have kindled this shall you have of my hand you shall lie down in sorrow Would we examine and try our own or the spirits of others whether they be of God or no the Word of the Lord is sharp and piercing it divides betwixt the marrow and the bones it searcheth out the depths and secrets of the heart That fire cannot be a flame of holy incense to consume the Sacrifice and to render it acceptable which has no regard to the Holy Oracle of God Here that zeal is reproveable which spends it self either in decrying the sacred Scriptures as useless or in preverting the Scriptures making them of private interpretation to speak what they never intended such who wrest them to their own destruction First They that decry the Scriptures as useless since we are now not to be directed by a line or by precept but we are all to be taught of God of this sort are they who think themselves above Ordinances waiting only for some secret instincts some impetuous raptures to carry them they know not whither to do they know not what such who have laid aside the first Principles of Godliness they are not to be dealt with you shall never argue them into a better temper so long as this melancholy dumpish humour doth transport them they have this still for a refuge that they are not free to hear or to answer you But as for our selves that we be not led away by the errour of these wicked men it may be urged and I cannot urge it too often the Articles of our Creed into which we were baptized that as in our Profession we do believe the Holy Ghost to be the Lord and giver of Life and so a spirit of illumination unto the Sons of Men so we do believe that he the same Spirit spake by the Prophets He the same Spirit does assist in the Communion of Saints and therefore we are not to neglect the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is Secondly As for that other sort who have made themselves the only perpetual Dictators in Religion whose humour is the only Light they have for the interpretation of the Scripture who make the Scripture to be of a private interpretation speaking what it never intended who have against the continued practices of Christianity in all ages found out a new clew of thread to extricate themselves and others out of some Labyrinths of controversie of their own devising and do thus betray the simple and ignorant into not onely foolish but dangerous errors these men act as if they had forgot those Scriptures which they pretend for to interpret those that tell us that the Spirits of the Prophets must be subject to the Prophets especially when they are met together in a holy Communion They who would take heed to a sure word of Prophesie must know this first of all 2 Pet. 1.20 That no Prophesies of Scripture are of private interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of a mans conceited enthusiastical and sudden explication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mar. 4.34 It was the onely prerogative of Christ himself when he was alone for to interpret but as to us the word of Prophesie is not thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the will of man we must take in along with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Analogy of our Common Faith and the sacred authority of the Catholick Church as knowing that whatsoever seemed good unto the Holy Ghost as it is revealed in the word seemed good likewise to the same Spirit as it is explained by the Church and proposed to those who will receive the truth in the love of it to be matter for their Faith wherefore the Scripture hath said I mean St. Paul in whose writings there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some things hard to be understood which the Pride and Tyranny of the Church of Rome on the one hand and the unstable peevishness of our Classical Brethren from their Consistory on the other have wrested two contrary ways yet between them both the word of God abideth sure to wit that Scripture which refers us to an Interpreter for all the rest 1 Tim. 3.15 The Church of the Living God in all things necessary to salvation as the words following do imply is the onely pillar and ground of truth and then he adds the fundamental articles of our Christian faith without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels c. That zeal then is truly commendable just holy and good which is a Zeal according to the Scriptures a contention for the Faith of God in them revealed as they are by the Church delivered to the Saints which whilst it doth coufess the Holy Ghost to rule in the hearts of all Believers does not too hastily pass over the two next Articles of our Christian Faith in which we also do believe a Holy Catholick Church and in the Vnity of that Church do joyn with the Communion of Saints such a Zeal as this is good that is guided by a good rule by the word of God as it is proposed and said open by the Church to be a perfect Canon an exact prescription to tell us what ought to be our Faith and to guide us in our manners in all holy Conversation and Godliness Secondly Zeal is good in Relation to the Object of it if it be managed upon a good matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon a good thing which bears its due proportion to that rule This is that which St. Paul tells us is the result of the Grace of God bringing salvation and appearing unto all Tit. 2.14 In that our Saviour gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The people are then peculiar and the zeal is singular when by the blood of Christ we are cleansed from all iniquity so that our works are good Having once submitted our selves to the obedience of Faith and publickly owned it in the Unity of the Church every man has so far a Judgment of private Discretion and possibly not in many cases besides as to examine his own Actions by that Rule of Righteousness which he hath received and the rectitude of which he must not in the least dispute Saul forgot himself and God also when in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah he slew the Gibeonites 2 Sam. 21.2 These Gibeonites though but hewers of wood and drawers of water in the sanctuary were to be preserved because of the Oath of God Joshuah 9.3 17. They who were for exterpating root and branch amongst us though they had formerly given up their names to God and to his Church in their Promissory Subscriptions that they would conform to and not endeavour the alteration of the Religion established and yet after all this in their zeal unto the people did lift up
