working in the Soul tend to beget a Love to God and fervent desires after being cleansed and purified from Sin and earnest Prayer to the Lord to make that Holy Fire to kindle that would burn it up The more the Soul trusteth in Christ the more doth this Heavenly Fire burn up our Lusts and then a Man feels a great change in his mind The things saith he that I delighted in are now grievous to me I hope I shall never be found in those things again my mind is now taken off them who took it off Didst thou not strive before to take it off I did but I could not do it There are many I believe in this Assembly before the Lord that are my witnesses in this matter that when they came to Christ the Mediator he changed their minds and he untyed the Devils fetters they were tyed to their Sins and Lusts but he hath unloosed them and set them at liberty and they now find such a change that they hate those things they loved and when they come to think of them they are ashamed they are ashamed of those things that they formerly took pleasure in What fruit saith the Apostle had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed So I say what pleasure have you in Sporting and Gaming and Drinking and Company-keeping What pleasure have you to think of your Wanton Discourses What pleasure in Pride and Vanity What pleasure in Wrath and Bitterness of mind And what pleasure in Malice and Envy What pleasure have you in those things whereof you are now ashamed So far as you are convinced you are ashamed to think of them I am ashamed to think that the Devil at such a time by such a Temptation should prevail over me I would to God you were all come to this to be ashamed that you might remember your past evil Ways and Actions with sorrow and shame There is a secret Joy in this Sure it is better to be ashamed than to continue in impudence God hath wrought this change at last and who shall have the Glory of it God shall have the glory of it for his own Works will praise him What men do many times they do for their own praise but when they are at their wits end and know not what to do they cast themselves upon their Maker to see if he will have mercy upon them if not they must Perish then for what he doth he gets the Glory and the Praise of it There are some here that are bound to praise God while they have a Day to live for what he hath done for them They could never have loved God with all their Hearts but they would have continued Strangers to God and the Devil would have led them Captive at his Will They would not have loved God with all their Hearts had not God first shed abroad his love upon their hearts and constrained them to love him it is he that hath first loved them and wrought in them both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Whatsoever we are we are by the Grace of God this Grace is magnified in them that believe and obey the Gospel My Friends we know there is so much Peace and Pleasure in the ways of God so much Soul-satisfaction in Walking with God and loving of him with all our Hearts That I should be glad that every one of you were of the same mind and had experience of it We Labour diligently for this purpose and we would set before you these two things First how we may come to know our miserable State by Nature What a blessed and happy Sâ—ate they are in that have been Converted and Changed that have been translated out of the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of God's Dear Son Consider your State by Nature is Evil we hope that many of you in hearing the Reports of the Gospel concerning the goodness of the Lord his great love in sending his Son into the World to seek and save you that were lost and that you may believe in him And we are perswaded that by the Foolishness of Preaching God will save some of you that you may be his Redeemed Ones and trust to no other Saviour for there is not any other Name under Heaven but the Name of Jesus by which you can be saved He only can take away the Sâ—ns of the World his Spirit searcheth the Heart and tryeth the Reins which he promised to send into the World when he was leaving it Now I dare Proclaim that Holy Spirit to be the Spirit of the God of Heaven that now sees what Resolution thou art of and what thou art now proposing to do whether to go on in Sin or to return to God This I can speak without Blasphemy it is God's Spirit that searcheth thy Heart and knoweth thy thoughts and purposes and convinceth thee of thy Sin God hath sent his Son Christ Jesus into the World to enlighten you that by his Light you might see him and that by his Grace you migh Receive him and that by his Grace you might be saved To him I commit you all and these words that we have spoken are in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit according as he hath wrought in us I must tell you we were never called of God to Study Sermons for you nor to Preach things that are made Ready to our hands but as the Lord our God hath wrought in us and as God hath been pleased to make known his mind to us and by his Spirit given us utterance So we speak and so we Preach You that are come to believe and receive the things of the Spirit you will Judge what I say I speak unto you that are Spiritual Judge ye what I say saith the Apostle so when I speak of Divine and Heavenly things you that are Spiritual Judge what I say and as you come to Judge and Determine in your selves that these things are true you will feel the Power of