that we can be in unto others can rise higher no nor so high it 's not possible for all the Force all the Efficacy that is or can be in any Obligations we are in unto others they have all these from those Obligations that first of all we and all Creatures are under to the glorious God Our Ingagements are the greatest if we consider 1. Who it is that calls us hereunto 2. What we are called unto 3. What we are called from 1. Who it is that calls us Not a Man not an Angel not a Creature tho of the highest Rank altho in that case it would be our Wisdom as well as our Duty to hearken to whatsoever this should call us unto according to the Mind of God and to give it its utmost Consideration But it is God the great and blessed God who has all Perfection in him who is all Perfection The great Lord of Lords and King of Kings the supreme Universal Ruler of the World Who 1. Made us and all Creatures Who made us what we are Creatures yea when it was in his Power not to have made us at all yea when it was in his Power if he would make us and put us into being to have made us any other Creatures than what we are yet their he made us reasonable Creatures so that all we are we are from him and all we have we have from him Is it not the most reasonable thing in the World that the God that made us should be own'd of us served by us Does it not shine in its own Light and carry Conviction in it to the Consideration of all Men that we should be for that God on the side of that God that we derive all from Should we not be against his Enemies and use our Reason Parts Abilities Endowments and Gifts of whatsoever kind which we have all from his Bounty and Goodness against his Enemies and for his Glory and Honour Certainly it is the most equitable thing in the World they should be used for him and a most dreadful Wickedness to use them against him Dan. 5. 23. 2. Preserve us He calls us who hath preserved us all our days who hath wrought for us innumerable seen and unseen Deliverances though he could have destroyed us when he would and we by our continually sinning against him have provoked him so to do Who hath provided for us all along and does so still so that as we have lived upon his Bounty we do so still we have been all our days and are still maintain'd at his Expence our Lives and Breath and all things are in his hands he hath lengthened them out hitherto when the Lives of many others have been cut short It is this God that calls us and are not these Ingagements to be on his side Dare we act against this God Dare we herd our selves amongst his Enemies 3. Are we his Covenant ones Then he hath redeemed us then he sent his Son Jesus Christ to assume our Nature on purpose to save us by redeeming us Soul and Body to himself by shedding his precious attoning meritorious Blood for us and in pursuance of this redeeming Love has laid hold of us by his blessed Spirit and called us into a Covenant-Relation unto himself and given us not only Pardon and Salvation upon our Faith and Repentance but Christ and Faith and Repentance themselves that we might be pardoned and saved and be brought into a Covenant-Nearness unto and Oneness with himself and so be on his side Should not a Sense of his amazing Love and astonishing Grace in these things constantly ingage us to himself against Sin against what is offensive and dishonourable to him Should not this Love constrain us sweetly delightfully to act for him against all Evil 4. It is God that calls us who is our rightful Owner Lord and Judge who has the highest Authority over us and the most unquestionable Titles to us all manner of ways and he hath interposed his Authority and hath commanded us this thing made it our Duty by his holy Law and he is the great Judge of the Living and Dead and he will call us to an account one day and enter into Judgment with us and if we be found then among his Enemies Woe thousands and eternal Woes unto us 5. The God we have given up our selves unto have devoted our selves unto we were devoted unto him in our Baptism and since we have devoted our selves unto him at our Conversion when we laid hold on the Covenant and entred into Covenant with him at first and we have renewed our Engagements unto him so often as we have been at the Table of the Lord Which Ordinance is a solemn Faedoral Rite and Transaction of God's own Appointment wherein he seals his Promises and Engagements thereby through Christ the Mediator to be our God the God of our Salvation and wherein we seal our Engagements unto God and accepting afresh God to be our God we make a Surrender and Deed of Gift of our selves Soul and Body to be the Lord's And are not the Vows of God upon us and are not these most solemn and awful things and do we not engage thereby to be on God's side to have the same Interest with God that his Honour should be only that we aim at that his Friends should be ours his Enemies ours his Law our Rule to walk by in and through a Mediator 2. Our Engagements will appear to be the greatest if we consider what it is we are called unto as well as who calls It is to be on God's side it is that which our Hearts with the greatest Readiness and Alacrity should engage in and comply with A Duty the highest greatest Duty and what a blessed thing is Duty to be found sincere and hearty in it I am sure it is a very blessed thing to them whose Hearts are right with God and stedfast in his Covenant I am sure such would be found in the Duties of the Covenant and they would improve the Grace the Mediator and the Promises of the Covenant for this very end that their Hearts may be more stedfast and unmoveable and abundant in the Work of the Lord in the Duties of the Covenant I say it 's a Duty that is as much yea more a Privilege than a Duty in which our Interest all our Interests are as much concerned as the Honour of God a great Duty that contains all Duties in it without which we can perform no Duty and which if we are faithful in we perform all i. e. so as graciously to be owned of God This will appear if we go over the things that have been mentioned i. e. Covenanting with God owning of God as God and our God being touched yea filled with a deep Sense of the Dishonour of God by the Prophaness and Sins of the day and keeping our selves faithful to our Covenant-Engagements to God by keeping our selves pure from the Sins of the day
