keep silence in the Church Now here I cannot but observe the most insufferable contradiction of the practice of the Roman Church to the Apostles determination The Apostles you see would not allow that the prayers of the Church should be uttered in an unknown tongue but there they pray in a tongue unknown unto the people The Apostle would not allow this no not in them who spake by immediate Inspiration they practise contrary to the Apostles express Decree and that where no such Inspiration can be pretended with the least appearance and shew of reason The Apostle supposes no man edified by the prayers which he doth not understand they either judge that a man may be edified by such prayers or that they may be duly used although the Church be not edified by them both which expresly contradict the Apostle If the Church of Rome be in the right then the Apostle is mistaken if the Apostle be not mistaken the Church of Rome doth grosly erre in judging such prayers edifie which St. Paul affirms cannot edifie or in judging them fit to be used in the Church although they do not edifie at all And is it not now a wonderful thing that they who so grosly so expresly contradict the Doctrine of Sr. Paul should boast themselves to be infallible Is it not yet a greater wonder that any who have had the education where the Scriptures are read in a known tongue should suffer themselves to be overborn into a belief that they are infallible who erre in so plain and clear an instance and in a thing of such concernment Certainly if men were not infatuated by most unreasonable lusts and passions they would never apostatize never adhere to such a Church as sound nay infallible in all her Doctrines who uses its publick Prayers and Offices in a tongue unknown unto the people a thing so contrary to common sense and to the practice of primitive times and to what the Apostle himself teaches in as full and clear and express words as any thing possibly can be spoken 2. But to proceed to the second kind of the extraordinary gift of prayer which was when a man received all the conceptions in prayer from an immediate Inspiration but so far used his understanding as to contrive the expression of them into a tongue known to them that heard him and into plain and easie expressions in that tongue Concerning this I must observe that it was a gift of the Holy Ghost peculiar to the Apostles times or at least to those that immediately followed as the rest of those miraculous powers and gifts were which God did then bestow on the Church to confirm the truth of Christianity I do not deny but that God doth still in some cases suggest to the minds of good men that is convenient for their condition and what it is they should pray for I do not deny but that when they fall into such straits as that they know not what it is best to pray for God doth direct and guide their minds by the assistance of his Spirit For as there is need of such assistance in such cases so God denies not what is needful to such persons And this is the meaning of the Apostle Rom. 8.26 Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought He speaks in this place of times of great distress and danger when the Christians were often in such perplexities and doubts of mind that they knew not what to pray for at least with faith and resignation entire resignation to Gods will Now here it was that the Spirit of God directed them to pray for such things and in such a manner as might tend effectually to Gods glory though to their sufferings in the world And thus far I doubt not may we expect the like assistance of Gods Spirit in the like cases if we heartily pray for it But now for any man in these days to expect an immediate Inspiration of all the conceptions of a prayer such as the Apostles arid Prophets had in the primitive times of Christianity for any man to pretend to pray by the same immediate Revelation Whereby they prayed in the Christian Churches is a very groundless and great presumption And therefore when you hear men pray with a great torrent and flow of words you are not presently to imagine as divers ignorant persons do that such a man prays by an immediate Inspiration that what he speaks is just then dictated and suggested by the Holy Ghost as things were suggested to the Apostles unless he could also speak with tongues and heal the sick and cure the lame and in a word do such Miracles as they did and give the same proof of his Inspiration which they did evidently give of theirs which is a thing that is not done by any that now pretend unto it and therefore shews the pretence is vain and the Pretender to be deceived if not a cheat and Impostor likewise Is there then no way in these days whereby a man may truly be said to pray by the Spirit in the sense and language of the Scriptures and that in ordinary and common cases Yes that there is For 2. Such is that other way of praying which I have before mentioned to you which is when a man prays in the use of Faith and Hope and all the Graces of Gods Spirit and with such pious and good affections as are the effects of those Graces though not by immediate Inspiration that is to say the immediate dictate of the Spirit Such is the prayer our Saviour supposes in those words Joh. 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth not carelesly and without attention not without the affections of the heart and inward sense of the mind and spirit as the Jews had worshipped him in former Ages but fervently heartily and sincerely Such is the prayer the Apostle mentions Eph. 6.18 where he requires them to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit that is with spiritual and holy minds with fervent and devout affections Like whereunto was that singing also which he represents in these words Speaking to your selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your hearts Eph. 5.19 Where you plainly see that the holy offices wherein the heart was moved and affected are said to be spiritual on that account See also Col. 3.16 Now concerning this way of praying by the Spirit wherein men pray in the use of Faith and with real and hearty and devout affections though not by immediate Inspiration I shall observe several things 1. That this way or manner of praying is grateful and acceptable to God This is in truth such a worship of God as our Saviour himself did understand when he said that they that worship God must worship him in spirit and truth This is the worship that God requires and therefore
Councils and endeavours but only from the God of Spirits from him that moves the hearts of men when and where and whither he pleases by strong though invisible operations And which further entitles God to our deliverance was that it was wrought without Arms without war without the effusion and loss of blood in a still and quiet and peaceable manner This shews that it was from the God of peace this owns him for its proper Author and to him belongs the honour of it To us the due and proper use of such a timely and great deliverance 2. Having thus dispatched the former general namely the acknowledgment made to God that it is he that settles Kingdoms and Common-wealths proceed we now unto the latter which is the prayer put up to him Strengthen O God what thou hast wrought for us where we have these two things suggested 1. The necessity of Gods assistance for the confirmation and establishment of the Societies of mankind especially 2. And Secondly his willingness to establish them upon their due and right behaviour both which things are plainly granted by him that made this prayer for it else had the prayer it self been useless 1. The first thing then that is suggested is the necessity of Gods assistance for the establishment and confirmation of the Societies of mankind And had we no more for the demonstration of the necessity of Gods assistance to this