you What this Moderation is that so we be not mistaken about it in our selves Your or Our Moderation it is no Indifferent luke-warmness and here I have made a search into the signification of the Word into the Recommendation of the vertue as it doth consist with those other Apostolical Admonitions given to these Philippians throughout the whole Epistle and into the Example proposed to our imitatirn our Blessed Saviour being a pattern as of Meekness so of Integrity thus let our Moderation be known as was his not in a dispensation or relaxation from our Duty but in the personal circumstances and occurrencies of our Lives or Deaths the Lord is at hand and this brings me to the Second Thing proposed how and in what particular Circumstances this grace of Moderation is to be manifested unto others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be known Though the injunction is that it should be known unto all men yet it is not said at all times And here in the first place we are to be careful that in our Moderation there be no Affection lest it degenerate into flattery and hypocrisie it is indeed to be seen of men not that we but that God himself may have the Glory of it our Moderation is to be exerted just as our Almes are to be dispenced not with a Trumpet sounding before us that men may have our good nature in admiration but our left hand must not know what our right hand doth so shall our Heavenly Father who seeth in secret reward us openly To appear all things unto all men to gain the more is not a vertue for every one to be trusted with it seems fit only for an Apostle to practice who in his whole Ministration is more immediately assisted and directed by the Spirit of God and this practice of his too if we rightly consider it was only in such circumstances wherein the Doctrine of Christianity was like to suffer or be promoted according to the more or less wary Dispensation of it betwixt Mosaical Judaism and Philosophical Gentilism and therefore we find the same Apostle when he with-stood St. Peter to the face because of his Dissimulation thus to vindicate himself throughout his Ministry Gal. 2.18 That what ever mis-apprehensions some might have of him or mis-constructions they did put upon his Practices he did not in the least build again the things which he had destroyed and so make himself a Transgressor But now the Gospel is so far propagated that as soon as we are come into the World our Names are given up to Christ in Baptisme and with our first Milk we may suck in the Principles of Godliness being weaned from our Mothers Papps we are sent unto the Churches Breasts of consolation The Scriptures of God which are able to make us wise unto Salvation hence we may suck the sincere Milk of the Word and grow thereby and whatsoever variety of Perswasions there be now in Religion they do not proceed from our different estate before our receptation of it but from the different interests of Parties so and so affected under its Administration having espoused a quarrel they are too tenacious of it they are unwilling to to fore-go what they have eagerly maintained herein therefore is to be the great expression of our Moderation that we stand fast to the profession of our Faith and hold it peaceably in the Vnity of the Church keeping as the Apostle directs the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace that we have a tender regard to those that are gone aside of some we must have compassion making a just and an equal difference and others we must endeavour to save with fear pulling them out of the fire and yet all the while we must be careful that we keep a strict watch over our selves hating the Garment whech is but spotted with the Flesh St. Judes Epist v. 22.23 Thus must we make it our daily Prayer as the Church directs that God would bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived and for our selves that from all Sedition false Doctrine Herisie Schism and Râ—bellion our good and gracious Lord would deliver us Would we convert a sinner from the errour of his way it is not to be done by going astray with him and bearing him company and so endeavouring our own stedfastness for how do we know but that he may seduce us as well as we hope to regain him but it is a Pious endeavouring to restore such wandring Sinners as have wandred either from God their Father or the Church their Mother in a Spirit of Love and Charity there is no reason that to make sure of Moderation we should let go our own integrity that to shew our love to our Brother we should forget that Charity which we owe unto our selves that in keeping his we should loose our own Peace that in Love to any mens Persons we should court their Vices have their errors and their failings in admiration and so much the worse if it be because of advantage 2 Tim. 1.7 The same God who hath given unto his Servants a Spirit of Love hath given them likewise the Spirit of a sound and of a sober Mind Gal. 6.1 Do we see any that is overtaken with a fault herein consists our Christian Moderation that we consider our selves lest that we also be tempted and out of a Principle of good Nature we must not venture to run out after him but saies the Apostle You who are your selves Spiritual do you restore such a one in the spirit of Meekness in the Parallel to my Text Titus 3.2 In whatsoever station of life God has placed us we must labour to shew all Meekness unto all men 2 Mac. 9.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moderation is a kind of holy Philanthropie by which abstracting some particular respects not so acceptable unto our selves we can prosecute all with whom we have occasion to converse with love as Knowing them to be of the same Make with our selves that they and we are all of us in the Body and yet for all this every one of us must faithfully abide in that Calling wherein he is Called in the Lord watching thereunto with all Diligence and Perseverance After all that has been said though all men have a right to our Moderation the Holy and the Good that they may rejoyce with us the froward and the perverse that they may be won by us our friends that they may go hand in hand with us our enemies that they may be reconciled unto us those who are our Superiours to whom we have submitted our selves in the fear of God our equals with whom we do converse in the love of Christ and our inferiours to whom an example of meekness and sobriety alluring them to the wayes of holiness by our affable and acourteous Behaviour in the strictness of a well-ordered Conversation yet I say though this Grace is so universally so impartially to be
