fear came on them all and the Name of the Lord Jesus was Magnified many of them that believed came and confessed and shewed their deeds they were not ashamed to declare their sin by an open acknowledgment in Confession in order to a Ministerial and so more than a Declarative Absolution they would no longer have to do either with the work or with the wages of iniquity those that used curious Arts brought their Books and burnt them whereof the price valued came to Fifty thousand pieces of Silver may all this wealth perish so they may but save themselves and then ver 20. as the consequence upon so remarkable a judgment The Word of God grew mightily and prevailed One instance more The eyes of Sergius Paulus were not opened until that upon St. Paul's invocation Elymas the Sorcerer was struck with blindness for that he sought to turn away the Deputy from the Faith the hand of the Lord was upon him that he should not see the Sun for a season in that he so wickedly stood both in his own and in others light not ceasing to pervert the right wayes of the Lord Act. 13.12 Then the Deputy when he saw what was done Believed lying as it were in a Trance his eyes were open being astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord. The Doctrine of the Lord accompanied with Astonishment Wrath being executed in its just vindication doth thereby ingage to it self Proselyts of all sorts first soberly to admire and then most heartily to embrace it but on the contrary when judgment against the evil works or the evil speeches of wicked men is not executed speedily then a general remissness invades the most it is set in the hearts of the Sons of men to do mischief however God is not slack in the Defence of his Church as some may count it slackness but is long-suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come unto repentance especially such who are within the compass of an Evangelical Dispensation who have given up their names to Christ in a solemn profession It might be requisite amongst Heathens and Infidels at the first to be swift in avenging all manner of despites or affronts done to the way of Godliness but since that Christianity is our badge and livery and the Cross is the banner we do fight under its universal Administration should render it Sacred and Venerable to all its Professors that they do not despise Gods Service amongst them which has so long been to say no more the Religion of their Countrey and if no other this reason may prevail a little that they do not abhor that Worship which is the Worship of the God of their Fathers however these Mockers and Scoffers may please to behave themselves whether they will hear or whether they will forbear they must be told that because God is silent he is not therefore consenting to their impieties Epistle of St. Jude ver 14.15 The Lord cometh with Ten thousand of his Saints the affronts done to those holy ones he reckons as done to himself he cometh to execute judgment upon all to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches those words of bitterness and hatred which ungodly sinners have spoken against him in the mean time Gods judgments are round about them and they do not regard they die daily in their sins and those that survive do not lay it to heart nay their Posterity a wicked off-spring praise their sayings should one arise to them from the dead they will not believe yet they have Moses and the Prophets those that sit in the Chair of Moses those who declare unto them how and in whom the Prophecies are fulfilled let them hear these Oh! that they would at length see and be ashamed considering the Solemnities of holiness in spite of men and Devils still appearing glorious whilst the Dispensation of life is in any measure Beautiful even this has its due influence on the lives of men be they many and numerous in order to a great Salvation especially when the word of Life thus delivered is confirmed by Miracles be they of what sort soever and that is the Second thing occasional of this great benefit here bestowed upon the Church because of the Signes and Wonders wrought which were terrible Therefore Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes of men and women Though Faith be the evidence of things not seen as it is an inhaerent Theological grace yet in the first reception of the Gospel God was pleased so to order it that seeing should be the occasion of Believing had not Christ and his Apostles wrought those Works never such before and never to be the like again the question might have been peremptorily answered in the negative When the Son of man cometh shall he find Faith in the earth So true it is that the report of God himself is not readily believed unless the Arm of the Lord be also revealed in works of Wonder And still unto this day the first reason which we do properly give of our Christian Faith and of the hope that is in us is the firm belief that the Gospel at the first was delivered by Miracles and Signes following it and those Miracles all and each of them Demonstrative of a Deity God thus Redeeming the World with a stretched out Arm and with great and mighty judgments judgments which if we consider with all their circumstances attending them we needs must confess to have been remote from all manner of Imposture not in the least to be compared or mentioned with Legendary Fictions they do not at all conclude absurdly but evidence an Omnipotent Power and so are not unfit arguments for Faith Thus as it was with Israel of old in that Deliverance of which this great Redemption was the Antitype they could not perswade themselves that God would visit them without a Miracle Exod. 4.8 9. It shall come to pass if they will not hearken to the voice of the first Sign that they will beeieve the voice of the latter Sign and if they will not believe those two Signes yet a third shall convince them and the third Sign was typical of a more desirable happiness it was Water turned into Blood an intimation that Blood it self in order to Redemption should have a cleansing vertue So that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses the Word of Salvation whether in the Type or in Antitype was established God Almighty all along providing for the satisfaction of common sence that men might receive the Truths published upon the credit of their eyes and of their eares as well as they do of other things which are conveyed to them by the help of their outward senses and hence a thorow Conviction is wrought upon the very Conscience which works of Wonder though done so long since may still have an influence upon us in that
thither having heard of the signes and wonders only by the hearing of the ear they came and when they saw they both magnified and believed even the Adversary himself though he had malice enough yet he wanted power such durst not make too near approaches to them I cannot but here take notice of the Courage of these Apostles that in no wise they were dismayed or terrified even amidst the concourse of the people they were not affrighted their business was to save not to fear multitudes to convince mightily and with power not to dread the powers of the most or the mightiest of men men whose power consisted onely in their numbers 29. We ought to obey God rather than men The judgment of God upon Ananias and Sapphira might have been imputed as murder to these Apostles might not the people of the Jews here have cryed out as they did formerly against Moses upon the destruction of Corah and his Accomplices for a sin of much the like nature with this neither was the punishment unlike unto it they died not the common death of all men neither were they visited after the visitation of all men Numb 16.41 and all the Congregation murmured saying Ye have killed the People of the Lord Why might it not have been so with this mixt Assembly However the Apostles could expect no other then what did afterward really happen 17. That the High Priest and those that were with him should he filled with indignation Why should they therefore thus expose themselves to danger amidst the multitudes The answer to all is That they knew Jesus on whom they believed and whom they preached and it was with their joy 41. in that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of the Lord Jesus Courage and Resolution are vertues truly Apostolical it is beneath the dignity of a Priest to fear the People some come in humility to receive the Ingrafted word with a spirit of meekness and these are a joy to those that are set over them Some expect Signs and Wonders every day some new thing they are for the inticing words of mans Wisdom and he must work a miracle upon them that would perswade them though they are themselves the greatest Prodigy in that since the word of Salvation is come amongst them in the plainess of its Demonstration they will by no means submit the obedience of their faith to those Truths which in a Visible outward Oeconomy they cannot but profess neither dare take so much confidence to themselves as to deny them and after all these there are another sort who lie at the catch like the Pharisees and the Herodians St. Luke 11.54 Seeking something out of our Saviours Mouth to accuse or mis report him such whose business it is to carp at what they will not understand such who that they may bring an evil report upon the way of Godliness take every little or no occasion to traduce the Dispencers of it But whether they will hear or whether they will forbear the Prophets of the Lord are to come amongst them through good report and through bad report by honour and dishonour are we to approve our selves the Ministers of Christ and of his Gospel in much patience yea with the Apostles here in tumults and in labors as deceivers and yet true as unknown and yet well known and that they might be the better known frequenting those places where the greatest gathering of the people is like to be that so