in your Eating and Drinking for too much Eating makes People sluggish and sleepy Thus People might redeem time for hearing his word on a Week Day and yet they would not diminish ought from their accustomed Work and Labour in their wordly calling Sirs ye know not what it is to lose opportunities in Spiritual and Eternal concerns For these opportunities can never be retrieved again As Nebuchadnezzar said concerning his Dream The thing is gone from me Dan. 2. 5. So these opportunities of hearing his word are gone from them for all Eternity There is no recalling of it back again I have Preached Ten Sermons to the Inhabitants of a certain Town and Neighbourhood But if those People who refused or neglected to hear the same would now give Ten Thousand Pounds and if there were Ten Divine Truths in them they would not be thus over-rated for each Divine Truth is of more worth then a World for to have heard them on those Ten past Lords Days this can no more be then any of them can make the Sun stand still or go back ten degrees in the Dial of Ahaz It passes over into a thing to be Judged off at the Judgment of the Great Day As God commanded Moses to make a return how he had discharged his message and Moses did accordingly return back the Word of the People unto the Lord. So when his Ministers come to give in an Account of their Ministry it will be a sad reckoning to the People They are turned back to the iniquity of their Forefathers which refused to hear my Words Jer. 11. 11. Loe these ten opportunities together such and such People hereabouts have refused to hear thy Words O God and if I should live or stay among them so long I do really believe that some of my Countrymen and Neighbours will for seventy times seven opportunities more refuse to hear thy Words O Lord according as I have received the same from the lively Oracles the Book of the Lord and what he makes known to my heart by his Spirit As Herod made a sudden Oath for the sake of which he cut off John Baprists Head And as the Jews bound themselves with a Curse not to Eat or Drink until they had killed Paul So I believe that some have made such an hasty Vow and Resolution which is the usual forerunner of foolish and sinful doings that they will never go to hear such an one In speaking after that manner they take the wrong end of the Staff by the hand which kind of speaking is one method or devise whereby Satan upholds his Kingdom by fixing on Persons and not on things for 't is not so much the Person of this or that Man we being Creatures of alike Flesh and Blood and of the same Passions For they should speak more properly and understandingly they vow and resolve never to hear the Word of the Lord which comes out of such an ones Mouth for by the way if a Great Truth of God could and did come out of Caiaphas his Mouth as it did in John 11. 51 52. Who had given wicked Counsel so may some Truths of God proceed through him who is harmless and inoffensive in his Conversation and whom neither his adversaries can charge with nor yet himself is conscious of any known and allowed sin But here the children of God should separate the Precious from the Vile I would ask such who think that they must keep to their Vows Suppose that a man should Vow that he would never worship God such an Unlawful Vow or Promise is better broken than kept and so it is near the same not to go to hear the Word for thou shouldest here Repent of making such a Vow or Resolution the Observance whereof being unlawful serves only a design of the Devil to keep thee in the breach and neglect of a Commandment of God to hear his Word as also it hinders thy Soul from good things If any should stay at home to Read the Sctiptures or for Family Prayer or to catechise and instruct their Children this they might do at other times and they might bring their Children here to sit down and hear Words Preached according to their Capacities which perhaps by Reason of their fresh Memories and tender Years they would retain longer than their Parents It may be asked them another day Why abodest thou among thy Family or in thy house when thou mightest have gone out to Hear the word of the Lord Hearken unto me ye that know Righteousness the people in whose heart is my Law fear ye not the Reproach of Men neither be ye afraid of their Revilings Isa 51. 7. Ye may all know and be assured that the works of God are never in vain I have several times thought as to my outward Lameness tho I do halt like unto the Patriarch Jacob nevertheless this hinders not from my running the way of Gods Commandments And so where God hath furnished any man with Knowledge Ability Inward Indowments and Qualifications and hath put good words and true words into his heart all this and such like must be for some end even for him to speak out and make known the same and for others to hear and receive them The Lord will rehearse all this and much more in the day when he writeth up his people How every least and most contemptible Creature did serve the Great Ends of his Glory But much more the Ministers of the Word do so in their several Generations Countries and Places It is indeed matter of Anguish and Vexation to us because we see the Devils working and Delusion herein and we can not help it so throughly and universally as we would It is a day of trouble the Children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth Altho' there are too many Loyterers in the Ministry yet there are not Labourers enough in the Harvest and they also are not knowing or not laborious enough But yet however people carry it towards us yet that place of Ezck. 2. 