonus vir esset gratias Diis egit unquam At quòd dives quòd honoratus quòd incolumis Did ever any man thank the Gods because he was a good man No but because he was rich and honourable and safe These were the things they ascribed to God but they never dreamed of his assistance to give them Vertue that they ascribed unto themselves Now how could men that never expected God's assistance in the purifying of their hearts and lives ever attempt to arrive at equal degrees of piety with those that expect and verily hope for that assistance How could they hope to overcome their inordinate lusts and inclinations or whatsoever they might hope how could they really overcome them without the assistance of God's Spirit which was a thing they did not only not expect but flatly rejected and denied judged it absurd to look for it Whereas now on the other hand
this comparison when he clearly discerns and firmly judges of all these things as this comparison represents them when he applies this judgment to every instance of life and action is it not an effectual principle to restrain him from every wilful sin to urge and press him to every duty will he chuse what is no way recommended and refuse what is represented to him under all the motives to choice and practice No man chuses or doth amiss but he that is ignorant or forgetful either in the nature of good and evil or in the effects and issues of them If there be nothing of this in the case let the charms of the world entice to evil he knows they are deceits and vanities and cannot believe what he knows is false nor be cheated by what he doth not believe Let the dreads and calamities of the world encomber and perplex his duties he reckons as the Apostle speaks that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 This gives him courage strength and patience and makes him chuse afflicted innocence rather than guilty and short prosperity Insomuch that all the great examples of the highest and the noblest vertues all these victories over the world and all its troubles and adversities that are recorded in Sacred History all the great things that have been done all the great things that have been suffered for the advancement of Truth and Piety have sprung from a setled resolution grounded upon stable judgment never to vary from Gods will and the way to everlasting happiness So Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt Heb. 11.16 So Christ himself for that joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God Heb. 12.2 And so did his first and faithful followers for the securing of their innocence and the rewards thereunto belonging patiently endure all their sufferings as knowing that their light affliction which was but for a moment wrought for them a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Thus is the approbation of things excellent that is a clear and stable judgment in all the duties of the Gospel as there declared and recommended not only a perfect cure and remedy of all the diseases of our minds to wit Ignorance Doubt and Vanity but also a constant guide and monitor in the whole course of our lives in the World Which being so 2. Let us now consider what are the means of attaining to it the second head before propounded 1. And here I shall not need to say that since every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights Jam. 1.17 it must be sought of God by prayer Men may be rich and great and powerful meerly by the permission of Providence by practices not allow'd by God by fraud and injury and oppression But no man is wise unto salvation but by the special grace of God nor doth he give this special grace but where it is diligently sought of him which was the reason why St Paul so often puts it into his Prayers that God would bless men with this wisdom So he prays for Timothy that God would give him understanding in all things 2 Tim. 2.7 for the Ephesians That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory would give unto them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Eph. 1.17 for the Colossians that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Col. 1.9 and lastly for the Philippians here that there love might abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that they might approve the things that are excellent from all which prayers to God for wisdom for sound judgment in all our duties as represented in the Gospel we learn that it is the gift of God and to be sought by fervent Prayer especially seeing that God hath promised to give his spirit to them that ask him and that in a promise confirmed by an argument drawn from common and known experience for so is that Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him 2. Nor shall I need to put you in mind that to our Prayers for the illumination of Gods grace something of industry must be joyned in the study both our of duties themselves and the motives that recommend them to us And yet in truth both these things are partly so written upon our hearts and since the revelation of the Gospel so expresly declared to us that we need not weary or waste our bodies nor vex and torment our understanding to gain the knowledge of either of them We need not now as St. Paul tells us say in our hearts who shall ascend into Heaven That is to bring down Christ from above to reveal the mind of God to us Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead that he may confirm that Revelation both these things are already done so that now as the Apostle adds Rom. 10.8 9. The word is high thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Where we see the Apostle takes it for granted that he that firmly believed the Gospel could scarce fail in the very practice much less in the knowledge and approbation of what is necessary to salvation so clearly are all our duties revealed and so effectually recommended in the Gospel 3. So that what is now mainly requisite to gain a clear and stable judgment in the good and perfect will of God is so much antecedent probity so much sincerity towards God as that we are willing to do his will when it shall be made known unto us and wonder not that this should be requisite for the gaining of stable judgment in it for this is no more than the very belief that there is a God may produce in every man so believing If a man have nothing of inclination to do Gods will when he shall know it why should God reveal it to him or supposing what is so indeed that he hath revealed it in the Gospel yet how unapt a man is to believe what he is resolved not to practise and what if believed and not practised will be a perpetual anguish to him How easie is it in this case when the interests of powerful lusts and passions bribe and corrupt the understanding for a man to prevaricate with himself and baffle and cheat his own mind But where there
is God serious in his Commands or is he not Is he in earnest or doth he only amuse us with them If he be not serious if he not in good earnest with us in the Laws which he hath prescribed unto us where is his wisdom where his Majesty where the perfection of his nature Doth infinite wisdom trifle with us doth he give us Laws without design that we should obey them or accept of us without obedience If he be serious and in earnest then hath he given us his holy Laws with real purpose and design that we should yield obedience to them nor can he chuse but be displeased when we wilfully violate or neglect them nor yet be reconciled unto us while he is so displeased with us while we continue in disobedience Now therefore for men to flatter themselves with hope of the favour and grace of God hope of the pardon of their sins while they continue in those sins is nothing less by good consequence than to imagine that God hath given us his holy Laws without intending they should oblige us that his wisdom doth but trifle with us which is an evident contradiction both to his Laws and wisdom also Those are no Laws that do not oblige nor is that wisdom which is not serious Secondly Add hereunto in the second place That a presumption on Gods favour in men continuing in their sins is flatly contrary to all those pressing exhortations whereby we find our selves invited nay vehemently pressed unto obedience in numerous places of the Scriptures such as that Prov. 1.22 23. How long will ye simple ones love simplicity and the scorner delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn ye at my reproof Such is that Ezek. 18.31 32. Cast away from you all your transgressions and make you a new heart and a new spirit Such is that Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my Commandments always that it might be well with them Such is that used by St Paul 2 Cor. 5.20 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray yon in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God Now what shall we say to these and many such exhortations wherein the Writers of the holy Scriptures wherein God himself by them exhorts invites and mightily perswades unto repentance and reformation unto obedience to Gods Laws Do not we see that they are most earnest most serious applications to us and can we imagine he would apply himself unto us with so much vehemence of address so much strength and importunity if he could be pleased and satisfied with us if he would pardon and accept us without reformation of wilful sins sins we cherish and indulge Is all this importunity used to press and perswade a needless thing a thing which is not absolutely necessary to recommend us to God's favour to obtain grace and acceptance with him Let no man have such thoughts of God as to believe him so importunate in pressing obedience to his Laws had he not decreed to remit and pardon no mans sins and to accept of no mans person who lives in disobedience to them The words I have before cited plainly shew he hath so decreed For when he hath said O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my Commandments always that it might be well with them He clearly speaks his own Decree namely that it shall be well with no man who doth not fear him and keep his Precepts 3. But then thirdly What shall we say to the great promise of the Gospel namely that of pardon of sin and life eternal Is not this made to those only that believe and sincerely obey the Gospel is it made to the wicked and disobedient is it made to the cruel and unjust is it made to the sensual and impure is it made to any but those only who study obedience to our Lord and to the Laws by him prescribed Read and observe the whole Gospel turn it over leaf by leaf from the beginning unto the end and see if you find any one passage promising pardon and remission promising grace and favour with God to the impenitent and disobedient and is it not then a great presumption for the impenitent and disobedient to promise that to themselves which the Gospel hath no where promised to them And yet again what is the reason why God hath promised eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and immortality Rom. 2.7 What is the reason why he hath