freely possessing all things The VVorld may put us into a sad estate as to the VVorld yet we are not out of our white garments always rejoycing Heb. 3.13 Although the Fig-tree shall not blossome neither shall fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat and the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls this cannot take away the VVhite garments no saith the Prophet Yet will I rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God of my Salvation 'T is a conquering joy turns all sorrow into joy and blackness to VVhite therefore keep clean Thirdly Consider this this VVhite of peace and joy as 't is a joy unconquerable so 't is that will be with us most when we most need it when VVorldly joys are farthest from us then this joy will be near to us that is a marvellous comfort to have comfort in its season The Martyrs who have kept themselves VVhite have had this VVhite and walkt in this VVhite but when they have most need of it and come Actually to suffering then they have had most of it This is a blessed thing this the Martyrs of Jesus Christ hath given witness of although they have had peace and joy in their consciences at other times yet never so much as in the hour of temptation VVhen they have been cast into the Cole-house they have had white garments when they have been cast into prisons and dungeons how have they rejoyced 'T is said of Paul and Silas they were men that kept their garments undefiled and they had a great deal of peace and joy when they were put in the flocks and dungeon then they sung at midnight what an enlargement of heart had they at that time So in the stories of ancient and latter times how have they rejoyced and gone triumphing to the Gibbet for then Christ gives most of this White It hath been the use of persecutors to put filthy garments upon the Martyrs drawing Pictures of Devils upon them and as their malice hath risen to the height that in the time of sufferings to make them look like Devils then the love of Christ hath risen to the height and they have been full of peace and joy at that time therefore be encouraged to walk with Christ in this White This White is an Angelical Habit 't is an unconquerable Habit and 't is that will be with us most when we have most need of it I should have added a third that walking with Christ is an honour and 't is walking in the White of peace and joy So thirdly 't is a truth of walking with Christ in the White of glory as in the Transfiguration which was a Type of Heaven his Rayment was White so as no Fuller on earth was able to whiten it and that is it which I might have spoken of to you that they who keep their garments undesiled here shall be sure of that to walk with Christ in glory hereafter If we should miss of the White of honour and have not much of the White of joy yet be sure we shall walk with Christ in the White of Glory I would only say this to you That as I have from this Text and many more laboured to bring poor souls into a White state to a state of Justification to a state of Holiness and as I have been pressing you to keep your garments White that you may be in the Habit of White as your Reward so it shall be the desire and prayers of ray heart that if I should have no more opportunities among you that as you have been stirred up to get into this White of Grace that you and I may meet in the White of Glory where we shall never part Here are three Whites The White of Honour is good the White of Peace and Joy is very good the White of Glory is best of all that is the answer of all our prayers and that is the issue of all our working then we shall have as much as we can hold for ever Mr. Case's Sermon Revel 2.5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove the Candlestick out of his place except thou repent CHrist here prescribes precious Physick for the healing of this languishing Church of Ephesus 'T is compounded of a threefold ingredient 1. Self reflexion Remember from c. 2. Holy contrition and humiliation before the Lord Repent 3. Through Reformation Do thy frst Works I left the last time upon the second of these namely Repentance and that which I did upon this part of Christs advice was not so much to open to you the nature of Repentance which is not so proper for this place as to give in a Catalogue or List of such special sins as Christ doth expect that all his people in these three Nations should lay to heart and repent of before the Lord I gave you in a List of eleven special sins that we should repent of and humble our selves for before the Lord. As 1. Omission of Duty Prayer reading the Word Meditation c. any thing will be for excuse to say by duties and we are secretly glad of an excuse 2. Remisness of Duty In things of the World we are all in all and all in every part a man cannot thrust another thought into us but in prayer how many things are we doing 3. Hypocrisie How unlike are we at home to what abroad and in company to what in secret 4. Pride In Apparel Houses Parts Blood Birth-right yea of Grace it self of Humility Ministers Ordinances c. 5. Covetousness Never did Covetousness invade the professing party as now The more goods men get the less good they do 6. Sensuality Voluptuousness Wantonness Christians let themselves loose to the Creature lay out their affections on things below as if part in the Serpents curse as well as their own 7. Animosities and Divisions among Christians many have been active to kindle but few to quench Divisions 8. Vncharitable censuring one another 9. Formality in Duty Witness 1. Unprepared coming 2. Unsuitableness of spirit to And 3. want of reflexion after duty how we have sped what we have got Sabbaths Sacraments comes and goes Monday morning finds us the same as before 10. Mis-spent Sabbaths some prophane others idle away the Sabbath c. 11. Neglect of our Bibles in our families and closets I pray God it forego not some great evil coming upon you as before the massacre in Germany it was observed c. I proceed 12. That want of mutual forbearance among Christians Alas Christians know not how to bear one with another in the least kind of measure Oh the short-spiritedness among Christians they cannot bear one anothers burthens they cannot bear with one another 'T is very sad that we that stand in need of so much forbearance should
subjection to his Law If you will please God in all your actions look to this That what you do may bear some resemblance to his Nature and hold forth obedience to his Law Consult the will of God and in all things act in conformity to that will do not allow your selves in the Commission of any known sin for that will certainly displease God as it was said of David when he took Bathsheba to Wife but saith the Text the thing displeased the Lord. Do not Bank any known duty for that will displease God In a word be holy in all manner of conversation This being too general I shall not insist upon it only in a word more particularly Do those things now now make conscience of those duties which now lie upon you in the doing of which you will certainly please God and they are such as these Be stedfast in the ways of God in the midst of a back-sliding and apostatizing age stand fast to the Law of God Phil. 4.1 Contend for the faith which is delivered to the Saints ver 3. of the Epistle of Jude Be not ashamed to own Christ before all the world if you be ashamed of him on earth he will be ashamed of you in Heaven and wo be to that sinner whom Christ is ashamed to own Reckon reproaches for the name of Christ better than the pleasure of sin that is but for a season When God calleth you to it assert the purity and spirituality of Gospel-worship do not place Religion in a sew shadows where the substance is neglected but chiefly minde self-denial mortification crucifixion to the world keeping up close communion with God love the people of God whatever the world say or think of thee for God is highly pleased when he seeth his Children loved Keep up Religion in your Families whatever scorn or contempt is cast upon you Oh that you would labour to be of Abrahams spirit I know saith God he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen 18.19 I do not know any one better means for the keeping up Religion in this Nation than for Masters of Families to be consciencious in the discharging of this duty Be good in bad times be patterns of good works to those that shall behold you Let no reproach or obloquy make you to abate your exact walking with God whatever you meet withall in the ways of holiness and a strict life say If this be to be vile I will be more vile Make conscience of a strict observation of the Lords day take heed of that Sacriledge of stealing away holy times of prostituting that to common and civil uses which is impropriated and dedicated to the service of God Pray for and love all those that have been instrumental for your spiritual good in the work of the Ministry whatever dirt is now thrown in their faces and though you never get more good by them Forget not to distribute to the necessities of Gods people that are many of them in a low condition for this is a sacrifice of a sweet odour and well-pleasing to him Carry your selves with all patience and Christian meekness towards them that wrong you pray for them that are your enemies and when you are reviled revile not again but commit your selves to that God who judgeth righteously Do your duty to your superiors and to those that are in Authority So carry your selves that it may be with you as it was with Daniel they had nothing against him saving in the matter of his God Bank not any duty for suffering choose the greatest of suffering before the least of sin In a word so walk as it becometh the Gospel And finally I speak to you as the Apostle spoke to them Phil. 2.16 Hold forth the word of life that I may rejoyce in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain nor laboured in vain The third use is for comfort to all those that do conscienciously endeavour in all things to please God the comfort lies in this you may suffer but when ever you suffer the Father will not leave you alone Pleasing of God does not secure a man from suffering from men sometimes it rather exposes a man to suffer from men But now though it does not prevent suffering yet it takes away the sting and venome of suffering it makes it to be like Sampsons Lion when it was slain he found nothing but honey in the belly of it Oh! the presence of God in a time of affliction is exceeding precious it turns gall into honey thorns into roses Be not troubled in your thoughts about what you may undergo if God be with you all will be well if God comes when the Crosses cometh the weight of it will not hurt you what is a Prison when God is there My brethren though estate leave you relations leave you all your comforts leave you so long as God doth not leave you it will be be well therefore do not fear be not dejected or discouraged Isa 43. 1 2. Fear not O Jacob why so when thou passest through the water I will be with thee We have more reason to be afraid of prosperity with Gods absence than of adversity with Gods presence A good God will make every condition to be good it is not a prison but a palace where God is they that do the things that please God whatever condition they may be brought to the Father will not leave them alone Ministers may leave you the means of Grace and Ordinances in a great measure may leave you your creature-enjoyments and comforts may leave you but here is a God that will never leave you Oh! bless his holy name Fourthly Is this pleasing of God a duty of so great importance and benefit then be tender and charitable in judging of those that do differ from you and others upon this account because they dare not displease God I may in this caution aim at my self and others of my brethren in the work of our Ministry but I am not here at present to take my last farewel I hope I may have a little further opportunity of speaking to you but if not let me require this of you to pass a charitable interpretation upon your laying down the exercise of our Ministry there is a greater Judge than you must judge us all at the great day and to this Judge we can appeal before Angels and men that it is not this thing or that thing that puts us upon this dissent but it is conscience toward God and fear of offending him I censure none that differ from me as though they displease God but yet as to my self should I do thus and thus I should certainly violate the peace of my own couscience and offend God which I must not do no not to secure my Ministry though that either is or ought to be dearer to me than my very life and how dear it is God
peace in the worlds power to give and there is a peace of Christs bestowing Now Christ would have us here not to mistake the worlds peace for his for the difference is very great for first the worlds peace is a false peace it is counterfeit coin it hath not the current stamp of Heaven on it but the peace that Christ gives to a Believer is true peace and perfect peace Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee Secondly The Worlds peace is an outward peace it is but skin deep it wets the mouth cannot wash the heart Prov. 14.13 In laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness The worlds peace is but the shell of peace their Conscience lowers when their countenance laughs but the peace that Christ gives is an inward and spiritual peace Psal 4.7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased Thou hast put gladness in my heart Peace is that gladness or peace smooths the brow but this fills the breast as the finner hath trouble within in the midst of all his peace without In the world you shall have trouble but in me you shall have peace Thirdly The worlds peace has only a neather spring arising out of the Creature out of worldly comforts therefore it must needs be unclean for an unclean fountain cannot bring forth clean water But the peace of Christians has an upper spring it flows from the manifestation of the love of God in Christ it is from the sprinkling of Christs bloud on the conscience it flows upon the workings of Christs Spirit upon the Soul which is first a Counsellor then a Comforter Oh how pure must this peace be in a believers soul that flows from so pure a spring Fourthly The worlds peace is a peace given to sinners it is a peace in sin and it is a peace with sin as the Prophet Isaiah tell us It is a Covenant with Hell and an Agreement with Death God delivers us from that peace Again Christs peace is given to none but believers it is their priviledge onely a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy Prov. 14.10 The heart knoweth his own bitterness but a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy Fifthly The worlds peace is a fading dying transitory thing it withers in the Sand The tryumphing of the wicked is but short and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment Job 20.5 Solomon doth elegantly liken it to crackling of thorns under a pot which is but a blaze and is gone Eccl. 7.6 so is the sinners peace it is for a spurt and is soon gone but the peace that Christ gives to Believers is a durable and abiding peace Your joy no man shall take from you it appears in life in death and after death first it is our peace in life grace brings forth present peace It is said of the Primitive Christians They walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost Act. 9.41 It is a remarkable expression Psal 19.11 In keeping thy Commands there is great reward He don't say for keeping them which respects the end of the work but in keeping them which looks at the work it self My brethren every duty done in sincerity reflects a peace in conscience as every flower carries its own sweetness It is possible I grant a Believer may not always find and feel this peace few do some seldom find it few find it always the remains of corruption bringing forth to interrupt or temptations to hinder and Gods dissertion may darken and hide it and a Believer may seem to be totally lost yet in this condition which is the worst a child of God can be in he hath a double peace first a peace in the promises in this very condition and what you have in Bonds and Bills you account as good as money in your pockets Secondly he hath it in the seed Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 97.11 Grace is the seed of Peace which Christ hath sown in the furrows of the soul and therefore peace shall spring out of the furrows of the soul Indeed this seed springs up sooner in some than in others yet every Saint shall have a reaping time sooner or later Psal 126.6 He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him If he staies long for the fruit he shall have a greater crop at last if he reaps not now he shall be sure to reap hereafter Psal 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upâ—iâ—â—t for the end of that man is peace Secondly by this peace which is the peace of a Child of God it is a peace at death Grace will Minister to us then and that Ministration shall be Peace the sinners peace leaves him when he comes to the grave though in life it fills him yet in death it leaves him A Believer hath a two-fold spring of peace the first is from above him the other from within him That spring that runs with peace above him is from the bloud of Christ sprinkled on his conscience the other that is from within him is from the sincerity of his heart in the ways of Obedience My Brethren when we lye on our death-beds and can reflect on our sincerity in all Gods ways this will be peace at last so it was in Hezekiah Isai 38.3 Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which was good in thy sight There 's nothing makes a death-bed so hard and so uneasie as a life spent in the service of sin and lust and nothing makes a death-bed so pleasant as a life spent in the service of Christ Grace will bring forth Peace if not in this life yet Thirdly it will be sure after death if time brings not this fruit to ripeness yet Eternity shall Grace in time will be Glory in Eternity Holiness now will be Happiness then whatever it is a man sows in this world that he reaps in the next world be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.7 8. When Sin shall end in sorrow and misery Grace shall end in peace in joy in glory well done thou good and faithful servant enter into the joy of thy Master Mat. 25.21 Whoever shares in the Grace of Christ in this world shall be sure to share with the joy of Christ in the next world that joy is joy unspeakable full of glory I will wind up all in a three-fold Application by way of Exhortation to three sorts of persons 1. To such as have this Grace
