higher powers the Princes and Potentates of the World exercised all external violence to destroy and kill the professors of it No reproaches were thought too foul to blacken no tortures too cruel to destroy the professours of the Gospel of Christ for the three first ages of Christianity insomuch that they had but little time to breathe in the intervals of persecution while they continued under heathen Emperours 2. No sooner did the supreme power owne the profession of Christianity no sooner did peace dawn upon the Church by the favour of Constantine the Great but that the professors of Christianity broke and divided amongst themselves Then was the Church as much troubled by the Errours and Heresies by the Schisms and Factions of them that professed the name of Christ as it had been in former ages by the open violence of persecution 'T is true indeed there had been Errours there had been factions amongst the Christians before that time but now they grew to greater height especially concerning the person of Christ for the repressing of which errours the four first general Councils were called 3. Next after the mutual strifes that arose among the Professors of the Gospel they fell into the sleep of ignorance dark and stupid and profound ignorance which began in the sixth and seventh Ages and continued for divers Ages together And then it was that all the follies and superstitions entred into the Christian Church which are still retained in the Church of Rome Then were Images set up in Churches and great Veneration given to them then came in the Invocation of Saints then the Adoration of Angels also then the opinion of Transubstantiation then infinite forgeries of Epistles forgeries of large and great Volumes fictions of the Lives of Saints fictions of the Miracles done by them to advance the Glory of the Church of Rome which were no sooner disclaimed and baffled by the Reformation that still continues but they of that Chuch presently fell to practise the very same cruelties the same bloody Arts upon the Reformed that the Heathen Emperours had formerly practised upon the whole Church of God Such were the methods that have been used to prevail against the Church of Christ violence from without divisions within the troubles of danger the temptations of ease all the cruelties and arts of Satan to bring confusion and ruine upon it and yet behold it still continues and will continue in the world either in one place or another by virtue of the promise of Christ that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church 2. Seeing that Christ our Lord hath made it the matter of a promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church that is to say that there shall always be a Society professing the Faith of Christianity and living together in communion in the use of all Christs Institutions this may serve for an admonition to all Christians to study Unity amongst themselves to make no breach in the Church of Christ where it is possible to keep together with piety and good conscience He that promised there should be a Church to the end of the world promised the unity and Christian communion of its members amongst themselves without this there is no Church And he that doth any thing directly tending to break this unity and communion doth what is in him to frustrate the very promise of Christ and to destroy that Church which he hath founded upon a rock In the mean time I must profess that I am much more than well satisfied in our separation from the Church of Rome or rather in their separation from us and from the Catholick Church it self by their infinite variations from it But on the other hand I cannot but tremble to think of the many grievous divisions amongst them that are divided from the Church of Rome These if not timely cured and removed will certainly bring confusion amongst us and then will that old Enemy enter in the smoke and darkness of that confusion I wonder to see how little regard how little value many men have for the preservation of peace amongst us I wonder to see what little exceptions what groundless cavils are made pretences to separate from us Certain it is that these men are infinitely wanting either in knowledge or sincerity If they do not understand that the peace of the Church is a thing of most important value for the preservation of Faith and love and the very essence of Christianity if they do not understand how weak and trifling all their Arguments against us are and that it is next to an impossibility to find a Church against which nothing shall be objected if they do not understand all these things they are guilty of very great ignorance but if they do understand these things and yet persist in separation they are guilty of equal insincerity The duty of every good Christian in these distractions and divisions that so much trouble the Christian World is to put up constant prayers to God and also to use his best endeavours for the peace of the whole Church of Christ They are short sighted in Christianity and very mean and narrow spirited that mind or study peace no further than concerns a particular Congregation nay the Church of any particular Nation Christ hath a care of his whole body and requires an unity and communion not only of the particular Members of any Church but of all particular Churches also These make up the Catholick Church and the Catholick Church is Christs body There is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Eph. 4.4 5 6. There is saith he one body one universal Church the unity and the peace whereof he recommends unto our study Now therefore study the peace and unity of this Church as much as possibly lies in you adorn it by your Faith and Piety labour its purity and its peace For to this end did Christ our Lord give himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 26 27. The Sixth Sermon 1 Cor. 14.15 What is it then I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also OUR Blessed Lord having a while before his death promised his Apostles another comforter who should for ever abide with them John 14.16 that is to say the spirit of truth to lead them into all truth renews this promise again unto them a little before his ascension into Heaven Act. 14. and commands not to depart from Jerusalem but there to wait for the promise of the Father And long it was not before this promise was fulfilled
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
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
