aedificationem bonorumque actuum nexum fundat so Dyonisius Carthusianus He that yields prompt obedience to Christs commands builds himself a spiritual house a secret Cabinet of his mind a building of vertues and a close compacted tenement of good deeds Good works beloved they are the structure of every Christian builder the inseparable companions of every true beleiver This is a true saying saith Saint Paul and these things I will that thou shouldest affirm Tit. 3. 8. that they which have beleived God might be careful to shew forth good works Faith must be shewed by good works For as the body without the spirit is dead even so Faith without works is dead also Saint James James 2 18. Faith therefore though it be the foundation of good works and evidence of things not seen yet it is nothing worth if works be wanting nor can it justifie any man before God unless by good works it self be justified before men Was not Abraham our Father justified through good James 2. 21. works saith Saint James when he offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar that is was he not by his works known and found to be justified Did not Jobs works thus manifest his faith Who was no less than eyes to the blind feet to the lame and a pittiful Father to the distressed poor as he testifies of himself Yea as possible it is to separate light from its fountain the Sun as good works from saving Job 29 15 16. Tit. 1. 16. faith the mother Use 1. What then shall we think of all those that have only a form of Godliness denying the power thereof Such as profess that they know God yet by works deny him and are abominable and disobedient and to every good work even reprobates as St Paul speaks of them to Titus Surely beloved these though perhaps they may acount themselves in the number of Gods faithful builders yet are they indeed no better than Babel builders building to themselves nothing else but aerial Castles of sad and sempiternal confusion clouds they are without water carried about of windes corrupt trees without fruit twice dead and pluckt up by the roots wandering Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for Jude vers 12. evermore so Jude in his general Epistle verse 21. Serpit hodie putrida tabes hypocrisis per omne corpus Ecclesiae quo tolerantius eo desperatius eoque periculosius quo communius Bern. The corrupt consumption of counterfeiting hypocrisie creeps at this day through the whole body of the Church which is so much the more desperate so much the more dangerous by how much the more indured by how much the more common 't was the complaint of good Saint Bernard in his time and I would to God there were not as great need at this time for me to make it mine for do no not all or at least most of all slighting sincerity content themselves with the bare shew and formality of Religion Nay which is worse is not religion commonly made a cloak to palliate deformed vice which seldome or never dare shew her self in publick unless she steal the robes of vertue and actuate her mischeif with sly hypocrisie Is not Pharisaical avarice now vailed under a pretence of long prayers as sometimes we read it was in our Math. 23. 14. blessed Saviours time Is not Herodians cruelty now covered over with the vizard of holy devotion as heretofore it was with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may come and Math. 2. 8. worship him Yes yes we are I fear most of us all like whited tombs appearing beautiful outward but are within full of rottenness We have fair leaves but foul fruit good words but no good works and yet we would be counted in the number of Gods faithful builders too but let us not O let us not dear Brethren I beseech you any longer deceive our selves with a vain conceit of couzening God who is not mockt like men with shadowes nor yet mislead like us with outward shews Let us not think to mask our impiety from his omniscient Majesty under religious pretences nor yet to muffle our hypocrisie under the garment of zealous devotion No no Bonav Ostensio enim reverentiae in ore fallax est nisi adsit pariter exhibitio obedientiae in opere as Bonaventure well observes in vain do they honour God with Isa 29. 13 14. their lips whose hearts are farre from him so the Prophet Isaiah Who shall ascend into the Mountain of the Lord Psal 24. 3 4. and who shall stand in his holy place 't was the question of worthy David and his answer immediately follows even he that hath innocent hands and a pure heart that hath not lift up his mind unto vanity nor sworn to deceive his neighbour Chrys Answer me now O dissembling hypocrite saith Saint Chrysostome if it be good to appear good why wilt thou not be that which thou wouldest fam appear to be And if it be ill to appear ill why wilt thou be that which thou wouldst not appear to be but if it be good to appear good 't is than farre better to be good and if it be ill to appear ill 't is farre worse to be ill be therefore that which thou appearest or else appear what thou art so farre Saint Chrysostome Check now thy self thou vermonger that with a madding thought thus chasest fleeting shadows for frivolous it is for thee externally to profess thy self the servant of Christ and yet to wear the devils Livery In vain it is for thee to acknowledge God to be thy only Lord in publick prayer and yet to obey in all things the world the flesh and the devil in thy private practise Yea impious it is to be thus the divils 1 Cor. 4. 20. Rom. 2 13. builders in substance and Gods only in shew Non enim in verbis situm est regnum Dei for the Kingdome of God is not in word saith the Apostle Non Auditores sed factores legis justificabuntur not the hearers but the doers of the Law shall be justified so the same Apostle Quid Iam. 1. 22. vocatis me domine domine c. Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I speak saith our Saviour Be ye therefore doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving Math. 7. 21. your own selves so Saint James For not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven so likewise our Saviour Christ Labour not therefore any longer dear Brethren I beseech you to cover your nakedness with the fig-leaves of vain-glorious hypocrisie but now at length indeavour to compass your loyns with the girdle of sincerity that so ye may be found of God not fictitious but faithful builders not supine but industrious doers which is the second thing by which a