GOD THE KING AND THE Church TO WIT Government both Civil and Sacred together Instituted Publique Solemnities in Consecrated Places from the beginning Celebrated True Zeal in opposition to Lukewarmness consistent with Moderation Stated And throughout all the Church of England in the Strictness of its Vniformity against both false Accusers and false Brethren Vindicated Being the Subject of Eight Sermons Preached in several places and now published by George Seignior Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge and Domestick Chaplain to the Right Honorable the Earl of Burlington Obsequium amicos Veritas odium parit Terent. We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth 2 Cor. 13.8 LONDON Printed for Christopher Wilkinson at the Black Boy against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet 1670. To the Right Honorable RICHARD BOYLE Baron of Clifford Youghall and Bandon Viscount of Kynalmeakie and Dungarvan Earle of Burlington and Corke Lord High Treasurer and a Privy Counseller of his Majesties Kingdome of Ireland My Lord THe utmost of my Ambition in this Dedication is with an humble request of its acceptance a grateful acknowledgment of your Lordships many undeserved favours of which I am every day sensible being confident that however weak these my endeavours are now made publick they shall not want both incouragement and protection from One whose constant piety it has been to receive a Prophet and a Prophet's Message though there might be no other reaeson yet for this that it came in the name of a Prophet Some of these Discourses have already had the honour of your Lordships Ear but I must confess more seasonable to the times we live in then suitable to that Auditory amongst whom God is praised in the Beauties of his Holiness and it is a joy as well as Comeliness to behold our Order the August Solemnities of an Holy Worship there celebrated are of themselves a Continued Praedication of the Subject Matter here treated on should I be silent and were these lines with their Author buried in Obscurity However amidst the the daily violences offered to God and his Service from wicked and unreasonable Men it may seem requisite that there be these more open Attestations unto Truth that so a froward and peevish Generation may hence be rendred the more inexcusable in that they do not perish without warning Whatever was the Motive to this Publication from a private person in my circumstances God knows and your Lordship may safely honor me with this Defence that I seek no great things for my self and I humbly conceive that the Discourses themselves if candidly perused will intimate as much all that is here performed or designed is only a Mite or two out of a small stock a mean and an unworthy but an hearty addition to what others have very happily cast in out of their abundance into the Treasuries of God towards the building and maintaining of our Church in its wonted Strength and Beauty And as I am not nor need be much sollicitous what entertainment these writings meet with abroad being conscious to my self of my own integrity so I hope it is far from flattery since a real truth in that I have no other Apology to make then to crave your Lordships pardon whilst I must acknowledge these Discourses to be but a ruae and unpolished Comment on your own daily more pious and severer Practises so that there may be this satisfaction at lest to your Honor in the perusal if for the Author little for your Self more at the same time a favourable coustruction for him but a comfortable and more just reflection upon your self in the consideration of that reward which is consequential to well ordered conversation And here though it be some trespass upon modesty yet to provoke the imitation of others in this licentious Age I must bear witness to the world of a most excellently well Goâ—erned Family the constant returns of Holy Offices the great care which both by your Lordships example and command is taken that the Meaneft Person in it be instructed in those wholesome Principles of our Church Catechisme a piece of Discipline upon Youth so sadly neglected in the management of all which if I am an unworthy instrument I must own the success of all my undertakings of this Nature more to your Lordships favour and countenance then to any thing of skill or ability in my own performances And now having put Your Honor to this unexpected trouble I most humbly crave leave for one Short Intimation which will save the tedium of a Preface and it is this That Some of the ensuing Discourses are presented to your Lordship with relation to the occasion of their first composure in the Discharge of my Duty in a small Cure which I once had in the University where it was my custome as often as I could to give the Lesson provided to my hands out of the Churches service not at all regarding that coffing imputation of being styled a Postillar â—ut rather endeavouring to inculcate upon the People that they should consider how suitable