somewhat more Spiritual than what these amount to But to leave this and come to an Application This Text in both parts may be accommodated to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper These words Let us draw near may be without stretching applied to our coming to this Ordinance for this is one way of drawing near to God and the most solemn we can make in this Life and an earnest of that intimate admission into his glorious presence hereafter and hereby also is set forth that which procur'd us this gracious Privilege viz. The Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ. Wherefore those who desire to draw near to God and would have the comfort of his Favour and the hopes of everlasting Glory should embrace readily and chearfully the occasion of the Sacrament And to speak freely to you I know nothing can keep People from this Sacrament and make them slight it but the want of a true desire after God and the little concern they have for their Eternal Salvation I pray God forgive those who have made some believe it a mark of Religion or greater Sanctity to withdraw themselves from our Communion I intreat you be not easily deceived believe not every Spirit but examine well what you hear whether it be agreeable to Truth None that knows the Truth or loves the Purity of the Gospel can join in Communion with the Church of Rome But I appeal to all your Consciences if there be any Doctrine taught in this Church or any thing practised in our Worship disagreeable to the Word of God And if there be not why should Persons withdraw from our Communion And what can excuse such withdrawing These Tables are indeed too seldom covered but when they are covered let them be filled with Guests and if they be not what a shame is it Let not this poor Church be miserably torn with needless and unwarrantable separations whereby we become both a prey and a laughing-stock to our Enemies How comely a thing is it saith the Psalmist for brethren to dwell together in unity and it is as profitable as comely Are the Times bad We should meet to pray God to make them better Is this a wicked generation That should not make us forsake the assembling our selves together but we should the rather do it to provoke one another to love and good works Let not any pretend a liberty of doing what they please or say they are not accountable to us whether they go or come Consider I pray you that you are all accountable to God as also as Christians and Members of his Church you are all accountable to his Ministers especially to his Supream Ministers under Christ the Bishops to whom you are subject as to your Spiritual Superiours and ought to obey them This is his Command and therefore you are obliged to do what he Commands and not what is right in your own Eyes or in the Eyes of others let therefore his Laws be punctually observed and his Ordinances waited on And let none take to themselves a Dispensation from any of these lest they incurr his displeasure which of all things is most to be feared But though I wish all would come to this Sacrament yet I would not have any to come unworthily and without due Preparation for St. Paul has told us the sad danger of that Now what is required to render one worthy you may learn from the Text he hath the wedding garment who hath the qualifications in the Text. Let me therefore beseech you all to retire Home to lay aside the thoughts of other Business and in all seriousness to examine how it stands between God and you see whether you be already adorn'd with these Qualifications here spoken of if you have them rejoice and bless God and come up to Morrow to the House of God and to this Sacrament that they may be confirmed and perfected in you If as yet ye are Strangers to these Qualifications do not resolve to withdraw for that is to continue in your sin and so without God but be ye rather more earnest this Night in acquiring them In so short a time 't is true you cannot bring them to Perfection but you may have them in Sincerity which for the present will be admitted O! rouze up your Faith and let it operate in your Minds besprinkle your selves with the Tears of true Contrition and cleanse your selves with stedfast Purposes of departing from all Iniquity and of keeping ever hereafter the Commandments of God and if you do so you shall go back justified in God's Sight Amen SERMON XII On HOSEA X. 12. Sow to your selves in righteousness reap in mercy break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you THESE words contain a sound and wholsome Advice to a miserable People lying under the weight of God's Anger and threatned with many sad and grievous Judgments The People were Israel the Children of the Ten Tribes with whom God had a Controversie because there was no Truth nor Mercy nor Knowledge of God in the Land They had cast off the Service of the true God and corrupted themselves with the Idolatry Superstition and other Abominations of the Heathen Nations among whom they dwelt For which God's Wrath was kindled against them and this Prophet was sent forth to intimate the Divine Displeasure and how severely it would fall on them But the Divine Threatnings are for the most part like Ionathan's Arrows shot for Warning rather than Destruction In the midst of Wrath he remembers Mercy and when he denounceth War he intends to spare and therefore denounceth it that Men may be awakened to their Duty and so prevent if not the Temporal Evils which they deserve yet their Eternal Ruin which is worst of all Wherefore it is that the Prophet so often intermixeth his Threatnings with Exhortations to Repentance Obedience and seeking the Lord as here in our Text. This Advice has no particularity in it to restrain it to those to whom it was here given but it may very well suit with any other People who are desirous of God's Favour and have reason to fear his Displeasure Nay here is laid down the general and indispensable Conditions on which any People may expect Peace and Reconciliation with God and the sure means of obtaining good things from him and so they are proper to be considered by you at this time Hosea speaks here in Metaphorical terms borrowed from Husbandry which as it is the most ancient Employment of Mankind So according to Cicero it is of all others most becoming and worthy of a Gentleman and hath employed the Pens of the greatest among the Romans and there is a great deal both of Grace and Force in the terms of it to carry the things recommended by the familiar use of them home to the Minds of Men and render them more effectual Upon which account nothing is more
