gladness Act. 2.41 The same day the General reception of the word was already past and in the same day the Seal of the Covenant was conferred in that there were added to them as they were an Apostolick Church about three thousand souls and to warrant me this remark upon the Addition here in the Text and those other places we have it expressly Chap. 2.47 The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved from all which this inference is obvious That out of the Church we are not to presume for Salvation or to give it you in as modest terms as may be and those naturally deduced from the Text They that shall be saved with the Lord are first of all supposed to be added by the Lord to the Church Faith though it be the gift of God in the Heart unto Salvation yet he giveth unto every man a certain measure no otherwise than by an Ecclesiastical Dispensation For to make a summary rehersal of that Creed into which we are Baptized this is the compendium of the whole The Creed which with good reason we call the Apostles Creed or at least Apostolical is in our Church-Catechisme distinguished and divided into the Belief of the Father our Creator of the Son our Redemer and of the Holy Ghost the Comforter ruling in all our hearts in order to a thorow Sanctification now in the assurance of this Holy Ghost as he is a Spirit of Prophesie we do believe a Catholick and Apostolick Church in that Church as it is Apostolick and Catholick we must acknowledge a Communion of Saints the result of which Communion in this Church from the Holy Ghost is the forgiveness of our Sins whatsoever is loosed on Earth is loosed also in Heaven whence we do further believe and hope for the Resurrection of our flesh and the Life in the World to come And therefore to the Doctrine of the Trinity the Father Creating the Son Redeeming and the Holy Ghost Purifying as also to those Articles of the Church Administring in a visible holy Communion the Remission of Sins unto all such as look for the Resurrection to eternal Life we in the assurance of our Faith are to say Amen I would at length fain put it to the question what people generally have in their thoughts when they stand up at their Creed and say that they Believe a holy Catholick and Apostolick Church in effect it should be thus much that they do confess there is a Congregation and Corporation of Christian people though dispersed throughout the whole world that this society is united in a holy Communion under Christ the supreme and onely Head that it is assisted moved and directed by the Holy Ghost that it is Matriculated as it were into one holy Congregation and fraternity by Baptisme sustained by the word of Catechising which is milk for babes nourished by the Lords Supper which is meat for stronger men that it is continued by an holy Apostolical Succession by which the Keyes of the Kingdom are faithfully administred whatsoever is bound on earth is ratified in heaven and after all this does the promise of Christ signifie nothing that he will be with his Church so universally and every way holy that so whither he as the Head is gone the Members may follow after every one in his own order Christ the first afterward those that are Christs both before and at his coming And if this be the meaning of the Article as had I time might soon be proved from several Scriptures and our Separatists themselves do not deny but that this Summary Compendium of Faith is both antient and a sound Confession we thank them that at the same time when they thrust it out of our Churches they were pleased to annex it to the close of their Calvinistical Catechism I would demand of them and put it to the Conscience of those who are deluded by them how they can expect salvation in another world when they avoid the communion of the Saints in this and that against their vow in Baptisme against their solemn Profession of Faith I might I perswade my self urge it against their own inward sentiments whenever they do seriously think upon it what this Article of their Creed does mean or else they must be notoriously hypocritical before God against their own reason somthing or other they must believe when they do confess that there is such a thing as a holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and what can they believe to their souls good but that in the Communion of this Church they do expect salvation Let them if they are so fool-hardy excommunicate themselves and so put themselves into the condition of Heathens to be saved without a law and beside the Gospel if God so please to be sure there is great safety in the Christian institution as the Church is a holy society if with our hearts we believe and with our mouths we make confession of that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints to wit that there is a Holy Catholick Church and in that Church a Holy Communion of Saints and the result of both these is the forgiveness of sins and that because of the Churches Catholick Faith that there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead for unless it be so we are still in our sins when both soul and body are to be united together in order to be made partakers of everlasting life undoubtedly we shall be saved I know there are some who quarrel at the Athanasian Creed though they have subscribed to it for these words in it however I am not afraid to cite them to our present purpose whosoever will be saved that is in the unity of the Church before all things he must be careful that he hold the Catholick Faith for the Church is Catholick which faith except he keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly And so I pass to the Second instance of this great Benefit here accruing from the present Dispensation and that is a due qualification internal in the heart but still in order to an outward profession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were Believers in the Lord which were now added to the Churches Communion holding the Faith as from the Apostles at this time it was delivered By Faith here not to spend time in the ordinary Definitions of it we may securely understand the pious and fiducial application of all the circumstances of this outward administration to each mans particular and private concerns whatsoever was publickly dispensed was in the heart of those that were assembled digested in an humble assurance of salvation there-from So that upon this account Schism from a Visible Communion is the result of Infidelity it is an evil heart of Unbelief that departs from God our Father or the Church our Mother in that whosoever he be that separates he cannot or he will not make due and sober reflections upon outward services in order to his own private