Trust Now I am leaving of you 4. Here is the commendation of the Trustee from the power and ability of him to manage this Trust and this is expressed in two particulars 1. He is able to build up And then 2. To give you an inheritance As if he should have said I will leave you with such who are able to build you up I might raise a multitude of Observations from the words As first of all Doct. 1. That it should he the care of a faithful Minister when be is by the providence of God taken from a people to recommend them to God and to the Word of his Grace 2. As it is the duty of a faithful Minister to do it so it is his comfort that be may do it that he may leave his people in the hand of God who is able to build them up in grace 3. It may be the comfort of any Church of Christ that when they are deprived of faithful Ministers that yet they are lest in the hands of God 4. Though God can by his infinite power perfect grace and bring men to Heaven without the use of means yet we have no ground nor warrant to expect one or other but through the Word of Gods grace 5. And lastly Though there be a glorious inheritance purchased and prepared by Jesus Christ yet it is to be expected by none but those that are built up and sanctified Or thus None â—ust look for an inheritance hereafter but such as are born of the Spirit and built up in grace I might speak to many more but I shall gather all that I have said into this one general Proposition which is this Doct. That the best Farewel that a Gospel-Minister can give to his people that he loves and labors amongst when he by the providence of God is taken from them iâ— to commend them to God and to the word of his grace Thus doth our holy Apostle When he was taken from his people and left to preach to them no more he recommends them to the hands of God And thus doth a greater than St. Paul even Jesus Christ himself The great Shepherd of the Sheep as St. Peter calls him when he was leaving the world and could no longer preach to them he commends them to God John 17.11 And now says Christ to his Father I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keep through thy own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are And in the fourteenth I have given them thy word He commends them to God and to the word of his grace In the prosecution of this Truth I shall explain these particulars 1. Shew you what it is in a Minister to recommend his people to God 2. What it is that he should recommend them to God for 3. Why he should be so careful to recommend them to God 4. How he should recommend them to God Lastly Apâ—â—ly it First It is to leave them in the hand of God to give them up unto Gods care and keeping as I shewed you in the opening of the words To recommend them to God is to do that for them effectually which he would fain do Ministerially if he had been suffered to continue among them As when a dying Father or Husband commends his wife and children to some surviving intimate friend it is a leaving a committing them to that friend to deal and to do for them which he would have done if he had lived Now let us consider what it is that a faithful Ministers design and endeavours are to do for that Congregation that is committed to his charge These four things especially every faithful Minister endeavours to do while he is amongst his people 1. Their Conversion and Sanctification 2. Their Building and Edification 3. Their Protection and Preservation 4. Their Comfort and Consolation First Their Conversion and turning to God This is that a faithful Ministers heart is set upon that he may convert poor souls that are in a sinful state that he may turn poor souls to God that by often preaching and praying and counsel he may bring them into a state of salvation Rom. 10.1 The Apostle there speaks of the Romans that they were the people of God in profession ah but this was not enough fain he would that they should be the people of God-in truth that is the hearty desire of every faithful Minister not only to bring his people to the outward profession of godliness but to the work and power of it in their hearts not only to have the name of Christian but Christianity it self and this is the end of all his studying to get them to God by little and little till Christ be formed in them Gal. 4.11 My little Children says the Apostle c. S. Paul travels in birth with the Galathians from a state of nature to a state of grace he would get grace wrought in their hearts he would get them ingraffed into Christ and this is the end of his commending them to God which he would fain have done if he might have been suffered to preach to them This is the language of a Ministers heart Lord Lord thou knowest that it was the desire of my soul that every one of this people should be made holy by thy Word I would fain have begotten them by the Ministry to Jesus Christ but now by the providence of God I am taken off before my work is done and thou seest yet there is a great many in the gaul of bitterness and the bond of iniquity in a state of death and I am now likely not to do any thing more Now it is my care that those that belong to thy Election of grace may be gathered home to thee 2. To build them up in knowledge and faith He endeavours that those that are already sanctified may be further built up in their most holy faith Where there are the most eminent Saints yet there is a great deal lacking The Apostle gives great commendation of the Thessalonans 1 Thess 3.10 They were a famous Church and there were a great many eminent Christians yet there was something lacking in their faith and in their knowledge Christ speaks to one of the most eminent Apostles Oh thou of little faith Though the Foundation-stone be laid yet there is a superstructure behind and this is the work of Christ the building them up Eph. 4.12 This is the end of every faithful Minister to make his people fit for Heaven he would be feeding of them that they may grow to the full measure of the stature of Christ And therefore every godly Minister desires that he may be the Finisher as well as the Author under God of their Faith that they may be built up to Christs heavenly Kingdom 3. A Minister's aims are that his people may be kept from danger The people of God after they are effectually called they are
intemperately to the honour of his Idol only in dead Vessels of Gold and Silver But these in doing thus abuse living Vessels living bodies and living souls such Vessels as by Baptism were markt out for God and separated and sealed to his holy service they abuse and prostitute to a Lust to a Whore to the Devil Ah! who can but weep and weep again to see how much of our English Bloud is poyson'd with these beastly Enormities at this day and how many of our otherwise hopeful Gentlemen who might do God and their Country much service and be a great help to the publick good and peculiar blessing to the place where they live do basely and unworthily melt away their youth and Emasculate their spirits in drunken Societies and Effeminate Embraces Alas that so many Noble Births so many sparkling Wits should be prostituted to Satans service and imployed in carrying on Satans cause while they know it not If they had found a Golden Chalice as Augustine observes of Lucinus they would have given it to the Church But God hath given them a Golden Wit a golden Head and golden parts and in these golden Cups and Challices they drink themselves to the Devil both body and soul for evermore Ah deluded and degenerated Gentlemen think with your selves seriously what answer you will make to your Judge at the general Audit-day for taking the Members of Christ and making them members of an Harlot Never see my face more said Joseph unless you bring your brother Benjamin with you Oh friends never think to see Gods face to your comfort in Glory if you carry not holy bodies and holy souls and holy affections with you God tells you his minde in Heb. Follow peace and holiness without which you shall never see the Lord You may go to Heaven without a peny in your purse but you shall never come there without holiness in your heart Heaven is a City where Righteousness dwells and therefore though God in his wonderful patience to poor lost man suffer the Earth to give the ungodly a little house-room a while yet sure I am he will never cumber Heaven with such a crew Before Enoch was translated to Heaven he walkt holily upon Earth else God had never desired his Company so soon as he did And before the Saints departed commenced and took their degree of Glory they kept their Acts and performed the exercises of grace and so must you the Scripture is plain Without Holiness none shall see the Lord. It 's true none goes to Heaven for his Holiness and this shews the Insufficiency of Holiness But it 's as true that none goes to Heaven without holiness and this argues the necessity of holiness And therefore though it be no plea for Heaven yet it will be your best Evidence and will you have your Evidences to seek when you should have them to shew Ah then as you value a portion among the Saints in Light and hope to live in Heaven when you can live no longer upon Earth Be holy as your Father which is in Heaven is holy Caesars money must be known by Caesars Image and Superscription and so must the Christian at the Reckoning day by the Terror of his Conversation Not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of the Lord shall be saved saith Christ Your works must be your witnesses and your deeds must declare whose you are and to whom you belong And therefore begin to live that life now which you intend and hope to live for ever and continue not one day longer in that condition in which you would not die and appear at Judgment in Therefore go home and dress your selves not with good Cloaths but with good works and while others are querying what they shall eat and what they shall drink and what they shall put on study you how to live and how to dye and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ making no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof And when others are projecting how to improve a barren piece of ground let your contrivance be how to improve a barren minde and as their care is that their fields should not lye fallow so let it be your study not to let your hearts lye fallow and the rather because you see that this is the will of God even your sanctification that every one of you should possess his Vessel in holiness 1 Thes 4.3 4. Now that this is the will of God will appear upon a two-fold account 1. First from the price with which he hath redeemed us to it 2. And Secondly from the Promise which he hath made to Reward us for it 1. The price he paid down upon the nail was his own blood Tit. 2.14 He gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people Had man kept his primitive holiness Christ might have kept his life and have spared his pains It was mans lost Righteousness lost Holiness that Christ came to recover But this is a Point that needs pressing rather than proving which I shall undertake to effect by these ensuing obrestations and intreaties I beseech you upon the account of these three Considerations that you would approve your selves a holy Nation a Seed which the Lord hath blessed I beseech you 1. For my sake 2. For your sakes 3. For Christs sake First for my sake who am to come to you as a Petitioner and Messenger from the Lord and the sum of my desires is this I beseech you in Christs stead that you would be reconciled to God I am not courting you for your silver but for your souls and what will you grant me if this be denied me O the Lord make you a willing people in the day of his power God hath sent me to you as Jesse to David with this Present in mine hands and these Breathings in my heart after your Salvation O may they but prove serviceable and successful to your souls and I shall bless God that hath put it into mine heart thus to visit you But if you will not hear nor fear to do no more so wickedly My soul shall weep in secret for you Is it not sad to a tender Physitian to see his Patients to dye under his hands much sadder sure to a poor Minister to see souls drop to Hell one by one under his Pulpit and cannot help them cannot save them this must needs be a heart-sadding sight to one that 's sensible of the worth of souls It costeth the Mother no small pains to bring forth a living Child But ah the bitter Throws of that Minister that travels all the year long nay all his life long with a dead Child a dead-hearted people That spends his strength and like a Candle Swails out his life amongst his Parish and is forced at last to take up the Prophets complaint Who hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord
not beat folly out of our hearts We have been unprofitable all our days some have done thee more service in one year than we in all our time We have forgotten thee in the day of prosperity and sung a lullaby to our own Souls Oh that we could speak these things with broken and bleeding hearts But as in the time of our ignorance we could sin without reluctancy so now we can sin without repentance Oh that thou wouldst smite the rock that there might flow out tears VVe can do nothing by way of expiation if we would weep out our eyes nothing but the blood of Christ can take away our guilt O that there might be a spring of that blood upon our souls at this time Oh that that blood may at this time bring a report of love and a message of mercy to us Do we beg any more than thou hast promised Oh hast not thou accepted of that satisfaction that Christ hath made in his own person If we had suffered the torments of Hell it could not have made that satisfaction that Christ hath made Give us the witness of thy spirit and thy Love and we will say we have enough give us hearts of flesh crush the head of the serpent in our souls O Lord Christ thou camest into the world to destroy the works of the Devil in our hearts and to build up the Kingdom of the spirit in us Oh when shall we see the old man decay in us and the new man to live more and more O be wisdom to guide us and Righteousness to cleanse us from guilt and redemption to deliver us from the wages of sin let us be nothing in our selves that we may be all in thee our saviour Oh honour us so far that we may honour thee VVe pray thee strengthen our weak saith quiet our consciences we would not live a day longer than that we may honour thee tread Satan under our feet fit us for our places and imployments let not our conditions be so low but that our hearts may be lower we are posting to death Oh let sin die before we die let us know our names are written in the Book of Life before thou take away our life Look upon thy servant our dread Sovereign Charls of Great Britâ—â—â—n France and Ireland King oh inrich his Royal heart with all those saving graces of thy Spirit in order unto a wise and happy Government of these Kingdoms Look upon his Royal Consort his Royal relations the Lords of his Privy Council and make them blessings to this Nation oh sanctifie thy good word oh give thy gracious assistance to us both in speaking and hearing let us hear it as that word by which we must be judged that we may be convinced by it and say it is the power of God to salvation to every soul of us Let our meeting be for the better to all of us that we may be built up in the most holy Faith and let us know we have not sought thy face in vain for Jesus Christ his sake our dear Saviour for whom we bless thy Majesty to whom with thee and thy Spirit be praise for ever Amen Mr. Jenkin's Prayer at Christ Church MOst blessed and holy Lord God thou art infinitely beyond our apprehensions who wast infinitely happy before the worâ—d was made and wantest none of thy creatures nor their services to make thee more excellent than thou art in thy self we daily want thee thou never wantest us thou art pleased to make use of ordinances Ministers Sabbaths as thy Institutions to accomplish and bring about the great work of thy Glory and mans Salvation yet Lord thou dost not need them thy Spirit is not made efficatious by these things but it is that that makes these things efficatious though thou art pleased to tie us to them when we