heaven the Blessed of the Lord even amongst Indians and Armenians those that sate in darkness and the shadow of death unto them by this Apostle was preached the word of life and that life was the Light of God and last of all how he seal'd the Doctrine which he deliver'd with his Blood his skin flay'd off and so he was exposed like his Master a man of sorrows neither was he in his death unlike unto him being nailed to a cross he committed himself and his cause to God that judgeth righteously All this it may be piously received and entertained from a literal and oral Tradition but ignorantly enough God knows how true fides penes sit Authores let those who have a more easy faith believe whose main business it is to gain credit to such things of which they are not themselves overmuch perswaded Our Church therefore having little or no regard to all these has rather chose to celebrate this Apostle as one of the Twelve without any particular specifications concerning him save only that he was Brother and Companion with the rest in Tribulation and in the Kingdom and Patience of our Lord Jesus Christ Accordingly the Gospel for the Day St. Luk. 22.24 is our Saviours Determination of that perplexing Question which so much troubled the Disciples at first among themselves and has since been no small cause of Division in the Christian Church Which of them should be the Greatest not St. Bartholomew himself should we grant him right Noble by his Birth yet he must not pretend here to a Priority therefore in the Gospel the words run thus The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship and they that exercise authority are called Patrons and Benefactors But ye shall not be so not so untill that Kings be your Nursing fathers and Queens your Nursing Mothers in the mean while let no one vindicate to himself Power and Prerogative amongst you over the rest of his brethren But he that is greatest among you let him be as the Younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve And the Epistle for this Day part of which is the Text was the happy effect and result upon this Determination The Apostles agreeing together amongst themselves the Gospel of Jesus did run and was glorified their Unity was causal of respect from those who were without whilst they kept together with one accord even the place where they met was an an indication both of their piety and their prudence in or about the Temple in Solomons Porch and as an ancient Gloss upon the Text fuerunt simul sapientes in domo sapientis The wisdom of God was here justified by the children of Wisdom and that in no other place then in an House of Wisdom whilst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the rest whither they were Friends or enemies seeing and observing their Unity ecce ut seinvicem deligant they could not but keep their distance no man durst to joyn himself to them and yet notwithstanding this awe upon their spirits the Apostles wanted neither Praise nor Admiration But the People magnified them and upon the whole the word of God grew and was multiplied Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes both of men and women Well therefore has our Church in her Divine Service furnished us at this time with a Prayer for the continuance of that Vnity and Vniformity which beares its later date from this Festival to wit that it would please Almighty God to grant unto his Church to love that Word which this Apostle in the Communion of the rest believed that both those who Minister may preach and the people may receive the same in the fear of God in the love of those truths and of one another through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The words of the Text having thus given you an account of our Churches choice in the selection of them for the Epistle at this time which I could not well omit partly out of a respect to the Festival and chiefly out of a design to speak a word in season too much and sadly in season even all the year long because of these days of error schism and sedition in which we live are in themselves a Parenthesis and so an Historicall observation made in the midst of a continued Narration A Descant made of what effect the judgment of God had upon the sin of sacriledge in the verses before to wit what influence the punishment of this sin in the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira had upon the Church as also what was the effect of Gods Providence in the verses following how that God was with his Apostles to deliver them from the expectation of those who sought their lives he sent his Angel to open the prison door and out of prison they were sent to reign in the hearts of all that heard them and at length by the counsel of their enemies they were acquitted God over-ruling in those Determinations also so that this seems to be the Historical though Parenthetical observation of St. Luke writing the whole story That the Apostles and new convert Disciples being altogether with one accord in Solomons Porch of the rest durst no man joyn himself to them but the People magnified them and Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes of men and women Observe with me in the whole Parenthesis as the limits to what may be Discoused from it these four things 1. A Holy Convention They were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch 2. A Due Distance observed in that Convention Of the rest durst no man joyn himself to them 3. An awefull Reverence exhibited upon that Distance But the People magnified them 4. A Great Benefit redounding to the whole Community upon that Reverence or rather upon the whole present Dispensation Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes of men and women Of these in their order 1 A Holy Convention They