their Hearts were swelled up with Grief their Souls were inwardly pierced with excessive Sorrow which abundantly appeared by all the ways by which People use to express their sorrowful Thoughts and sad Apprehensions smiting their Breasts and rending their Garments which the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth howling and mourning with the Voice which is the signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now it will be worth the while and very proper for the Day to consider what it was that moved them to all this Indeed the Hearts of Women by Nature are soft and tender and their Passions are sooner and more easily moved than those of Men but if we view the Object of their Grief we will not think it strange that these Women did thus bewail and lament it will be much more strange if we can restrain our Passions and refrain from weeping at the account of it and yet all know that the sight of a thing toucheth more sensibly than the hearing of it doth These Women had seen all which our Lord had hitherto suffered at the hands of wicked and sinful Men and had lively Apprehensions of what he was yet to suffer for the Death he was going to was known and ordinary but known only to be a vile shameful and most painful Death as upon other accounts so upon this that it was not a speedy but a lingering Death If they themselves were not Witnesses yet they well enough understood how he was seiz'd in the Garden as a Thief when he was most serious in Devotion and Prayer and dragged from thence to the High-Priest's Palace which ought to have been a Refuge to Innocence and a Safeguard against Indiscretions and an Unmerciful Threatment But alas even there they saw him unjustly used and most indiscreetly Handled falsely Accused illegally convicted of Blasphemy and other Crimes and all the rules of Discretion Civility and Good Manners broken in treating him He was Spit upon and Buffetted Blindfolded and smitten on the Cheek with a Prophesie who it was that smote thee By the break of Day he was hurried away to Pilate from him to Herod and back again to Pilate every one making their Sport of him After some Mock-Formalities of Law and Justice these Women saw him delivered to the Roman Soldiers a sort of Men who took Pleasure in Blood and Cruelty and then they beheld him dressed like a Fool with a Crown of Thorns a Purple Robe and a Reed instead of a Scepter because he was said to be the King of the Iews They saw him strip'd of these Ornaments of mocked Majesty and unmercifully Whipt and Scourged by the same Soldiers with Cords till Furrows were made in his Back and the Blood ran down his innocent Body And when all this would not satisfie the Malice of his Enemies they saw him given in exchange for a Villain and Notorious Robber and against all Law and Reason meerly upon the importunity of an unreasonable Multitude condemned to a Violent and Cruel Death and contrary to all Equity denied any respite or breathing time but instantly forced away to the place of Execution and made to bear that Cross on which he was to hang and pine away his Life in Pain and Torment Represent all this to your selves and consider if it be not sad and doleful who would not shed Tears at such a Sight May not this force Tears either from Man or Woman Suppose Jesus had been as bad and criminal as his Enemies would have made him yet such cruel and unmerciful Usage called for Compassion Quod non homini detur humanitati Even when it is necessary to satisfie the Law and to execute Justice Pity should be shewn to the Offender But if Pity and Compassion be due to Calamity and Misery even when there is guilt to deserve it what should be shewn when there is no Guilt at all If it should touch our hearts to see any of our Fellow-Creatures suffer though it be no more than the just Punishment of their Sins how should we be affected How should our Passions be stirred when unspotted Innocence and Vertue suffer These good Women knew that Jesus had no Crime they saw his very Enemies could not fix any upon him and that they were baffled when they undertook to prove any against him Nay he was not only innocent but also perfectly righteous he not only was guilty of no Ill but also he was one who went up and down doing good and had done many great and good and wonderful Works The Malice of his Enemies was not occasioned by any Fault of his but only by the Truth and Purity and Powerfulness of his Doctrine and by the Holiness and Integrity of his Life both which reproved their Errors their false Teaching their Hypocrisie and their Covetousness Add to all this his Quality which was the greatest in the World For tho' these Women were not yet instructed fully about his eternal Generation nor yet perhaps believed him to be the true Son of God equal with the Father as the Catholick Church doth teach and hath always taught and which must be believed if the Scriptures be true and genuine yet they believed him a Prophet and knew him to be a good Man mighty in Word and Deed they were perswaded that he was the Messiah and trusted that it was he who should have redeemed Israel Judge I pray you then what cause of Grief was here The greatest Dignity trampled upon and affronted The greatest Innocence condemned The greatest Righteousness punished The greatest Meekness reviled The greatest Charity and Beneficence persecuted The Man who preached the Word of God with Authority who shewed them the true way to Life who comforted them in their Affliction who cured their Diseases who restored their Children and Friends to Life who fed them with Miracles and from whom they expected the Salvation promised by all the Prophets to see this Man mocked scourged and put to Death before their Eyes Lord what matter of Grief was this What Occasion for Weeping Mourning and great Lamentation But though all this was more than sufficient to afflict and grieve the minds of these Women yet there was something more than all this which Jesus suffered which they knew not he suffered in his Soul and Spirit by the immediate Hand of God which none was sensible of save himself Inward Trouble and Disturbance of the Soul is much more sad and weighty than Pains and Torments in the Body The spirit of a man may sustain his Infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear Jesus was at this time drinking the Cup of his Father's Wrath and Displeasure against Sin and the Sin not of one or two but of all Mankind What it was that he suffered in his Soul on this Account we do not know but that he did suffer in that part is certain and that he suffered heavily appears from his sweating Blood in the Garden in a cold Night from his praying three