fear came on them all and the Name of the Lord Jesus was Magnified many of them that believed came and confessed and shewed their deeds they were not ashamed to declare their sin by an open acknowledgment in Confession in order to a Ministerial and so more than a Declarative Absolution they would no longer have to do either with the work or with the wages of iniquity those that used curious Arts brought their Books and burnt them whereof the price valued came to Fifty thousand pieces of Silver may all this wealth perish so they may but save themselves and then ver 20. as the consequence upon so remarkable a judgment The Word of God grew mightily and prevailed One instance more The eyes of Sergius Paulus were not opened until that upon St. Paul's invocation Elymas the Sorcerer was struck with blindness for that he sought to turn away the Deputy from the Faith the hand of the Lord was upon him that he should not see the Sun for a season in that he so wickedly stood both in his own and in others light not ceasing to pervert the right wayes of the Lord Act. 13.12 Then the Deputy when he saw what was done Believed lying as it were in a Trance his eyes were open being astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord. The Doctrine of the Lord accompanied with Astonishment Wrath being executed in its just vindication doth thereby ingage to it self Proselyts of all sorts first soberly to admire and then most heartily to embrace it but on the contrary when judgment against the evil works or the evil speeches of wicked men is not executed speedily then a general remissness invades the most it is set in the hearts of the Sons of men to do mischief however God is not slack in the Defence of his Church as some may count it slackness but is long-suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come unto repentance especially such who are within the compass of an Evangelical Dispensation who have given up their names to Christ in a solemn profession It might be requisite amongst Heathens and Infidels at the first to be swift in avenging all manner of despites or affronts done to the way of Godliness but since that Christianity is our badge and livery and the Cross is the banner we do fight under its universal Administration should render it Sacred and Venerable to all its Professors that they do not despise Gods Service amongst them which has so long been to say no more the Religion of their Countrey and if no other this reason may prevail a little that they do not abhor that Worship which is the Worship of the God of their Fathers however these Mockers and Scoffers may please to behave themselves whether they will hear or whether they will forbear they must be told that because God is silent he is not therefore consenting to their impieties Epistle of St. Jude ver 14.15 The Lord cometh with Ten thousand of his Saints the affronts done to those holy ones he reckons as done to himself he cometh to execute judgment upon all to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches those words of bitterness and hatred which ungodly sinners have spoken against him in the mean time Gods judgments are round about them and they do not regard they die daily in their sins and those that survive do not lay it to heart nay their Posterity a wicked off-spring praise their sayings should one arise to them from the dead they will not believe yet they have Moses and the Prophets those that sit in the Chair of Moses those who declare unto them how and in whom the Prophecies are fulfilled let them hear these Oh! that they would at length see and be ashamed considering the Solemnities of holiness in spite of men and Devils still appearing glorious whilst the Dispensation of life is in any measure Beautiful even this has its due influence on the lives of men be they many and numerous in order to a great Salvation especially when the word of Life thus delivered is confirmed by Miracles be they of what sort soever and that is the Second thing occasional of this great benefit here bestowed upon the Church because of the Signes and Wonders wrought which were terrible Therefore Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes of men and women Though Faith be the evidence of things not seen as it is an inhaerent Theological grace yet in the first reception of the Gospel God was pleased so to order it that seeing should be the occasion of Believing had not Christ and his Apostles wrought those Works never such before and never to be the like again the question might have been peremptorily answered in the negative When the Son of man cometh shall he find Faith in the earth So true it is that the report of God himself is not readily believed unless the Arm of the Lord be also revealed in works of Wonder And still unto this day the first reason which we do properly give of our Christian Faith and of the hope that is in us is the firm belief that the