and renew a right Spirit within me Hence is it that King Hezekiah beseeched the Lord to remember for him how he had walked before him what in Ceremony and Formality No in truth and with a perfect heart Isa 38.3 and therefore the true Prophets of God have ever cryed out O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickedness Jer. 4.14 They are pharisaical Hypocrites that cry up the washing of the hands and that place the total of Religion Divine Worship and Devotion in exterior Observations where Gods Word never placed it In the fifth of St. Matthew among those glorious Beatitudes of our blessed Saviour you will find one appropriated to the pure in heart ver 8. but you no where find a blessing appropriated to formal Ceremonies or bodily Gestures or lip Devotions wherefore those sowre and angry Gentlemen that are so mightily for the Gaityes of exterior Observances may do well to bethink themselves in time what answer they will give the Lord to that great question Isa 1.12 Who hath required this at your hands Secondly Let those that fall under this Reproof bethink themselves whether in their heat and zeal of preaching up Conformity to exterior Observations they have not fed their Flocks with husks instead of Bread And by reason of this may not your Hearers cry out with the Prophet My Leanness my Leanness Wo unto me Isa 24.16 In the Jewish Church there were many external Observances commanded and therefore had Divine Authority for their warrant and yet when these Externals were screw'd up to that height and grew so rank that Religion run all into stalk and had nothing but a bare appearance and mere outside in it the Lord loathed and abhorred them though they had his own Precept for them Pray will you see how that great and Evangelical Prophet Isaiah both opens and shuts up his Prophecy In his first Chapter you find him opening his Prophecy thus Thus saith the Lord Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an Abomination to me the New Moons and Sabbaths the Calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meetings your New Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And now see how he shuts up his Prophecy in his last Chapter He that killeth an Oxe is as if he slew a man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swines blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol ver 3. Yet Sacrifices Oblations Incense New Moons Sabbaths their solemn Assemblies and their Festivals were all commanded by the Lord but when all Religion came to be put in these exterior Observations and that they eat up and usurped the place of the life and power thereof they became an Abomination to God and all good men and their Sacrifices Oblations and Incense were but as Murder Prophanity and Idolatay before the Lord. A mighty memorable and particular instance of this matter you have in the Second of Kings Chap. 18. ver 4. In the third Verse it is said that King Hezekiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his Father did And the fourth Verse tells you what those right things were He removed the high Places he brake the Images he cut down the Groves and that he might make clear work it is added that he brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made The occasion of making it you will find in the twenty first of Numbers which was thus The Children of Israel in their Journeyings in the Wilderness were grievously afflicted with fiery Serpents which bit and killed many of them Upon this the people besought Moses that he would pray unto God for them that he would take away those Serpents which Moses did And the Lord gave this answer to the prayer of Moses ver 8. Make thee a fiery Serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live And in the ninth Verse Moses made this Serpent of Brass and put it upon a pole and it came to pass that if a Serpent had bitten any man when he beheld that Serpent of brass he lived as the Lord had promised And you find that this brazen Serpent had the honour to be reckoned a Type of Christ even by our Lord himself John 3.14 As Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so says our Saviour must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life How then comes it about that the breaking this brazen Serpent in pieces should be one of those excellent Acts which is said to be right in the sight of the Lord Why the Text tells you that the Children of Israel burnt Incense to it And when any thing becomes an Idol though it hath been honoured with never so great a Divine presence and hath performed never so many and mighty operations and have been never so much instrumental in the hand of God to work wonders in the world yet it must be removed and destroyed A Mind that is throughly set for God and a Magistrate that is resolved to discharge his duty aright must down with not only Images and Groves and those grosser parts of Idolatry and Will-worship but the brazen Serpent also when it not only ceaseth to propagate true Religion but is set up in opposition against it For though it have been never so useful and serviceable to heal and save the people formerly yet when it does degenerate and becomes instrumental to destroy them it should down too for 't is not their past excellency nor service should prevail with you to spare them when they are become a present damage Well then if exterior Observations of Gods own appointment and such as have had his express Commands to warrant them may become so abominable when it runs up into Forms and Ceremonies only and engages it self in a direct opposition to the power and life of Religion how abominably abominable must those Observations needs be that have no sacred Sanction and at best nothing but humane Precepts and humor to maintain them And are they to be reproved that exalt and cry up the formal and external Observations of Instituted Worship and give it the preference to the internal and Spiritual part of Religion as such as do but betray and undo their hearers And are they to be excused that magnifie and exalt the formal and exterior Observations of invented Worship to the eternal and everlasting Ruin of the Souls that credit them God forbid But I must go on Thirdly Let such as are included in this Reproof bethink themselves for whatever they may fancy they are but of the Devils side and are but doing this work for God calls for renting the heart 't is the Devil