the right hand of God Finally let us be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord for our labour is not in vain Now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Iesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON VII ON EASTER-DAY 1 JOHN V. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life THE Yoke of Christ is so far from being heavy and troublesome that on the contrary it is very Light and Easie His Commands are so far from being Grievous that they are very Profitable and in keeping of them there is great Reward It is no less our Interest than our Duty to become Christians and we cannot shew our selves more Wise more Careful of our own Welfare than when we give our selves up to be the Disciples of Jesus Christ and to follow him whithersoever he leads us For by doing so we secure to our selves all desireable Happiness What is more desireable than Life Now He that hath the Son hath Life but he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life The Meditation of these words can never be Unseasonable it may always be Useful and Profitable but it is especially very proper and pertinent for the Day and Work which we are now setting about I pray God we may so clearly understand these words and so seriously consider them that we may not from any constraint or formality only but chearfully and heartily join our selves to the Lord Jesus Christ and resolve to maintain not only an External Communion with him in his Sacraments and Ordinances but an Internal one also by Faith Love and Obedience that by so doing we may obtain that Life and all the Blessed Fruits and Benefits of it which is in and through him Now That we may Treat of this Text the more profitably we shall first Explain the Phrases here used of having the Son and of Life and then shall shew how True it is That he who hath the one hath the other also As to the First By the Son of God we are to understand here the Lord Jesus Christ the History of whose miraculous Conception and Birth and Death and Resurrection and Ascension we have fully Recorded and plainly set down in the Four Gospels that this is the Person which St. Iohn designs and points at here is so Evident that it needs not to be proved who Reads the Epistle or but takes notice of the 1 5 and 20 Verses of this Chapter will find it past all doubt In this Epistle Jesus Christ is not only frequently stiled the Son of God but the Necessity of believing it is also clearly held out by the Apostle thus Chap. ii 23. Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also And a little before our Text He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the Record which God gave of his Son And This St. Iohn insists the more upon because even in his time there were some Cerinthus and Ebion by name who began to spread Damnable Heresies denying the Divinity of Jesus Christ and giving him out to be only a meer Man In Refutation of whom it is said also that he wrote his Gospel at the desire of the Asian Bishops And in it indeed he sets himself more than any other of the Evangelists to advance this great Truth That Jesus is the Son of God not by Adoption or upon the account of his Sanctity and Divine Mission which hath given the Title to other Men but after a peculiar and ineffable manner so that None other is or can be the Son of God as he is for he doth evidently hold him out to be the only begotten Son of God and declares his Eternal Generation and Godhead by clear and Undoubted Testimonies St. Iohn doth not only with the other Evangelists Record such Actions and Speeches of Jesus Christ from which his Deity may be inferred and deduced they speaking out both an Omnipotency and Omniscience But he expresly calls him God and brings in our Lord frequently asserting his Oneness and Equality with the Father in plain and clear terms and both suffering some and calling upon others to pay him equal Homage and Worship with the Father which he would never have done but would have guarded against if he had not been the Son of God in that sence which the Catholick Church hath believed it for then it would have been Idolatry and a downright robbing of God Jesus could not be Ignorant whether he was the Son of God or no neither can we suppose him to swerve from the Truth or to go about to perswade Men to believe in the least what was not True for if he had not been Truth God would not have born Witness to him by so many Prophecies before he came to the World by so many Audible Voices and Wonders when he was in it by raising him from the Dead and finally by confirming the Preaching of the Gospel both with Signs and Wonders and with diverse Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost If we receive the witness of Men the witness of God is greater and this is the witness of God which he hath testified That Iesus Christ is his Son And who will not believe and receive the Testimony which God hath given to his Son maketh him a Liar He who refuseth this opposeth himself to the Truth of God and so reproacheth and dishonoureth him who hath so positively and so many ways testified of him And Therefore it is said by this Apostle as we cited before Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father And in the following Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God And as the Denying of Jesus Christ to be the Son of God is a Reproaching the Truth of God so also it is a Despising of his Wisdom and an Endeavouring to baffle and Undervalue all the admirable contrivances thereof and all the Wise and Wonderful Dispensations of his Providence and the Eternal Purposes of his Counsel For as all things are of Christ and through him so all things were designed with a respect to him The Creating of the World the permitting of Man to fall the Miraculous Constitution of the Iewish Nation and the no less wonderful Preservation thereof for so many Years the Shame Ignominy and Banishment which that People suffer now the Calling of the Gentiles all God's Dealings with Men and Angels and in a word all that hath hitherto fallen out and all that is to be any time hereafter and the End
Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure The absolute necessity of Holiness will I suppose be acknowledged by all but I fear many mistake what it is and wherein it consists Some think that it lies in varnishing a little the outside the putting on a form of Godliness like the Pharisees whom our Saviour resembled to whited Sepulchers which covered rottenness and filth Some think they are holy enough if their Opinions be sound and that they are in Communion with an Orthodox Party and a Zeal to promote that Party which they think so is all the Sanctity which others aim at I heard of one who said of a certain Person That she was a Saint indeed because she had the Vocabula Artis What he meant thereby I do not well know except it was That she spake the Dialect and used the Phrases peculiar to some People Indeed he that is Holy will take heed to his words but I know no kind of Language sufficient to sanctifie one and if there were then there needed not great violence in taking the Kingdom of Heaven But not to pursue these manifold sad Mistakes of Men true Holiness regardeth God our neighbours and our selves As it regards God it consists in loving him sincerely above all things being ready to part with any thing rather than offend him In being zealously concerned for his Glory and Interest according to Knowledge and Equity For evil must not be done that good may come who doth so saith St. Paul their damnation is just to drive on things per fas nefas is so far from honouring God that it occasions him to be Blasphemed Finally he truly loves God and is holy towards him who makes Conscience of keeping his Commandments O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Psal. cxix 5 6. But Secondly He that is holy towards God will be holy also in all manner of Conversation towards Men these two God hath joined together by his Word and Men must not put them asunder Now Holiness towards Men is to honour all men and to love the brotherhood to deal with others as we would be dealt with to be unjust to none but to render all their due according to their several Places and Relations And if I have not quite mistaken the Moral of the Christian Religion it takes in Subjection and Obedience to our Superiours and lawful Governours in things lawful Moreover Holiness towards our Neighbour comprehends Mercy and Charity We ought to have Compassion upon him to relieve his Wants according to our Ability to forgive his Faults and to cover his Infirmities as much as possible A holy Man will not be hard-hearted and severe towards his Neighbour in his Transactions with him nor will he Treat him with the utmost Rigour especially when it cannot be done without his ruin And St. Iames tells us He shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy James ii 13. Lastly To compleat our Holiness we must look well to our selves and carefully preserve our selves unspotted from this World we must walk honestly as in the day not in chambering and wantonness not in gluttony and drunkenness not in strife and envy nor making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Frequent or habitual Excess and Rioting Whoredom and Uncleanness Lascivious Looks and Speeches not only spoil the Beauty of Holiness but quite deface it As to our selves Holiness is Chastity and Purity Modesty and Humility Temperance and Sobriety the taking care to suppress the Corruption of our Nature and to improve our selves in the exercise of every Grace Thus I have given you a true Scheme of that Holiness to which Eternal Life is promised And having such a Promise let us therefore Cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. vii 1. By these things we must study to qualifie our selves for that other better life otherwise we do in vain expect it Whether it be fit and proper to imploy Wicked and Unhallowed hands in rearing up the Temple of God in this World I shall not now determine but sure I am such shall never inherit the Kingdom of God in the other Let Men be never so active and zealous for Christ's Kingdom upon Earth tho' they Prophesie in his Name and in his Name cast out Devils and do many wondrous Works yet if they be workers of Iniquity he will say unto them Depart from me I never knew you As the certainty of an after happy state is clearly demonstrated in Scripture so there is nothing more plain and evident than that holiness thorough Iesus Christ is the only way that leads to it What a strange thing then is it and how unaccountable that those who profess a Desire and Hope of this Life do not walk in this Way thereto We have at present a great deal of talk about Religion but there was never less of the Practice thereof There was never more Profession nor was there ever so little of the fruit of Godliness to be seen Religion and Truth are in every Bodies Mouth but very few endeavour a conformity to them Some are altogether careless of Holiness as if they knew some By-path or nearer or easier Way to Heaven Others as if they had no hope but in this Life are only concerned for a present Temporal Interest as if Christ's Kingdom were only in this World they only lay themselves out for advancing and establishing the external Policy of the Church And this too Quovis modo by any means whatsoever they will do ill that good may come and do think that the end will hallow the means tho' never so unlawful But my Friends be not deceived suffer not your selves to be cheated and deluded out of the hope of Heaven and Eternal Life And that you may not fall short hereof and lose this comfortable Expectation let me intreat you to talk less and do more be less anxious about the outward Forms of Godliness and be more careful to shew the power thereof in your Life and Actions trust God a little more with the Care of his Church and Truth and be somewhat more concerned to set up the Kingdom of Christ within you without which you shall both forfeit your part in that glorious Kingdom above and also the honour and privilege of his Kingdom here on Earth Therefore say I unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof This Judgment we have deserved and we have great cause to fear it Nothing will prevent it but our timely and unfeigned Repentance a serious turning to the Lord and bringing forth the fruits of Holiness and Righteousness If we do this God will yet have mercy upon our Nation settle the State preserve the Church and render her illustrious in
