we may expect Salvation Isa 4.2 And is it not so far a decent Worship to adore such a God by the Mediation of such a Jesus to Pray to God in the Name of Christ to be usher'd into the Audience of the Father by the Intercession of his only Son to have access into the Court of Heaven in the Name of the Son of God who hath loved us and given himself for us Hag. 2.7 The Desire of all Nations 3. The Ministers by the Instrumentality of whom c. I mean not those Pseudoes that run before they are sent those lying Spirits that under pretence of Teaching deceive the People but those Ministers of the Gospel which Preach the Word faithfully and divide it skilfully and administer all the Sacred and Sacramental Ordinances impartially without addition or diminution that Preach with zeal and Pray with fervour and live well and study to approve themselves honest Pastors that need not be ashamed they that endeavour to reduce the straying sheep to warn the unruly to rebuke the gain-sayer to comfort the weak commending themselves to the Consciences of their Hearers in the sight of God and these I say if we have any such amongst us as no doubt but we have tho' I wish their number were greater are Men of a welcome Presence of beautiful Feet of pleasant Countenances Isa 52.7 The very Office it self is an Ornament thoh ' the Church never wanted those Adversaries that in despite to the Light threw Stones at the Lanthorn The Minister is a Terrestrial Angel they should be so and good Ministers are so To the Angel of the Church c. Rev. 2.1 of Ephesus Sardis c. they are Starrs and shining Lights in the dark World and Starrs ye know enamel the Hemispheres They are the Servants of the living God which shew to us the way to everlasting Salvation I would not say these things to puff the Clergy up with Pride and Vain-glory but I would have the People know those Men that are set over them and admonish them and give double Honour to them that labour faithfully in Word and Doctrine and acknowledge the beauty of their feet which run to them upon these Evangelical Errands and pay a due and humble deference to that Sacred Function and account them more than the Horse-men of Israel and the Chariots thereof 4. The Place where Whether it be a ' Tabernacle or a Temple or other place consign'd to the Holy Service not that we attribute any inherent Holiness to such places now especially under the Gospel but what depends meerly upon the relation it bears to the Work and Employment 't is devoted to and upon this score the Place ought to be dear to us and appear amiable in our Eyes and we should be so in love with the Place for the Works sake as to say of it as the Patriarch of Bethel How dreadful is this place this is none other than the House of God! and lo here the Angels of Heaven ascending and descending as it were upon a Ladder or as the Prophet David Psal 84.1 c. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts 't is the perfection of Beauty shinning with the light of the Divine Countenance Psal 50.2 't is that Zion which the Lord hath chosen and desired for his habitation saying this is my rest for ever here will I dwell here will I treat my Spouse the Church with the sweetest Wines the fattest Delicates the choicest Ordinances in the World Manna from Heaven Angels Food the Waters of Life Nectar and Ambrosia Nourishment for Souls to fit them for Eternity Forgive me Sirs if I speak with some spice of Fondness and Admiration all the World besides is common ground compared to this Sacred Appartment and all our Employment besides in comparison of this is nauseous and impertinent here 's the Vineyard of red Wine that the Lord himself doth keep Isa 25.6 better far than all the Taverns than all the Theaters than all the Elysian Camps of the wide Universe Glad then may we be when they say unto us We will go into the house of the Lord we will worship towards his holy Temple we will go and keep holy-day in the Courts of the Lord's house on the hill of Zion in the midst of Jerusalem Hallelujah Here we have better Company than any where in the World besides I mean in a more especial manner here more peculiarly than any where else we have Heaven it self in Emblem Mount Zion in Effigie the Coelestial Jerusalem the City of the living God the Coier of Angels the Court of Saints a sweet correspondency with the best of Spirits in both the Churches in both the Worlds Militant and Triumphant Earth and Heaven which brings me to 5. The People who The Holy Church the best of Men and Angels and Spirits separate the select Company called out from the rest of the World to adore their Lord and communicate of his Grace and prepare for and partake of his Glory not that all who are called are accepted the Chaff and Wheat the Corn and Tares the good and bad Fish the Sheep and Goats the Sincere and Hypocrite are both for a while jumbled together in promiscuous Company but none are real Communicants in this sweetness but real Believers the rest feed upon the shell these eat the Kernel the rest look on these taste the Comforts the rest fill up a space and serve for some purposes they hew wood and draw water for the use of the Tabernacles these are invested in the Communities Priviledges and Dignities of the Place they have all one Coat and Creed and Profession but these all have one Mind one Mouth one Hope one Way and one End they mutually partake and Communicate together in the same Prayers Praises Promises Priviledges every thing that is sweet and salutary and tho' their Faces differ their Natures do not tho' in Opinions about some lesser punctillio's they consent not in their Charity they are all one One so entirely that all the Cunning and Violence in the World shall not be able to dissolve the Knot One so entirely that their Interests their Intercessions their Cares and Crosses are the same the whole Company espouse the same Cause all drive at the same End all mean the Divine Glory and the good of Mankind in general if one be weak the other is weak if one be offended the other burns all the Members of the same Body do sweetly and amicably sympathize together Christians as widely distant one from the other as the two Poles meet in their Prayers in their Eucharists even the Angels stoop to us and we aspire to them we are all carrying on the same Work we shall all receive the same Wages we shall all shortly together be with the Lord Tho' our Brains be different yet our Hearts are not Bishop Hall nor our Ends shall not The Church is lovely orderly unanimous as an Army with Banners In short the Churches
of the Spirit of Grace the Company of Angels Cherubim and Seraphim Let us say as Psalm 4. many say who will shew us any good c. Besides if the Outward Court of this World be so comforted with the warmth of the Outward Parts of Heaven is there nothing in the Emperial Orbs in the Inner Chambers to refresh and comfort the Church of God! Is the Atrium Gentium so pleasant and is the Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of Holies devoid and desolate 2. The Flux and Reflux Ebb and Flowing of the Sea that indeed depends as generally concluded upon the Moon only But that is such a Wonder in Nature that it sufficiently illustrates the Power and Wisdom of God Psalm 107.21 22 23. Oh that men would praise the Lord c. Thus God who daily makes the great and wide Seas to Ebb and Flow is able also to make the like changes and visicissiudes in the World in the Church he turneth mand to destruction again be c. Psal 90.3 5 6. Bsal 107 31 32 c. 3. Other secret Influences and Operations unknown to us as to Weather Health Plenty and it may be Wars and Peace Prosperity and Afflictions Life and Death For so far Astrologers go but I would be wise unto sokiety and not peer too far lest I should be taxed for Curiosity in all this the Glory of God appears CHAP. V. Of Comets Thunder and Lightning Air and Winds Storms and Tempests Hail Rain Snow and Frosts Extraordinary Signs and Apparitions I Shall here speak of the other Insevlour Appurtenances of Heaven I choose to range them under that notion because I intend not so much a Lecture of Philosophy as a plain discourse of Divinity I mean the Comets Thunder and Lightning Wind and Air Vapours and Exhabations Storms and Tempests Hail Rain and Snow strange Apparitions and Phenomena I hope my time will not be quite lost nor I censur'd for impertinent in treating on these things God himself therefore exhibiting them that we might duly meditare upon them and deduce Inferences thence for his Glory 1. Comets and Blazing Stars or whatever else of that nature appears in the Heavens above us I pass over those Miteors of lesser moment Falling Stars Burning Launces Flying Dragons Skipping Goats Ignes Fatui and licking Fires as exhalations of inferiour wonder Comets are the most stupendious I hope no body amongst Christians is so silly as Democritus who took them for the Souls of the Saints Trimphing in Glory Or as others Fires carried thither by Spirits only to astonish the World Whatever they are generated of for I will not meddle here with the Physical Consideration their meaning is something the God of Nature who is so Wise as to make nothing in vain without all doubt puts them in the Heavens for some sign or other Nor dare I be peremptory to assign the particular signification I humbly conceive the most that we can read in those Coelestial Hierogliphycks is that God is going to do some great thing in the World and that at the hanging out of those Flags it behoves men to enquire into their Lives and search their ways more narrowly and prepare to meet their God who is coming to judge the World in equity and maketh these Flames of Fire his Harbingers to prepare his way and give notice of his coming I shall not trouble you with particular Instances of these kind of Meteors the Scripture tells us at the Birth of our Saviour a Star appeared which perhaps was the Comet spoken of by Heathen Authors in the days of Angustus of a stupendious greatness upon which the Tibertine Sibyl shewed the Emperor the Divinity of our Saviour in these words Hic Puer Major te est Ipsum adora Our last great Comet I doubt not was of extraordinary signification not to us only but to whole Europe and farther so far as it was conspicuous What a Gracious God have we that never scarce goes about any great Commotions or Changes in the World but he gives warning beforehand as if not willing to take us tardy He shews his signs in the Heavens above when he is about to do any great Work in the Earth beneath And therefore as Darius in the case of Daniel Chap. 6.26 27. Let men tremble and fear before this God for he is the Living God and steadfast for