made a Scorn and a Reproach and a Derision daily for Preaching the Truth he resolved thereupon to give over Preaching Jer. 20. 9. But how long did that his Resolution last Why truly it scarce lasted so long as he was in making it for in the very next Words he tells us But his Word was in mine Heart as a Burning Fire shut up in my Bones and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay And will you be angry with us for doing that which if you would give us the whole World we cannot possibly but do For though we keep our Mouths as it were with a Bridle though we hold our Tongues and speak nothing yet it is pain and grief to us our Hearts are hot within us and the Fire kindles And we cannot possibly refrain our Lips O Lord and that thou knowest We cannot possibly keep back thy loving Mercy and Truth from the great Congregation For says Holy Job I am full of matter the Spirit within me constraineth me Behold my Belly is as new Wine which hath no vent it is ready to burst like new Bottles I will speak that I may be refreshed I will open my Lips and answer Job 32. 18 19 20. The good Man belike is ready to be choaked and stisled he is ready to burst asunder he can have no rest till he speaks the Truth and declares the power of God to his Generation and his strength to all them that are yet for to come Nay farther Thirdly What is there that can possibly tempt us to forbear telling the Truth Can either the World the Flesh or the Devil No verily For we have renounced them all Three in our Baptismal Vow We see through them all VVe see them all to be nothing else but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Can Poverty Poverty that wounds a Generous Spirit and cuts him to the Heart and makes the best of Men derided and scorned by the Rich and Great ones of the World Can Poverty No nor that For having nothing we possess all things 2 Cor. 6. 10. Can the Hatred and Displeasure of great Men No nor that For we are afraid of no Man neither do we regard the Persons of Men We are not afraid of those that can only kill our Bodies but we are only afraid of him that can kill both our Souls and Bodies in Hell Fire Can Shame or Reproach or Disgrace No nor that neither For we look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the Shame and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God Yea and we rejoyce that we are counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name O blessed Jesu What is Man that thou thus regardest him or the Son of Man that thou thus remembrest him What are we poor Worms and no Men that thou dost honour us so far as to make us conformable to thine own blessed Image who wert made perfect through Suffering What are we that thou dost so highly favour us as to give us on they behalf not only to believe on thee but also to suffer for thy fake Phil. 1. 29. And does the World imagin that these and such like pitiful Contradictions of Sinners shall ever make us forbear to tell the Truth when they are our Joy and our Glory and our Crown of Rejoycing Shall our Glory make us ashamed Shall our Joy make us Sad And shall our Wages our Reward our exceeding great Reward Shall our VVages our Persecutions that are far more than the promised Hundred-fold in this VVorld Shall our VVages make us idle and forbear to work O foolish and vain VVorld that thou art Dost thou think that thy Terrors or thy Flatteries thy Threats or thy Promises can sway us either one way or other Do not we see that our VVords have Life and Power in them and that they are quick and piercing For else how should they disturb your callous Seared Consciences If they were a dead Letter they could never do it they could never produce any life or feeling in you That which is Dead can never move those who are Dead twice Dead in Trespasses and Sins And from whence then have they this Life and Power Is it not from the Spirit of God that enlivens and quickens them And does God go along with our very VVords and Breath And will he not take care of our Persons O ye of little Faith to believe it He has Ravens to Feed us and Bears to revenge our Quarrel when Men prove more Brutish and more Ungrateful than the Beasts that perish VVhat then shall hinder us from telling the Truth of Christ Shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as Sheep for the Slaughter Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerers through Christ that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigh nor depth nor any other Creature shall ever hinder us from telling the Truth of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And thus I have shewn you that Ministers are not to forbear to tell the Truth though they make their greatest Friends to become their Enemies by so doing VVhich was the Fourth thing proposed And the Last is this Ministers are not to be afraid to argue the case with their Hearers but they are by St. Paul's Example in my Text to put it home to all their Consciences whether they can alledge any other Reason why they become their Enemies save only because they tell them the Truth and discharge their Consciences in the sight of God as they ought to do St. Paul and several others have been so often put to this that many Instances are wholly needless One shall serve for all and that is taken out of 1 Sam. 12. 