request laying that and my self at the feet of Majesty in the behalf of the place from whence I came and for which I now serve Let not us the little children of the Prophets in the very Schools of the Prophets be exposed to the obstinate perverseness of ignorance and sedition Aaron's Mouth is opened for Moses to the People to declare his Authority as from God to be Sacred and Inviolable that he is not subject to Man nor the sons of men for any of his actions but to his own Master he must stand or fall even to God alone who hath appointed him it is yet open for Moses at the Mercy-seat before the holy Altar that he may be filled with Grace Wisdom and Vnderstanding in the execution of Justice and the maintenance of Truth And what may Aaron humbly expect in return from Moses nay what does the Lord God require of him but that Moses should be as God to secure unto God his Oblation the Morning and the Evening Sacrifice never to cease And is not all this for the Lord's sake for the Lord who hath preserved the Rod of Moses in strength and honour who hath confirmed his Blessing upon Aaron in that his Rod also hath budded and bloomed Blossoms and brought forth Almonds the fruits of Joy and Peace God hath as we do every day thankfully Commemorate it made the Horn of David though once cut down to flourish and sprout forth again he hath ordained a Lamp and a Light for his Anointed a Lamp from out of the Sanctuary to guide him in the ways of Peace and Truth that so he dash not his foot against any stone of stumbling which Schism and Rebellion may lay in his way he hath restored Majesty the Excellency of Majesty to his Prince He hath renewed Beauty the Beauties of Holiness to his Priests and we hope and pray that he hath given and will continue security the Certainty of Defence unto Both Oh that the people therefore would in the fear of God Honour the King and Reverence his Priests that so there may be a further lengthning of our tranquillity neither shall our iniquity our froward peevish iniquity be our utter ruine in vain shall we pretend Loyalty to Moses the Servant of the Lord if we vex Aaron the Saint of God What shall we quarrel at those who bring and at that Administration which doth dispence the Gospel of everlasting Peace How can we thus expect to be at peace amongst our selves May then the Throne be established in Righteousness even upon the Mount of God and may the Mount of God be guarded by the glorious and sure defence of Angels because of the Throne of him who is as God which is upon it thus as upon a Rock the Rock of Ages shall Church and Kingdom be built * nec Portae Gehennae nec Genevae as once by a happy mistake out of the vulgar that Text was read neither the Gates of Hell nor the Dark close designs of Schism and Sedition shall ever be able to prevail against them * In Gebennico lacu Mendum Typographi esi in Gehennico lacu Namque à Gehenna quid Gebenna dissidet Pia Hilaria Angel Gaz. impres Lond. pag. 68. I conclude all with those Pathetical Petitions which our holy Church hath put into our Mouths for better I cannot use and God accept them from the bottom of all our hearts O Lord Save the King And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee Endue thy Ministers whether of Justice in the State or Holiness in the Church with Righteousness And so shalt thou make thy chosen people joyful Da pacem in diebus nostris Give Peace in our time O Lord For whether it be against open violence and force offered from abroad or against secret Treachery and privy Conspiracy fomented at home whether against professed Enemies or meerly pretending Friends the worst of Enemies there is no other fighteth for us but only Thou O God To this onely wise God who is alone able to make us understand our own happiness by keeping us in the strict and solemn observance of Vniformity at Vnity amongst our selves that so to Prince Priests and People there may be but One heart and One mind in the Fear of him in Love and Duty to one another To the Author of our Peace and of every good and perfect gift amongst us To Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be ascribed of us of all Angels and all men The Kingdom the Power and the Glory Dominion and Adoration World without end Amen SOLOMONS PORCH frequented by the APOSTLES Act. 5. part of the 12 13 14. verses being a part of the Epistle for St. Bortholomew's day 12. And by the hands of the Apostles were many signes and wonders wrought among the people and they were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch 13. And of the rest durst no man joyn himself to them but the people magnified them 14. And Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes both of men and women OF St. Bartholomew the Apostle at this â—ime to be commemorated St. Mat. 10.3 St. Mar. 3.18 St. Luk. 6.14 we read but little in holy Scripture only his name three or four times mentioned to wit that he was numbered with the twelve Apostles and so ordained by Christ himself to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom even Repentance and Remission of sins in the name of Jesus unto all nations beginning at Jerusalem Accordingly we find Him with the rest Act. 1.13 taking his part of that Ministry and Apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell concontinuing with them in prayer and supplication and with them also waiting for the Promise of the Father till they should be endued with farther power from on high and so upon the whole it is on all hands believed that this Apostle was unto the last a faithful witness of Jesus and of his Resurrection Upon the consideration of all which our Holy Mother the Church of England in this Festival has little or no regard to Legendary Fictions what might be guessed either of this Apostles person or of his conversation from his Name Whither he were not of noble extraction the Son of Ptolemy or as some will have it like Moses of old a Prophet so he an Apostle Filius aquae ductus sive aquae suspensae taken up and drawn out of the waters into which being cast the stream retired and gave back nec potuit extingui quin amnem repressit as the Historian Lucius Florus writes of Romulus he could not be drowned for he did as it were force the waters from him nec adiri usque ad justi cursum poterat amnis neither at this time could the flowing stream reach unto its wonted height Also what might be said of his success in his Ministery where and unto whom he preached the Gospel quae regio in terris For what nation under heaven was he reserved to be from