the word preached may have the more universal influence the very Place of their meeting was a Place of general and known concourse and so much the better because it was a part of the Temple see where they are assembled an intimation both of their Fortitude and Devotion even there where the thickest of the thronged multitudes were wont to gather with these we find the Apostles and the Convert Disciples at this Holy Convention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Solomon's Porch which is the Second thing I observed to you The place of their meeting in a place consecrated and separated for the Service of God in Solomons Porch Solomon's Porch The History of which place I shall not here spend to give you those that have opportunity and ability may consult Jos Antiqu. lib. 7. cap. 2. lib. 8. cap. 11. lib. 20. cap. 8. Where we have the description of it at large in all its Dimensions from which we conclude it capacious enough to receive so great an Assembly as we suppose at this time to have been there that it was part of the Temple is evident enough to us all from our Saviours presence in it St. John 10.23 Whilst he was celebrating the Feast of Dedication which by the way was an Apocryphal Feast instituted 1 Mac. 4.59 and our Saviour honoured such a Solemnity with his company Jesus walked in the Temple in Solomons Porch which was also a place of publique worship 2 Cron. 8.12 Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the Altar of the Lord which he had built before the Porch from all which and from the Text I gather as a word in season That our Lord and Blessed Saviour and from his example and precept the Apostles with the Primitive Christians did not usually assemble for the Worship and Service of God in private Houses or in solitary places if so be that any the outmost part of the Temple was allowed them to meet in First Our Saviour's Practice was most exemplary in this Whilst a Child he was the Holy Child Jesus early after his Birth so soon as the days of Purification according to Law were accomplished presented in and by the yearly Devotion of his Mother brought up unto the Temple where he soon exercised and delighted himself in the beauties of holiness The Days for Publick Worship were too soon accomplished for him St. Luc. 2.43 He must stay behind the rest of the Company some time longer and after three days sorrowful search where could they expect to find him though a Child of twelve years age but in the House of God and there about his Fathers business even in the midst of the Doctors hearing them and asking them questions in the midst of the Doctors and hearing them as if the Blessed Child would have been catechised by them and taught the way of God more perfectly this was his humility and yet asking them questions and so putting them to silence this was his authority whilst all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers This was the first onset of our Saviour in his Prophetick office and that in no other place then in the Temple True indeed afterward in the Course of his life he consecrated every place by his presence and therefore wherever he found the Multitudes still he taught them and yet we meet but with two notable instances of such an administration once by the Lake of Gennesareth when he taught the people out of the Ship and the other
serve me and if thou refuse to let him go behold I will slay thy Son even thy first-born Moses the meekest man in all the earth does mistrust his own ability who is sufficient for these things It is indeed the good will of him who dwells in the Bush to send unto and to work a deliverance for his people But who am I that I should go in unto Pharaoh or bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt I am a man of slow speech and of a slow tongue Surely Moses does not consider the great sight before him the Bush burning and not consumed a lively representation to him in the very figure of it that the more the people were afflicted the more they did multiply and grow notwithstanding the Egyptians made their lives bitter to them with hard bondage in Mortar and in Brick all their service wherein they made them to serve was with rigour yet cap. 1.20 the people multiplied and waxed very mighty and the Egyptians were grieved because of the children of Israel And doth Moses know and see all this the green tree before him encompassed with flames and still alive the people labouring as it were in the fire in the furnace of affliction growing out of weakness and so from strength to strength under the weights of all their pressures and yet is he diffident and distrustful because of some personal infirmities as if that God could not make his strength perfect in weakness Moses had best be careful lest his humility and meekness degenerate into pusillanimity and fear and so the Lord be provoked unto anger for God will send by the hand of him whom he will send and that is by the hand of Moses yea though he be a man of a slow speech and of a stammering tongue even hence has God ordained and perfected his praise that he may still the enemy and avenger what though his lips are not touched with a coal from yet one that waits at the Altar shall be his Mouth Is not Aaron the Levite thy Brother I know that he can speak well ver 14. and cap. 7.1 I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy brother shall be thy Prophet So long as you two keep together so I am with you Both and that to supply all manner of defects in either of you my word is a sure word of promise if so be that you two are as one ye put your selves out of my protection if in the least you sever but whilst Vnion is promoted neither of you shall fail and as a most certain indication that you are like to stand and fall tog ther so this is my everlasting ordinance betwixt you Both v. praeced Thou shalt put words into his mouth which shall no longer be his Mouth but thine who hath made it so have not I the Lord And lest his message should be despised his person hated because of the truth which he is to speak Lo thou art to defend him to be on his side to withstand Pharaoh see thou to that have not I said it nay I have set thee so Thou art unto them both instead of God Thou art as God to Aaron to protect him thou art as God to Pharaoh to execute wrath and vengeance upon him and therefore upon this double account shall Aaron be thy Spokesman to the people his office is again renewed upon and confirmed unto Him He shall be even He shall be unto Thee instead of a Mouth because that Thou on all accounts and upon every occasion shalt be to him instead of God The words as you hear having this relation to the Context are in themselves an account given us of the two standing Ordinances of Magistracy and Ministry a King as Supreme and an High Priest both constituted by God himself to live to love and to rule together and this institution confirmed and settled by way of supply to something that was wanting an amends made for a personal insufficiency whilst Moses out of a principle of self-denial would not ambire Magistratum be too hasty in taking upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the burden of this honour since he was conscious to himself of his own inability ver 10. O Lord my God I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant This humility and modesty in Moses at the first was commendable but honour follows those who shun it especially where so exemplary a meekness goes before it God therefore renews his command with a promise of assistance in the work drawn from his own Omnipotence ver 11. who hath made mans Mouth have not I the Lord now therefore go and I will be with thy Mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Yet this would not do the meekness of Moses hath betrayed him to diffidence and distrust fain would he be rid of the imployment fearful he is that he shall not go through with it but sink under the weight of it ver 13. O my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send In which words whether Moses requested that his brother Aaron might be joined as a fit companion with him or whether he had an eye to the promised Messiah Him whom thou wilt send Christ in the fulness of time to be sent to work a great Redemption of which this present Deliverance was to be but a Type and therefore none like Him to accomplish Type and Anti-type at once I say whether it were one or other is not much to our purpose further then the just naming of it to inquire This we are sure of that Moses's unbeleif was reproveable his sin of distrust aggravated because he could not take heart from Gods express Promise Notwithstanding the wonderfull fight which he saw the gracious words which he heard still he was faithless and not believing hence verse 14. the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses However to make way for an all-sufficient supply both the Humility of Moses and his Diffidence was not unfitly urged his Humility which God encourageth with a gracious Promise of a ready help from himself his Diffidence which God convinceth against all Objections by promising an assistance most effectual even from his own experience of it ver 14. Is not Aaron the Levite thy Brother I know and so dost thou that he can speak well He will be glad to meet thee and thou must rejoice to go with him This is the supplement of all defects from you two one with another and here is the Completion of your Commission My assistance to you both So that the verse before the Text is a supply to both from God which denotes to us the Divine Ordinance and Institution and that First Verbal Thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his Mouth and I will be with thy Mouth and with his Mouth Secondly Real I will teach you what you shall do The Text is the mutual supply as consequential