them in your own Spirits And we shall all be of the same mind and as we have One God we shall serve him in sincerity and Worship him with Reverence then his Name shall be Exalted in the midst of us and we shall Edifie one another in Love and we shall instruct one another and call upon one another Come let us go to the House of the God of Jacob He will Teach us and Preserve us in his way and do us good and keep us from all Evil. Turn your minds inward and consider that God is a God at hand ready to help you and he requires no more of you than of other People in former times to love the Lord with all your Hearts and to abstract and withdraw your minds from all other things that do come in Competition with him and be sure to have no Trust or Dependance but upon him Then see what God will do for you no Tongue can express nor Pen Write neither
wisher to the Souls of all Men As God hath done good to my Soul So I cannot but wish well to the Souls of others That as he hath found out a way for my Redemption and Salvation so likewise I wish the same for others that are bond-men and bond-women and under the Power of their Corruption Gods work hath been to destroy the Bondage and the Oppression and to destroy the Tyrant that Reigns over the Souls of his People God having made them for his Glory and the Devil hath Stolen them away that they do not that which pleaseth God But God's good pleasure is that all may be Saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth And God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not Perish but have Everlasting Life And he is called The Lamb of God which takes away the Sins of the World He can take away Sin if my Sin do not obstruct my Faith and Confidence in him he will take it away and if he takes that away then he makes the Tree good Nothing hinders us from the injoyment of God but Sin and if Christ will take it away by the blood of his Cross no matter for all the Scorn Contempt Hardship Reproach and Persecution of this World no matter for he hath not deceived us but told us before hand If we will be followers of him and be led by him we must expect these things suffering Reproaches Persecutions Disdain Envy these things come not uncertainly upon us the World loves its own and cannot love them that are not of it but they that are now of the World may be brought to the terms of God and they may not be any longer of the World Christ Prayeth not that his Disciples may be taken out of the World but kept from the evil he prayed for them that did not believe So that Christ is a Mediator for all men and a Propitiation for all men and he is working by his Spirit for the Redemption of all men That to as many as believe in him to them he gives Power to become the Sons of God The sum of all is this that we have an opportunity put into our hands we cannot deny it you must all upon search confess that the Grace of God doth often work in your hearts against any Corruption against any Evil Let not this prize be put into our hands in vain as into the hands of fools If I knew that this and that was a sin I would leave it let us be of that mind and we shall soon know it Then say If I knew such a thing to be a sin If I could get a thousand pounds by it I would not do it why should'st thou love sin for profit or pleasure I am sure it is an ill bargain when it is done Whatsoever I am convinced of is a sin I will not it Resolve upon this and there the Grace of God will be at work we shall soon see that we must leave off sinning there is such a thing I must leave God hath set up a Judgment in my mind against it though it bring profit and pleasure away it must go here is a step a following step to follow Christ he that will deny himself will follow Christ My Redeemer shews me this to be an evil I will not do it but follow him and imitate him Here the Soul is led step by step even by Christ the Captain of our Salvation till it is gradually cleansed from sin and reconciled unto God and this can be done by no other means for Prayer and Alms will not do it All that can be done by us will not dot it none can do it but Christ alone that God hath laid help upon that you may all wait for the Divine Operation of his Grace in your hearts that is it which we Labour and Travel for as knowing that God hath wrought wonderfully by it for the Redemption of all those that love him more than they love their pleasures more than they love their sins it must be concluded that following of him and leaving Father and Mother Husband and Wife Children Brethren and Sisters all these things as they stand in competition with him and the Obedience of his Spirit all these must be looked upon as nothing to him Then above all things I must not displease him He can speak Peace and none can take it away and if he take it away none can give it If we follow Christ when this is done then all is done according to the Will of God then the blessing of God descends upon the whole Creation then every man will speak truth to his Neighbour and every man will govern his Family with discretion So God is Glorified and his name comes to be Exalted who is worthy to be Loved Adored and Exalted above all Blessings and Praises to him be Glory who is God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Amen His Prayer after Sermon MOST Glorious God of Life and Power and of Everlasting Kindness a God of Long-suffering and Patience else we had not been here at this day Lord we are Monuments of