a publick spirit as publick as is their sedition in some sort delivered my own soul and they shall not perish without warning and that repeated with as much vehemency as are their Divisions God in mercy give a Blessing And so may they see yet again how I do set before them fire and water and will they chuse the water alas the waters of Separation are waters of bitterness Massah and Meribah be their name and Marah is their tast they are themselves as it were baptized strife and contention and so noisome loathsome and every way unsavory is their rellish But the Fire is from the Lord in the Sanctuary it is a Refiners fire and a coal from the Altar that so all iniquity may be done away Blessing and a Curse and will they chuse the curse it is Anathema Maranatha A curse untill Christ come against all those who love not the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Communion of his Saints But this the Blessing when the Spirit shall say come and the Bride shall say come and the Church shall say come and every one that has set heart to seek the Lord the Lord God of his Fathers shall also come that so God may translate his Church which is here terribly Militant as an Army with banners in good order and in due aray unto Trophies and Triumphs in that glory which shall be everlasting And so look they once more and behold and chuse they whether they will Life and Death and will they chuse Death Death which shall never have an end the reward of those who do wilfully reject the means and the passage unto Life Oh! that at length they would believe schism and separation to be a damning Sin that they would not place the worship of God in the ways and amidst the sons of perdition I 'le leave a Text or two for them to urge upon themselves and can there be plainer words than these Rom. 13.2 They that resist that power which is the Ordinance of God or which is all one that Power which commands Obedience unto Gods Ordinance shall receive unto themselves Damnation 2 Pet. 3.1 3. False Prophets and false Teachers bring upon themselves swift Destruction whose judgment of a long time lingreth not and their Damnation slumbereth not Epist of St. Jude v. 13. These are wandring stars not keeping within their proper and appointed Orbs in order to a regular and an equal revolution Vnto whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever But after all this Life and Peace to those that seek and keep peace in the fear and love of God and of those that are set over them To conclude Let us be perswaded as we are men and Christians to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace considering that God is terrible in his judgments against the Rebellious and Sacrilegious he is wonderful in his providence for the defence of those that wait and call upon him his wrath is dreadful unto Death his loving kindness is surpassing and in his favour is Life The Assembling together of his Saints is Venerable and Awful God is honoured in the midst whilst due Reverence is paid to those that are round about him considering all these things what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness we should be no longer faithless but believing may we the more and the rather be added to the Church as Believers in the Lord and may this number increase to Multitudes of every age and of every Sex both Men and Women our Churches Prayer shall with little alteration be the close of all We Pray thee O Lord Help thy Servants whom thou hast redâ—emed with thy most Precious Blood Make them to be numbred with thy Saints here in a holy Communion and hereafter in glory everlasting To which God of his infinite Mercy bring us all to whom be ascribed Honour Praise and Adoration to Father Son and Holy Ghost One God and three Persons and that of all Ages in the Church by Christ Jesus world without end Amen Lord Mercifully receive the Prayers of thy Church that all troubles and errors being quenched it may serve thee in quietness and grant us peace in our days Amen A BAD AND A Good Zeal DESCRIBED and LIMITED Gal. 4.17 18. 17. They zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you that you might affect them or us 18. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I am present with you IT was even in our Saviours time the Hypocritical Devotion of the Pharisees and is at this day the Pharisaical Hypocrisie both of the Conclave and the Consistory to compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte and when he is gained they make him two-fold more the child of Hell then themselves so that the last estate of the poor man is worse than his beginning But as for us Woe unto us unless that our Religion do exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees their industry was both commendable and imitable if we could abstract their Labour of Love as they call it from the malice of their intention we may hear them both while they sit in the Chair of Moses but not when their design is to tumble Moses out of his Chair not when they rebell against Moses the Servant of the Lord and vex Aaron the Saint of God their long Prayers were not amiss no though they were in the Markets and the corners of every street when they made their great solemn and pompous Processions that they might be seen of men and so give an example of Devotion unto the World but we must beware of them when we find that upon this pretence they devour Widdows Houses when they commit a rapine upon the portion of the Widdow and of the Fatherless their long Robes were no such hainous crime nor their Phylacteries upon their Garments in which are supposed to have been written in Capital Letters the Ten Commandements of God to put the People in mind of their Duty but this was their fault when they proposed the Law as a Precept of obedience unto others and most shamefully and wickedly broke it in every Precept themselves in a word it is an Evangelical Precept the command of Christ himself with which Holy Church begins and exhorts to her offertory That we let our Light shine before men even the Light of our Profession in the publick attestations of our Religion we may be both burning and shining Lights but we must be careful that there be the oyl of good works to feed the flame lest men rejoyce in our Light only for a season and because they cannot behold a pious and a holy conversation directed by the fear of God therefore they do not glorifie our Father which is in Heaven we are to be watchful then that we try the hot Spirits of zeal that are abroad inthe world whether they be