but beating of or speaking to the air Unless that Aaron be the Mouth of Moses what though his face shine the people will but the sooner turn away from him cum Jove Caesar God and the King as to Government have alike prerogatives Thunder from above bespeaks the Deity as terrible thus the Highest doth give forth his Voice Boanerges a son of Thunder here below declares earthly Majesty to be also dreadful But unless Moses put words into the mouth of Aaron stands by him and stands up to him while he speaks stretches out his Rod whilst he lifts up his Voice the Mouth of Aaron without this will be Vox praeterea nihil a Voice indeed but nothing else the noise no sooner heard but no where to be found Whose Mouth is fittest to preserve knowledge and to proclaim Obedience but his who is the Messenger of God and of the King of the Lord of Hosts and of him who like unto God himself is mighty in the battel and whose Arm should be made bare in strength but theirs who are the Anointed of the Lord Anointed in a great measure for this very thing that they should be a Guard and a Protection to all Gods Holy Ones since they are themselves not unfitly called Gods being all of them children of the Most Highest Shall I with all humility and due Reverence speak the words of truth and soberness it is in the Cause of God of the King and also of his Priests As the happiness is great to that People where this Vnion is most religiously observed no other then as the result of the Divine Institution so sad is the misery deplorable is the calamity both to King Priest and People upon the breach of it I need go no further for an instance then the story that is before us Would Moses and Aaron bring the people from Egypt through a wilderness into Canaan This must be their March Regular and solemn Num. 2.3 compared with Num. 3.38 Judah the Princely Tribe must set up his Standard Eastward Moses and Aaron Prince and Priest must keep the charge of the Sanctuary Eastward and hence not improbably the antient Ceremony of worshiping with their faces thither-ward Judah sets up his Standard for the Laity Moses and Aaron theirs for the Clergy and yet the latter to go along with Judah the Prince who was to protect them when settled in the Land of Promise and upon the whole whosoever he was the stranger that came nigh to either of them was to be put to death This was their March unto that Rest which God had prepared for them And yet notwithstanding their Station and Procession thus fixed by the Almighty do Moses and Aaron speak unadvisedly with their lips either one to another one of another or one against another at the waters of Massah and Meribah places that bore their names from those strivings and contentions the anger of the Lord is immediately kindled against them all and it was so inraged that it was by no means to be appeased Moses and Aaron must onely see that Land of Promise into which they are never like to come it shall be their punishment to behold what they never shall injoy in the view of but their foot shall not tread upon the goodly Mountain nor Lebanon and then as for the People their Carcases must fall in thâ— wilderness this is a froward Generation it shall noâ— enter into the Rest of God! When once there be Divisions many are the thoughts many are the searchings of heart I would not be mistaken as an evil-speaker or a fore-boder of evil tidings while I do thus mournfully and with all lowly submission crave leave to make out the Parallel Doth the Civil Magistrate either needlessly contend with or wilfully draw back the secular Arm from the Defence of the Ministry and does he think thus to still the murmurings of the people as the raging of the Sea so is their madness casting forth nothing but mire and dirt foaming out their own shame and is there no way to lay the storm but by mixing the waters with bloud hath the Pilot no means to secure the Ship but by throwing the Prophet into the waters especially such a Prophet as doth not fly from but is stedfastly bent on his Course to deliver and execute the Message of his Master that sent him Again is the Spiritual Mouth either silent in the behalf of or clamourous and obstreperous against doth it either not speak at all as it should in the defence or is it froward malapert and peevish against the Secular Arm do they who should consult the stars of Heaven for direction in the voyage either withhold their advice from or unseasonably quarrel with him that sits Steers-man at the Helm This may be the dreadful consequence of such ill will between Both in Portu naufragium certain ruine and destruction to the Ship and all that are in it yea and that in the Ken of the desired Haven as an aggravation to their misery in the very sight of Land Virtutem videant intabescantque relicta This is the sore calamity upon such lad animosities and dissatisfactions on either hand a strange kind of infatuation upon all marner of counsels and designs be they never so just and honourable they may see what is good and yet it doth escape them a price put into their hand and it falls away from them for want of a pious heart united to each other in Love and Duty and to God the maker of Both in fear and Reverence mutually to be exercised in the using of it And here by the way let it be seriously considered that the first Rejection of Saul from being King over Israel was because he invaded the Priesthood let our new Leviathan suggest what he pleases Hobb's Lev. part 3. chap. 42 pag. 95. 300. that the Civil Magistrate may reserve the exercise of the Ministerial Function to himself yea though there might be some reasonable excuse for it as his Enemies growing Vid Ecc. Ang. Articl 37. and coming on upon him and he was not willing to ingage them till he had made his supplication before the Lord 1 Sam. 13.11 15. But God had commanded the entrary he was not of himself to make a Vertue of that Necessity without an express permission therefore says Samuel Thou hast done foolishly and thy Kingdom shall not continue whereupon God chose to himself a man after his own heart one who to avoid such future presumption should be a Prophet as well as a Prince and therefore the eating of the Shew-bread upon an extream necessity was not in him so notorious a violation of Sacred and Ecclesiastick Order This was that David who called for his Sword which hung behind the Ephod 1 Sam. 21.9 Give it me says he for there is none like that he goes forth with the Prayers and the Blessing of the Priests to battel 1 Sam. 23.9 still I will urge a Testimony from
heaven the Blessed of the Lord even amongst Indians and Armenians those that sate in darkness and the shadow of death unto them by this Apostle was preached the word of life and that life was the Light of God and last of all how he seal'd the Doctrine which he deliver'd with his Blood his skin flay'd off and so he was exposed like his Master a man of sorrows neither was he in his death unlike unto him being nailed to a cross he committed himself and his cause to God that judgeth righteously All this it may be piously received and entertained from a literal and oral Tradition but ignorantly enough God knows how true fides penes sit Authores let those who have a more easy faith believe whose main business it is to gain credit to such things of which they are not themselves overmuch perswaded Our Church therefore having little or no regard to all these has rather chose to celebrate this Apostle as one of the Twelve without any particular specifications concerning him save only that he was Brother and Companion with the rest in Tribulation and in the Kingdom and Patience of our Lord Jesus Christ Accordingly the Gospel for the Day St. Luk. 22.24 is our Saviours Determination of that perplexing Question which so much troubled the Disciples at first among themselves and has since been no small cause of Division in the Christian Church Which of them should be the Greatest not St. Bartholomew himself should we grant him right Noble by his Birth yet he must not pretend here to a Priority therefore in the Gospel the words run thus The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship and they that exercise authority are called Patrons and Benefactors But ye shall not be so not so untill that Kings be your Nursing fathers and Queens your Nursing Mothers in the mean while let no one vindicate to himself Power and Prerogative amongst you over the rest of his brethren But he that is greatest among you let him be as the Younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve And the Epistle for this Day part of which is the Text was the happy effect and result upon this Determination The Apostles agreeing together amongst themselves the Gospel of Jesus did run and was glorified their Unity was causal of respect from those who were without whilst they kept together with one accord even the place where they met was an an indication both of their piety and their prudence in or about the Temple in Solomons Porch and as an ancient Gloss upon the Text fuerunt simul sapientes in domo sapientis The wisdom of God was here justified by the children of Wisdom and that in no other place then in an House of Wisdom whilst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the rest whither they were Friends or enemies seeing and observing their Unity ecce ut seinvicem deligant they could not but keep their distance no man durst to joyn himself to them and yet notwithstanding this awe upon their spirits the Apostles wanted neither Praise nor Admiration But the People magnified them and upon the whole the word of God grew and was multiplied Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes both of men and women Well therefore has our Church in her Divine Service furnished us at this time with a Prayer for the continuance of that Vnity and Vniformity which beares its later date from this Festival to wit that it would please Almighty God to grant unto his Church to love that Word which this Apostle in the Communion of the rest believed that both those who