thy Mercy thou hast spared us long and hast called unto us in a day when we turned away our Ear from thee thou hast stretched out thy hand all the day long and thou hast gathered a little Remnant of the lost Sheep of the house of Israel to partake of thy Pastures of Life and now all our Souls have been greatly refreshed and comforted since we come to understand and comprehend with the rest of thy Saints the Height and Length and Breadth and Depth of thy Love which in the Son of thy Love thou hast Revealed to us And blessed Father of Life our Souls do breath and cry unto thee on the behalf of Strangers which are Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel that are yet breathing and inquiring after thee And asking the way to Sion O Lord remember them and hear their cry and let their sighing and complaining enter into thine Ears that all they in whom thou hast begun to kindle up holy desires after thee may have them grow into a flame to burn up all their Enmity to thee that so they may be purified by thy judgments and receive of thy Heavenly Grace This is the way which thou hast used with thy Children thou hast commanded them to Worship thee in thy dwelling place thou hast taken them into thy house and fed them with thy finest Wheat refreshed them with thy Loving-kindness and filled them with thy Holy Spirit Dearest God of Love this is the design and purpose of our Meeting together that we may enjoy thy Presence and feel the operation of thy Word and have Communion with thee and thy Son Jesus Christ through thy Holy Spirit the way into Rest and Life is with thee thou canst open and none can shut Lord open the hearts of this People to receive of thy
Judgment if they are but willing upon all their own Ways A Man or Woman may know in every word they speak in every Action they do whether they speak and do according to the Truth or whether they are justified by the Truth in what they speak and do I tell you my Friends this is no small mercy that Mankind hath obtained at the Hands of his Maker that he is brought into a Capacity of not acting blind-fold but that he may see his way and his own Inclinations and pass Judgment upon them whether they are good or evil whether they will stand justified in the sight of his Maker or whether they will be Condemned I Confess the vail of Ignorance that is come over the Sons and Daughters of Men through Sin Transgression and Rebellion is very great And I may say as the Apostle said sometime you were darkness and what can Darkness see What can darkness discover The Lord our God that made us hath not left us in that State of Darkness Blindness and Ignorance but through the Riches of his Mercy and goodness hath found out a way to command that Light should shine out of Darkness into Peoples Hearts for all that the Devil did to darken Man to alienate and estrange him from his Maker The same Almighty Power that said in the Creation Let there be Light and it was so he hath shined into our Hearts and the way by which he hath done so is through the Mediator through Jesus Christ the Redeemer in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells He hath received Power from his Father not only to be Light and Salvation but to impart and Communicate of that Divine Light unto them even unto every one that cometh into the World that so by means thereof they may be delivered from their Darkness and Ignorance of the mind of God that they were lyable to in the Fall and might be restored through the Mediator to a Capacity of Judging of their own state as the Lord Judgeth and of their own Actions and of their own words and ways and Inclinations This is the Standard which God hath pitched in every one of your Bosoms for the Tryal of your selves either for Justification or Condemnation of every Word and Action Now to make every one sensible of the greatness of this blessing Consider it is not only given to augment and to encrease Knowledge but it is given on purpose to allure and perswade Men into a likeing of Truth into a Love of Truth The Apostle esteemed it a wonderful mercy that came by Christ he hath sent him to bless us in turning every one of us from the Evil of his ways so that here is a Capacity that the Sons and Daughters of Men have through the Mediator of being turned from the Evil of their ways and doings to that which is well pleasing to God The next work after God hath wrought thuâ— mercifully for the Sons and Daughters of Men is that they would be good to themselves and merciful to themselves and take pity of themselves by a due Improvement of the Grace and Mercy and kindness of God that he hath bestowed freely upon them and in bringing all their Dâ—eds to that Standard all their words and Actions to that Rule that so whatsoever they be or how many so ever if they do not answer that Standard and Rule they may deny withstand and resist them that so they may keep out of Condemnation For the Apostle declares it plainly without scruple There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus If he had said to them that profess Christ Jesus there had been a large Latitude especially for these Nations but the Words are limitted and you will find them so that is to them that are in Christ Jesus and as if he should say that you may know rightly whom I mean I mean such as walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit They that are in Christ walk after his Spirit for they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his