the Truth of Worship but about the Place Sir sayes she I perceive that thou art a Prophet our Fathers Worshipt in this Mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the Place where men ought to Worship v. 19.20 Now pray see how Christ nips this little external Quaere And Jesus saith unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem Worship the Father v. 21. and then goes on to shew her what true Worship was and who the true Worshipers are but sayes not one word of the Place In like manner many are mightily inquisitive about Places Times Gestures and Circumstances of Worship and have a great zeal for all these external parts of Religion and yet are totally ignorant both of the true Worship and true Worshippers wherefore you had need be very Moderate and Sober that you be not so transported with external Observations and run away with the Shadow instead of the Substance of Religion for Moderation tempers the mind and allayes those heats and excursions which otherwise it is apt to make And therefore it is called a being sober-minded in the 2 Titus v. 6. for without this ye are like Mad Distracted persons and will run upon a Neighbour or a Relation for dissenting from you in a Ceremony or some exterial Oblervation as if he were a Turk or an Insidel But this makes a man remember that in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature Gal. 6.15 And therefore this teacheth us to put no such mighty stress and value upon that which is of no avail but to imbrace Moderation as that which will ballance the mind and keep it in an even and sober posture at all times and in all cases 2. Be admonisht to Peaceableness and reckon not this admonition strange for the holy Scripture tells you of some that hate peace and the Psalmist saith he had long dwelt with such Psal 120.6 My Soul sayes he hath long dwelt with him that hateth Peace I am sayes he for Peace but when I speak they are for War And yet these Haters of Peace have alwayes the Impudence to complain first and to burthen others with their Guilt and if you search the Scriptures you will find none so deeply culpable of this Crime as those that were for external Observations for who so much oppose the Miracles and Doctrine of Christ and so bloodily pursued him to the very Death as those that were for the Traditions of the Elders And who raised the uproars the mutinies and tumults against the Apostles of Jesus Christ in every Country City Town and place where they came but the same Spirit And yet they had the foreheads to accuse the holy Apostles nay our blessed Lord and Saviour himself for Seditious and the Ringleaders of Sedition Be careful therefore that ye be not insnar'd to herd with this tumultuous and unpeaceable spirit for if ye do you 'l run clamouring with them to the Magistrate against your neighbours and against your friends to ruin and undo them for the non-observance of some external rites and customs You see how fierce and savage this spirit hath been in all ages and quite through the Scriptures that have been for renting the garments and exterial observations But pray look and see where you can find that they that were for renting the heart were ever tainted with this unpeaceable and turbulent temper And yet which is greatly to be lamented you generally find the Magistrate take in with that mutinous spirit against this and laying the imputations due to them upon these Hearest thou not says Pilate to Christ how many things they witness against thee Mat. 27.13 and yet they were all false Witnesses and he himself was unjust they were such for after the Witnesses had spoken he calls our Saviour a just person vers 24. and washeth his hands as innocent of his blood And yet Oh the wickedness of an unjust Judg'l for all this against the convictions of his own Conscience he falls in with that cursed impious and unpeaceable party against-Christ Have ye not need then to be admonisht to look well to your selves that your hearts do not engage you to this unpeaceable spirit There ever was and I am afraid still is too much Tory-Divinity in the world but you may easily know it for it is always on the Tantivy Away with him away with him crucifie him crucifie him was ever their language And if you do but ask why what evil hath he done this does but whet their rage and make them urge the multitude to cry out the more Let him be crucified For they are acted by a wild kind of ungovernable zeal such as the Apostle St. Paul tells you he had before his Conversion Act. 22.3 I was zealous towards God says he as ye all are this day and that you may see what their zeal was that day pray look into Act. 21.27 you will find that some Jews which were of Asia where St. Paul had been preaching had spy'd him in the Temple at Jerusalem and they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him crying out Men of Israel help this is the man that teacheth all men every where against the people and the Laws and this place and further Brought Greeks also into the Temple and hath polluted this holy place And upon this out-cry all the City was mov'd and the people ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the Temple and the Text tells you They went about to kill him and had certainly done it had not a Captain of a band rescued him vers 31. So that you see what their zeal at that day was and is but the same which the same Apostle tells you in fewer words in Phil. 3.6 That he was as concerning zeal a persecutor of the Church So that this wild kind of vagabond zeal which is always conversant about exterial observations only and spends it self but about the bark and husk of Religion doth but make men the fiercer and the more inveâ—om'd in their minds against true Christianity and renting the heart for this zeal will transport you to such inquietudes and extravagancies that ye will prefer a Barrabas a Robber and Murtherer before Christ and a sincere Christian It will make you mutinous and sticklers for the worst men and the wickedest interest what need have ye then of this admonition to be of peaceable spirits that ye be not hurried away by a mistaken zeal into such strange and brutish exorbitances And thus much for Admonition come we now to the next and last improvement of this Point which is Examination And this shall be Threefold 1. To the Magistracy 2. To the Ministry 3. To the People 1. To the Magistracy For I am for the old Computation of reckoning Moses before Aaron and am for placing the Crown above the Miter though I am sure this is no way to a Bishoprick