Gospel But of a Truth Christ requires not of his Church and People what is not in their Power God only can pull down the Temples consecrated to Idols and the Idols set up in Mens Hearts and purge the World of its Corruptions and suppress the Hatred and Boldness of the Enemies of the Truth and bind up their hands that they persecute not those who make Profession thereof But it is our own selves and not others we are commanded to conquer The Victory of our Text is within us and not without The faithful overcome when they keep themselves from being overcome with their Enemies Their Glory is not to give way to any Temptation whatsoever In War he who is attacked is overcome if he yield but he who attacks is overcome if he succeed not To be thrust from an Enterprize to be forced back from an Assault is to be conquered by the Adversary And on the contrary not to suffer a Repulse is to carry a glorious Victory Even so as it is the Devil and the World who attack us by endeavouring to draw us to the Service of false Gods by alluring us with the Bait of filthy Pleasures and by frighting us with the Horrour of Trouble and Persecution so if we resist stedfastly all these Temptations and maintain a sound Faith a pure Worship a holy Life and Patience until the end we have overcome and our Enemy seeing all his Attempts upon us thus in vain will be constrained to retire with shame Wherefore St. Paul said He had fought the good fight because he had kept the faith 2 Tim. 4. 7. Thus you see what Enemies we are to fight with viz. The Devil the World and the Flesh the Temptations to Sin and Error and all the hindrances of Vertue and Holiness And that he obtaineth a Victory over them that keep the Faith and a good Conscience maugre all these Oppositions He overcometh who notwithstanding the Devil's Activity and that he lives in a crooked and untowardly Generation where Sin doth abound where Vice is more fashionable than Vertue where Error and false Tenets prevail and the Truth is born down and perhaps persecuted I say he overcometh who notwithstanding of this adheres to the Truth neither swerves from the Belief nor Profession thereof but continues constant to both he overcometh who carefully keeps himself unspotted from the World and who walketh uprightly in the ways of God sincerely obeying whatsoever is his Will and Pleasure Finally he overcometh who waits chearfully upon God and preserves a firm Patience of Mind notwithstanding his own Trouble or the Afflictions of other godly Persons and the Success and Prosperity of the wicked And as this is to overcome in the sense of our Text so he who thus overcometh gains a noble and a most glorious Victory All other Victories are nothing so desireable as this nor doth any Victory over any Enemy whatsoever speak out such Wisdom and Valour as this doth It is more glorious to overcome the Devil than to subdue Men or Beasts and it requires greater Art and Valour to oppose his Assaults and to render his devices ineffectual than to resist the Armies of Men or to defeat the boldest and most cunning Stratagem of War There is really more Wisdom and Courage shown in mortifying Lust the bridling a Passion and the resisting the Temptations to Sin and Error wherewith the World abounds than in defending or taking a City the scaling of Walls the venturing thorow the Enemies Forces combating wild Beasts or in any of those Acts whereby Men ordinarily gain Renown For who have been strong and able enough for the last have been too weak for the first The Alexanders Coesars Antonys and other famed Heroes have often been led captive by silly Women they wanted Courage to resist the Charms of Beauty or to encounter with Affronts Disgrace or other Disasters The Saints and Martyrs are more illustrious for their Patience Constancy Contempt of the World and severe Vertue than all the renowned Warriours for their Victories and Conquests He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit than he that ruleth a city saith Solomon Those Heroick Acts so much spoken of in History are perhaps as much to be ascribed to a hardy Temper of Body as to true Magnanimity of Spirit and Mens Success proceeds more from what we call Fortune or good Luck or to speak more agreeably to the Principles of Christianity to some favourable Juncture and Concurrence of Providence than to their own Valour and Prudence But this spiritual Victory can never be carried on without the Knowledge of the Truth and Acquaintance with true Wisdom and a settled undaunted Resolution Wherefore this Victory is certainly most preferable it is most to be gloried in and there is more Praise and Honour due to it and also it is attended with a greater Reward which leads us to the Consideration of what remains in the Text I will give to eat of the hidden Manna This is an Allusion to that usual Custom of feasting Conquerours and successful Warriours As they who gain Earthly Victories use to be treated sumptuously So the Lord Jesus gives us here to understand that he will make an honourable Entertainment to such as obtain the spiritual Victory formerly mentioned he will feast him that overcometh with great excellent and desireable Delights What is to be set before them is here named Manna with a Reference to what the Children of Israel fed upon in the Wilderness By giving it the Name of Manna either the excellent Nature and Quality of this Entertainment here promised is set forth or the Entertainment it self is particularly pointed at First hereby is set forth the excellent Nature and Quality of this Fare and Entertainment as it is Heavenly For as Manna was not produced out of the Ground like other Grain but came down immediately from Heaven so what Satisfaction is designed for our Souls is not grounded upon Earthly Possessions it ariseth not from these outward and sensible things but flows merely from God and is the Result of an immediate Fellowship with him Which farther makes out the Solidity and Purity of this Joy and Delight For earthly Pleasures are built on things vain brittle and which daily fade wherefore they are not true solid Pleasures they are rather but shadows of Pleasure but the Joy and Pleasure of the Text coming directly from God himself it therefore must be most firm and solid And as for Earthly Delights and Entertainments they are not pure they have all some Allay in them some Mixture of what doth disgust and displease as every ones Experience witnesseth But no such thing is to be found in that Entertainment which is from Heaven because all things there are pure and perfect Again as Manna was not only good for Food but pleasant to the Taste the Scripture saith it tasted like honey and the Jews have a Tradition
