judgement to come cannot make us tremble and eternal misery leave no impression upon us what other arguments or methods can we imagine would reclaim us from our sins We have been too sad an instance our selves of the ineffectualness of other means of amendment by the mercies and judgements of this present life have ever any people had a greater mixture of both these than we have had in the compass of a few years If the wisest persons in the world had been to have set down beforehand the method of reforming a sinful nation they could have pitched upon none more effectual than what we have shewed not to be so First they would have imagined that after enduring many miseries and hardships when they were almost quite sunk under dispair if God should give them a sudden and unexpected deliverance meer ingenuity and thankfulness would make them afrid to displease a God of so much kindness But if so great a flash of joy and prosperity instead of that should make them grow wanton and extravagant what a course then so likely to reclaim them as a series of smart and severe judgements one upon another which might sufficiently warn yet not totally destroy These we have had experience of and of worse than all these viz. that we are not amended by them For are the Laws of God less broken or the duties of Religion less contemned and despised after all these What vices have been forsaken what lusts have men been reclaimed from nay what one sort of sin hath been less in fashion than before Nay have not their number as well as their aggravation increased among us Is our zeal for our established Religion greater Is our faith more firm and setled our devotion more constant our Church less in danger of either of the opposite factions than ever it was Nay is it not rather like a neck of land between two rough and boysterous seas which rise and swell and by the breaches they make in upon us threaten an inundation By all which we see what necessity there is that God should govern this world by the considerations of another that when neither judgements nor mercies can make men better in this life judgement without mercy should be their portion in another O the infatuating power of sin when neither the pity of an indulgent Father nor the frowns of a severe Judge can draw us from it when neither the bitter passion of the Son of God for our sins nor his threatning to come again to take vengeance upon us for them can make us hate and abhorr them when neither the shame nor contempt the diseases and reproaches which follow sin in this world nor the intollerable anguish and misery of another can make men sensible of the folly of them so as to forsake them Could we but represent to our minds that State wherein we must all shortly be when the bustle and hurry the pleasures and diversions the courtships and entertainments of this world shall be quite at an end with us and every one must give an account of himself to God what another opinion of these things should we have in our minds with what abhorrency should we look upon every temptation to sin how should we loath the sight of those who either betrayed us into sin or flattered us when we had committed it Could men but ask themselves that reasonable question why they will defie God by violating his known Laws unless they be sure he either cannot or will not punish them for it thy would be more afraid of doing it than they are for supposing both to do it is perfect madness to question his power who is Almighty or his will who hath declared it and is immutable is the height of folly 2. The condition of such is desperate whom no arguments can perswade to leave their sins For there can be no breaking prison in that other State no escaping tryal no corrupting the Judge no reversing the sentence no pardon after judgement no reprieve from punishment no abatement or end of misery How canst thou then hope O impenitent sinner either to fly from or to endure that wrath of God that is coming swiftly upon thee to arrest thee by death and convey thee to thy tormenting prison canst thou hope that God will discharge thee before that dreadful day comes when he hath confined thee thither in order to it Canst thou hope that day will never come which the vindication of Gods justice the honour of Christ the happiness of the blessed as well as the punishment of the wicked make so necessary that it should come or canst thou hope to defend thy self against an all seeing eye a most righteous Judge and an accusing conscience when that day doth come when all the mercies thou hast abused the judgements thou hast slighted the motions of grace thou hast resisted the checks of conscience thou hast stifled and the sins of all kinds thou hast committed shall rise up in judgement to condemn thee O that we had all the wisdom to consider of these things in time that the terror of the Lord may perswade us to break off all our sins by a sincere repentance and to live so that we may dye with comfort and be for ever with the Lord in his eternal Joy SERMON XII Preached at WHITE HALL FEBRUARY 18. 1672. MATTHEW XVI XXVI For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall he give in exchange for his soul IF we look into the twenty fourth verse of this Chapter we shall find our Saviour there laying down such hard conditions of mens being his Disciples as were to all appearance more likely to have driven away those which he had already than to have drawn any others after him For he requires no less than the greatest readiness to suffer for his sake and that to no meaner a degree than the loss of what is most precious to men in this world in their lives which is implyed in those words If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me If our Saviour had only designed to have made himself great by the number of his followers if he had intended a Kingdom in this world as the Jews imagined he would have made more easie conditions of being his Disciples He would have chosen another way to have attained his end and made use of more pleasing and popular arguments to have perswaded the people to follow him When the Eastern Impostor afterwards began to set up for a new Religion he took a method as contrary to our Saviours as his Religion and design was he knew the Greatness and Honour the pleasures and the pomp of this world were the things most passionately loved and admired by the generality of mankind and therefore he fitted his Religion to the natural