Gospel at the first was delivered by Miracles and Signes following it and those Miracles all and each of them Demonstrative of a Deity God thus Redeeming the World with a stretched out Arm and with great and mighty judgments judgments which if we consider with all their circumstances attending them we needs must confess to have been remote from all manner of Imposture not in the least to be compared or mentioned with Legendary Fictions they do not at all conclude absurdly but evidence an Omnipotent Power and so are not unfit arguments for Faith Thus as it was with Israel of old in that Deliverance of which this great Redemption was the Antitype they could not perswade themselves that God would visit them without a Miracle Exod. 4.8 9. It shall come to pass if they will not hearken to the voice of the first Sign that they will beeieve the voice of the latter Sign and if they will not believe those two Signes yet a third shall convince them and the third Sign was typical of a more desirable happiness it was Water turned into Blood an intimation that Blood it self in order to Redemption should have a cleansing vertue So that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses the Word of Salvation whether in the Type or in Antitype was established God Almighty all along providing for the satisfaction of common sence that men might receive the Truths published upon the credit of their eyes and of their eares as well as they do of other things which are conveyed to them by the help of their outward senses and hence a thorow Conviction is wrought upon the very Conscience which works of Wonder though done so long since may still have an influence upon us in that
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
but beating of or speaking to the air Unless that Aaron be the Mouth of Moses what though his face shine the people will but the sooner turn away from him cum Jove Caesar God and the King as to Government have alike prerogatives Thunder from above bespeaks the Deity as terrible thus the Highest doth give forth his Voice Boanerges a son of Thunder here below declares earthly Majesty to be also dreadful But unless Moses put words into the mouth of Aaron stands by him and stands up to him while he speaks stretches out his Rod whilst he lifts up his Voice the Mouth of Aaron without this will be Vox praeterea nihil a Voice indeed but nothing else the noise no sooner heard but no where to be found Whose Mouth is fittest to preserve knowledge and to proclaim Obedience but his who is the Messenger of God and of the King of the Lord of Hosts and of him who like unto God himself is mighty in the battel and whose Arm should be made bare in strength but theirs who are the Anointed of the Lord Anointed in a great measure for this very thing that they should be a Guard and a Protection to all Gods Holy Ones since they are themselves not unfitly called Gods being all of them children of the Most Highest Shall I with all humility and due Reverence speak the words of truth and soberness it is in the Cause of God of the King and also of his Priests As the happiness is great to that People where this Vnion is most religiously observed no other then as the result of the Divine Institution so sad is the misery deplorable is the calamity both to King Priest and People upon the breach of it I need go no further for an instance then the story that is before us Would Moses and Aaron bring the people from Egypt through a wilderness into Canaan This must be their March Regular and solemn Num. 2.3 compared with Num. 3.38 Judah the Princely Tribe must set up his Standard Eastward Moses and Aaron Prince and Priest must keep the charge of the Sanctuary Eastward and hence not improbably the antient Ceremony of worshiping with their faces thither-ward Judah sets up his Standard for the Laity Moses and Aaron theirs for the Clergy and yet the latter to go along with Judah the Prince who was to protect them when settled in the Land of Promise and upon the whole whosoever he was the stranger that came nigh to either of them was to be put to death This was their March unto that Rest which God had prepared for them And yet notwithstanding their Station and Procession thus fixed by the Almighty do Moses and Aaron speak unadvisedly with their lips either one to another one of another or one against another at the waters of Massah and Meribah places that bore their names from those strivings and contentions the anger of the Lord is immediately kindled against them all and it was so inraged that it was by no means to be appeased Moses and Aaron must onely see that Land of Promise into which they are never like to come it shall be their punishment to behold what they never shall injoy in the view of but their foot shall not tread upon the goodly Mountain nor Lebanon and then as for the People their Carcases must fall in thâ— wilderness this is a froward Generation it shall noâ— enter into the Rest of God! When once there be Divisions many are the thoughts many are the searchings of heart I would not be mistaken as an evil-speaker or a fore-boder of evil tidings while I do thus mournfully and with all lowly submission crave leave to make out the Parallel Doth the Civil Magistrate either needlessly contend with or wilfully draw back the secular Arm from the Defence of the Ministry and does he think thus to still the murmurings of the people as the raging of the Sea so is their madness casting forth nothing but mire and dirt foaming out their own shame and is there no way to lay the storm but by mixing the waters with bloud hath the Pilot no means to secure the Ship but by throwing the Prophet into the waters especially such a Prophet as doth not fly from but is stedfastly bent on his Course to deliver and