may have them and duly enjoy them yet thou dost not tie thy self to them We desire in these our addresses to eye the happiness of Saints that depends upon him that depends upon none we are here in thy presence by thy goodness and grace O whither should we go but to thee and how should we come but by thee Oh strengthen our faith kill our corruptions inflame our love give us assurance of thy love to our souls oh that God would teach us how to pray that we may taste and see how good the Lord is this day that our souls may be filled as with marrow that we may by our own experience be able to say It is good for us to draw nigh to God and that a day in his house is better then a thousand elsewhere that there may be a communion between us and God let there be a disunion between us and sin we confesse we brought sin enough into the world with us to cause thee to with-drawâ—th blessed self from us and to cast such unproffitable servants as we are into utter darkness we have been a long time in thy school and yet how dull are we we might have been teachers of others but we need our selves be taught which are the first Principles of the oracles of God we love less than we know and we do less than we love we have neither done that good nor received that good which we should or might have done and received We have been trees that have cumbred the ground in thy orchard but we have brought forth no fruit Wo unto us that we have not known the day of our visitation many of us have one foot in the grave and yet we have lived without God in the world we are wise in every thing but in our own Salvation we live as if Hell were a priviledge those of us that have some knowledg of thee have great cause to repent that we have walked so unworthily of God Which of us pray continually and fervently or live the life of saith we confess we neither take our afflictions humbly nor our mercies thankfully nor want our comforts contentedly nor fill up our relations fruitfully We live as if Hell were a scare-crow as if all the threatnings of thy word were an empty noise as if there were neither sweetness in Heaven nor bitterness in Hell When we come into thy presence where are our hearts what earthly dispositions do we bring along with us the sins of our Prayers cry louder then the Supplications of our prayers what hypocrisie and formality cleaves unto us If thou dost not look upon the iniquities of our holy things with an eye of pitty what will become of us O Lord be pleased to smell a sweet savour of rest and peace through thy dear Son O Lord it is only his precious Blood that can sprinkle our hearts and quiet our Consciences and no other thing We do renounce our own Works and we cry out in our selves Undone undone It is through thy beloved Son that we are accepted and therefore to that end bring us to him by a saving operation on thy part
of wrath will fall upon us O Lord how many ways hast thou used to reclaim us what Arts hath thy blessed Spirit used how many times hast thou approached to our souls and shewed us something of thy glory and the glory of heaven and the terrours of hâ—ll the one to allure us and the other to scare us But Oh! how many times have we grieved thy blessed Spirit who came to seal us and despised thy Son who came from heaven to earth and liv'd a sorrowful life and died a shameful death how often hath he offered us grace and glory if we would how to his Scepter but we have preferred a base lust before that excellency that he hath purchased us Oh how often hast thou condescended so far as to intreat us to be reconciled how easie hast thou been to forgive and how hard have we been to be forgiven VVe confess thou mighâ—est pass an eternal Doom upon us for we are sensible of the dishonour that we have brought upon thy Name Do thou at this time strike upon all these rocks that are in thy presence at this time give us hearts of flesh let our repentance pâ—eprare us for corversion let there be such a through conviction that thy grace and Mercy may be admirable in our eyes VVe intreat thee hear us pardon all our iniquities let us be monuments of thy grace and favour speak peace to our Consciences convey those clear evis dences of thâ—â—â—ve unto us that may inable us to scatter all our fâ—aâ—s that we may rejoice in God and have hope of glory Let the image of thy Son be engraven on all our hearts and let our souls be made subject to him while we are in the world preserve us from the evil of it If thou givest us out ward happiness give us withat inward holiness and if we do suffer help us with patience to bear all knowing we are in our journey and our passage to a better life and let our whole time be spent in a serious Preparation to appear before thy Tribunal and let us consider the unchangableness of that state hereafter Remember thy whole Church make the Name of Christ glorious in the world shed abroâ—d thy light and thy truth heavour back-slidings and love us freely Let thine Ordâ—nances continue among us and let thy blessing descend upon our sovereign Lord the King of England Scot and France and Ireland Defender of the Faith Incline his heart to thy Law make him an instrument of publick good protect his person and give him prosperous affairs Bless his Royal Consort his Relations his privy Counsel let them promote solid Piety and real Godliness Bless the Minister of thy Word and Sacraments Let their labours be precious in thy sight and remember all afflicted ones revive thy Mourners and let thy grace answer all their fears Let thy presence be in the midst of us and help us to hear as our last and let us be raised nearer heaven and make thy word powerful and effectual to all our souls and let thy word subdue our lusts and aâ—l we beg for the sake of Jesus Christ in whose Name and words we sum up our imperfect Prayers Our Father which art in Heaven c. Dr. Jacomb's Prayer at Martins Ludgate BLessed God thou art a God blessed for ever thou givest Mercy to all returning and repenting sinners thou art worthy to be praised by all that draw nigh unto thee Thou hast vouchsafed to us one Sabbath more Oh that we might all of us be in the spirit upon the Lords day that whatever we do we may do it in the strength of God that we may offer spiritual Sacrifices to God this day through our Mediator the Lord Jesus It is a very great condescention that thou shouldst suffer such as we are to come unto thee O Lord we are unclean we are unclean from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot we are overspread with the leprosie of sin all the faculties of our souls are defiled our understandings are darkened our wills are corrupted we have affections but they are carnal we have hearts but they are impure we have consciences but they are seared and as our inward man so our lives are unholy as the fountain is so is the stream besides that our general guilt that we brought into the world we are guilty of innumerable actual transgressions against thy holy Law We think O Lord there are no greater sinners in the world than we our sins are attended with many aggravations We have finned against Prayers against vows and promises we have had as much light shining before us as any in the world have had great is our unbelief Oh that we could lay these things to our hearts We do refuse to come to Christ we go about to establish a righteousness of our own and neglect the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ how are our hearts glewed to the present things of this world Oh! what do we do for thy glory How unreformed are we under all the ways of God that he hath taken to make us a holy people Give us a sight of our sins O Lord we confess sometimes we do make a formal confession but we do not find our hearts melted for sin as they should Oh take away from every one of us this heart of stone give a heart of flesh give us tender hearts make us sensible of all our departing from thee Oh let us look upon him whom we have pierced let us mourn that the Water of penitential sorrow may flow from us we are strangers to our selves we do not see what a hell there is in our nature Oh! how should we put our mouths in the dust and loath our selves if so be there might be hope O Lord convince us of sin give us such a sight of sin as may make us flie to thee give us such a sight of our own guilt that maâ—â— prepare us for the Grace of Godâ— now we are sâ—ung with the fiery Serpents help us to come to Jesus Christ our brazen Serpent give us the holy Spirit to bring us out of the state of nature to let that God that made us Creatures make us new Creatures O Lord we are thine own work but we are dead in trespasses and sins give us grace and speak a word to them that are dead put out thine Almighty Power and draw some sinner to Christ this day and those that have any breathings after thee Oh! thou that gavest them that desire carry on thine own work in them where thou hast begun a good work carry it on let sin as the house of Saul grow weaker and weaker and grace as the house of David grow stronger and stronger Oh! increase our faith O Lord at this time we do not onely stand in need of grace but of a great measure of grace Oh! help us by faith to relie upon God that thou mayest help us at last Bless
meek spirits as Christ did take our flesh let us partake of his Spirit Why dost thou imbitter the brest of the Creature to us but that we should finde the sweetness of the Promises There is as much in the Promises as ever let us live upon God let us cast anchor in Heaven and we shall never sink Shower down thy blessings even the choicest of them upon the head and heart of our dread Sovereign Charles by thy appointment of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith let him see wherein his cheifest interest lies let him count those his best subjects that are Christ's subjects Bless him â—n hâ—s Royal Consort in his Royal Relations the Lords of his Privy Council let them be a terror to eviâ— doers and incouragers of those that do well Bless all thy Ordinances to us make them to be fulness of life to every one before thee we are come this day to partake of them Oh pour in Wine and oyl into our souls let us be a watered garden let this blessed Sacrament be a poyson to our lust and nourishment for our Grace Hear us be our God follow us with mercy crown us with acceptance and all for Christ his sake whom not seeing we love in whom believing we rejoyce to Christ with thee and thy holy Spirit be Glory Honour and Praise now and for ever Amen Mr. Lye 's Prayer at Allhallows Lumber-street O Lord our great God thou canst do all things for thou dost dispose and govern all the wayes and works and words of thy Creature to thâ—ne own praise We thy poor Creatures the workmanship of thy hands the price and purchase of thy Sons blood do desire this morning to fall down and humble our selves at the Throne of thy Grace we desire to lift up an eye of Faith to thee that thou mayest dart an eye of Love to us since thou hast commanded us to come unto thee Oh bless us now we come Let it not be in vain for any of us from the high'st to the low'st from the richest to the poorest that we have sought thy Face this morning Blessed Father pour down a spirit of Prayer a Spirit of preaching a Spirit of Rejoycing a spirit of Practising in the midst of us let us not only be enabled to know what to do but to do what we know Thou that distd cure the eyes of the blind with clay and spittle Oh heel that natural dimness that is in the best of us Thy Rod in the hand of Moses brought water out of the Rock Oh do thou strike upon those rocky hearts that our adamantine hearts being softned may gush out into Rivers of tears Oh drown our sins in the Red sea of our saviours blood help us to smite upon our thigh and to ask our selves what we have been and what we have done and humble us under the omission of any commanded duty and the comission of any for bidden sin sins of thoughts wordes and dieds sins against the Law against the Gospel of youth manhood and old-age sins before under and since conversion sins against prayers vows promises covenants and oaths Oh Lord if thou didst prefer thy Bill against us we could not stand if we were weighed in the balance of the Sanctury we should be found too light but holy Father remember not against us our former sins but rather have mercy upon us according to thy loving kindness cross and blot out our iniquities blot them out so fully and wholly that it may be to us as to Judath in the promise that the sins of Judath should be sought for and not found O bathe our souls in that Fountain that was set open for Judah and Jerusalem though our sins have been as Scarlet let them be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson let them be like Wool We have read that a flood of sin brought down a deluge of water that they covered the tops of the mountains Oh let thy deluge of mercy cover the tops of the mountains of our sins It is the glory of a God to pardon great sins We desire to turn unto thee with our whole hearts do thou subdue our iniquities let us be not only cleansed but let us have the efficacy of the spirit of Christ to wash us from the guilt of sin because we boast we are not under the Law but under Grace Be gracious to our Soveraign Lord Charles King of England Scotland France and Ireland It is thy promise that Kings shall be Nursing Fathers to thy children grant that under the shadow of his Majesty thy people may be protected that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Oh let thy people possess the Land from Dan to Beersheba Oh give us Scripture-Magistrates and Gospel-Ministers as long as the Sun and Moon endures Let thy VVord be sanctified to us let it not be only as water to get out our spots but as a Refiners fire to purge our dross and take away our tin And holy Father where thou hast begun a good work do thou go on and bring it to perfection let not the light that is in us be like the glimmering light of the evening but as the light of the morning that shineth more and more to the day Let our best wine be kept to the last let the end of our lives be the end of sinning Thou hast cast our lot in the midst of temptations of all sorts thou hast brought many of us through the red Sea but we are in the wilderness with Zeba and Zalmunna and those that dwell at Tyre the children of Ammon Moab and mount Seir and all the forces that Hell can make against us Oh put upon uâ— all the whole Armour of God Now in these days of Errour gird us with the Girdle of Truth Oh now in these days of falsity give us a helmet of Hope Now the Devil darts at us give us the Sheiâ—d of Faith Oh give us the Sword of the Spirit of the word of God that it may enable us to confute the gain-saying of foolish men Oh help us to pray with all manner of prayer constantly fervently faithfully feelingly that we stand and not fall and that not in our strength but in Gods To this end be with us upon this thine own day our Manna falls every day and it is doubled upon the Lords day Oh let us be as thy servant John in the Spirit upon thine own day let God by his Spirit come into our spirits understandings consciences wills memories and affections that all our conversations without and affections within may be obedient to thy Word Enable thy Servant to deliver thy Word faithfully God forbid thy Servant should stand upon so sandy a foundation as the Wisdome of Man one iota of thy Word hath more wisdome in it then all men and Angels have Good Father give thy people a hearing ear it is too much they have played