5 7. will take hold of them And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are a rebellious House yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them And thou shalt speak my words unto them whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are most Rebellious And so accordingly as long as I have health and opportunity I will speak the word of God unto the people of my Generation and Nation whether they will hear or whether they will forbear if no more than two or three only did come to this particular place where it is declared But to Israel he saith All the day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gain-saying people Rom. 10. 21. Now Israel were the outward worshippers but the same holds true also as to the sinners and ungodly But Beloved we are perswaded better things of you and things which
nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be burned Heb. 6. 7 8. As the Earth drinketh in the Rain so Almighty God doth require of the Inhabitants thereof that they should drink in hear and receive his word Preached And he having in his Eternal Providence opened a Door in this place where we now are he doth require of the Inhabitants of this Town and Neighbourhood to come for to hear the same And I declare to them all that he will call them to an Account for their refusal or neglect to do the same I warn them beforehand that then the false Surmises and Reproaches of some concerning the Minister nor yet will the vain and frivolous excuses of others avail as to that God with whom we have all do As to those false Surmises and Reproaches they might do as He did in reference to Hannah whom he first supposed drunken and afterwards enquired further and then he understood and said The Lord grant thy Petition So they might come to my self immediately to be throughly satisfied of their present mis-understandings And let their own Consciences try bear Witness and Judge by hearing of the same whither the Way of God is not taught here in Truth There is a very near resemblance and similitude to the Word preached unto the reasonable Inhabitants thereof and to the Rain or Dew descending upon the Earth for as the Rain makes the Earth fruitful so the Word preached if it is drinked in as the Earth drinketh in the Rain if it is mixed with Faith in them that hear it will make men and women meet and prepared for God and meet to receive a Blessing from God My Doctrine shall drop as the Rain my Speech shall distil as the Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the Showers upon the Grass Deut. 32. 2. Otherwise the manifold Solicitations and Objects of this World would be apt to scorch and make us fade away even in our good ways But that the Doctrine and Speech of the Word like Rain Dew small Rain and Showers whereby also is to be seen that the Word should not be only preached once and away but day after day and Sabbath after Sabbath for there is a daily succession of Dew or of Rain small Rain or Showers to do most good and then it is when the Word is constantly preached and constantly attended unto and received in then it renders the Vineyard meet for our God If his Word falls upon the Dust of the Wilderness it is Jaremiah's Phrase or upon stony and dry places Mat. 13. 5 6. I wish that the hearts of none who shall hear or read this be that Dust of the Wilderness or stony and dry places then it may seem lost and ineffectual not for want of Worth and Excellency in it self for it is the same Rain that falls there as that which falls upon good ground but the Incapacity is in the Subject It doth not profit not being mixed with Faith in them that hear it Or they suffer it to run off again as Useless Water They do not drink it in as the Earth drinks in the Rain O that some of ye here present would drink in this Sermon Take my word for it if ye would drink it in it would abide longer with ye and do ye more good than that drink which perisheth in the Draught or that strong drink which if immoderately taken in shall be bitter to them that drink it Not so much as to those Qualms of Conscience or Head-Ach which do quickly ensue thereupon But the worst Bitterness will be in the End when they must taste the Bitterness of Death and thence be called to Judgment to receive a due Reward for the Sin and Evil of their Drunkenness in the days of their flesh I would have ye drink that in not one drop further then barely for Thirst and necessary Refreshment But if ye would taste and drink in some of those words as are written by God's blessing and improvement thereon it may become in ye a well of water springing up unto Eternal Life John 4. 14. In a dry Summer that is good and convenient ground which lies next to a River or Brook or Fountains which are perpetually running and springing and when there are apt Floodgates and Instruments to let the water over the ground and drain it again This supplies and makes up from beneath for the Dew and Rain which comes from above And so it is convenient in dwelling houses to keep water always by one Even so we should be always furnished unto which the word Preached doth help us with the like Spiritual Water as it descends from above in the Dew and Rain of the Ordinances And when we have drank it in we should not let it run through but stop and keep it there that it may be turned and converted into our own Moisture For the word is nigh thee even in thine heart See to it well that by Pondering and Remembrance of what thou hearest or readest These words that I Command thee thou shalt lay up in thy heart That it may become as it were a repository of gracious Words and Divine Truths Which like Pools or Rivers of Water will refresh and supply thy need at any time For they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them in the Margent there it is went with them and that Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10. 