were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch in which words we may observe 1. The Persons convening 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of them 2. The Place of their meeting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Solomon's Porch 3. Their Behaviour at their meeting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together with one accord These Three the Subject of the first Discourse 1. The Persons convening 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of them Whether with the Apostles the new Convert Disciples or the multitudes called together at the noise of the wonders that were wrought or it may be amongst so many some out of curiosity to pry and observe and others out of evil will to seek and occasion against them that so they might deliver up these Apostles to the Rulers Thus might these multitudes at this time have been divided The Apostles were there labouring in the Word and Doctrine the new Converts were there receiving as new born babes the sincere milk of the word that they might grow thereby those who were curious and inquisitive came
Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the rest Such as might have evil will against and an evill eye upon such Dispensations in Solomons Porch No man durst to joyn himself to them That which wrought thus upon the Adversary that he durst not stretch out his hand to smite was either the Judgment of God upon Ananias and Sapphira or else the Wonders that were wrought amongst the people 1 As for the judgment upon Ananias and Sapphira for their Sacrilegious with-holding part of the price of their Land Paena istius modi non parum valabat terrendis impiis ne temere prorumperent in eorum coelum ubi Deus tam severum vindicam se ostenderet Calv. in loc This sort of sudden and unexpected punishment was caution enough to those who were froward and disobedient that they should not venture to disturb those Solemnities in which God had manifested himself so severe in taking vengeance If for such a small thing might they think as Sacriledge onely for purloyning a little money God would evert so great a Displeasure of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy who commit a Sacriledge upon in offering to do violence unto the Persons of such who are exercised in the Solemn Administration of a strict and a most holy Religion 2 The Wonders and Signes which were wrought among the people these did work upon and steal away the hearts of all that saw them So that v. 26. the enemy durst not be too boistrous against them lest the People as one Man should rise up against them and stone them and at length from their own consultations they were forced to dismiss them in peace they begin to doubt amongst themselves whitherto this would grow They suspect their own jurisdiction lest it should be exercised without fear or wit and in the end ver 38. that they be found to be fighters against God v. 35 39. Ye men of Israel take heed to your selves it is you that are in the greatest danger what you intend to do as touching these men Refrain from them and let them alone for if this Work or this Counsell be of Men it will come to nought but if it be of God you cannot overthrough it and this Work and Counsel was not of men but of God and therefore the Enemy could by no means hinder it I might here observe to you the constant the special care and providence which God has for his Church how that the fury of man doth often turn to his Praise in the deliverance of his People he restraineth the remainders of wrath also he bringeth to naught the designes of the Heathen and maketh the devices of the Aliens to be of no Effect should they rage yea and that furiously yet they would imagine but a vain thing let them take counsel together with one accord yet he that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh them to scorn the Lord shall have them in derision Psal 2.6 I Know that Second Psalm is litterally spoken of our Saviours Person and yet it is also applyed by the Apostles to the propagation of his Gospel in the Chapter before the Text ver 27. This was at that time the Churches Prayer when they prayed with one heart and with one voice Of a Truth Lord against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and People of Israel were gathered together And now Lord behold their threatnings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy Word Surely the Sons of Thunder were amongst them whilst the Word of God went forth from them like Lightning the place was shaken where they were Assembled ver 35. With great power gave they witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus and the result of all was the wonderful effect in the Text that of those that were adversaries durst no one joyn himself unto them May I not apply the same Providence of Almighty God comfortably to our selves to this once afflicted and despised Church of ours if she be not yet despised and afflicted made a by-word and a reproach to her own Children no wounds like those which are given in the house of Friends However for our comfort Hell and Death have not yet prevailed Not Rome whose mouth was wide as Hell nor the more secret contrivances of Schisme which like the Grave never hath enough our God has been a God both of the Hills and of the Valleys and through the power of his Might over both we have been more than Conquerours Rome upon its seven Hills animated from an aspering conclave could not over-see us and the Consistory in a seeming self-denyal making it self low as the Valleys could not over-reach or Vnder-mine us neither the Infallible Chair nor the Stool of wickedness could awe us or controul us Nay though for a while we might seem to be forsaken yet God gave us beauty for our ashes he restored our Captivity and put upon