Minister may preach and the people may receive the same in the fear of God in the love of those truths and of one another through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The words of the Text having thus given you an account of our Churches choice in the selection of them for the Epistle at this time which I could not well omit partly out of a respect to the Festival and chiefly out of a design to speak a word in season too much and sadly in season even all the year long because of these days of error schism and sedition in which we live are in themselves a Parenthesis and so an Historicall observation made in the midst of a continued Narration A Descant made of what effect the judgment of God had upon the sin of sacriledge in the verses before to wit what influence the punishment of this sin in the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira had upon the Church as also what was the effect of Gods Providence in the verses following how that God was with his Apostles to deliver them from the expectation of those who sought their lives he sent his Angel to open the prison door and out of prison they were sent to reign in the hearts of all that heard them and at length by the counsel of their enemies they were acquitted God over-ruling in those Determinations also so that this seems to be the Historical though Parenthetical observation of St. Luke writing the whole story That the Apostles and new convert Disciples being altogether with one accord in Solomons Porch of the rest durst no man joyn himself to them but the People magnified them and Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes of men and women Observe with me in the whole Parenthesis as the limits to what may be Discoused from it these four things 1. A Holy Convention They were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch 2. A Due Distance observed in that Convention Of the rest durst no man joyn himself to them 3. An awefull Reverence exhibited upon that Distance But the People magnified them 4. A Great Benefit redounding to the whole Community upon that Reverence or rather upon the whole present Dispensation Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes of men and women Of these in their order 1 A Holy Convention They were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch in which words we may observe 1. The Persons convening 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of them 2. The Place of their meeting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Solomon's Porch 3. Their Behaviour at their meeting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together with one accord These Three the Subject of the first Discourse 1. The Persons convening 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of them Whether with the Apostles the new Convert Disciples or the multitudes called together at the noise of the wonders that were wrought or it may be amongst so many some out of curiosity to pry and observe and others out of evil will to seek and occasion against them that so they might deliver up these Apostles to the Rulers Thus might these multitudes at this time have been divided The Apostles were there labouring in the Word and Doctrine the new Converts were there receiving as new born babes the sincere milk of the word that they might grow thereby those who were curious and inquisitive came
were the greatest piece of gallantry in the world for a man to be so fool-hardy as to imagine that sometime for Diversion God himself may be mocked No wonder that there is such looseness in the lives of men when there is no stronger a bridle upon their tongues how are the reins let loose to all impiety to draw iniquity as it were with a Cart-rope with all ones might and all ones strength even with the hand of violence Hell it self suffers violence and the violent take it by force Woe and Alas how can it be otherwise but that the heart must be a sink of uncleanness where the eyes are as so many casements to let in vanity and the mouth is so wide a door to let out folly But surely it was never intended that the Word of Life should be thus magnified only in the great swelling words of vanity and impiety would you be happy in the earth live long and see good daies Psal 34.13 Keep your Tongues from evil and your Lips that they speak no guile Whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report especially in the Dispensation of the Gospel in the solemn Administration of the Service of God since there is so much vertue let there be some praise think upon and follow these things Let that which is our chief happiness be our greatest honour what shall we villifie that which according to the entertainment it meets with I mean our Holy Religion proves where ever it comes either the ruine or the exalting of a Nation what must the Ark of God be set up in the House of Dagon made to truckle under Heatheanism and Atheisme how could it be otherwise but that the Philistines should be struck with Emerods the Plague to follow them from one City to another until they be almost utterly consumed But at another time bring the Ark aside to the House of Obed-Edom who receives it and the Salvation of his God with joy the House is blessed for the Guests sake the Lord prospers him and all that he has every thing that he puts his hand unto Never any man fared the worse for any respect or kindness unto Gods Service it was Nehemiah's prayer and the prayer of Faith heard in an accepted time in that he had Magnified the worship of the God of his Fathers with all his heart and with all his soul Nehemiah 13.14 Remember me O my God concerning this and wipe not out the good deeds which I have done for the House of my God and for the offices thereof But Alas How has the Church cause to invert this prayer against those that have evil will to Sion that God would Remember them concerning this and forget not the bad deeds which they have done against the House of their God and the solemnities thereof against Solomon's Porch the service and those that Minister therein they have returned evil for good not Blessing but contrariwise railing not suffering the Dispensation of holiness and life to be as it ought Magnified amongst them yea the very abjects have gathered themselves together making mows and mockings at what they will not learn to know and understand quite contrary to what was done in the Text where the very ordinary sort of people had the persons of holy men in admiration onely because of a Spiritual and holy advantage and that is the Second thing now to be considered in this Third part of the Text the Persons by and to whom this respect was given from the People to the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this the honour of these Saints their Persons to be had in esteem amongst the Multitudes First From the People whose voice at this time was the voice of God not many wise nor many noble Excluditur Pontificia factio they who sate in the Chair of Moses would give no heed to those who Preached Jesus that great Prophet who was to come into the World of whom Moses and all the Prophets did write ver 17. The High Priests and those that were with him even the whole Sect of the Sadduces were filled with indignation Thus as our Saviour formerly so fared his Disciples here St. John 7.48 Have any of the Pharisees or Rulers believed on him but this People who know not the Law are cursed and yet fullfilling all Righteousness they are Blessed having embraced the everlasting Gospel from the Multitudes where there was Love there was Honour also they met in Solomon's Porch the more company the greater was the welcome and the more glorious the solemnity when there the People who did here Magnifie were such as would not come too near and yet they would not stay away that so the Publick place for Divine Worship might be full Thronged Multitudes when they betake themselves into corners and separate from the places of open Assemblies are such who heap up Teachers to themselves and despise their lawful Guides they make themselves judges of those constitutions which they should not dispute but obey they speak evil of those Dignities which they should respect and despise those Dominions to which they should submit themselves and that not for wrath only but for Conscience sake But when the People go up by their Tribes to the House of God with the voice of Joy and Praise exercising themselves in a holy Religion with one Arm and one Shoulder the Saints singing with joyfulness and all the Priests cloathed with Righteousness how is the value of things and of Persons Sacred enhanced even to a popular veneration Popularity though it has its snares and temptations yet it is a joy and a comfort to those who labour honestly in the discharge of their Duty so long as it be found in the way of truth Applause from the vulgar though it be not to be sought by such as will approve themselves the Ministers of Christ Jesus through a bad as well as through a good report yet neither is it altogether to be despised when a man can chearfully reflect upon himself and his own labours that he has rightly divided the word of Truth and approved himself as a Workman that need not be ashamed herein alwayes exercising himself to have a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward all men Let the servant of God spend and be spent in the sincerer severer exercises of Religion and surely the very ordinary sort of People cannot be so disingenuous as the more he loves and takes care for their Souls the less he should be loved of them especially when he doth thus heartily bespeake them I seek not yours but you certainly when thus qualified and thus resolved without appearing all things to all men he may gain the more Honesty when all is done will prove the best Policy it is that which will set a man right in the eyes of God and of the People the result of integrity is peace both within and without to stand firm to the principles of order and solemnity without