4. So that it is to have Christ who is the word formed within them that he may follow and go with them whithersoever they go or wheresoever they are This will be yet a more lasting and abiding thing then the Early Dew or the descending Rain for that is not always But to have the Spiritual Rock following us or going with us this is at Midday and Afternoon and at those times when there will be no Rain The word is not nor can be well Preached always but this supplies and helps for that in the Intervals and spaces of time between it even to have a Spiritual drink always within us and to have a Spiritual Rock following and going with us which Rock is Christ out of which we may draw and drink at any time whensoever wâ— will As one of the Antients said Nothing is so worthy of God as the Salvation of Mankind So it is a most wonderful thing to consider how he hath consulted contrived and provided all things for it In his word especially and also in his other doings and dispensations towards the Children of Men. Happy thrice happy and only happy are those his Servants and Creatures who know that is not all but also comply therewith That as deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy Water Spouts Psal 42. 7. So one ordinance doth follow another and one thing is appendant connected and succeeds another and all to that great end to bring about the common Salvation of Mankind as if God would never let us alone until he hath brought us unto Heaven
that ye do observe and use them according to the Pattern shewed unto ye in the Gospel For that is most pleasing unto the Lord as may be understood from Heb. 8. 5. Colos 2. 20. is commonly objected against the use of ordinances at all Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the Rudiments of the World why as tho' living in the World are ye subject to ordinances But it is manifest from what goes before and follows after that Text in this very same Chapter the Apostle Paul there means only Jewish Ordinances and such Ordinances as Perish in the using after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men But have no Ground or Warrant from the Gospel of Christ But the being buried with him in Baptism or the keeping the Feast in Remembrance of him till he comes do not Perish in the using for they have a Relation to some what further neither are they after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men but after the Commandments and Doctrines of Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus ye have been taught and ye have heard the Truth as it is in Jesus Remember this Rule and Direction which I Richard Stafford whilst a Preacher among ye did make known and press and inculcate unto ye over and over That ye may observe it continually when I am gone Viz. For Gods sake and for your own Souls sake If ye would make a continuing and persevering work of it keep still and constantly unto the ordinances of Religion I say and testify again keep still and constantly unto the Ordinances of Religion By the way Do not think this reciting my Name to you to be odd and unbecoming for as the Apostle doth several times mention himself by Name in his Epistles I Paul do testify I Paul the Aged In like manner I do imitate the same Example I such an one a Lame Person which will be a further sign and token do so express it on purpose to make a greater and more lasting Impression in your Memories Remember and obey this saying keep still unto the Ordinances of Religion But as it is written We will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word Acts 6. 4. So here take this further advice and direction be sure especially to keep still and constantly unto these two ordinances of Religion Give your selves continually unto Prayer And because all are not Apostles and all are not Ministers do ye also continually attend upon the hearing of the Ministry of the Word Whatever ye neglect do not neglect these two for these are confessed acknowledged and agreed unto by all that Name the Name of Jesus Christ in every place both theirs and ours Even they who pretend to be above ordinances and to cast off ordinances that they do err and are deceived herein hath been made known from the Scriptures of Truth as God himself will yet more clearly Judge and Decermine at the last day do still keep amongst them in their Congregations the Ministry of the Word and Prayer It is possible to Pray without ceasing and to continue in Prayer and to give your selves continually unto Prayer Good God! How much dost thou delight that thy Servants should continue see James 1. 