purpose than the very nature of mortal men even this might serve for the proof of it All the affairs of mankind depend upon the actions of men their actions depend upon their Counsels and their Counsels generally upon their passions and these upon so many accidents so many little uncertain causes so numerous so various things that it is no wonder that every day produces so many alterations the wonder is that the greatest things that depend upon such uncertain causes the greatest Kingdoms and Common-Wealths have not more and quicker revolutions greater and more sudden changes than what we generally find have been The strength and settlement of every Government of every Kingdom and Common-Wealth depends not only upon the close and entire Union of the members of the fame Society amongst themselves a thing not easie to be had but upon all the several causes that keep the balance even and steddy between the neighbouring Nations also which causes are so very numerous and so various mutable and uncertain that the balance would daily change and vary did not God himself hold the scales and keep things even by his own power It is impossible to give an account of all the causes that may produce strange alterations in the Societies of mankind unless providence shall interpose for their continuance and preservation A sudden fire may break out in a Capital City and presently consume the greatest part of the Wealth and Treasure of a Nation A tempest or violent inundation an earthquake or thunder from above may have the very same effects A general Plague may sweep away such vast multitudes of the Inhabitants as that the rest may be exposed to the invasion of their neighbours This gave Sparta a great advantage against Athens The dulness and idleness of one Country may give opportunity to another to overgrow it in wealth and power and so to conquer and enslave it The Vice and Luxury of a People may soon consume their own strength and bring the same distress and difficulty upon a Country that they usually bring on a single Family Ease and plenty and wealth it self may first occasion disuse of Arms and then infect a whole Nation with a general softness and effeminacy and so expose it to the Usurpation of a hardier and more needy People Thus fell the Persians before the Greeks The death of a Prince or a great Man may prove destructive to a People When Epaminondas the Theban fell Thebes it self fell with him was never prosperous before nor after him Add hereunto what violent changes and alterations domestick Seditions may produce in every Nation and how many causes and little accidents may easily produce such Sedition The errours and mistakes of Magistrates the natural inconstancy of the People the ambition of Men of Wit and Parts or such as fansie themselves to be so their mutual enmities amongst themselves their envy at each others greatness their infinite rage and indignation when they fail of what they aspire after These with infinite other causes which are impossible to be numbred do as naturally tend to the dissolution of publick bodies of Civil Governments and Societies as all the diseases and fatal accidents to which mans body is obnoxious both from within and without also to the destruction of his body Now to what end is this discourse to shew the need that all the concernments of mankind that the greatest States and Kingdoms have of support from Divine Providence being not only so inclinable to crumble to pieces of themselves by the diseases that are within them but likewise so obnoxious too to be dashed to pieces each by other And if the very Civil Societies of mankind need the assistance of Gods Providence for their continuance how much more doth Religion want it Religion if true is a ray from God and depends as much upon his influence as the beam depends upon the Sun And being planted in us men must needs partake of our infirmities and therefore is apt even of it self like other establishments and constitutions to vary from Primitive institution and lose its original strength and purity So it came to pass that Christianity which in the first and Primitive ages maintained it self against all the cruelties of persecution by the zeal and piety of its followers afterwards suffered strange decays first by infinite swarms of Heresies and then by Ignorance and Superstition which now is reel'd to the other extreme namely to Atheism and Infidelity and to the contempt of all Religion Nor need we wonder it should be difficult to preserve so wise and holy a Religion as that which Christ hath revealed to us in its original strength and purity for it hath strong and numerous Enemies Every mans lusts are at enmity with it every mans vanity apt to corrupt it every mans Ignorance apt to mistake it nay the very Religion of some persons their pride and pretence to Inspiration the greatest Enemy to this Religion Besides all this there are several accidents that may have dangerous effects upon it according to the nature of times and places If the Ministers of it be poor and mean this generally brings contempt on them and upon Religion for their sakes If they be rich this creates envy and then Sacriledge is Reformation If a National Church be guarded and setled by the Laws of the State Dissenters complain of perfection and if it be not so guarded it is impossible it should be national that is that one and the same thing should ever be able to approve it self to an infinite difference of
was so far from being terrified either by his bonds or death it self that were it not for their sakes to whom his life might be more useful he should rather desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ He further acquaints them with his design to visit them again in order to their support and settlement if God should rescue him from his bonds In the mean time gives this admonition Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing thing terrified by your adversaries That ye stand fact c. In which words you have an account what are the most effectual means for any Church which God hath blessed with the true Faith of Christianity still to abide and continue in it Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it close union amongst themselves zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation and courage against such oppositions as others may possibly make against it 1. Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it which is suggested in these words Stand fast that is to say as it there follows in the faith of the Gospel 2. Union amongst themselves Stand fast in one spirit with one mind 3. Zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel 4. Courage against such oppositions as other persons make against it And in nothing terrified by your adversaries These are the methods which our Apostle here propounds for a Church to retain the true Faith that is to continue a true Church 1. The first of which is firmness of mind in every mans private belief of truth For feeing that every particular Church is made up of particular persons so far as particular Members fail in the true Faith so far is that Church they are Members of maimed and mutilated in its parts and the whole in tendency to dissolution Now seeing the firmness of belief depends upon clear and evident proof I might here offer a demonstration of the truth and excellency of Christianity But being this is neither so needful nor yet so seasonable to the occasion of our meeting I shall rather chuse to address my self to what the occasion now requires which is to shew the truth and excellence of Christianity as it is professed in our own Church in opposition to that of Rome which I shall do by comparing theirs and ours together in point of Faith and Worship and Manners 1. And first of all for matter of Faith we firmly believe the holy Scriptures and every thing therein contained to be the infallible Word of God We believe the Scriptures do contain all things necessary to Salvation according as St. John assures us Joh. 