many times and seasonable even in contingent circumstances is the Message delivered to them from God in the Voice of his Church and for this reason I have industriously published what was at first so occasionally Penned and Preached being sorry that by reason of our continued Factions and Divisions notwithstanding an Act for Uniformity it still is so much every day a word in season No more but what is my daily Duty shall be here an hearty and sincere acknowledgment to wit my uncessant Prayers for your Lordships health and happiness and for the most Religious and Vertuous Lady your Honorable Consort God of his infinite Mercy every day more and more Remember You and Yours concerning this for Good and He forget not but may the blessing be on You and Your Family the many Kindnesses You have done for the House of Our God and the Offices thereof I make bold with submission craving your Honorable Protection both of the Author and his Work to subscribe my self Your Lordships most Obedient and Faithful Servant and Chaplain Geo Seignior MOSES and AARON A SERMON Preached before the KING at Saxham in the County of Suffolk April 17. 1670. Exodus 4.16 And he shall by thy Spokesman to the people and he shall be even he shall be to thee instead of a Mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God UPon the first view of the Text and context we find Moses the Servant of the Lord and Aaron the man of God joined together in one and the same commission both set over a Captived people to deliver them unto a more glorious liberty and both sent unto an oppressing hard-hearted Tyrant to demand a speedy restitution from slavery and to require satisfaction for injuries done unto the Son of God ver 22. Israel is my Son even my First-born he is now also to be called the Redeemed of the Lord Let my Son go that he may
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
which be Devout and Honorable Women laden with sins and lead away with divers lusts Epistle of St Jude ver 19. Those that separate themselves let them pretend never so much to holiness and piety they are sensual and they have not the Spirit such are they who ver 3. while the True Apostles do contend earnestly for the Common salvation and the Faith of it once delivered to the Saints creep in unawares turning the grace of God into lasciviousness v. 8. These are filthy Dreamers or in the language of our time Mad Diviners Ecstatical Enthusiasts who despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities ver 10. They speak evil of those things which they know not inimicum praeter ignorantem Religion as well as Learning has no enemy but the Ignorant whilst wisdom and piety are justified by their Children but otherwise what these gainsayers do know naturally we must own them since they have the faces of men to be reasonable creatures and yet as brute beasts in those things which they seem to know they corrupt themselves that is they do as much confound themselves as they do amuse others with their brain-sick imaginations Wo wo unto them says our Apostle for they have gone in the way of Cain it is but of late sad remembrance setting every mans sword against his Brother onely because their sacrifices of sin were not accepted they have run greedily after the error of Balaam for a reward whilst that gain was their greatest Godliness Oh! that they had perished in the very act of gainsaying like Corah and his Company when they exalted themselves above the Congregation of the Lord These are spots in your feasts yea though they be Feasts of charity their Love feasts in the Family of Love a private secret Conventicle feeding themselves without fear Clouds they are without water like their Master Prince of the air and yet fire if any is the element predominant and these like Salamanders can live onely in the fire they are carried about of winds tossed too and fro with every blast of false and erroneous Doctrine Trees they are whose fruit withereth nay they have no fruit that is good twice dead why do they any longer cumber the ground they are raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame and that 's nothing but mire and durt so that because of the Tempest which they have raised there are no Halcyon days the Kings Fishers cannot build their nests in these troubled waters They are stars too but not in the right hand of Jesus wandring stars oh when shall they be falling stars usque quo Domine how long O Lord just holy and true when shall it once be unto whom is reserved the blackness of darkness a darkness like that of Egypt which is to be felt the blackness of darkness for ever v. 16. These are murmurers complainers walking after their own lusts running about City Town and Countrey and they grudge if they be not satisfied their mouths speak great swelling words of vanity having mens persons in admiration because of some particular advantage or as another Apopostle has it 2 Tim. 4.3 After their own lusts they heap up Teachers to themselves having itching ears and to sum up all with that which gave me occasion to paraphrase so much upon this Epistle These are they who separate themselves they are not moved nor acted by the Holy â—host the Devil has too much power over them if St. Jude's Epistle be Scripture and I guess by this time since they find themselves so exactly described in it they could wish it out of our Bibles since this is the best character that he can afford them that they are sensual and they have not the Spirit These are they and this is the manner of them who neglect the assembling of themselves together imitating the Primitive and the Apostolical times in nothing but in the divisions and dissentions of false Brethren who do not in the least consider that they are baptized into a Christian Faith