of God or no whether the fire that works in them and sparkles from them descend from Heaven and is a flame of Love or be fetched from Hell and is a world of iniquity both may be though in different respects to consume our Sacrifices by their works you shall know them see and observe therefore with our Apostle in this Text are they not more solicitous to make a prey upon your Persons then to manifest their own and so improve your graces thus they zealously affect you but not well are they not more desirous for a separation then to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace This is all out of love unto themselves that you might have their Persons in admiration and they get the advantage yea they would exclude you that is by a roaring Bull and a thundering Excommunication or they would exclude us by sequestration had they Power by cunning seduction withdrawing themselves though they are both invited and intreated to Communicate no Anathema is pronounced against them only they excommunicate themselves and they lead the simple and ignorant into Houses both Adversaries agree in this in that they would have the World to follow after them and thereout get no small profit to themselves they do thus exclude that the people might affect them And may not the Watch-men of Israel now stand upon their Guard and be as industrious in their business to know both what of the night and what of the day when there lye to such potent enemies at the catch seeking night and day whom they may devour whom they may snatch out of the fold and lead like Sheep unto the slaughter surely it is good for them alwayes to be zealously affected in so good a thing as is the converting of those who have erred from the Truth to restore the wandring sinners from the errour of their wayes and so to save the Souls that are committed to their charge from Death and to prevent in others a multitude of sins yea and to the People also this caution may not be unfitly given that they be stedfast to that Faith which is delivered to them that should their chief Apostle because of his care of the other Churches or of the Church in general have occasion to with-draw from them I meane such a one as an Apostle not those that are left behind to be Teachers in every City for unless they abide upon their charge the enemy will take advantage of their absence as well as of their sleeping to sow his Tares should he be away upon the discharge of his duty in another place such a One who has a Rod in his hand where-with to restrain them a certain power and jurisdiction over them nay not a Rod only but a Sword also when he can call in the saecular Arm to his assistance to execute wrath upon them when such an Apostle as this is absent the People must be careful that they follow the directions of their Spiritual Guides which are set over them as knowing that it is good for them likewise to be zealously affected in so good a thing as is holding fast to the Doctrine and Discipline of Faith and godliness which from the Church they have received keeping to a form of found and wholesome words which in the Church they have used and this their zeal and stedfastness they are to make manifest not only when such a one as St. Paul their chief Apostle is present with them and all because of the Churches enemies on every side as if the Apostle directed his Epistle to us who it seems are bewitched as sadly as were his Galatians from obeying the Truth delivered to us There are false Brethren and false Accusers such as zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you or us that you might affect them But it is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good thing and the rather because I am absent from you It is good to be zealously affected alwaies in a good thing These words were the first occasion of pitching my thoughts upon this Subject Observing the variety of heats that are in the World about Religion certainly some distinction difference must be admitted that whilst there be such strivings and contendings about the way of Godliness surely as all cannot be imagined to tread the un-erring Path so neither must we be so sottish as to imagine that every one is out of the way By considering these words as they do relate unto the Galatians in their Circumstances at the time of the writing of this Epistle we may I hope make a clew of thread to extricate our selves out of the like Labyrinths that notwithstanding the various pretensions that are made to Truth and Piety we be not as children tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine That then which was first in my thoughts I found upon a second search to be the summe of the whole Text and therefore was forced to take in both verses It is good to be zealously affected c. The words are brought in with a Conjunction exceptive or discretive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is good to be zealous and so they do refer as they are something discriminated or distinguished from the fore-going verse in which the Apostle gives the Galatians an account of what might be the temper of their Seducers supposed to be the impure Gnosticks who did so early disturb the peace of the Church by obtruding upon the Disciples Judaizing Observances though they themselves were not Circumcised neither did they alwayes walk as did the Jews but out of a pretence they were zealous for the way of their Fathers laying heavy burdens upon the People which they would not touch themselves no not with one of their fingers This was such an Hypocrysie that Chap. 11.14 St. Peter seemed more out of prudence than Piety to comply with it and St. Paul was so zealous that he withstood him to the face for he was to be blamed and Barnabas also being of too easie and facile a temper a Son of Consolation was not a little to his own grief carried away with this Dissimulation But whatever rules of prudence some who at that time were set over the affairs of the Church might walk by thinking thereby that they did consult the Publick Peace and so kept all quiet no Peace saith our stout Apostle St. Paul with the wicked for hence an occasion was given that the way of God was evil spoke of and those who keep themselves up close to the rules of their Duty could not avoid the unkind surmises and hard speeches of the People whilst in the mean time the cunning Adversary took this opportunity upon the hopes of an Accommodation to work out his own designes upon those who were of a more easie perswasion and therefore they were zealous and industrious to gain more and more to their party to get ground because of some concessions or rather
which drives is like the Driving of Jehu somewhat too furious though the cause of God be pretended for it we may examine it by these particulars 1. Consider we the Object of such a Zeal certainly it is then reprehensible when it is of persons not of things of Men and not their Graces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They do zealously affect you you your very selves not any good that is in you or any good that is toward you A zeal of Persons and those may be of these three sorts The Clergy The Laity or Persons in a more mixed and refined Relation neither one nor the other particular so considered but a certain juncto or a knot of acquaintance First A Zeal of Persons that is of the Clergy of Ministers and Pastors just as it was in the Church of Corinth notwithstanding their so many Religious heats too certain a sign of Divisions and Schismes amongst them when some of them were for Paul some for Apollos and some for Cephas without any regard to God that gave the increase This was an argument that they were not Spiritual but Carnal It is a certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mark by which we may know those that will not indure sound Doctrine when 2 Tim. 4.3 after their own lusts they heap up Teachers to themselves having itching ears Here a giddy-headed Generation of men were to be reproved who look so much upon the Preachers countenance that they have no regard unto his message who cannot be contented with what whole some food is provided for them at home but they seek out delicacies abroad Nay many a Pastor has been prejudged before he has been heard to speak to see his first behaviour and reverential address is enough to scare a wicked sort of People out of the Congregation and then they wander after whom they tell you they can profit most by Oh! This is a formal heavy and a superstitious fellow but such a one is a precious Soul-searching Preacher as if they were the proper judges of what is best and fittest to be spoke to them and though it may be the same word of Truth which is delivered by both yet the word of God must be restrained as if it hung only at such or such a persons Lips It is an avouched Maxime in the Practice of Medice's that if we do but Fancy the Physician the Physick will work kindly but this proceeds rather from the Patients Distemper and misapprehension of things than either want of skill in the Physician or of approved vertue in the Medicine prescribed They who are able to make so exact a judgment upon the abilities of their Teachers would do well if out of a Principle of humility and self-denyal they would look more at home and examine their own hearts and not so unreasonable accuse either the Word of God or his Messengers lawfully sent unto them because they cannot as they phrase it profit under the means when the ears do itch more than they tingle it is a sign the brains are not setled and the heart is not sound there may be a zeal to heap up Teachers but such a zealous Affection in having mens persons in admiration to the Disparagement of others of the same order is not well They zealously affect you you the Clergy but not well Secondly A zeal of Persons that is of the People and that is chiefly blamed