25. As appears from mentioning it so very often in thy Word by secret and mental Prayer by having your Souls always in a frame and disposition to Pray by praying in the Assembly of the upright where only Christians are gathered together and by Praying in the Congregation Where tho' there may be a mixt Multitude of Saints and Sinners yet thy Prayers of Faith and thy lifting up holy hands will find acceptance with God for all that Give your selves continually to attend upon the hearing of the Ministry of the Word Go unto and frequent constantly the place when and where it is Preached Lose no opportunity Ye can hardly conceive how much I have been vexed and troubled in mind at my doing things by halves or by my losing opportunities in Temporal and Wordly concerns For these opportunities slip by and often cannot be retrieved But where they may be retrieved it is always with expence of more time and labour all which had been saved if the thing had been throughly done the first time And I somewhat knowing the worth of time the gliding away of time and the Irrecoverableness of time there is nothing which I so much grudge at as the loss of time It is a Maxim and Rule of Prudence and Wisdom in things pertaining to this present Life To lose no opportunities But be sure to lay hold on and make the most of every opportunity Much more it is Godly discretion and soul saving wisdom to lose no opportunity but to lay hold of and make the most of every opportunity in Spiritual and Eternal concerns As we have opportunity let us do Good unto all Men. People should not grudge and think much when they see a Poor Man or as Jobs Phrase is Not turn away their Eyes from a Poor Man But rather be glad and give God thanks for putting an opportunity into their hands that they may do good unto him and lay in more Foundation for their own future reward For as the Lord Jesus said It is more Blessed to give then to receive So it is a certain Truth they that give Alms have more reason to give God thanks then they that receive Alms for a twofold Reason because God hath placed them in such a condition whereby they are enabled to give Alms and also because he hath promised a future Recompence for the same and he will repay it In which last respect they are more beholden to the Poor Man or Beggar in receiving it from them then he is beholden unto them for giving to him which should teach thee to prevent him in thy Almsgiving even before he asks for it for this is the best sort as also to lose no opportunity for the same according to thine ability Lose no opportunity in any Godly or Christian Duty I charge thee before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ who shall Judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Preach the Word be instant in season and out of season 2 Tim. 4. 1. Under this is included a charge to the People to hear the word also in season and out of season It is altogether as proper to hear or Preach the Word upon a Week Day as well as on a Sabbath Day It is equally your Duty to redeem two or three hours from the work of your calling for to attend on the same Countrey People will rise at one or two a Clock in a Morning to go to Markets to remote and distant places to get a Shilling or Eighteen Pence more then Ordinary This same is a Lesson and Instruction and God doth expect a like of his Creatures that ye should rise up a little Earlier in the Morning and sit down later at Night and only be a little more Temperate
THE Necessity of Keeping still unto THE Ordinances of Religion Prayer Hearing the Word Baptism and the Lord's Supper Set forth in a SERMON Preached in the Countrey on Acts VI. 4. Wherein also is laid open and manifested the Errour of those People commonly call'd Quakers who do neglect the two latter Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5. 19. London Printed and are to be sold by Ralph Simpson at the Harp in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word Acts VI. 4. IN order to serve God unto the saving of the Soul and to continue and Persevere in Godliness and well doing unto our Lives End It is necessary to keep still unto the Ordinances of Religion I do mean the several Acts and Parts of Worship as Prayer Hearing the Word Baptism and the Lords Supper as they are used in the reformed Churches By the Congregations and Assemblies of Gods People Who Worship him in Spirit and in Truth The necessity of keeping still unto them In order to make a continuing and persevering work of it will hence appear because it is certain that each of us and every one of us shall so long Persevere in the Worship and Service of the Lord according as we use the means of Perseverance Now these Ordinances are the means of Grace and Perseverance which last is a well grounded Hope of Glory Suppose a Man who hath been many years advancing in the Christian Life another Mnason an Old Disciple who hath come up to the higher attainments of Christianity and some degrees towards Perfection for this is the meaning of that Commandment of Christ unto his followers Be ye Perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect That we should still endeavour and make towards Perfection although it is impossible for Man here in the Body to be so perfect as God is Suppose one that were Dead to sin and mortified to wordly Affections Who hath all faith and all Knowledge of Spiritual things If this Person should as he might if he would but God forbid that any one should make the Experiment Neglect for some while to offer up any Prayer at all hearing or reading of the word he would have no consideration of his ways nor admit any thoughts of God but he leads such a kind of life as the wicked sensual wordly and ungodly Man doth for a Week or a Month together Even this formerly Godly and Gracious Soul would become such an one himself as the other is hardened stupid backward unaffected and in a manner Reprobate to every good word and work And my People are bent to back sliding from me Hos 11. 