and turn again unto the Lord Sin is aversio a Deo conversio ad creaturam Reformation is a turning again from the creature to God 3. Frequent and fervent prayer let us lift up There 's the frequency let 's do nothing else but pray let 's be continually lifting up our prayers make our houses houses of prayer Thus David Thou foughtest against me without a cause Did he take counsel against Princes to be disloyal to take up arms No. But I gave my self unto Prayer Psal 109.4 Therefore if you prayed before now do nothing else it notes habitual and constant prayer Our hearts with our hands to crave and as it were to pull down mercy as if we would wrestle with God and say Nay nay I will not let thee go until thou bless me Gen. 32.26 it notes our fervency And for our encouragement it is Unto God in the Heavens which expresses his Soveraignty Omnisciency Omnipotency Everlastingness c. 4. Judging our selves or confessing of sin We have transgressed 5. Aggravating our sins and have rebelled i.e. we have turned sin in-into rebellion rebellion hath been the aggravation of our sin we have sinned against the clearest light dearest love c. Neh. 9. Ezek. 9. Dan. 6. 6. Justifying God thou hast not pardoned A word not of murmuring complaining or accusing God of hard dealing but by way of justifying God we have transgressed therefore thou hast not pardoned Why shouldest thou repent of the evil of punishment when we have not repented of the evil of sin Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve So in the Text Do thy first works Sin is a departure from God Repentance a coming back again to God Turn thou to him from whom the Children of Israel have deeply revolted The soul hath many turnings and windings but there 's the best motion of all when the soul with the Dove returns to God from whom it came Apostacy is the loss of our first love Repentance is the recovery of it and Reformation is the doing of our first works I have not time to enlarge as I desire I shall only offer a few things that might help to quicken you to this great duty My Brethren we have no great cause to boast of Englands first love Never so good as it should be yet many can remember when England hath been much better than it is Time was when Doctrines have been more sound Discipline more exercised for the suppressing of sin and prophaneness Ordinances kept more pure from sinful mixtures when London kept Sabbaths better than now loved their godly Ministers more than now honoured them that were set over her for their works sake would have thought nothing too good for a faithful Minister when Christians loved one another with a dear hearty fervent love when there was less complement but more real love and affection among Christians when Christians improved their meetings converse Christian Conference and other soul duties to better purpose than now not to foolish disputations or wanton sensual excess but to their mutual edification when they improved their times for comparing their evidences communicating their experiences and building up one another in their most holy faith when there was more industry in Professors than now to bring in Converts when private Christians thought it their duty to be subservient to the works of their Ministers to bring in others to Christ especially their family Time was when more care of young Converts than now when none could have looked out after Religion but some or other ready to lend them their hand and shew them the way explaining it clearly to them but now young Converts may be snapt into separation and error and none look after them Time was when more care of the truly godly poor when error was more odious when Popery was more hated than now when the name of a tolleration would have made Christians to have trembled when Christians were better acquainted with their Bibles when more time spent in secret prayer when more tender of one anothers names and honours would heal one anothers reputations and would spread the lap of charity over those mis-reports and scandals that might be cast upon then when Christians rejoyced more in one anothers good and mourned in one anothers sufferings when Christians did more earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints c. Oh do you not only your first works but our fore-fathers first works be as zealous for God and his truths as tender mutually careful of one another as they Our fears be very great and truly our provocations be greater our dangers are great but our sins greater yet here is a word here is matter of encouragement that yet there is Balm in Gilead Physick of Christs own composition for the reviving and healing of a back-sliding people Christians Christ Jesus is become your Physician he hath prescribed you a potion made up of these three ingredients Self-reflection Holy Contrition Thorow Reformation Christiians now take this Receipt Christ advises you if you will not there is no way but one Or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick There is yet a means or two I find in Scripture for the preventing of threatned ruine that hath been very near that God hath prescribed for a people or person in great danger when ready to be cut off and destroyed Now that which I would commend to you in reference to what you would beg of God for England is First in your addressing your self to God for that mercy your souls are set upon and you wrestle with God for that you would make some special vow to God I find the Saints have done so when reduced to great straits not knowing what to do Thus Jacob vowed a vow saying If God will be with me and will keep me on this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and rayment to put on so that I come again to my Fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God And this Stone which I here set for a pillar shall be Gods house Gen. 28.20 21 22. The special thing Jacob vows is that he would continue in the pure worship of his fore-fathers that he would still honour God as his God in that way he would be worshipped the speciaâ— thing is that he would build a house for the worship of God here he would erect a place of publick worship And thus Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord and said If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand then will I utterly destroy their Cities Numb 21.2 They vowed they would not spare any of the enemies of God if he would deliver them into their hands Thus Jeptha Hannah David c. Judg. 11.31 1 Sam. 1.11 Psal 132.1 2. Certainly in times of great distress 't is nor improper or uncomely but that which God may expect and take well that you make some special vow if God
that day mercy will be worth receiving Fifthly They supplicate to God for them they do not go to the throne of Grace for themselves but Sion is in their thoughts I am confident it is so with some and am perswaded it is so with all they never beg daily bread for themselves but they remember Sion In the 51. Psalm David was under trouble of conscience soul-trouble which is the soul of trouble yet at the latter end of the 51. Psalm he breaks out into this earnest supplication to God Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou up the walls of Jerusalem So long as it is ill with the people of God so long they are earnest with God and though they cannot overcome men with their prayers which by the way they are to endeavour yet they will never leave supplicating the Almighty till they have overcome As the sufferings of Gods people are precious in the sight of God so they are in the fight of the people of God I come now to shew whence it is that there is such an high esteem in the people of God of the people of God when under trouble and distress for this take two heads of reasons First In regard of those people of God that do behold their sufferings Secondly In regard of those people of God that are in sufferings First In regard of those people of God that do behold their sufferings troubles and distresses in three regards First Those of the people of God that look upon others in trouble though they are such as may differ from them in regard of outward estate one may be in honour the other in dishonour yet they have an interest in the same head and do belong to the same body that they do they are not wooden legs not glass eyes therefore Christ is called the common Saviour and the Saviour of the body the whole Church Faith it is called the like precious Faith 2 Pet. 1. Chap. in the beginning The Faith of one Believer does as truly lay hold on Christ as the Faith of another This Salvation is called common salvation my meaning is this outward disproportion as the birth and education puts no difference at all in a spiritual respect between Believer and Believer a King and a Beggar are all one in Christ a Jew or a Greek a great Scholar or a poor ignorant man as to the spiritual state all are made happy the same way Secondly because these look at Spiritual excellency and are able to discern Spiritual excellency they have a renewed judgement as they look upon their old courses and sins with a new eye so they look upon their company with a new eye those that before they highly esteemed they now dis-esteem those persons that before they esteemed a damp to their mirth they now look upon them as the excellent ones of the earth Prov. 12.26 The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour In the sixteenth psalm says David My goodness extends not to thee but to the Saints the excellent ones in whom is all my delight Here was a renewed estimation David saw excellency in those which Worldlings despised A carnal eye sees no glory but in carnal objects Worldlings bless the covetous whom the Lord abhors A gracious heart sees a spiritual worth in a man devested of worldly enjoyments as a curious eye may and does see a great deal of Art and curiosity in a Picture though in a broken frame A beast can see the shining of a Diamond but knows not the worth of it A Beast will rather lick up a lock of hay than a Diamond though of never so great value A wicked man wants a spirit of discerning The people of God are the workmanship of God which a godly man is very much taken withal not with the greatness but with the goodness that is in them The four Monarchs of the earth is exprest by four Beasts which shews their cruelty not their curiosity in observing that of God which may be observed A Child is taken with the Gay but a learned man is taken with the learning and art of a Lesson Thirdly A Child of God is one that highly esteems the people of God judging of them as God judges The child esteems as the father esteems if the father cannot love any one the ingenious Child cannot endure that he should come into the House The Courtier follows the favourite of the King whom the King honours they cringe to But to be sure it is true as to spirituals God judges not by the Gold Ring or Silken suit a sinner is a vile person in Gods account and so he is in a godly mans account God is more taken with a broken hearted sigh then with all the gaudery in Solomons Temple He did not chuse the Eagle or Lyon for Sacrifice but the Lamb and the Dove not many noble not many rich but the poor hath God chosen he that hath the choice of God hath the life of God The second Reason is from the people of God that are beheld And this will appear in five or six particulars First The people of God those that are truly such let their present condition be what it will their end shall be happy Men are not regarded in reference to what they have in possession but what they shall have in reversion the poor here are rich in Faith and shall be rich in Glory 1 Pet. 3. The people of God are Heirs of Glory co-heirs with Christ when he shall appear they shall appear with him in Glory they are not possessors here but they are heirs and are to be look'd upon as what they shall be hereafter Here they are Princes going to their Crown hereafter they shall be possessed of it Here they may be oppressed banish'd disgrac'd libell'd hereafter they shall shine as the Sun in glory Secondly They are not only such as shall be happy but they are very useful and beneficial in the world they are those for whose sake the world was made they are the great common blessings of the World like fire and water they are those for whose sake God spares the world If God would have spared the City for ten righteous persons sakes surely for many tens God spares the world those that are pulled down by the world are those for whose sake God doth not pull down the world they are the soul of the world as I may so say If God hath gathered in all his Elect the world would not continue one hour longer Thirdly the excellency of their performances is highly esteemed there is a worth in every holy work that worldlings are not able to discern every heavenly Prayer and sincerely bestowed Alms hath a worth that a carnal man doth not see Luther sayes I had rather do the least truly good work than obtain all the Conquests of Caesar and Alexander If their good works shall be so rewarded do you think a holy man can see them and not be
a place to be holy this is two ways to be considered 1. Generally 2. More particularly 1. More generally The holiness of a place doth consist in the separation thereof the setting it apart the distinction and discrimination in the way of some excellent pre-eminence or the exalting of it before and above all other places Thus the notion of the holiness of places is taken in Scripture Exod. 30.31 37 38. you shall there read that the Lord tells them in the 31 verse concerning the ointment that he prescribed and likewise the composition of it for his service This shall be an holy anointing oyl unto me throughout your generations Now see how God doth discover this to be holy On mans flesh it shall not be poured neither sha-you make any other like it after the composition of it Here was a discrimination as well to the using of it as to the making and composition of it as none was to make such an oyntment as this was so none was to use it in their ordinary and common employment so that now the holiness thereof did consist in the distinction discrimination of it from other uses and likewise from all other oyntment And this is further expressed concerning the holy perfumes in the 37 and 38 verses there was to be a difference betwixt this and other perfume and this was the holiness thereof And so you shall find it not only concerning holy things but likewise concerning holy persons Lev. 20.24 25. I am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people you shall therefore put a difference between clean beasts and unelean Mark ye herein is the holiness of the people that they were a differenced and severed people And hence it is you read in Deut. 26.18 19. that God is there said to avouch his people openly to discover himself to assert it that they are his people their holiness was a discrimination a separation from the rest of the people And in Deut. 7.6 and 14.2 you have there the very same things described and discovered unto you And now for this I shall desire you to take notice of comparing two places of Scripture which discovers the holiness of places in Deut. 19.2 3. Thou shalt separate three cities for the in thee midst of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it And at the seventh verse Wherefore I command thee saying Thou shalt separate three cities for thee Now you shall have this again propounded to you in Josh 20.7 And they sanctified Kadesh in Galilee in Napthali and Sichem in mount Ephraim and Kiriath-arba which is Hebron in the mountain of Judah Mark the Scripture that was called Separation in Deut. 9.2.7 is here called Sanctification therefore the word in the Hebrew is And you shall sanctifie or make holy these places that is holy by the separation of them unto that employment that I shall appoint Hence a thing is said to be unholy in Scripture when it is common is not separated and set apart to holy employments and services and from every thing that is of a civil concernment And hence you read in Acts 10.14 in the vision that Peter had God bids Peter Kill and eat But Peter said Not so Lord for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean That that is unclean and unholy in a way of legal unholiness is said to be common not set apart Heb. 10.29 you shall there read this notion clearly discovered to you in the New Testament Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the bloud of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing An unholy thing is a common thing So that now what is sanctification in the former part of the verse is called commonness and uncleanness in the latter part But not to give you any more instances of this nature the general nature of holiness is discrimination or separation 2. To answer it more particularly this setting apart or discrimination or separation of places for holy uses must have these two properties 1. A place that is holy must have such a separation from other places as that it must be alienated from all uses but holy uses it must not at all be employed to civil uses for the employing of it unto civil uses must be looked upon as sinful and unlawful Thus in the Scripture when times things persons are reputed as holy they are to be exempted from common employment the Sabbath-day a holy day In it thou must not do any manner of work The Vessels and Utensils of the Temple were holy and therefore were not to be used to ordinary uses and this as some do think was the great sin of Belshazzar that he would offer to drink in the vessels of the Temple And so the garments of the Priests were holy and not to be used by secular persons And the Tabernacle and the Temple were holy and not to be used in civil employment 2. More particularly concerning this holiness I desire to shew you what it is by shewing you it must be such a holiness and separation as that the service done to God in those places must be accounted and looked upon as a better service and more acceptable then if so be it had been elsewhere more acceptable to God and advantagious to our selves Now as places are said to be holy in regard they are onely to be for holy services so 2. Holy in regard that holy services are onely to be done there with acceptation or advantage at least with so great acceptation And therefore I desire you to take notice that places in Scripture are said to be holy which did sanctifie the Worship which was done in them and sanctifie the Worshippers and so the very places are part of Worship and so not onely places in which God was worshipped but by which God was worshipped And thus the Sabbath was sanctified and so the performance of Gods Worship therein made Gods service more acceptable sanctified And so the Altar when it was holy it made the gift the more holy and sanctified and so the more acceptable the Altar sanctified the gift Mat. 23.18 19. And so the incense was acceptable to God as being put into such a censer And so the service done to God in such Garments was more acceptable because done in them which God had instituted and appointed for Aaron and his Sons to wear And so I have opened the first thing in explanation and that is to shew you wherein holiness consists and how it is that places or things may be said to be holy and I think I have sufficiently cleared the notion to you 2. To shew what the cause or the foundation of this holiness is for this my Brethren I shall desire you also to take notice of it more generally and then more particularly 1. More generally That the cause and the foundation
