full view of those intricate Methods of the Divine Providence that now perplex our enquiries We shall have our feet upon Mount Zion and from thence look down with joy that we have so happily escaped the tossings of this tempestuous Sea To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Praise Power and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON ON 1 JOHN Ch. v. V. 4. And this is the victory that overcometh the World even our Faith TO prepare my way to the Text I need not acquaint you with the general scope and design of this Epistle that all along breaths the Air of Peace and Love a strain of mildness and sweetness that appear'd in all the Apostles particularly in S. John who was allowed a more familiar converse with our Saviour than the rest of the Disciples FROM the beginning of this Chapter we find him describing the force and activity of the Divine Nature by which we are enliven'd to higher actions than what our Nature produces for the Divine Nature being the life communicated from and by God raises the Soul beyond its natural self and strengthens us to do all things through Christ that loved us WE are taught by the Divine Nature immediately to place our highest affections on God and this love naturally teacheth us obedience to his commands 'T is in vain to call him Lord and not to do the things he commands such is the force of this Divine Love it overcomes the World This life to which we are begotten by the Ministry and Incarnations of our Saviour is so opposite to the corrupt practices maxims and designs by which this World is govern'd that it proclaims open war against it and though he that is in us in the language of S. John be stronger than he that is in the World yet the World stands upon such advantages against us our incumbrances and weaknesses hang so close to us we are surrounded on all hands with so many troubles and difficulties in our way to heaven that before we overcome we must grapple with our enemies and bear up with Christian Courage and Magnanimity THIS state of Warfare is the Scene of our tryal and preparation we are Candidates for a Crown of Glory and it is unreasonable that we should expect it until first we have given proof of the Greatness and Vivacity of our Souls OUR Saviour cloath'd himself with Flesh and Blood that he might teach us who are lodged in Tabernacles of Flesh to manage our weapons against our enemies and this spiritual skill and conduct is visibly seen in our conquest and triumph over the World and all its flatteries and engines This leads me directly to a more particular view of the words that I have read And by the World I understand nothing else than that Spirit of Folly and Wickedness that prevails amongst Mankind Which our Saviour opposes by his Gospel And here I take three particulars to consideration First The great opposition maintain'd by the World against Christ and his Disciples Secondly The possibility of our victory and triumph Thirdly The mean by which this is accomplished even our Faith As to the First That the World doth most despitefully and violently oppose the design and tendencies of Christianity Our Saviour did acquaint his Disciples with it when he was to leave the World John 15.19 If ye were of the World the World would love his own but because ye are not of the World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hateth you BUT that I may give you a clear prospect of the opposition between the Spirit of the World and the Spirit of Christianity let us First Consider the Laws and Maxims by which the World is govern'd contrary to the rules of our Saviour Secondly The things that the World most admires loves and preservs Thirdly The rewards it offers to its friends and votaries Fourthly The manner by which it acts its malice against Christ and his Disciples and when we have shortly viewed these particulars we shall clearly see the fierce opposition against Christ against the Christian Religion against the whole Oeconomy of his Kingdom and Laws As to the first of these Are not the Maxims by which the World and its affairs are governed most opposite to and different from the Laws of our Saviour We are told by him that the Children of this world are wiser in their own generation than the children of light They are acted by principles of design subtilty and artifice the other is acted by a principle of truth integrity and simplicity The one is acted by fraud cunning and avarice the other by purity innocence self-denial patience and charity THE World applauds and raises on the wings of fame the man of business might and dexterity in managing and canvassing the labyrinths and intrigues of affairs BUT by the Laws of our Religion we are taught to despise the World and all its trifling interests and pleasures and to consider the Wisdom of the World as the greatest impertinence and folly By this I do not mean its Political Constitutions by which its madness is restrained but I mean its ordinary practices WE are invited to other treasures far above the gilded nothings that this World admires O! how empty is its pageantry when the varnish drops off when it appears naked to the eye of Reason and Faith So much the World and the genius of it teacheth men to value themselvs to despise others to be revengeful to climb as high as is possible they endeavour to attract the eyes and admiration of all men to satisfie their passion to the full to gather together all the treasures of Nature and dwell securely in its embraces But the Christian Religion teacheth us to see the vanity of all those contrivances the folly of their passions the emptiness of their satisfaction WE are taught by it to go to Heaven through the tempests and storms of this World with a low Sail to prefer others to our selves to be patient under reproofs to be humble in the highest of our prosperity to be denyed to the flatteries of Sense to be unconcerned and unsolicitous for future events casting our selves with the whole weight of our faith and hope upon the care wisdom and love of God We are taught by it to cut off our right hands and pull out our right eyes to bless them that curse us and to do good to them that despitefully use us In a word it ranverses and overturns the whole fabrick of the Worlds Politicks it runs cross to all its corrupt designs and to the end we may become wise unto salvation we must be esteemed fools in the account of the World and therefore our Saviour frequently told his Disciples that His Kingdom was not of this world that it was govern'd by and established upon other Laws and Constitutions Now when we but shortly reflect upon the different Laws and Constitutions we see clearly the opposition betwixt Christ and the World the
though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll 'T is in the vertue of this blood that we approach the Throne without fear and diffidence the God of Pity and Compassion cannot shut his ears against those prayers that are made under the mediation of Jesus Christ the hands of Justice are bound up when his bloody Sweat and Agony his Passion Death and Burial are commemorated How fixt and immoveable is this foundation of our Faith that we have such an High-Priest at the right hand of the Father who by one Oblation of himself through the Eternal Spirit sat down victorious on his Throne Powers Dominions and Principalities being put under him Though the Doctrine of the Cross be the Scorn of Jews and Gentiles yet let us say with S. Paul God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ And this is still so much the surer when we consider the Nature of that Attonement that our Saviour made This Sacrifice was propitiatory and piacular for he suffered not only for our good but in our room and they who would make him to act no more in all this than the part of a resolute Martyr destroy one of the prime foundations of our Religion and of our hope in the hour of death and at the day of Judgment Fourthly WHEN we fix our thoughts on the death of Jesus we ought to practise those Graces that then appear'd most eminently in him his Contempt of the World his Love to his Enemies his Patience and Resignation Can we dwell on the thoughts of his love towards Mankind and not be inflam'd with the highest Zeal to serve him How can we forget the glorious adventures of his Love who dyed for us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword V. 38. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Power Praise and Dominion World without end Amen A SERMON ON 1. COR. ii V. 3 4 5. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling And my speech and my preaching was not with inticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God IN the First Chapter S. Paul had in his view the allaying the differences that had arisen amongst the Corinthians concerning their Teachers whom they should follow He puts them in mind how he had preached the Gospel amongst them and by what Arguments they had been perswaded to embrace it i. e. not with the wisdom of words And again not with enticing words of mans wisdom HE thought it not proper to advance his doctrine and design amongst them by the accurate and artificial reasonings of the wise men of the Gentiles but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power THE elegant Orations and Philosophical Discourses of the Learned Gentiles by which they were wont to put off their opinions to the people withal he did not judge proofs proper for and suitable to the nature of his Doctrine It being wholly Divine it required divine demonstration something above the reach of human speculation something yet untraced by their most accurate Disquisitions So the supernatural gifts bestowed on the followers of Christ by which they were made to interpret the sacred Oracles and ancient Prophecies concerning the Messias and accommodate those Prophecies to the most particular circumstances of his Kingdom By which they were enabled to discern Spirits and dispossess Devils such and such miraculours appearances together with the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles both upon the dead and the living were proofs of divinity in their own Nature far beyond the subtile reasonings of Orators and Philosophers more suitable to the design in hand more undeniable and authentick and therefore a proof much more solid and clear than if they had recommended the Doctrine of Christianity with all the eloquence and ostentation of words THIS method propos'd in the first Chapter He owns and vindicates in this from all the objections and carnal imputations that the admirers of Philosophy on the one hand and heretical Seducers on the other might lay to his charge He did not declare unto them the Testimony of God with the excellency of speech or wisdom It was not his design to read unto them Lectures of Plato's Philosophy but to recommend Christ and him Crucified to preach the humble doctrine of the Cross the plain and necessary Articles of Christianity the very first and indispensible principles of our Faith not the more abstruse mysteries of which as yet possibly they were not capable but those early lessons that we must know as soon as we become Disciples of that Heavenly Institution THIS Doctrine recommended at such a time and by such men so far above the genius of all the prevailing sects of Philosophers and appearing with so much modesty and humility had certainly been run down in triumph by the Patrons of Paganism and Infidelity if it had not been supported by another kind of proof and demonstration than that which was taught in the Athenian Schools Therefore the Corinthians ought not to be much stumbled at the petulancy and ignorance of false teachers who despis'd what they did not understand and measur'd wisdom by a standard of their own The Gospel was recommended amongst them by such proofs as were agreeable to its Nature that their belief might not depend upon any thing that was human and artificial but on the most solid and immoveable foundations the Wisdom and Power of God clearly display'd in vindication of the Gospel This is shortly the scope of the words that I have read The success and efficacy of what he preach'd did not at all depend on the order and composure of his periods tho one might observe Eloquence and Majesty in his Expressions if they were not too much addicted to what they valued amongst the Grecian Orators yet did he not at all affect that which the wise men of Greece most gloried in he design'd that it might be very clear That the success of his Doctrine should depend on supernatural proofs or the light and majesty and conviction that attends the power of miracles LET us view those words more closely and examine their phrase and dependance and see how clear a proof they contain of the excellency of Christian Religion And in them we have three particulars I. HIS uneasie
desirable event WE are to meet with God in the most comfortable and sublime Ordinance and to dress our Souls in their best Robes and Wedding-garments We are to come to this Feast with pure intentions and to arm our selves with the whole armour of God and against every Limb of the body of Death We are to set the pure Law of God before our Eyes and faithfully to compare our actions with it and do you think that this can be done by a superficial glance or can we renverse so easily what is so deeply rooted in our Nature and frame can we by the slightest attempt overturn the works of Satan When we remember that we are to be judged for every secret thought and every idle word and every evil deed how impartial and accurate ought we to be in this Examination when we compare our lives with the Law of God what a formidable Army of our sins do we at first view perceive Our omissions our careless performance of what we do our injuries towards others our foolish impertinent and uncharitable Censures of many our breach of former Promises and Resolutions the hardness of our Hearts against the various Methods of Gods Goodness Patience and Providence against the light reproofs and directions of our own Consciences and the honour of our most holy Profession now when we have gotten such a sight of our sins the Prayer of the Publican in the Temple becomes us Lord be merciful to me a sinner 2. WHEN you have made an impartial discovery of your Condition judge thy self with all severity for if we judge our selves we shall not be judged of the Lord. We are not to judge our selves blindly and with precipitation but upon a full and clear evidence of our Condition nor is it enough to pass sentence against our selves in general forms to acknowledge that we are sinners but we must confess our particular sins such as are our sins in a special manner either by habitual custom temperament of Body ordinary Society or by any other accident or teâ—â—ation for without this particular and ingenuous confession we are not ashamed of what we have done and consequently not truly penitent Let us therefore neither hide nor extenuate our sins before God to whose Eyes all things are naked and open and whose word divides between the soul and the spirit who knows our thoughts afar off and the very first tendencies of our Soul towards evil Apply the confession of the prodigal Son to thy particular state and say with true contrition and humility I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son THE Grace of God cannot grow to any ripeness and perfection but in the Soul that is truly humble and that sensibly feels it self in the most destitute condition unless our Saviour speedily interpose for our recovery and there is no Method so proper to make us truly humble as to see our selves without disguise naked as in the sight of God When we are stript of our Excuses and artificial coverings by which we endeavour to hide our selves from our Neighbours then we see the vast distance that is between the pure Laws of our Religion and our loose careless and disordered lives God is present with us at all times and his Eyes pierce to the Center of our Spirits Let us therefore go to the bottom of the Sore and examine our actions by that infallible Rule of his Word and then we must condemn our selves in the most serious and afflictive strain of true remorse and contrition and therefore we find that the most eminent Saints have been most accurate and impartial in censuring their own sins and transgressions they were more ingenuous than their most watchful Enemies to aggravate their own follies Thus my heart was griev'd saith the Psalmist and I was pricked in my reins so foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee 3. WE are to approach this Sacrament with strong resolutions at last to be revenged on our sins Let us reason our selves out of our former idleness and sloth if we are truly griev'd for our sins we must break thorough the ordinary Obstacles that formerly kept us in bondage Is there no strength in this Sacrament to break those Iron bars by which we are shut up under the power of our sins Are our bonds so strong that they cannot be shaken off Are our Appetites so violent and unruly that they cannot be resisted Were not others encompassed with the same flesh and infirmities and yet happily made free And shall we miserably groan under the load of our sins even though we feel that they make us hateful to God Nay let us cast our selves under the compassionate Eye of our blessed Lord and Master and beseech him that he would let us feel the power of his Resurrection and break our Captivity that he would let us know that He that is in us is stronger than He that is in the World that his Wisdom and Strength may interpose to help our