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name Which we could not have if every thing necessary to Salvation was not written was not contained in this very Gospel of St. John Nay further yet we believe and receive all Creeds that were ever received in the Catholick Church These Creeds are taken into our Liturgy they are repeated in our Churches we signifie our assent to them by standing up when they are repeated and are we still to be judged Hereticks and deficient in the Catholick Faith On the other hand the Roman Church deny the Scriptures to be a compleat Rule of Faith they build their faith upon Tradition a thing uncertain They rely upon Councils which may erre nay upon such as have grosly erred They vary as well from the Primitive Church in many cases as from the holy Scripture it self And last of all they pretend a power of making new Articles of Faith that is such as were not made by our Blessed Lord and his Apostles which being so let reason judge whether they or we be likeliest to erre in point of Faith 2. For matter of Worship in the second place their publick Prayers are made and used in a tongue unknown unto the people ours in a tongue which we all understand And here let St. Paul decide the controversie that is between us I Cor. 14 15 16 c. I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified From whence it appears what edification may be expected from their prayers that is to say none at all And therefore the Apostle further adds I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue But to proceed as we make our prayers in a known tongue so in them we invoke the true God and him only We use no other Mediator no other Patron but only Christ whom God hath appointed so to be For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 But they that are of the Church of Rome make their addresses to Saints and Angels as well for patronage and protection as for their prayers to God for them and some of those the Virgin Mary do they invoke in as magnificent and high a stile as they invoke God himself We pay no worship to any Images seeing that God hath expresly said Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them But they bow down and prostrate themselves before the Images of Christ and others And though they affirm that the honour they give unto the Image passes through it to the person whom it represents yet still they acknowledge they worship the Image that this at least is a transient object of their Worship And then again we give the Sacrament of the Lords Supper unto the people as well as the Priests in both kinds So it was instituted by Christ himself so it was given all along for many Ages but others in perfect contradiction to the Institution of our Lord deny the Cup unto the Laity We believe that after Consecration the Bread and Wine set apart and consecrated for the Sacrament do still retain the natural substance of bread and wine And so the Apostle himself believed when he stiled that bread of
and manners then was our Church depraved and corrupted as theirs now is but now is our Church by Gods grace reformed and restored to primitive purity which theirs is not Whether theirs or ours be the better Church in point of faith may be easily known by this instance we make the Scripture the rule of faith and this is a most unerring rule they add tradition unto Scripture and this is greatly exposed to errour we have added nothing as absolutely necessary to salvation to the faith contained in the antient Creeds of the Catholick Church they have added much to those Creeds they have added some such things to them as do by consequence overthrow some parts of the very Creeds themselves Whether theirs or ours be the safer Church for a man to hope for Salvation in may easily appear from these particulars We teach such worship such practice as are most clearly and fully lawful lawful beyond all peradventure for sure it is undoubtedly Jawful for a man to worship the true God to use no Image in his worship to use him as Mediator whom he hath appointed so to be It is lawful beyond all peradventure to have our prayers in a known tongue to give the communion unto the Laity in both kinds to reform as well as confess our sins to use no art or commutations for the expiation of our sins but to forsake the sins themselves These things are lawful without all doubt but that the contrary to these are lawful is the doubtfulest thing in all the world or rather to speak more properly it is most certain they are not lawful And therefore I leave it to you to judge whether communion with our Church or the Church of Rome be the safer way unto salvation and if you judge as I know you must stand fast in the faith you have received and the Church wherein you were baptized And so much may serve for the first method for a true Church to preserve it self in the true faith firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it 2. Proceed we now unto the second and that is Union amongst themselves as it is suggested in these words stand fast in one spirit with one mind If a kingdom be divided against it self that kingdom cannot stand If a house be divided against it self that house cannot stand Mark 3.23 24. Neither can a Church which is so divided If the members of the natural body be rent and torn each from other this is the destruction of the whole and death to every single part Disunion doth of its own nature naturally tend to dissolution there needs no Enemy from abroad to destroy and ruine such a Church as is divided against it self the mutual discords that are within the divisions amongst its own members their mutual envyings and animosities that naturally arise out of these divisions effectually tend to separation and separation to dissolution Besides the intestine strifes and divisions which are seen and observed in any Church invite its Enemys to attempt its utter ruine and destruction they open a breach for them to enter they give free and an easie entrance to swarms or seducers to invade it they give a plausible and fair pretence for a very plausible and specious objections you have no union amongst your selves from whence it appears you have not the truth Truth is one and so is the Faith that 's built upon it You are not one amongst your selves and therefore you have not the true faith Now therefore leave and quit that Church which hath no unity in its members and come to that which is united To these assaults and these are dangerous to weaker minds doth every Church expose it self which is not at unity in it self Now therefore let us be most cautious to be at union amongst our selves and in order to so good an end let us take care to make our breaches no wider than indeed they are We do agree exactly agree amongst our selves in point of faith in the belief of all those Doctrines that are absolutely necessary to salvation thus far we agree with the Protestant Churches that are abroad and further yet with the generality of the Diffenters that are at home And as for this Church it self there is as great and greater consent in all the parts and members of it than in the Church of Rome it self They have divisions amongst themselves and greater than any amongst us They charge either other in some points with nothing less than heresie it self We have no such charges amongst us They have their Dominicans and Franciscans they have their Molinists and their Jansenists one Order bandying against another with bitter discords and animosities They are not agreed in the very rule of faith it self some make the Decrees of the Pope only some the Decrees of a General Council others the Decrees of the Pope and Council both together to be the only rule of Faith from whence it