it is said Exod. 23.17 Three times in the year all thy Males shall appear before the Lord. And Acts 27. the Eunuch there went unto that place that God had commanded 5. He doth command that he would have these places reverenced and no civil employments used there when the holy service was doing and that after the service was done at that very time the place should be only for God 6. And lastly He annexed a promise unto that place that he would accept of a duty done there rather than in any other place even because it was done there hence they prayed in the Temple rather than in their private houses Luke 2.27 and when they could not be present by reason of Gods providence in the Temple if they do but look to the City and the temple God accepted of their duty 1 Kings 8.48 So that God did promise that that place that he had instituted for his worship and service that the service performed there should be more acceptable to him than else-where This shews the reason and foundation of a places holiness the precept of God and the promise and presence of God And thus I have opened to you the second thing Now having thus explained and opened the Question to you 2. I come to resolve the Question according to what I think in my conscience to be the truth of God and this I shall do two ways 1. By granting that which must not be denyed 2. By denying what must not be granted 1. By granting what must not be denyed and here I grant willingly these four things 1. That in the time of the Gospel it is not onely lawful but it is often very commendable and necessary to design and dedicate places unto God Now when I say it is lawful to design them and to dedicate them I pray you bear me witness I do not say it is lawful to consecrate them or to sanctifie them but I say it is lawful to design and dedicate them Now for this take notice That between 1. The designing and appointing of a place 2. the dedication of a place and 3. the consecrating of a place there are these differences 1. Concerning the designation of a place then is a place designed when it is appointed to be made use of for the most convenience for such a service as Tuesday and Wednesday may be appointed for Lecture-days not consecrated Now you must know that this designation of a day may be altered and so may a place if such a place be designed it is in our power to make use of it so as to leave off the use of it when we please 2. As to dedication I mean so lawfully to dedicate a place which is of our own right to dispose of so to dedicate it as not again to be able to revoke it or call it back from such a use and purpose It is lawful and commendable for a rich man to dedicate so much ground or money for building a House for a Free-School or for the poor and to give it away from our selves and from our own right and power and if so be that a man hath power or propriety over a place or thing it is lawful for a man to alienate such a thing And yet this you must know by the way that this Dedication that now is in the time of the Gospel doth very much differ from that dedication of Free-will-offering unto God in the time of the Law for they were dedicated to God in the time of the Law immediately that is to his immediate Worship it was part of Gods Worship it was a part of Religion to do that thing whereas it is not now dedicated to the immediate Worship of God but it is dedicated immediately to such a Priest or Minister or Place or company of people that we have a good will to gratifie and so it more remotely redounds to Gods glory not immediately For God hath not declared in his Word the same acceptation in the Gospel of things done in an immediate way as he had in the time of the Law of which acceptation now we have no such promise And therefore it is observable as one speaks concerning that Benefactor in the Gospel to the Jews He hath loved our Nation and builded us a Synagogue it is not said for God but for us This man out of love to us hath bestowed these things to God which though a giving our selves out of our own power yet it doth differ from the Free-will-offering in the time of the Law Ay but now Sirs ye must know that sanctification or consecration that is a great deal more when we sanctifie a thing or consecrate a thing this thing that is so consecrated it is so holy that there must nothing at all of unholiness or of a civil or secular employment and concernment be done in it Now we do not dedicate a thing but there may be secular things in an ordinary and civil way done in them and our services are not more acceptable for the place nor the places less holy because of those civil employments There is the first concession that in the time of the Gospel there may be a designment and dedication of places and it is not only lawful but commendable 2. I grant that in times of the Gospel some places are to have Religious services performed in them rather than in other places I mean places of natural conveniency and fitness for the meeting of people together whereby they may be free from disturbance from the violence of Enemies and from tempestuous weather As publick meetings whereby we have the society of Gods people their examples to stir us up to zeal and their joynt help in prayer and holy performances to go along with us that we may joyn our forces together and with a great force wrestle with God and overcome him which is invincible And therefore my Brethren I desire you to bear me witness this day that I plead for publick Ordinances for the purity of Gods Ordinances to be administred in publick places rather than other places so that I do here profess that I do avowedly and openly declare my judgement to be for publick meetings in publick places and the purity of Gods Ordinances if they may be enjoyed without humane mixture which may hurt and pollute them 3. I grant that in the time of holy service we are not then to use secular employments at that time in those places as eating drinking and talking it being unsuitable to the work in hand and howsoever they may be lawful at another time yet unlawful then because against the Apostles command Let all things be done in decency and in order and that which is unsuitable to the commands of God the taking his Name in vain My Brethren I will go further with you we are to abstain from all other Religious Services when not in season and therefore when the Minister is in Preaching we must not run into
but then secondly A second Argument in the Text shall be drawn from the Object and that is two-fold there is faith and the profession of this faith that is to be held fast and there are Arguments from both First Faith hold fast faith why are we so greatly concerned and so highly obliged to hold fast Faith I will give you this one reason for it it is the most holy Faith There are many things may be called Faith that may not be called most holy Faith there are many faiths that are at least called holy Turkish faith is by them called holy faith the Romish faith is by them called holy faith I but this is the most holy faith there is an expression that Jude hath to commend faith to us in the 20 verse of his Epistle But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith c. Let other pretenders be as holy as they can they can never rise to the holiness of this this is the most holy faith it is so holy in so high a degree as to be beyond compare I but now what is it that may denominate this faith to be the most holy faith why it hath for its Author the most holy God it is the gift of God and the work of God if we take it for the Act of faith and the doctrine of God if we take it for the doctrine of faith There are as the Apostle saith gods many but we know but one most holy God there are that will be called your Holiness in the world but this is the most holy God a God that is glorious in holiness yea whose glory is to be holy There is nothing stamps glory on any subject like holiness what is the difference between the Angels in Heaven and the Angels in Hell but Holiness that is their glory the the holy Angels and that is their shame the sinful Angels and what was it that made Canaan a better land than another was it not the holiness it was the holy Land what was it that made the Temple a better place than another was it not because it was the holy Temple Yea it is the glory of all the Attributes of God that they are holy His Justice would look like severity but that it is holy His Power would look like Tyranny were it not holy His Love would look like fondness were it not holy His Patience would look like a toleration of sin were it not holy therefore it is said the Lord God glorious in holiness Now this most holy God is the Author of this Faith and so it is a most holy faith it being the Word of the most holy God and will you leave and not hold fast this most holy Faith But then besides It may be â—aid to be the most holy faith in this sence too that it is its nature where ever it comes to make the subject in whom it is most holy saith the Apostle you hath God chosen to wit by Faith to be a peculiar people a holy Nation Acts 15.2 it is said He hath purified their hearts by faith and he will give them an â—nheritance among them that are sanctified by faith It may be called the most Holy Faith in these two respects First Considering the operation and effects it hath upon the hearts and lives of them in whom it is it makes them a holy People beyond all the people in the world And then upon this account too as to the uhimate effects of it that it admits us into the most holy places You know the Holy of Holies in the Temple was a Type of Heaven and Jesus Christ is said to enter into the Holy of Holies that is into Heaven Now this doth admit us into the most holy place where the most holy God is saith the Apostle Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus Alas in the time of old they could go but into the outward court but now saith he We have all this boldness to enter into the most holy place by the bloud of Jesus Shall we leave such a Faith as this shall we not hold fast the most holy Faith that is from the most holy God that makes the most holy people and that admits us into the most holy place Where do we find such another Faith as this is if you leave this Faith that is so good in it self a Faith that doth so much good to us and which is better that makes us so good for it is much better to be made good than to have good done unto us and beloved what will it avail us if God should do us good all our days if we be not made good if we should have the good of health and wealth and long life and yet not be made good all this while it avails us not now this is the nature of Faith it is good in it self it doth good to us and it makes us good therefore beloved let us not lay it aside until we can find a better and that we shall never do unless we can find any thing more holy than God But secondly The second Branch of the Object is the Profession of our Faith It seems Beloved it is not enough to hold fast our Faith only but the Profession of it why so truly there is this in it the profession of faith is as necessary as the faith it self mark that See this from the mouth of that great Apostle I may say from the mouth of God himself Rom. 10.9 10. That if thou shalt with thy mouth confess thy Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation An unprofessed Faith hath no salvation annexed to it you see the Scripture maketh it as necessary to our salvation to profess our believing as to believe Now beloved if it be necessary to believe and necessary to profess it s then necessary to hold fast Faith and consequently as necessary to hold fast the profession thereof without Faith there is no salvation faith the Scripture and saith this Scripture without the profession of this Faith there is no Salvation now to say I will keep faith I will only part with a little profession it is all one in Scripture as to part with Faith it self for why the Scripture faith If thou believe with thy heart and confess with thy mouth thou shalt be saved so that as long as faith continues profession is to continue or there is no salvation faith without profession will do no more for you than profession without faith therefore observe what the Apostle speaks Heb. 3.13 saith he We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end not else Thirdly A third Argument is drawn from the act with the qualifications let 's hold fast without wavering Now there
which was delivered to the Saints We have but one Gospel and it was delivered but once God means no more to deliver his Gospel and the Truth of it therefore you had need strive hard to keep them and hold them Thirdly We should hold fast the Truth that we have received because if we do not hold it fast we do wrong God and if we wrong our selves and we wrong the Truth and we wrong our posterity 1. It is our duty To hold fast the Truths we have received because if we do not we wrong God for Truths are more Gods then ours They are ours as to the use of them but they are his as he is the Original and Author of them Truths are Gods Jewels there is never a Truth of Religion but God owns it as his and for us to barter away any of these Truths of God it is Sacrilege it is a robbing of God it is a wrong to God This is that God complains of by the prophet in the second of Jeremiah the eleventh and twelfth verses Hath a Nation changed their gods which are yet no gods but my people have changed their Glory for that which doth not profit Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. The Prophet indoed speaks of a total forsaking of God and all his Truths but there is in the forsaking of every Truth a proportion of wrong to God 2. It is a wrong done to the Truths of God when men having received the Truth and embracing it hold it not fast but cast it off this is a wrong to the Truths of God We say it is less reproach to a man when he comes to my house to shut the door against him and not receive him in at all than when he hath been in a while with me I turn him out all the world now think I find cause to be weary of him They who have shut their hearts against the Truth and never gave any entertainment to it they are less injurious to it than they that have received it and professed it and yet turn from it These tell the world that the Truths of God are not so sweet and worthy of their entertainment as they supposed them to be 3. This is an injury and wrong to our selves this is a wrong to our Credit and reputation Now though we may make Credit our end in Religion yet we may make use of our Credit or Reproach as an argument to hold fast the Truth and this iâ— injurious to our own Souls John 8.31 Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples Indeed here Christ doth seem to distinguish his disciples he hath some that are so in name that are not so in Deed and he hath some that are so in Deed and in Truth and of these he gives a character here If ye continue in my Word You now profess to believe my Word but if you hold fast and continue in my Word then you are my Disciples indeed But if you continue not in my Word you have the name of Disciples only and that will not save you You can never be saved unless you be indeed the Disciples of Christ and you can never approve your selves to be the Disciples of Christ indeed if ye continue not in the Truth 1 Joh. 2.24 Let that therefore abide in you which you have received and heard from the beginning If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye shall continue in the Son and in the Father Hold fast the truth of God which you have received then shall you continue in the Son If the Truth of God which you have received and believed remain in you and be held fast by you ye shall continue in the love of the Father and Son but not else according to what he expresseth again Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God therefore he cannot be saved he that abideth in the doctrine hath the Father and the Son Therefore as you would be saved hold fast the Truths you have received Now here but I have not time to speak to it is a Case of Conscience Whether every error doth cut a man off from God I Answer No God forbid But this we cannot speak to now Fourthly They that hold not fast the Truth of God are injurious to their posterity Our fore-fathers holding fast the truth of God in the day of their trial and sealing it with their bloud was the means of transmitting the purity of the Gospel to us their Posterity and if we in our Generation hold not fast the truth of God but carry it loose in our Consciences and Judgements and we let it fall out of our hands and hearts we forfeit the Truths of God not only from our selves but also from our Posterity Thus you see we shall wrong the God of Truth and the Truth of God we shall wrong our selves and our Posterity if we hold not fast the Truth we have received Thus we have the reasons of the Doctrine Application For Application here first I might bewail the general want of the care of the performance of this Duty which hath appeared many years in this Land We have had little care of holding fast the Truths we have received For holding fast the truth of our Judgement How many are there whose Judgements have been perverted with many Errours This is that which the Apostle calls A turning aside to another Gospel in the first of the Galathians and the sixth verse And so for holding fast the truth in the love of it How many are there that have failed in that which Christ calls The forsaking of the first Love Revelations the second and the fourth verse And we should hold fast the truth in the profession of it and how many are there that have failed in that this the Apostle calls in the tenth of the Hebrews A drawing back unto Perdition And for holding fast the truth in the practice of it How many have failed in that that have been Professors and now are grown loose and debauched This the Apostle Peter calls A turning aside from the holy Commandments All these things call for our lamentation Exhortation But the whole work that I will apply my self to is to exhort every one of you to the care of this duty To hold fast the Truths that you have heard and received Hold them fast in your Judgement hold them fast in your Will and Affections hold them fast in your Lives and Conversations hold the Truths you have received constantly and hold them against all opposition on the right hand and on the left from friends and foes To press this upon you I think I shall need to use no other Motive than what I have laid down before you in the Doctrinal part only this one thing more and that is take notice how urgent the