execute the Message of his Master that sent him Again is the Spiritual Mouth either silent in the behalf of or clamourous and obstreperous against doth it either not speak at all as it should in the defence or is it froward malapert and peevish against the Secular Arm do they who should consult the stars of Heaven for direction in the voyage either withhold their advice from or unseasonably quarrel with him that sits Steers-man at the Helm This may be the dreadful consequence of such ill will between Both in Portu naufragium certain ruine and destruction to the Ship and all that are in it yea and that in the Ken of the desired Haven as an aggravation to their misery in the very sight of Land Virtutem videant intabescantque relicta This is the sore calamity upon such lad animosities and dissatisfactions on either hand a strange kind of infatuation upon all marner of counsels and designs be they never so just and honourable they may see what is good and yet it doth escape them a price put into their hand and it falls away from them for want of a pious heart united to each other in Love and Duty and to God the maker of Both in fear and Reverence mutually to be exercised in the using of it And here by the way let it be seriously considered that the first Rejection of Saul from being King over Israel was because he invaded the Priesthood let our new Leviathan suggest what he pleases Hobb's Lev. part 3. chap. 42 pag. 95. 300. that the Civil Magistrate may reserve the exercise of the Ministerial Function to himself yea though there might be some reasonable excuse for it as his Enemies growing Vid Ecc. Ang. Articl 37. and coming on upon him and he was not willing to ingage them till he had made his supplication before the Lord 1 Sam. 13.11 15. But God had commanded the entrary he was not of himself to make a Vertue of that Necessity without an express permission therefore says Samuel Thou hast done foolishly and thy Kingdom shall not continue whereupon God chose to himself a man after his own heart one who to avoid such future presumption should be a Prophet as well as a Prince and therefore the eating of the Shew-bread upon an extream necessity was not in him so notorious a violation of Sacred and Ecclesiastick Order This was that David who called for his Sword which hung behind the Ephod 1 Sam. 21.9 Give it me says he for there is none like that he goes forth with the Prayers and the Blessing of the Priests to battel 1 Sam. 23.9 still I will urge a Testimony from
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
would be a Proselyte to our Religion come in amongst us would not he say that we are all mad so far from being together with one accord that the variety of our Behaviours is argument too notorious that our minds are not intent upon the same business this is not the Beauty it is the very Deformity of Holiness Once more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were together and because so they were with one accord An outward Visible Conformity is in the very nature of the thing it self causal of internal Vnity Love and Charity is there increased where external Communion is promoted wheresoever there is Order there is Peace whereas Mutinies and Discontents are both the Child and Parent of Confusion Well therefore has the Psalmist compared the comliness and pleasantness of Brotherly Love to the outward administrations and solemnities of the sanctuary Psal 133.1 2. Behold how good and how decent a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity It is like the precious ointment upon the head which ran down upon the beard even Aaron 's beard that went down to the skirts of his clothing it is like the dew of Hermon even as the dew that descended upon the Mountains of Sion where the Lord himself commanded the Blessing even life for evermore Thus Love and Amity Union and Communion amongst Brethren professing the worship and service of One and the same God looking for and hastning to One and the same Hope is not only compared unto but also a due consequence of the sweet Odors upon Aarons head having their delightful refreshing influence upon the whole Assembly this is the Blessing of God out of Sion to those that are the sons of Sion Love and Peace Joy and Good-will for ever more Hence not without good reason was Jerusalem styled as the name imports a City of Peace because the Temple of the God of Peace was there that Temple which was built by Solomon who was a Prince of Peace after that God had given him Rest from all his Enemies round about neither was the noise of Axe or Hammer heard in all the Holy Mountain while it was Building This the Temple at Jerusalem and therefore the City it self is Built and Compact together even a City at Unity in it self for thither the Tribes go up the Tribes of the Lord to the Testimony of Israel to give thanks to the Name of the Lord. Oh! that we would Recall to our Minds our former happiness under a well ordered and a settled Vniformity how did the people of this Land rejoice to go up together to the House of God as Friends how comely were our Solemnities when whole Families met together at Gods Table the servant was thus far as free as his Master not as a Servant but as a Brother and yet when he came home he did his service without grudging not as unto man but as to the Lord in singleness of heart as knowing that he had a Master in Heaven How was the staff of Beauty in those days no other then the staff of Bands and whilst we did in a general unanimous consent serve our God with one heart and with one voice the result of Glory to God in the Highest was Peace on Earth and Good-will amongst men But wo and alas for us ever since we began to quarrel at our Religion to abhor the sacrifices of our God how has every Mans