most inevitably follows that that must be Faith unto one party which is not so unto another Seeing some things have been decreed by Popes that have not been decreed by Councils some things by Councils and not by Popes From whence it appears that after all the boasts we hear of union in the Church of Rome there is in truth less of union in that Church than in this that we are members of And for the increase and preservation of this so blessed and needful thing let us take care not to advance any private opinions in opposition to publick wisdom Let us not insist upon any Doctrines as absolutely necessary to salvation which the Church hath not proposed as such Let no particular sort of men presume to stile themselves the Church or the only genuine Sons of it in opposition unto others who belive the Doctrines of the Church who have promised due Conformity to it and evidently practise what they promise These in truth are the sure and genuine Sons of the Church who go so far as the Church requires and content themselves to go no further And if any deny them so to be they have private fancys of their own and by obtruding these on others and censuring those that receive them not they weaken the Church disturb its union disquiet its peace and take a course to bring a dangerous Schism into it Now therefore let it be our care to maintain Charity to cherish Peace to study Union amongst our selves And this is the second of these methods which powerfully tend to our preservation and of the Faith which we do profess 3. The third is singular zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation For so the Apostle farther adds Stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel There must be zeal there must be endeavour there must be joynt endeavour used for the promotion of this end 1. Our enemies have a zeal against it and if we our selves have none for it how
higher powers the Princes and Potentates of the World exercised all external violence to destroy and kill the professors of it No reproaches were thought too foul to blacken no tortures too cruel to destroy the professours of the Gospel of Christ for the three first ages of Christianity insomuch that they had but little time to breathe in the intervals of persecution while they continued under heathen Emperours 2. No sooner did the supreme power owne the profession of Christianity no sooner did peace dawn upon the Church by the favour of Constantine the Great but that the professors of Christianity broke and divided amongst themselves Then was the Church as much troubled by the Errours and Heresies by the Schisms and Factions of them that professed the name of Christ as it had been in former ages by the open violence of persecution 'T is true indeed there had been Errours there had been factions amongst the Christians before that time but now they grew to greater height especially concerning the person of Christ for the repressing of which errours the four first general Councils were called 3. Next after the mutual strifes that arose among the Professors of the Gospel they fell into the sleep of ignorance dark and stupid and profound ignorance which began in the sixth and seventh Ages and continued for divers Ages together And then it was that all the follies and superstitions entred into the Christian Church which are still retained in the Church of Rome Then were Images set up in Churches and great Veneration given to them then came in the Invocation of Saints then the Adoration of Angels also then the opinion of Transubstantiation then infinite forgeries of Epistles forgeries of large and great Volumes fictions of the Lives of Saints fictions of the Miracles done by them to advance the Glory of the Church of Rome which were no sooner disclaimed and baffled by the Reformation that still continues but they of that Chuch presently fell to practise the very same cruelties the same bloody Arts upon the Reformed that the Heathen Emperours had formerly practised upon the whole Church of God Such were the methods that have been used to prevail against the Church of Christ violence from without divisions within the troubles of danger the temptations of ease all the cruelties and arts of Satan to bring confusion and ruine upon it and yet behold it still continues and will continue in the world either in one place or another by virtue of the promise of Christ that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church 2. Seeing that Christ our Lord hath made it the matter of a promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church that is to say that there shall always be a Society professing the Faith of Christianity and living together in communion in the use of all Christs Institutions this may serve for an admonition to all Christians to study Unity amongst themselves to make no breach in the Church of Christ where it is possible to keep together with piety and good conscience He that promised there should be a Church to the end of the world promised the unity and Christian communion of its members amongst themselves without this there is no Church And he that doth any thing directly tending to break this unity and communion doth what is in him to frustrate the very promise of Christ and to destroy that Church which he hath founded upon a rock In the mean time I must profess that I am much more than well satisfied in our separation from the Church of Rome or rather in their separation from us and from the Catholick Church it self by their infinite variations from it But on the other hand I cannot but tremble to think of the many grievous divisions amongst them that are divided from the Church of Rome These if not timely cured and removed will certainly bring confusion amongst us and then will that old Enemy enter in the smoke and darkness of that confusion I wonder to see how little regard how little value many men have for the preservation of peace amongst us I wonder to see what little exceptions what groundless cavils are made pretences to separate from us Certain it is that these men are infinitely wanting either in knowledge or sincerity If they do not understand that the peace of the Church is a thing of most important value for the preservation of Faith and love and the very essence of Christianity if they do not understand how weak and trifling all their Arguments against us are and that it is next to an impossibility to find a Church against which nothing shall be objected if they do not understand all these things they are guilty of very great ignorance but if they do understand these things and yet persist in separation they are guilty of equal insincerity The duty of every good Christian in these distractions and divisions that so much trouble the Christian World is to put up constant prayers to God and also to use his best endeavours for the peace of the whole Church of Christ They are short sighted in Christianity and very mean and narrow spirited that mind or study peace no further than concerns a particular Congregation nay the Church of any particular Nation Christ hath a care of his whole body and requires an unity and communion not only of the particular Members of any Church but of all particular Churches also These make up the Catholick Church and the Catholick Church is Christs body There is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Eph. 4.4 5 6. There is saith he one body one universal Church the unity and the peace whereof he recommends unto our study Now therefore study the peace and unity of this Church as much as possibly lies in you adorn it by your Faith and Piety labour its purity and its peace For to this end did Christ our Lord give himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 26 27. The Sixth Sermon 1 Cor. 14.15 What is it then I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also OUR Blessed Lord having a while before his death promised his Apostles another comforter who should for ever abide with them John 14.16 that is to say the spirit of truth to lead them into all truth renews this promise again unto them a little before his ascension into Heaven Act. 14. and commands not to depart from Jerusalem but there to wait for the promise of the Father And long it was not before this promise was fulfilled