but they that are his walk after the Spirit the Spirit of Truth and there is no Condemnation to them It is not only the Scriptures that Ratify and confirm this Doctrine but you your selves are all living witnesses of the Truth of this that so far as you do act and speak in Obedience to the Principle of Truth that God hath Planted in you you feel no Condemnation upon you Such a thing I did at such a time and I had no Condemnation Why so Because I did it in Obedience and Subjection to that measure of Grace that God set up in me and such a thing I did for which I was Condemned why so Bâ—cause I did it according to the Inclination of my own Corrupt mind and in Contradiction to the truth that opened in me My Friends I would have you in point of the Doctrine of Christianity to be the better for what you Read and hear it is possible for me to Preach the Truth and you may believe what I say and you may Read the Holy Scriptures and have the belief of what you Read but if you come to a sensible feeling of the fulfilling of the things you hear you will give a greater Seal to the Truth of the Doctrine than by all you have Read and heard and you will grow wise to Salvation by trying and experiencing the effect of every thing you understand And not like the Carnal Men of this World that have not Faith that mind only their Worldly Profits and Pleasures such are Earthly Sensual Devilish but I would judge of Actions and Words according to truth and according to the effâ—ct I find in me I did such a thing and I had peace in the doing of it I feel no Reproach no Condemnation upon me here is a way for People to grow up in the Life of Christianity to keep to the Standard of Truth for whether Men will or no they must do it at last and may now if they please make a Tryal of their Words and Actions As for the most part of you you are got past Pilate Pilate could make that enquiry What is Truth saith he And I confess it is not long ago it is within the Memory of Man that a more serious and better sort of People were confounded with the Darkness and Ignorance of those times that they were ready to cry out What is Truth And where is Truth Their Eyes were so blinded and things were so jumbled and confused by the Disputations that Men Raised they made things so dark that People could not see their way but God who hath commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath brought a Glorious Day that hath dissipated and scattered and driven away a great deal of that Fogg and Mist that did overspread Mens minds As many as have sincerely sought the Truth in the inward parts they have found a Divine Principle of Truth that hath a self
they would give more reverence and respect to it It is this that brings those that Preach Christ to Preach him in those terms and under those Denominations that he is nigh them We do not doubt of Christs being born of a Virgin in the Land of Canaan and that he wrought Miracles and Preached many Godly Sermons and that he was Crucified Dead and Buried and Rose again from the Dead for these things are certainly true we would have him our Saviour in this Age we would have a nearer knowledge of him and a sense and feeling of the virtue of that Power by which he saved them that lived in former Ages He is not a Christ and a Saviour of one Age only but of all Ages to this Day from Adam to the last Man that shall live upon the Earth That Age and Generation that knoweth not Christ will not be saved by him if there be any Age wherein he is not known There is no other Name under Heaven by which you can be saved if you ask where is this Saviour Say not in thy Heart who shall Ascend into Heaven that is to bring down Christ from above or who shall Descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the Dead The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy Heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach He is nigh thy Soul he is the Lord of Life and a Quickenning Spirit If I know that Quickening Spirit after this I know the Lord Christ when he comes to work in me by his Power changing my Heart and translating me from Death to Life then I know the true Christ God hath manifested in all Ages that it is the Duty of People to come to the knowledge of the Son of God for he hath sent forth his Spirit for to teach us and to lead us into all truth For when Christ was with his Disciples he told them that he would pray the Father and he should send the Spirit the Comforter and when he came he would be known by his Divine and Inward Teachings and Operations guiding and leading them into all Truth that was his work to them But what shall other Folks do He will be made known to others too When he comes He shall convince the World of Sin So that his work to his Disciples was to lead them into all Truth and his work to the Woâ—ld is to convince the World of Sin Who will deny but that there is a Spirit in our Age as well as in other Ages that will convince men of Sin Is this the Spirit of God that convinceth the World of Sin or is it the Spirit of the QUAKERS only When People come to consider really and truly how they may serve God aright they will find there is no serving God aright unless they come to Christ the Mediator that in and by him they may put up suppplications to God and through him they may expect at the hands of God Peace and comfort and there is no other way nor never will be The Jews they had another way they had an outward way of