7. For there is a deceitfulness of Heart and Corruption of Nature from within and also the Temptations from without as all things are full of Temptation which would soon betray us into sin and forgetfulness of God unless prevented by those Means and Ordinances which himself hath instituted What the Apostle saith in another case may be applicable unto this For the Sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat but it withereth the Grass and the Flower thereof fadeth and the Grace of the fashion of it Perisheth So likewise should we be apt to fade away even in our Good ways For the manifold Sollicitations and Objects of the World that Men pleasing the Allurements of Company are all apt to draw or turn aside from God and the thing that Good is But the keeping still unto the Ordinances of Religion doth remind and bring us unto them again which if we did not resort unto our Back slidings would be increased till they did come to an utter and final Apostacy as we may perceive by the Working and Tendencies of our own fleshy and corrupt Nature as also from the many Ensamples of others who have Forsaken God and Loved this present World It can hardly be expressed how averse Mans Nature is unto God and to the things of his Kingdom how hard it is to cleave unto him with full purpose of Heart according as he requires and how easy it is to fall away and turn aside It was just now quoted what God saith in Hosea My People are bent to Backsliding He doth not there so much mean the sinners and ungodly but his Saints and Servants My People have a Proneness and Liableness unto this thing of Back sliding Look within your selves as ye read this and do ye not perceive somewhat thereof in your own selves Which the word of God doth mention and take notice of in order to Caution and Arm your minds against the same For Israel that is a word signifying his own People again Slideth back as a Backsliding heiser Hos 4. 16. But besides those little inclinations towards Backsliding in us Man in his Natural condition is altogether addicted to sin and falling away But they like Men have transgressed the Covenant Hos 6. 7. It was like them and such as could be expected from them Now a Backsliding is as it were a little trip and is not altogether so bad as a fall or a falling back or a falling away Or a turning aside or out of the way or a going back But here is to be observed that the Word of God takes notice of every least Back sliding for it hinders or retards or they do not go on so well in the way to Heaven as the Lord would have them and guide them and hold them up by his right hand We say in the Proverb It is a good Horse that never stumbles but it is a very good Horse that never so much as trips for there is hardly such an one to be found And so it will be in the Account and Estimation of God that Man or Woman walks well enough in his way who doth never stumble or fall therein and if when he falls he doth get up again Our Gracious God calls upon Israel Return for thou hast fallen by thine Iniquity Yea if they are gone back or aside if they will still return again into the right way he will accept thereof Thus saith the Lord shall they fall and not arise Shall they turn away and not return Jer. 8. 4. And so when the Creature is walking and moving on in the way of his Commandments when there are Backslidings God doth in no wise allow thereof but complains of it Although he would not altogether discourage his Poor Creature neither So that the Law of God is Perfect converting the Soul It doth chalk out the highest degrees and measures of perfection altho Mans Impotency weakness and feebleness doth not attain unto it That is a Good Son and Servant indeed who can say in Truth unto God our Heavenly Father and not so much by way of Boasting unto their fellow Creatures Loe these many years do I serve thee neither transgressed I
furtherance of the Salvation of Mankind and what God hath Joyned together set no Man put asunder for he hath commanded them both and they may be successively used one after another So on the other hand when froward and disobedient Man would notwithstanding put them asunder and neglect the one and hold to the other then comes in Satan and strangely befools and deceives people therein As the Apostle James argues For as the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also even so here it is If one should use a Course of Prayer every Evening Morning and Noon-day whether it be private Family or publick Worship without keeping the Commandments of God or having regard to them in all things and at all times This would be as Ridiculous Foolish and Nonsensical as if a Servant should as often come to thee for aid and assistance or for Tools and Instruments to do such a Work and yet never set about the doing of it So again it is a like Folly Ignorance and Deceivableness to be Hearers of the Word and not doers of it The Foolish shall not stand in thy sight Psal 5. 5. From which Scripture of undoubted Truth we are given to understand that they who are foolish in matters of Religion shall not stand in Gods sight That is they shall not go to Heaven And besides that just now here mentioned they come also among the Number of the Foolish who remember the Covenant in Baptism and yet they do not observe it or only with slight and transient Purposes and Resolutions at that present time when the words thereof are to Obediently keep Gods holy will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our Life God heareth not sinners John 9. 