promised remission of sins upon repentance Luke 24.47 but that the assured expectation of these so great rewards and mercies might most effectually stir us up to the performance of our Duties and that we may clearly understand that there is no ground to hope the one without performance of the other Surely this is the reason of it and yet it were no reason at all if the reward might be expected without the performance of the Duty Now therefore although we could imagine that God was not in earnest with us in the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel nor in the pressing exhortations which are annexed unto its Precepts which yet would be an infinite folly yet the express and clear promise of pardon of sins and life eternal upon faith and obedience to the Gospel evidently shews how real and serious God is with us when he requires obedience from us He would never have added so great a motive as the promise of glory and immortality to perswade obedience to his Laws had it not been his real design that we should yield obedience to him or forfeit his grace and favour to us 4. But to pass on to the fourth Particular there is nothing so flatly so expresly contradicted by a presumption of Gods favour in men continuing in their sins as the threats and menaces of the Gospel For what is the thing these threats denounce Nothing less than the wrath of God nothing less than eternal misery as the sure effect of that wrath and who are the persons upon whom that wrath and this misery is denounced are they not the impenitent and disobedient are they not those who live in habitual disobedience to the holy Precepts of the Gospel Hear the Apostle speak in the Case Rom. 2.8 9. Vnto them who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile And then that no disobedient person may deceive himself as judging himself exempt or quit from the common doom of the disobedient he further adds at the 11. verse There is no respect of persons with God He judges of all men as they are nor doth admit of any excuse of wilful sin
what are the motives what the arguments to that diligence 1. That which is mentioned in the Text where we find that this is the very thing that recommends us to Gods acceptance He that doth righteousness is righteous that is he is so in Gods account as well as really so in himself for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry Psal 34.15 They are as the apple of his eye he hath a tender kindness for them he bears a singular regard unto them and takes an especial care of them Righteousness is the Image of God true goodness wheresoever it is is a beam derived from the fountain of light which God doth always love and cherish always bless with especial favour whatever regard or disregard whatever favour or disfavour it finds with men it never wants the favour of God it is a participation of his Image and he loves it wheresoever it is as he loved it in his only Son so the Apostle himself adds He that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous And is not this a singular motive to live in the constant practice of it what is that that supports the minds what is that that cheers the hearts and spirits of wise and good and holy men under all the troubles all the calamities of the World but the hope and sense of Gods favour where can we find a sure refuge an assured shelter and security under thousands of fears and disappointments that attend us in the present World but under the shadow of Gods wings the grace and favour of God Almighty which Grace is Almighty like himself and will preserve to life eternal if we labour faithfully to retain it by true and diligent obedience to him let this therefore move us to obedience 2. And lastly because we have taken upon us the name and profession of Jesus Christ and because that Christ hath strictly commanded that every one that names his name depart from iniquity left he bring a scandal on that profession Let the honour of so dear a Master the credit and service of his Church which he hath purchased with his blood perswade the obedience of the Gospel If these with other considerations tending unto the same purpose have not this effect upon us we shall bring a scandal upon the Gospel we shall open the mouth of scorn and clamour against the Religion we profess we shall give occasion for men to think that we are under the great delusion which the Apostle here corrects of thinking our selves righteous persons although we do not do righteousness But in the diligent and careful practice of the holy Laws that Christ hath given us we shall honour our Lord adorn his Religion edifie others edifie our selves grow to an excellent habit of mind What shall I say more In so doing we shall obtain all the blessings of the Gospel and at last arrive at eternal happiness The Nineteenth Sermon Luk. 16.8 For the Children of this world are in their generation wiser than the Children of light THESE words are a short reflection made upon the behaviour of a certain Steward as it is represented in a Parable who having imbezeld his Masters goods is called to account for his miscariage and thereupon to be displaced How is it saith his Lord to him that I hear this of thee give an account of thy Stewardship for thou mayst be no longer Steward v. 2. of this Chapter The Steward surprized with the suddain notice of his removal from his place presently begins to bethink himself how he shall now provide for himself He said with himself v. 3. what shall I do for my Lord taketh away from me the Stewardship