say we will not consider this as any true Motive to the receiving of Christ Because it is neither sufficient nor reasonable and he who embraceth Christ upon no other grounds than this his Religion is little to be valued or regarded Neither is it matter of wonder that such an one yield to the prevailing Tentations of Sin and refuse compliance with the Precepts of a strict and holy Living especially when he perceives them fallen into desuetude and that Vice and Ungodliness are more commonly practised for he that in these things hath no other Reason or Motive than the Custom and Fashion of the place he lives in will no doubt be still carried away with the Tide But what a shameful and unworthy a thing is it to be guided and directed in Matters of so great moment only by the Practice of others and the Custom of the place we live in The Apostle St. Peter commands us to be always ready to give an answer to every man who asketh a reason of the hope that is in us And truly it is a very slender and poor one when we have no other but that we were so Educated and that this Faith and Religion were professed and in fashion where we were Born and Bred. Indeed it is no small Happiness to be Born within the Church and under the light of the Gospel and among those who may educate us in the Christian Faith because hereby we have an early occasion of acquainting our selves with those great and important things which concern our Eternal Salvation And therefore we have always good reason to bless God for these excellent Advantages of our Birth and Education without which it 's like we should have never come to the true Knowledge of Christ. But yet this doth not excuse us from a reasonable Enquiry and Search into the Truth and Grounds of the Christian Faith when we come to Age and the Years of Discretion we should be ashamed to pin our Faith upon our Grand-mother's Sleeve we ought to fix it on a better bottom than mere Education we should search into the Grounds and Reasons why we should rather be of the Christian Religion than of any other and should labour to understand what Obligations are upon us to chuse Christ and none other to be our Lord and Master For unless we do this we do not act like Men our Faith is neither reasonable nor divine but unworthy both of Men and Christians and which will never endure the Shock of any Temptation That which should chiefly perswade us to profess Christ and to become his Disciples is the Consideration of his being sent from God and a serious Reflection on those undoubted Truths and irrefragable Testimonies we have received thereof Jesus Christ was foretold by the Prophets and when he was in the World God bare Witness unto him by the Appearance of Angels and several Voices from Heaven and divers other astonishing Signs he wrought many Miracles and did many things not only beyond humane reach but beyond the reach of Nature it self and he gave others Power to do the like his Death was accompanied with many amazing Wonders especially that of his Resurrection so that the World was astonished at it For Death had no Power over him for he rose from the dead and appeared unto many and last of all was seen to ascend up into Heaven When he was gone what he foretold his Disciples came to pass and as they preached the Gospel which he had taught them so God gave Testimony unto them by Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost which followed them So that the whole World was constrained to receive and believe their Doctrine We have as great Evidence and Certainty for these things as is possible to be had and is sufficient to reason any Man into the Belief of them And by these things it doth appear that Christ is no Impostour nor the Gospel a cunningly devised Fable but a certain Divine Truth which teacheth us that God hath highly exalted Jesus Christ and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father If we believe in Christ if we own him to be our Lord it should be for these Reasons and upon these grounds otherwise our Faith is not valid This is the first and true Inducement to the receiving Christ and if we embrace him and make him our Lord for this reason because he is sent of God and hath received all Power in Heaven and in Earth then we cannot but conceive an indispensible Necessity of yielding all Obedience and Service For God hath not made him a titular Lord he hath not given Him a Name of Dominion and Power only but he hath constituted him such a Lord as must be served and obeyed and the Power and Dominion which he hath received is not nominal but real actual and effective And consequently the Subjection which is required to be given him must be something else than Words and Complements it must be more than a barren and empty Profession it must be real Deeds faithful Services and an impartial and universal Obedience to his Laws and Commands or else whatever we profess or say he will never own or acknowledge us to be his true Subjects and Servants A son honoureth his father and a servant his master if I then be a father where is my honour And if I be a master where is my fear saith the Lord by the Prophet Malachy If we do really acknowledge another to be Lord and Master we must also acknowledge our selves to be his Servants And Servants owe Obedience therefore we reproach our selves so often as we call Christ our Lord and yet refuse to obey him Our Ingenuity in calling him Lord can never appear so long as we do not heartily and readily obey him For as God speaketh in the fore-cited place Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Try I pray you and see if any Man will be put off as thou thinkest to put off Christ when thou hast no mind to obey him Will any Prince look upon those as good Subjects who pay him no Homage and refuse him the Acts and Testimonies of their Allegiance Will any Master count him his Servant who never minds his Will but doth his own And how unreasonable then art thou not to serve and obey him whom thou callest and believest to be thy Sovereign Lord and Master If we be perswaded that it is necessary to receive him whom God hath sent lest we be esteemed Rebels for resisting the Ordinance of Heaven We ought also to believe and be perswaded that it is absolutely necessary to obey him for it is all one not to