weakness and folly that He would gird his victorious Sword upon his thigh and eradicate our evil Habits Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered and fly before his presence Our resolutions must not only be vigorous and fervent but fixt against particular sins to which our inclinations are more violent and forward 4. COME unto the Holy Table with full trust in the mercy of God He will not quench the smoaking flax nor will he break the bruised reed He blows upon the first sparks of Sincerity until they are flam'd into perfect zeal and Devotion The Waters that He gives are a Well of water springing up unto life eternal He will perfect that which he hath begun The goodness of God and the incomprehensible Love of Jesus are immovable Pillars of our Faith and therefore we are to fill our Eyes with a prospect of Mercy He will not deal rigidly with us neither will he upbraid us with our former guiltiness when we are prostrate at his feet when we plead with him by his boundless Compassion and the Abyss of our miseries The Blood of Jesus is the true Atonement and propitiation for the sins of the World So reasons the Author to the Hebrews that the blood of Jesus must be of infinitely greater force than that of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heiser for he offered himself without spot unto God and that through the eternal Spirit and therefore he lives for ever to make intercession for us and if we believe the sufficiency and merit of his Sacrifice we must also be persuaded of the real efficacy of this Sacrament to convey the Merits of Christs blood to every penitent Communicant This may be easily discern'd by its contrary influence on the prophane and impenitent If he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation then certainly it it must convey life strength light
by the closest adherence THERE is nothing more pernicious to true Christian Practice than wrong Principles Take heed therefore that the light which is in you be no darkness The fear of God makes men move with a reasonable Steadiness in all their Actions and nothing else yields true Peace at the hour of Death A Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Men is the surest Anchor against all our Fears and Conflicts God continue his Presence with you that you may seriously lay to heart the only One thing necessary This is sincerely prayed for by Much Honoured and Well Beloved Your affectionate and much obliged Friend and Servant AL. MONRO THE Contents SERMON I. Psal cxxxix 14 15 16 17. 14 I Will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well 15 My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth 16 Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the sum of them Page 2 SERMON II. 1 Pet. ii 11. Dearly Beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the Soul Page 35 SERMON III. 1 John v. 4. And this is the victory that overcometh the World even our Faith Page 73 SERMON IV. Phil. iii. 14. I press toward the Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Page 111 SERMON V. 2 Pet. i. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust Page 141 SERMON VI. Canticles iv 15. A Fountain of Gardens a Well of Living Waters and Streams from Lebanon Page 191 SERMON VII Rom. xii 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service Page 227 SERMON VIII John xviii 11. Then said Jesus unto Peter Put up thy Sword into the sheath the Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Page 273 SERMON IX 1 Cor. ii 3 4 5. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling And my speech and my preaching was not with inticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God Page 303 SERMON X. Mat. v. 20. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven Page 335 SERMON XI Acts ii 1 2 3 4. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place And 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 sat 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 Page 366 SERMON XII Psal xxvi 6. I will wash mine hands in innocence so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. Page 409 SERMON XIII John xi 25. Jesus said unto her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Compared with 1 Cor. 15.12 13 14. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection from the dead But if there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain Page 450 ERRATA PAg. 6. l. 14. r. structure p. 13. l. 20. r. shall p. 19. l. 6. r. can p. 30. l. 8. r. employment p. 32. l. 3. r. drag p. 51. l. 23. r. our p. 79. l. 7. r. height p. 121. l. 27. r. intentions p. 138. l. 13. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 270. l. 3. dele by p. 287. l. 20. r. Verres p. 329. l. 2. r. from A SERMON ON PSALM cxxxix v. 14 15 16 17. 14. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well 15. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth 16. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them 17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the sum of them IT was the Observation of a learn'd Philosopher and a great Statesman of our neighbour Nation That a superficial Insight into Nature inclin'd men to Atheism but a more thorough view of its regular Methods and the Causes of things did necessarily lead us to the acknowledgment of the Deity HIS Reason is very plain While the Mind of Man looketh upon second Causes scattered it may sometimes rest in them and go no further but when we behold the Chain of them confederate and link'd together we must needs fly to Providence and the contrivance of infinite Wisdom The Impressions of the Divinity upon Nature are so legible that the Apostle concludes such inexcusable who do not acknowledge them His most glorious Attributes are in a manner felt in the works of Creation even his eternal Power and Godhead being clearly seen by the things that are made THE Psalmist taught this Philosophy before S. Paul The heavens declare the glory of God the firmament sheweth his handy works day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge There is no part of this great Fabrick of the World which doth not direct us to a Most Mighty Being by whom it was made But above all the rest the Heavens which are so vastly extended and wherein we see so many glorious Bodies proclaim aloud the Power Wisdom and Skill of that supreme Governor and Architector THIS Consideration transported the Psalmist unto the most heavenly Raptures and seraphick Gratulations So we find him in the eighth Psalm When I consider thy heavens the works of thy fingers the moon and stars which thou hast ordained c. i. e. When I look up to that celestial habitation and consider the beauty of that admirable structure how richly thou hast gilded the roofs of thy outer house with the lights that shine there I am struck down with wonder I know not what to say that thou shouldst
converse with God and with our own Souls That we who see Motes in our Neighbours eyes may at last pull out the beam out of our own WHEN we read of the strict Diet of the Apostles to which they were tied by the common Law of Christianity and withal remember their ordinary Entertainment from the World a Catalogue whereof we have in 2 Cor. 6. v. 4 5 6 7. In all things approving your selves as the ministers of God in much patience afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings I say when we call to mind that this was their entertainment one would think there needed no more to keep their flesh within bounds and under the perfect command of Religion And yet we find that the same Apostle last cited did use voluntary chastisements and restraints towards himself that he might be wholly disengaged from all fleshly solicitations 1 Cor. 9.26 27. I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the air but I keep under my body and bring it unto subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast away AND it is most certain the reason why we are not so successful in our resolutions against vice and folly is that we are not so particular in our choice of particular means and methods against particular sins When we beat the air in the language of the Apostle and never aim our strokes at particular sins we hover and are bewilder'd in the midst of many indefinite projects and fancies if we resolutely fight against the body of death we must wound it in some particular limb before the strength of the whole be taken down And therefore I would heartily advise all serious men in their retirements to single out some particular sin to which they find themselves more inclin'd for the object of their special resistance And this method hath this advantage also that not one sin falls without the ruin of many others to which it is nearly related And to close this advice in one word young and robust people that are healthful and