and that in a very signal manner for when they were assembled together on the day of Pentecost suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance Acts 2.2 3 4. which same Spirit also then endued them with all other kinds of gifts and powers requisite for the infallible preaching and sure confirmation of the Gospel And as these miraculous gifts and powers were now bestowed upon the Apostles so afterwards on great numbers of other Christians First on those that were Jews by birth as you may see Act. 4.3 8.17 and afterwards on the Gentiles also as it appears from what we read Act. 10.44 Then came it to pass that all the Churches wherein the Faith of Christ was planted much abounded with such persons as had the miraculous gifts of the Spirit but no where were there more of these than in the famous Church of Corinth which as it was zealous of these gifts 1 Cor. 14.12 so had it a plentiful measure of them as plainly appears from the 13 Chapter of this Epistle Upon this account the Apostle directs them in this Chapter how they should use these spiritual gifts Namely for the edifying of the Church so you read vers 12. for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts seek that ye way excel to the edifying of the Church and because the Church could not be edified by any thing uttered in an unknown tongue unless interpreted in one that was known he adds as follows vers 13 14. wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret for if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful that is my spiritual gift is exercised but my understanding is not exercised so as to render what I say intelligible and useful to other persons which being so he puts this question what is it then that is to say what is the most desireable thing what should we desire in point of Prayer to which he answers in these words I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also That is the thing to be desired is that when the Spirit suggests and dictates a prayer to any man as he did to many in those ages by an immediate inspiration he my so far use his own understanding when he prays in a publick congregation as to utter the prayer in a known tongue and in easie and intelligible expressions that others may be edified by it Now from these words compared with other places of Scripture I shall take occasion to observe That there were two ways of praying by the Spirit in the first Age of Christianity 1. The first of these was extraordinary as when the Spirit dictated a prayer by an immediate Inspiration 2. The other ordinary as when a man prayed heartily and fervently but not by immediate Inspiration but in the use of Faith and Hope and all such other Christian Graces as are the fruits of the holy Spirit and the causes of holy and good affection 1. The former of these that is the extraordinary gift of prayer seems to have been of two kinds likewise 1. In the former whereof the understanding of him that prayed seems to have been wholly passive so far as not to have employed it self either in the inventing of the conceptions of the prayer or in the uttering those conceptions in a tongue commonly understood Such was the prayer the Apostle mentions verf. 14. of this Chapter If I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth that is the spiritual gift that is in me but my understanding is unfruitful that is to say my understanding doth not imploy and exercise it self to express the conceptions of this prayer in a tongue or manner known to all them that hear me 2. In the latter kind of this extraordinary gift of prayer prayer by immediate Inspiration the understanding of him that prayed seems to have been passive and active likewise passive so far as to have received all the conceptions of the prayer from the immediate Inspiration of the Holy Ghost active so far as to have imployed and exercised it self to express and utter those conceptions in a tongue unknown to them that heard and in a familiar easie manner And such was the prayer the Apostle mentions in these words I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also I will utter the very same conceptions which the holy Spirit suggests to me but I will use my understanding to utter them in a known tongue and in easie and familiar expressions Concerning both these several ways I have something to observe unto you 1. Concerning the first wherein the understanding was wholly passive wherein a man used both the gift of tongues and received the conceptions of the prayer from an immediate Inspiration I observe the Apostle did not allow the use of this in Christian Assemblies unless that either the person that prayed or else some persons present had the gift of interpreting what was said The ground of which his determination was that nothing was to be spoken in the Church but what might edifie all that were present even the most illiterate persons and that such as these could not be edified by that which was uttered in an unknown tongue though dictated by the holy Spirit unless it was afterwards interpreted I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also i. e. so that others may understand And so should every man pray in the Church else says the Apostle when thou shalt bless with the spirit how should he that occupieth the room of the unlearned how should a vulgar illiterate person say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understands not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified ver 16 17. So then the Apostles judgment is this That no office is to be performed in the Church but so that all may be edified by it that no man is edified by that which he doth not understand and therefore that an unknown tongue was not to be used in the offices of the Church unless there were some that could interpret So he suggests at the 18 19 verses I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue So he more expresly concludes vers 27 28. If any man speak in an unknown tongue let it be by two or at the most by three and that by course and let one interpret But if there be no interpreter let him
this he accepts also This is really prayer in Faith in belief of the promises God hath made and certainly God accepts such prayer This is a prayer put up to God with devour and humble and holy affections for so I state the nature of it and such was that the Apostle required Eph. 6.18 and therefore supposed to be grateful to God and so will every one believe who knows that the heart is in such prayer and that it is the heart which God requires And to say no more such prayer as this although it doth not proceed from an immediate Inspiration a present dictate of the holy Spirit yet is it the mediate effect of the Spirit as being the effect of that Faith that Hope that Love and Charity and Humility which is the fruit of the Spirit of God It is the fruit of these Graces and. whatsoever else is of the same nature and these are the fruits of the Spirit of God Gol. 5.22 23. 