Hand been against his Brother Father against Son and the Son against his Father Maxima debetur servis reverentia a Man's Table has been made his Snare whilst the servants that attended upon him have been the Informers against him his worst Enemies those of his own House nay the Marriage Bed it self as Honorable as it is has not been free from this shame whilst there have been a Generation of men that would not allow St. Pauls Doctrine to be Gospel That the Believing Wife sanctifies the unbelieving husband and the Believing Husband sanctifieth the unbelieving Wife but our of a supercilious designe to pry into the secrets of Families as if they onely knew who were the chosen of God according to the election of Grace even at the Marriage-supper it self they have separated and divided betwixt Man and Wife put those asunder whom God Nature and Christianity had joined together this being the Religion of our later Reformation what Christ fore-told should be a final destruction upon the people of the Jews Two in abed the one taken and the other left Oh! That at length we might recover our first works and how shall we do that hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Repent and do your first works Betake we our selves now at last to that from whence we are fallen to our old honest Principles of Piety and Devotion toward God of Reverence and Obedience toward our Superiours of Love and Charity one toward another Oh! that we would but seriously think upon it nay for the childrens sake that yet are unborn that we would consider it our Fathers before us have left us a glorious Religion and what shall we do for the Generations that are to come shall we leave nothing to Posterity but Schisme and separation disorder and confusion But in the words of Holy Church we direct our Prayers unto our God since there is no help in man nor in the son of man O God we have heard with our ears and our Fathers have told us the noble works that thou didst in their dayes and in the old time before them O Lord Arise help us and deliver us for thy name sake and thy honour 'T is not to be expected that ever God should bless that Nation or people where the only fewds are about his service and till our Vniformity in the strictness of it be more countenanced than it has been restored to its wonted exactness and splendor we must never expect to see an end of those fewds Divisions are alwayes running upon the Multiplication say's our Royal Martyr and there is no settlement but in the point of Vnion Toleration then you may give it a new name and by an Vniversal Character Style it Comprehension but Babel in the original both in name and story is the most proper word to signifie Confusion this cannot be the way to peace because it is not like to be a service to the God of Peace of altogether with one accord The Musick of the Sanctuary is not made up of Discord Vnisons here is the only harmony the sweetest Melody both to Heaven and Earth it is a contradiction in the very terms of it and it is impossible that both parts of it should be true that if there be Divisions and those Tolerated therefore there would be no thoughts no searchings of heart Let us take our measures by this one instance Our Fathers worshiped in this Mountain said the Samaritan to the Jew and the Jew said that at Jerusalem men ought to worship and both these were satisfied in
which are good and profitable and which tend to peace Which is the Fifth and last Instance of the great Benefit here in the Text unto the whole Community from the present Dispensation and that once again yet another reflection upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the more or the rather was this great addition made to the Church all this because of what they saw and what they heard which denotes even in the Multitudes in the Women as well as in the Men an act of their free choice upon a most sober and mature deliberation Here was no violence at all offered upon their faculties though it was the terrour of the Lord in a most dreadful judgment yet it kindly perswades them the Signes and Wonders were both Miraculous and Convincing the solemn and holy Convention because Beautiful therefore of it self desireable the Miracles of Providence though they were surpassing yet they were clear and manifest so that at this time as at all others God drew the People unto himself with the cords of a Man that so whilst he drew they might of themselves run after him they were a willing People though it was a day of power they saw what was done they heard what was spoken and throughout they were convinced of all so that it was here an act both of their judgement and their reason in that they did deliver themselves up unto the obedience of Faith Believers were the more or the rather added to the Lord Multitudes of men and women I need not neither have I time to prosecute it as I should here urge that God works with us and within us in order to salvation as we are men and reasonable creatures he proposeth everlasting happiness to us in his Word or by his Church as to our free voluntary choice and whilst he does kindly allure us he doth at the same time leave us in the hand of our own counsel See I have set before you Fire and Water Blessing and a Curse Life and Death chuse you whether you will says God by his Prophet Deu. 30.19 But I am confined both by the time and the Text that I cannot descant so closely as I might upon this Probleme which is indeed too much controverted At present I take it for granted that which I suppose every one experienceth upon consulting his own thoughts that we are all of us as men endued with reason free sreatures and voluntary Agents and that we would do good but evil is present with us because we are not in our judgments or to our