3. Where we find that the People having rejected God and his Servant Samuel from reigning over them they chose Saul for their King Upon which the good old Man Samuel made this noble Challenge before all the People Here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his Anointed whose Ox have I taken Or whose Ass have I taken Or whom have I defrauded Whom have I oppressed Or of whose Hands have I received any Bribes to blind mine Eyes therewith And I will restore it you And as Samuel did then so say I now at the Resignation of my Office Here I am witness against me before the Lord and before this Congregation What is my Fault besides telling you the Truth Have I been guilty of any thing besides telling you of your Sins and of loving your Souls more than my own Interest O pray pardon me this Fault And do thou O blessed Jesus pardon me also for speaking any
thing in my own just Defence which may in the least savor either of Pride Vanity or Boasting Do thou give me leave to praise and adore and magnifie thy restraining Grace which hath enabled me to make this Challenge to all my Enemies Give me the Man throughout the World that shall convince me of any Publick Immoral Actions that ever I have been guilty of from my Childhood to this Day and I will freely undergo the Punishment that is due to all those scandalous Reports that my Enemies have maliciously invented and industriously spread about concerning me to the great hindrance of thy Truth and the Salvation of thy People But not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be all the Praise for thy loving Mercy and for thy Truth 's sake 'T was thy Mercy thy Mercy alone and not any good in me that with-held thy Servant from all those Sins that other Men fall into and to which I my self am by Nature most subject Give me leave once more to praise and adore and magnifie thy restraining Grace which hath enabled me to make the same Challenge to all my Enemies of this Parish in Particular Give me the Man that can alledge any other Reason why he is my Enemy save only because I have told him the Truth and Christ hath lived a Life in me that is a reproach to his and I have refused to submit my self to his Imperious Conduct and Judgment in the Work of my Ministry And I will freely undergo any Penalty And here now methinks I see a whole Shoal full of Accusations thrown in all at once against me For First of all Some say we are not thy Enemies because thou tellest us the Truth But because thou dost Point at us in Church To which I answer First I neither knew thee nor thy Sin and consequently I neither pointed at nor so much as thought of thee at that time only the Word of the Lord hath found thee out and thine own guilty Conscience is witness against thee For if thou art not guilty why art thou concern'd If thou art guilty why dost not thou amend thine own Fault in stead of finding Fault with me And my Second Answer is this Those that I have seen asleep I have spoken to and awaked lest the Lord should strike them dead upon the place as he did Euâ—ychus for sleeping at St. Paul's Sermon And those that have been laughing and impudently affronting God and the Congregation I have openly rebuked that others might fear according to St. Paul's Command 1 Tim. 5. 20. Publick Faults are not to be privately but publickly reproved And if the Officers of this Parish had done their Duty they should have presented such Men as Disturbers of Divine Service by the 111th Canon of our Church Secondly Others say We are not thy Enemies because thou tellest us the Truth But because thou keepest such a Bawling and hast so many Actions As for my Bawling as you call it I answer There are Sons of Thunder as well as such as speak with the still small Voice The greatest Sense that ever was delivered to wit the Moral Law was delivered in Thunder and Ligtning Lightning is necessary to discover your Sins to you and Thunder to strike you with the Terrors of the Lord and to make you sorry for them What is told us in the Ear we are to proclaim upon the House tops And God himself is express Isa 58. 1. Cry aloud spare not list up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my People their Transgressions and the House of Jacob their Sins And 't is recorded John 7. 