which be Devout and Honorable Women laden with sins and lead away with divers lusts Epistle of St Jude ver 19. Those that separate themselves let them pretend never so much to holiness and piety they are sensual and they have not the Spirit such are they who ver 3. while the True Apostles do contend earnestly for the Common salvation and the Faith of it once delivered to the Saints creep in unawares turning the grace of God into lasciviousness v. 8. These are filthy Dreamers or in the language of our time Mad Diviners Ecstatical Enthusiasts who despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities ver 10. They speak evil of those things which they know not inimicum praeter ignorantem Religion as well as Learning has no enemy but the Ignorant whilst wisdom and piety are justified by their Children but otherwise what these gainsayers do know naturally we must own them since they have the faces of men to be reasonable creatures and yet as brute beasts in those things which they seem to know they corrupt themselves that is they do as much confound themselves as they do amuse others with their brain-sick imaginations Wo wo unto them says our Apostle for they have gone in the way of Cain it is but of late sad remembrance setting every mans sword against his Brother onely because their sacrifices of sin were not accepted they have run greedily after the error of Balaam for a reward whilst that gain was their greatest Godliness Oh! that they had perished in the very act of gainsaying like Corah and his Company when they exalted themselves above the Congregation of the Lord These are spots in your feasts yea though they be Feasts of charity their Love feasts in the Family of Love a private secret Conventicle feeding themselves without fear Clouds they are without water like their Master Prince of the air and yet fire if any is the element predominant and these like Salamanders can live onely in the fire they are carried about of winds tossed too and fro with every blast of false and erroneous Doctrine Trees they are whose fruit withereth nay they have no fruit that is good twice dead why do they any longer cumber the ground they are raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame and that 's nothing but mire and durt so that because of the Tempest which they have raised there are no Halcyon days the Kings Fishers cannot build their nests in these troubled waters They are stars too but not in the right hand of Jesus wandring stars oh when shall they be falling stars usque quo Domine how long O Lord just holy and true when shall it once be unto whom is reserved the blackness of darkness a darkness like that of Egypt which is to be felt the blackness of darkness for ever v. 16. These are murmurers complainers walking after their own lusts running about City Town and Countrey and they grudge if they be not satisfied their mouths speak great swelling words of vanity having mens persons in admiration because of some particular advantage or as another Apopostle has it 2 Tim. 4.3 After their own lusts they heap up Teachers to themselves having itching ears and to sum up all with that which gave me occasion to paraphrase so much upon this Epistle These are they who separate themselves they are not moved nor acted by the Holy â—host the Devil has too much power over them if St. Jude's Epistle be Scripture and I guess by this time since they find themselves so exactly described in it they could wish it out of our Bibles since this is the best character that he can afford them that they are sensual and they have not the Spirit These are they and this is the manner of them who neglect the assembling of themselves together imitating the Primitive and the Apostolical times in nothing but in the divisions and dissentions of false Brethren who do not in the least consider that they are baptized into a Christian Faith in which Faith we have these two Articles in which we believe a Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and the Communion of Saints the Catholick Church is but One and the Communion of it throughout the Christian World is Visible and the next Article to these is the Remission of sins which we obtain and have a right to by our being Baptized and so made Members of the Body of Christ and therefore another Creed has it by way of explanation thus that we are to believe One Baptisme for the Remission of sins as if out of the Visible Communion of the Catholick Church into which we are admitted by Baptisme there is to be no Remission and for this I urge our Saviours words S. Mat. 18.17 Dic Ecclesiae Tell it to the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen man and a Publican such a one whom the People of the Jews counted to be dead in their sins and trespasses Not without good reason therefore has our Church in her most excellent constitutions made this one of her wholsome laws Cannon 11th That whosoever shall affirm that there are within this Realm other Meetings Assemblies or Congregations of the Kings born subjects then such as by the Laws of this Land are held and allowed which may rightly challenge to themselves the name of a true and of a lawful Church let him be excommunicated and not restored but by the Arch-bishop after his repentance and revocation of such his wicked errours Surely there is somthing extraordinary in the matter or else I should not be thus earnest I would ask the Separatists of our age this one serious and sober question Have ye Souls to be saved or no little do they think into what danger they put their own immortal souls by a schism and a separation they do as much as in them lies forego the ordinary means appointed by God for their salvation Now God in his wonderful Providence has made the Administration of his Gospel to be glorious in the midst of us the light to shine bright in our Candlestick Divine Services to be dispensed and Holy Offices to be performed even in the outward Beauty of Holiness Now for a froward and a peevish generation to place the service of God in one of the most damning sins that can be committed for ought I know by that little Divinity I have been acquainted with if it be wilfully persisted in and they add Obstinacy to their Separation it may in time come up to be the unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost Schisme and Division from the Churches community Oh! what shall we say unto these men Oh more foolish then were those Galatians Who has bewitched them that they should not obey the Truth Formerly yea before our Saviours time higher then yet hitherto I have brought my proof it was Davids choice to be a door keeper in the House of God rather then to