to widen our differences or increase our animosities they are too large and too great already nor to condemn any humble and modest dissenters from us but I despair ever to see our divisions healed till Religion be brought from the Fancies to the hearts of men and till men instead of mystical notions and unacccountable experiences in stead of mis-applying promises and misunderstanding the spirit of prayer instead of judging of themselves by mistaken signs of Grace set themselves to the practice of humility selfdenial meekness patience charity obedience and a holy life and look on these as the greatest duties and most distinguishing characters of true Christianity And in doing of these there shall not only be a great reward in the life to come but in spight of all opposition from Atheism profaneness or superstition we may see our divisions cured and the Kingdom of God which is a Kingdom of peace and holiness to abide and flourish among us SERMON IX Preached at WHITE HALL WHITSUNDAY 1669. JOHN VII XXXIX But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified WHat was said of old concerning the first creation of the world that in order to the accomplishment of it the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters is in a sense agreeable to the nature of it as true of the renovation of the world by the doctrine of Christ. For whether by that we understand a great and vehement mind as the Jews generally do or rather the Divine power manifesting it self in giving motion to the otherwise dull and unactive parts of matter we have it fully represented to us in the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost For that came upon them as a rushing mighty wind and inspired them with a new life and motion whereby they became the most active instruments of bringing the world out of that state of confusion and darkness it lay in before by causing the glorious light of the Gospel to shine upon it And left any part should be wanting to make up the parallel in the verse before the text we read of the Waters too which the Spirit of God did move upon and therefore called not a dark Abyss but flowing rivers of living water He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his bellie shall flow rivers of living water Not as though the Apostles like some in the ancient Fables were to be turned into fountains and pleasant Springs but the great and constant benefit which the Church of God enjoys by the plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit upon them could not be better set fotth than by rivers of living water flowing from them And this the Evangelist in these words to prevent all cavils and mistakes tells us was our Saviours meaning But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive And lest any should think that our Blessed Saviour purposely affected to speak in strange metaphors we shall find a very just occasion given him for using this way of expression from a custom practised among the Jews at that time For in the solemnity of the feast of Tabernacles especially in the last and great day of the Feast mentioned v. 37. after the sacrifices were offered upon the Altar one of the Priests was to go with a large Golden Tankard to the fountain of Siloam and having filled it with water he brings it up to the water-gate over against the altar where it was received with a great deal of pomp and ceremony with the sounding of the Trumpets and rejoycing of the people which continued during the libation or pouring it out before the Altar after which followed the highest expressions of joy that were ever used among that people insomuch that they have a saying among them that he that never saw the rejoycing of the drawing of water never saw rejoycing in all his life Of which several accounts are given by the Jews some say it had a respect to the later rain which God gave them about this time others to the keeping of the Law but that which is most to our purpose is that the reason assigned by one of the Rabbies in the Ierusalem Talmud is because of the drawing or pouring out of the Holy Ghost according to what is said with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation By which we see that no fairer advantage could be given to our Saviour to discourse concerning the effusion of the Holy Ghost and the mighty joy which should be in the Christian Church by reason of that than in the time of this solemnity and so lets them know that the Holy Ghost represented by their pouring out of water was not to be expected by their rites and ceremonies but by believing the doctrine which he preached and that this should not be in so scant and narrow a measure as that which was taken out of Siloam which was soon poured out and carried away but out of them on whom the Holy Ghost should come rivers of living waters should flow whose effect and benefit should never cease as long as the world it self should continue So that in the words of the text we have these particulars offered to our consideration 1. The effusion of the Spirit under the times of the Gospel but this spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive 2. The nature of that effusion represented to us by rivers of living waters flowing out of them 3. The time that was reserved for it which was after the glorious ascension of Christ to Heaven For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified 1. The effusion of the spirit under the times of the Gospel by which we mean those extraordinary gifts and abilities which the Apostles had after the Holy Ghost is said to descend upon them Which are therefore called signs and wonders and divers gifts of the Holy Ghost and the operations of the Spirit of which we have a large enumeration given us in that place The two most remarkable which I shall insist upon and do comprehend under them most of the rest are the power of working miracles whether in Healing diseases or any other way and the gift of tongues either in speaking or interpreting they who will acknowledge that the Apostles had these will not have reason to question any of the rest And concerning these I shall endeavour to prove 1. That the things attributed to the Apostles concerning them could not arise from any ordinary or natural causes 2. That they could not be the effects of an evil but of a holy and divine spirit and therefore that there was really such a pouring out of the spirit