37. That Christ himself stood up at the last Day of the Feast and criod or bawled out aloud And the Prophet Esay does as it were supply the place of a Crier For says he Ho! every one that thirsteth and so on Isa 55. 1. And if we had not these Commands from God does not even Reason tell us 't is in vain to preach if no Man can hear what we say He had need have the loudest Voice that woud awaken you who are deep in Trespasses and Sins And as for my Actions I answer God hath given me liberty to use many more than ever I have yet used He has given me Liberty to stamp with my Feet and to beat the Pulpit and to smite with my Hands if need be which I have never done For says the Lord Ezek. 6. 11. Smite with thine Hand and stamp with thy Foot and say alas for all the evil abominations of the House of Israel Assure your selves he that finds sault with my earnestness does not know what it is to be in earnest And he does not know what that meaneth Cursed be he that doeth the Work of the Lord negligently Jer. 48. 10. Can any Man forbear crying out in good earnest when he sees so many poor Souls dispers'd abroad without a Shepherd Can any Man forbear crying out in good earnest when he sees so many poor Souls ready to sink down into Hell alive Did not dumb Atys cry out when he saw his Father in danger of being kill'd And how much more would he have cried out if he had seen him in as great a danger of being damned Thirdly Others say We are not thy Enemies because thou tellest us the Truth But because thou art so long and so tedious To which I answer Is the Service of God a Burden and a Weariness unto thee and dost thou really snuff at it as the Prophet speaketh Mal. 1. 13 When didst thou reckon a Merry-meeting too long When didst thou reckon the Play-house or the Tavern too tedious What wouldst thou do if I should dismiss thee sooner VVouldst thou go to the Exchange or the Coffee-house to hear News Or wouldst thou go home and instruct thy Family and Pray and sing Psalms with them and Catechise them and examin them in what they have heard in Church Sure I am they that use these and such like Godly Exercises in their own Houses do never think themselves too long in God's House A Day there is better to them than a thousand elsewhere VVhat an Age is this VVhen God condescends to speak to you for so long a time and you think it much to give him the hearing VVhen he vouchsafes to court you to be happy and you will not be courted by him Fourthly Others say We are not thy Enemies because thou tellest us the Truth But because thou dost over-do it To which I answer If I over-do it sure I am there are enough who under-do it And I can never be so over-strict in pressing your Duty as you are over-remiss in neglecting it You do not know what strictness Religion requires If you did you would say with the Prophet Jer. 23. 9. My Heart within me is broken because of the Prophets all my Bones shake I am like a drunken man and like a man whom Wine hath
all the Haters of God's People if they did but thus ingenuously confese that all their Hatred against Good Men proceeds from no other cause but their Hatred against the Truth which they profess For as our Condemnation will be the greater for Robbing Widows Houses under a pretence of Long Prayers So likewise to Hate and Undo a Man under a Pretence of Religion and Friendship is the height of Sin 't is to make the God of Love the Author and the Instrument of Hatred and Malice So then 't is plain that Ministers telling the Truth do oftentimes make their greatest Friends to become their Enemies As it is Matter of Fact Now the Question is How this comes about To which I answer thus As Christ who is the Prince of Peace is not of himself the Cause of War tho he accidentally sends a Sword upon Earth So likewise Telling the Truth is not of its self the cause of Hatred but it only proves to be so accidentally I shall explain this by a common and familiar Instance Solomon tells us Truly the Light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the Eyes to behold the Sun Eccles 11. 7. And yet take a Man that has sore Eyes and the Light of the Sun is so far from being either sweet or pleasant to him that he shuns it as much as possible and prefers Darkness before it All the Fault being in the Eyes and not in the Light that shines upon them And just thus it is in our case Truth is most sweet and pleasant to the Nature of Man in the state of Innocence the desire of Knowledge whereof Truth is the proper Object made our first Parents to forfeit Paradise and yet take a Man after the Fall in his corrupted state and Truth is so far from being either sweet or pleasant to him that he shuns it as much as possible and prefers a Lie before it He hates the Light because his Deeds are evil All the Fault being in the Man that cannot endure the Truth and not in the Truth its