ever his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even unto the end he delivereth and rescueth and worketh signs and wonders in Heaven and Earth 2. Thunder and Lightning called by the Psalmist the Voice of God and by some supposed to be that Trumpet that shall sound at the last day to raise the Dead and to call to Judgment I will not trouble you with declaring the strange and divers effects of this kind of Meteor its hurting of things Inward when the Outward are safe shattering the Bones when the Flesh is left sound melting the Blade of the Sword when the Scabbard is free breaking the Vessel when the Wine flows not away exempting poisonous Creatures from their Venom and infusing it into those who are not so striking men dead and leaving them in the same posture it found them as if still alive c. It is enough to say that 't is a stupendious Meteor and may well be called the Voice of the Divine Excellency Job 37.2 3 4 c. Job 26.6 14. It is said of Nero that a Thunderbolt fell upon his Table and struck the Cup out of the Emperors Hand And we have known in our Age some strong Towers and high buildings demolished to the very gound with Lightning Some Men struck dead some lamed some blinded Trees clove asunder A Learned Divine of our Nation tells of a profane Person walking abroad with another upon the Lord's Day when it thundred to his Companion telling him of it made answer 't is nothing but a Knave Cooper beating of his Tubs but he had not gone much farther but himself was struck dead This may teach us to put on a Reverential awe of the Divine Majesty at such seasons That Emperor Caligula who used to brave it out as if he meant to vye with the Almighty and cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was an instance of the Divine Patience but no safe example for imitation The Psalmist is more ingenuous Psal 29. c. Give unto the Lord O ye Mighty c. and Psal 97.1 2 3 4. To see all the lower World cover'd with thick Clouds and the Cracks of Thunder shake the very Pillars of the Earth and terrible Flashes and Corruscations of Ligtning with a speedy pace fly from one end of the Heavens to the other is so like the Voice of God and a Type or Shadow of that Black Gloomy Day which shall put a period to the World that it may well be a Memento of our Duty and Reverence we owe to the Divine Majesty and may well put that Question into our Mouths Who shall
so apt to suspect the weakness of the Almighty Power as if he were a meer Cypher to the Governance of of all Humane Affairs but when they are so insensible of the secret and yet notorious concurrence of this eminent Planet with the concerns of Nature the Wonder is at a stop And we must say at best that Men are Fools for want of thinking and using their Faculties Men have got a Trick ever since sin debauch'd their Natures of looking low and creeping upon the Earth and taking Notice only of things that run directly into their Eyes fixing upon secundary Causes and the immediate Effects and Consequences like the Dogg that quarrels with the Staff but regards not the Hand that holds it or the Hogg that gathers the Acorns and Mast but looks not up to the Tree from whence they fall forgetting that the God of Heaven hath an effectual influence upon the Works of his own Hands Is there evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it and is there any good amongst us which comes not from the Fountain of Blessedness the Author of every good and perfect Gift Let Men learn a little from this Topic to raise their aspect and climb the Ladder from Orb to Orb in the tracing of causes 'till they come to the Primum Mobile the Original Principle of all Motions and by accustoming themselves to this Method of consideration peradventure they will find reason to run every remarkable Contingent of their life to the Head and at last terminate in the Son of Righteousness 7. Of the Divine Invisibility 'T is true we may see something of the Sun but there is something likewise in it which we cannot see who can see its Beams or glaring light or heat or motion so as to be able to give any competent account of the nature substance colour and properties of them You may see the back parts the Operations the glimmering and faint representations of the Almighty But there shall no Man see his Face and live Exod. 33.20 Can the Owl see the Sun or Batts endure the Day-light no more can we abide the Lustre of the Divine Presence or see the Essentials of his being 1 Tim. 6.16 8. Incorruptibility and Immortality The Sun is the same now as he was last Year last Age thousands of Years ago he suffers no decay infirmity old age or declension but is as fresh and vigorous now as in the first Morning of its Creation Doth not this somewhat resemble the Glory of the incorruptible God the King Immortal Eternal Invisible Jam. 1.17 Who is the same to day yesterday and for ever All things here wax old as doth a Garment c. 9. Of his Omnipotence For all these Attributes are reckon'd to the Almighty as in a manner peculiar to him and therefore I hope you 'll not quarrel with the Number of my Particulars What cannot in reason the Sun do I have instanced in many things under the point of Providence I will add a few more The Sun can parch our grounds exhale our Waters make the Earth barren destroy our Harvests and bring a Dearth upon the Land The Sun can invenom the Air and shed a Poison into our Constitutions and destroy us with Plagues and Mortal Distempers the Sun can burn our Houses Towers Steeples and make a Desolation in the Earth the Sun can make our Heads ach our Hearts burn our Choler domineer and so dispose to Wars and Blood-shed Agen the Sun can melt the Clouds and send Rain upon the Earth to make it fruitful and turn our dry grounds into springs of Water can heal the Air and warm our Constitutions and preserve our Health and Wealth and Peace and Plenty but all this under the Permission of God Almighty He only is the the Supream Power whom no Creature can resist He only is Omnipotent Our God is a consuming Fire Heb. 12.29 What a mighty Foundation is this Attribute of the Divine Omnipotence to build our Faith and Affiance upon and what strong Reasons we have to believe it and yet we shake like a Bulrush when we lean upon that strong Arm the strength of Israel who will not lye nor deceive that mighty God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we weak Mortals can wish or think of What Conceptions we are able to frame to our selves now of this Attribute I know not this I believe when once the leaf of this sublunary World is turn'd over and the Gates of Heaven are open'd and that Scene of Infinite Glory which lyes yet before us out of sight is presented to our eyes when the WONDERS of the other World come in view we shall then cry out Rev. 19.6 The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth 10. Purity and Holiness The Fire is a clean Element and one of those that we are wont to purifie Mettals and Vessels made of them with It was enjoyned under the Law The Sun is pure from any Spot or Blemish or Wrinckle or Cloud or Earth or Polution Yea though it visits our Dunghills 't is not defiled with them no uncleanness can stick to the Sun-beams Yea it discovers the Spots upon our Garments the Freckles upon our Faces and puts a shame upon our Deformities Eccles 16.10 What is this but a lively Emblem of the infinite purity of that God with whom we have to do That Refiners fire and Fullers soap whose words are all of them purer than Gold tried in the fire and requires us to be pure as he is pure and really when we consider this visinity of the Divine Holiness we may be justly abashed into shame and confusion to think what deformities our Souls are disfigured with and what insolencies we have committed in the sight of this Sun and withall we have reason to cry out as 1 Sam. 6.20 Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God if the righteous scarcely be saved c. We are apt to please our selves with the Memoirs of the Divine Goodness and Clemency the shining light and warmth of the Sun-beams but seldom remember that the same Sun when it looks thro' a burning glass is apt to set fire upon combustible Stuff I mean that whosoever builds any such light Tinder Hay Straw Stubble Wood false Doctrines and Errors of Judgment or ungodly Practices runs the risk of an extraordinary hazard and that these works must be tried by a Jealous God and whatever is combustible must be burn'd up and if the sinner after that loss have any substance of Purity and Holiness left he shall be saved but so as by fire as a piece of impure Gold or Silver thrown into the Furnace to prove the Mettal and wast the Dross Our God is a consuming Fire 11. Bounty How beneficial the Sun is to the Earth I need not stay now to tell you 't is sufficient to say the benignity and beneficence of it is so great and its good offices so many that we can as ill spare the Sun
many repusses thou hast given to the Messages of Heaven and withal how if they were ten thousand times ten thousand more God knows and remembers them all and then say with Job c. 9.2 how should men be just with God 2. Their greatness Indeed they seem little to us because they are a great way off Distance of place gives disadvantage to the prospect but lie that saith they are no bigger than they seem is as wife as that Philosopher that thought the Sun was no bigger than his head The Learned and most Skillful Astronomers do generally conclude it for a demonstrative Truth that the least Star in the Firmament is bigger than the Earth we live upon And yet these so great Bodies are carried so high supported only with the hand of the Almighty let not the Penitent Sinner then say can God raise me up from the Grave of Sin from things below and set me up on high and bring me safe to Heaven Tho thou liest now among the Potsherds sunk deep into sin and misery yet God is able to lift thee and thousands more and carry thee as upon Eagles Wings and set you as Stars in Heaven there to shine for ever and ever 4. Dstance from one another especially thePlanets and from the Earth The Moon is next to us Mercury next Venus in the third place the Sun fourth Mars the fifth Jupiter the sixth Saturn highest the Fixed Stars abovethemall Were they all the same Orb they would move together at the same time and make no distinction of Day and Night of Winter and Summer or not so much as would serve for our necessities And should they be all so low as the lowest or should he that holds them there let them fall thence by the reverse of his Decree or the withdrawing of his constant Providence they would soon set this World on fire and send us off the