A SERMON Preach'd to the SOCIETY FOR Reformation of Manners IN NOTTINGHAM February 16 1698 9. Publish'd at their Request By JOHN RYTHER Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed by Sam. Bridge for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside 1699. Mr. JOHN RYTHER's SERMON FOR Reformation of Manners To the Society for Reformation of Manners in Nottingham Gentlemen AT Your Desire this Sermon was Preached and as you know at your Desire it was Printed or else it had lain buried in Dust and Obscurity with many others Seeing it is Printed at your Request it concerns you not me to be accountable to the World for it I can only say I endeavoured Faithfulness and Plainness if it may be of any use to you or your Design in that I shall rejoice You have my Heart and shall not want my poor Prayers May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus make you such all of you as you should be that endeavour the Reformation of others and make you very successful as well as sincere in your Attempts to Reform this Place and may we and our Posterity in this Town have cause to bless God that ever you begun this Work amongst us So prays Your Faithful Friend and Servant John Ryther April 21 1699. To the READER I Know there are a great many Sermons out upon this Occasion and that there is this one more is not at all in pursuance of my Inclination and Choice for it would have pleased me much more if it had never gone farther as to Publication than the Pulpit for I am very far from thinking that I am capable of adding any thing to what has been said upon this Subject or so much as equalling what has been so but if thou say Why did I suffer it to come out I might have hinder'd it I answer it is true but I can give this Reason for the bare suffering it to come abroad hereby my Testimony for God against the Profaneness of the Day is more publick and that I confess it not displeasing to me and I think carries some weight in it for I judg a Man should not suffer that which is in his Power to hinder without being able to give at least one good Reason for it Seeing it is come out I heartily pray God it may be blest to the confirming and incouraging those on God's side and to the awakening those that are not in order to their being brought over from their Tents of Sin Satan and the World to those of God Christ Holiness Heaven Reader It concerns thee infinitely whoever thou art to be on God's side It is certain thou art or art not If not thou art in a very miserable Condition and if thou look not about thee thou wilt soon be irremediably eternally miserable Consider seriously weigh diligently what is here said and it may not be altogether unuseful to thee through the Blessing of God if thou art on God's side I almost think there is nothing here that will be offensive to thee And if there be any thing that proves advantageous to thee give God the God of all Grace the Glory and let me have thy Prayers That thou mayst be on God's side now and act very faithfully on it and so be found on it at Death and the eternal Judgment is the Prayer of thy Soul-Friend John Ryther A SERMON Preached to the Society for Reformation of Manners in Nottingham EXOD. 32. 26. Then Moses stood in the Gate of the Camp and said Who is on the Lord's side Let him come unto me And all the Sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him THE Words in this Verse that I intend to speak to are these Who is on the Lord's side Let him come unto me The occasion of these Words was this Moses who had the Charge and Conduct of the People of Israel in their way from Egypt to Canaan was with God in Mount Sinai and staying there forty Days to understand the Mind of God and make it known unto them they in this time of his Absence from them revolt unto Idolatry turning from God unto Idols making themselves Golden Calves and worshipping them as you may see ver 1-6 Hereupon Moses the Man of God as he is called by the Holy Ghost Deut. 33. 1. coming down from the Mount and seeing what was done was filled with a Holy Zeal for God and Indignation against this their horrid Sin against him and Provocation of him and that he might as became his Place punish it and thereby for the future deter others from so horrible an Impiety he utters these Words I have not time to be particular in taking notice of the Context only let me mind you of this that there is something in these Words extraordinary and so not imitable but there is enough that is ordinary and so imitable by us and so come directly to the Words In which you have these two Doctrinal Truths 1. That in a Day of publick Defection from God it is the Magistrates Duty especially the Supream to appear openly for God and to ingage their People on God's side against the Wickedness of the Day calling upon them and using all Methods in order thereunto This was the case here with the People of Israel there was a publick and in a manner almost an universal Apostacy from God to Idols And Moses the Supream Magistrate of this People for he was King in Jeshurun Deut. 33. 5. was because of this filled with Zeal for the Honour of God and Indignation against this abominable Wickedness they were guilty of and with such an holy Temper as has been now named appears as in the Text openly for God uttering these Words declaring his doing so and calling upon others to do so too in their Places as he did in his But this brings me to the Second for the First I wave 2. That in the Day of publick Defection from God when Magistrates call upon a People to appear for God It is then the Duty of all Persons upon the Call of their Magistrates to be on God's side to come over to him Who is on the Lord's side Let him come unto me Moses as supream Magistrate of this People calls upon them all that were unconcerned in the Impiety or not so deeply concerned as the rest to appear for God against those Rebels that were deepest in the Guilt and thereupon we see the Levites did so who were either many of them not at all concerned in this Sin or however less concerned and for their answering this Call in the Text they are commended Deut. 33. 9. speaking of Levi i. e. his Posterity ver 8. he says of them ver 9. Who said unto his Father and to his Mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowledg his Brethren nor knew his own Children for they have observed thy Word and kept thy Covenant So that this is the Truth I intend to speak unto That in a Day of publick