vigorous where there is no danger of sickness infirmity or old age should frequently fast and pray that they may be strengthened against temptations that their Spirits being recollected they may with greater security venture abroad in the midst and hurry of secular incumbrances So far have I discours'd against Fleshly Lusts in their restrain'd signification as they proceed from wantonness and lasciviousness But I see no necessity why we may not understand the Fleshly Lusts in this place in their full extent as they signifie all those unruly passions and desires that act the unregenerate part of Mankind and drive them forward upon innumerable Precipices of error folly and mischief all of them reduc'd by S. John to three heads the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life All those gilded nothings and hurtful Idols that Mankind gaze upon with so much dotage and fondness all of them whether singly considered or in the bulk are contrary to the Nature and Genius of Christianity inconsistent with true peace and tranquility of mind and wholly set against the welfare of our Souls We have a Catalogue of them in the Epistle to the Galatians Chap. 5. v. 19. In which Catalogue the Lusts of the Flesh strictly so called are placed in the front Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies V. 21. Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God THE Apostle then bids us abstain from those Lusts that are so directly opposite in their nature and tendencies to the beauty and just interest of our Souls AND this leads me to the second Particular that I design to speak to and that is the Apostle's first argument against those Fleshly Lusts taken from their opposition to the Soul They are drawn up in battel array against the natural life as well as the mind And that I may make this apparent in a few words 'T is easie to observe that they war against the Soul in its purest and highest excellencies and though they cannot commit a direct rape and violence upon its Spiritual Nature yet do they combine all their force and strength to entice and allure it unto unworthy compliances And this is so much likely to succeed in that we are plac'd in the confines of Heaven and Earth Our Souls hang between the pleasures of the Body and its own Speculations and these objects that our Bodies feel make such impressions upon us by their neighbourhood that it is with great difficulty that the Soul is victorious over their importunity and frequent assaults Now all the prejudice that the Soul can suffer may be reduc'd to these three Heads 1. IT may be sullied in its natural perfections and operations 2. IN its moral endowments and accomplishments 3. IT may be depriv'd of its supernatural rewards and carnal Lusts do war against the Soul in all these regards 1. I SAY they war against it in its natural perfections and excellencies Now the true perfection of the Soul is to be united unto God This is its natural element the contemplation of truth is its true and proper employment and if by the enchantment of our Senses we have forgot our selves yet the accusations of our Consciences the pricking reproofs and regrets of our mind amidst the noise and hurry of external avocations sufficiently inform us that our Souls are violated against their original tendency when they are made to worship the Creature instead of the Creator We were originally design'd to view the Creation but not to rest upon it not to dwell in its embraces but so far to consider it that by those Ladders we might climb unto the Author of our Being HEAR then the reasonings of our own mind How have we enslaved them to those mean and abject drudgeries that are unworthy of their Nature and Original Now those Spirits that are Sisters to Cherubims and Seraphims by complying too much with their Senses are become feeble flat and unweildy for their more genuine and spiritual operations Had we nothing else to do but to make provision for the Flesh and fulfil the Lusts thereof we needed not such Souls as now we are furnished with Souls that can grasp so many truths together and lodge them without confusion or disorder that search into the Secrets of Nature and feel pleasures wherein the Body can have no share Why ought we to have such intellectual furniture if we had nothing else to do but to move above the surface of the ground for some few Months or Years and then lye down in eternal silence in
discreetly distributes the Waters of Life to the necessities of all the contrite and humble she raises from the dust by consolations and the precious Promises the incorrigible and stubborn She casts down by Thunder and Lightning by words of terror and indignation She comforts the fearful warns the slothful and applies her self to the spiritual necessities of all For her weapons are not carnal but mighty through God for pulling down strong holds and lofty imaginations and leading our thoughts captive to the obedience of Jesus I WOULD not pass over this first Metaphor transiently but let us examine its design and we shall find it may naturally imply either First The Beauty of its Situation or Secondly The abundance of its Furniture or Thirdly The Strength of its Inclosure or Fourthly The Propriety of its Owner 'T is Fons signatus a Fountain sealed the chast Spouse of Jesus Christ married and sealed by his Spirit First I SAY this Metaphor implies the Beauty of its Situation so plac'd that it might water the neighbouring Gardens and Inclosures that the Rivulets derived thence might moisten and fructifie all quarters of its dependance Our Saviour says to his Apostles you are the Light of the World and a City set upon an hill cannot be hid Isa 5.1 The Church is said to be a Vineyard on a very fruitful Hill and this is the Hill saith the Psalmist Psal 68.16 which God desireth to dwell in yea the Lord will dwell in it for ever They then that are set on the Towers of Sion must look on all hands to defend the place from the assaults of the enemy The Church to the Earth is like the Sun in the Firmament though sometimes darkned with Vapours Clouds and Exhalations yet its Beams break through the thick darkness and illuminates South and North East and West Our Religion is light and nothing more evident and plain than the light and though we cannot give perhaps a Metaphysical account of its nature yet we all know what it is we feel the Warmth and Beauty of it we are not then to make this Doctrine obscure or abstruse with human inventions or Comments and Glosses superinduced by Fancy Vanities or worldly Designs nor are we to keep it up from People but to let the Streams of those Waters run so seasonably and plentifully for the edification of all our Masters houshold The Doctrine is in it self plain We need not say Who shall ascend into the Heavens to bring it down or descend into the Depth to bring it from thence for it is near thee and in thy mouth BY the Fountain then I understand the Organic Church plac'd as it were in the midst of the World and set upon a Hill And since we are advanc'd to this height we must breath in a purer Air than the feculent Vapours of the lower Regions Our Souls must fly higher and mount nearer the Sun than the Birds of darkness and Sensuality We are obliged to converse with the rest of Mankind as the Messengers of God who design to gain them from their sin and danger that when the great Shepherd comes we may be found having our loins girt each at his own Post moving in his own Sphere and then shall we appear as Workmen that need not be ashamed as neither having violated nor betrayed that Sacred Depositum committed to our care Secondly THIS Metaphor implies the abundance of its furniture there is in this Fountain of the Holy Scriptures Scaturigo perennis aquarum Mat. 13.52 The Scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old When our Saviour design'd to propagate his Church among the Gentiles he opened the Store-houses of Heaven upon the day of Pentecost by which the Apostles were inflamed with Divine Eloquence and Zeal to assert and defend the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 12.7 8 9 10 11. To one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another the Gifts of healing by the same Spirit WHEN we consider the Necessities of the Church those Gifts must needs be multiplied in proportion to the spiritual Diseases and Exigencies of Mens Souls the first Ages of the Church required the miraculous Gift of Languages Miracles and Healings and the latter Ages no less Devotion Care and Humility the Gifts that are proper for edification and establishment of the People in their most holy Faith WHEN to this we add the Nature of our heavenly employment It is not a little trifling Skill that qualifies Men for this undertaking Our Function is conversant in the highest Mysteries and