Stage and burn the Universe into a Scrole Should God draw back the hand of his Omnipotence but one moment the Stars would fall upon our Heads and make this whole World into a Hell in the twinkling of an Eye How necessarily do we depend upon the Divine Mercy for our safety and security every hour we live more ways than one than a thousand doth he keep death and destruction from us Let us consider a little this excellent Favour So many Globes as big as Worlds and most of them far greater hanging over our Heads all the days of our Life and westill walking safe under them how much methinks do we owe to the Power and Good Providence of God forsaving our Lives in such eminent danger were those excellent Bodies subject to the like irregularities as we are aptto go out of their place toleave their Orbs to disobey the Will of him that made them as Man generally is what a dangerous condition should we be in Damocles sat down to Table at a Feast with a naked Sword hanging over his Head with a Horse-hair had no such rouson of an awful fear upon him as we have if he that Govern'd the Stars were a Man and not God 5. Their Light Which is so great in all that if but one of the Stats or Planets except the Moon which hath none but borrowed Light that if they were not kept at a distance from us would certainly dazle our weak Eyes into absolute blindness or if removed much farther off would not serve our necessities p. 63. But of this more hereafter 6. Motion Incredibly swift insomuch that as Lessins saith such Stars as are near the Equinoctial Line do move every hour 40 millions ofmiles every million being 1000000 and so in one hour move more than comes to 2000 times the Compass of the Earth The Sun saith the same Author in the compass of one hour goes in its motion 1000000 miles whereupon 't is certain that in the same space of time it equals the Compass of the Earth in its course above 50 times What an amazing wonder of Omnipotence is this Let those Atheistical Sinners think of it that all daily for a Miracle to prove the Being of a God Here 's a Miracle that presents before us every day And every man that hath Eyes in his Head if he hath Brains too may see it and wonder Why what would men have a God todo more than this If he should make a fresh Creations of a World every hour men might still wink and disbelieve and still call for fresh Miracles As if the Almighty Jehovah had nothing else to do than humour the silly Passions of hard hearted sinners of pitiful ineredulous worm Well! it will not be long but God will justifie himself to these men before Angels and Devils and shew in spight of all their spightful insidelity that he did not leave himself without witness in the World 7. Influences which are divers and some of them not known to us or discoverable to us I shall mention some 1. Warming these Sublunary Bodies and insusing sueli a heat into them as is necessary for Life and Motion insomuch that without it there would be no generaton no motion no life in the Creatures of this World Take away but the Sun out of the Firmament and no Spring would appear Man would be no more the Acts of Accretion Growing Feeling Moving Seeing Living would all cease presently Sol Homo generant hominem Nay were the Sun removed but as far from us as the Fixed Stars England would be Ireland and all our year prove a cold Winter our very Senses would prove chill and our Reasons follow hard after them for temperamentum animi sequitur temperamentum Corpois What an excellent God have we to deal with who accommodates us so kindly seasonably suitably with Fire and Fuel from Heaven not only to ferment the Clouds in order to Rain to dissolve the Snow and Hail to warm the Ar that pierceth our Bodies to foment the Earth and make it fruitful but also cherish our Human Bodies and makes our Souls more pleasant which dwell in such warm Stoves If all the Wood and Combustible Matter on the Earth were heaped together to make one Pile in order to a great Bonefire for the benefit of the Earth it would not do so much good but would come infinitely short as the Stars and Planets of Heaven Besides if the warmth of the lower Orbs be so friendly and beneficial to our natures what is the Grace of God that comes down from the Inner Heaven the Light of his Countenance to our Inner Souls If the Sun with its Pleasant Rays makes the Sublunary World smile and laugh and sing shall not the Special Grace and Favour of the Almighty much more put gladness into our hearts and make us chearful in the Service of our Maker If the presence of the Hosts of Heaven the Sun Moon and Stars be so comfortable what is the presence of the Lord of Hosts the Blessed God the Communion of the Holy Jesus the Influences
11.6 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness his Countenance doth behold the upright 5. Hail Rain Snow and Frosts c. I will not stay now to shew the particular usefulness of all these in their Kind Order and Seasons nor if I cared to spend time upon it have I skill to do it perfectly Something might be said which perhaps every one is not well sensible of concerning the Wisdom as well as the Power and Goodness of God in using such a diverse method in manuring of the Earth and nursing of Sublunary Bodies I shall conclude this with only that emphatical exhortation of the Psalmist 147.12 ad finem 6. To pass over Eclipses Conjunctions and Rain-bows c. I shall instance only in Extraordinary Signs and Apparitions as that of Angels appearing to Abraham to Lot to Jacob to Manaoh to David to divers others the extraordinary chasms of Light in the Heavens at our Saviours Baptism his Transfiguration his Ascension the Cloud and Pillar of Fire to the Israelites the Darkness at our Saviours Passion the Holy Ghost in the likeness of a Dove the Apparition exhibited to Saul to St. Stephen the Revelations of St. John the Prodigies before the Destruction of Jerusalem Armies conflicting in the Air with a thousand more such wonders which I list not to relate particularly I confess they are often mixed with false incredible relations yet not therefore all to be rejected Our Saviour hath given us warning to expect some such Mat. 24. and Act. 2.20.19 and every Age almost is witness of some Miracle or other of this nature tho not so many as many would believe Even Heathen and Mahometan History as well as Christian give suffrage to this From the whole we have this lesson briskly intimated to us viz. if the outward insensate Heavens that are neither endued with Sense nor Reason but are of a bruitish nature declare to the World the Glory of God what would be expected from us men to whom all these Creatures are given but as Servants If these mute senseless things preach so expresly the Glory of Him that made them what should not man do who tho he lives in place below them yet is endowed with an Excellency far above them God himself sometimes appeals to them for testimony against us to upbraid our disobedience Hear O Heavens and give Ear c. All the Host of the Inferior Heavens keep their place and observe the Laws of their Creation the very Clouds and Winds obey him Only Man is an Vnruly Vndutiful Disingenuous Obstinate Thing that will neither keep his Orb nor serve the ends of his Creation nor attend his Masters Will nor pursue diligently his own Happiness Tho our Feet are upon the Earth our Heads reach above the Clouds and we are near akin to the other World and have very great concernments beyond the Stars and yet that we should let our Affections sink into the Earth and our Souls incline so strongly towards Hell For shame Sirs let us set forth the Glory of God a little better in our Generations than commonly we do Let us vye here upon the Earth by the excellency of our Conversations with those twinkling Lamps that shine over our Heads let it never be said to our disgrace that these senseless Creatures glorifie God better in their place than we Let our Faces our Graces outshine the Sun Let men look on the Humility Honesty Sobriety Charity Piety and Patience of our Lives and give Glory to Him that hath given such Graces unto Men and let these Graces never be darkned with any unworthy unchristian practices let us appear Glorious to the World and no Hypocrisie or Apostacy ever pull down our Professions or lay our Glory in the Dust It 's possible we may meet with strong with close Temptations O let not our shining Stars fall from Heaven nor let our Moon be turned into Blood and then we shall be shortly removed from Grace to Glory and shortly shine like Stars in the highest Heavens yea as the Sun in the Firmament for ever 1 Cor. 15.41 As we shine in Grace now so in Glory hereafter CHAP. VI. Of the Continuation of the Heavenly Bodies DAY unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge q.d. one Day informeth another and one Night gives in fresh evidence to another to prove the Truth of it Not a Day nor a Night passeth over our Heads but the Heavens preach this Sermon to us We have a Continual Rehearsal of this Doctrine from Age to Age from one Year to another from the beginning of the World to this present time This Preacher is never silent this Exercise never over All that I can think necessary to be said upon this particular may be referred to two Heads 1. The wonderfulness of this Continuation 2. The practical Lessons we should learn from it 1. Wherein the wonder of it lies 1. In the multitude of the Bodies concerned We observe of Mechanical Instruments made by the Hands of Men that an Engine consisting of very many wheels or very many Motions or other parts are the most difficult to be kept in order An Orchard with many Trees or Garden with many Herbs and Flowers require more Culture and dressing or some will decay A Society of many Members is apt to disorder 'T is a harder task to manage a Nation than a Family The Hosts of Heaven are Thousands and the Appurtenances relating to them more and yet all keep still their appointed Courses We have lost none of the Stars out of their Orbs since their first coming there Some People tell us of some new ones as that in Cassiopea which was first discovered in the Heavens about the beginning of the Reformation what Salvo to give for that I know not it may be it was there before but not discovered But however 't was a case extraordinary and no prejudice to the order of the rest we have lost none of our Seasons Day and Night Summer and Winter have kept their times The Sun its Revolutions the Moon its due Changes the Stars their proper Periods and exact motions the standing still of the Sun in Joshua's time and the going back of it on Ahaz Dial are Miraculous instances and not to be parallel'd in other Ages 2. The Greatness of them Small Bodies are easily managed and apt to motion but Great Ones move slowly according to the Course of Sublunary Nature But they in the Etherial Orbs are of so vast a bigness that that Consideration doth mightily accumulate and greaten the Wonder That the Sun Moon and Stars all of them so big should move continually without disorder or period is an Accent upon the Miracle 3. The various Qualities they are of and the different motions they make do yet raise the Wonder to a higher Strain to keep all one motion especially if all of one nature were not so very much but to move from East to West from West to East from North to South from