any failings in me or any failings in my Ministerial duty that you would please to pass it by and to help me in prayer to God for the forgiveness of them These are my Requests of you and that which I have to say to you by way of Advice is much the same with what I said to this particular Congregation the last Lords day Take it in these particulars 1. I would advise you and entreat you that we may all of us lay to heart this present dispensation of God towards us and the Nation in this respect that we may be sensible of it I remember when I was young and my famous Predecessor Mr. Rogers was taken off from his Ministry in this kind though but for a few weeks these parts were wonderfully sensible of that providence and laid it to heart and were much in Humiliation and in Prayer and I think I may say they received an answer again within some weeks Now Brethren though he was worth some hundreds of us yet now it is not the laying by of one man but of multitudes fifty in one place and threescore in another and fourscore in another and this not by a single Bishop but by an Act of Parliament which makes the wound the wider and the more uncapable of cure and shall not we be sensible of this shall so many precious vessels be laid by as vessels of no pleasure and none take it to heart Shall so many burning lights be quenched together so may Wells of the Water of Life be stopt up together and this not be laid to heart I beseech you consider and be sensible 2. In the deepest and saddest sence you have of this providence of God watch over your own spirits that you lay the blame of it no where so much as upon your selves Some blame the times and charge it on their iniquities others are apt to blame us Ministers and charge it on our niceness and singularity Might my advice take place with this people I would desire that every one of us might lay the blame no where so much as on our selves for certainly we have procured these things to our selves I find our Predecessors the Martyrs when by a Law Religion was changed in the Nation and Idolatry set up they lay the blame not on the Law-makers but on themselves and their own hearts One of them saith All this is come upon us because we did not love the Gospel we were Gospellers in lip but not in life Much more doth it become us whose sufferings are far less to blame our selves more than we blame any others 3. My third Advice is this and I beseech you take it in love for it is out of love that it is given you if you should perceive at this time a difference in opinion and practice among us that are the Ministers of the Gospel in this Nation standing and sticking at things that others can digest and do and others doing things that some of their Brethren cannot come up unto Be not offended thus it hath always been from the beginning it is no new thing Thus it was in King Edwards dayes If there be any of God's servants that are Learned and Holy and Faithful that do now for the enjoyment of their Ministry yield a conformity to all that is enjoyned I doubt not but many of them are grieved that they cannot have the exercise of their Ministry without this and we who cannot come up to this are grieved that we cannot come up to it the one and the other have grief enough add not your censures to this grief that is already upon them It hath been all along a merciful providence of God that when some of his servants could not satisfie their consciences and come up to the things that have been imposed upon them without injuring their Consciences yet others have had a greater freedom given them that they could yield and if not so What would have become of the people of God Therefore in those things acknowledge there may be some providence of God for good to you in it 4. My fourth advice I shall deliver to you wholly in the words of that holy man and Martyr of God Master Bradford in his Letter to the City of London saith he Let us heartily bewail our sins and repent of our evils let us amend the evil of our lives let us every one be diligent in prayer and attend with reverence on the reading and hearing of Gods Holy word let us reprove the works of darkness let us fly from Idolatry and which is the particular I would indeed commend unto you Obey the Magistrate and them that are set over us in the Lord in all things that are not against the Word and when they command any thing contrary to the Word let us answer It is meet to obey God rather than man However saith he resist not the Magistrate nor seek to avenge your selves but commit your case to God be patient and submit to all that are in Authority over you but resist not rise not against Authority but wait on God till he pleaseth to cause the Light to rise and shine again upon you This is my fourth advice 5. Now it pleaseth God that Hearing opportunities at least some of them are taken from some of us from many of us for a time My Advice and Counsel is that the less now you hear the more you will read read the Word of God much the more and take all helps for the right understanding of what you read The Book of Annotations is a great help to enlighten you to understand the Scripture and next to the reading of the Scriptures what spare hours you have I would advise you to bestow your time in reading of the Book of Martyrs a Book that hath formerly been more prized than of late in England Especially read that part of it which contains the History of Queen Maries dayes they will inform you of the great controversies that are between us and the Papists and they will inform you what you shall answer the reading how cheerfully they went to Prison and to the Stake will imbolden you against the fears of sufferings and death and the reading of their Letters will be a great means to edifie and build you up This reading of the Scriptures and other good Books is my fifth advice to you 6. My fixth Advice to you is That seeing God hath taken away your Week-dayes opportunities of hearing the Word here and in other places you would be careful that the world may not devour Gods Portion I mean that portion of time which some of you have bestowed in hearing these Lectures It was a good speech of a gracious Woman now with God when Mr. Rogers was silenced Well said she by the grace of God the World shall never have those hours that I was wont to spend in hearing heretofore her meaning was she would spend them in her Closet in holy duties It was an
to things that are to be believed and duties that are to be practised But why is it said The faith that was once delivered that is invariably irrevocably once for all To the Saints respects the priviledge the Saints of God had in the faith that God had left 't is the faith of the Gospel committed as a Treasure And the Church is called a Candlestick not only to hold out the light but to hold the light whence the Church is called the Pillar or the ground of truth not that they are to make Doctrines but to hold forth the Doctrines of Christ even as Tables and Pillars upon which Proclamations are hung and held forth to be made publick so is the Church of Christ 't is that in which the Truths of the Lord Jesus are kept and will be kept from one age to another But what 's the import of the word Earnestly contend It 's a word used only once in the New Testament in the Composition The word in the root is frequently used and imports a struggling with might and main as those that use to run at games It is used for Jesus Christ in his sufferings He was in an Agony the same word from whence this word is compounded The Apostle would imply such a contention such a strugling to keep the faith of the Gospel as one word in the English is not able to express it and Interpreters very much differ what 's the import The best do centre in this that we should contend for the Faith as men that would contend to keep their very lives The Proposition is this That it is the duty of the Saints of God to maintain an earnest contention to struggle for and to keep the Faith that was betrusted with them Wherein doth this contention consist 1. It is not a carnal contention the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual the Saints are not called to contend for the Faith with carnal weapons with carnal power and force not by might and power but by the Spirit of God force and power and a fleshly Arm Prison Pillors and Chains and taking away of mens comforts and Estates upon the account of the Faith of the Gospel hath been the usual way of Error 's detending it self Prayers and Tears are the Churches Weapons 2. 'T is not a contention of uncharitableness This Contention allows no murthering either of the bodies or souls of men Christians are so to contend against Error and sinful Practices as to love their persons and pitty those they contend with There are some opinions that there is no way to shew a holy way of zeal against nor to be able to destroy them but by a holy separating from the persons there were such to whom it was not lawlul to say God speed or receive them into their houses but yet this in order to the saving their souls Saving some plucking them as brands out of the fire But positively this holy contention it consists in these four things 1. In managing the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God against Errors and sinful Practices to be able to confute them mightily as Apollos did out of the Scriptures shewing the Jews that Jesus is the Christ 2. By Prayer for to pray down sinful opinions and practises That we mean when we pray Thy Kingdom come that the Gospel may run on and be glorified that these nights of darkness may be dispelled that Truth may shine to the perfect day 3. By holy practising against them by holding forth the Word oâ— Life in your Conversations by striving together by a mutual provocation for the Faith of the Gospel in respect of holy walking 4. By being able to suffer for them The reasons of the Point I gave you I shall now sum up all in a word of Exhortation to press every one that bears the name of a Saint to take up this Exhortation of the Apostle Earnestly to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the Saints The sum of all is to beg that you would be valiant for the Truth of Christ that whatever hath been delivered to you consonant to the truth agreeable to the faith delivered to us that you would struggle might and main by all Christian courage by argument practice prayer by suffering rather than let go those truths that God hath taught you by his faithful Ministers that Christ hath been preached to you those Scriptures you have in your hands those Doctrines you have learned by experience by prayer by searching the Word those ways of Worship God hath taught you those patterns of his house and out-goings and returnings there that he hath taught you be exhorted to hold them fast and not let them go Contend earnestly for the faith c. It is to be lamented that there is so sad a spirit of indifferency among Christians as we find at this day Many do so carry it as if there were nothing in the Gospel of Christ that were worthy the owning by practising or worthy owning by suffering This luke-warm indifferent temper hath done the Church of God a great deal of mischief formerly and if admitted now will do you as much mischief again It hath been one of the sins which the Lord at this day is judging and punishing his poor people for that our zeal hath been so hot against one another for meer circumstances and so cold when we are like to lose the substance that our contentions rise so high in matters hardly of any moment and our spirits work so low when they are to gain the great things for which Christ suffered which he delivered to us It is my work therefore to beg you that you would put on a holy resolution that there may be no contention among us for we are Brethren but only that contention who may most retain evidently witness the Faith that is delivered to us It is the trust God hath committed and he doth expect and look how we will manage it with courage and confidence to keep the Faith of the Gospel There are very great oppositions against you and there ought to be great resolutions of Christians to maintain themselves against such oppositions It is a very sad thing that Christians should see the Faith and the ways of the Gospel of God as it were taken from them at any time and they have not one word to speak nor any thing at all for to venture in suffering for the wayes and truths of Jesus Christ Moses had such a holy zeal that when Aaron was an example to the people to lead them to Idolatry he contended with him earnestly to his face The zeal of Gods servants is so small now that though Balaam be about the work we have not a word to speak Though the small Prophets of Antichrist be about the business yet no Christian hath courage to speak The holy Apostle Paul when Peter walked with an uneven foot and began to Judaise he tells us he did
If you miss the Lord Jesus by the Grace of Faith you will never hâ—ld fast the Doctrine of Faith you are built upon the Doctrine of the Apostles not their Persons upon which the Lord Jesus is the Corner-stone he that does not know Jesus Christ himself will certainly lose his Faith What 's the reason the stony ground in time of Persecution fell away why they had not root they were not planted upon the Lord Jesus Rule 3. Thirdly those truths that God hath taught you and those wayes of Worship God hath committed to you love them as your lives love them above your lives for no man will ever contend to hold them if he do not love them Things of low price and esteem are presently let go he that loves the Word above his life will let life go rather than the Word If you receive not the Word out of love every Imposter and false Prophet every fear and terrour of men will rob you of it Hide the Word in thy heart saith Solomon Love the truth dearly It was a great speech of Calvin Never did any one Apostatize from the truth of Jesus Christ but it was because he did not love the truth And I add this That never did any Apostatize from the wayes and truth of Jesus Christ but it was because they did not receive them in love or else they have lost their love for there 's a decay of affection as well as having no affection if you love them what will you not suffer for them but more of that by and by Rule 4. Fourthly Guard all the truths of God and those wayes of God that have been taught you guard them strongly especially truths that are most material and fundamental for leading truths are like Captains of Armies if they be routed the whole rout follows them There is great opposition that will be made against your faith The whole power of darkness of Antichrist of his seducing spirits likely and probably enouâ—h will overspread the whole face of Christianity once more for she must sit as a Lady before she be desolate and forsaken for ever The Apostle bids you beware of Dogs beware of the Concision beware of Evil workers guard your selves against them guard the truths you have learned by Argument by Scripture by Reason that you may have wherewithal to confute them by the word of truth mightily out of the Scripture as the Apostle did Three things you are to guard against 1. Your own deceitfulness especially in a rash and sudden forsaking of those wayes that have been taught and the profession you have taken up for Christians would never be so mad to Apostatize were they but seriously deliberate about the weight of them Gal. 3.1 O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you would not obey the truth c. and 1.6 I warvelled what ailed you that you soon turned away to another Gospel One would have thought they might have spoken with Paul first and sent to him and reasoned the case with him There 's a marvellous bewitching in false Doctrines to take men presently who are not watchful over themselves It is in disputations and practising truth as it is in contentions if you make a Judgment before you hear both parties speak you judge unrighteously if you forsake the wayes and truth of Jesus Christ before you can hear what can be said for them you do unrighteously 2. Guard them against