such as are of the highest consequence does it not require the best of Moral Preparations the strongest intellectual Furniture all the Accomplishments of Nature Grace and Education WE must form the Minds of Men unto a higher Discipline than Humane Arts and Sciences we must leave no Stone unturned to reform the World we must dig hard in the Spiritual Mines of the Holy Scriptures for knowledge as for Silver and search for her as for hid treasures HOW delicate and curious a piece of work it is to frame the Souls of Men into right Principles solid and clear Notions to recover them from darkness to light to be imployed in watching over the Church that God bought with his own blood how noble an employment is this The Son of God incarnate was the first of our Order the Founder of our Society When we consider how various are the Spiritual necessities of the Chucch the ignorances mistakes and negligences of the People the Arts Sophistry and Wiles of the Devil nothing but an inexhaustible Fountain can supply its wants AND therefore the People should consider our Character as the most difficult and most Sacred it requires the closest application of Mind the most accurate Meditation the most indefatigable Attendance to instruct the ignorant to convert the sinner to settle the doubtful to confirm the wavering to rouse up the negligent to awaken the impenitent to open to all men the Doctrine of Christianity and in a word to lead our People by Vertue Patience and Piety through the intricate Stages of this troublesome life till they are put beyond danger and tentation ONE thus engaged had need to be furnished with a grave serious and steady temper of mind Who can think himself sufficient for these things Would not he need to have the illumination of an Angel the compassion of a Father Would not he need the Wisdom Constancy Resolution and Courage of the greatest Soul whom no Storm no Tempest must drive from the Helm OUR Saviour foreseeing what Combinations would muster against the Church what Legions of darkness would endeavour to shake its Faith and disturb its Unity did furnish his peculiar Servants that wore his Livery with such Gifts and Graces as might defend the Church propagate the Faith and repel the
positae quoniam suaves miscetis odores And this is prophesied of the Messias that his Garments should smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia And from him the Church hath all those excellent Smells mentioned Verse 14. Saffron Calamus and Cinnamon to teach us that though the Gifts of the Spirit are and have all their several excellencies yet they are all useful to the Church whose garments are made of needle work and different colours and therefore it is an unpardonable vanity in the People to make saucy comparisons between the Gifts of Ecclesiasticks for stabit unus quisque sorte sua and the Philosophy of S. Paul to the Corinthians should teach them more modesty If the foot shall say because I am not the Eye I am not of the Body is it therefore not of the Body If we look up to our Superiours for assistance conduct and direction they must look down to us for obedience deference and submission THE third Thing that I promised was the rise of those Waters they come from Mount Libanus by an impetuous force and vigour Nothing can more lively represent the first rise and beginning of those heavenly Oracles The Gospel is the day star from on high and the Doctrine that our Saviour hath revealed is from Heaven We are told by Historians that at the foot of Mount Libanus there arises a pleasant Fountain aquas habens limpidissimas that run down from it through subterraneous passages most impetuously and there burst forth in great plenty and by several Conduits waters all the Gardens of the Plain And this leads us naturally to the Divinity of our Religion but here I stop being afraid that I have transgress'd already the time that was allowed me To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory for ever Amen A SERMON ON ROM xii 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service THE Apostle in the former part of this Epistle asserted the Doctrine of Evangelical Justification against the unbelieving Jews who stuck so tenaciously to the System of Moses's Laws And now he sums up in one pathetic Exhortation the strength and design of the Gospel and of all Religion Christianity was not a Collection of dry and airy Notions calculated to amuse the World but a Discipline the highest and the purest that ever was received amongst men the immediate Revelation of Infinite Wisdom which brought along with it true and everlasting righteousness And therefore they ought not to let their thoughts dwell so much and so long on the glory of their Temple and the variety of their Sacrifices under the Levitical Oeconomy They were now invited to offer unto God more valuable Oblations than any of their former They were to bring themselves to the Altar of God and resign their Will to his Will And this was more agreeable to the nature of true Religion the design of the Gospel and the highest exercise of Reason When we bring unto God only things that are without us we mistake his Nature and despise his Goodness Reason taught us that the best things are to be offered unto God and therefore the Heart and Soul and Mind of Man are the only Sacrifices that are truly valuable And this is the reason why the Apostle addresses to the Christians at Rome with so much zeal and affection I will shortly consider 1. His Preface 2. His Exhortation And 3. The Motive to enforce it And 1. For the Preface By the mercies of God We easily infer from the fervour and solemnity of the Apostles Introduction the weight and importance of his Exhortation i. e. I do beseech you with all the earnest passion and true tenderness that I am capable of I exhort you by the Mercies of God i. e. by what is uppermost in his Nature his boundless Compassions that are in the front of all his glorious Perfections and in the Language of the Psalmist from everlasting to everlasting by all that is great sacred and venerable that which takes up the wonder of Angels the praises of men and the adorations of the Saints in glory that you no longer resist the Light of the Gospel but since you are redeem'd from the pompous drudgery of an external Religion that you would think no Sacrifices worthy of God but such as are attended with your life strength zeal and devotion for this is the true Worship of the New Testament when our Will is united to the Will of God 'T IS easie to observe the holy Violence and Fire of S. Paul's Spirit when he endeavours to plant-true and solid Religion Here he speaks as if his Soul was ready to crack the strings that ty'd it to his Body He is all flame all love all endeavour all charity He wishes himself an Anathema i. e. a publick Sacrifice for the unbelieving Jews if this could recover them from their Infidelity to the acknowledgement of the Truth as it is in Jesus HE made use of this weighty Argument in this place because there is none of greater force If the Angels were to preach to us and gain us to the belief of the Gospel they could not fly higher in their Perswasives than the Mercies of God It is by them that he chuses to proclaim all his Titles of Honour to the World The Lord the Lord God slow to anger and of great goodness So when the Apostle exhorts by the Mercies of God he exhorts by God himself and all those ineffable appearances of his Goodness that are felt by the intelligent World and every moment proclaim'd with wonder and acknowledgement HOW merciful must he be who suffers without present revenge the many horrid Crimes that are daily committed the provocations that fly in the face of Heaven their multitude their variety and their circumstances as if men would pull down the Almighty from his Throne and reverse the foundations of good and evil And yet such is the love of God to mankind that after many unkind denyals and rude affronts he besieges the Consciences of men by the force of his Convictions he makes the Light of his Word to pierce to the bottom of the Soul and powerfully overcome the stubborness of our Will How wisely does he conduct us through the labyrinth of tentations How sweetly does he engage us by the motions of his Spirit How kindly does he receive the Prodigal when as yet he had but some small beginnings of wisdom sobriety and calmness He saw him afar off he ran to him fell upon his neck and kissed him WHEN we remember that the Mercies of God are our surest Refuge and Sanctuary in all our fears straits and difficulties we need say no more to amplifie them This is the strong Hold that we flee to when we are assaulted by fear despair or the terrour of the Law WHEN Nathan the Prophet by a