senses sufficiently convinced as we might of what is best And therefore since the Design of all that hitherto is inferred from this Text is to promote Vnity and Vniformity amongst Brethren professing Godliness which is here the Holy solemnity The Apostles with the Primitive Christians all with one accord in a holy Place and upon this their persons reverenced the Word of Life was magnified it did not return in vain but accomplished the work for which it was sent for the Benefit was great and exceeding prosperous for a parting now to this subject so much insisted on in one word fain I would perswade shall we suffer the word of exhortation Be entreated to frequent Solomons Porch the Author because of that August solemnity and Ministration that is in it we should with David be glad to go up unto the House chuse to be a Door-keeper in the Porch to wait at the Gates of Wisdom rather than assemble amidst the Congregations of the wicked Tell me says the Spouse to Christ Cant. 1.7 where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon and this was her kind expostulation Why should I be as one that turneth aside from the flocks of thy Companions our Saviour there feedeth where he is himself fed upon the flocks are there together yea and at rest and that at noon Separation is a work of Darkness chuseth to it self the night To turn aside is to be as one Vae soli alone and woe to him that is alone this the greatest both sin and misery to forsake those flocks which in love and Vnity are companions Behold then may the Separatists of our Age see that I have set before them Fire and Water Blessing and a Curse Life and Death Chuse they whether they will Fire not a strange fire but that of the Sanctuary a pure and bright flame of Love upon Gods Altar Water alas the waters are troubled schism and sedition is a tempestuous sea casting forth mire and dirt Blessing even that which is out of Sion good luck and Prosperity out of the House of the Lord A Curse none more bitter to be cut off from the Congregation what will our Schismaticks thus invade the Priests Office will they excommunicate themselves and deliver themselves up to Satan shall God by his Prophet call unto them and say stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the old way the good way because the old way and amidst all our tumblings and tossings from one post to another we cannot find a better Shall God command peremptorily that we walk in these ways with a promise of rest unto our souls for out of such paths there is nothing but disorder and disquietude and shall we return that answer which the Jews did Jer. 6.16 But they said we will not walk therein Thus the Rebells against their settled and fixed administration of old Korah and his Accomplices Numb 14.2 Moses called them to the Congregation and they said We will not come up they turned their backs to the Tabernacle Satan therefore claimed them for his Synagogue and soon took possession of them Hell from beneath was moved to meet them at their coming The Earth opened her Mouth and they went down alive into the Pit and therefore yet once more may the Sons of Belial who cast off every yoke see this day set before them Life and Death and that in the utmost extremity in the eternity of both Life a Life of of Grace here in order to glory hereafter and still out of Sion goes forth this Blessing the Promise of Life for evermore Christ with whom are the words of eternal Life is not to be found as I must again and again inculcate in the Wilderness or in the secret Chamber but in Solomons Porch by the Chair of Moses not in the Stool of Wickedness or in the Seat of the Scornful he is head of all things to his Church in the Communion of which alone we expect salvation without there is nothing but sin sin that excludes from pardon the wages of which is Death Solomon hath in a Proverb told us the misery of those who turn aside from his Porch The Man that wandreth out of the way out of the beaten path of understanding shall fall into the Congregation of the Dead And now let our Schismaticks chuse for themselves I have in this though a private Person yet with
and now with tears Chap. 3.18 That they were enemies to the Cross of Christ whose God was their belly whose glory was their shame who minded earthly things this was to be their Moderation Chap. 11.15 That they be blameless without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation among whom they were to shine as lights and upon this account in their patience they were to possess their Souls not to cast away their hope though afflicted but let it be known unto all men that this was their comfortable expectation through many tribulations that they should enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and this they were to be assured of that whatsoever afflictions did befall them as they were for their sins and why should men complain men that are alive for the punishment of their Sins so were they for their tryal too that patience might have its perfect work neither should their hope make them ashamed this is the hard usage which they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must expect even the Rod of the Wicked sometimes upon their backs and the Righteous must be careful that upon this they do not put their hands forth unto iniquity and so return to folly Let us examine him with despitefullness and with torture saith the ungodly oppressour Wisd 11.