Ephesus but the whole world worshippeth Many men have their Religion tied at their Purse-strings and be the thing good or bad for which they contend if it once comes to make for their profit they are soon induced to espouse the quarrel and they shall manage it with too much eagerness But true Zeal for God and for his Glory is not of so low and so sordid a principle it doth not run in the veins of the earth but it is a fire fetched from heaven a beam or a ray from the Sun of Righteousness To conclude As we are to be watchful of others that their ignes fatui their new lights and strange fires do not deceive us and carry us out of our way for they will lead us downward to the Chambers of Death so we are to examine our selves that we be not hurried away with our own impulse that passion do not overmuch sway us and interest blind us Let us but make sure of these two that the thing for which we are earnest be in it self just and good and that our own intensions and designes be holy and pious that we have no sinister and by-respects either to get a name in the world or to make a trade of our Religion more to serve our selves upon it then our God by it secure we but this that the thing in it self and the heart be right and then let our Light shine before men that they may see it yea Let us thus be a spectacle to Angels and to men whilst the one frowning and the other rejoycing do behold our zeal for the Lord of Hosts For It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing which is the second General of the Text the subject of the next Discourse to wit the account given us of that zeal which is good The Second SERMON Verse 18. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not onely when I am present with you THe Prophet Elijah who was exceeding zealous for the glory of the God of Israel upbraiding the people with their luke-warmness and indifference in religion how they feared the Lord but withall served other Gods not altogether forsakeing the worship of their Fathers and yet admitting the abominations of the Heathen amongst whom they lived which were a snare unto them resolved at last to put the whole business to an issue 1 Kings 18.21 24. He came unto all the people and said how long halt ye between two opinions if the LORD be God follow him but if Baal follow him I even I onely remain a Prophet of the LORD but the Prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty Men And as if he should have said Let us institute a Sacrifice to our unknown God let us see what Deity it is which will have a regard unto his own oblation Call ye upon the name of your God and I will call upon the Name of the LORD and the God that answereth by fire let him be God At which Determination it is to be observed that the Prophet though upon this extraordinary occasion would neither by an overhasty anticipation prevent nor by a tedious delay let slip the Publique solemn opportunity for daily and ordinary Devotion But Verse 36. At the time of the offering of the evening Sacrifice Elijah the Prophet came near and said O Lord God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel Farther it is remarkable that the Fire which at this time came from heaven was not a sudden Flash of Lightning which for the present struck terrour and amazement into the Spectators and instantly disappeared no neither was it a Fire that did Consume the Sacrifice and no more but the effect of it was a whole burnt-offering not the wood onely but the very Stones and the Dust were consumed and it licked up all the water that was in the Trench And the result of all was that when all the People saw it in most humble acts of adoration they fell on ther faces and Worshipped and the Voice of the People at that time was the Voice of God and they said The LORD he is God the LORD he is God Blessed be our God that the Prophet Elijah is not left alone a double portion of his Spirit though it be a Spirit of Burning doth rest upon the Prorhets and the Sons of Prophets even to this day let the Sons of Belial be Four hundred and fifty men twice told and all resolved into a grand Committee about Religion we need not fear with Elisha's Servant let us lift up our eyes to the Hills whence cometh our help and we shall see that those who are with us are more than those that are with them even the Mount of God full of Horses of fire and Chariots of fire round about the Priests of the most High God It is the glory of the God of Israel in the midst of us and about that Glory an everlasting Defence like the Prophet Elijah we put the cause of God and of his service to this issue why should we halt between two opinions it is a broken not a divided heart which God accepts The God that answereth by Fire let him be God yet such a Fire as spends it self upon a proper Sacrifice neither the Fire strange nor the Oblation unusual but a Fire upon such a sacrifice in which all the Tribes of Israel are concerned and that is the daily Ministration which is to be solemnized at the set and appointed times of the Morning and of the Evening Oblation Such a Fire too as is not of a sudden appearance or a short continuance which spends it self in a Blaze and goes out in a smoak but a Fire to consume both the Sacrifice and the Altar too yea though it be of stone I mean those heavenly seraphical Devotions and the Pious heart though once an heart of stone from whence they ascend a Fire to consume the Dust and to lick up the Water the dust of the Earth is in this regard worse than stubble not to be seen buried in its own embers neither can the water any longer find a place all filthy humours and noisome Corruptions are done away and there is nothing but a pure bright flame of love which many waters cannot quench Such as these are the Zealous Ardours for a setled Religion and the kind fervors in the due Celebrations of a solemn Devotion which while the ignorant and unlearned many unstable People have more diligently observed they have been convinced of all judged of all the very secrets of their hearts have been made manifest and falling upon their Faces they have Worshiped God reporting God to be in those solemnities of a Truth surely such a zeal as this which doth thus contend for the way of Godliness is not like the mad frenzey of the Priests of Baal which shews it self only in up-roars and in tumults whilst in the fray