I cannot dig to beg I am ashamed But long it was not before he comes to a resolution which was to gratifie his Masters debtors in the abatement of their debts that so when his Master had removed him they might receive and entertain him so it follows v. 4. I am resolved what to do that when I am put out of the Stewardship they may receive me into their houses accordingly calling them to reckon with him he makes some abatement to every debtor of what was owing to his Lord To him that owed him an hundred measures of Oyl he makes abatement of one half saying unto him take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty v. 6. To him that owed an hundred measures of wheat he abated a fifth part of the debt Take thy bill and write fourscore v. 7. So he obliged his Masters debtors to entertain him in their houses when he had lost his Stewards place so he provided for himself His Lord in the mean time knowing this as well as his other misbehaviours though he could not approve the fraud and injustice of his Steward yet commends the care he had of himself commends the wisdom of his Servant in making provision for the future so it follows v. 8. And the Lord commended the unjust Steward because he had done wisely whereupon our Saviour adds this following observation For the Children of this world are in their generation wiser than the Children of light 1. The Children of this world are those that mind and study the present World that is the concerns and profits of it as the great and only valuable things and have no other end at all but to attain to wealth and power and what may be useful in this life for wheresoever the World is put for one particular sort of men it always signifies the worser sort so in those words John 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world and afterwards at the 16. v. they are not of the world even as I am not of the world From whence as from divers other places it hath been truly and well observed that although the World do often signifie all mankind the good and evil both together yet where it is put for one part only it always designs the worser part 2. Now to go on the Children of light are those that profess the faith and hope of future Glory and to make the attainment of that glory their chief endeavour in the World so is the same expression taken John 6.36 While ye have the light believe in the light that ye may be the Children of the light and so the Apostle 1 Thess 5.5 ye are all the Children of the light and the Children of the day that is to say ye all profess the faith of the Gospel which hath brought us out of darkness into light ye all profess the stedfast hope of that Glory which is promised in the Gospel to us and to make the pursuit of that Glory the chief design and end of life These are the persons whom the Scriptures style the Children of light and this is the reason why they are so styled 3. And then further whereas it is said that the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser then the
denys his providence hath no reason to love or fear him that is no reason to obey him But being as we have now proved God doth concern his power and wisdom in the administration of our affairs hence we learn to own and acknowledge the hand of God in all our successes and advantages and to render him hearty thanks for them Call upon me in the day of trouble and 1 will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me They are words of God himself Psalm 50.15 wherein he requires a double acknowledgment of his Providence first in making an address to him in all our difficulties straits and dangers and then in the grateful return of praise for our deliverance out of trouble This he requires as due unto him this he challenges as debt nor can it be denyed unto him without ingratitude and injustice and that which should so much the more perswade us to a cheerful thankfulness towards God for every mercy we receive is because our hearty thanks and praises is all the return we can make to God and because this is so easily made prompted even by nature it self and by the love we bear to our selves and because that mercy is never well and duly used that is not also thankfully received and it were better to want the greatest and highest blessings that can concern this present life than to abuse or not use them well The former is but a calamity the latter a very provoking sin the former only troublesome to us the latter dishonourable unto God And being we are so far concerned to make a return of thanks to God for every single and private favour how much more for publick blessings how much more for that so happy and gracious Providence which calls us together at this time the restitution of our Prince to the possession of his Throne and to the excercise of that Government which by inheritance belongs unto him You cannot expect that I should attempt much less be able to give a perfect and full description of this so great a mercy to us this is indeed beyond my purpose because so much above my ability But something of it may appear if we consider First the great effects and issues of it Secondly the several difficulties and obstructions that seemed to lie in the way to it Thirdly and lastly the manner wherein it was done 1. If we consider it in its effects these were not only the reestablishment of the Nation upon its antient Laws and Liberties but of the true Reformed Religion wherewith it had been formerly blessed by the infinite mercy of God to it both very great and signal mercies 