in which Faith we have these two Articles in which we believe a Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and the Communion of Saints the Catholick Church is but One and the Communion of it throughout the Christian World is Visible and the next Article to these is the Remission of sins which we obtain and have a right to by our being Baptized and so made Members of the Body of Christ and therefore another Creed has it by way of explanation thus that we are to believe One Baptisme for the Remission of sins as if out of the Visible Communion of the Catholick Church into which we are admitted by Baptisme there is to be no Remission and for this I urge our Saviours words S. Mat. 18.17 Dic Ecclesiae Tell it to the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen man and a Publican such a one whom the People of the Jews counted to be dead in their sins and trespasses Not without good reason therefore has our Church in her most excellent constitutions made this one of her wholsome laws Cannon 11th That whosoever shall affirm that there are within this Realm other Meetings Assemblies or Congregations of the Kings born subjects then such as by the Laws of this Land are held and allowed which may rightly challenge to themselves the name of a true and of a lawful Church let him be excommunicated and not restored but by the Arch-bishop after his repentance and revocation of such his wicked errours Surely there is somthing extraordinary in the matter or else I should not be thus earnest I would ask the Separatists of our age this one serious and sober question Have ye Souls to be saved or no little do they think into what danger they put their own immortal souls by a schism and a separation they do as much as in them lies forego the ordinary means appointed by God for their salvation Now God in his wonderful Providence has made the Administration of his Gospel to be glorious in the midst of us the light to shine bright in our Candlestick Divine Services to be dispensed and Holy Offices to be performed even in the outward Beauty of Holiness Now for a froward and a peevish generation to place the service of God in one of the most damning sins that can be committed for ought I know by that little Divinity I have been acquainted with if it be wilfully persisted in and they add Obstinacy to their Separation it may in time come up to be the unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost Schisme and Division from the Churches community Oh! what shall we say unto these men Oh more foolish then were those Galatians Who has bewitched them that they should not obey the Truth Formerly yea before our Saviours time higher then yet hitherto I have brought my proof it was Davids choice to be a door keeper in the House of God rather then to
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
we have as good reason to believe them as we have to give our assent to any thing that has been performed in former Ages Our Fathers have told us the mighty works and the noble acts which God did in their daies and in the old time before them hence from the Psalmist our Church has taught us to make this our humble and hearty request That God still arise in the Defence of his Gospel to help and Deliver the Professors and Dispensors of it for his names sake and for his honour He that shall call into question or suspend his belief to the History of Redemption as from an Vniversal Tradition it has been delivered down faithfully by the Church in the Oracles of God and yet at the same time does not in the least boggle at many things more fabulous in the Annals of his own Country or it may be in the descent of his own pedigree such a person may think himself wise in his own Generation and yet a very fool in that upon the meer account of an uncontroulable Tradition he will give credence to that which because of the manner of its conveyance is of it self questionable rather then to the Gospel of Peace confirmed by Miracles and in the nature of the thing thus delivered to posterity from one age to another that from the beginning they were wrought by an Almighty Power that so from the Father to the Child in the Generations to come there might not be wanting an infallible convincing argument to raise and as it were to propagate and preserve a most firm belief And after all this we have a more sure word of Prophesie to which we shall do well if we take heed with Reverence and that is the outward and more Visible administration of this Gospel thus confirmed which is the Third thing causal of the Great Benefit bestowed here upon the Church and is to continue to the end of the World viz. because of the publick Convention the place of their meeting and their Behaviour there all which were holy therefore Believers were added to the Lord and those Multitudes Gods institution and the Primitive practice of the Apostles is to be embraced in order to Salvation It was Gods command to his people Israel though they were in the Wilderness that they should make him a Sanctuary Exod. 25.8 even the Tabernacle it self was so called and the reason added is this That I may dwell among them nay even at this time God Almighty did in some sort declare that he would restrain his acceptance only to such solemnities Exod. 20.24 immediately after the Law was given this was Gods promise upon the observance of it in all places where I record my name will I come unto thee and bless thee And with the Apostle we may argue in a literal sense 2 Cor. 3.7 If the Ministration of death written and engraven in stones were glorious how shall not the Ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious if the Ministration of Condemnation be glory much more doth the Ministration of Righteousness exceed in glory if that