in this Text They who would have the Precepts of Moses observed to the subverting of the Christian Institution They zealously affect you you the People but not well Here we may take cognisance of the perfect humour and Design of all hot-headed Schism and Sedition it is that they may be with the Multitude and that the Multitude may follow them to do evil hence some are neither affraid not ashamed to court and complement the vices and the Factions of the People and secretly they insinuate unto them that their zeal for the purity of Religion is commendable that they do not tie themselves up too closely to humane observances is but the just vindication of their Christian Liberty and they are to stand fast to that Liberty in which Christ hath made them free forgetting all this while that our Saviours Discipline is a Yoke although it be light and though it be easie yet still it is a burden and we are to be meek and lowly and learn of him to take this yoke and this burden upon us in the sustaining of which yoke in the chearful bearing of which burden we shall find rest to our Souls It was one and the chief moral cause of the Gospel thriving so much in the World at first that the Professors of it though of different Perswasions were subject to their Heathen Emperours and Governours in the love of them and in the fear of God But a lass now the Design is quite another thing lean we but bring the People into a dislike of the Rulers that are set over them in Church or State by pretending a love and an affection for them a tender regard forsooth to the Liberty of the Subject pittying them because they are held in durance we shall soon find though not sinking under our weights and pressures that we have strength enough to break off the Yoak and cast away the Burthen nay to spurn at those who would lay it upon us But let us not be deceived such evil words and unworthy practices do corrupt good manners this is not a love to the Souls of the People but a designed drawing them into temptation and a snare notwithstanding the kindness such persons may pretend their great zeal for the People of the Lord I appeal to our own late sad experience whether the chief aim be not that they may get up themselves and ride and then most cruelly and disdainfully they trample all under foot Rohoboam's little Finger was heavier than the Loyns of Solomon we might possibly once have been chastned with Rods but they vexed us with Scorpions while they broke our easie Yokes of Wood they made for us heavy Yokes of Iron and the Iron entred into our very souls No Men they are the words of out late Martyred Soveraigne are prone to be greater Tyrants and more rigorous exacters upon others to conform to their illegal Novelties then such whose pride was formerly lest disposed to submit to the obedience of lawfull constitutions when their licentious humour most pretended a Conscientious Liberty It is not therefore for any good that is in you or to you that they are so kind they zealously affect you you the People but not well 3. A Zeal of Persons may be reprehensible when it is of Persons in a more mixed and refined relation neither Clergy nor Laity particularly so considered but a certain Junctoe or a Knot of acquaintance whose name may be the very same with those who are blamed in the Text Gnosticks that is Sciolists great pretenders to and proficients in knowledge though
it be that which puffeth up these are the onely Vertuosoes not in Arts and Sciences but in Religion it self to that purpose like Simon Magus of old they give out themselves to be some Great Ones the onely Power from God and the onely Reason of Men amongst us and so they have ingenuously resolved not to approve of any thing which is not done from amidst their Consistory or Rota be the performance of it self never so excellent and pious These are they who have called into question the Fundamental Articles of our Religion or would have them laid aside since they are not sollicitous that a Catalogue should be known of Fundamental Truths as if a Reason could never have been given of our Faith and Hope till within their time and because their new thin-spun speculations do startle some of a more wary belief presently they talk big insignificant words of passion prejudice education its wonder they do not upbraid us with our Catechism and too blind a zeal for antiquity as if all Religion and Learning were born with them and the Sun did first shine at their Nativity Such a sort of smothering Zealots as these who have raised a Smoke and yet suppress the Fire are more dangerous then any of the former since we know not where to find or which way to go about to quench the flame till we are almost throat led and choked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil has his name from science and from him the darkness is borrowed such a one as may be felt whilst a thick mist has been cast upon known received and fundamental truths and we are entertained with nothing but cloudy speculations and all out of a fond pretence to restore the mind of men to their pristine liberty Thought they tell us is free and so free that we find nothing but vain imaginations the immediate consequence upon the first fall God made man upright and he sought out many inventions These while they differ from themselves many times in their apprehensions of things being alone yet carrying on one common design for a liberty in speculation if not to the subversion certainly very much to the ecclypsing of truth and the seducing of unstable minds they lay aside their private opinion of things which they had when they were alone and are all of them in publick lovingly of one and the same perswasion These are the Men who prescribe to us Rules of Vniversal Charity and good nature and forget their own prescriptions they have not the manners to forbear censuring and carping at the integrity of a well ordered Conversation in so much that when any one appears in the Discharge of his Duty to tread the beaten path of Truth and Piety the old way because the good way and as yet amongst all their new inventions they have not found out a better such a Ones Devotion is Mechanical to be sure he shall have the censure of being concerned for what he has nothing to do with though obliged both by Oaths and reiterated Subscriptions it is much if they do not spend some of their Satyrical wit and ungodly laughter upon him God forbid that I should intend an invective farther then becomes a just and a pious reproof and they of whom I speak being the onely sophies of the world I am secure that they will not impute this zealous frenzy unto too much Learning if I am besides my self in this I will be more it is for Gods sake and this poor Church as the strictness of whose Discipline and Order amidst all their Comprehensions is excluded sorry I am with all my heart that what I have farther to suggest are so much the words of Truth and Soberness Whilst we do seriously consider the present growing Atheisme how that every thing both in the Doctrine and Practice of our Religion has been reduced to a meer notion and opinion though we may charitably perswade our selves that it was neither the Design or Intention of some men to promote so much wickedness yet in the nature of the thing it self no cause can so properly be assigned for that general loosness in the lives of men as the too great Latitude and Scope that has been given them in their notions and speculations when once it shall be publickly maintained that humane nature was not impaired by the fall of Adam but rather improved and so in a state of Perfection and that ever since our first Parents did eat of the Tree of Knowledge every man as he is Rational Creature has power given him both by God and Nature or by Nature which with some is God to call every thing nay the Articles of his Religion into question we may justly fear that we have thus argued our selves not onely into a doubt of our Faith whether there be such a Theological grace or no for they have affirmed our Creed not to have in all respects an influence on Morality but likewise out of the Practice of our Piety since for ought we know it may be thus pleaded and retorted upon us by the young blustering Bravadoes of our times from the principles above specified that we are put into the world to live like other Creatures so that the Precepts of Mortification signifie but little whilst Nature intended that we should be swayed by the impulse of our humours and the impetuosity of our Constitutions Oh that this might give occasion to some to lay their hands upon their Mouths and their Months in the Dust To take off this scandal too sadly given and very justly taken it would much become the zeal of the late Restorers of our humane freedom if they would in their lives give an example of strictness and of Order that they would confine themselves a little to the rules of Duty and not shew themselves so indifferent by a Partial Obedience whether it be to Divine or Humane Constitutions And likewise that they would be pleased to be a little more Diffusive of their Charity their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let see a little more of that sweet Disposition which from the Platonick Theory we hear so much talk of that modest kind of humble Doubting which renders men affable and courteous in converse willing and ready to hear and receive the truth from any one and that they would not be so eager upon the product of their own fancy in proposing their private hypothesis for the standard of publick Truth but withall that they would consider themselves to be in the body as well as they say so of others yea and some have found out gross Vehicles for their souls possibly they may have somthing of passion or prejudice or at least too much kindness for those of a like education and acquaintance it were to be wished that they would be careful lest the affection they have for one anothers persons do not Canonize each others mistakes against and above all Canon whatsoever a partial zeal ingaged for a particular sort of men be