self A Plaister applied to a sound Member creates no Smart all the Smart comes from the Wound And that 's the manner how this comes about And the Reason why it comes thus about is this Every beloved Sin is a Mans Right Hand and his Right Eye and every Minister commands us to mortifie our most beloved Sins And what is this but the same in effect as to wound us in our most sensible Part and to cut off our Right Hands and to pluck out our Right Eyes And what is the usual Resentment of an angry furious and revengeful Man in such a case needs no proof Present Death or a Challenge is the least that can be expected And this is the true and the only Cause of all our Hatred in the World No Men are so much hated and persecuted and reviled as the faithful Ministers of the Gospel are They that would make an excellent Figure either in the Field or at the Bar or in any other Calling are despised as they are Ministers Their very Profession exposes them to scorn Christ himself and the Prophets before him and the Apostles after him were all of them thus barbarously treated Slander Malice Persecution and Death its self was their only Portion Nay further The Hatred of the World is made an inseparable Mark of a Faithful Minister for if he were of the World the World would love its own And the Love of the World is made a certain Sign of an unfaithful Minister For says our Saviour Luke 6. 26. Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their Fathers to the False Prophets To have the good Word of all Men and to be a false Prophet is all one in the Judgment of Christ Nay further yet This Hatred that attends telling the Truth has made many a good Man e'en afraid to enter upon this thankless and ungrateful Office It was the case of Moses Jeremy and Jonah Yea and it has made others that were entred upon it to resolve to give it over again or at least to give over their Faithfulness in reproving Sin and to do as other Men did leave their Flocks to Themselves the Devil and the wide World And this was the Prophet Jeremy's Case for says he Jer. 20. 7 8 9 I am in derision daily every one mocketh me for since I spake I cried I cried out Violence and Spoil because the Word of the Lord was made a Reproach unto me and a Derision daily Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his Name That is I am so much scorned for telling the Truth that I am resolved to give over Preaching And thus I have shewn you That Ministers telling the Truth do often times make their greatest Friends to become their Enemies Which was the Second Thing proposed And the Third is This It is unreasonable for Men to become Enemies to their Ministers for telling them the Truth For First of all It is unreasonable to find Fault with a thing for doing that which it ought to do For who will find fault with a Soldier for fighting well or with a Musitian for singing well And who will find fault with his Ear for hearing well or with his Eye for seeing well Certainly he must be a very foolish Man that will cut off his Ear because it hears well or that will pluck out his Eye because it sees well And yet just such another Folly are those Men guilty of who turn away their Ministers for telling them the Truth whose Business and Employment it is to do so upon Pain of Damnation And therefore St. Paul told the Galatians plainly that nothing but foolishness and bewitchery could ever have made them his Enemies upon that account For says he Gal. 3. 1. O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you All the reason they had to hate him was no reason at all 't was perfect Folly and Bewitchery Secondly Ministers are but the Servants and Messengers and Ambassadors of Almighty God and their business is to tell Men the Truth and to tell them their Faults And canst thou be angry with a poor Servant for doing what his Master bids him Canst thou be angry with a Messenger for delivering his Message Canst thou be angry with an Ambassador for doing what the King his Master commands him and he dares not but do upon pain of Death And why then wilt thou be angry with thy Minister for telling thee the Truth and obeying God rather than Man Thirdly To hate a Minister for telling the Truth is a Sign of a Bruit For says Solomon Brov. 12. 1. He that hateth reproof is bruitish And yet they that do so most do take themselves for Men of the best parts and the best breeding and the most accomplish'd Gentlemen of the Age. Again To hate God's Minister for telling the Truth is a sign that