South to North again as some of them do and this continually is an augmentation of the wonder 4. Without Period Flowers wither Trees rot Stones decay Man dies The very Face of things below will shortly cease to be and another succeed The Day dies and so doth the year And Stones and Castles here decay every thing here is weary of Motion The Apostle tells us The whole Creation groans But here it Groans and Dies only what is a kin more nearly to Heaven and borders upon that Court is of a more lasting Constitution of a more constant Motion of a more perpetual Duration Since the Fathers fell asleep all things of that kind relating to the upper Regions continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation 2 Pet. 3.4 7. For the Heavens are by the same word of God by which they were Created kept in store reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment 5. Without Interruption No faulter in their Courses no breach of Continuity in this long space of time Nothing hath been able to stop these great Bodies in the progress of their Motion or intermit the exercise of their Vertues and Operations 6. Without Error or Mistake or Deviation Tho great and many and various in their Qualities and incredibly swift in their Motions yet have they committed no remarkable fault in all this tract of years and revolutions They have all kept close to the Path Chalkt out for them by their Creator and have never leapt out of their Orbs. Nothing hath been able to tempt them from the Faithful Execution of their Offices and Employments Who hath ever becken'd the Sun out the Firmament or pusht the Moon out of its place or made the Stars wander into strange courses Or amidst all their divers Motions Mingled them into confusion or disorder When was ever Day and Night jumbled together or the Seasons of the year reversed or the Order of the Coelestial Bodies turn'd backward Illic justo foeders rerum veterem servant sidera pacem 2. Practical Inferences Learn we then 1. To hold on from day to day from night to night in the excellent Offices of a Christian Life let day to day utter speech and night to night shew knowledg of our continual goodness Mankind is born with his Eyes higher set than all the rest of the Creation besides his looks are by Nature more sublime and lofty Let us look up earnestly towards those lucid Spangles those sparkling Globes over our Heads and use our Eyes to some good purpose Let us make thence some Practical Deductions for our imitation at least emulation and scorn to Truant and Loiter here at that rate as usually we do Let no Temptation sosten our Spirits into an unnecessary repose nothing provoke us unduly to depart our Orbs to run back or start aside Let us never be weary of well doing Particularly 1. Let us never be weary of the duty of Prayer 'T is an excellent exercise and such as we ought continually to be intent upon Our Saviour spoke a Parable Luke 18.1 2. unto his Disciples that men ought always to Pray and not to Faint And the Apostle Col. 4.2 Continue in Prayer and Watch in the same with thanksgiving c. And 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing And let this amongst many others be one Argument to perswade us to assiduity in this kind of Devotion viz. That God Almighty is continually from day to day from night to night serving and supplying our necessities by the Ministery of the lower Heavens all the Hosts of the Etherial Regions are in continual employment for our Good why then should we disdain to bestow some few Minutes upon warm and serious Addresses to the God of Heaven Let neither the Day or Night go away without a Testimony of our Devotion Let not God hereafter ever cite the Sun Moon or Stars for to bear witness to our Ingratitude You know the Story of Daniel Recorded to the honour of his Memory That three times every day he open'd his Windows and set his Face towards Jerusalem and Prayed to the God of Heaven even then when pinch'd with the close Temptations of the Court under a Heathen Emperor Let us at least twice a day do Obeysance to Heaven Offer as God appointed to the Jews a Morning and Evening Sacrifice continually Let our Altars burn with Incense at least so often and this shall not only perfume our Days and Nights and make our Conversations smell sweeter to our selves and Neighbours but be a fragrant Odor in the Nostrils of the Almighty And please the Lord better than a Bullock c. Job 1.5 2. Let us Praise God continually as long as we live let us praise the Lord yea let us sing praises to him whilst we have any being Psal 34.1 His Praises continue in my mouth Psal 36.9 3. Let us be continually employed in doing Good to others And let us remember this that our God causeth his Sun to shine and Rain to Descend on the Just and Unjust Let us try what we can to be like him like our Heavenly Father diffusing our Rays to as wide a Circuit as possibly we can not limiting our goodness to a few individual Persons or a Single Party or a narrow bound but as our faculties will extend to the Church Catholick and the wide World in general This is to be in truth like the God of Heaven And let our Charity never be discouraged never tired To do good and to distribute forget not c. To make it plainer yet God hath given us a Copy of his Infinite Goodness in General to the whole World in the face of the outward Heavens as of his special goodness to the Church in the Revelation of the Gospel If we contemplate seriously the structure and Properties and several Vertues of the Heavenly Bodies we may read there in legible Characters not only the Greatness and Glory but the infinite Goodness also of him that made them and that to the whole Race of Mankind and that not for a spurt a short fit of two or three Ages but of continual Duration his Patience is Indefatigable and his Beneficence reacheth to the end of time Let us then if we will aim at Perfection and try to tread in our Father's steps Do good unto all men without weariness and Communicate the Light of our Graces to a whole Nation a whole World if possible and never grudg to lend our Candles to the Assistance of those that are about us And as for those narrow Souls that confine their goodness to a Canton or whose Light is like that of a flaming Meteor or an Ignis Fatuus or a Falling Star they deserve to lie down in Darkness and never more rise up again to Light or Glory Levit 24.2 Cause the Lamps to burn continually 2. Let us consider a little the Imployment of the Saints and Angels in Heaven 'T is pretty hard to conceive with our present apprehensions the business of
of his Hand and make the Clouds his Chariot and ride upon the Wings of the Wind and climb up to the highest Orbs and extend every Globe with the present thought and hang not only the Earth but the Heavens upon nothing and this in the exactest order and perfection that no remarkable default shall appear in 6000 years in any part of all this Magnificent Building Who that considers a little the Nature of the Supream Architect shall not be ready to cry out with the Psalmist Psal 8.1 9. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth who hast set thy Glory above the Heavens O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth 2. What little low worthless Creatures are we That God who is the Author of such excellent Handy-work that dwells in that inaccessible Light in such a glorious Palace who can make Heavens at his pleasure and garnish them in a moment and fill the whole World with the Beams of his Glory should yet place his Affections so much on such little silly things as we are Psal 8.3 c. Shall I speak my Opinion freely in this matter I do conceive that one great Reason why God hath laid out so much of his Excellency and bestowed so much of his Infinite Wisdom and Power upon the creation of the Things that are above us especially the Heavens over our Heads was on purpose to astonish proud man into a Religious Admiration of his God and an humble detestation of himself for that 's the very frame and temper which disposeth man for the impressions of Religion and the exercise of a devout affection Isa 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my Throne 3. A due consideration of the Creation of the World and especially of the Heavens belongs unto us all Os Homini sublime c. if God doth preach to us by these things that are seen and thereby reveal to the World the invisible properties of the Divinity then we ought to hearken to this Voice and make some good use of their Language The Curious Spectator looks up to the Heavens and examines every particular there Quidni quaerat Scit ill ad se pertinere Tunc contemnit domicilii prioris angustias Seneca And as he goes on what is all the distance from the utmost Coasts of Spain to the Indies But a Voyage of a very few days if thou fail with a good Wind But that Heavenly Country above for many hundreds of years affords space for the swiftest Stars to travel in without lett or molestation In short the very Natural Propensity of Mankind to enquire into those upper Regions and peer amongst the Stars is some argument of our concernment that way 4. Let us beware of Idolatry the fault of the Old Pagan World Who when they saw those Lights hung out at the Windows of Heaven which should have been but ministerial to help them in the search of him that made them sell down and worshipped the Servants instead of their Master the Candles at the Door instead of the Lord of the House Deut. 4.19 yet the Jews themselves were so forgetful of this Precept that we find them often taxed for burning Incense to the Queen of Heaven and worshipping the Star Remphan And 't is too well known that the Heathens generally worshipped the Sun Moon and Stars becoming vain in their imaginations and tho they professed themselves Wise they became Fools changing the Glory of the Incorruptible God into the Image of his Corruptible Creatures 5. By this Law they who want a special Revelation shall be judged Rom. 2.12 13 14 15. Let no man then whether