serving God this stood in divers Offerings Sacrifices Washings and Observations this was a way of worship of Gods own institution to that People but what came of it When the Apostle came to grasp it he said The commers thereunto were not made perfect What were the transgressors of it then They that would sin on and continue in sin and not bring a Goat or a Ram or other Oblation they that did observe it and came up to the point of the Law they did bring their Offering when they were convinced of their Sin If a man sinned he was to bring a Hee Goat and to bring it to the Door of the Tabernacle but when he sinned the conscience of sin the guilt of sin remained upon him For it was impossible saith the Apostle that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away the Sin For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the Unclean Sanctifieth to the Purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit Offered himself without spot to God Purge your Consciences from Dead works to serve the Living God When there is no hope of attonement and reconciliation with God by all those offerings under the Law he tells you of one offering of the Son of God himself through the Eternal Spirit by which he became a a Propitiation for thus will it do If I believe that Christ offered an Holy Offering to the Father for my sins I believe he offered his Body and that through the Eternal Spirit that he might be a propitiation for sin and take away sin and have Power over Sin and Death and conquer Death and Darkness the Apostle drives the matter farther you must come to the inward Work of this outward Offering this Eternal Offering that was in due time Offered to God you must come to know the Operation of it by the sprinkling of the Heart from an evil Conscience so that there was to be an Applicatory Faith for the offering of that The way to a Saviour was not made by Man no more than the way of Salvation by Christ was found out by Man No more than the Application of the benefits is effected by man Where it pleaseth God to call a People by his Grace he calleth them to his Son not by this and the other Form No man cometh to me saith Christ except the Father which hath sent me draw him The first thing that a Man or Woman comes to be aware of is the secret sense and feeling of the Lords Divine Power upon the Heart to seek Christ Jesus As soon as they feel this and embrace it this will be a Token of the Love of God I hope all this Congregation will acknowledge that they have sometimes felt his drawings and that they have not embraced and closed with them so well as they ought When the People are aware of these drawings Inwardly to Holiness and Righteousness and are sensible that they should with care and intention close with them for the good of their Poor Souls and that it concerns them to be happy in the other World that World that is to come and therefore resolve to be led by these drawings of the Spirit of God these are not weeds that grow in the Field Naturally These are sparks of Divine Fire kindled in the Hearts of Men by God himself No Man comes unto God till God cometh to him and touches him and gives him sense and motion these are the motions and stirrings of Gods Holy Power in the hearts of many that are wicked and Abominable Yet the Lord doth not despise the work of his own hands but reacheth to such When the Lord meets with these that Despise not but highly Prize this wonderful Grace and Close with it and are Glad of it such a one
thy Divine Almighty Power that they might appear in the Earth to the Praise and Glory of thy great Name And O Lord as thou hast begun a great Work in the Earth so thou hast committed this great Work to thy Servants and Children that bear thy Name among the Sons of Men that they should shew forth thy Righteousness among the Inhabitants of the Earth And our Souls have said many times who is fit and sufficient for these things All our sufficiency and Preparation is from thee do thou make bare thine Arm and Reveal and make known thy Power We have found thy Presence with us from day to day and thou hast upheld them that know thy Love O Glorious God of Life herein we have Encouragement to go on in the work that thou hast called us to Hereby we are enabled to Worship before thee and to offer up Living Praises to thy great Name for that Consolation that thou hast Ministred unto thy People And O living Father we have never waited upon on thee in Vain when ever we have met together in thy Name we have found thy Divine presence and the opening of the Treasures of thy Love of thy Wisdom and of thy Favour unto thy Children so that from day to day and even at this day thou remembrest thy People and givest them fresh occasions to draw nigh to thee and to receive their daily nourishment and strength from the Operation of thy Power O living God of Life gather up the Hearts of thy People more and more unto thy self and draw them into a nearness to thy self that their Understandings may be more opened to discern thy will and subject themselves to thy Wisdom that every thought that is exalted against thy Divine Power and living Voice in their own Consciences may be brought down That so all the Nations of the Earth may bow before thee that so thy truth may Reign and thy Power may be exalted and the Righteousness which thou hast revealed may shine out more and more in the brightness and glory of it and inlighten those that are afar off that they may be