2. The second thing which I must observe concerning this way of praying by the Spirit is that it is applicable to a form of prayer The words of Scripture are a form of words and will any men say that he cannot read or hear those words read unto him and heartily believe what he hears or reads and be as heartily affected with it If he cannot do this let him confess that he doth not believe the Word of God when he hears it read and that he is nothing affected with is but if he will not confess this let him confess that faith and zeal faith and pious and holy affections may be applied to a form of words and consequently to a form of prayer 2. Most of those persons who disallow a form of Prayer and thanksgiving to God allow and practise a certain form in singing Psalms and what are such Psalms but certain forms of Praying and rendering thanks to God and if men can heartily pray to God in verse or meeter why not in prose as well as in verse 3. All the Protestant Churches of other Nations all the Christians Churches in the World have set forms for their publick Offices and so hath the whole Church had for fourteen hundred Years at least and therefore certainly it was and is the sense of the universal Church not only that it was very lawful but most expedient and useful also that the publick Offices of the Church should be performed in a set form and that men might pray in a set form and pray by the spirit at the same time that is to say in Faith and Hope and with holy and devout affections 4. Add hereunto that there are divers forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture a form of benediction whereby the Priest was to bless the People Numb 6.23 24 25 26. a form for the offering of the First-fruits Deut. 26.5 6. c. That David composed many of the psalms as the titles of them expresly shew to be used as publick forms of Prayer in the solemn worship of God in the Temple That our Saviour himself gave that which is called the Lords Prayer as a form of Prayer to his Disciples according to the custome of the Jewish Doctors and John the Baptist who did the like for their Disciples Now had it not been a possible thing for men to use a form of Prayer with faith and zeal and holy affections as every man always ought to pray we should have had no forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture 5. And to conclude the present point were not faith and zeal and devout affections applicable to a form of Prayer no man could heartily joyn in a Prayer which he hears uttered by another person for all such prayers whatsoever they be to him that speaks are certain forms to them that hear them to them they as are limited forms when they are spoken as if they had been printed and read for the words are still the very same and all the sense contained in them And so I conclude the second observation that is that a man may pray by the spirit that is in Faith and holy Zeal and pray by a Form at the same time 3 I must further observe unto you that as the way of Praying by the Spirit is applicable to a form of Prayer so that it ought in very truth to be applied to every Prayer we make to God whether it be with or without a form God hears no Prayers accepts no service offered to him where there is no attention of mind no Zeal and Affection in the heart It is a great neglect of God a dangerous irreverence to our Maker not to attend to what we speak or what is spoken in our name when we make our addresses to him by Prayer doth any man speak unto a Prince not minding what he speaks unto him doth any man make an address to a King without giving heed to his own address and if we judge it a great irreverence to speak to a Prince without attending to what we speak what shall we judge of that affront men do to God when they atend not to those Prayers which they themselves offer to God or are offered by others in their names in their presence and behalf And then for Faith and Zeal and Fervour these are the very life of Prayer Prayer is but sound and noise without them Men may pray and pray acceptably where they do not utter express words Rom. 8.26 but the most excellent words in the World are not true and real Prayer where there is nothing of desire nothing of affection added to them Confess your faults one to another faith S. James cap. 5.16 and pray one for another that ye may be healed The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man avai leth much 'T is the fervent Prayer that is effectual the effectual Prayer that is useful to us and who can wonder that God should not hear those Petitions which are void of affection and desire if we our selves neglect our Prayers those very Prayers we seem to make how much more will God neglect them why should he grant what we our selves do not desire especially since it is an affront a mocking of God to ask of him what in truth we do not really desire what we have no mind to receive from him which is indeed the very case when our Prayers have nothing of attention nothing of zeal and affection in them What then shall we say to all that coldness all that remisness which appears in our publick and solemn worship of God By this we lose those spiritual joys those sensible warmths and feeling comforts which always attend fervent Prayer and tend to the strengthning of Faith and Hope and all other Virtues and Christian Graces By this we fail of Gods acceptance and of gaining the things we ask of him By this we give scandal to other persons who take occasion from our remissness and want of zeal in our
Rabbi here is their haughtiness and ambition their presumption and self conceit reproved And then there censure and scorn of others is also detected and chastised Matt. 7.3 4 5. Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy Brothers eye but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye or how wilt thou say to thy Brother let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye And although the Pharisee in his prayer thanked God that he was not as other men particularly that he was no Extortioner Luc. 18.11 yet one that knew them much better than they themselves knew them our Lord himself gives us another account of them he tells us that they were full of Extortion greatly infected with it within Matt. 23.25 And as for malicious craft and subtilty these are not obscurely charged upon them by him that could not be mistaken Matt. 23.33 Ye serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of Hell ye says he build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous and say if we had been in the days of our Fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets and yet they were of the same spirit their Fathers were insomuch that they who here profess that they would never have shed the blood of the Holy Prophets shed that of the very Son of God and of his followers and Disciples and this our Saviour well foresaw and therefore adds v. 32. fill ye up the measure of your Fathers from whence I conclude that as hypocrisie is a mock-religion and so an abuse of true Piety so likewise that it leaves the hypocrite under the power of Pride Covetousness and Animosity under the dominion of those lusts that are most flat contradictions to it 4. Having said so much of the nature and quality of this vice in the three particulars last mentioned you will not wonder at what I shall add in the last place which is that hypocrisie mightily tends to the utter destruction of true Religion not in the hypocrite for in him it hath no place at all but in the very world it self that is to say in all other persons and this it doth two several ways 1. By debauching the nature of it 2. By bringing a Scandal upon it 1. For first its the nature of hypocrisie to debauch the nature of true Religion by turning it into meer formality into nice and scrupulous Superstitions in the avoiding or in the practising of things indifferent in themselves and endless disputes about these things which do not only imploy mens minds in things that are not of any moment and take them off from the study and practice of true Religion but wholly destroy Christian Charity fill men with mutual Animosities and by their means eat out the very heart of Piety It is the temper of hypocrisie to accomodate itself to the opinion and judgement of men The generality of mankind look no farther than to the shew and