the better enter into and take root in them There is no Sowing without Plowing And there is no grafting without Cutting Nathan's Ministry wounded David and cured him Esay's Ministry humbled Hezekiah and raised him up And St. Peter's Sermon pricked the Hearts of Three thousand Men and healed them at the same time So then If the Minister tells you the Truth and that Truth wounds your Hearts and terrifies your Consciences with the odious sight of your past Sins then all is for your Good But if the Minister does not tell you the Truth yet the Truth will find you out God himself will tell it you with Thunder and Lightning For says he Psal 50. 21. I will reprove thee and set thy Sins in order before thine Eyes And therefore if thou wilt not be told the Truth by the Minister thou shalt be told it by another hand If thou wilt not be wounded by a Friend thou shalt be wounded by an Enemy And thy Wounds shall be unto Death and not unto Life They shall not be like Jonathan's Arrows shot at David for thy Safety but for thy Destruction And therefore certainly one way or other thou shalt be sure to be told the Truth whether thou wilt or no. And is it not better to have it told thee by a Friend than by a Foe Is it not better to have it told thee for thy Salvation than for thy Damnation Oh for Christ his sake do not take us for your Enemies who are your best and your only Friends Is he thine Enemy that cures thee of an ulcerous Leg or a sore Arm or a cankered Breast Is he thine Enemy that saveth thee from hanging or drowning or burning or stabing thy self And yet is the Minister thine Enemy for telling thee the Truth which is to save thee from greater Dangers the Bottomless Pit and the Gulph impassable and the perpetual gnawings of the never-dying Worm Is he that doth good to thy Body thine only Friend And is he that doth good to thy Soul thine only Enemy Is thy Body better than thy Soul Yea is thy Soul the only thing that thou takest no care for Is the Surgeon thy Friend tho he cutteth and launceth and probeth and putteth thee to an intolerable Smart for the recovery of thy Body And is the Minister thine Enemy for doing only the same things for the recovery of thine Immortal Soul Does the Surgeon use a blunter Launcet for the launcing his dear Wife or his tender Child Or does he not use the sharpest Launcet that he has and launces them the deepest too And is this any thing else but the greatest effect of his Love and the greatest sign of his Tenderness and Affection And why then shall the Minister be reckoned thine Enemy for doing that to thy Soul which the Surgeon does to thy Body Is not the sharpest Sermon the best Sermon Does not the sharpest Rebuke create the soundest Faith Tit. 1. 13. Does it not prick the Heart most and pierce and sink down deepest Is it not most like to that Word of God which is quick and powerful and sharper than any Two-Edged Sword Are not we the Salt of the Earth And is not that the best Salt which is sharpest Is there an taste in the white of an Egg Job 6. 6 Are not we the Light of the World And is not that the best Light that inflames the Heart most and makes it to burn within a Man and purifies him from all his Filth and Dross And yet still can you possibly take us for your Enemies for telling you these plain Truths and incurring your displeasure for the good of your Souls What do we get by this but your Hatred Certainly you hate these Truths extreamly when you hate us so much for only telling you of them And you are passionately and desperately in love with your Sins when you hate us so much for only telling you of them Oh what shall we do that you may take us for your Friends Yea what is it that we have not already done to convince you of our Love and Friendship Have not we lost your Love that we might love your Souls the better Have not we lost our Reputation in the World which we might easily have gained as well as others by the smooth inticing Words of Mans Wisdom that in the power and demonstration of the Spirit we might preach the Foolishness of the Cross of Christ and make the Meanest Capacity to understand us The Meanest Man has a Soul to save as well as the Greatest and perhaps it is more precious in the sight of God as is plain from Dives and Lazarus Have not we renounc'd all our Knowledg in the Tongues the Criticks the Fathers the Counsels the Schoolmen and Philosophers Have not we renounc'd all this and contented our selves with bare Scripture Proofs and determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him Crucified whatever our Learning is elsewhere Have we made a shew of any Learning which serves to commend our selves more than to build you up in your most Holy Faith Yea have not we utterly disclaimed it and preached up the quite contrary Preached the sincere Milk of the Word and the plain simplicity of the Gospel and the foolishness of Preaching that your Faith should not stand in the wisdom of Men but in the power of God Have not we become Fools to make you Wise Have not we become Poor to make you Rich and to Reign and to Abound in all things Have not we quitted even our necessary Food and