circumstances and weaknesses that made his work more difficult 2. THE manner of his address not with the enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and in power 3. THE true reason of this whole Oeconomy that their faith might stand in the power of God And 1. WE have here his uneasie circumstances and weaknesses that made his work more difficult I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling The weaknesses wherewith the Apostle was emcompassed in preaching of the Gospel were partly his own bodily frailties partly the infirmities that did arise from the many persecutions of his implacable enemies for the Gospels sake The Jews and the Gentiles did daily thirst for his blood and from place to place he was hunted like a Partrige upon the mountains Those frailties whether incident to the peculiar structure of his body or whether left by the stripes and violences frequently offered unto him made his person appear despicable to them that only considered the outward appearance That mighty Soul that had nothing less in his view than the total overthrow of the Devils universal Monarchy this Soul I say dwelt in a ruinous tabernacle This he himself often acknowledged 2. Cor. 10. v. 1. I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ who in presence am base among you And again v. 7. Do you look on things after the outward appearance Consider also the 2. Cor. 4.7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us v. 8. We are troubled on every side yet not distress'd we are perplex'd but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroy'd And again Chap. 6. v. 4. In all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labors in watchings in fastings Consider also 2. Cor. 7.5 6. For when we were come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest but we were troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears and it may be the messenger of Satan mentioned 2. Cor. 12.7 was some bodily infirmity NOW considering the natural temper of his body the extraordinary troubles watchings and labours that he endured and the voluntary restraints and chastisements he had used towards himself we may easily understand what a complication and series of difficulties he had to wrestle with Sometimes hardly escaping with his very life Let down in a basket by the wall and to put this account beyond all debate read 2. Cor. 11.23 forward Are they ministers of Christ I speak as a fool I am more in labours more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft v. 24. Of the Jews five times received I fourty stripes save one v. 25. Thrice was I beaten with rods once was I ston'd thrice I suffer'd shipwrack night and day I have been in the deep v. 26. In journeyings often in perils of waters in perils of robbers In weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fasting often in cold and nakedness NOW the natural result of this heap of Sufferings and Calamities so thick crowded together were fear and trembling Partly his innocent fear of dangers and persecutions partly his holy care and solicitude for the success and propagation of the Gospel though the false teachers vilified the blessed Apostle because of his Infirmities yet considering the nature of his Office and the design of his Ministry they were an undeniable proof of his authority and mission and consequently of the verity and divinity of Christian Religion FOR allow but the Apostles to be men of common sense and desirous to preserve themselves if they were not sure of the truth of what they delivered how unaccountable were their sufferings and therefore their calamities so much mistaken by other had in them the strongest proof of their sincerity since they were ready to sacrifice all that was dear to human Nature in defence of the Gospel How came they so readily and unanimously to part with all their justest Interests if they had not the highest assurances of their Commission and Authority and of a life after this more pure solid and immoveable than what we here enjoy How came they to be so ready upon all occasions to undergoe all that was most bitter and painful most disgraceful and ignominious and this for no other design than to advance a fable amongst mankind and for no other reward either here or hereafter than stripes tumults persecutions and martyrdoms He that supposes the Apostles to have been endowed with ordinary reason and judgment and yet will believe that they followed cunningly devised fables for no other design than to make themselves miserable to all intents and purposes will yield his assent to something more incredible more monstrously fictitious than the most Romantick Follies of imagination AND if we yet suppose that the Apostles were destitute of the use of their reason and still be able to the wonder and admiration of mankind to contrive the story of the Gospel so orderly and coherent and adapt the most antient Prophecies to its proof and illustration and that to the conviction and astonishment of the learnedest of their opposers He I say that believes all this which Atheists and Anti-scripturists are obliged to do believes something more fabulous more inconsistent than all the Legends of Poets and all the adventures of Knight-errantry The Apostle then is so far from denying his Infirmities that he glories in them as one special proof of his mission and authority highly agreeable to the Christian Religion and the tendency of that Doctrine that recommended Christ Crucified to the world In another manner and by other demonstrations than those demonstrations that the Schools of Philosophy did furnish I have chosen to discourse of the Sufferings and Infirmities of the Apostle under this aspect as they yield a clear proof of Christianity rather than to run out in the commendations of the courage and patience of Primitive Christians and it will appear in its greater lustre if we consider 2. THE manner of his address not in the eloquent and harmonious periods of Rhetorical Discourses but by a more heavenly and victorious demonstration more certain and undeniable than the surest Principles of the Grecian Philosophy not in the enticing words of mans wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power There are who understand by these words the inward and powerful illuminations and presence of the Divine Spirit upon a mans heart in order to his Sanctification I am very far from denying that Illumination to be necessary but that is not meant in this place nor by this phrase For the proof that the Apostle brings here is External and consequently must be referred to that demonstration of the Divine Power that waits upon the Apostles in preaching and asserting the Gospel
that they were wrought by the power of Magick we need no other answer than that of our Saviour himself who told them that the Devil was not such a fool as to employ his power against himself since it was undeniably manifest that no discipline did so visibly and irreconcileably oppose all Magical Arts and Charms as did the Religion of Jesus So a great number of them that had followed those curious Arts brought their costly Books to the Apostles and burnt them And when they endeavour'd to alledge that equal Miracles have been done by others amongst the Pagans 'T is so idle a story that they are far form believing it who first invented it The story of Vespasian's restoring a blind man to his sight did proceed from the artifice of Egyptian flattery and is reported by his own Historians with so much diffidence and reserve that it is scarce worth the naming As for the prodigious seats of Apollonius Tianeus we can look upon them as no other than fictitious and Romantick Fooleries vouched by no competent Authority Whereas the Miracles done by our Saviour and his Apostles were not only of a different Nature from those little Tricks of Magick but were wrought amongst great crowds of People to the view of the World and acknowledg'd by the most bitter and implacable of his Enemies And this Power he had not only in himself but bestowed it on his Apostles Besides the full discovery of those Objections depends on so much History that they cannot be contracted within such narrow bounds as I am confind'd to THE Result of all is this Such as despise the Gospel do it upon the most unreasonable grounds For whereas they alledge that our Ministry was not attended with Wisdom and Proofs borrowed from Philosophy they betray their Ignorance For the Doctrine that we propagate and assert being of its own Nature wholly Divine and beyond the reach of all human enquiries it must needs have its Proofs and Demonstrations from Heaven Without this it could not prevail and when it is attended with this it is impossible that it can miss of its effect So we come not with the enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power Now we find that those Miracles were necessary at