have kindled this shall you have of my hand you shall lie down in sorrow Would we examine and try our own or the spirits of others whether they be of God or no the Word of the Lord is sharp and piercing it divides betwixt the marrow and the bones it searcheth out the depths and secrets of the heart That fire cannot be a flame of holy incense to consume the Sacrifice and to render it acceptable which has no regard to the Holy Oracle of God Here that zeal is reproveable which spends it self either in decrying the sacred Scriptures as useless or in preverting the Scriptures making them of private interpretation to speak what they never intended such who wrest them to their own destruction First They that decry the Scriptures as useless since we are now not to be directed by a line or by precept but we are all to be taught of God of this sort are they who think themselves above Ordinances waiting only for some secret instincts some impetuous raptures to carry them they know not whither to do they know not what such who have laid aside the first Principles of Godliness they are not to be dealt with you shall never argue them into a better temper so long as this melancholy dumpish humour doth transport them they have this still for a refuge that they are not free to hear or to answer you But as for our selves that we be not led away by the errour of these wicked men it may be urged and I cannot urge it too often the Articles of our Creed into which we were baptized that as in our Profession we do believe the Holy Ghost to be the Lord and giver of Life and so a spirit of illumination unto the Sons of Men so we do believe that he the same Spirit spake by the Prophets He the same Spirit does assist in the Communion of Saints and therefore we are not to neglect the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is Secondly As for that other sort who have made themselves the only perpetual Dictators in Religion whose humour is the only Light they have for the interpretation of the Scripture who make the Scripture to be of a private interpretation speaking what it never intended who have against the continued practices of Christianity in all ages found out a new clew of thread to extricate themselves and others out of some Labyrinths of controversie of their own devising and do thus betray the simple and ignorant into not onely foolish but dangerous errors these men act as if they had forgot those Scriptures which they pretend for to interpret those that tell us that the Spirits of the Prophets must be subject to the Prophets especially when they are met together in a holy Communion They who would take heed to a sure word of Prophesie must know this first of all 2 Pet. 1.20 That no Prophesies of Scripture are of private interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of a mans conceited enthusiastical and sudden explication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mar. 4.34 It was the onely prerogative of Christ himself when he was alone for to interpret but as to us the word of Prophesie is not thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the will of man we must take in along with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Analogy of our Common Faith and the sacred authority of the Catholick Church as knowing that whatsoever seemed good unto the Holy Ghost as it is revealed in the word seemed good likewise to the same Spirit as it is explained by the Church and proposed to those who will receive the truth in the love of it to be matter for their Faith wherefore the Scripture hath said I mean St. Paul in whose writings there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some things hard to be understood which the Pride and Tyranny of the Church of Rome on the one hand and the unstable peevishness of our Classical Brethren from their Consistory on the other have wrested two contrary ways yet between them both the word of God abideth sure to wit that Scripture which refers us to an Interpreter for all the rest 1 Tim. 3.15 The Church of the Living God in all things necessary to salvation as the words following do imply is the onely pillar and ground of truth and then he adds the fundamental articles of our Christian faith without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels c. That zeal then is truly commendable just holy and good which is a Zeal according to the Scriptures a contention for the Faith of God in them revealed as they are by the Church delivered to the Saints which whilst it doth coufess the Holy Ghost to rule in the hearts of all Believers does not too hastily pass over the two next Articles of our Christian Faith in which we also do believe a Holy Catholick Church and in the Vnity of that Church do joyn with the Communion of Saints such a Zeal as this is good that is guided by a good rule by the word of God as it is proposed and said open by the Church to be a perfect Canon an exact prescription to tell us what ought to be our Faith and to guide us in our manners in all holy Conversation and Godliness Secondly Zeal is good in Relation to the Object of it if it be managed upon a good matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon a good thing which bears its due proportion to that rule This is that which St. Paul tells us is the result of the Grace of God bringing salvation and appearing unto all Tit. 2.14 In that our Saviour gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The people are then peculiar and the zeal is singular when by the blood of Christ we are cleansed from all iniquity so that our works are good Having once submitted our selves to the obedience of Faith and publickly owned it in the Unity of the Church every man has so far a Judgment of private Discretion and possibly not in many cases besides as to examine his own Actions by that Rule of Righteousness which he hath received and the rectitude of which he must not in the least dispute Saul forgot himself and God also when in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah he slew the Gibeonites 2 Sam. 21.2 These Gibeonites though but hewers of wood and drawers of water in the sanctuary were to be preserved because of the Oath of God Joshuah 9.3 17. They who were for exterpating root and branch amongst us though they had formerly given up their names to God and to his Church in their Promissory Subscriptions that they would conform to and not endeavour the alteration of the Religion established and yet after all this in their zeal unto the people did lift up
their hands to the most high God in a most wicked and seditious Covenant though by Oath they were obliged to a Canonical Obedience that they would not onely destroy the hewers of wood and the drawers of water from amongst us but sacrilegiously take away both wood and water from the sanctuary leaving us nothing but a strange fire that would have consumed every thing that was sacred from the midst of us These men were like Saul of old of a most bloody house O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly let me not be united Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel in their anger they flew a Man a Man that was worth ten thousands of men nay two Men unto which the Ages before did never shew the like Moses and Aaron fell both under the same stroke in their self-will they digged down a wall broke through all inclosures to lay our Sion waste and for these sins unrepented of and still persisted in has not our Jerusalem been made a heap of Stones But blessed be our God who raised up Jacob when he was small and have we not seen with our eyes the reward of rebellious sinners God hath scattered them in Jacob they are at this day divided in Israel thus their sin of Division and Separation is the worst of judgments from Gods permission upon them whilst their hearts are hardned through their Disobedience and Vnbelief These are not like David men after Gods own heart the Zeal of Gods house devoured him yea and the Son of David when he twice whip'd the the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple but their Zeal has been to consume the house of God either to brake down the carved work thereof with Axes and Hammers to destroy all the Synagogues of God in the Land or to prophane those they leave standing some evil Angel or other appointed to hover over the Mercies Seat the Houses of Prayer made so many Dens of Thieves in a word these are like Saul in the New Testament before his conversion Philip. 