surface of things and therefore hypocrisie concerns itself in nothing further than to obtain the applause of men either in the observing or the avoiding of things indifferent in themselves things that may be done or omitted unless commanded by superiours in the mean time while it is thought sufficient on one hand to recommend a man to God if he abound in rite and ceremony in an infinite number of outward actions such as are used in the Church of Rome and on the other while all Religion is placed in avoiding all that 's decent in appearance every thing that is called a Ceremony and a man must certainly be a Saint that shall defie and rail at this true Religion is almost lost almost forgotten and laid aside in the noise of these disputes and quarrels 2. But lastly ther 's yet another way wherein hypocrisie dangerously tends to the destruction of true Religion which is by the scandal which it brings upon the name of all Religion For although it be very true indeed that men are generally very strangely charm'd by the shews and pretences of Religion yet when it appears as it doth at last where it is not real that all these shews are void of truth that they are but shews and nothing more this makes the very name of Religion despicable odious and abhorr'd it brings profaneness and infidelity and makes the very profession of Piety vile and contemptible in the world a dangerous and a destructive issue as we our selves have plainly found by our own experience in this Nation Hypocrisie being but a counterfeit coin never long retains its Credit and so indeed it happened at last amongst the Pharisees for although they were in great reputation amongst the Jews in our Saviours time yet I find that they lost it afterwards and became so despicable in the Nation that they were branded with scurrilous names some they called Sechemitical Pharisees such as were so for their own profit others they styled the stumbling Pharisees who for an appearance of humility would scarce lift up their feet in the streets others they called the wounded Pharisees who shut their eyes as they went in the streets lest they should perhaps behold a temptation but by so doing often fell and hurt themselves others they styled the boasting Pharisees because they pretended not only to do whatsoever the Law of God required but also a great deal more than so other approbrious names and titles they put upon some other sorts from whence it appears that they did at last lose all their credit amongst people nor need we question that even true Religion it self became contemptible on that account The life is derided for the deformity of the picture the truth is prejudiced by the counterfeit the faults and basenesses of hypocrisie ascribed to true Religion itself and this I take to be one reason of the infidelity and profaneness that reign at present in this Nation God of his mercy remove the Scandals and heal the distempers that are amongst us The Tenth Sermon Luk. 12.1 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie IN these words as I have observed there are these two things suggested to us 1. The greatness of the Evil which we are commanded to avoid this I have already finished 2. The diligence that must be used if we will duly observe the precept intimated in the word beware which shews it is no such easie thing to avoid all Pharisaism and hypocrisie as we may perhaps imagine it is And for the clearing of this point I shall desire you to observe that an appearance of Religion or a Religion in outward show void of the true spirit of it is apt to recommend it self and strangely to impose on men as such a Religion which is
ends wherein the best and wisest men shall be esteemed the very worst superstitious cold and formal men by those that are zealous in some Faction and know no Religion but that zeal because such times as these may be it is safest to content our selves in gaining those rewards and blessings that are peculiar to Religion the testimony of a good Conscience and life eternal in the World to come 3. And then lastly Because hypocrisie is so deceitful and sly a sin as always serving worldly interest which is apt insensibly to blind the eyes and infatuate the minds of the wisest men and yet hide it self from them themselves it will concern us to be very frequent and impartial in the examination of our selves to weigh our counsels to try our ends to prove our designs in every action relating any way to Religion It will be needful to consider whether we indeed design it really intend to promote and practise it whereever we make a profession of it And then because that God alone knows the heart and because his Grace is most needful to discover our selves unto our selves in the midst of the many sins and passions that may infatuate and beguile us let us earnestly pray for his Holy Spirit to deliver us from all the infatuations and all the seductions of our lusts Let us make the Address which David did Psal 139.22 24. with whose words I shall conclude Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting The Eleventh Sermon John 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me The whole verse is thus Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me THESE words are a preface to a very large and kind discourse made by our Lord unto his followers wherein he delivers the main foundations of Christianity as well in matter of Faith as Practice which is the reason why he begins it with such words as might effectually stir them up to give both attention and belief to all that he should deliver in it Ye believe in God believe also in me In which words we have two parts 1. A concession or supposition Ye believe in God that is ye believe that there is a God and what is consequent hereupon that he is to be trusted and obeyed although some others read the words not as a Declaration Ye believe in God but as a Command Believe in God but there is no reason to depart from our own Translation in this matter 2. Here is a Precept also Believe in me that is to say believe that I am the Son of God sent by him into the world to reveal the Gospel of life eternal and therefore judge your selves obliged to believe whatsoever I reveal and obey whatsoever I command you Now being that belief in Christ in the sence I have now explained unto you is here required as an addition or further accession to the mere belief in God only as he may be known by the light of nature The Subject which the Words before us offer to our consideration is That the belief of Christian Doctrine as it is revealed to us in the Gospel over and above that knowledge of God which the light of Nature affords unto us is necessary to our eternal happiness In the prosecution of which Point 1. I must first consider That the firm belief of the Gospel of Christ is most expresly required by God and the denial of such belief forbidden under no less a penalty than the utter loss of life eternal Salvation is always promised to them who believe in him who hath revealed it and become his Followers and Disciples to other persons it is not promised As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.14 15. Nor is it only promised to those and those only that so believe but denied to them that believe not to them that refuse to yield their belief to him whom God hath sent and sanctified to be the Saviour of the World He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And so again omitting several other places of the same sense and signification in the first Epistle of St John chap. 5. ver 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son Thrice did God bear this Record and owne our Lord to be sent by him by an express voice from Heaven once at his Baptism in these words Matt. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased A second time at his transfiguration upon the mount with some addition to those words Matt. 15.5 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him And yet again a third time a little before our Saviours passion when praying to God in these words Father glorifie thy name he was answered by a voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again John 12.28 To all which clear and express testimonies given by the Father to his Son I might first add the glorious miracles wrought by Christ during his life then his resurrection from the dead and the effusion of his Spirit upon the Apostles sent by him and all the miracles wrought by them and all his other followers also which being evident demonstrations that he was the very son of God and sent by him to save the World highly aggravate the great sin of infidelity and unbelief and teach us to forbear to wonder that it should be punished with death eternal and that Christ himself should thus pronounce Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned 2. But then secondly lest you should think that God will have us believe the Gospel meerly because he will have it so and that he had no further end in the truth therein revealed unto us than that we should believe them only I further add that the belief of those truths is greatly necessary to several ends of infinite moment and importance 1. For the full and perfect knowledge of the duties which he requires from us 2. For the like knowledge of the great motions to those duties 3. For our better support under all our tryals fears and dangers 1. The belief of the great truths revealed unto us in the Gospel is necessary for the perfect knowledge of the duties which God requires from us and that upon several considerations namely 1. because that though the light of nature well improved may in some measure direct us to very many of them yet
give a right understanding in all things The Eighteenth Sermon 1 John 3.7 Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous FROM these words I have observed these two things 1. That men may imagine themselves to be righteous in the eyes of God to be in Grace and favour with him although they do not do righteousness but live in habitual disobedience to the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel 2. That this imagination is a very great and dangerous errour The former I have already finished and shall now speak unto the latter that is to say to the greatness and danger of the errour Where I consider That for God to judge unrighteous persons otherwise than in truth they are to accept their persons and pardon their sins while they abide and persist in them is contrary 1. To his own nature and 2. To the Gospel likewise 1. This is contrary to Gods nature that is to say both First To his wisdom and Secondly To his holiness First It is contrary to his wisdom So it is to judge of men otherwise than they are in themselves to esteem them righteous just and holy while they are unrighteous and impure It is the nature of true wisdom to judge all things according to truth this is its nature as it is found even in men much more as it is found in God He cannot erre or be deceived even in the deepest obscurest things nothing is hidden from his eye the night and the day light and darkness are alike unto it he tries the reins and searches the very hearts of men discerns whatsoever is in them and judges according to truth Now he that judges according to truth must judge of things just as they are and therefore seeing the judgment of God is always true hence it appears They who are unjust and wicked impure and unholy in themselves are so in the judgment of God likewise so in his esteem and account Secondly If it be said That although it be very true indeed that God cannot judge otherwise of men than according to what they are in themselves not judge the Sinner to be righteous the wicked to be pure and holy yet that he may love and accept the wicked as much as if he were just and holy the Answer is That this is contrary to God's holiness This doth as much thwart the purity contradict the holiness of his nature as the other contradicts his wisdom as is often declared in the holy Scriptures God is of purer eyes saith Habbakkuk than to behold that is to say to approve evil He cannot look upon iniquity Hab. 1.13 So far is he from approving evil or those that indulge themselves in it that their way is an abomination to him Prov. 15.9 From whence it follows That they who judge themselves or others to be in grace and favour with God to be holy just and righteous persons who are not fully and really so ascribe and impute that to God which is quite contrary to his nature If it be said That God is said to justifie the ungodly Rom. 4.5 The meaning is That he justifies those that have been so not those that continue so to be that he justifies and accepts the ungodly when they forsake and leave their sins not while they still continue in them And so we learn from the same Apostle who having given a large Catalogue of sins and Sinners concludes his Discourse with these words 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God First washed and sanctified by Gods Spirit and then justified and accepted 2. But then secondly as it is contrary to Gods nature to justifie and accept the wicked while they continue in their sins so is it likewise greatly contrary to the Gospel First Expresly to the plainest and and clearest parts of it And Secondly To the whole by evident consequence First It is most expresly contrary to the plainest and clearest parts of it to its most positive Declarations such as those words of St John are which I do now insist upon Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous He that is really and truly so he is so and he only in God's account Like unto these are those of St Paul Ephes 5.6 where having mentioned uncleanness covetousness and prophaneness he presently addes this admonition Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Whereunto we may add his expostulations 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Can there be plainer words than these or can there be any thing more contradictory to the Gospel than what contradicts the plainest words and expressions of it or a greater or more dangerous errour than what so contradicts the Gospel The Gospel declares that the unclean shall not inherit the Kingdom of God the Gospel pronounces the Drunkard likewise declares the covetous and extortioner while they continue in these sins to be uncapable of that Kingdom this it declares in as plain words as can be written or expressed and will these persons still presume of an interest in the favour of God and of a title to his Kingdom If they will it is their folly so to do it is a folly of that nature as doth not only expose them to the greatest danger but shut the door to all possibility of escape while they persist and continue in it Such is the presumption of God's favour of being reconciled unto him while a man continues in his sins Secondly And secondly as this is expresly contrary to the clearest passages in the Gospel so to the whole by evident consequence To its commands and exhortations to all the promises and threatnings of it and what is more to the very design of Christ's death the very thing which men abuse into an indulgence to their sins To promise our selves the favour of God and acceptance with him while we continue in our sins it is a presumption expresly contrary First To the Precepts of the Gospel These require and strictly charge us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 These require that we put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts that we be renewed in the spirit of our minds that we put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4.22 and following Verses In a word the Laws of Christ require us to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as our selves Now