God's side and is in its place necessary to our Salvation It is required of every one in the first Commandment Exod. 20. 3. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me Therefore our blessed Lord says Luke 9. 26. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my Words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own Glory and in his Father's and of his Holy Angels And agreeably hereunto the Apostle Paul says Rom. 10. 10. As with the Heart Man believeth as in the first Particular unto Righteousness i e. unto Justification by the Righteousness of Christ so with the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation If we are on God's side according to the first Particular we must own we are so according to this This is in it 3. Being on God's side carries this in it That such as are in Covenant with God and own God as God and their God be filled with a very deep Sense of his Dishonour by the Sins of the Day If we are God's we are as reconciled to him so renewed by his Spirit according to his Image and so are like him in the communicable Perfections of his Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then we must have the same Interest with God the same Friends and the same Enemies Now Sin all Sin being contrary to him being against his Honour as being against his Nature and Attributes as being against his Laws Government and Revealed Will especially when Sin that is so in a day of publick Defection grows high and becomes impudent and audacious having no Bounds knowing no Limits but overspreading all like an Inundation like a Deluge In this case I say there are none on God's side but from the Fear they have of him and the Love they bear in their Hearts to his Blessed Name they must they cannot but be deeply sensibly filled and affected with a Sense of God's Dishonour As ingenious Children must needs be grieved when their Parents are reproached and dutiful Subjects when their Governours whom they know to be just and good are so Thus the Good have been always affected in their several Generations Psal 119. 136. Rivers of Waters i. e. Tears in great abundance it is an hyperbolical Expression run down mine Eyes Why what was the Matter Was he under some great Affliction some great Misfortune as the World calls it Nay the Reason follows Because they keep not thy Law That was the Cause of all his Tears and of all that inward Sorrow that was the Spring that fed them Thus Jeremiah ch 9. 1. is another Instance of this O that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night for the Slain of the Daughter of my People That it was their Sin that most of all affected him See ver 2 3 c. And the Godly in that doleful Day I mean that Day of Sin ended in sacking Hierusalem by the Caldeans burning the Temple Desolation of the Land and 70 Years Captivity in Babylon mourned and sighed for the Abominations that were the Cause of all these Miseries Ezek. 9. 4. These Instances are a few of those many the Book of God abounds with of this Nature 4. Keeping our selves faithful to God and our Covenant-Engagements to him and particularly faithful to him by keeping our selves pure and at a distance from the Sins of the Day As from all Sin as much as may be walking before God in Holiness and Righteousness without Fear i. e. servile Fear in all the Duties required both in the first and second Table in Holiness respecting the first in Righteousness respecting the second Luke 1. 74 75. Allowing our selves in no known Sin nor in the neglect of any known Duty desiring to know every Sin as Men that go to Sea desire to know Rocks and Sands that they may stear wide of them and desiring to know every Duty to comply with the Mind of God therein approving our selves to the Searcher of Hearts in abstaining from the one and a hearty Discharge of the other and keeping our selves with a great deal of Care Vigilance and Circumspection for we can't be too careful herein from the Sins of the Day wherein we live by which God is most dishonoured and by reason of the universal Spreading and Contagion of which we our selves are most indangered This is to be on God's side in an evil Day How else are we can we be on God's side except we save our selves from the Sins of the untoward Generation wherein we live Acts 2. 40. So the Apostle Peter exhorted his Hearers then to be on God's side So Noah in his Day was on God's side Gen. 6. 9. 7. 1. Thee have I seen righteous before me in this Generation i. e. such as was so dreadfully wicked that they were all except Noah and his Family destroyed by a Deluge sent from God on purpose for that very end 5. We are on God's side when we bear our Testimony against the Sins of the Day for God I say for God not only by owning him and his Worship and his revealed Will in the Holy Scriptures the only Rule of Faith Worship and Practice in which all those Sins are forbidden condemned and threatned and their contrary Graces Vertues and Duties commanded and recommended with illustrious shining Examples of them and advantaged by great and glorious Promises made to the Subjects and sincere Observers of them But further upon all occasions where the Laws of God are violated yea condemned and Men are so horribly impudent as to justify their Evils pleading for Profaneness and Immoralities and running down Piety and Goodness as a weak foolish thing when it is thus not to keep silent but to open the Mouth for God and plead for him and his Laws and Government and Ways and the Necessity and Excellency of Godliness and Goodness Tho it is true sometimes to do so tho it be done with never so much Unpassionateness and Prudence may make some Men rage the more to such a formidable height is Wickedness gotten Now if a Man were sure of this I think one should leave such Company rather than occasion such Wickedness but it is certain that oftentimes yea I think always where there is a Probability that any Good may be done there it 's the Duty of all that are God's to speak for God and against such Wickedness whereby Religion is indeavour'd to be hooted out of the World as unworthy of reasonable Creatures whereas indeed its the greatest Ornament and Perfection of humane Nature And if such as are God's do not speak in this case they are guilty of Cowardliness and Treachery and do not behave themselves as those that are God's but as though they were on the other side I am sure to have nothing to say in this case is not in this thing to be on God's side nay in this thing it is to be against hm and this is dreadful