mans mind whether these things be his will or not And though the Gospel in some cases that is when truth is contradicted require us rather to suffer for it than to forsake or to deny it yet seeing suffering in this case evidently tends to confirm the truth to the glory of God to the good of the World and hath also the promise of life eternal This very love of patient suffering in this case cannot offend the minds of any but those that are prejudiced by their lusts those who will not do Gods will although sufficiently propounded to them 2. As for those Articles of our faith that do not contain matter of practice since there is nothing of contradiction nothing at all of absurdness in them since those that declare matter of fact as that our Lord lived and dyed and rose again and sent the Spirit to his Apostles are attested by universal consent of those that could not but know the truth and had no reason to abuse it since all the rest were clearly confirmed by evident and undeniable miracles there is no cause we can imagine why any man should doubt or disbelieve them save only prejudice against the precepts against the Laws of the same Gospel wherein these Doctrines are revealed so that whosoever is so disposed as that he is willing to do Gods will is under an effectual preparation to believe and entertain the Gospel whensoever duly propounded to him 3. Add hereunto in the third place that God hath promised his holy Spirit to assist the upright and sincere and that a willingness to do Gods will whensoever we know and understand it is the very nature of sincerity Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knocks and it shall be opened unto you Luk. 11.9 and afterwards at the 13th verse If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy spirit to them that ask him To whom is this promise of the Spirit made if unto all that pray for it much more to them that sincerely ask it to these at least or else to none to these although to no other persons The meek says David will he guide in judgment the meek will he teach his way Psal 25.9 and more expresly at the 14th verse The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant them will he bless with his assistance them will he guide by his Holy Spirit them will he govern and direct for as he sometimes offers his grace to them that refuse to entertain it so he never denies it to them that do sincerely desire and use it Now then to conclude the point in hand being they that are willing to do Gods will are willing to use the best endeavours to understand it being they are free from those prejudices that hinder the understanding of it being they have the promise of God to guide and assist them to this purpose hence we conclude what we have observed that a hearty and sincere inclination to do Gods will is a most effectual preparation to understand and believe the Gospel Now for the uses of this point 1. Hence you see that God is not wanting to those persons who can reasonably expect assistance from him to those that are willing to do his will when it is duly discovered to them whosoever he is that is thus disposed may assure himself of Gods assistance to guide him into all needful truth into all things necessary to salvation whosoever is not thus disposed cannot justly expect assistance from him for why should God make known his will where it is certain before hand that it will it not be complyed withall why should he discourse his will to them who are resolved to serve their lusts whatsoever the will of God should be nay to them who will scarce believe any thing that contradicts their lusts and passions though never so duly propounded to them which is the case of every false insincere person who is resolved to believe nothing which doth not comply with his own corruptions God hath not promised that they shall fee who suffer their lusts to shut their eyes who are not willing to have the light nor was their reason for such a promise This fully acquits Gods providence that he hath token sufficient care so to recommend the Gospel in all things needful for Salvation to give such evidence of its truth that whosoever is disposed to do whatsoever God commands which the light of nature it self suggests shall easily know and entertain whatsoever is necessary to Salvation such is the course that God hath taken in the revelation of the Gospel and of all things necessary to Salvation that none will complain of want of evidence but only those that want integrity those who will not do Gods will although they know and understand it And for this they are to blame themselves and consequently for the effects of it their infidelity or misbelief 2. But then secondly seeing they that are willing to do Gods will find the Gospel so attested as that they who will give credit to it shall know and understand whatsoever is necessary to Salvation hence we may guess at the great cause of infidelity and misbelief wheresoever the Gospel is revealed The Gospel forbids the Gospel threatens the sinful lusts and lives of men and therefore they who resolve to continue in their sins cavil and quarrel and contradict it they hate that Doctrine which reproves them and will not believe what they hate although it flash in their very faces These men seeing see not and hearing they hear not saith our Lord and in them is fulfilled the Prophecie of Isaiah which saith by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive Matt. 13.14 And as there are some who disbelieve the whole Gospel meerly in favour of their lusts so others upon the same account grosly mistake and misunderstand it They will admit no sense of it but what is consistent with their sins what gives them leave to enjoy their lusts and hope for pardon notwithstanding Men who resolve to retain their lusts who will not part with their darling sins upon any conditions whatsoever must search out easie ways to Heaven find out other terms of Salvation than what the Gospel hath propounded Let the Gospel be never so express in the denunciations of Gods displeasure against those sins they live in they must find out some arts and shifts to evade and escape the plainest truths by some reserves or false glosses by clouding what is plain and evident Let it be never so expresly said and that by our blessed Lord himself If thy right eye offend thee pluck if out and cast it from thee and if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy
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