within or without the Pale of the Church think to shroud his guilt under the Cloak of Ignorance There 's no Corner of the World so remote no People so dark where this Voice hath not been heard the Musick of the Spheres is soft and still but such as shortly will make even both the Ears of the guilty sinner tingle The Language wherein these Sermons are preach'd to the World is temperate and equal it makes no great noise at present to them who are busie digging low in the Bowels of the Earth but it hath a sharp and heavy accent at the End Let no man then upbraid the Almighty as if he were a Severe Judge for calling all men to the same Judgment for damning men that never had the knowledge of his Laws Fear not God will be just he 'll vindicate his Righteousness from the foul aspersions and abuses of a Scandalous World Hast thou sinned without Law without Law then thou shalt be tried and a hundred to one but condemned too and yet God clear from thy Blood and just in all this What a black List of sins doth the Apostle present thee with Rom. 1.29 c. all chargeable upon all Nations of the World Jew and Christian and Turk and Heathen and damnable by the very Law of Nature unrighteousness fornication c. but that which affects us most in all this is that not only the poor Infidel is guilty in this Case but a great part of Christendom also Not only they that have no other Law to read in no other Rule to go by but the Book of the Creation but they also who have the Bibles in their hands and the Creed upon their tongues end and have all the advantages of Nature and Revelation both When these very sins and as bad or worse walk bare-fac'd within the Confines of the Church and men of the best Creed and Profession in the World are not ashamed to commit the foulest sins and sometimes account it their glory to boast of such vices which ought not so much as to be named amongst Christians There are several live amongst us it may be in this place now whose ordinary conversations are stain'd with such blots as both the lights both that of Positive Religion and that of mere Natural Reason too do abhor and condemn And yet which is mighty strange these very men do please themselves with the hopes of escaping safely the Sentence of the Judge at the last day And upon their Repentance they may but else I cannot think of any plausible Argument that will stand their Friend at the day of Judgment And to drive the Nail farther yet it will not be enough for men to plead their Interest in a Church or Party in such cases Let the Church be never so pure nor the Profession never so good nor the advantages of Knowledge and Information never so great if under all these pretensions thou shouldst play the Hypocrite and live ill thy own Mouth would condemn thee and a whole Cloud of Witnesses depose evidence against thee And yet notwithstanding all this we may take up the complaint of the Prophet Jer 18.13 Ask now among the Heathen who hath heard such things the Virgins of Israel have done very horrible things Thy poor men are tenacious of their Superstitious
Vanities 't is hard to make a Proselyte to Christianity amongst them they will Dispute Fight die for their meer shadow of Faith But Christians will barter away their Conscience their Creed their Heaven their God for meer Vanities Vers 14 15. In short if it be true what some of the poor ignorant Gentiles fancied that the Sun Moon and Stars do all look upon us and are daily Spectators and witnesses of all we do it were well for many if the Sun were indeed turned into Darkness and the Moon into Blood and the Stars would leave off their Shining and the whole Face of the Heavens were reversed than thus to stand over our Heads and remark our Actions in order to a Solemn Convictive Testimony against us Jer. 2.9 10 11. CHAP. VIII Of the Glorious Body of the Sun COnsider we next the SUN 1. In its Motion 1. Its Terms a quo ad quem 2. It s Swiftness 3. Continuance 2. It s Light 3. Heat 1. It s Motion concerning which and the rest of its Attributes I shall have the less to say now because I have spoken so much of it in the General Notion of the Heavenly Bodies Yet for Order-sake Consider we 1. Its Terms or Bounds from Whence and to Which the Sun moves From the one end of the Heavens to the other i.e. according to our apprehension and common sense of things For in Truth the Heavens have neither Beginning nor End but are of a perfect Round Figure Indeed this Notion was so long hid from the World that not many hundred years agone a German Bishop was excommunicated for broaching this Doctrine viz. that there were Antipodes and that the Earth in answer to the Heavens was inhabited round whereas now 't is generally agreed upon with good reason by all the Learned of late Ages 2. It s swiftness I need say little more upon this point than what I said before viz. that the Sun according to the Judgment of some Astronomers goes in its motion 1000000 German miles in the Judgment of others 261905 in one hour Whether either of them are in the right or no I am not much concerned to determine This is certain 't is of a vast body 166 times bigger than the Earth say Astronomers who by the Eclipses say they have found its Diameter and by its Diameter its Compass periphery and by that its motson Indeed its Course is so swift so incredibly quick that out late Philosophers would fain find a nearer way to solve the Wisdom of Nature whose Principle it is to doevery thing the nearest way it can be done and therefore have rackt their Brains to discover if possibly a mistake in the case and to prove that the Earth which is by many degrees the less Body doth move round and not the Sun with so swift and daily a motion But as yet the Evidence of that Opinion doth not appear so that we may on this point say it rejoyceth as a Giant c. 3. It 's Continuante and Constancy Intimated in these words As a Giant running his Race c. Psal 19.5 6. his circuit c. nor need I say more upon this particular 'T is demonstrable to every Eye and agreed upon by all the World that the Sun hath continued still in motion from the begmning of the World to this prefent Age and shall do to the end of time Itself being the Heavenly Clock the Original Measure of all our Times 2. It s Light As a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber i.e. trim'd and deck'd in splendid and glorious Apperel making pleasant the Eyes of all Beholders So the Sun who is Condus promus Lueis the Spring of Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pure Flame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an always Burning Torch a Vniversal Candle that serves the whole World to work and walk by that makes with its approach smiles in the Face and chearfulness in the Heart of every Spectator that hath Eyes to behold it Even Infants themselves incapable yet of making distinction between other Objects are pleased with this and Beasts themselves can hardly live without it In a word 't is the Eye of Heaven and the pleasure of Earth and that we can as ill spare as the Eyes out of our Head For take away that and these are useless or near upon it 3. Heat Nothing hid from the Heat thereof Psal 19.6 Upon this point likewise I have spoken already and left my self little more to say It tempers the Air which we suck with our Nostrils and produceth the Aliments we take with our Mouths and cherisheth our Bodies to help Concoction and is the Vniversal Cause under God of all Sublunary Beings What shall I say it broods the Earth and moves upon the Waters and helps to fecundate all things here below There is nothing hid from the heat thereof I have done with the Natural Consideration Let us now deduce something for our Spiritual Meditation 1. The Papists tell us That Images and Pictures are the Lay-mens Books wherein they may Read without ever a Letter the Lives of the Saints What if I should say the Sun is a fit Emblem of God and a Pattern for our Imitation Imitation I say and Admiration not Adoration 1. A fit Emblem or rather Adumbration of God but with an Infinite Disproportion For inter finitum infinitum no proper Comparison Yet this I say is peradventure as fit an Emblem of the Divinity asany we can find within the ken of our senses and under the cope of Heaven And methinks God himself doth not disdain the Resemblance the Holy Ghost himself setcheth Metaphors thence to attribute unto God Psal 84.11 The Lord is a Sun and Psal 4. Cause the Light of thy Countenance to shine c. and Jam. 1.17 The Father of Lights And the Fathers generally make use of this similitude to pourtray a little in faint resemblance the Majesty of God by So Chrysostom Gregory Bernard Tertullian Hillary c. Having therefore so good footing for my Inference I shall pursue it more clearly The Sun is an Emblem of the Godhead in these respects 1. Of his Vnity There is one Sun in the Firmament and one God in Heaven Deut. 4.35 Vnto thee c. Deut. 6.4 The Lord our God is one Lord. Are there any more Suns in the World than one 'T is true there are sometimes Parelii or Mock-Suns two or three or more which are no other than some Images or faint resemblancies of the Sun caused by the refraction of its Beams in some plain thick watery adjacent Cloud and so there may be some faint shaddow or adumbrations of the Deity in some brave Vertuoso's some Heroic Saints in the World but yet he that shall worship these for Gods and pray to them as if they were his Mediators or Saviours commits Idolatry and offers Sacrilege to the God of Heaven who calls to the Grandees of the World for an Entire Service Worship him all ye Gods