their people for without a little Dissimulation their could be neither Living nor Livelinood But certainly God has no need of such mens Hypocrisie to Manifest his Glory nor the Church of their Dissimulation to preserve its peace He that is a Friend to all Religions or to all perswasions in Religion so far that according to the circumstances of his life he can ingage in or defend any of them is in truth of no Religion at all he is ready to Apostatize with Julian and should there arise an eleventh Persecution against Christianity he is never like to be either a Resolute Confessour for the truth he has own'd or a Faithful Martyr for the Faith into which he was baptized but this will be his sad Conversion quite contrary to the blessed alteration which was in St. Paul Is not this he that preached Christ but now he destroys all those who call upon that name delivering them up to bonds and imprisonment even to death it self God grant that we may never know such times as will put these men to their tryal and he preserve and continue his Church in Unity and Uniformity amongst us that it never stand in need of them to be Champions for its Faith or Discipline But whither such an eager industrious sollicitude of being indifferent of appearing all things to all men wresting St. Pauls practice as bad as they have done his writings out of a desire not to gain Proselytes but credit and profit to themselves I say whether such a zealous studious luke-warmness in things sacred and holy is not in the direct consequence of it a pre-requisite disposing a man to turn Jew Turk Pagan Infidel any thing does not in the formal notion of it promote Atheisme both in practice and speculation I leave this to the Disputers of this World to the curious speculative heads of our times seriously and soberly to consider But as for us let us be careful of a Temporary Faith of a Religion ours in the profession of it only because suited to the Climate we live in and the air we breath in to the popular breath we daily suck to the soil of the Countrey to the humours of Multitude Let us be stedfast in our holy Profession persevere in the way of Godliness as knowing that Pure Religion is to keep our selves unspotted from the World it is Heaven-born God on high is Worshiped and man upon Earth is saved in the celebration of it this being our Assurance that we are accepted and a comfortable satisfaction to us that our zeal is rightly qualified when in the integrity of our hearts and the uprightness of our soul it is as permanent as it is passionate it is the same continued flame bright and pure to the last bending it self one way tending upwards though it be fire it is not seated beneath the concave of the Moon I mean spent upon sublunary changing perishing Designes but it is cherished by influenced upon and clothed with the Sun of Righteousness and the reward of its Constancy shall be Everlasting Felicity for him who is thus piously zealous unto Death there is laid up a Crown of Life And so I pass to the 2. Reason of this Apostolical approbation and that Taken from the habit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It must be alwayes And here as in the Application of the first Discourse was mentioned we must be careful that we distinguish the habit of zeal from the constitution of the Body whether it be not the overflowing of the Gall rather than the result of Grace from the heart True indeed being called unto Grace and Holiness whatsoever were our passions before they are Crucified now with Christ in mortification and with him they are risen again and sanctified unto his service and so our zeal may at the same time be in some sort the natural temper of our Bodies and the pious frame of our Minds but then in other circumstances of life our zeal for Charity must alwayes take place of Passion neither must the Sun at any time set somnum nec rixa facit nor are the shadows of the night to be spread over our wrath So then be our Constitution what it will if in the personal occurrences of our lives our Moderation be known unto all men our zeal for God and Religion because perpetually the same is therefore Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it must be Alwaies Thunder does root up Foundations the effects of it are as dreadful as the noise is terrible but then the Lightning which doth accompany it is momentany it is but a sudden flash and we see it again no more There is a Madzeal or a Phrenzy rather like Thunder it pretends that it will clear the air when it makes the earth to tremble nothing but Desolation and overturning where-ever the Bolt lights it makes havock of all before it be it never so pleasant or desireable but the Lightning transcient the promising overtures are but some sudden glances which have more of terror and amazement than of comfort and refreshment we see them indeed or hear of them no sooner are they seen or heard but no where are they to be found whereas a Holy zeal is like the Sun breaking through a cloud though intercepted with the mists and foggs of errour and seduction yet it will make its way and spread the day where e're it comes it ariseth in its strength and in its beauty and rejoyceth to run its course it s going forth is from Heaven and its Circuit to the end of it again and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof such a thing is a pious zeal like unto the Ordinances of Heaven abiding the same for ever day after day tells the World its Piety and night after night in a satisfactory contemplation upon its own constancy sheweth unto the Devout Soul that such a zeal thus fixed and unalterable is according unto Godliness True zeal is not like Herods Devotion who sometimes heard John Baptist gladly and for his sake when the humour took him did many things that were good it is not like Agrippa's half Perswasion and yet not perswaded to be a Christian very near and so the farther from the Kingdom of Heaven it is not like Felix his pannick fit of trembling while he hears St. Paul reasoning of Temperance of Righteousness and of Judgment to come soon shaked off in a colder Dismission go thy way for this time when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee it is not a sudden motion an ecstatical rapture an impetus that may cast Saul himself amongst the Prophets it is not a hot burning fit which comes and goes as some unhealthy humours ferment more or less in the Body or wild fancys work disturbedly and confusedly in the brain such a zeal as this which is not constant to it self is not unlike to Sauls evil Spirit when the Lord was departed from him it wants Davids Harp the sweet Singer of Israel the