us the Garment of joy instead of a Spirit of heaviness So that to the one Adversary which in our heaviness asked us Where is now your Church sing us one of the Songs of your Sion We can now return this answer That the Tears which we shed at the Rivers of Babylon have caused Jordan it self to over-flow its banks Persecuted we were but not utterly cast off our God has provided us still a Name in the earth and when the Succession of an Apostolical Ministry was almost cut off quite in the midst of us our extremity was Gods opportunity for mercy See we yet once more the fire of the Sanctuary hid in its own embers and almost extinct during the Captivity again brought forth restored to its wonted lustre the flame yet again bright upon the Altar so that our Miraculous Restauration is to them an abundant Demonstration that we were and still are continued a Church according to ancient and Primitive Constitutions truly Apostolical But as for that other Adversary the Viper in our own bosom who both contributed unto and then upbraided us with our afflictions who because of the troubles which they brought upon us thence made an argument to reproach our Holy Constitutions as if they were in themselves unlawful because of Gods Displeasure against those who did not live up closely and severely to them thus whilst they have been the Rod of Vengeance in the hand of God they have talked to the grief of such whom God has wounded And why will not these persons now be as exact interpreters of Gods Providence against themselves is not the Scene again shifted and are we not I am sure if we understood either Gods glory or our own happiness we should be where we were before and have we not this to say for our Church even according to their way of argumentation that God who restored it was not against it We are not at this day without a Priest or without an Ephod And yet still with
of God or no whether the fire that works in them and sparkles from them descend from Heaven and is a flame of Love or be fetched from Hell and is a world of iniquity both may be though in different respects to consume our Sacrifices by their works you shall know them see and observe therefore with our Apostle in this Text are they not more solicitous to make a prey upon your Persons then to manifest their own and so improve your graces thus they zealously affect you but not well are they not more desirous for a separation then to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace This is all out of love unto themselves that you might have their Persons in admiration and they get the advantage yea they would exclude you that is by a roaring Bull and a thundering Excommunication or they would exclude us by sequestration had they Power by cunning seduction withdrawing themselves though they are both invited and intreated to Communicate no Anathema is pronounced against them only they excommunicate themselves and they lead the simple and ignorant into Houses both Adversaries agree in this in that they would have the World to follow after them and thereout get no small profit to themselves they do thus exclude that the people might affect them And may not the Watch-men of Israel now stand upon their Guard and be as industrious in their business to know both what of the night and what of the day when there lye to such potent enemies at the catch seeking night and day whom they may devour whom they may snatch out of the fold and lead like Sheep unto the slaughter surely it is good for them alwayes to be zealously affected in so good a thing as is the converting of those who have erred from the Truth to restore the wandring sinners from the errour of their wayes and so to save the Souls that are committed to their charge from Death and to prevent in others a multitude of sins yea and to the People also this caution may not be unfitly given that they be stedfast to that Faith which is delivered to them that should their chief Apostle because of his care of the other Churches or of the Church in general have occasion to with-draw from them I meane such a one as an Apostle not those that are left behind to be Teachers in every City for unless they abide upon their charge the enemy will take advantage of their absence as well as of their sleeping to sow his Tares should he be away upon the discharge of his duty in another place such a One who has a Rod in his hand where-with to restrain them a certain power and jurisdiction over them nay not a Rod only but a Sword also when he can call in the saecular Arm to his assistance to execute wrath upon them when such an Apostle as this is absent the People must be careful that they follow the directions of their Spiritual Guides which are set over them as knowing that it is good for them likewise to be zealously affected in so good a thing as is holding fast to the Doctrine and Discipline of Faith and godliness which from the Church they have received keeping to a form of found and wholesome words which in the Church they have used and this their zeal and stedfastness they are to make manifest not only when such a one as St. Paul their chief Apostle is present with them and all because of the Churches enemies on every side as if the Apostle directed his Epistle to us who it seems are bewitched as sadly as were his Galatians from obeying the Truth delivered to us There are false Brethren and false Accusers such as zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you or us that you might affect them But it is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good thing and the rather because I am absent from you It is good to be zealously affected alwaies in a good thing These words were the first occasion of pitching my thoughts upon this Subject Observing the variety of heats that are