two our King was wonderfully restored without Sword and without Bow and even they who had banished him were forced to concur in the calling him back This was the Lord's doing and it was then wonderful in our eyes Now he that was able to do this what is he not able to do The stone which the builders have refused he has made become the Head stone of the Corner And so he may cause them who are at this time rejected as Gibeonites and Samaritans so one was pleas'd lately to term the Episcopal Clergy to be courted and received as chief Builders of the Temple People may come to be convinc'd that their present Prejudice and Aversion are unreasonable so that Love Respect and Good-Will may take place instead thereof Now when those who have stated themselves our Enemies shall see this what will they say Shall I say as it follows our Text Shame shall cover them God forbid that we should wish any other Shame to them than that of Penitents and Converts which is profitable for themselves and acceptable unto others Far be it from us to wish or contrive any Persons Confusion or to harbour Thoughts of Revenge we have not so learned Christ. God forbid that we should wish any thing save the Glory of God the Peace of the Church and the common Good of all and in order unto these the promoting of Truth the retrieving true Piety the establishing a decent reasonable Worship and a comely Order and good Government Though our Sins hinder these Blessings at present yet we hope God will sometime grant them And that it may be so let us frequently address him by hearty and serious Prayers and especially let us study to please him by a holy and upright Conversation Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God our Father who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting Consolation and good Hope through Grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good Word and Work Amen SERMON XV Preach'd before the Clergy of DALKEITH 1 TIMOTHY V. 23. Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities THE Letter of the Text needs not much Explication nor has the Original any thing more Emphatical or material than this Translation so that any Analysis that could be made of the Words would be meerly Grammatical and therefore I 'll not trouble you with it though it may be usual in these Exercises because it would be a very dry and bare Entertainment This Verse contains a particular Precept to Timothy concerning his bodily Health and so it is a matter of some Difficulty to find out the Reason why it comes in here among so many grave and important Directions about the Government of the Church and especially why it should be cast in before the 24th and 25th Verses which have evidently a Relation to the 22d whereby the Apostles Discourse is interrupted and what should be joined together is divided asunder To take away this Difficulty some fansie that the Order of the Apostles Words has been changed and misplaced by some ignorant and unwary Transcribers which is no ways to be admitted nor can there be alledged any ancient Manuscript or modern Copy of a different Reading from this which is used by us upon which such a Conceit may be grounded The general current of Interpreters give no other Reason for the inserting this particular Precept among so many general ones but St. Paul's Friendship for Timothy and the great Concernment he had for one who was so eminently useful to the Church of God They do not allow it any Connexion with what goes before and frankly acknowledge that it hath no manner of Relation to the Apostle's Purpose in this Place and do think it a vain thing to search for it it being very usual with the Apostle to make Digressions to bring in things abruptly to fall from his Purpose and to return to it again which the learned Daille justifieth saying That it is the way of Writing used by the other Divine and Sacred Authors of the Scripture and besides that it is evident that the best and most ancient and the most admired Authors in the World have also practised it as may be seen in those Works of theirs which remain with us wherein these great Men have not tied themselves to the strict Rules of Logick and Rhetorick invented by the Weakness and Subtilty of modern Spirits but do in their Writings especially in their Epistles keep almost the same Order the same Air and the same manner of speaking which is usual in common Discourse and ordinary Conversation whereof Writings especially the more familiar Epistolary sort of Writings should be the Image and Picture In the Conferences and Discourses which we hold vivâ voce there is nothing more ordinary than to break off the Subject begun and to reassume it again after some Pauses and Digressions And why should this Liberty be denied to those that write particularly to those that write Letters But with a due Deference to this great Man's Judgment I do think that a greater Coherence betwixt Mens Thoughts and Words may be looked for when they write than when they speak In Conference we are obliged to follow others and ordinarily the Company casteth in something or other which necessarily draweth us off the main Subject whereas when one writes he has all Freedom for his Thoughts and it is not to be supposed that a wise and knowing Person will interrupt his Purpose or cast in any thing in the handling of it which doth not serve for an Illustration the obviating an Objection the preventing a Mistake or the like And such Coherence must not always be denied when it is not apparent to every Reader If we understood the Scripture truly and had a particular Knowledge of the Scope and Purpose of the several parts thereof I doubt not but there would be found a more admirable Union and Coherence than what is commonly believed though it is chiefly to be regarded for the great and important Truths delivered therein Upon which very account it is more to be valued than all the most accurate and closely written Books in the World As to the present Text I do not think it comes in so abruptly and without any Relation to what goeth before as is commonly alledged for I would make it to be delivered on this Occasion In the former Verse St. Paul chargeth Timothy to lay hands suddenly on no Man that is to beware of admitting any hastily into the Office of the Ministry for if through his Carelesness any unworthy Person crept in he would have an Accession to all the bad Effects of their Ministry their Miscarriages and Male-administration their Sins and their Scandals were to be charged on him And seeing every Man will find burthen enough of his own Sins therefore he adviseth him to take Care that he be not by this means Partaker of other Mens Sins