Raiment to feed you with the Bread of Life and to cloath your Souls with the Righteousness of Christ What is there near or dear to us that we have not freely hazarded for your good Hare not we hazarded our very lives by our indefatigable Labours for you in the Lord Have not we labour'd hard to commit our Sermons to our own Memories that you might think them worth your remembring Have not we deliver'd our selves with all possible earnestness and affection that you might see the Travail of our Souls and learn to be in earnest your selves by our Example Have not we preached you awakening and searching Discourses that if possible we might keep you awake and hinder the Devil from Stealing away the good Word of God from all your Hearts when you were asleep And have we at any time by our own Laziness or Lolling or Unconcernedness or Indevotion or the insufferable affected Lightness of some Men disposed you to the same Indifference in God's Worship Nay farther Have not we done all this not only upon the Lord's Day but also upon every Day in the Week Have not we called and stretched forth our Hands and our Hearts unto you both Morning and Evening and that too of our own accord without the least acknowledgment Have not we labour'd and striv'n and wrestled with God in Prayers for you and yours Have not we openly rebuked those that have been bad And
have not we openly commended those that have been good Have not we endeavoured to bring your Vertuous and pious Relations to the Sacrament both by Word of Mouth and by Letter And have not you hindered them even from coming to Church and openly traduced and branded us both through City and Country yea and even within these very Walls too And yet have not we preferred the Conscience before the Fame and Applause of all these good Actions Have not we chose to be discommended for doing our Duty rather than to be commended for neglecting it Have not we chose to do you good against your Wills and against our own advantage rather than do you any harm with your full consent and to our own Profit In a word Is there either Profit or Pleasure or Preferment Is there any thing that this World admires but what we have renounced for the good of your Immortal Souls And now as our Saviour said to the Jews For which of these good Works do you stone me So say we to you For which of these good works do you hate us and become our Enemies However This This is our comfort It is better to be hated for doing our Duty than to be loved for neglecting it It is infinitely more honourable in the sight of God to be turned out of a Place for discharging a good Conscience than it is to leave a Place for a little filthy Lucâ—es sake It is infinitely more Honourable in the light of God to be Hated for telling the Truth and Preaching against Covetousness Usury and Extortion than it is to be applauded and admired for cringing and sneaking and base complying to the Vices of this Place None but a Demas leaves a Place for a little greater advantage in this present World But even Christ himself may be turned out of his Place by Covetous Gadarenes and Swine may be preferr'd before him If any of you shall be pleased to call this the Foolishness of Boasting we answer with St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. 11. I am become a Fool in glorying but ye have Compelled me All the Fault lies at your Door For I ought to have been commended of you For in nothing am I behind the very Chiefest Apostles though I be nothing Upon which Words the most Judicious the most Pious and the most Humble Bishop Sanderson has made this Remark in his Sermon upon Phil. 4. 11. Ad Aâ—lam Your undervaluing of me to the great prejudice of the Gospel but advantage of False Teachers hath made that Glorying necessary for me which had been otherwise but Vanity and Folly And then he addeth in the very next Words When his case falleth to be ours we may then do as he now doth purge our selves from false Crimes and Suspicious and maintain our own Innocency And he has these words in another place to the same purpose on the behalf of Job who was very often compelled by his false Accusers to proclaim his own Righteousness in his Sermon on Job 29. ver 14 15 16 17. Ad Magistratum Where Silence against foul and false Imputations may be interpreted a Confession there the Protestation of a Man 's own Innocency is ever just and sometimes necessary When others do us open wrong it is not now Vanity but Charity to do our selves open right And whatever Appearance of Folly or Vain-boasting there is in so doing they are chargeable withal that compel us thereunto and not we And 't was neither Pride nor Passion in Job but such a Compulsion as this that made him so often proclaim his own Righteousness And thus I have shewn you the unreasonableness of hating your