in the World about Religion certainly some distinction difference must be admitted that whilst there be such strivings and contendings about the way of Godliness surely as all cannot be imagined to tread the un-erring Path so neither must we be so sottish as to imagine that every one is out of the way By considering these words as they do relate unto the Galatians in their Circumstances at the time of the writing of this Epistle we may I hope make a clew of thread to extricate our selves out of the like Labyrinths that notwithstanding the various pretensions that are made to Truth and Piety we be not as children tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine That then which was first in my thoughts I found upon a second search to be the summe of the whole Text and therefore was forced to take in both verses It is good to be zealously affected c. The words are brought in with a Conjunction exceptive or discretive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is good to be zealous and so they do refer as they are something discriminated or distinguished from the fore-going verse in which the Apostle gives the Galatians an account of what might be the temper of their Seducers supposed to be the impure Gnosticks who did so early disturb the peace of the Church by obtruding upon the Disciples Judaizing Observances though they themselves were not Circumcised neither did they alwayes walk as did the Jews but out of a pretence they were zealous for the way of their Fathers laying heavy burdens upon the People which they would not touch themselves no not with one of their fingers This was such an Hypocrysie that Chap. 11.14 St. Peter seemed more out of prudence than Piety to comply with it and St. Paul was so zealous that he withstood him to the face for he was to be blamed and Barnabas also being of too easie and facile a temper a Son of Consolation was not a little to his own grief carried away with this Dissimulation But whatever rules of prudence some who at that time were set over the affairs of the Church might walk by thinking thereby that they did consult the Publick Peace and so kept all quiet no Peace saith our stout Apostle St. Paul with the wicked for hence an occasion was given that the way of God was evil spoke of and those who keep themselves up close to the rules of their Duty could not avoid the unkind surmises and hard speeches of the People whilst in the mean time the cunning Adversary took this opportunity upon the hopes of an Accommodation to work out his own designes upon those who were of a more easie perswasion and therefore they were zealous and industrious to gain more and more to their party to get ground because of some concessions or rather
from Erasmus I learn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Tremellius renders it includere they would include they would comprehend both you and us and yet their zealous affection upon this account is not well And here zeal is reprehensible in those who care not much what a medly there is in Religious Observances so they and their party be included who are for meeting us half way in hopes to pull us after them a Generation who will never be contented with whatsoever Concessions are made them till they have again extirpated both root and branch Vt iis placeat quibus satis nihil est that they may be satisfied who will never have enough as the Orator These can be contented that there should be a halting betwixt God and Baal Baal-Berith that is in the signification of the Word a Seditious Covenant so long as they may be permitted a fire be it never so strange to consume their Sacrifice who are so indifferent in the Service of God that if they may be but Tolerated they care not how many Religions or wayes of worship there are besides These are such who tell us that their Moderation must be known unto all men but like the Devil they quote but half the Text it is not the Lord at hand For in God his Vnity is his Essence and as there is but One Lord so but One Faith One Church One Baptisme Speak they of an Accommodation what fellowship has light with darkness the Light of our Religion shining in the Candlestick of the Church by a glorious open and publick Profession of it With Darkness the hidden Mysteries of iniquity the cunning close contrivances of Schism and Sedition is there any Communion betwixt Christ and Belial that is as the words in their Etymology do import between Christ the Anointed of the Lord and Belial the Sons of violence and Disobedience It was an undeniable argument unto Solomon who had a most quick sagacious and discerning Spirit for the wisdom of God was in the Determination that the woman who was for Deviding the Child so that both might be sharers of it could not be the true Mother of it The Church of England like a pious and a holy Mother shews the truth of her affection whilst her bowels yern upon her Children in that she would by no means have them divided they prostitute both their Religion and Devotion neither have they the Bowels of a Mother who are so willing and sollicious that a Comprehensive Bill like a decisive Sword should sever their Profession in order to make an equal separation and so in any wayes to part stakes with those that are of another Perswasion True indeed difference in opinion should not breed difference in affection neither doth it in the Constitutions of our Church whilst we have a Brotherly Compassion for those that are seduced and do heartily pray that God would bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived But when Schism and Sedition once begin to pretend friendship with us and offers to shake hands without giving the Church any satisfaction for those sad Divisions which it hath already made so far from confessing or acknowledging what