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That we may know his meekness and prove his patience So then this grace Moderation as it is here recommended implies valour as well as meekness whilst it is gentle it is couragious too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sylbury Etym. It s Concomitant may not improperly be a stedfast Hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gloss It is not in the least inconsistent with nay the very word it self doth sometimes import a generous resolvedness a well-grounded immoveable Constancy and therefore it is the APostles advice to these Philippians Chap. 1.27 That they should stand fast in one Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 striving together for the faith of the Gospel Chap. 3.16 Whereunto any of them had attained they were to walk by the same Rule and to mind the same things And ver the first of this Chap. They were thus his dearly Beloved and longed for his Crown and his joy in that they stood fast in the Lord thus while the Apostle recommends to his Philippians Moderation a Spirit of Love and Charity towards all men he gives them this likewise in advice ver the 8th of this Chapter That they follow things that are true and just in themselves as well as honest in the sight of men things that are pure as well as those that are lovely or of good report if there be any vertue as well as if there be any praise and this chiefly to be their Moderation that they think upon and do those things And after all and throughout all that they be sure to have an eye to him and to his both work and reward who is to be their pattern the great exemplar for Moderation Chap. 2.3 Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem of others better than themselves let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus In the Text Let your Moderation be known unto all men The Lord is at Hand which is the Third Thing I propounded to wit the consideration of this vertue as it was eminent in our Saviour who is proposed here as the pattern for our Moderation the Lord is at hand whilst converseing with our Flesh he went about doing good humility was his cloathing and love was his delight 2 Cor. 10.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Moderation of our Saviour was his Meekness as a Lamb he was led unto the slaughter and as a Sheep before his shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth being reviled he reviled not again being persecuted he threatned not and yet though dumb and answering nothing it is said of him that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession silentem videmus non audimus confitentem reum his silence was no argument of his guilt but of his well-resolved constancy his courage and fortitude was all the while as evident as were his Meekness and Gentleness and throughout all he committed himself and his cause to God alone that that judgeth righteously We therefore being to learn of our Saviour who was meek and lowly must be careful that our Moderation be manifest as was his in the personal occurrences of our lives His Moderation was not in the least a Dispensation granted either to himself or his Disciples from that Subjection which he acknowledged to be due to the Jewish Polity whether Sacred or Civil under which he lived No in such cases it behoved him to fullfil all Righteousness he wrought a Miracle rather than he would not pay Cesar his due and his command to his Disciples was to hear those who sat in the Chair of Moses to sum up what I have elsewhere delivered at large he went up to Jerusalem according to the custome of the feast every year and though once the Pharisees enquired most eagerly after him what will he not come unto the Feast his presence immediately took off those suspitions and told them and all the World that his Principle was Conformity he kept the Feast of Dedication though of humane institution this being an argument both of his innocence and his Piety that he could thus defend and plead for himself to the very last that he was daily in the Temple and in the Synagogues and that in secret he had said nothing But then where his Person was in the least concerned there his Moderation was conspicuous to shew that he was no enemy to Cesar he with-drew himself when the People would have took him by force and have made him a King he never rode in Triumph but once and then it was to his Passion and at the same time when he owned himself to be the King of Israel he publickly professed and denied it not that his Kingdom was not of this World true he was Crowned but with Thornes the Sceptre in his hand was a Reed the Purple Robe upon him was the Robe of shame his humility was his greatest honour his Cross was his Throne the Proclamation of his Majesty was at Golgotha and whatsoever truth might be in the Title St. Mar. 15.26 The Inscription over his head is styled his Accusation written Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews This is he who is thus proposed to our imitation who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame this was his Moderation Chap. 11.7 of this Epistle in that he made himself of no reputation He took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross And thus I have done with the first thing I proposed to