lost us many already and will lose us more yet if it be not looked to in time Gentlemen In the name of God therefore let me implore your helps O men of Israel help Be you I beseech you Priscilla's and Aquila's helpers in Christ Jesus So shall ye be Rom. 16. 3. Epinetusses too even praise worthy for it So shall ye be Portae introitus aliorum as Saint Chrysostome well observes on Rom. 16. 5. so shall ye be Ports Gates good passages and safety inlets to many poor souls that else might perish through peevish self-willedness Oh beloved that you would be of good Josiahs temper to take away the abomination of stubborn separation from all that are under your several jurisdictions That you would do as he did Even compel them to serve the Lord their God in the 2 Chron. 34. 33. Prov. 19. 25. unity and uniformity of his divine worship Smite a scorner and the simple will beware saith Solomon And that man that will do presumptuously not hearkning unto the Preist that standeth before the Lord thy God to minister there or Deut. 17. 12 13. unto the Judge that man shall dye and thou shall take away evil from Israel So all the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously Hoc hominum genus saith Learned Paraeus commenting on the first Chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians Authoritate potius compescendum quam longis disputationibus refellendum And thus right Worshipful having as breifly as I conveniently could shewn you how you may and ought to be by your actings instrumental to prevent the future Floods of Gods anger from flowing in upon us and in particular of that Flood of Anarchical confusion impending over us I shall Luk. 14. 23 shut up my exhortation to you in the words and charge of that Master of the feast in Saint Lukes Gospel Go out into the highwayes and hedges and compel nhem to come in that the houses of God may be filled To the Lawyers A word likewise to you Lawyers next if at least any of you have leisure from your Chamber to hear a word of Church-struction let me intreat your helps also to anticipate the future floods of Gods anger from falling on us and to this purpose be pleased I pray to ruminate upon the end of your profession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not you know to sow diffension It is not to widen differences neither is it to fill your own coffers nor yet to shew your ready wits and voluble tongues in speaking probably of every subject good or bad no no the end of your profession is to help every man to his right to cut off strife and contention and to restore peace and unity in the Common-wealth Let not your mouthes therefore be corrupted let them not prove like the Oracle of Delphos of which Demosthenes complained in his time that it did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak nothing but what Philip who gave it a great fee would have it say Be not I beseech you of the number of Protagorasses Scholars whose profession as Gellius tells us was to teach Quanam verborum industria causa infirmior fieret fortior How to make the worse cause seem the better To the witnesses and Juries I must next direct my speech to you that are to be Witnesses and to you also that are to be Juries for your concurrance also to prevent the future floods of Gods anger from falling on us For this cause let me admonish you to take heed of your several oathes consider what you do beware of bribery deal uprightly in every case between Jer. 22. 13 Deut. 17 11. man and man with every man without declining to the right hand or to the left So shall ye sanctifie the name of God by whom ye do swear to speak truely and so shall ye sanctifie the name of God by whom ye swear to deal truely and uprightly Lastly a word unto all in general and so an end let us all as we tender the good of our precious souls be perswaded to sanctifie the Lord God in in our hearts let us every day sum up our accounts with God and as Hierome saith Ita aedificemus quasi semper victuri ita vivimus quasi cras morituri Let us so build as if we were to live ever and let us so live as if we were to dye to morrow And in so doing though the waters do arise and swell horribly yea and though the floods do exalt themselves and beat upon our buildings yet they shall not shake them which is the fifth particular by which a sincere Christian is in my text described namely by the invalidity of all perils and dangers in that they could not shake it which should now come in order to be spoken of but I fear I have trespassed too far already upon your patience Let us now therefore beg at the hands of God that he would be pleased to work in the heart of every one of us a holy desire and a conscionable care to discharge our several duties in those places which God hath put us And to this end Lord grant that the words which we have heard with our outward eares may take deep impression in our hearts that they may bring forth in us the fruits of such Christian care and providence The fruits of such sanctified pains and industry and the fruits of such saving wisdom and discretion that when the waters do arise and when the floods do beat upon our buildings they may not shake them and this Lord we most humbly beg at thy merciful hands for the merits of thy most dear Son and our most loving Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ To whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit be ascribed as is most due all Honour and Glory Power and Dominion Might and Majesty the rest of this day and for evermore Amen FINIS