is past that it begins to plead its Merits that it has been so long quiet and has done no more mischief like that wicked Villain who when he had set a Temple on fire had the impudence to plead for himself that his Judges would be pleased to consider how many Temples he had left standing I say when once it comes to this that Faction must go hand in hand with nay demand the right hand of fellowship of Discipline Order and Vniformity farewel then the face of a Church in he midst of us and I pray God that be not the consequence upon such wicked Designs should our Candlestick be removed though our misery would be exceeding great yet our sin not so hainous as that now while it is fixed amongst us the Taper burning in it should be mangled and divided In the mean while let us not deceive our selves neither God nor his Church is to be mocked they who would divide the seamless coat of Christ are for a linsey-woolsey party-coloured Service amongst us what ever zeal they may pretend to Comprchension that they would take in all parties and make us so at Vnity amongst our selves certainly their Design is nothing but that approaching so near they might with the greater violence justle others down and so get up themselves and ride it is not so much a zeal for God and for his glory nor for the purity of the Reformed Religion as they would have us to believe but it is that they might ingross all respect and applause to themselves as if they only were left alone in the Kingdom who do sincerely serve the Lord they zealously affect but not well they would for a while include that so at an opportunity they might altogether exclude you or us that is separate you from us and us from you for in truth the whole Conspiracy is that you might affect them which is the Fourth and Last Observable wherein zeal is reprehensible and that again in relation to the zealots themselves when they would set the Church on fire to warm themselves by the flames of it by gaining Disciples not so much to their Cause as to their Party yea chiefly in this every private zealot may play a Game by himself alone distinct from the rest of his Company while they do many times supplant one another in gaining Proselytes to themselves being exceeding zealous that the People might affect them And this is the most remarkable Criterion as well as the truest impulsive cause of a bad zeal self-love and desire of applause together with an eager affectation of having many followers will transport a man that is Popular to many things that are not convenient and this is a Temptation to which the best of us all may be incident without a great measure of humility and self-denial But when this Spiritual Pride doth puff up a particular sort of men or in the same rank one man against another so that Simon Magus-like Act. 8.13 There should be here and there one and another whose business it must be to bewitch the people with their Sorceries whilst each one gives himself out to be the onely Power of God what is this but an overweaning Zeal that the people might affect and follow after them from the least of them to the greatest Nay as I have already hinted it is observable that seditious persons do many times supplant one another while some have a more winning that is whining way to out act the rest and are more crafty in stealing away the hearts of the unsettled and unstable multitude more out of a love to their persons than their own espoused Cause and this is chiefly then visible when the gap is made so wide by Division that the entrance is open though all hands were united
Musick of the Sanctuary and the Songs of Sion to lay it nay and as the fit may take him the Javelin may be cast at David himself because of his Musick though a watchful eye and a speedy flight may prevent the danger whilst the hole out of the Wall is indication sufficient of the madness of the thrower This is the unaccountable Phrenzy of some whose zeal for they know not what would knock a mans brains out only for a wen in his fore-head who drive furiously like Iehu not at all considering what they trample upon or Desolations they leave behind them and then when it is too late they bethink themselves and look backwards they tell us they never thought it would have come to this they confess that they have done a great deal more then ever they intended and at length after all this mischief they will now sit down and be quiet never thinking of asking God forgiveness or giveing the Church satisfaction for the Schisms they have made now they are in the other extream as indifferent as before they were violent luke-warm indeed the heat if any is spent the wrong way But on the contrary that zeal which is Good is with Reverence be it spoke like unto Jesus the Author of its Faith it is the same Yesterday to day and for ever the same yesterday when it was cherished and countenanced in prosperity and the same yesterday too when it was threatned and frowned upon in adversity the same to day being restored to honour and to favour and the same to day too should it be laid aside as useless or troublesome whilst Schism and Rebellion is to be cajoled if not rewarded the same for ever owning the Axiome to be true though the deduction somewhat hard and disingenuous that They who have already been approved in Affliction and Tribulation so manifesting their Piety to God their Allegiance to their Prince and their Devotion to the Church act by one and the same Principle still and this Principle will keep them honest must therefore the constant performance of their Duty be the only reward of their zeal and that zeal is yet again the same for ever ready to incounter all manner of difficulties as if it had never been disobliged such a zeal is good which is thus permanent it is like the fire upon the Altar