the first establishment of Christianity to point out the Person of the Messias to baffle the Devil and to satisfie the expectations of all Men and that thus rationally we can give an account of the speedy and universal propagation of the Christian Religion Thirdly WE consider the design and scope of this Oeconomy That their Faith might be built on the surest Foundations i. e. on the Power of God And here I might reckon up the motives of Credibility that obliged us to assent to the Christian Religion if they can be numbered But I chuse to improve what is said in one Word of Application Blessed be God who hath so fully provided for our Illumination and Confirmation that we might rest in his Word and Testimony with full assurance of mind For the Apostles did not follow cunningly devised fables when they made known unto us the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Let us give up our selves to it without wavering and hesitation of Spirit resolutely maintaining it even unto Death And above all endeavouring to adorn it by a Holy Conversation adding to our faith vertue to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance c. Let us esteem and love it for its genuine Grandure and Majesty even when it is not attended with the Ornaments of human Art For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation that was first confirm'd by Miracles and Wonders LET us not desire that supernatural Truths be recommended to us chiefly and only by human Art So weak are we that we relish not Heavenly things unless they smell of the Earth When we hear the Word of God the corruption of our Nature leads us to notice more the air accent and gesture of the Preacher than the great Truths that he recommends and all these be they never so plain innocent and unexceptionable they have their fate and censure not from our unbyassed reason but from that part of us that is carnal I am not of the opinion that the Mysteries of the Gospel are to be handled confusedly and negligently in a slovenly dress such garments become not the Majesty of that Religion whose Ministers we are The Oracles of God deserve that we should Meditate in them night and day But we are so to study them that we preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Christs sake that we may not think that the success of our Labours depends on the skill and contrivance of our Composures but on God that giveth the Increase To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory and Dominion for ever Amen A SERMON Preached at the ABBEY of Holy-Rood-House MAY 1686. ON MATT. V. V. 20. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven MY design from these words of our Saviour is to hint shortly at the Scope and Drift of Christian Religion and then to state the comparison between it and the Pharisaical Religion And in the next place to direct you in the Practice of true and sincere Godliness WHEN our Saviour appeared the Church was sadly over-run with the grossest Immoralities and the most absurd Superstitions and Delusions The Law of God which was in it self pure and just and holy was perverted by their Commentaries and made to truckle under such designs as were hateful to God and subversive of all true Morality Their plausible glosses and corrupt maxims destroy'd the natural force of Religion and withal they deceiv'd the poor People into an Opinion that they themselves were the peculiar favourites of God even then when our Saviour told them that the publicans and the sinners should enter into the kingdom of heaven before them WHEN we read the Sermon on the Mount we find that it was our Saviour's great design to plant and establish amongst his Disciples a manly rational and heroick temper of mind a higher kind of Philosophy than the Pharisees understood or the Pagans pretended to The rule of Life that he gave us was so accurate and so suitable to our Nature in its first and original constitution that nothing can equal it for purity and holiness The wisest sayings and the best thoughts of Jews and Pagans scattered here and there in all their books are very far outdone in one Page of the New Testament He removes our errors prejudices and mistakes concerning God our selves and the rewards of another Life He opens our eyes to see thorow the little tricks hypocritical designs and superstitious follies of the Pharisees And by the most cogent proofs he forces us to acknowledge that there is no
FROM what was heard let us go forward to what was seen and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and sat upon each of them 1. There appeared Tongues The Apostles that were formerly silent had now their tongues loos'd they lifted up their voice like Trumpets and spake the wonderful things of God and the Jewish Proselytes from all Nations that were now at Jerusalem were astonish'd to hear the poor Galileans open up the profoundest Mysteries so readily and so successfully their Tongues as if they were cloven by the finger of God spake those words that were like sparks of fire in the Souls of men now they appear'd to be the genuine Disciples of him who spake as never man spake who taught as one having authority whose words did reach the Souls of men with life and force and pierc'd between the Soul and the Spirit between the joynts and the marrow It was then true of the Apostles what was prophetically said by the Psalmist of our Saviour Grace is poured into thy lips therefore God hath blessed thee for ever The streams of their heavenly eloquence ran smoothly and fluently in Mysteries in Revelations in Reproofs in Directions in Counsels in Wisdom in Knowledge in Purity not exactly limned and proportion'd by elaborate periods and artificial dresses but in the greatest plainness mixt with the greatest power they deliver'd their message how boldly and how pertinently did they confute the slanders of Infidelity With what courage did they upbraid the Sanhedrim with the Murder of the Lord of Life Who among their Scribes and their learnedest Pharisees durst encounter the Wisdom of S. Stephen when once filled with the Holy Ghost How flat are Humane Reasonings against the Wisdom of God How feeble and how dull are all contrivances against the Council of the Almighty And now the Apostles found the Prophecy concerning the Messias in a great measure verified in his Disciples The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the Learned that I should know to speak a word in season to him that is weary 2. THOSE Tongues were cloven There are some Tongues cloven by the Devil that can nimbly shuffle themselves into different figures and are so accurately vers'd in the little arts of dissimulation that you may come much sooner to their meaning when you understand every thing that they say in a contradictory sense than when you swallow it down in the literal meaning S. James telleth us that with the same tongue we both bless God and curse man but the Tongues of the Apostles were cloven for a more noble end viz. that they might divide aright the Word of God unto all Nations under Heaven Parthians Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia in Judea in Cappadocia Pontus Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia strangers of Rome Jews and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians all of them heard the Apostles in their own language speak the wonderful things of God The Church was no longer to be confin'd to the Land of Judea but from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof the Worship of the Living and true God was to be set up in all Nations without distinction of Jew and Gentile So our Saviour tells the Woman of Samaria that the hour was come when the Worship of the true God was neither confin'd to Jerusalem nor the Mountains of Samaria but that he should be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth 3. THOSE Tongues appear'd in the similitude of Fire the Tongues of the Apostles were fired from Heaven and this is evident whether we consider 1. The Heat of their Zeal or 2. The Light of their Doctrine or 3. The Force Activity and Success of their Ministry 1. I SAY View the Heat of their Zeal what a flame was kindled by it in the hearts of other men How did they crowd into the Church when there was nothing to be gain'd by it but Death Disgrace and Martyrdom What a change was wrought upon the Spirits of men by the Light of the Gospel How earnestly and how vigorously did they serve God when they first came over from Paganism and Superstition How joyfully did they take the spoiling of their goods And with what courage did they offer themselves before all Judges Courts and Tribunals to be sacrificed for the Name of Jesus 2. Next to this let us consider the Light that is in it now the World was convinc'd that the Messias was the Light of the Gentiles