brought to seek after thee And O thou living God of life and power let those that are bowed down under the weight of Sin be supported and raised up And let those that are weary and heavy laden have rest to their Souls Powerful God of life keep thy People in the fresh and living sense of thy love and of thy Heavenly Vertue by which thou nourishest thy Children and satisfiest them from Day to Day not only when they are met together but when they are separated from one another let thy People be preserved from the World while they are in it and let thy Wisdom and Power give them Victory over it That thou mayest have the Glory of all thy Mercies and Blessings vouchsafed to them for thou alone art worthy who art God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Amen Sermon VI. The Divine Monitor OR Light from Heaven Preached at Grace-Church-Street June 19. 1692. IT is a great Priviledge to the Sons and Daughters of Men that it hath pleased God Almighty to open a way how they may come to the true Knowledge of himself And O that there was a Heart in every one of us that could rightly prize this Priviledge as they ought to do for in the Knowledge of the true God consists our true Happiness and without this the mind of no Man or Woman can be be good there is nothing seasons the mind and Soul of Man and prepares and fits it for an everlasting well-being but the Divine Knowledge of the living God that made him And there is a Propensity in the Soul of Man even since the Fall to return again to God and to have that acquaintance and Communion with the Lord that Man had before he fell and they that have regard to that inward spark of Divine Love that they find in their own Souls towards God they will experience that the Lord is merciful and Gracious and Propitious to that which is of himself For though the Soul is lost and Man is lost through transgression and a great Alienation is happened between him and his Maker yet the Mercy of the Lord endureth for ever And his kindness and favour to lost Man is such that he stretcheth out his hand all the day long and presents and offers to the Children of Men a Friendship and Acquaintance and a Communion again with him and though by Sin and Transgression there is a rebellous Nature grown up in the Sons and Daughters of Men yet the Soul of Man is not wholly so there is something that strives and labours in a contrary way and persuades the Soul to turn again unto the Lord and to wait for the knowledge of God and whosoever hearkens with care and diligence to that Divine Monitor that is daily drawing and persuading People to seek after God they come to understand that the Lord is not so Angry with Mankind but his Love and Mercy and Good-will reaches towards all the Sons and Daughters of Men and the Bar that hinders their Communion with God and Peace with God it is not in the Lord but it is in themselves and therefore the remedy must be wrought in themselves This is evident to every Eye that there is something gotten into Mankind which the Holy God cannot own and can never have fellowship with That is another contrary Spirit hath wrought upon the Souls of People and hath seduced and drawn them out to that which is unholy and contrary to God and the terms of Gods Covenant with Mankind which is that he should forsake that which the contrary Spirit hath wrought Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts Why should he forsake his ways Because the Lord never led him to those ways He that made him never led him into them but the Devil the Enemy of Mankind seduced him into those ways therefore the Creatour cries out to him Let the wicked forsake his Ways and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts I cannot have union with him as long as he walks in his evil ways I cannot dwell in his mind so long as evil thoughts are in it so may the Lord complain of the works which the Devil hath wrought that Man is carryed away from God by his evil thoughts and the works of the Devil Why doth not God destroy those works when he is Almighty and able to do it Very true God is so but he hath offered to Mankind through the Son of his Love a way and means how Man may come to be purged and cleansed from the evil that the Devil hath wrought in him and how he may come to be reconciled to God God hath not chosen the way of Coertion and Force and to work altogether by irresistible Power that Man shall go to Heaven whether he will or no there was no force used for his going to Hell and Darkness but
that inhabits Eternity yet he dwells with meek humble and contrite Hearts that tremble at his word If I be one of the number of those that tremble at Gods word I have Gods promise that he will come Home to me and dwell with me It is well for thee if the over-ruling Power of God hath prevailed upon thee that thou canst be willing to be at Gods Disposal and say Lord What wouldst thou have me to do Therefore Friends I would advise you all in Love to your Souls that when God desires your Hearts that you would give them up to him that there he may delight to dwell and have his habitation Hearken to Gods Voice and have regard to his word which is a more sure word than any Man 's in the World There is a more sure word of Prophecy saith the Apostle unto which you will do well to take heed This will check you and reprove you when you do Evil and shew you wherein you have Transgressed and will encourage you and be a Comfort to you when you do that which