alone that we do not at any time commit the least action at the performance of which as thoughts may trouble us our hearts misgive us and consciences may presently fly in our faces that we do not that in our most close private retirement which we may be afraid or ashamed to own should we be made a spectacle to Angels and to Men It is not he that commendeth himself in the sight of men that is approved but whom the Lord commendeth 2 Cor. 10.18 However then we may and ought in some doutful things which are not much material for us to inquire into resign up our judgments to our Superiours in the Church yet we must be careful that we do not give up our zeal to the inspection of those that are set over us in this we must study to approve our selves in the sight of God and not of Man Here They are to be reproved who can suite themselves to as many ways of worship as they have Masters in Religion like slavish Minions altogether at other mens beck they serve as it were an apprentiship in their Devotion onely before men not in singleness of heart as in the sight of God who trieth the reins and searcheth out the Deep of the heart These are they who urge the spirit of meekness in an Apostle to be a sufficient plea for them in their luke-warmness and because some whose business it is to Govern do walk by certain rules of prudence of which they are the best and only Judges let them look to it for none but they shall answer for it if the wisdom of the Serpent devour the innocency of the Dove if their Policy get the start of their Piety therefore every one who is in sworn subjection must take liberty to deviate from an established Rule and yet these very men take it ill to be esteemed but half faced professours of Conformity no when there is need of it or the Audience requires it persons so and so qualified being in presence to countenance it they can be as hearty and as zealous for an exact solemnity as the best of us and who dares mistrust them for other then most genuine and dutiful Sons of the Church Such as these who are thus carried away with a Dissimulation they are to be withstood to the very face for indeed they are to be blamed however men may be deceived by them yet let them know that God is not to be mocked They may insinuate themselves into favour and into power for a while as being fit instruments for any Design Men who can venture upon any thing to please those whom they call Patrons and Benefactors Vivant in senatum veniant let them live and injoy their reward here whilst the Man whose principle is integrity this the root of the matter to be found in him awaits for his in another world it is the Lord our God who seeth in secret and without great repentance shall reward the Hypocrite of which none so bad as the Dissembler in Gods services with shame and everlasting contempt Nay these pitiful thread-bare policies a man may see thorow into the Mystery of iniquity they are like Cobwebs though in the Palaces of Princes on a sudden swept away whereas the honest and the upright heart which in all the Occurencies of Life looks upon God as its guide has a regard to him as its Judge and from him expects an eternal reward this is that principle at the bottom which will carry a man thorow all extremity and keep his head above water though the billowes roar about him Do we not even in this life many times see Confusion sit upon the face of base servile Spirits the Devil owes them a shame and e're they go hence many times he pays them part of their wages But behold the perfect man and mark the upright the beginning the continuance to be sure the end of that man is peace To Conclude Let your your zeal as well as your Moderation be known unto all men and the same argument to inforce both The Lord is at hand all things are naked and bare before the eyes of that God with whom we have to do he is at hand near us within us and round about us there is no hiding from his presence who understandeth all our thoughts long before they are Cease we from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of why should our concerns for the eternal Gospel or the Administration of it be subordinate to the interests of a temporary momentany service as if God were either unwilling or unable to be a Rewarder of those who diligently seek him no the Promise of God to Abraham is still a sure word of Prophesie to all those that are the Children of faithful Abraham Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect fear not I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward As for all tergeversating transgressors the end of them is that they shall perish together the ungodly shall be rooted out at the last But Psal 97.11 there is sprung up a Light for the Righteous and joyful gladness for such as are true-hearted Behold then yet once again the Perfect man and mark the upright Or as our Church in her Liturgy renders that versicle Psal 37.38 Keep innocency and do the thing which is right that shall bring a man peace at the last Let us keep innocency maugre men and Devils let us walk uprightly in our integrity and let us do the thing which is right be sure that our emulations and strivings be for a good thing this shall bring a man peace at the last Peace at the last even the last end of our life when we shall find heaviness in our flesh upon our death-bed an undisturbed and a quiet Conscience when we shall lay our selves down in peace to sleep our last with this comfortable reflection that we have done nothing to contribute to the troubles of our Israel and Peace at the last which shall last for ever bringing us unto Jesus who is the Author of that Faith which though fighting in a state militant we have kept the Finisher of that Hope which in a tempestuous sea has been a sure Anchor-hold even the Anchor of our Hope fixed in Heaven and the Prince of that Peace which as a reward of our valour in the Fight at our Triumph we shall injoy that Peace which passeth all understanding and is full of Glory Whilst in the mean time our Pious and Holy Zeal for Good which cannot but be good being in the way of Godliness shall be like Elijah's Chariot that I may conclude with the same instance with which I begun a Chariot of flame to carry us from a troublesome evil world to our Mansions of Rest and Peace where we shall no longer need to be so eagerly sollicitous for God and for his Glory but throughout the days of eternity our Love