which was to be done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is still glorious To be short and plain for I have already instanced upon this at large Neglecting the Assembling of our selves together turning our backs upon the places of publick Worship and an irreverent behaviour at such solemnities is all one as if we should deny our selves the means of our Salvation how can you expect in faith that God should go out of his way to meet you when you turn aside from those paths which he has declared do lead to him What reason is there that we should now have a recourse to and make a vertue of that which onely under Persecution was a Necessity is it not absurd as well as impious in the nature of the thing it self to imagine that when the Churches are open the Truth must betake it self into corners it is something surely to be in the way in the ready road to happiness that which has been for so many hundred years successful in order to Conversion we have good reason to believe that it will be so still and it is frowardness and pievishness against a Community Presumption and that in a high degree of Providence for those who are but men to venture upon an extraordinary success and that in opposition to and against those ordinary usual means which ever since our Christianity have been certainly and surely established that which is Gods honour is our Benefit and so we may safely apply that of the Apostle Eph. 3.20 21. It is God alone who is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think even according to the effectual power which he worketh in us and yet notwithstanding this most effectual power working in us above and beyond all our thoughts and requests To him saith the Apostle We do ascribe Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages World without end Fourth and Fifth Things causal of this great Benefit bestowed upon the Church both these joyned together for brevities sake and indeed they cannot well be separated being so joyntly productive of this Benefit in the Text viz. because of the Distance here kept which was Solemn because of the awful Reverence exhibited which was beautiful and glorious therefore Believers were the more added to the Lord and those Multitudes Familiarity is causual of contempt but the farther from parity the nearer to and the closer the Communion so consequential as formerly instanced are these Three Articles of our Creed upon each other The Catholick Apostolick Church The Communion of Saints and the Forgiveness of Sins Faith as it comes by hearing in a publique Solemnity so it with Love is increased by that due reverence which is given to such who Minister in that Solemnity the Message can not chuse but be received which is accompanied with honour An equality either amongst Sacred Persons themselves or between them and the People does not in the least tend to edification there is neither order nor peace in levelling and when once the murmuring complaint arrives to this much That the whole Congregation are as holy every one of them as Moses or Aaron no wonder if the fire offered upon the Altar prove to be a strange fire not a fire to baptize and purifie but to burn and consume the whole Assembly in a moment It is the Apostles advice that we give unto all their dues Rom. 13.7 Fear to whom fear honour to whom honour so shall we not be wanting in our love to any and that love will be the fulfilling of the whole Law 1 Cor. 7.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every man wherein he is called therein abide and abiding therein this is to be with God No wonder therefore if one reason assigned for the decay of Christian Piety be Disputes in general and those most an end in Opposition to Authority when in such things that either
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
it be that which puffeth up these are the onely Vertuosoes not in Arts and Sciences but in Religion it self to that purpose like Simon Magus of old they give out themselves to be some Great Ones the onely Power from God and the onely Reason of Men amongst us and so they have ingenuously resolved not to approve of any thing which is not done from amidst their Consistory or Rota be the performance of it self never so excellent and pious These are they who have called into question the Fundamental Articles of our Religion or would have them laid aside since they are not sollicitous that a Catalogue should be known of Fundamental Truths as if a Reason could never have been given of our Faith and Hope till within their time and because their new thin-spun speculations do startle some of a more wary belief presently they talk big insignificant words of passion prejudice education its wonder they do not upbraid us with our Catechism and too blind a zeal for antiquity as if all Religion and Learning were born with them and the Sun did first shine at their Nativity Such a sort of smothering Zealots as these who have raised a Smoke and yet suppress the Fire are more dangerous then any of the former since we know not where to find or which way to go about to quench the flame till we are almost throat led and choked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil has his name from science and from him the darkness is borrowed such a one as may be felt whilst a thick mist has been cast upon known received and fundamental truths and we are entertained with nothing but cloudy speculations and all out of a fond pretence to restore the mind of men to their pristine liberty Thought they tell us is free and so free that we find nothing but vain imaginations the immediate consequence upon the first fall God made man upright and he sought out many inventions These while they differ from themselves many times in their apprehensions of