1. We had been greatly oppressed and grieved by a long and violent Usurpation we had been broken all to pieces changed from one form to another tossed and tumbled to and fro those that oppressed us never finding a firm foundation to fettle themselves or us upon no man could guess no man conjecture the year before either who should Govern the year following or what kind of Government should be amongst us Every year brought forth new Counsels new Designs and forms of Government and so indeed was like to do when we were beside the true foundation All this while whatsoever hands had power over us wheresoever the Usurpation lay the power was Arbitrary and unjust oppressing and vexing where it pleased without controul and contradiction To say no more the Counsels of those that ruled over us were foolish tyrannous and unstable The folly of them made us ridiculous the tyranny of them made us miserable and their instability made us weak This being so methinks we should never recollect the singular favour and grace of God in restoring our lawful Prince unto us in restoring our antient Laws and Liberties by the restitution of our Prince without a deep and feeling sense of this so timely and great deliverance and serious and hearty thankfulness for it 2. Especially if we further consider that the same wise and gracious Providence which restored our lawful Prince to us brought back the free and publick use of that Religion which is without all doubt and scruple the most agreeable to the Scripture the most agreeable to Antiquity the most Primitive and Apostolical in Doctrine Worship and in Government the most peaceable wise and holy the most consistent with civil Government the aptest to make men good and happy both in this and the other world of any Religion whatsoever publickly owned in any Nation And as to that particular instance of obedience to the civil Magistrate I may very truly and justly say first that they of the Roman Church teach Doctrines inconsistent with it and then further that there is not any other Church that so expresly declares for it that professes it an indispensable duty rather to suffer than move sedition with that frankness with that openness with chat clearness nor as I believe with that sincerity that the Church of England doth profess it Being then the benefits which attended the restitution of our Prince were both so numerous and so great Let us heartily praise the Author of them let us remember who it was that wrought so great deliverance for us and not deny to return so deserved so small a tribute as our praises and thanksgivings to him 2. And which may serve to move to this with greater efficacy and success is the several difficulties and obstructions that might have hindered our deliverance had not God himself appeared for it Many attempts had been made before to shake of the yoke that was upon us and to restore our Prince and Liberties but these attempts were not successful nor had they other effects or issues than to encrease our former burdens and enrage the Enemy they should have conquered The Usurpation had been long and length of time had given some strength and credit to it and made it seem almost ridiculous to hope for any deliverance from it Besides all this it had spread an interest far and wide throughout the Nation it had drawn in many to share in it it had made it self many friends and alliances and relations It had given greatness and power to some riches and honours unto others it made it self useful and necessary as was suggested and believed believed I say by many persons to the very welfare of the Nation which gave no little strength unto it 3. And yet when God appeared against it when he whose Providence rules the World designed to put an end unto it how easily was it blown away and scattered like chaff before the wind What a wonderful folly and infatuation blinded the Counsels that were for it what a change was wrought in the hearts of men unanimously to appear against it what general desires and inclinations now suddainly kindled in mens hearts to their rightful Prince their antient Laws and the former Government of the Nation and whence was this zeal and vigour this general harmony of inclinations this agreement of
Councils and endeavours but only from the God of Spirits from him that moves the hearts of men when and where and whither he pleases by strong though invisible operations And which further entitles God to our deliverance was that it was wrought without Arms without war without the effusion and loss of blood in a still and quiet and peaceable manner This shews that it was from the God of peace this owns him for its proper Author and to him belongs the honour of it To us the due and proper use of such a timely and great deliverance 2. Having thus dispatched the former general namely the acknowledgment made to God that it is he that settles Kingdoms and Common-wealths proceed we now unto the latter which is the prayer put up to him Strengthen O God what thou hast wrought for us where we have these two things suggested 1. The necessity of Gods assistance for the confirmation and establishment of the Societies of mankind especially 2. And Secondly his willingness to establish them upon their due and right behaviour both which things are plainly granted by him that made this prayer for it else had the prayer it self been useless 1. The first thing then that is suggested is the necessity of Gods assistance for the establishment and confirmation of the Societies of mankind And had we