31. And here in like manner it is alledged out of the Scriptures of Truth that God is not pleased with the Sacrifice of Fools neither will He accept thereof In the Scripture Notion and Apprehension Fools and Sinners are near the same for all Sinners are Fools and also all Fools of their own making as we commonly say who were not born Ideors of meer Natural Impotency are sinners In that they being in Honour and Vnderstanding they abide not They do not improve but rather lose that Knowledge and Reason in which God had Created them This is a sin and fault of their own in these Creatures when they do not Trade with their Talent but become unprofitable And so when they lose Good and Subject themselves to Evil as to the future State and Distribution of things this is properly folly yea and folly in the abstract and in this sence sin and folly are convertible terms All Sinners are Fools and all such Fools are Sinners So Ignorance in Worship or in the things pertaining to God this is folly For let not such an one think that he shall receive any thing from the Lord. Anothers abuse of a thing doth not take away my rightful use thereof Because another Person drinks and is drunken this is no Argument or Reason that I should not drink at all for I may drink Nevertheless to quench Thirst or refresh Nature Yea I must drink or I Perish So it is as to the Ordinances of Religion tho' some abuse them yet Nevertheless we may rightly use them yea they are as absolutely necessary to carry us through this barren and dry Wilderness of the Earth unto the Heavenly Canaan as drink is to the Body Because the Prayers of some People do become Sin Psal 109. 7. This is no Argument why we should not pray at all But rather we are thence taught not to regard Iniquity in our hearts to lift up Holy Hands to purity our hearts to sanctify our selves when we draw near to God and such like Because too many are hearers of the Word and not doers of it shall we therefore like the mixt and ungodly Multitude turn aside our foot from going to the place of hearing but rather let us hear and do it According to what our Forefathers Covenanted and Promised to God for themselves and us in Deut. 5. 27. And if we would inherit the promises we must of necessity be Children of the Covenant Because some do not know and mind much more therein then the sprinkling or dipping in Water or do it in General for customs sake or to make the child or Person a Christian as they say we may and ought nevertheless to fulfil all Righteousness and to comply with that Commandment of Jesus Christ Go and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Retaining the thing but withal giving most heed to the thing signified thereby The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth now save us not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the Answer of a Good Conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 3. 21. If one is Baptized with outward water this hinders not but he may at the very same time and afterwards also be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire by which last is denoted warmth servency and zeal in the Service of God For as Peter Answered Can any Man sorbid Water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we and he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord. Acts 10. 47 48. This Text doth as plainly imply as two and three make Five even according to the common sence and understanding of the same Words without any forced meaning or even any Interpretation at all that the having received the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit is no sufficient reason and excuse why they should not at all use Water Baptism but it is rather a reason that they should use it For Peter and Paul and other Ministers and Servants of God of Old time who had the Spirit in more measure then any now adays Notwithstanding all Boasting and Pretensions did baptize with water I would to God this were throughly understood and considered of by those People commonly called Quakers But they also have that humour and disposition as to be stiff-necked and perverse and refuse to hear and hearken unto that part of the Word of God which make against their own Imaginations The Ordinances are a Part of the Commandments of God and they are to be used out of Obedience and Homage unto him God commands us to hear his Word to call on his Name Christ commanded his Disciples and Followers to baptize and to do this in remembrance of him These two last Baptism and the Lords Supper seem to come in the place of the two Jewish Ceremonies or Ordinances of Circumcission and the Passover both of which were of Gods immediate Command and Institution As to the first of which the Apostle Paul averreth Circumcision is nothing and Vncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7. 19. Of which
accompany Salvation tho we thus speak For some of ye will hear and will not be disobedient nor yet gain saying And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of Hope unto the end Seeing that our selves are determined by his Grace the longest day we have to live here on the Earth to give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word See ye to it also that ye give your selues continually to Prayer likewise and to attend upon this Ministry of the Word As Agrippa and Bernice did come with great Pomp to the place of hearing so do ye lose no opportunity to come with great Reverence Attention and a Spirit of Discerning unto the place of hearing wherever it is faithfully and skiilfully Preached forth and handled They came with great Pomp. But do not Refuse to come to any place for the seeming outward meanness and contemptibleness thereof for as it is the same Sun which shines upon a Dunghill as upon a Beautiful Palace as Christ according to the flesh was laid in the Manger of a Stable so the word of God and the words of Eternal Life may be and are often more purely and simply declared in ordinary Rooms than in finer Buildings Let it meet with Reception in your hearts Remember the word which I have inculcated over and over unto ye which doing altho some may think superfluous yet to ye it is safe For the Lords sake and for your own Souls sake if ye would indeed make a continuing and persevering work of it keep still and constantly unto the Ordinances of Religion But above all and especially give your selves continually unto Prayer and to attend upon the Ministry of the word that ye lose no opportunity for hearing the same He that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully Jer. 23. 