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
members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell Matt. 5.29 30. These men must find out some distinctions whereby they may retain that eye whereby they may reserve that hand secure their dearly beloved lusts and yet escape the flames of Hell It shall be answered to these and all other like expressions either that this is legal Doctrine and that Christ hath so fulfilled the Law as that there is nothing for them to do but to rely on his righteousness or else as it is on another hand that they will make satisfaction to God for those sins which they will not forsake they will confess them to the Priest they will receive his absolution they will most duly perform the penance which is prescribed them by the Priest give so much Alms say so many Prayers pass through a course of so many fasts And when they have found out these shifts then will they believe their sins forgiven although they wilfully still retain them they will believe that this is so in spight of common sense and reason in spight of the very light of nature in spight of the holy Scripture it self and the plain design of Christianity they will have a Creed which shall allow them in their lusts though clearly contrary to that Gospel which our Lord himself hath revealed to us From whence observe that no man can be secure of truth who is no friend to real Piety nor is he likely to understand the will of God who is not willing to obey it 3. Hence we understand that the only safe and certain way to know the will of God aright to know what true Religion is and what is the way to life eternal is such a sincere disposition of mind as renders us willing to obey whatsoever God prescribes unto us For so is the Gospel propounded to us that whosoever is so disposed will readily believe and entertain it upon the evidence which attends it seeing nothing obscures nothing eclipses this evidence but an aversation to the duties which are commanded in the Gospel There is no Doctrine no precept no promise or threat in the whole Gospel that contradicts the hopes or interests of any man that is really good 'T is no interest of good men that there should not be a day of judgment that Christ should not come to judge the World that he should not judge it by these Laws which are prescribed us in the Gospel 'T is no interest of good men that any thing should not be commanded which is commanded in the Gospel that every thing should not be forbidden which the same Gospel doth forbid on the other hand it is most suitable not only to the judgment and reason but to the inclinations of good men that God should command us to love himself with all our hearts to love our neighbours as our selves that he should command all the vertues that are commanded in the Gospels truth justice temperance patience meekness humility and the like that he should forbid what is forbidden pride and covetousness and animosity fornication adultery and excess it is suitable to their reason and hopes that he should distribute rewards and punishments in another world according to mens behaviour here and whosoever is thus prepared to understand and believe the Gospel will neither reject nor misbelieve it nor any thing that is contained in it which is absolutely necessary to Salvation especially seeing that God hath promised to guide and assist them with his Spirit who are resigned unto his will and willing to do what he commands them Observe we then the great security that good men have of being led into all truth which is needful unto their Salvation observe what is the ready way to be guided into all such truth it is to be upright and sincere it is to be willing to do Gods will willing to do whatsoever it be that God shall please to require of us If you find this willingness in your selves suffer not your selves to be overborn with their confidence who vainly boast of infallibility in the midst of most pernicious errours and in plain contradiction to the Scripture Truth is plain to them that love it to them that are willing to entertain it but as for them that are insincere that have no hearty love to it the plainest things are obscure to them showers and snares are in the way of the froward Prov. 22.5 which way soever they turn themselves because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie 2 Thes 10.11 4. Now therefore let the consideration of what I have said upon this point perswade sincerity towards God perswade to willingness to obedience in every instance whatsoever Sincerity is that which doth dispose us to know and believe all needful truth sincerity is that which God will bless with the assistance of his Spirit sincerity is that which he will reward not only with his conduct here but also with eternal happiness and everlasting life in the world to come The Fourteenth Sermon Malach. 1. 6. If then I be a Father where is mine honour And if I be a Master where is my fear The former part of the verse is thus A son honoureth his Father and a servant his Master If then I be a Father where is mine honour And if I be a Master where is my fear THERE are several relative names or titles given to God in the Holy Scriptures amongst which are these of Father and Master He is styled our Father because we receive life from him He is called our Master because he hath a just dominion over us And because he is such a Father to us as hath created us out of nothing therefore are we entirely his and because we are entirely so therefore is he such a Master as hath most absolute and most Sovereign Dominion over us upon which account he may and doth require the highest love and fear and the most sincere obedience from us The neglect whereof in the persons to whom the Prophet here applies himself was the cause of this expostulation If then I be Father where is mine honour and if I be a Master where is my fear I shall not insist on these two duties we owe to God that is to say honour and fear apart and distinctly from one another But rather observe that such an honour is due to God as comprehends a fear in it and such a fear as also contains an honour in it from both which things put together there results a filial awe or reverence which is compounded of love and fear of love to God as he is our Father and then of fear as he is our Master This reverence then is the duty suggested in the words before us which I shall pursue in this method I shall shew 1. The degrees of reverence which God requires 2. The proper effects of it 3. The