id quod potuisti non poteris Hilar. Psal 145.3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable I am loth to leave this Abyss of Meditation Pardon me Sirs if I strain Courtesie a little in the case This Infinite Being is the Fountain of our Blessedness and therefore notwithstanding his Excellent Majesty can be cooped within no bounds nor scaled by any Humane Apprehensions to the height nor fathomed to the utmost depth by any Line of Humane Reason yet 't is pleasant to behold him thro the Lattices and spend our deepest thoughts and admirations upon his Glory And if we cannot comprehend him let us stand and wonder And cry out with longing and importunate Desire Oh! when shall the Veil be taken off our Eyes When shall the Apartment that separates us be taken away When shall we come to know as we are known But Oh when shall our finite Natures be exhaled and drawn up with this Sun And our Souls drawn up into his boundless Glory and we Eternally Blessed in the warm Embraces of his Divine Love In those Flames of Pure Affection for ever and ever To think now of this unsearchable God the most Infinitely Good and Glorious Being in the whole World whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain whom Angels all admire and adore the Nature of whose Glory we cannot now grasp with our most expanded thoughts That this God shall first pardon our sins and then sanctifie our natures and shortly send his Angels to fetch our Souls up to that Heavenly Choire where we shall be cloathed indeed with the Sun and tread the Moon under our Feet and look with a holy scorn upon the little silly trifling comforts of the Sublunary World This is enough to make our Faces smile now at every Beam of Light and Mercy darted upon our Souls from that Divine Countenance to make our hearts dance within us To fill us with an unspeakable Joy upon the hopes of that intuitive fruition in the other World Then and not till then we shall see the Maker of the Worlds and come to see and understand the deep and pleasant Mysteries of his Wondrous Works 4. Of the Divine Omnipresence That God should be every where present as our Religion obligeth us to believe that he is is a pretty hard Article in Heaven on Earth in Hell In the one by the especial manifestation of his Glory in the other by the continual exercise of his Providence in the last by the Execution of his Justice and yet thus he is as both Scripture and Reason oblige us to believe The Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him nor the Earth nor Hell He transcends all the limits of Nature and surpasses all those little finite bounds of Man's Conception Psal 139.3 4 5 c. yet even the difficulty of this Attribute as insuperable as it seems to be is plainly illustrated by this Simile The Sun is placed in the heavenly Orbs there it resides continually yet disperseth its shining rayes to the Firmament above to the Air to the Earth below yea it traverseth round the world and visits the Antipodes under our Feet it passeth through our Windows through the crevises of our Walls the light breaks in through the Pores of our Curtains and its Heat through Stone-walls it shines upon the nasty Dunghills and yet receives no infection or impurity thence Why should it seem then a thing impossible that the God that made it should fill the World with his Presence and he confin'd to no bounds 5. Which borders upon it Of the Divine Omniscience The Heathens supposed the Sun could see and hear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even the Scripture it self sometimes makes use of this Allusion and Metaphor The Sun hath looked upon me Cant. 1.6 2 Sam. 12.11 In the sight of this Sun And there is so much ground for this Phancy that take away the Sun and our Eyes would serve to very little purpose it is that dispels the darkness and discovers the Truth in all places of the World where it is discovered and it brings to light the hidden things of darkness As I said but now it visits all parts of the World Air Earth Sea all the corners of the Earth all the rooms of our Houses nay our very Reins and Heart the most retired parts of our Bodies are not hid from the Heat of it Were it possible to bar the Pores of our Skin and shut the door of our Breasts fast against the Beams and warm influence of it our very Heart-blood would soon congeal into a dead and putrid Humour What is this but a fair Copy of the Divine Omniscience so far as an insensate Creature can possibly vie with an intelligent and infinite Creator Tell me you now that are ready to object Blindness to the God of Heaven and say Tush the Lord doth not see nor the God of Jacob regard can you hide your selves from the Sun of the Firmament and live If not shall not he that made the Sun search further than an insensate finite Creature of his own making Shall not he that made the Eye see c. but shall not he that made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eye of the World see more than the Eye it self Go now ye Hypocrites and shut the Door and draw the Curtain over your secret Debaucheries and dare to perpetrate the blodest sins under a Vail but remember that the Light will break in through the narrowest chink and nothing can hide you from the Omniscient Eye before whom Hell is naked and Destruction hath no covering Job 26.6 vid. Heb. 12.13 6. Of the Divine Providence That God should be still in Heaven and there safe in the enjoyment of a Compleat Happiness and yet interpose his Power and Government in the Transactions of this lower World without any Disturbance to his rest and quietness is a Wonder which some People in the World have not been able to digest I desire these People but to give themselves leisure to meditate a little upon the present subject of our Discourse and take notice how the Sun is as quiet in his Orb and excellently glorious from Age to Age without any change or diminution or disturbance from any thing either in the Spheres above or the Orbs below and yet hath still a mighty influence upon all things here beneath tempering the Air fanning the Clouds dissolving the Snow and Hail and Frost and Dew giving light to the Moon shining round the Earth fecundating the very Mines Trees Herbs Grass Fruits Flowers influencing upon the Constitutions of us Men our Bodies first and then our Minds giving light heat motion action generation sense and life to all sublunary living bodies and then say Whether it be not very feasible to believe that God Almighty may govern this lower World and interpose his Hand in the Concernments of us Men without any prejudice to the rest of his blessed Attributes I am very sorry that Men are
TURNER Meditations UPON THE Beauty of Holiness 'T IS a laborious Task to commend unto the sinful World the Love of our Religion and requires a more than Humane an Angel's Skill the Tongue of Cherubims the most strenuous Arguments and sweetest Eloquence in the World And when we have done all that we can unless we can also open blind eyes and make them see a Beauty there where with their natural Eyes and Understandings they see nothing but Deformity our labour is still lost and we must return without our Errand My Design at this time is to treat upon this Subject and yet when I have set out the Constitution of our Religion in its Native beauty and presented the Figure of it in its most amiable Complexion I must leave it at your Censures and desire you to begg of God the Illumination of your Understandings the opening of your Eyes that you may pass a right Judgment in the Case This will be the drift of my following Discourse viz. I. To shew that Holiness and the Divine Worship are in themselves beautiful II. To exhort you to keep up what you can this Beauty of Divine Worship and a Holy Life First That there is a certain Beauty in the Exercise of Religion and especially in the Divine Worship and this may be evinced by the opening of these particulars 1. The God whom 2. The Christ thro' whom 3. The Ministers by the instrumentality of whom 4. The Place where 5. The People who 6. The Graces wherewith 7. The Ordinances wherein 8. The Glory for which we worship Are all Beautifull This I shall shew first of all and afterwards the Deformity of the contrary Impiety and Irreligion 1. The God whom we worship is a Beautiful God If there be any Beauty in the World any Comeliness and Excellency in any Creature any pleasant Figures or Shaddows of Decency to be found upon any Being within the Circuit of the wide Vniverse they are all but borrowed Beams from this Sun The Psalmist makes it his most Cordial request his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his only Petition to Heaven to see the Beauty of the Lord Psal 27.4 Here he could be content to inhabit all his dayes to contemplate the Beauty of the great Jehova to gaze and spend his Eyes upon the glorious lustre of this Sun a thousand Mouths and a thousand Tongues tho' as fluent all of them as those of Angels would be too little to praise this Beauty to describe this Glory but one Ray of it darted in full vigour upon us now would be enough not only to strike our Senses with blindness and astonishment but even to crack our mortal Tabernacles and lay us all flat upon the Dust Why the Divine Glory is inaccessible to Creatures dwelling in corruptible bodies in Houses of meer Clay not yet purged from the rottenness and rust of Sin and refined for Glory the God whom we worship is a God of eminency of excellent Beauty of incomprehensible unconceivable Glory all the Jewels and Inferiour Beauties of this sublunary World and all the Spangles of the Starry Spheres put together would be nothing compared to this excellent amiable Being Could we but see him a little in his Robes of Majesty Glory and Beauty now as we shall hereafter Face to Face a glimpse would be a Charm Face to Face a glimpse would be a Charm and a single Glance a Spell to all the Cares and Pleasures of this poor transitory World Then we should dote as David did upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cry out in the same manner One thing O Lord this one thing I desire this I will seek after that I may dwell in thy house for ever that I may spend not only the few Minutes of the present short Life but may wear an Eternity in thy house c. Then with St. Paul after his Visions let the World lye all of it under foot let all the Charms besides of Wealth or Pleasure be despised as Dross and Dung in comparison of this Beauty this Glory I would but cannot speak somewhat worthy of that God and his desirableness whom we worship for not only our Tongues but our Senses faulter when we soar aloft and begin to talk of that Infinite Glory His own Works speak louder for him than our words All his Works praise him Every Creature hath a Tongue to say somewhat in the Commendation of him that made them and can we live in the croud in the very midst of his Encomiasts and hear and see nothing I would not Sirs that ye should be put into Raptures now God finds it not convenient to distribute our Rewards to us 'till we have done our Work he hides at present his Beauty from us in retirement within the Vail but I would not that Men should be stark-blind and not see something of his Excellency whose Glory fills the Heavens and Mercies extend themselves over all the World 2. The Christ through whom we Address our selves to God and by whose Intercession we hope for Acceptance in our religious Services Our Mediator is sweet and lovely the most amiable amongst ten thousand fairer than all the Children of Men his Lips are full of Grace and Truth his Garments smell of Myrrh Alloes and Cassia out of the Ivory Pallaces His Incarnation humble Birth excellent Doctrine holy Life divine Miracles meritorious Death and glorious Resurrection all are pourtrayed to us in the Lineaments of a perfect Beauty here we may see the blessed Cherubims clasping their Wings over the Propitiatory Truth and Mercy Righteousness and Peace issing each other the Terrors of the Law and the Blessings of the Gospel met together in the sweetest Embraces and if there be any profane incredulous Souls that wink and dazle at this Prospect and say as in the Prophet He hath no form or comeliness and tho' we see him we see nothing in him that we should desire him Isa 53.1 If he be despised and rejected of Men as 't is very true he is by too too many if this Jewel be a stone of stumbling we know the reason 't is because the God of this World hath blinded their Eyes and drawn such deep Prejudices over their Understandings that like Owls of the Desert they cannot see the Noon-Sun Away then with that unholy Generation that prize not their Mediator nor make their Applications to Heaven in his Name but make a Mock of that Jesus that dyed in Jerusalem and resolve all the Mystery of our Redemption into a meer figure as if our Jesus were but a shadow and our Redemption a vanity and those also that place so much Perfection in themselves as makes the application of Christ's Merits impertinent and unnecessary or those either that patch the Merits of their Saviour with their own Works and to make him more compleat adjoin other Mediators to him For us we know no other Name under Heaven so sweet so salutary so efficacious with God the Father by whom