Order and Purity and will make Religion and Truth to flourish to our Praise and Renown Abroad our Peace and Comfort at Home and to further and facilitate our attainment of Eternal Life hereafter Amen SERMON IX On REV. II. 17. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it THESE words were first directed to the Church of Pergamus but they were not intended for that Church only for every one is required to give ear to them We have all the same Vocation the same Obligations are on us and the same rewards are proposed to us and therefore likewise we are all tied to the same Duty The different Stations and Orders of the Church do indeed call for some difference in Persons behaviour but otherwise all Christians have the same task enjoined them and what is spoken to one is spoken to all The first thing here called for is an Attention to the Voice of God a listning to what his Spirit saith unto us Let him who hath an ear hear c. So likewise began the Law and the Prophets for their usual Preface was Hear O Israel Hearing is a sign of a ready and willing Mind and is necessary to prepare the way to those other Acts and Exercises required of us It is indeed neither the only nor the main thing we have to do and therefore they who are only Hearers deceive themselves as St. Iames speaks As the Body would be deformed if it were all Ear so that Mans Religion is mis-shapen which is wholly exercised in Hearing But however Hearing is necessary it must not swallow up all other Parts of the Christian Service but neither must it be slighted and neglected He who turns away his Ear and will not hear shews an averseness to his Duty and though he would set himself to it he could not go rightly about it for all our knowledge of Spiritual things comes by Hearing This is not to be fetcht from within and therefore he who heareth not must continue in gross Ignorance We should begin with Hearing and we should never cease to hear that we may be informed of our Lord's Will that we may be kept in Mind of it and finally quickned to it as Servants wait daily on their Masters to know their Pleasure and to receive their Commands so should we wait on God I will saith the Psalmist hear what God the Lord will speak This is every ones Duty none are exempted from it not the Ignorant to be sure nor yet he who thinks he hath Knowledge The Man of leisure and he who is retired from the World can pretend no excuse nor will the Man of business be excused if he neglect to hear As many as have Ears and Faculties to perceive are obliged and commanded to hear for the words of our Text are Let him who hath ears which certainly comprehends all and every one But as we are obliged to hear so we ought to take heed how we hear as it is Luke viii 18. That we hear aright else we had better not hear at all Now he hears not rightly who lets only the Voice or the sound of the Word strike his Ear But who suffers it to pierce thorow to his Mind and inner Man and to leave an impression there Wherefore as we must hear so we ought to have our Ears well purg'd of whatever may stop what is spoken from going to the Heart or hinder its working there For the hearing here required is opus animi non auris It 's a pondering with the Mind as well as hearkning with the Ear. Wherefore as St. Iames adviseth we ought to lay aside prejudice and filthiness and all superfluity of naughtiness and to receive with meekness the ingrafted Word of God And sure none can refuse this who considers either the dignity of him who speaks or the excellency of what is spoken He who speaks is greater than Socrates or Plato or any of the ancient Philosophers whom many travelled far to hear speak He is greater than Solomon whom the Queen of Sheba was so desirous to hear And what is delivered doth not tickle the fancy but satisfies and ravishes the Mind It is not airy Notions and fruitless Speculations which we are bid hear but a Word which is able to save our Souls And that we may hear this joyful and comfortable Word we must not listen to the dictates of our corrupt Nature nor to the Maxims of a degenerate World nor to the particular Traditions of Elders for these do often misguide us and tho' sometimes they seem to speak fair yet they only flatter that they may the better deceive and ensnare us to make void the Commandments of God Neither the Clamours of the People nor the Calls of the Court are always to be hearkned to for the Psalmist tells us that both the one and the other have sometimes consulted and conspired against the Lord and against his Christ. We must not answer every Voice nor believe every Spirit for there be many Lying and false Spirits in the World But we must only hearken to what the Spirit of God saith and then we are sure not to be deceived This holy Spirit sometimes speaks to us by inward Motions and Inspirations to Truth and Goodness and would certainly do it oftner if we were rightly disposed and careful to attend to them but it always speaketh to us in the Scriptures they are the Voice of God which we ought to hear for no Scripture is of private Interpretation neither did the Penmen of Scripture speak and write of their own Head but as they were moved by the Holy Ghost So then it is not Man who speaks to us in the Scripture but the Spirit of God And seeing God is not like Man that he should alter his Mind seeing his Will as his Nature is unchangeable therefore nothing is from God which contradicts what is said to us in the Scripture and therefore also whatever Voice we hear whether within us or without us we ought to compare the same with what the Spirit saith to the Churches in the Scripture If it agree therewith we have reason to believe and obey it But if they sound not alike if there be no Harmony but a perfect Discord betwixt them then that is not from God It is but a Cheat and Delusion which disagreeth with the written Word and ought to be rejected whoever brings it But it is to be remembred that the quoting Texts of Scripture and the speaking in Scripture terms is not a certain sign that they who do so are true Prophets or that their Doctrine is true and from God for Men may and often do wrest the Scripture and use it ignorantly and impertinently The Devil when