dens who seemed to be designed rather to destroy than to conquer So sudden so numerous so irresistible in most places were the incursions they made But what was it which gave them so strange success was it their long practice and skill in military affairs No they were rude and unexperienced was it their mighty courage No they were despised by the Romans as great cowards and begged for peace when it was denyed them But as Salvian tells us who lived in those times and knew the manners of both sides the Goths and Vandals were of a very severe chastity among whom fornication was punished sharply and adultery a crime scarce heard of whereas all manner of uncleanness and licentiousness did abound among the Romans who yet were then called Christians The Goths were devout and pious acknowledging divine providence making their solemn supplications to God before their victories and returning him the praise of them afterwards but the Romans were fallen into that degree of irreligion and Atheism that nothing was more common among them than to droll upon Religion A nostris omnia fermè religiosa ridentur as Salvian speaks they thought all things managed by chance or fate and ascribed very little to God And where these sins abounded most they were carried up and down as by a divine instinct as they confessed themselves and where they conquered as he particularly speaks of the Vandals in Africa they purged all the stews of uncleanness and made so great a reformation by the severity of their Laws that even the Romans themselves were chast among them Thus we see how those great and mighty Empires have been broken to pieces by the weight of their impieties falling upon them May the consideration then of these things move us in time to a reformation of our lives before our iniquities grow full and ripe for vengeance We have seen many revolutions and God knows how many more we may see if that should be true of us which the same Author saith of the Romans in the midst of all their changes Sola tantum vitia perdurant their vices remained the same still Thanks be to God that things have a fairer appearance at present than they have had and never so good a time to amend as now but if men flatter themselves with present security and their sins increase as their fears abate the clouds which seem dispersed may soon gather again and the face of the Heavens will change if we do not And if it be not in our power to reclaim others from their sins let us endeavour to preserve the honour of our Church by amending our own and convince our enemies by living better than they And give me leave to say and so I conclude that among all the expedients which have been thought of for the peace of this Church and Nation that of leaving off our sins and leading vertuous and exemplary lives will at last prove to be the most successful SERMON XI Preached at WHITE HALL MRRCH 27. 1672. II CORINTH V. II. Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men IF ever any Religion was in all respects accomplished for so noble a design as the reformation of mankind it was the Christian whether we consider the Authority of those who first delivered it or the weight of the arguments contained in it and their agreeableness to the most prevailing passions of humane nature Although the world was strangely degenerated before the coming of Christ yet not to see great a degree but that there were some who not only saw the necessity of a cure but offered their assistance in order to it whose attemps proved the more vain and fruitless because they laboured under the same distempers themselves which they offered tâ—… cure in others or the method they prescribed was mean and trivial doubâ—ful and uncertain or else too nice and subtle to do any great good upon the world But Châ—istianity had not only a mighty advantage by the great holiness of thoâ—e who preached it but by the clearness and evidence the strength and efficacy of those arguments which they used to perswade men The nature of them is such that none who understand them can deny them to be great their clearneâ—s such that none that hear them can chooâ—e but understand them the manner of recommending them such as all who understood themselves could not but desire to hear them No arguments can be more proper to mankind than those which work upon their reason and consideration no motives can stir up moâ—e to the exercise of this than their own happiness and misery no happinoss and misery can deserve to be so much considered as that which is eternal And this eternal state is that which above all other things the Christian Religion delivers with the greatest plainnes confirms with the strongest evidence and enforces upon the consciences of men with the most powerful and perswasive Rhetorick I need not go beyond my text for the proof of this wherein we see that the Apostles sesign was to perswade men i. e. to convince their judgements to gain their affections to reform their lives that the argument they uâ—ed for this end was no less than the terrour of the Lord not the frowns of the world nor the fear of men nor the malice of Devils but the terrour of the Almighty whose Majesty makes even the Devils tremble whose power is irresisistible and whose wrath is insupportable But it is not the terrour of the Lord in this world which he here speaks of although that be great enough to make us as miserable as we can be in this State but the terrour of the Lord which shaâ—l appear at the dreadful day of judgement of which he peaks in the verse before the text For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad This is the terrour here meant which relates to our final and eternal State in another world whâ—n we must appear before the judgement seat of Christ c. And of this he speaks not out of Poetical Fables ancient traditions uncertain conjectures or probable arguments but from full assuâ—ance of the truth of what he delivers Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men In which words we shall consider these particulars 1. The argument which the Apostle makes choice of to perswade men which is the terrour of the Lord. 2. The great assurance he expresseth of the truth of it knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord. 3. The efficacy of it in order to the convincing and reforming mankind knowing therefore c. we perswade men 1. The argument the Apostle makes choice of to perswade men by viz. the terror of the Lord. In the Gospel we find a mixture of the highest