in the highest sense that He was the light come down from heaven and the day-star from on high that visited us How swiftly did Error Darkness and Superstition flee before him When the Enemy of Mankind did bend all his forces to retard obscure his Victories the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ broke through those Clouds and appeared in its Meridian Splendor maugre all opposition When the Sun ariseth then man goeth forth unto his labour and the Beasts retire into their Dens but when the Sun of Righteousness thus appear'd the Demons that formerly enslav'd Mankind were forced to retire Their Idolatrous Rites and Ceremonies were deserted and made to leave the field to the triumphant Standard of our Blessed Saviour This Light look'd men so broad in the face that they were asham'd of their former folly and wickedness they surrendered themselves captives to its clear discoveries and illuminations for its evidence was so strong and undeniable S. Paul telleth us that it was the main scope of their Commission and Design to open mens eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified 3. FIRE did resemble the Holy Ghost because of its Force and Activity and when we consider the success of their Ministry we must acknowledge that the Power of God was engag'd to second their Commission Who can without the deepest astonishment and Adorations of Gods infinite Wisdom think of the Atchievments of those poor men When we remember what it was that our Saviour commanded and by what means they were to put his Commands into execution and what opposition they ought in all reason to look for if they attempted any such thing what was it then that he did command them No less than to go and teach all Nations i. e. to renverse the establish'd Laws Sacrifices and Customs of the whole World to destroy the Worship of all false Gods to introduce the Mystical Judaism in the room of the Literal of which the Jews were so obstinately fond to reform the manners of all Mankind to teach them to live by new Principles and in hopes of distant and unseen rewards to mortifie and subdue inveterate prejudices and their strongest inclinations to run up the Hill against the force of Custom Law and Example In a word to make the most incredible Changes in the World by such men
hands of the Apostles against Infidelity and Atheism by such plentiful effusions of the Holy Ghost the Cataracts of Heaven seem'd to be opened and the Apostles were made to speak with irresistible Wisdom and the same Spirit is given unto the Church in proportionable measures as her necessities require to the end of the World especially to the immediate Servants of the Sanctuary if they do not wickedly shut their Eyes against its light and beauty The garments of the Church are of Needlework variegated with the manifold Excellencies of the Spirit the interchangeable appearances of those gifts that in different Figures make up the decorum of the whole were not so entirely confin'd to the Primitive Ages but that his more immediate Servants are furnished in all periods of the Church according to the nature and difficulty of their undertaking He doth not give all gifts to every one but parcels them out with that heavenly discretion that no man may say to his Brtoher I have no need of thee therefore the Spirit of Love scattereth his Donatives so as at once to supply our Necessities and advance our Charity that all of us might hang upon one another in the closest Relations and dependencies the mystical Body of the Church being knit together by Joints and Bands as is the Natural NOW when we add unto the former considerations that the gifts of the Spirit did not only seal our Religion by all possible external evidence in the Apostolical Ages but that now the very same Spirit by its sanctifying power and Vertues unites us to Christ What reason have we to rejoice in God our Saviour It is the Spirit that breaks our bonds and fetters and makes us run the Race that is set before us with joy and alacrity it is by this that we crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof by this we become the Temples of the living God resolute against Temptations humble chast sober heavenly minded in a word it is the earnest of our inheritance the Spirit by which we cry Abba Father the Spirit that helpeth our infirmities and makes us more than Conquerors through Jesus Christ that loved us Can there be any more ample matter of Praise What is it can loose our Tongues unto the most joyful acknowledgments if this does not Let us say with the Psalmist when we view the whole Oeconomy of our Redemption I will extol thee my God O King and I will bless thy Name for ever and ever And let us conclude that we cannot escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto others by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory Dominion and Power for ever and ever Amen A SERMON ON PSALM xxvi v. 6. I will wash mine hands in innocence so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. THIS Psalm is David's Appeal to the Omniscience of God as to his own Innocence and Integrity and it seems tacitly to refer to the Calumnies and Slanders propagated against him during the Reign of Saul and therefore he puts his trust in the strength of the Almighty that he should never be shaken by the fury and malice of his Enemies THE Verse that I have read is but a part of that Appeal and though our English Version reads it in the future yet the scope of the Context the Analogy and coherence of the whole allow the reading of it in the preterit as may appear easily to the attentive Reader but whether the one or the other is not so much my business to enquire This is certain that the custom of Washing before Sacrifices both amongst the Jews and the Gentiles had this Moral in its bosom that all our approaches to the Divine Majesty especially our most solemn and extraordinary ought to be performed with the most accurate Preparation purity of Mind and recollection of Spirit therefore the Psalmist as a part of hiâ— Appeal made use of this Argument in his Defence that he walked in his Integrity constantly and when he brought his Sacrifices to the Altar he viewed his Soul with the most accurate search and enquiry to see if there was any thing that might indispose him to come so near the divine Presence THESE words have in them no remarkable difficulty they are a plain allusion to that known Custom of Washing before Sacrificing both amongst the Jews and the Gentiles All the Eastern Nations were very frequent in their Washings especially before they approached their most solemn and sacred Mysteries and therefore I may the more safely apply this Text to the highest Mystery amongst the Christians which is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which now requires in a peculiar manner our Attention and Meditation IT is in it self by the confession of all Christians the highest Mystery of our Religion nay all the Mysteries of it gathered together in one and therefore all the Graces of the Spirit ought to adorn our Souls when we come so near unto God they meet together at this Solemnity all of them in their highest slight and Exaltation I shall confine my Discourse at present to two Particulars 1. OUR Duty and Obligation of coming to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 2. I will direct the manner of our coming and how we must attempt it 1. LET us consider our Obligations to attend this Solemn and Magnificent Entertainment and there is nothing more clear if we consider the Authority of him who enjoins it God upbraided his People of old that the Nazarites were more careful and observant of the original Rules and directions of their founder than his People were of his Laws who was the Creator of Heaven and Earth All the Sects of Philosophers up and down the World thought it their honour and their interest to propagate the Opinions of the first of their Order AND will our dearest Lord and Master give us a Command of the highest consequence and dare we refuse to obey it This is an indignity to his Authority an immediate affront to his Sovereignty and Power How highly would an earthly Prince resent an injury of this nature Here is a Feast prepared noble and plentiful and design'd to express the highest kindness and respect This Metaphor is used by Solomon and by a greater than Solomon mystically to set off the ingratitude of such as refuse and trample upon the inestimable offers of his Love and Favour WHEN we remember who invites us to this Feast the Author and finisher of our Faith whose dominion is from everlasting to everlasting who came from the bosom of the Father to rescue us from the bottomless Abyss of our miseries is it not the highest impudence the rudest affront to the Majesty of Heaven the most daring violation of