a constant flame of love before it s kept alive whilst hid in the Embers of its own loyalty and fidelity under it breaks forth to its wonted brightness and lustre after Captivity though it consumes the Zealot yet it changes not and after all that has been said the word in the Text is emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Always one and the same and though sometime reflecting upon it self with comfort it may innocently and justly have an eye to the recompence of reward whether temporal or eternal yet it is not an eye service as before Men it is a holy zeal out of singleness of heart as pleasing God which is the Third and Last Reason of this Apostollical approbation taken from the occasion of expressing it not only when I your Apostle am present with you That zeal which is Good though its habit be as constant as is the Object of it universally good it is alway the same temper and frame of mind yet withal it is discreet as well as vehement it will then chiefly take occasion to shew it self when there is most need of it when the Spiritual Apostle or Pastor is out of the way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not only out of fear because of my Authority and jurisdiction when I am present but out of love to the thing it self should I be absent from you This is that which our chief Apostle as having the care over all the Churches the great Doctor of the Gentiles did give in charge in most of his Epistles to the several Churches which he had planted That they should be careful to manifest unto all the World that they had received the Truth of the Gospel in the love of it in that their stedfastness to the Faith be one and the same though he should not be locally present with them shaking the Rod of his jurisdiction over them thus were the Churches Centures to be managed at Corinth upon the incestuous person 1 Cor. 53. I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one to Satan and to the same Corinthians who took it for granted that the Apostle had a coercive power over them he gives them their option that according to their Behaviour during his absence so should his Presence with them be 1 Cor. 4.21 What will ye it is in your own power to make me welcome at my coming shall I come unto you with a Rod that is in the severity of Discipline over you or in the spirit of Meekness in the affability and courteousness of conversation with you and what was wanting in the Corinthians this same Apostle commends as praise worthy in his Colossians Chap. 11.5 Though I be absent in the flesh yet I am with you in the spirit joying and beholding your Order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ It was the same Caution which he gave to the Philippians Chap. 1.27 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 striving together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is contending with eagerness and zeal for the faith of the Gospel and to these Philippians also with this caution he gives them witness bearing Testimony for them that they had been constant thereby to incourage their future perseverance Chap. 2.12 Wherefore my beloved as ye have alwayes obeyed not in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling By all which it is evident that that zeal is to be suspected for Hypocrysie which is only suited to time place and person which is then exerted when such persons are present who either have a power over or an influence upon us but these being withdrawn immediately we grow as cold and as indifferent as ever the Ruler having turned his back the Servant presently alters the Copy of his Countenance It was an Heathens advice that we should imagine our selves in the presence of Socrates or some other rigid exemplar of vertue which may be a restraint upon us that we do not at any time transgress the Rule of our duty but that Philosopher came nearer the Dictates of Christianity who gave us this in Counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. Aur. Carm. That above all things we have a Reverence for our selves
our Apostles we are sent unto our Prayers Behold O Lord the threatnings of the Sons of Belial who are still against thee all the reflections they make upon these latter Providences is they repent that they have done no more mischief and all the sin they acknowledge in their blasphemous allusions is that they were false to their Covenant in that the Amalakites were not utterly destroyed let us betake our selves to better Devotions than these that God would abate their pride asswage their malice and confonnd their Devices but then as for their Persons He brings into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived Put them in fear O Lord that they may seek thy name Forgive our enemies persecutors and slanderers and turn their hearts Forgive them for they know not what they do Oh! That even this might not be laid to their charge how that they still have recourse to their old designes of Mischief though hitherto in the course of the Divine Providence they have proved so ineffectual May the God of Heaven yet laugh them to scorn and he confirm his King upon the hill of Sion Deliverance shall arise one way or other the God who is worshiped in will take care of the service of the Sanctuary he who hath and who doth we trust that he will still deliver us they that hate us shall see it and be ashamed because the Lord hath holpen us and comforted us But as for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are of the rest they have estranged themselves and gone out from us because they were not of us neither shall they dare God will restrain their fury they shall not presume to approach and hurt us which is the Second thing observed in this second part of the Text to wit what was the present frame and temper