may suggest to us where I shall grant what men presume that is that they will repent hereafter and further yet that all their sins shall be forgiven and they intitled to life eternal upon repentance But I must not grant what they imagine that it is as well to retrieve a sin by true repentance for it as to prevent the sin it self that it is no loss in the mean time to have delayed their reformation It is a loss of precious time spent to the great dishonour of God and no true advantage to the Sinner 'T is a loss of growth in wisdom and vertue which might have improved to higher measures if they had been earlier applied unto 'T is a loss of higher degrees of Glory unless the time that hath been mispent be retrieved by a very singular diligence and excellent improvement afterward 'T is the loss perhaps of the souls of others who may have been misled and prejudiced by the worse part of a mans example namely by his sin and vanity but not amended by the better that is to say his reformation For no man can ever assure himself that the example of his repentance shall be as effectual to reform as that of his sin was to mislead and corrupt his Neighbour Besides all this the delay of repentance and newness of life renders the Duty far more irksome and fills it with greater pangs and sorrows and makes a mans birth a new life like that of a Child overgrown in the Womb infinitely grievous and full of trouble Moreover it gives very great occasion of such reflections wherein a mans guilt recoyls upon him in bitter remorses and regrets even after repentance and reformation It gives advantage to the Devil and he is very apt to take it to upbraid the Conscience with sharp remembrances of former sins although they be already pardoned It gives him advantage to raise many scruples fears and doubts of the sincerity of a mans repentance and of the acceptance it finds with God And to say no more late repentance is apt to leave the souls of men under many weaknesses and distempers just like a recovery from an obstinate long disease of Body which though it be a recovery indeed yet generally leaves it ever after under many infirmities and decays All these things may the thoughts of our ways offer to us and these suggestions plainly shew us That to continue in sin at present with purpose to reform hereafter is as if a man should wound himself out of presumption of a cure or break a limb with purpose to have it set again or throw himself into a sharp Feaver with resolution to use the methods for a recovery afterwards Seeing then the prevention of farther sin by speedy amendment of our lives is by many degrees better for us than to retract it by repentance and that although we were as certain we should repent and amend hereafter as we are sure we now design it let the serious consideration of this and of all I have said to the same purpose disswade the delay of reformation And because that frequent recollection is a thing so indispensably necessary to render the motives to repentance effectual upon our hearts and lives let us often retire into our closets and withdraw our selves from the noise and hurry both of business and diversion and then diligently apply our minds to the consideration of our ways Let us consider what they have been in former times as well as what they are at present let us call to mind our many omissions and neglects our many frailties and infirmities as well as chosen and wilful sins let us remember how much we have suffered or yet may possibly suffer by them for nothing of real satisfaction let us weigh the differences of good and evil and their different issues and effects let us remember that all these things and many other call loudly upon us to amend what we find amiss in our selves and that the patience of God towards us the uncertainty of our own lives the great disadvantage of delay in a work of such concernment to us press us to do it without delay And the God of all Grace and Mercy so assist our thoughts and Meditations by the operation of his Spirit that they may succeed to the reformation of our sins to the improvement of our Vertues and to our eternal peace and happiness in the great day of the Lord Jesus To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Glory Honour and Praise now and for evermore The Seventeenth Sermon 1 John 3.7 Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous THE Gospel had not been long preached unto the World but there arose a sort of persons who though they professed the name of Christ yet lived quite contrary to his precepts Such was the Sect of the Nicolaitans who took occasion from certain words of Nicolas the Deacon the sense whereof they did mistake see Grot. Hammond ad Revel 2.6 to indulge themselves in sensual lusts and to live in filthiness and impurity and hence it was that this reflection is made upon them in the words of Christ to the Church of Ephesus This thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate Rev. 2.6 Like unto these were those that are mentioned by St Peter 2 Ep. 2.18 when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonness those that were clean escaped from them that live in errour And by St Jude verse 8. of his Epistle Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh despise dominion and spak evil of dignities and afterward at the 10th v. what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves These were the Gnosticks a Sect of Libertines who as Irenaeus tells us lib. I. did practise all forbidden things without any modesty shame or blushing as believing it lawful so to do and thinking themselves nothing less acceptable unto God for so doing which is the errour which our Apostle obliquely touches in these words Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous Little children so he stiles those persons who were less knowing or less stable in the true Doctrine of Christianity so he stiles them cap. 2.13 although he seems in another place namely cap. 2.1 to give that title to all Christians Little children let no man deceive you that is to say suffer not your selves to be deceived by them that tell you that you may be righteous in Gods account and grateful and acceptable to him although you do not do righteousness that is although your lives and actions be not habitually just and holy for as Christ himself was righteous in the eyes of God because he was really so in himself so those only that do righteousness that yield sincere and true obedience to