is good This will make you wise to Salvation and throughly furnish you and give you understanding for every good work This word will tell you this you must not do lest you offend God and wound your Conscience and grieve the Holy Spirit this word will help you so to speak as to Administer Grace to the hearers such a one as hath regard to this word hath a Chaplain in his own Bosome That will direct and teach him how to stear his course and order his Conversation among Men and how to serve God acceptably This High Priests Lips will preserve knowledg even Jesus Christ The Righteous who speaks to us in his Word we can do nothing but by his Direction If you come to him to lead to you into all truth he will bring you the Father reconcile you to him that you may obtain his Favour and Everlasting Life when one of Christs Disciples said Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Jesus saith unto him He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And How sayest thou then shew us the Father If you subject your selves to Christ and to the Government of his Spirit he will bring you to that Life and Immortality that fadeth not away This hath been our Labour and Travel from time to time to Preach Christ among you and not to Preach our selves and gather a Church for our selves but to gather a People in to Christ who is Lord of Heaven and Earth We would Preach Christ Jesus the Lord we would not have you Admire Mens words and sayings and charge your Memory with them But we would have you remember the words and sayings of Christ who is the great Mediatour to reconcile Man again to God that you may know him by his Power working effectually in your hearts we Labour for nothing else and we want nothing else We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Christs stead be ye Reconciled to God That you may so Live that whether you Eat and Drink or whatsoever you do you may do all to the Glory of God your great Creatour that hath given his Son to Die for you and Redeem you from all Iniquity that you might be a peculiar People zealous of all good Works Therefore let God have all the Honour and Glory for all his mercies and Blessings Let us render to him Hearty Praises and Thanksgivings for his wonderful Love and ackowledg that it is a great priviledg that we may obtain by Jesus Christ even to be brought again to the true knowledg of the living God which we lost by our Transgression His Prayer after Sermon GLorious art thou in thy Appearances O Lord and very wonderful is thy Power and thy ways past finding out And in this thy glorious Day thou art opening a way for the Sons and Daughters of Men to return to thee And O Lord those whose Eyes thou hast opened rejoyce and are Glad because they have seen the way of thy Salvations and the breathings of their Souls are that their Feet may be kept therein and that they may make straight steps in their way to thy kingdom And O Lord we are sensible that our strength and our Power and our Ability is only in thee and therefore are the Souls of thy Children bowed and subjected to thee Waiting for the Renewing of thy Power that as our Temptations are renewed from Day to Day that thou wouldest make known thy Power in us that we may feel the stretching forth of thy hand to save thy little Ones out of the hands of the Destroyer And so Powerful God of life break forth more and more in thy Glory and make known thy Power in expelling the Clouds of darkness and ignorance and bring the Minds and Understandings of thy People to know thee more and more till they come to the blessed Inheritance among the Saints in Light Holy and Powerful Father break in upon thy People by thy Almighty Power and scatter the dark Clouds of Temptation and cause the light of Life to shine upon them thou that hast commanded the Light to shine out of darkness do thou shine into the Hearts of the Sons and Daughters of Men. Open their Hearts that they may receive thy Truth and make tender their hard Hearts that they may live to thee that Created them and give a comfortable Account to thee of their Thoughts Words and Actions and let them turn to thee before it be too late to repent them Powerful God of Life thy mercies and loving kindness do abound to a little Remnant that do believe in Christ and do trust in thy great Name Thou hast been with them in their fiery tryalls and tribulations and to this Day thou hast been the glory of our Assemblies and the joy of our meetings We are sensible of thy holy Power working in our Souls and of thy renewing thy love upon us All that want a full sense thereof that are seeking and crying after thee for it O let them be brâ—ught to a due sense of God O arise for the help and the Comfort of the Sorrowful the Sighing and the needy Soul pour forth the treasures of thy love upon them that follow hard after thee and breath for deliverance that so Powerful God of life praises may arise to thee for all thy mercies and abounding blessings for thy goodness and loving kindness bestowed upon us from time to time Most Powerful God of life and light let the Eye of thy Favour be turned upon this Land of our Nativity spare the inhabitants of this City and Nation that they may seek after thee let them know the weight of thy Hand upon them to bow them down to humility and brokenness of Heart Give them Repentancee for their Sins Living God of life display thy Power to all from the highest to the lowest among us and advance the kingdom of our