of their minds by whom this due distance was kept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No one durst That is there was an unaccountable surprise and dread upon their Spirits which as to the persons affected might be divers and various they did not dare some kind of awe there was which was a curb and a restraint upon them 1. In the Disciples it might be modesty and humility 2. In those from amidst the multitude a timorous misgiving 3. In the Adversary Terrour Amazement and Astonishment Thus one way or other the Gospel of Jesus was glorified it had diversly but surely its desired effect upon all this is that word which cannot return in vain but will accomplish the thing for which it is sent First In the Disciples who took heed how where and what they did here who frequented Solomons Porch that they might observe the out-goings of the Lord in his Sanctuary in them their Modesty was exercised and their Humility was increased with meekness they received the ingrafted word and yet jealous enough of themselves that they did not grow as they should thereby to them the immortal seed was sown in an honest and in a good heart and yet the Fruit which they did bear was with patience their heart was raised at the contemplation of God and of his holiness but at the same time broken in a sorrowful reflection upon themselves and their own unworthiness though they did believe yet almost with tears in their eyes this was the Prayer of their Faith Lord we believe help our unbeliefe in them an humble and a lowly expectancy as well as a fiducial recumbency had its perfect work they are ready to give up themselves and their substance to the service of God and of his Sanctuary and yet considering that God expects both heart and hand together piously they examine their own integrity throughout all they know that their good things do not extend to God therefore their delight is with such as are excellent in the Earth and when they have done all that they can they are far from vaunting a State of Perfection they acknowledge themselves to be unprofitable Servants and Miserable Sinners they make this their humble and hearty recognition saying We have done or rather Would we had done what was our duty to do Secondly In those from amidst the multitude it was a Timorous Misgiving their hearts failed them for fear of what might become of them in another world and yet they were loth to let go their interest in this upon what they heard and saw they made some heavy steps toward happiness but alass they looked back and they gave back the one returns to his honours and the other to his great Possessions Oh the deceitfulness of riches and of power how hard is it for those who trust in either to enter into the Kingdom of God with the Disciples upon the like occasion we may cry out Lord increase our Faith yes in the Text here is an argument to settle us in our Faith in that the wisdom of God was here justified in the hearts of the children of this World in the midst of all their wealth and their greatness the convictions that are within them are a damp upon their Spirits Thus St. Paul cannot reason of righteousness of temperance and of judgment to come but Felix must needs tremble and does Agrippa know the Scriptures does he believe the Prophets and will he not resign the obedience of his Faith to what he does know and cannot but believe however as stout and resolved a sinner as he is against God and his own Soul laught heartily and entirely to embrace this way least he lose something of his outward Pomp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest the retinue that is about him should withdraw and refuse any longer to be of his train yet to hear St. Paul Preach will he will he he cannot but confess to him and all the World however his misgiving thoughts perplex him and he will not be perswaded yet he is almost perswaded to be a Christian Virtutem videant how strangely is the self-condemning Worldling or Voluptuary infatuated only that he may perish the more dreadfuly under the clear apprehensions of his approaching and yet wilfully neglected happiness Alas poor silly wretch who against himself and his own resentments prefers this World to a better in a moment he and his thoughts perish and in the end he proves a fool 3. In the Adversary it was terrour amazement and Astonishment to observe the courage and boldness of these Apostles though they were ignorant and unlearned men the wonders which they wrought and the judgments which were inflicted they could not but be surprised and fall backwards like the Officers which came to apprehend our Saviour so is it here with the Disciples as it was formerly with their Master Never men surely spake or did like these men what do we do the finger of God is here in vain do we strive we shall not prevail like the Egyptian chariots in the Red Sea all our designs go on against them but heavily in vain do we strive against them and at the same