things being alone yet carrying on one common design for a liberty in speculation if not to the subversion certainly very much to the ecclypsing of truth and the seducing of unstable minds they lay aside their private opinion of things which they had when they were alone and are all of them in publick lovingly of one and the same perswasion These are the Men who prescribe to us Rules of Vniversal Charity and good nature and forget their own prescriptions they have not the manners to forbear censuring and carping at the integrity of a well ordered Conversation in so much that when any one appears in the Discharge of his Duty to tread the beaten path of Truth and Piety the old way because the good way and as yet amongst all their new inventions they have not found out a better such a Ones Devotion is Mechanical to be sure he shall have the censure of being concerned for what he has nothing to do with though obliged both by Oaths and reiterated Subscriptions it is much if they do not spend some of their Satyrical wit and ungodly laughter upon him God forbid that I should intend an invective farther then becomes a just and a pious reproof and they of whom I speak being the onely sophies of the world I am secure that they will not impute this zealous frenzy unto too much Learning if I am besides my self in this I will be more it is for Gods sake and this poor Church as the strictness of whose Discipline and Order amidst all their Comprehensions is excluded sorry I am with all my heart that what I have farther to suggest are so much the words of Truth and Soberness Whilst we do seriously consider the present growing Atheisme how that every thing both in the Doctrine and Practice of our Religion has been reduced to a meer notion and opinion though we may charitably perswade our selves that it was neither the Design or Intention of some men to promote so much wickedness yet in the nature of the thing it self no cause can so properly be assigned for that general loosness in the lives of men as the too great Latitude and Scope that has been given them in their notions and speculations when once it shall be publickly maintained that humane nature was not impaired by the fall of Adam but rather improved and so in a state of Perfection and that ever since our first Parents did eat of the Tree of Knowledge every man as he is Rational Creature has power given him both by God and Nature or by Nature which with some is God to call every thing nay the Articles of his Religion into question we may justly fear that we have thus argued our selves not onely into a doubt of our Faith whether there be such a Theological grace or no for they have affirmed our Creed not to have in all respects an influence on Morality but likewise out of the Practice of our Piety since for ought we know it may be thus pleaded and retorted upon us by the young blustering Bravadoes of our times from the principles above specified that we are put into the world to live like other Creatures so that the Precepts of Mortification signifie but little whilst Nature intended that we should be swayed by the impulse of our humours and the impetuosity of our Constitutions Oh that this might give occasion to some to lay their hands upon their Mouths and their Months in the Dust To take off this scandal too sadly given and very justly taken it would much become the zeal of the late Restorers of our humane freedom if they would in their lives give an example of strictness and of Order that they would confine themselves a little to the rules of Duty and not shew themselves so indifferent by a Partial Obedience whether it be to Divine or Humane Constitutions And likewise that they would be pleased to be a little more Diffusive of their Charity their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let see a little more of that sweet Disposition which from the Platonick Theory we hear so much talk of that modest kind of humble Doubting which renders men affable and courteous in converse willing and ready to hear and receive the truth from any one and that they would not be so eager upon the product of their own fancy in proposing their private hypothesis for the standard of publick Truth but withall that they would consider themselves to be in the body as well as they say so of others yea and some have found out gross Vehicles for their souls possibly they may have somthing of passion or prejudice or at least too much kindness for those of a like education and acquaintance it were to be wished that they would be careful lest the affection they have for one anothers persons do not Canonize each others mistakes against and above all Canon whatsoever a partial zeal ingaged for a particular sort of men be
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
their people for without a little Dissimulation their could be neither Living nor Livelinood But certainly God has no need of such mens Hypocrisie to Manifest his Glory nor the Church of their Dissimulation to preserve its peace He that is a Friend to all Religions or to all perswasions in Religion so far that according to the circumstances of his life he can ingage in or defend any of them is in truth of no Religion at all he is ready to Apostatize with Julian and should there arise an eleventh Persecution against Christianity he is never like to be either a Resolute Confessour for the truth he has own'd or a Faithful Martyr for the Faith into which he was baptized but this will be his sad Conversion quite contrary to the blessed alteration which was in St. Paul Is not this he that preached Christ but now he destroys all those who call upon that name delivering them up to bonds and imprisonment even to death it self God grant that we may never know such times as will