for all our new fashioned Divinity is for the other Calculation and mightily dissatisfied if you don't put the Church before the State however I address my-self first to you Is it so that true repentance and such as is acceptable unto God consists not in renting the garments or exterial observations then be you exhorted to examine your selves whether you lay out your Magistracy consonant to and agreeable with this Doctrine The highest Character that was veer given to any Magistrate is that which we find given to David That he was a man after Gods own heart And indeed the heart and mind of a Magistrate should be agreeable to the heart and mind of God for he bears his Image and is his Deputy in the Earth Upon which account Magistrates are also stiled Gods in Scripture Now therefore examine your selves as to this duty before you and see how your hearts stand affected towards it God is all for renting of the heart for zeal and spiritual worship on such days and in such duties as we are now engaged in But are you not more or rather for renting the garment for vain Ceremonies and humane invented observations How then comes this discrepancy betwixt the heart of God and your hearts between Gods mind and your minds Inquire well into the matter for there must be a fault some where and it cannot be on the Lords part Hath not God told you by his own Son That he is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth and that his Father seeketh such to worship him Joh. 4.23 24. And will you seek such to punish them Examine your selves and do not think to shamm it off That 't is for the Church that you do this Pray turn to 1 Sam. 15. and you will there find one of the greatest Cheats that you meet with in the whole Word of God for 't was by a Magistrate and a Magistrate of the highest Order and 't was a Cheat that had a pretence for the Church too The business is this King Saul received a commission from God to go and smite the Amalekites for laying wait for Israel in their way when they came up from Egypt and the summ of the Commission you have in the third verse Go and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not but slay both man and woman infant and suckling ox and sheep camel and ass Pursuant to this Commission Saul gathers 210000 of the people together and goes up and smote the Amalekites but spared Agag their King and the best of their sheep and of the oxen and the fatlings and the lambs and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them But every thing that was vile and refuse that they destroyed utterly vers 9. Upon this breach of his Commission the Lord sends his Prophet Samuel to meet Saul at his return and you find that Saul met Samuel in a very brisk humour vers 13. for Saul said unto him Blessed be thou of the Lord I have performed the commandments of the Lord. But Samuel replied What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear vers 14. And now pray see the Cheat that Saul would have put upon the Almighty and his Prophet for he saw he was run on ground and therefore observe his answer The people says he spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God ver 15. So he would have shuffed off and excused his sin upon the specious pretence of maintaining the Church and the Worship of God But this would not do for the Prophet reproves him in vers 22. thus Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams for Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft 'T is the disobedience of a King against his God is so stiled and therefore he proceeds and tells him his doom That because he had rejected the word of the Lord the Lord had rejected him from being King And that 's all that Saul got by this Cheat. Do not think therefore to palliate your faults with your esteems for the Church and the Divine Service of God for God had rather have no such Worship at all than a Worship that must be supported and maintained by the breach of his holy Commands In the 7th of St. Mark you may see a knot of Hypocrites and such as were of no inferiour rank neither So much for the Charch that they break not only the Law of God but the Law of Nature too for the Law of Nature as well as the Law of God obligeth us to honour our Parents and as a part of that honour to succour and relieve them in their necessities but they were so unnaturally Religious that they would give to the Church what they should give to their Parents and by their gift to the Church they were held absolved from the Law of God and Nature to do ought for their father or mother vers 11 12 so that let their father and mother starve if they would for them they were resolved to be superabundantly Religious But God bless us from such an unnatural and abominable Religion Well therefore might our Saviour conclude that Discourse with this remark That Traditional men and such as are so much for exteriour observations do ever make the Word of God of no effect vers 13. You were as good have no Bibles for they will suffer you to make no use of them for these Jews they had the Law of Moses and it was read in their Synagogues every Sabbath day as St. James assures us Act. 15.21 And though in that Law it was written Honour thy father and mother and that too with a promise of length of days yet you see when mens Traditions prevailed it had been as good they had had no Law at all And therefore by the way whatsoever Profession or form of Religion makes you barbarously sowre and unnatural to your Relations friend and neighbours which the Law of God and the bands of Humanity obligeth you to love respect and tender you may lay your life upon it that that Profession and form of Religion is but a false and counterfeit Christianity be what it will Wherefore you that are Magistrates had need examine and try your selves and to purpose too whether you are for that Religion which is acceptable to God the renting of your heart or whether you are for that only which consiâ—ts in renting the garments and trifling reservations And so much to the Magistrates The next Head is to the Ministers and would to God there were no cause to press the improvement of this Point upon us also But methinks I hear the Lord saying Physician cure thy self Luk. 4.23 We are called the Physicians of Souls and usually say the