the Reconciling of the World unto God and to himself all enmity was slain when he hung upon the Cross though bleeding and dying he was the Prince of Peace herein the love of God toward man appeared in that while we were yet sinners and enemies Christ died for us And shall we be froward and peevish against one another vexing and fretting our Brethren for whom Christ died the Legacy that he left us the Boon that he procured for us was Love and Peace he could not die till he had expressed his Charity to the worst of his enemies pitying their ignorance and praying against their malice Father forgive them for they know not what they do And shall we live in contention and in strife as if we had no interest in this common Salvation this unspeakable great Redemption what shall I say To observe the strange animosities and fewds the contrivances and intreigs of Malice and of anger by what arts they are industriously promoted and wickedly fomented even amongst those who yet profess their Faith and Hope in one and the same Saviour would make a man sometimes sadly to conclude that such men are so desperately at variance amongst themselves that they are loth to be reconciled in Heaven it self these little think upon a Saviour who has made an attonement for them yea and though he be sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high yet he is rising out of his place to judge the World for their iniquity Oh! why then is not our Moderation known unto all men since the Lord coming to be our judge is at hand Secondly Christ coming to Judgment to take vengeance of all ungodly sinners for their wicked deeds which they have ungodlily committed is an argument unto us that if we would then behold our Lord in Righteousness and with comfort be satisfied when we shall arise in his likeness now in this time we must tread the paths which he has traced for us follow Peace with let our Moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand The Lord is at hand either in a particular or in a general judgment for I find the Text Commented upon in both respects First In a particular Judgment that is the Lord is at hand to visit upon the City Jerusalem all her iniquities whose sad Desolation was to be not only a fore-runner but a clear Type of the last dreadful Doom And this is the Paraphrase which the most litteral and verbal Interpreters of the New Testament-Text doe give upon this and the like expressions scattered and dispersed especially throughout 〈◊〉 Epistolical writings Christ had fore-told the Destruction both of the City and the Temple and this was the expectation of the Christians looking for the accomplishment of that Prophecie assuring them that true was the word which their Lord had spoken and that with so much vehemence and eagerness that when he foretold the thing he said That Heaven and earth possibly might but not a little an iota of the word which he had spoken should pass away and verily faith our Saviour This Generation shall not pass away until that all these things be fulfilled this therefore being the general expectation of the New Converts unto Christianity amongst the Gentiles that Jerusalem's extirpation was nigh at hand and that their Destruction was to be a day of Retribution wherein God would recompence unto the People of the Jews all those injuries and Persecutions which they had raised against Christ and his Apostles in the Plantation of the Gospel When you see these things come to pass lift up your heads with joy said our Saviour for the day of your Redemption draweth nigh that is in the Letter you shall be Redeemed not unlike Israel of old from Egypt and the House of Bondage God shall render tribulation to those that trouble you and my Gospel shall run and be glorified it shall be Salvation to the ends of the earth And so the Advice in the Text is very much a word in season that the Christians be not high-minded but fear lest they likewise perish let their Moderation their universal Love and Charity their impartial pitty and compassion be known and extended un to all Men yea though they have been violent enemies and cruel bitter Persecutors for the Lord in his particular judgment to the City and Nation of the Jews which they all so much look for is even now at hand And is not this Lesson a suitable serious and seasonable advice to us likewise The Lord is at hand Nay his hand has been hard upon us in the day of his fierce anger he opened all his hand How has the City of David amongst us even the City of our Fathers Sepulchres been laid waste and our Jerusalem been made an heap of stones The Fire of God has burnt and it has consumed God spared not so much as his Foot-stool in the day of his wrath not his Temple nor his foot-stool there not the places where the steps of a Divine presence meght be traced were we not almost set forth like the Cities of the Plain which the Lord destroyed for an example of terrour and astonishment to the world round about us suffering in the Type and the Representation of it the Vengeance of Eternal Fire surely except the Lord of Hosts had left us a very small remnant we should have been as Sodome and we should have been like unto Gomorrah And now after all this sore evil which is come upon us would we have our breaches made up and places restored unto us to dwel in would we have the Walls of our City and of our Temples raised again Love and Charity is the best Cement in the Mortar this is the bond of all perfection even of the Perfection of beauty and of safety Our Hope is that the Line of Confusion is not utterly stretched out upon us and our care must be that in our compassionate sorrows on the miseries of the afflicted without an evil eye either upon injuries received or sins committed which we are too willing to remove every one from himself our Bowels be inlarged impartially and indifferently to any object of mercy which Providence shall offer to us what is judgment begun at the house of God and in the City of David laying aside all animosities uncharitable surmises and wicked speaking let every one put to his helping hand that so the City may once more be called Bethlehem an House of Bread because of the Shew-bread even the Bread of our God continually to be offered up and dispenced in it for unless such be our Moderation and it be made known unto all men we have just cause to fear that our God is still at hand his hand not turned away from us but his Arm of Vengeance stretched out still or if Wrath overtake not our hard-hearted uncharitableness here the Day is coming in which it will be too late to ask neither can we presume upon any pitty