the lusts of your own hearts The great work of a Chrisâ—ian is contention it is not so much against Antichrist those that are without him as that which is within him If all Heretical Doâ—trines and wayes were rooted out of the World not onely the being but the memory the heart is bad enough in one day to set them all oâ— foot again therefore guard the truth Men of corrupt minds will presently grow â—eprobate as to the Faith 1 Tim. 3 6. Such Doctrines and Worships as shall suit with our lusts as shall suit with exalting Self and laving Christ low as shall suit with an easie way to Heaven when the Scripture saith Straight is the Gate as shall suit with self-preservation So I might secure my Estate my Liberty I would suspect such Doctrines as these before I take them up for the wayes of Christ Guard the truth against false Teachers such as shall come among you in Sheeps cloathing yet are Wolves in heart men that creep in at unawares among you to subvert souls I will not here describe them you know them well enough by their fruits onely this let me tell you in opposition to those though you cannot come at the publick Ministrâ— or those God hath set over you yet make Conscience for to take fences to take defences from them as you may by their Counsel Prayer Help and Assistance for to guard you against false Teachers When the Church of Christ is in the Wilderness you will find this is that the Holy Ghost advises them to Cant. 1.8 You are to guard your selves by communion one with another as to go forth by the foot-steps of the Flock so also you are to go and feed your Kids by the Shepherds tents for though 't is not the work that God calls for to pin your faith upon their sleeves yet 't is your duty to enquire of the Lord by them for he is the Messenger of the Lord to you Rule 5. Arm your selves with Resolutions to suffer for the faith of the Gospel and for the wayes of Jesus Christ As you should love the truth above your lives so labour to be made willing to part with Life Estate Liberty any thing for to keep the wayes of Jesus Christ It is not the honour of the Gospel of Christ to hear Christians to break out into murmurings passions discontents contentions that are carnal and sinful your work is humbly meekly and patiently to lie under the hand of God and under the hand of man too that becomes Christians Suffering is that that will restore the glory of Religion that will keep the truth delivered to you that will honour the Cause of Christ best of all follow the example of blessed Paul his his expression is worthy of consideration 2 Tim. 2.9 he gives a charge of keeping and propagating one of the most glorious truths that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead yet a thing that is farthest off from sense and reason wherein I suffer trouble Mark Paul does not say wherein I make trouble no but wherein I suffer trouble as an evil doer unto bonds but the Word of God is not bound If this blessed and glorious Apostle would have had the faith of God bound and have contented himself with sinful silence and not propagated the Gospel Paul might have been free but Paul would not have the Word of God bound therefore Paul would suffer for it Shall we go higher a great deal than this You have the glorious commendation of the Lord Jesus Christ upon this account that
while you sit in health and ease what different thoughts you will then have of a holy and unholy life and with what gripes of Conscience will your undone Souls look back on a life of Mercy thus basely and blockishly slept away dream'd and sin'd away I beseech you then and that for your own sakes that you would not for a few fleshly pleasures which are passing away incur the torments of Hell which shall never pass away III. Thirdly I beseech you for Christs sake And me thinks when I beg of you in Christs name and for Christs sake you should not say nay If you love me saith Christ keep my Commandements Joh. 14.15 See with what perswasive Rhetorick he presseth this Duty If you love me saith he do it O Christians what may not the love of Christ command you If it were to lay down your blood for him would you not do it and will you not be perswaded to lay down your Strifes and Divisions your Animosities and Corruptions for his sake As Absalon said to Hushai 2 Sam. 16.17 Is this thy kindness to thy friend Such a friend as Christ hath been is and ever will be Certainly that Indictment will one day be prefer'd against you which the Apostle pronounceth with tears in his eyes Phil. 3.18 You are enemies to the Cross of Christ as if he had said Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil and you by your loose walkings destroy the works of Christ the Image of Christ and the Interest of Christ in the Soul Christ laid down his bloud to Purge you and you unworthily lay down your selves in sin to Pollute you and so become guilty of denying the Lord that bought you and trampling under foot the Bloud of the Covenant What Ear doth not tingle and what doth not tremble at such a horrid and flagicious Act I beseech you then be tender of Christs honour Quod vos divites relinquam and be holy for Christs sake whose heart you see or may see by what follows is engaged and concern'd to promote holiness among you Consider 1. His strict Command calls for it 2. His servent Prayer implyes it 3. His holy Example teacheth it First I say his Command calls for it Mat. 5.16 Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works that is lead such convincing lives that the world may witness and certifie with you that you are certainly a choice Generation a Seed which the Lord hath blessed Here 's a Command you see now where 's your obedience will you make Conscience of it or will you not will you swear Allegiance to it or will you not shall it pass for an irrefragable Rule of Life or shall it not It was Pompey's boast that with a Word or a Nod he could a we his Souldiers to any thing and shall God command and go without shall Gods word have less authority then Pompey's I read much of the blind obedience of the Papists to their Rulers even in things scarce credible but that themselves have publisht them One Masseus a Franciscan tumbled himself in the dirt and crawled like a Child because that St. Francis told him That unless he became as a little Child he could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Jesuites are so framed to Obedience that whatever service they are injoyned by their Superiours though never so abominable they must accomplish it Yea if the blessed Virgin vouchsafe her presence to one of the brethren if his Superiour call him he must presently break from her and go at his bidding although it be on a bloudy Errand and wondrous design with a hundred more Fopperies of this nature What do I reckon these for but to assure you that these who have paid such homage to man will rise up one day out of their Graves to condemn us who are less careful in our obedience to God Almighty They shut the eyes of Reason to obey their earthly Superiours and we dispute if not deny our Allegiance to our Heavenly Law-giver God bids us believe and we distrust God bids us obey and we dispute God bids us remember our Creator in the dayes of our Youth and we forget him even in our age God bids us learn of him to be meek and lowly and we learn of the Devil to be proud and haughty God bids us be sober and watch unto Prayer and we surfeit with excess and sleep at Prayer God bids us forbear and forgive one another in love and we reproach and persecute one another with much opposition and hatred In a word God bids us be content with what we have and we unthankfully murmur for what we want Ah sinners God sees and hears you all this while and his hand is setting down in the Table-book of his Remembrance all your undutifulness and disobedience and when the Book shall be open'd how think you will these Indictments be answer'd II. Secondly Christs servent Prayers calls for holiness John 27.17 Sanctifie them with thy Truth saith he Should you hear a Minister with abundance of zeal press a Duty upon his people in the Pulpit and as soon as he gets home you should go under his Closet Window and hear him hard at Prayer begging of God a blessing upon his labours that day you would easily believe the Minister was in earnest So here our Saviour hath no sooner done his Sermon but you finde him at Prayer John 17.17 and what he most insisted on in the Pulpit that he enlargeth most on in his Closet Father saith he Sanctifie them III. Thirdly As Christs Prayer so his Pattern and Example shews his desires to have his people a holy people Was not he a lover of holiness in others and a true practiser of holiness himself was not be the Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile no sin no spot and why was he so doth he not tell you John 13.15 I have given you an Example saith he that you should do as I have done He was content to have his Honour laid in the Dust his Credit or Bloud laid in the Dust but it was for an Example of all self-denial to you Again he was content to take a Towel and a Bason in his hand to wash his Disciples feet John 3.14 but it was for an Example of Humility to you In a word He was so Heavenly upon Earth so mortified to all worldly interests and liv'd so convincingly before men that his very enemies were forced to own his Divinity and to say that he could not possibly do such things unless God were with him now all this was for an Example of holiness to you I have given you saith he an Example that you should do as I have done O then set Christ in his holy Example before you as one would set the person whose Picture he intends to draw and labour to draw every line in your life according to your Copy O this would be a sweet way indeed to maintain
Christ Jesus Consult with flesh and blood and that will never teach you to believe but an ignorant presumptuous Faith This concerneth me not to have my thoughts plunged about this or that worldly care but to become a new Creature in the renewing of the spirit of the mind Fourthly Consider ever 1. To follow Peace 2. To follow Holiness 3. To exercise Patience 1. To follow Peace Two of these you have in the Hebrews Heb. 14. Follow Peace with all men and Holiness without which none shall see God Do not esteem it your interest to contend Let the Peace of God rule in your hearts Fret not thy self because of evil doers It is an easie matter to sin in our Anger a rare thing to moderate anger against sin so as not to sin in that anger 2. To follow Holiness Refuse Peace that cannot be enjoyed without Holiness It is upon the view of God I shall see what kind of love he is and Christ saith Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Resolve to follow holiness not greatness riches c. And he that will do so Christ saith shall suffer persecution in this present world Wherefore it will be good to consider 3. To exercise patience Let us add upon that account 1. Love not the World 2. Love not your own Wills 3. Value your own Souls 1. Not the World The Text saith 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the World neither the things that are in the world If any man love the world the Love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the Lust of the flesh the Lust of the eye and the Pride of life is not of the Father but is of the World And the World passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doth the Will of the Father abideth for ever The love of this world maketh a man to be in respect of the Prince of this world as a Bird in the Fowlers snare There is no way sooner to sin away their everlasting Love than to love this present World 2. Love not your own Wills That person is neither prepared to do for God nor to suffer for him that nath not learned something of this lesson of Self-denial There is no divine service but in doing Gods Will and that I cannot do but by parting with my own delivering up my self unto him to be led and guided by his holy Spirit Christ saith If any man will be my Disciple let him deny himself take up his Cross and follow me 3. Value your own Souls The great care and consult is for gratifying the body if but part of that time were spent on the soul which is on the needless care of the body it might render it in a far better and more goodlier posture Let every one think I carry that in my bosome is of more value than the whole worlâ— neither can the whole world recompence the loss of it and if we have such jewels let us take care to secure them A careless common spirit doth not become a Christian Let none imploy their time in disputing this or that vain Opinion but spend it on your souls Secondly In order unto the particular divine Providence now ending of our Ministry unto you 1. Whatever happeneth on this account let it be your exercise to cry out for the holy Spirit of Christ he will grant you a greater supply than you may expect from any man whatever So Christ comforteth his Disciples Though I go yet I will pray unto the Father and he shall send you another Comforter and he biddeth them pray for it also Even so as for what concerneth us this we cannot be denyed to pray that God would send out his holy Spirit among you and upon you and while we may speak unto you we desire you to pray for it also Our work did lye but to bâ—ing men to Repentance by conviction of sin to believing by the shewing of Righteousness and to convince of both by Christs conquest over sin This Christ sheweth his holy Spirit the Comforter can do Joh. 16.8 9 10 11. And when he is come he shall reprove the world of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment Of sin because they believe not on me of Righteousness because I go to my Father and ye see me no more of Judgment because the Prince of this world is Judged This is a suitable and sufficient reply 1 Joh. 2.27 But the Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him That Anointing was the Spirit pour'd out on our Head Christ Jesus and ran down the skires of his garments not that instruction should cease but this Spirit can either fill it administred or supply it being wanting And the withdrawing of this present Ministry may be to cause you to pray more incessantly for this holy Spirit day and night And Christ promiseth The Father will give it to them that ask it 2. Be more frequent in your converse with the Scripture It is the Pillar of Truth and by a frequent converse with it also you will find a pure mind stirred up to remember 3. Be more frequent in Meditation Let not the world swallow up all your time so as not to meditate on your Souls the Scriptures and Heaven The meditation on Gods Law keepeth us from the Counsel of the ungodly from standing among sinners or sitting down in the seat of the scornful Psal 1. It is worthy of our wonder any should read the Scriptures believing them indicted by a holy Spirit and yet scorn Holiness Religion c. 4. Be more usual in personal private and family Duties Devotion God doth call those that know how to address themselves unto him to a more earnest private devotion Jacob was alone when he wrestled for a blessing There are particular seasons in which God calleth his people into a retirement Isaiah 26 20 21. Come my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy dores about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be over-past For behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the earth for their iniquities So also Zech. 12.11 12. And in that day shal be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon And the Land shal mourn every Family apart the Family of the House of David apart and their Wives apart the Family of the House of Nathan apart and their Wives apart the Family of the House of Levi apart and their Wives apart all the Families that remain every Family apart and their Wives apart In that day there shal be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for Sin and for Vncleanness If I