you What this Moderation is that so we be not mistaken about it in our selves Your or Our Moderation it is no Indifferent luke-warmness and here I have made a search into the signification of the Word into the Recommendation of the vertue as it doth consist with those other Apostolical Admonitions given to these Philippians throughout the whole Epistle and into the Example proposed to our imitatirn our Blessed Saviour being a pattern as of Meekness so of Integrity thus let our Moderation be known as was his not in a dispensation or relaxation from our Duty but in the personal circumstances and occurrencies of our Lives or Deaths the Lord is at hand and this brings me to the Second Thing proposed how and in what particular Circumstances this grace of Moderation is to be manifested unto others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be known Though the injunction is that it should be known unto all men yet it is not said at all times And here in the first place we are to be careful that in our Moderation there be no Affection lest it degenerate into flattery and hypocrisie it is indeed to be seen of men not that we but that God himself may have the Glory of it our Moderation is to be exerted just as our Almes are to be dispenced not with a Trumpet sounding before us that men may have our good nature in admiration but our left hand must not know what our right hand doth so shall our Heavenly Father who seeth in secret reward us openly To appear all things unto all men to gain the more is not a vertue for every one to be trusted with it seems fit only for an Apostle to practice who in his whole Ministration is more immediately assisted and directed by the Spirit of God and this practice of his too if we rightly consider it was only in such circumstances wherein the Doctrine of Christianity was like to suffer or be promoted according to the more or less wary Dispensation of it betwixt Mosaical Judaism and Philosophical Gentilism and therefore we find the same Apostle when he with-stood St. Peter to the face because of his Dissimulation thus to vindicate himself throughout his Ministry Gal. 2.18 That what ever mis-apprehensions some might have of him or mis-constructions they did put upon his Practices he did not in the least build again the things which he had destroyed and so make himself a Transgressor But now the Gospel is so far propagated that as soon as we are come into the World our Names are given up to Christ in Baptisme and with our first Milk we may suck in the Principles of Godliness being weaned from our Mothers Papps we are sent unto the Churches Breasts of consolation The Scriptures of God which are able to make us wise unto Salvation hence we may suck the sincere Milk of the Word and grow thereby and whatsoever variety of Perswasions there be now in Religion they do not proceed from our different estate before our receptation of it but from the different interests of Parties so and so affected under its Administration having espoused a quarrel they are too tenacious of it they are unwilling to to fore-go what they have eagerly maintained herein therefore is to be the great expression of our Moderation that we stand fast to the profession of our Faith and hold it peaceably in the Vnity of the Church keeping as the Apostle directs the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace that we have a tender regard to those that are gone aside of some we must have compassion making a just and an equal difference and others we must endeavour to save with fear pulling them out of the fire and yet all the while we must be careful that we keep a strict watch over our selves hating the Garment whech is but spotted with the Flesh St. Judes Epist v. 22.23 Thus must we make it our daily Prayer as the Church directs that God would bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived and for our selves that from all Sedition false Doctrine Herisie Schism and Râ—bellion our good and gracious Lord would deliver us Would we convert a sinner from the errour of his way it is not to be done by going astray with him and bearing him company and so endeavouring our own stedfastness for how do we know but that he may seduce us as well as we hope to regain him but it is a Pious endeavouring to restore such wandring Sinners as have wandred either from God their Father or the Church their Mother in a Spirit of Love and Charity there is no reason that to make sure of Moderation we should let go our own integrity that to shew our love to our Brother we should forget that Charity which we owe unto our selves that in keeping his we should loose our own Peace that in Love to any mens Persons we should court their Vices have their errors and their failings in admiration and so much the worse if it be because of advantage 2 Tim. 1.7 The same God who hath given unto his Servants a Spirit of Love hath given them likewise the Spirit of a sound and of a sober Mind Gal. 6.1 Do we see any that is overtaken with a fault herein consists our Christian Moderation that we consider our selves lest that we also be tempted and out of a Principle of good Nature we must not venture to run out after him but saies the Apostle You who are your selves Spiritual do you restore such a one in the spirit of Meekness in the Parallel to my Text Titus 3.2 In whatsoever station of life God has placed us we must labour to shew all Meekness unto all men 2 Mac. 9.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moderation is a kind of holy Philanthropie by which abstracting some particular respects not so acceptable unto our selves we can prosecute all with whom we have occasion to converse with love as Knowing them to be of the same Make with our selves that they and we are all of us in the Body and yet for all this every one of us must faithfully abide in that Calling wherein he is Called in the Lord watching thereunto with all Diligence and Perseverance After all that has been said though all men have a right to our Moderation the Holy and the Good that they may rejoyce with us the froward and the perverse that they may be won by us our friends that they may go hand in hand with us our enemies that they may be reconciled unto us those who are our Superiours to whom we have submitted our selves in the fear of God our equals with whom we do converse in the love of Christ and our inferiours to whom an example of meekness and sobriety alluring them to the wayes of holiness by our affable and acourteous Behaviour in the strictness of a well-ordered Conversation yet I say though this Grace is so universally so impartially to be