shall be our satisfaction nothing else but Complacency our Delight To which place of Bliss and Contentment God of his infinite mercy bring us all for Jesus Christ his sake who is gone before to prepare those Mansions for us To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God be ascribed Honour and Glory and Blessing with Adoration World without end Amen MODERATION AS AN APOSTOLICAL COUNSEL Explained Philip. 4.5 Being part of the Epistle for the fourth Sunday in Advent Let your Moderation be known unto all men The Lord is at hand OUr Lord and Blessed Saviour being to come into the world and to appear a Minister of Reconciliation to the People sent his Messenger before his face to prepare the way of the Lord and to make his paths strait and the voice from God at that time in the mouth of his Prophet crying in the Wilderness of Judea was this St. Mat. 3.2 Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Afterward John being cast into Prison Jesus himself went forth and began to teach in every City and he was as it were the Eccho to the voice foregoing the message he delivered being the very same St. Matthew 4.17 Jesus began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand This John who came neither eating nor drinking sequestring himself from the World and denying himself the pleasures of ordinary Converse our Blessed Master Jesus Christ the Righteous who came eating and drinking who lived after the common manner of men the one in every crowded City and the other in a waste howling Wil derness Both have the same Lesson to teach and the same Argument to inforce it Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and though from the dayes of John the Baptist the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force that is the fruit of Repentance is not only carefulness but Indignation likewise and a holy zeal though our Saviour himself too as meek and lowly as he was came to send Fire upon the Earth and before his departure hence what if it were already kindled Yet Jesus being risen and Ascended sate down at the right hand of the Majesty on High his Gospel being strangely propagated he having given to such as shall be saved by Faith in his name and Repentance towards God Love and Charity is now the Law by which he will rule and govern in the hearts of all Believers the feet of those that follow him or expect his coming again must be shod with the Preparation of his Gospel as it is a Gospel of Peace Et speciosi Pedes and these feet are to appear Beautiful that so all may see them Brotherly Love was the precious Legacy which he left behind him and this to continue till he come again so that the same Motive which gained Proselites at first to embrace the Christian Doctrine with Repentance and godly sorrow is an Apostolical incitation to the several Churches as they were Planted that they continue in the Faith which they had received as knowing on whom they Believed the Product of Repentance now is not only to be Indignation Zeal and a holy Revenge but also the Peaceable fruit of Righteousness whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise they who embrace Christianity must think upon and follow those things and that because of Christs Coming whether in the Flesh or unto Judgment in the Flesh in our Flesh with which he was cloathed The Lord of Heaven is at Hand and with him the Kingdom of Heaven also he being himself the King and the Kingdom too he is at Hand not far from every one of us carrying our Nature and our Constitution with him Sanctifying our Inclinations and Affections whilst he subjected himself unto all our Passions unto judgment the Kingdom of Heaven the Lord from Heaven is at Hand to call the World to an account if for their idle words surely for their hard speeches their heart-burning thoughts their uncharitable Actions against such as are quiet in the Land not suffering their Brethren for whom Christ died to live securely by them therefore considering these things that the Man Christ Jesus who came in the fulness of time shall come again at the end of all time after which time shall be no more to judge both the quick and dead and withal lifting up our heads in a comfortable expectation that our Redemption draweth nigh and our Salvation is nearer than when we first believed what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy humble affable Conversation and Godliness Let our Moderation be known unto all Men the Lord is at Hand You see that our Church has furnished me with a Text every way suitable not only as to the present time but consequential upon my former Discourses though I have already I hope sufficiently set bounds to a holy zeal that it do not transgress the law of Love and Charity yet since nothing is more usual than to urge this portion of Scripture now read in Defence of Luke-warmness and since likewise nothing is more incident to our Natures than that we deceive our selves mistaking our Passions many times too too often uncharitableness it self for a holy zeal therefore as a restriction in the one case and a due information in the other following the Churche's prescription the Text is every way suitable and a word in season Let your Moderation be known unto all Men the Lord is at Hand The parts of the Text are Obvious these Two 1. A Duty injoyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let your Moderation be known unto all men 2. An Argument to inforce it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord is at Hand 2. The Duty is not only injoyned but recommended also it is not only to be an inherent quality or a Disposition within us that is Our Moderation but so Ours that it may be known yea and known not here and there to one or two but indifferently as the circumstances of our Conversation ingage us unto all Men whereupon the Argument to inforce the Duty may be urged this being the scope of the Text either in our Churches Selection of it as part of the Epistle for this day or in the Apostles intention as it is wholesome counsel given to these Philippians The Lord is at Hand that is appearing in the Flesh and whilst so going about and doing good proposing himself a pattern of Moderation unto all Again the Lord is at Hand coming to be our Judge when the secrets of our hearts shall be laid open not only before the eyes of him with whom we have to do not only before our own Consciences when our own sin shall it self reprove us and the iniquity of our heels shall compass us about but likewise as a further aggravation either of our shame or glory we shall be made