Flood of sorrow and Thirdly A Flood of godly anger First A Flood of sin I know my iniquities saith David and my sin is ever before me And O wretched man that I am saith Saint Paul who shall deliver me from this Psal 51. 3. Rom. 7. 24. body of death There is a Flood of sin Secondly A Flood of sorrow I say the truth in Christ I lye not my Conscience bearing me witness in the holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in Rom. 9. 1. my heart So the same Apostle These two like Hypocrates twins go alwayes hand in hand there was never sin without sorrow nor ever sorrow without sin All dishonest actions are but earnests laid down for succeeding sorrows Thirdly the third kinde of flood that beateth on Gods childrens houses is the flood of Gods anger And of this the Prophet David complaineth thus Thine indignation Psal 88. 6. lyeth hard upon me and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms This flood of Gods fury hath much beaten upon us and that for many yeares together You cannot forget that fearful flood of civil war and intestine dissentions Jer. 48. 12. 2 Sam. 21. 17. amongst us When God sent unto us as he did unto Moab such as emptyed our vessels and brake our bottles and quenched for a time the light of our Israel You must needs remember the next flood of forraine War at Sea that beat so sorely against our buildings You cannot forget the next flood of Plague and Pestilence that swept away so many thousands And to name no more at present you must needs remember that fiery flood of Gods fury Fluvius Dan. 7. 9. 10. igneus rapidusque as the Prophet Daniel expresseth and renders it shewing the inevitable and consuming force of Gods Judgments You cannot I say forget that fiery flood that but lately beat down so many stately buildings in the Metropolitan City of this Kingdome Well what good effect have all these floods produced in us all this while What amendment is there in the rich What reformation is there in the poor Alass alass but small I fear For who doth not see what a deluge of prophaness and impiety doth yet overflow the Land Are not Gods good creatures too too much still abused in surfeiting and drunkenness in rioting and wantonness in strife and envying Are not people still as prophane still as irriligious still as ungodly still as sinful as ever Lay it to heart beloved and know that the Lord hath more floods to power forth upon us if these prevail not to reform us Applic. to the Judg. Give me leave now my Lord first to address my self to your Lordship for the begging of your assistance to prevent the future floods of Gods anger from falling on us and that by your impartial distribution of Justice you are set in Gods place you are to walk in Gods path and to be a follower of him who is no prosopoleptick with whom there is no respect of persons Let me I beseech you move you to that which you both know and I Rom. 2. 11. presume are ready to put in practise also you know the saying of the Poet. Qui rogat ut facias quod jam facis ipse â—ogando Laudat hortatu comprobat acta â—uo I shall only add good Jehosaphats caveat to the Judges Chr. 19 6. in his time which is this Take heed what ye do for ye execute not the Judgment of man but of the Lord and he will be with you in the cause and Judgment that is he will be with you to preserve you if you do justly or else he will be with you to punish you if you do the contrary To the Sheriff Next a word to you Mr. Sheriff for your assistance also to prevent the future floods of Gods anger from falling on us Ezek. 17. 18 19. and Mat. 5. 33. and to this end let me request you Sir to know your place and to consider your oath look to your under officers that they abuse not poor men with exactions nor the Country with exorbitancies To the Iustices Next I turn to you much honoured Justices and Gentlemen let me I beseech you crave your assistances also herein which that you may the better afford I pray be pleased to call to mind your several oathes remember to what you are sworn and be not remiss nor negligent in the performance of them You have good Law and Authority to punish swearing whoring drunkenness prophanation of the Lords day and other enormities Oh have a zeal for the due execution of such good Laws When any come to you for justice against such offences put them not off with Gallio that deputy of Achaia who would be judge of no such matters Gentlemen you are called Sheilds Ps 47 9. The Sheilds of the earth belong unto God â—aith the Psalmist Your place is to stand between Acts 18. 15. God and the people and by your timely censuring and punishing of known sins to prevent the floods of publick plagues from flowing in upon the Land wherein ye live You are termed also Healers Would God you would go to the quick and heal our breaches in the causes thereof Town and Country are sick of separation and swarm with scismaticks that in things but ceremonial peevishly spurn at the grave authority of the Church and out of a needless nicety are theives to themselves of those benefits which God hath allowed them Good Laws there are to reclaim them to suppress their Conventicles to restrain their seditious spirits but there is but little or no execution of them Gallio careth not for these things Gentlemen it is not material how good a mans will be if the executors who are put in trust do not perform it The Laws I may call Gods will and the will of his vicegerent the King it is no matter how good they be if those who appointed executors neglect to put them in execution In this case they are no better then scare-crows which being set up in the fields by Husbandmen to keep away birds at the first view are somewhat terrible to the fowles but after a while seeing them still in the same place and doing nothing they make bold with them and sit on their heads yea and worse then that too So beloved the Laws though never so dreadful at first if they be not duely executed by them that are in place to do it they grow in contempt and give occasion to refractory spirits to go on with boldness in their perverse and wilful wayes You may take this from Solomon who well observed it and tells you That where sentence is not executed speedily against an evil work the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil Where Justice is delayed there sin reigneth And will not this bring a flood upon us think you in the end if not timely prevented Liberty hath