28. And in whatever place it is faithfully spoken and faithfully preached even unto his Habitation shalt thou seek and thither shalt thou come Deut. 12. 5. FINIS Another Admonition to the People commonly call'd QUAKERS THere are some in these days who think and say that all Sermons and Exhortations to abstain from sin whither secret or open is but a low degree of the Ministration of the Gospel and they are apt to Boast that they do Press further and arrive at higher attainments I wish they did all speak Truth herein for there are sundry other sins besides Drunkenness Adultery and the Manifest Works of the Flesh and it were well if themselves were purified from all them also especially from hatred variance emulations strife heresies envyings and also from all the Perversities and Evils of the Spirit This I confess as well as they that to go on to sin and to confess confess and sin and so to return again to Folly I will hear what God the Lord will say for he will speak Peace unto his People and to his Saints but let them not turn again to Folly Psal 85. 8. This will never do as to the saving of the Soul and that it may be received up into Glory But this is the manner of such Wordly outward Worshippers who are Foolish Disobedient and Deceived serving Divers Lusts and Pleasures Titus 3. 3. And so where any Preachers or Ministers do lead or allow People in sin but they do not shew the way how they may be led out of sin there they do not profit the People at all For that is the saving and effectual Ministry which actually turns People from Darkness unto Light from the Power of Satan unto God Nevertheless where this is done it is necessary to make mention of Sin Evil Iniquity and Transgression to warn and arm the Minds of People against the same also Accordingly Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles and all the Holy Men of God who were moved by the Holy Ghost whose Words and Writings are upon record in the Book of the Lord did speak of and testify against sin But some in these days who think of themselves more highly then they ought to think Rom. 12. 3. Be not wise in your own Conceits ver 16. Do imagine that themselves are more Pure and Spiritual minded and have attained further then to make mention of Sin and Transgression within their Lips And tho' David Ezra Nehemiah Job Daniel and Isaiah in those Prayers of their own which are left upon record in the lively Oracles and had as much yea more of the Spirit of the Lord then any in these days do all make Confession of and ask Pardon for their Sin and of the other Servants of God It is both a Pattern and also a standing positive and express Commandment which our Lord Jesus Christ even under the Gospel dispensation hath given unto all his Disciples and Followers When ye pray say and forgive us our sins Luk. 11. 2 4. And it is again affirmed in the same Gospel If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us But if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all umighteousness 1 John 1. 8 9. But I have went several times to the Congregations of those aforenamed and beheld their Devotions Acts 17. 23. And observed them and I never therein heard the least Confession of sin to Almighty God nor yet asking any forgiveness of him for the same Whereupon I can assuredly gather and conclude That they do deceive themselves and the Truth is not in them as to that matter And by my Publishing these things to the People of this my Generation and Countrey I would hereby warn and desire them to take heed least what God said to the two Friends of Job come upon them also Viz. Least he deal with them after their Folly Job 42. 8. In that whereas he had commanded and directed all that worship him to confess and be sorry for and forsake their sin He that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy and also to offer up for themselves a Prayer unto God for forgiveness of the same But they did not nor would not whither it was out of Spiritual Pride or the Errour of their own heart God knows and so their sin is not forgiven nor blotted out and then the Lord doth not accept them And if so then the Religion of that People is vain and it signifieth and availeth not to find acceptance or receive any thing from the Lord. Indeed herein they have spoken the thing that is right It availeth not to Worship God and at the same time to continue in Sin and Transgression or to confess Sin and not forsake it For this will no more bring to Heaven than only to set ones Foot only on the Threshold and no further is Actual Entring into the House In no wise But they and they only are Blesled that do his Commandments that they may have Right unto the Tree of Life and may enter in through the Gates into the City Rev. 22. 14. Such do not always stand at or in the Gates Which Doing of his Commandments speaks and requires on this wise Put away the Evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes Cease to do evil learn to do well Isaiah 1. 16 17. FINIS