are the Glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8.23 and therefore may well be accounted the Glory of us the Beauty of the World the Jewel of the whole Earth and tho' it be burnt with the Sun of Temptation and Affliction tho' it be spotted as the Moon tho' it be black and homely yet 't is orderly and comely and shall e're long be presented all the Body of them to the Holy Jesus as a glorious Church without spot c. Psal 48.1 2 3. 6. The Graces wherewith And here I have a large Field a pleasant Garden full of sweet odoriferous Herbs and beautiful fragrant Flowers to walk in a Bed of Spices a Baal-Hamon and better than that the Vineyard the Eden of the God of Heaven for he himself doth not disdain to walk in this Paradise to gather these Flowers to divert himself in this Garden Cant. 5.1 I am come c. If ye ask me What is the Garden of God Answ Isa 5.7 Surely the Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the Men of Juda his pleasant plant The Church of the faithful is his Eden his Habitation his Diversion but the Herbs that grow there and the Flowers that flourish there are the Virtues and Graces of his People Here upon these gracious qualities these holy Habits I would fain spend some Praises and set them out in a beautiful dress to the Eye of the World but two things hinder One that 't is hard to praise sufficiently things excellent the other that if I could do it yet their Beauty is not to be seen with carnal Eyes We must wink upon the Flesh if we would see Spirits and we must be blind to carnal Objects when we would survey the beauty of spiritual Graces But really the Graces are the greatest Embellishments of Humane Nature Coats of Embroidery and profitable pleasant glorious the most decent wear for rational and immortal Spirits and durable and fashionable to Eternity Virtues that make Men's Faces shine Converlations glister and every thing that appertains to them appear pardonable lovely and inviting Cant. 4.9 Thou hast ravished my Heart c. So God himself is pleased to accept the Beauty of our Graces the Communications of his Spirit and so Men too are apt to take a Complacency in these qualities Bonus Vir Caius seius c. Jewel I could love thee wer 't thou not an Heathen in thy Opinions but surely thou art an Angel in thy Life and Conversation Give me a Man of a pious sober just humble peaceable charitable Genius a Man that gives his God his Prince his Priest his Neighbour his Enemy his Family himself all their due that keeps up the Rules of Religion Civility Order in Church Countrey Neighbourhood Houshold a Man that keeps his Orb without disorder without confusion that neither flinches for the Sails of Prosperity nor the frowns of an adverse and cross Fortune A Man of a smooth brow an affable Tongue a charitable Hand an honest and devout Heart and an unblameable Lise A Man that doth no wrong in the World that doth all the good he can to Friends to Enemies to all A Man that 's good in all Relations as a Child Husband Brother Neighbour Magestrate Minister Subject This is a Man that gives a Reputation to Religion adorns the Gospel beautifies the Church and shines to the World like Moses coming down from Mount Sinai or the Disciples of whom they in the Acts took cognizance that they had been with Jesus I am very confident might Men be left to their own sober Thoughts and choice they could not desire a Husband Wife Prince Subject Neighbour Enemy Family Kingdom Parent Child any Society or Relation in the World better accomplished and fitted to the uses of a quiet peaceable and sweet Life and Conversation than the Graces of Christianity will make Men Why what are Piety Charity Honesty Meekness Innocence Zeal Modesty Humility Faith Hope Patience Sobriety Justice Chastity Liberality Prudence with all the rest of the Train of Spiritual and Evangelical Virtues but the bravest Qualities that flesh and blood can be cloathed with the finest wear for immortal Spirits raiment of Needle-work Coronets upon the Head and Chains about the Neck So Solomon describes the universal Grace of Wisdom in his Proverbs Pagans saw this Beauty in Virtue and admired it Holiness carries a Majesty in its presence to be adored by Infidels If the Apostles come into a barbarous Nation their very Enemies in calm mood shall make them Garlands and cry them up for Gods descended down from Heaven in the shape of Men one shall be Jupiter and another Mercury He 's worse than an Heathen that sees not an excellency in Holiness a modest loftiness in spiritual Wisdom that deserves both Esteem and Love The sweetness of Temper the Innocency of Deportment the discreet Managery of Affairs the Love Mercy and Condescention that is taught by the Christian Graces is the greatest enoblement of Humane Nature that 't is capable of on this side Heaven These Graces shed a Beauty upon our very Breasts and inward Man as well as upon the outward Life an Actions they bring us to the best way of living we are capable of in this World both in respect of God our selves and all others the Graces and Virtues of our Religion are most transparent beams of Divine Perfection on they make up a Complexion in our Humane Nature according to what is eternally existing in the Holy Nature of God so far as we are capable of a Conformity to it and that in the Judgment of right Reason is the highest and noblest account of all good living for we cannot do better than in our measure to correspond to Divine Perfection what underfiled Religion Worship and Conversation is here communicated to us and made essential to the Christian by these Graces without the least mixture of Idolatry and Superstition what superlative Piety and Virtue without any spot of Vice of Debauchery what punctual and perpetual Truth without the taint of Hypocrisie or Knavery the outward Cloth is Sheeps Wool and the inward Temper is the Innocency of the Dove Here 's no rebellion or undutifulness to Superiours no contempt and scorn offered to Equals no insulting and revenge put upon inferiours but Men are modelled and dressed out in a Habit that renders them amiable to God and pleasant to themselves and comfortable to all about them We are enabled by these heavenly qualities not to offend weak ones to look upon all men with a kind Eye to interpret them in the best sense they are capable of to love all Men to forgive to pray for to shew kindness to them that wrong us In short we are thoroughly furnished to every good work brought to the best way of living the noblest principles of suffering and the best way of dying and is there not a Beauty in these Divine qualifications Sure I am not all the Wit of Man or Policy of Devils
could reduce the World to such a Posture or put Mankind in such a pleasant frame and temper as these do could furnish us with such pure and untainted streams of Piety Virtue and good Nature as these Graces well got and thoroughly attained And therefore let your light so shine before men c. It hath been long since observed if a Man standing at a great distance see a company Dancing he wonders at their antick gestures and seemingly ridiculous Motions and thinks them a company of Mad men but if he approaches nearer and comes within the reach of the harmonious Musick and Melody which guides and measures all these Motions and observes how regularly one answers to the other he than admires them approves their decency and order and desires to Dance with them So if a Man takes up the reports of the World concerning serious Christians or sees them at a distance busily attending all the Duties of their Calling and holy Profession he thinks of them as Festus of Paul they are beside themselves c. But come we nearer to an Intimacy and familiar Acquaintance with the Rule of Holy Living and Prov. 3.15.17 She is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace 7. The Ordinances wherein whether it be the Preaching of the Word When the Man Preaches with such life and seriousness Orthodoxy and Authority Grace and Eloquence and such easie Methods and variety of Matter that the People are never weary of Hearing or Prays with heavenly life and fervour as may take the Souls of them that join with him or Praises with that alacrity and joyfulness which beseemeth those that are ready to pass into glory or Administers the Holy Sacraments with that veneration and solemnity that Pathos and Devotion as is due to those Sacred Mysteries this Decency this Beauty in the Divine Worship is enough to embellish the Church and make it look like Heaven in Emblem and signification More particularly 1. The Preaching and Hearing of the Word To speak familiarly 't is very becoming the Constitution of our Religion or any Religion in the World for an Ezra the Priest to bring the Law before the Congregation and to read therein from the morning till mid-day and the Tribe of Levi to cause the People to understand the Law to read distinctly and give the sense and cause them to understand the reading Neh. 8.12 to have a Testimony established in Jacob and a Law appointed in Israel which the Fathers are commanded to make known to their Children Psal 78.5 6. to go into the Synagogue on the Sabbath dayes and read and expound there