Ministers for telling you the Truth And I have answered an Objection that might be made against my way of handling it in my own Defence which was the third thing proposed And the Fourth is this Ministers are not to forbear to tell the Truth tho they make their greatest Friends to become their Enemies by so doing For First of all These Galatians loved St. Paul as well as their own Eyes and yet he did not forbear to tell them the Truth and to give them their own tho they became his Enemies for it Christ himself did intirely love his Mother and he was intirely beloved by her And yet what a rough and what a severe Answer did he give her at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee Woman what have I to do with thee And so likewise when he tarried behind at Jerusalem to Dispute with the Doctors in the Temple he valued not his Parents Displeasure nor asked their leave to do his Father's Business which they wist not of And accordingly we find that he hath made it absolutely impossible for any Man to be his Disciple that is either ashamed or afraid to confess Him and his Truth in this Adulterous and Wicked Generation And therefore whoever does not leave both Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Houses and Land and all that he has for his Sake he can never be his Disciple And therefore certainly no Minister must forbear to tell the Truth though he makes his best Friends and his nighest Relations yea though he makes all the World his Enemies by so doing Telling the Truth is so great and so necessary a qualification in a Minister of the Gospel that St. Paul knew no greater Character to give Christ himself than that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good Confession 1 Tim. 6. 13. Thus Elijah told the Truth before Ahaeb and Jezebel Nathan before David Daniel and the Three Children before the King of Babylon John the Baptist before Herod the Great and St. Paul before Felix his Judge when he made him tremble with his Discourse of Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come But alas what do I say that Ministers must not when I may safely add Secondly It is absolutely impossible for them to forbear telling the Truth though they be sure to make all the World their Enemies by so doing For the Burden of the Lord is upon them and that presseth and constraineth and even forceth them to speak the Truth whether they will or no. The Dumb Ass could not chuse but speak the Truth and rebuke the Madness of the Prophet Yea and even Balaam himself who was more bruitish than his very Beast could not chuse but speak the Truth too He could not go beyond the word of the Lord to do either less or more though Balak would have given him his House full of Silver and Gold Numb 22. 18. Truth makes its own way and breaks forth like Light through a Cloud It breaks forth through all Opposition It opens the Mouth of an Ungodly High Priest to Prophesie by course and forceth him to declare that Truth which he had otherwise held in Unrighteousness Truth lays a Wo upon every one that Preacheth not the Gospel It is strong and mighty and will prevail and reign and triumph gloriously for ever more When Jeremy was
overcome because of the Lord and because of the Words of his Holiness As if he had said I stagger I reel too and fro I am amaz'd I am at my wits End I cannot tell what to do the Lord requires of me so much Holiness and so much Strictness and I have so little to give unto him Fifthly Others say VVe are not thy Enemies because thou tellest us the Truth But because thou comparest thy self to Christ and thy Successor to Barabbas To which I answer VVhoever has reported that he is of his Father the Devil a Lyar and the Truth of God is not in him And he betrays withal what an excellent Opinion he has of that Man's Honesty whom he whom he compares to a Thief for robbing his poor Neighbour of his Vlneyard because it is so convenient for him He that receives stollen Goods is a Thief as well as he that steals them Herod was guilty of Blasphemy for accepting as well as the Multitude for giving Him Divine Honour And 't is remarkable That the destroying Angel spared the Multitude and only took Vengeance of Herod He spared the Thieves that stole away God's Honour and he only punished the Consenter for basely accepting of it For who would have been so served himself Sixthly Others say We are not thy Enemies because thou tellest us the Truth But because so many Dissenters follow thee where-ever thou preachest To which I answer VVho does the Church of England the best Service He that brings Dissenters to Church yea and to the Common-Prayer too Or he that drives them away from both VVho deserves best from the Church He that makes Dissenters in love with it Or he that makes grave and serious Church-men to go to the