no more for the demonstration of the necessity of Gods assistance to this purpose than the very nature of mortal men even this might serve for the proof of it All the affairs of mankind depend upon the actions of men their actions depend upon their Counsels and their Counsels generally upon their passions and these upon so many accidents so many little uncertain causes so numerous so various things that it is no wonder that every day produces so many alterations the wonder is that the greatest things that depend upon such uncertain causes the greatest Kingdoms and Common-Wealths have not more and quicker revolutions greater and more sudden changes than what we generally find have been The strength and settlement of every Government of every Kingdom and Common-Wealth depends not only upon the close and entire Union of the members of the fame Society amongst themselves a thing not easie to be had but upon all the several causes that keep the balance even and steddy between the neighbouring Nations also which causes are so very numerous and so various mutable and uncertain that the balance would daily change and vary did not God himself hold the scales and keep things even by his own power It is impossible to give an account of all the causes that may produce strange alterations in the Societies of mankind unless providence shall interpose for their continuance and preservation A sudden fire may break out in a Capital City and presently consume the greatest part of the Wealth and Treasure of a Nation A tempest or violent inundation an earthquake or thunder from above may have the very same effects A general Plague may sweep away such vast multitudes of the Inhabitants as that the rest may be exposed to the invasion of their neighbours This gave Sparta a great advantage against Athens The dulness and idleness of one Country may give opportunity to another to overgrow it in wealth and power and so to conquer and enslave it The Vice and Luxury of a People may soon consume their own strength and bring the same distress and difficulty upon a Country that they usually bring on a single Family Ease and plenty and wealth it self may first occasion disuse of Arms and then infect a whole Nation with a general softness and effeminacy and so expose it to the Usurpation of a hardier and more needy People Thus fell the Persians before the Greeks The death of a Prince or a great Man may prove destructive to a People When Epaminondas the Theban fell Thebes it self fell with him was never prosperous before nor after him Add hereunto what violent changes and alterations domestick Seditions may produce in every Nation and how many causes and little accidents may easily produce such Sedition The errours and mistakes of Magistrates the natural inconstancy of the People the ambition of Men of Wit and Parts or such as fansie themselves to be so their mutual enmities amongst themselves their envy at each others greatness their infinite rage and indignation when they fail of what they aspire after These with infinite other causes which are impossible to be numbred do as naturally tend to the dissolution of publick bodies of Civil Governments and Societies as all the diseases and fatal accidents to which mans body is obnoxious both from within and without also to the destruction of his body Now to what end is this discourse to shew the need that all the concernments of mankind that the greatest States and Kingdoms have of support from Divine Providence being not only so inclinable to crumble to pieces of themselves by the diseases that are within them but likewise so obnoxious too to be dashed to pieces each by other And if the very Civil Societies of mankind need the assistance of Gods Providence for their continuance how much more doth Religion want it Religion if true is a ray from God and depends as much upon his influence as the beam depends upon the Sun And being planted in us men must needs partake of our infirmities and therefore is apt even of it self like other establishments and constitutions to vary from Primitive institution and lose its original strength and purity So it came to pass that Christianity which in the first and Primitive ages maintained it self against all the cruelties of persecution by the zeal and piety of its followers afterwards suffered strange decays first by infinite swarms of Heresies and then by Ignorance and Superstition which now is reel'd to the other extreme namely to Atheism and Infidelity and to the contempt of all Religion Nor need we wonder it should be difficult to preserve so wise and holy a Religion as that which Christ hath revealed to us in its original strength and purity for it hath strong and numerous Enemies Every mans lusts are at enmity with it every mans vanity apt to corrupt it every mans Ignorance apt to mistake it nay the very Religion of some persons their pride and pretence to Inspiration the greatest Enemy to this Religion Besides all this there are several accidents that may have dangerous effects upon it according to the nature of times and places If the Ministers of it be poor and mean this generally brings contempt on them and upon Religion for their sakes If they be rich this creates envy and then Sacriledge is Reformation If a National Church be guarded and setled by the Laws of the State Dissenters complain of perfection and if it be not so guarded it is impossible it should be national that is that one and the same thing should ever be able to approve it self to an infinite difference of