the Will of God concerning our Salvation 'T is a pleasant thing for the Sons of Aaron to dispense the Manna of the Word with a good Conscience and in due season and to try what they can by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe to fill the Pulpit with Orthodoxy the Sentiments of the Divine Oracles the Authority of Heaven with wholsome Admonitions and suitable Reproofs and cordial Promises and the Ministry of Reconciliation to throw Coals from the Sacred Altar to warm the Hearts of all them that come Auditors out of the cold World and to stir them up to the Offices of Piety by putting them in remembrance of what God hath left upon record to that purpose in his Gospel And 't is a comely thing for the People to sit down in humble posture at the feet of Gamaliel to watch daily at the gates and wait at the Posts of Wisdom's doors to search for Knowledge for spiritual Knowledge with as much pains and diligence as Men are wont to search for Gold or Silver or hid Treasures when Men are glad to go to the house of the Lord and every Neighbour joggs his Brother and calls friendly upon him to go in society with him when the Tribes of Israel go up together with unanimous Consent with one Heart in one body as an Army with banners to gather Manna and eat Angels Food when they come with reverence to the House of God and take heed to their Feet and be more ready to hear believe and mediate than to offer the Sacrifice of Fools when the People are more willing to learn and practice than dispute and censure and contradict and disobey when Humility opens the Church door and Veneration attends their seats and Faith waits upon their Ears and Devotion hath taken possession of their Hearts When the Fields are ripe for Harvest and the Auditors as willing to learn as the Pastor to teach when the Lambs cry and bleat with importunity for the Udder and the Milk of the Word is taken greedily in and turns not into noxious Humours but into good Blood and Nourishment and makes the Conversation shine with good works and Evangelical Graces the fruits of a Holy Life when these things accord together as they should do then there is a beauty and comeliness of aspect in the Divine Worship 2. When they join in Prayers with that Unanimity and Concord that Faith and Sincerity that Devotion and Zeal as if all the Congregation had a mind to climb Heaven in a fiery Chariot to attach the Heavenly Jerusalem with a Volley of Prayers to take the Holy City with a sacred Violence to Pray the Gates open to that Coelestial Paradise in spite of all the Powers of Earth and Hell when our Prayers are well grounded and our Hearts well qualified and the Holy Jesus is the Fore man the Intercessor our High Priest to carry our Petitions within the Veil and to offer them there incensed with the Presenee of his own Merits and Mediation and we are resolved not to rise off our Knees without our Errand 'till we find sin bleeding upon the ground our Hearts melting in a gentle thaw under the benign influence of the Divine Clemency and we our selves clasping fast into the Embraces of the Almighty when the Breast pours out Prayers the Eye tears the Body kneels down the Soul lies in Paraphrase and the Man considers that Eternity depends upon the grant and is resolved to wrestle it out with the Angel of the Covenant 'till the dawning of the day the day-spring from on high does visit him 3. When they join in Praises and Thanksgivings to the God of Heaven with that chearfulness and alacrity as if they would send their Hearts also in their Eucharists and praise God not with the Calves of their Lips but the best Instrument they have their very Hearts and Souls When there are no Mutes in the Alphabet no jarring string in the whole Assembly no particular Member out of Tune but every individual Soul contributes to a Psalm and strives to make up an Harmonious Melody to that God that made their Tongues and calls for Hallelujahs Psal 66.1 Psal 76.11 Psal 81.1 2. Psal 92.1 95.1 Psal 96.1 4. When they all
immediate presence into the Court of Heaven nothing that hath any spot or blemish or wrinkle must come into that Holy Quire All the dogs and all the impenitent unpurified sinners are banished thence all those unclean beasts are shut out of the Coelestial Ark No unclean thing shall enter there c. Good Angels are disobliged by the impurity of our lives and good Men are ready to say David Psal 101. 3. Depart from me c. It leaves a blot of deformity upon our Reputation Sin is a dishonourable thing it brings shame to us for its real effect it brings shame to us for its real effect and puts our Names into a dark Eclipse Whose glory is their shame Phil. 3. 19. What fruit had ye in these things c. The Name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10. 7. In short almost all the sins that men are guilty of renders their Actions deformed their Lives unlovely their reputation noisome their Memories putrid in the eyes of God and all good Men and to make this more evident suppose a Scheme of our own Societies our present age exposed to open view in the presence of the Gravest Catoes the Wisest Senators the Holy Angels the Blessed Jesus the Almighty God the Searcher of Hearts and the Book of all Mens Actions unclasped and laid open to the eye of the whole World as they will shortly be without any hopes or possibility of Dissimulation or Hypocrisie how eager then and solicitous do ye think would all impenitent sinners be to sew leaves together to fain Excuses to hide in rocks to cover their shame to veil over their deformity In the mean time what makes the prophane Rabble abscond so industriously from the searching eyes of wise and good men what makes them that are drunken drunk in the night and they that commit fornication do it within the Confines of the close Curtains and every sinner desire the Twilight yea the thickest darkness and most Men put on Cloak to hide their Wickedness were it not that sin in its own nature is deformity at least is so esteemed in the eyes of them that judge according to right reason and the light of Truth Where 's the Man that dares avow wickedness in its own Colours and will plead for vice and profess Debauchery even Atheists themselves the grossest sinners of all others would fain prove Truth and Vertue on their side and they dare hardly speak with their mouths what they would willingly entertain in their hearts That there is no God nor Heaven nor Hell nor Vertue nor Vice in the whole World The fool hath said in his heart there is no God Secondly I would perswade to worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness 1. Beauty is an amiable thing 'T is lovely and inviting and as the Orator saith if we desire to observe a Decorum in those things that relate to our Bodies to our Garments to our Gestures we should be much more so to keep up a Decency and Beauty in all our Actions especially when we are conscious that an Omniscient Eye seeth all we do and Angels do still attend us and all our secret things shall sortly be broughtly into Cognisance before the whole World Turpe quid c. 2. All things that are true wise and good are beautiful Indeed there is nothing of Decency in any thing else but what is conform to a holy rule and what dares abide the examen of the Light and the Tryal of a searching eye Ignorance Error and Vice are apt to sneak and the guilty sinner hates the light because his deeds are evil Only Truth and Goodness as being conscious of their own Beauty Order Loveliness and Excellency are bold to appear before the Noon sun And therefore Sirs if there be such excellent qualities as these in the world be exhorted to pursue after them if Religion be lauidble Christinaity excellent a sincere Devotion a fervent Zeal a warm Charity and an Honest Life have any thing of Beauty and Commendation belonging to them if it be a pleasant thing to pour out the Soul in Prayer to offer Eucharists and Hallelujahs to the God of your Mercies to pay Devoirs to the King of Heaven to fing his Praises upon the Harp and Heart to live humbly holily and righteously in the sight of Men Do Sirs dare to take some pains to pursue carefully after these things Phil. 4. 4 8. 3. This Beauty of Religion commends it to the Approbation of the World and makes the Church shine to those that are without It represents it lovely and inviting to all Beholders and therefore for the sake of those incredulous souls that yet lye under prejudices and the disadvantages of an ill prospect we should do what we can to make our light shine before men and our Graces give a lustre to our Principles that if it be possible and as much as lies in us we may charm Proselytes court the Love and Embraces of the incredulous world stop the mouths of contradicting sinners make Proselytes of all that know us and are acquainted with our Conversations let our Words be true our Speech savory our Tables sober our Port grave our Actions honest and our Worship Evangelical and every instance of our lives impress'd with a tincture of Grace Holiness and Heaven and then our faces will shine and our light extend it self round about us to the Reputation of our Religion and the inviting or silencing of very Enemies 'T is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun but 't is much more so to behold the Son of Righteousness in his full glory shining in the Church and communicating his graces in plentiful manner to them that dwell on Mount Zion to see the Priests cloathed with righteousness and the Saints shouting aloud for ioy Psal 132. 9 16. To see the Disciples of the Holy Jesus in their Wedding Garments cloathed with such Raiment as may qualifie them for the Espousals of the King of Heaven the Ring on their hand and a Crown of Glory upon their head and the best Robes in the whole World the best manners the most amiable Graces for their common wear and their heads anointed with Oyl the most costly Ointments the Consolations of the Holy Ghost the peace of Conscience inward and spiritual joy their feet shod with the preparations of the Gospel of Peace to see all Orders and Ranks of Men among us keep up Order and Decency and Love in their full strength and vigour to see the Husband loving the Wife and Wife reverencing the Husband the Parents providing carefully for and instructing their Children and the Children dutiful and loving and faithful to their Parents Servants obedient to their Masters with fear and trembling in the singleness of their heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not as to Men and Masters again doing the same things unto them forbearing threatning knowing that they also have a Master in Heaven the Prince ruling in justice