3. As concerning zeal persecuting the Church not like St. Paul having embraced the Faith of Christ Zealous toward God in that which is good herein always exercising himself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward all men That in this Digression whither our unreasonable Zealots as evil workers have carried me I may not loose the scope of my Text These seditious Gnosticks who disturbed the Peace of the Church by obtruding upon the Disciples Mosaical rigours and so bewitching these foolish Galatians from the stedfastness of their obedience both Schism and Rebellion are as the sin of witchcraft had a Zeal for God St. Paul bears them witness but it was not according to knowledge or if they had as their very compellation signifies nothing less then Science yet it was falsly so called the understanding of all mysteries and of all knowledg neither was their Zeal mistaken or blind so much the worse for it was not according to Godliness since they were not careful to square their actions by that Rule of obedience which they did profess They were zealously affected but not well Buâ— on the contrary while St. Paul fights it is the good fight of Faith does he contend earnestly It is for the word of truth which he had received for and delivered to them according to the Scriptures while he does withstand the adversaries to the face it is not his forward zeal or his pious eagerness but their back-sliding their frowardness and peevishness their Dissimulation and Hypocrisie was to be blamed for this he had secured in the first place that the thing for which he contended was just and good and this he was assured of to the last that having no sinister or by designs it was good to be always zealously affected which is the Third and last Thing In which zeal is good in relation to the Object when it is rightly qualified and stated directed to a good end because where there is such a pious care that the thing contended for be good there likewise we do charitably believe that the zeal is guided by a good intention not being over-byassed or over-ballanced by any sinister or by-respects The Pious Zealot is many times counted singular this may be a more charitable reason for the compellation then is usually urged He is indeed singular that is he is neither double-tongued nor double-minded the preparations of his heart are from the Lord. Some mens Zeal is not from an inward principle of Conscience but some outward reason or motive to incite them as was hinted in the close of the former Discourse either the thing for which they are so zealous makes for their interest or else they will make it so while their design is to get a name and to appear some-Body in the world or as bad nay worse then both these because it comprehends them both a sordid and an unworthy compliance for there is a kind of zeal in luke-warmness it self a Complemental congenial Religion in suiting our selves to the company with whom we converse changing faces with every one we meet is an hypocritical principle by which too too many act and walk amongst us These are they who would fain have every ones good word care not much to venture their credit to be evil spoken of in the cause of Piety they are altogether for a good they cannot go thorow a bad report and it is observable that such persons who do thus ambire famam court every ones applause seldom speak well of any but those with whom at present they are conversing their Detraction is as notorious as their flattery and be it for their advantage to steal into the heart to win upon the affections of some leading men of whatsoever Perswasion they are as good at their Satyricks as at Panegyricks they are furnished at all adventures and can as smartly declaim against as possibly not long before to another company they did ingeniously commend the same thing And sad it is but too notoriously apparent that such a humour as this doth transport many men in Religion it self who because of advantage can have Schism and Faction in admiration Men who have as different Behaviours as they have Habits suting themselves to the untowardness of those with whom they have to do rather then to the strictness of that profession to which they are obliged by all the ties imaginable these can urge the severity and Letter of a Law though it be for Uniformity strain it contrary to its meaning against any that will not comply with them in their luke-warmness that so they may have the less disturbance in the promotion and strengthning of schism and sedition This is their keeping wind-ward of the Law It is but their moderation to deviate from an established Rule pro hic nunc according to time and place to sute themselves to the humours of
made manifest unto all there are mollisma tempora certain times and seasons in which it is most amiable and it is part of Christian prudence so to exert it that it may appear beautiful and lovely unto all in its proper season the present circumstances are to be consulted seriously least our Moderation do degenerate into a sordid and a sneaking compliance an Holy Zeal must sometimes have its perfect work as well as Patience when once Remissness gets the upper hand of Order God himself is neglected whilst his Divine Offices are perfunctorily carelesly and slubberly performed when the publike Solemnities of Religion are if not laid aside yet so managed as if they were altogethar needless and to no purpose the Moderate Man may mourn in secret and by his silence at such a time manifests his prudence because it is an evil time but this seems to be rather an opportunity for courage and constancy in the Resolute that the world may see that we are neither afraid nor ashamed of that which some count madness and folly that we are neither to be complemented by the sly Polititian nor Hectored by the prophane Atheist out of that Faith which we have professed and wherein we stand In a word this is our Moderation when in affliction we are not froward under discouragements we are not discontented when we can love those who persecute us and are ready to do good to those who do despightfully use us when we count it all joy that for righteousness sake we are evil thought of or evil spoke of when we are not over-sollicitous of every ones good word but should God and his Truth require it we can venture through a bad report to shew our Constancy and Perseverance and though the Moderate Man walks circumspectly not as a fool but as wise endeavouring to approve himself to the Consciences of those with whom he has to do yet his heart doth neither mis-give him nor reproach him as his humility is conspicuous so his integrity is solid if he does approve himself it is that the Lord may commend the singleness of his heart and the integrity of his Soul even the Lord who is at Hand And so I press to the Third and Last thing propounded to wit How the Coming of Christ either in the Flesh or to Judgment is an Argument to us to improve this Grace of Moderation The Lord is at hand just now gone from us lately appearing in our Flesh And he is at hand in like manner to come again the day is approaching in which God will Judge the World by the Man whom he hath ordained even the Man Christ Jesus and the Apostle doth in another place joyn both these together to wit that the consideration of Christs first Coming should have this effect upon us that we live in a continual expectancy of his Second Tit. 2.11 12. The Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present evil world Moderation is but one comprehensive word for all these looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious appearance of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ First Let your Moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand not far from every one of us lately appearing in our flesh having Sanctified our inclinations and affections whilst he was subject unto like Passions with us being in every thing tempted as we are yet without sin we might indeed sometime have been foolish deceived by and deceiving one another Status Naturae status Belli in this sense we were by Nature the Children of Wrath not only in relation to God whom we had provoked but also in relation to each other delighting in violence and oppression But Tit. 3.4 After the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward Man appeared we are freely justified by his Grace and made Co heirs together according to the Hope of Eternal Life and this is that which we must Persevere in since we have believed on God that we be alwayes careful to maintain good works and those such which are not in the least Destructive but every way profitable unto men let every one that nameth the Name of Christ Jesus our Lord depart from all iniquity Our Saviour in the Flesh God incarnate in his Birth throughout his Life but chiefly at his Death was not only a most successful example but a prevailing argument for our Moderation First His Birth was the Son of Righteousness arising with healing in his wings it was through the tender Mercies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through the Bowels of the mercy of our God that the Day-spring from on high did visit us and this is our Happiness consequential hereupon that being delivered from our Ghostly and our carnal Enemies we may serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the daies of our lives this was the Angelical Hymn at his Birth that as his coming into the World was Glory to God in the highest so it was in Earth Peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and good will towards Men nay further that our Love upon this occasion might be raised to its due pitch those words are not unfitly rendered by the Vulgar In terris pax hominibus bone voluntatis On earth Peace unto Men of Good will And now shall our Saviour empty himself of his honour that he may accommodate himself unto us and we be puffed up one against another are we not all of us now Brethren doubtly dear unto each other both in the Flesh and in the Lord or rather in the Lord who was made Flesh Secondly Nay yet again not only the fruit of his holy Mothers Womb at his Birth but the whole course of his Life was nothing else but a continued labour of Love could he do any good were it to the poorest and the meanest to the basest and unworthiest it was his meat and his drink he loved much and therefore all along though loaded with indignities he forgave much he had not where to lay his head and yet he wrought Salvation wheresoever he came how glad was he though in a crowd that vertue wentout of him in this chiefly was his humility conspicuous in that he confessed and he denyed it not that He though the Son of Man and so the first born of the whole Creation came not to be Ministred unto but to Minister and to give his Life a Ransome for many And are not we likewise to tread in his steps is not this the Lesson which hence we are to take out that the greatest amongst us be in all good and vertuous offices as it were a Servant unto all remembring alwayes the words of our Lord Jesu Christ that it is better to give than receive we should therefore from his example be ready to give and willing to communicate Thirdly Yet once more and chief of all his Death was