grains I conclude this with that saying of St. Ambrose Good Workes are the way to but not the cause of Salvation Therefore when you have done all say you are unprofitable servants I here is no Angel can merit for he chargeth them with folly much less vile and sinful man Therefore count all your own Righteousness but as dung and dogs meat In a word relie not on our own merits put the crown on the head of Free-grace That 's the eighth Ninthly The ninth Error in the Popish Religion is the Doctrine of Purgatory There is say they a middle and infirnal place called Purgatory Now what is this but a subtile artifice and trick to get money for when they especially those that are rich are about to die and make Wills if so be they will give large sums of money the Priests will pray for them that they go not into Purgatory or if they do that they may be quickly delivered out of it How contrary and repugnant is this to Scripture that holds forth no Middlle place The wicked when they die their Souls go immediately to Hell Luke 16.23 The rich man was buried and in hell he lift up his eyes T is true there is a Purgatory in this life and that is the Blood of Christ 1 Joh. 1.17 If we are not purged by this blood while we live we shall never be purged after by fire Wicked men when they dye do not go into a fire of purgation but damnation And on the other hand Believers when they die pass immediately to Heaven Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Christ Jesus was now on the Cross and was instantly to be in Heaven and the penitent Theif was immediately to be with Christ Here is no mention of any such place as Purgatory The antient and Orthodox Fathers were all against Purgatory as Chrysostome Cyprian Austine Fulgentius Tenthly A tenth Error is the Invocation of Angels a praying unto them This is a certain rule that Angel-worship is VVill-worship expresly forbidden in Scripture Col. 2.18 Their distinction of Mediators of Redemption and of Intercession doth not help them Though we pray say they to Angels as Mediators of Intercession yet we pray to Christ as Mediator of Redemption Answ Jesus Christ in Scripture is not only called a Redeemer but also an Advocate and it is a sin to make any our Intercessor but Jesus Christ That it is sinful to pray to Angels is clear from many Scriptures See Rom 5.10 How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed Mark we may not pray to any but them in whom we believe But we cannot believe an Angel therefore we must not pray to an Angel So also in Heb. 10.17 Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Iesus He only is to be prayed unto by whom we have entrance into the Holiest but it is by Iesus Christ that we enter into the holiest therefore it is only Iesus Christ that we must pray unto That is the tenth 11ly An eleventh Error is Their VVorshipping of Images they burn Inccense before the Image which is a Divine worship unto the Image Now this is directly contrary to the very letter of the Command Exod. 20.4 5. Image-worship and Idol-worship are terms synonimical God saith of Idols that they speak Vanity Zach. 10.2 And is it not a vain thing to worship those things that are vain and that speak vanitie None can draw the picture of a Spirit who then draw the Picture of him who is the Father of spirits This Opinion of Image-worship hath been condemned and exploded by several Councils and Synods 12ly Another Error in the Popish Religion is They deny Jesus Christ suffered the pains of Hell in his Soul Indeed to give them their due they do aggravate the pains of Christs Body but they deny he felt the Pains and Torments of Hell in his Soul This Opinion doth much lessen the Sufferings of Christ for us the same doth lâ—ssen the Love of Christ to us But it is clear Christ felt the pains of hell in his soul But when we say Christ suffered the Pains of Hell in his Soul we do not mean that he felt horror of conscience as the damned do but we mean he felt that that was equivolent to it he felt the burden and pain of Gods wrath Christ Jesus suffered equivolently the pains of Hell that so he might free us really from the Torments of Hell 13ly And lastly another Error is this The Pope say they hath a power to absolve men from their Oathes Of what sad consequence and how dangerous this may be to Protestant States I leave themselves to judge It hath been often determined by learned Casuists that an Oath once taken the matter of it being lawful persons cannot be absolved from it But no more of this matter I 'le now wind up all in a word or two of application and it shall be in the words of my text VVherefore my beloved flee from Idolatry flee from Popery take heed of that Religion that brings forth so many Monsters And besides these thirteen Errors consider briefly these six or seven Particulars 1. The Popish Religion is an impure filthy Religion they allow of Stewes and Brothel-houses for money nay some of the Popes themselves have been guilty of Sodomy and Simony 2. It is a Superstitious Religion that appears in their Christening of Bels in their using of Salt Spittle and Cross in Baptisme Indeed Paul gloried and rejoyced in the Cross of Christ St. Paul had the Power of the Cross in his heart not the Signe of the Cross in his forehead It is an unspeakable indignity and dishonour to Jesus Christ to use that in his VVorship that he never instituted 3. Popery is upheld by Deceit and Lying How have they belyed both Calvin and Luther They say of Luther that when he dyed the Devils were seen to dance about him and that he dyed with much horror and despaire when as he went severely and sweetly out of the world his last words being those of our blessed Saviours Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit 4. The Popish Religion is an out-side carnal Religion it consists in external things as Whipping Fasting Chringing There 's nothing of Life and Spirit in their Worship it 's but a skeliton and carkass there is nothing of Soul and Spirit in it 5. The Popish Religion is an unedifying religion it doth not build men up in their most holy Faith it doth not carry on the work of Sanctification there is more of Pomp then purity in it 6. It is a cruel Religion it is maintained and propogated by Blood and Cruelty The Pope will have St. Pauls Sword as well as St. Peters Keyes and what he cannot maintain by dint and force of Argument that will he endeavour to maintain by force of Arms. In a word the Romish Church is a Purple VVhore dyed with the Blood of Saints and
by the light of the Candle slighted thy Manna so long Oh now therefore to day give us to hear and know and believe and do the things that concern our everlasting peace Hear us for Christ his sake to whom with thy blessed Self and Spirit be glory now and for ever The Prayer of Mr. Caryl at Magnes Bridge foot OH our Father what a priviledge is this that we may draw near to thee all our springs are in thee the Creature is but a dry heap a barren wilderness 't is but a Cistern and a broken Cistern It hath no water of its own nor can it hold that which is poured into it Oh that our hearts were taken off and dis-engaged from all things on this side thy self that we could say with thy Servant Whom have we in heaven but thee and on earth there is none that we desire in comparison of thee Then though our flesh and hearts fail us yet God would be our portion for ever VVe pray thee manifest thy Grace to us at all time and especially at this time that we may come before God in this publick worship as we should Let us see thy goings out in thy Sanctury and let us be satisfied with the fatness of thy house and drink of those pleasures that are for evermore Lord we have given thee cause to withdraw from us for we have not laboured to be fruitful under means and therefore thou in judgement mightest make them hereafter to be fruitless unto us and because we have taken no pains to get good by them thou mightest justly say they shall do you no good VVe have heard much of thee but we know thee but little we acknowledge thou mightest judge us because we know so little and thou mightest punish us because we do so little of what we know according as that faithless Servant was punished which knew his Masters will â—nd did it not Oh where be those manifestations of God that we have had Have we had not the light of the knowledge of God shining to us in the face of Jesus Christ But we have not rejoyced in this light but have compassed our selves about with sparks of our own kindling and therefore it is just we should down in sorrow and yet thou lengthenest out thy patience to us and yet we have one opportunity more to come unto thee Oh we pray thee let us understand the things belonging to our peace before they be hid from our eyes let our souls be bound in the bundle of life with Christ Jesus We pray thee that that Spirit of thine may strengthen us that the Spirit may guide us and lead us into all truth leave us not to our own strength nor to our own councel but shew us the secrets of thy Word and Works Thou hast promised Thy secret shall be with them that fear thee and thou wilt shew them thy cevenant And as thou dost give us thy Sabbaths so give us to thrive by them and help us to grow as the Herb and sent forth our fruit as Lebanon Let thy Word come with power one every one of us that it may not be as the beating of the air but let it fit us for Duty that we may honor our God in the midst of these changes until we come to that place where there is no change and all for the sake of our dear Lord Jesus to whom with Thee and the blessed Spirit be Glory and Honour now and for ever Mr. Venning's Prayer at Olaves before Sermon OH Lord God thou art the Fountain of Life yea thou givest to all Life It is necessity draws us now unto thee and we acknowledge it is a very great favour that thou wilt admit us to come into thy presence Indeed the services we do are not worthy thy acceptance thou gettest nothing by them but the gain of godliness is to our selves But wo unto us what a loss and what a curse will â—t be to us to haâ—e a form of Godliness and yet be ungodly Oh Lord how should this indear thee and thy word and thy service that thou wouldst have us do good for our own sakes thou turnest our obedience into priviledges thou hast made the means of our happiness a part of it If there were no other glory but to glorifie thee oh what a glory would it be to be found doing thy will there is a sweetness to be found in it more than in the Honey or in the Honey comes It is a great happiness to be conformable to God to be loving to God to be like to God is the greatest happiness that we can be capable of if we were now in heaven we could not have other happiness but this in a greater degree O Lord how should our souls be drawn forth to acknowledge thee may we not cry out in admiration Lord what is man and among the sons of men what are we that thou art so mindful of us Thou mightest have displayed thy VVord to many thousands in the world and we left ignorant But blessed be thy Name thou art pleased to admit eâ—en us also thereunto Oh let it not be a small thing unto us seeing we may yet live to serve God Oh Lord in Christ it will be worth our while to live and in him 't will be worth our while to die Oh that we may mind the end of living and the end of dying that whether we live or die we may be the Lords Indeed it were not worth our while to live and spend so much time in the world if it were only to have pleasure and honour and gratifie our selves to eat and drink and to be merry this is not worth our while What would it be O Lord to die in our sin and be eased of the miseries of this world and be sent to the place of torment But seeing thou hast provided for our living and our dying well give us to improve these means and that we may live and dye well let not our affections though our bodies be upon the earth though we converse with flesh yet let not our conversation be after the flesh but let us be like them which have sent their hearts up to heaven and do but tarry here to finish their Masters business and then we shall go where our hearts are and where our dear Lord Jesus Christ is Indeed Lord we have cause to complain of our hearts how we minde this world as it never would have an end and the world to come as if it would never have any beginning as if we had no souls to mind or had no mind to look to our souls We live as if all those glorious Reports thou hast made were but as a tale that is told we have cause to be ashamed that we have the means and the names of Christians and have not lived answerable to the discovery of the Lord Jesus Christ Indeed we have cause to bear our shame yet how few of us know what
Christ for Gods Justice accepts of no satisfaction but by and through the Lord Jesus And that 's a fourth Fiftly A fifth Error is There is distinguishing between sins Mortal and sins Venial Mortal sins are Murder Perjury Adultery and such like these say they deserve Death and Damnation but Venial sins such as vain thoughts rash anger concupesence these say they do not deserve Death But we say and affirm That there is no such sins as they call Venial It is true the greatest sins being repented of are pardonable through the blood of Christ but there is no sin of which we can say that do not deserve death and damnation And this I 'le prove by a double Argument 1. If the very least sin be as indeed it is a breach and violation of Gods Law then 't is no more venial than a greater But the least sin is a violation of Gods Law therefore the least sin is no more venial than a greater The minor is clearly proved from Mat. 5.28 Whosoever looks on a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her in his heart In which place our Saviour makes a lascivious look an impure glance of the eye to be a breach and violation of Gods Law 2. If the least sin expose men to a Curse then they are no more venial than greater but the least sin doth expose men to a Curse Gal. 3.10 Cursed is he that continues not in all things contained in the Law to do them He that faileth in the least iota or punctillio it exposeth him unto a Curse And remember this my brethren That without repentance God hath provided a great Hell for little sins That is the fifth Sixthly A sixth Error in Popery is Their asserting the Doctrine of free-will That Goliah of the Papists Beliarmine saith That mans will is inclinable unto good and that a man hath an inate power to do that which is good but mans will being corrupted and depraved is not inclinable to that which is good but quite contrary And this is evident from our own experience had we no Bible to confirm it When the Rudder of a Ship is broke the Ship is carried up and down to and again which way the wind will even so it is with mans will being corrupted Austin in his Confessions saith That before his â—onversion he did accustome himself to fruit stealing not so much out of a love to the fruit as to stealing Hence is it that men are said to love evil Mica 3.2 Again the will being depraved and corrupt hath no inate power to do that which is good Indeed the Papists say That man hath some seed of good in him but the Scripture doth not say so Man as St. Ambrose well saith hath a free will to sin but how to perform that which is good he finds not Sin hath cut the locks where our strength lay Therefore are we said to be without strength Rom. 5.6 Sinners are said to be in the bond of iniquity and so not in a posture to run heavens Race A man by nature cannot do that that he hath the least bent and tendency to that which is good he is so far from performing a good act as that he cannot so much as think a good thought Hence it is that man is said to have a heart of stone he can no more prepare himself for his Conversion than a stone can prepare it self for the Superstruction Men naturally are dead spiritually In mans will there is not only impotency but obstinacy Hence it is men are said to resist the holy Ghost Act 7. But I go on Seventhly A seventh Error is their Indulgencies They say the Pope hath a power to give a pardon and Indulgence by vertue of which men are freed from their sins in Gods sight Besides the Blasphemy of this assertion what else is it but a cunning trick and sly artifice to get money by This is that indeed brings grists to the Popes Mill. How contrary is this to the Scripture which saith None can forgive sin but God only Mark 2. This Doctrin of Popish Indulgence is a key that unlocks and opens a door to all manner of licentiousness and uncleaness for what need persons care what they do if they for their money can obtain a pardon Mr. Fox in his Book of Martyrs mentions one that at first was a papist and being brought before Bonner said Sir at the first I was of your Religion and then I cared not how I lived because I could with my mony obtain a pardon But now I am otherwise perswaded and do believe That none caâ— forgive sins but God only Eightly An eight Error is The Doctrine of Merits they say that good works do expiate sin and merit glory Bellarmine saith a man hath a double right to glory one by Christs merits and the other by his own And for this he urges 2 Iam. 4.8 Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of Righteousness which the just Judge shall give unto me and not only unto me c. Which is the just Iudge Now Bellarmine saith That God in justice doth reward our Works and if he doth it of right and in Justice then certainly they merit To this I answer two wayes 1. God giving us in Justice a reward It is not for the worthiness of our workâ— but for the worthiness of our Saviour 2. God as a just Judge rewards our works not because we have merited a reward but because he hath promised a Reward and so is just in giving what he hath promised Object I but they say God crowns our works ergo they merit Answ God to speak after the manner of men keep two Courts a Court of Iustice and a Court of Mercy In his Court of Justice nothing may come but Christs Merits but in the Court of Mercy our works may come Nay let me tell you God in free grace crowns those works in the Court of Mercy which he condemned in the Court of Justice Now that we do not nor cannot merit by our good works I 'le prove by a threefold argument and this threefold cord will not easily be broken First of all and I beseech you mind it that which merits at Gods hand must be a gift we give to him and not a debt we owe to him Now whatever we can do for or give unto God it is but a just and due debt 2. He who would merit at Gods hand must give God somthing overplus But alas if we cannot give God the principal how shall we give him the interest If we cannot give him his due how can we give him overplus 3. He who would merit any thing at Gods hand must offer that to him that is perfect But alas can we give God any thing that is perfect are not our best Offerings fly-blown with pride and corruption Beloved Wo to the holiest man alive if God weighs him in the Ballance of the Sanctuary and do not allow him some