Dissenters Meetings for want of Affectionate Awakening and Scripture Preaching I speak seriously If the excellent Liturgy and the incomparable Constitutions of our Church were but rightly followed by all Church-men both in their Life and Doctrin there would not be many Dissenters in all England Which God grant for Christ his sake Seventhly Others say VVe are not thy Enemies because thou tellest us the Truth But because there is such a Throng and such a Press and such a Multitude that follow thee that there is no coming at thee To which I answer First of all Oh the unaccountable perverseness of Men For say they If the Church be thin and empty who will go there to be starved And if it be full and thronged who will go there to be swelter'd to Death Let us do what we can Let us either pipe and dance or mourn and weep And Men will be Men still they will do what they list and they will never be without some silly Excuse or other to keep them away from Church Secondly Is the Church so full and thronged that you cannot come at your Seats VVhy for God's sake cannot you who are so near the Church come assoon to it as those who are so far from it VVhat if you were to go from Sea to Sea to hear the VVord of the Lord Can you be displeased to see God's Harvest so great And can you hate him so much whom others love so entirely 'T is always so Common Blessings are never esteemed as they ought to be Who scarce ever thanks God for the Light of the Sun which is the greatest Blessing upon Earth It 's Commonness detracts from it's true and real worth Thirdly If ever you will go into Heaven if ever you will enter in at the strait and narrow Gate you must press and press hard and you must break your selves a way through such a Throng as this You must sight your selves a way as through an Army with Banners These are those Sons of Violence that take Heaven by Force These Little ones the poor of this World rich in Faith are Heirs of the Kingdom These tremble at God's Word while you Great-Ones make a mock at it These Hungry-Ones do relish the bitterest thing while you loath and nauseate the choicest Manna The People and the Multitude do commonly best discern who are Prophets They found John to be a Prophet and they found Jesus of Nazareth to be the Christ when none of the Rulers could find it out And they frequently defended them from all the Viol both of Herod and the Jews You have stollen the Earth from them and if you have not a very great care they will steal Heaven from you However through such a Crowd as this you must go there if ever you go there Fourthly VVhat if your Church be so fill'd and throng'd that you can scaree get at it Do not you know that I have often preached that all Men should go to their own Parish-Churches And have not I frequently exhorted and pressed them to it And why then do you blame me for that which is not in my Power to prevent Yea why do you blame me for that which you commend others for a great Auditory God grant that they may all have such conscientious Ministers that they may have no need to go from their own Churches either for Daily-Prayers Preaching Baptizing Catechising Visiting the Sick Receiving the Sacrament or any other Christian Ordinance as too many are forced to do who have no Minister living among them Fifthly VVhat if your Church be so fill'd and throng'd Do not you know that some of Christ's Hearers drew nigh to hear him others sat about him others sat at his Feet others leaned on his Breast others hanged upon his Mouth others untiled the Roof of the House wherein he taught others got up into Sycamore-trees that they might see him at least if they could not hear him and others trod one upon another out of an earnest desire to get as near him as they could Luke 12. 1. And cannot you bear that in my Hearers which Christ himself both bore and commended in his Is that to my Dispraise which was an Honour to my Lord and Master and the very Joy of his Heart VVill not you suffer Men to receive us as if Christ were here present Especially when he himself is express that whoever receiveth us receiveth him and him that sent him and whatever is done to us in his Name he esteems and rewards as done to Himself Eighthly Others say we are not thy Enemies because thou tellest us the Truth But because thou Railest at us To which I answer First of all He is no Railer who according to his Office tells Men of their Faults for the good of their Souls But he is a Railer who does as Diotrephes did love the Preeminence and receiveth us not but goeth about from House to House prating against us with Malicious Words and not content therewith neither doth he himself receive the Brethren and forbiddeth them that wou'd and casteth them out of the Church 3 John 9. 10. And such a one is a Railer and not he whose Function it is to