put these men to their tryal and he preserve and continue his Church in Unity and Uniformity amongst us that it never stand in need of them to be Champions for its Faith or Discipline But whither such an eager industrious sollicitude of being indifferent of appearing all things to all men wresting St. Pauls practice as bad as they have done his writings out of a desire not to gain Proselytes but credit and profit to themselves I say whether such a zealous studious luke-warmness in things sacred and holy is not in the direct consequence of it a pre-requisite disposing a man to turn Jew Turk Pagan Infidel any thing does not in the formal notion of it promote Atheisme both in practice and speculation I leave this to the Disputers of this World to the curious speculative heads of our times seriously and soberly to consider But as for us let us be careful of a Temporary Faith of a Religion ours in the profession of it only because suited to the Climate we live in and the air we breath in to the popular breath we daily suck to the soil of the Countrey to the humours of Multitude Let us be stedfast in our holy Profession persevere in the way of Godliness as knowing that Pure Religion is to keep our selves unspotted from the World it is Heaven-born God on high is Worshiped and man upon Earth is saved in the celebration of it this being our Assurance that we are accepted and a comfortable satisfaction to us that our zeal is rightly qualified when in the integrity of our hearts and the uprightness of our soul it is as permanent as it is passionate it is the same continued flame bright and pure to the last bending it self one way tending upwards though it be fire it is not seated beneath the concave of the Moon I mean spent upon sublunary changing perishing Designes but it is cherished by influenced upon and clothed with the Sun of Righteousness and the reward of its Constancy shall be Everlasting Felicity for him who is thus piously zealous unto Death there is laid up a Crown of Life And so I pass to the 2. Reason of this Apostolical approbation and that Taken from the habit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It must be alwayes And here as in the Application of the first Discourse was mentioned we must be careful that we distinguish the habit of zeal from the constitution of the Body whether it be not the overflowing of the Gall rather than the result of Grace from the heart True indeed being called unto Grace and Holiness whatsoever were our passions before they are Crucified now with Christ in mortification and with him they are risen again and sanctified unto his service and so our zeal may at the same time be in some sort the natural temper of our Bodies and the pious frame of our Minds but then in other circumstances of life our zeal for Charity must alwayes take place of Passion neither must the Sun at any time set somnum nec rixa facit nor are the shadows of the night to be spread over our wrath So then be our Constitution what it will if in the personal occurrences of our lives our Moderation be known unto all men our zeal for God and Religion because perpetually the same is therefore Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it must be Alwaies Thunder does root up Foundations the effects of it are as dreadful as the noise is terrible but then the Lightning which doth accompany it is momentany it is but a sudden flash and we see it again no more There is a Madzeal or a Phrenzy rather like Thunder it pretends that it will clear the air when it makes the earth to tremble nothing but Desolation and overturning where-ever the Bolt lights it makes havock of all before it be it never so pleasant or desireable but the Lightning transcient the promising overtures are but some sudden glances which have more of terror and amazement than of comfort and refreshment we see them indeed or hear of them no sooner are they seen or heard but no where are they to be found whereas a Holy zeal is like the Sun breaking through a cloud though intercepted with the mists and foggs of errour and seduction yet it will make its way and spread the day where e're it comes it ariseth in its strength and in its beauty and rejoyceth to run its course it s going forth is from Heaven and its Circuit to the end of it again and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof such a thing is a pious zeal like unto the Ordinances of Heaven abiding the same for ever day after day tells the World its Piety and night after night in a satisfactory contemplation upon its own constancy sheweth unto the Devout Soul that such a zeal thus fixed and unalterable is according unto Godliness True zeal is not like Herods Devotion who sometimes heard John Baptist gladly and for his sake when the humour took him did many things that were good it is not like Agrippa's half Perswasion and yet not perswaded to be a Christian very near and so the farther from the Kingdom of Heaven it is not like Felix his pannick fit of trembling while he hears St. Paul reasoning of Temperance of Righteousness and of Judgment to come soon shaked off in a colder Dismission go thy way for this time when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee it is not a sudden motion an ecstatical rapture an impetus that may cast Saul himself amongst the Prophets it is not a hot burning fit which comes and goes as some unhealthy humours ferment more or less in the Body or wild fancys work disturbedly and confusedly in the brain such a zeal as this which is not constant to it self is not unlike to Sauls evil Spirit when the Lord was departed from him it wants Davids Harp the sweet Singer of Israel the
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
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