God what you must Avoid if you would not Defile It remains now that I lay down those Directions which you must observe If you will Adorn the Doctrine of our God and Saviour in All things 1. And first severely Govern your selves and the whole Tenor of your Conversations by that Royal Law Matth. vii 12. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets A Law which Christ has transcribed out of the Codè of Nature into his own A Law which once grew upon the stock of Morality but he has transplanted and inoculated into the Gospel Called therefore by the Apostle St. James ii 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture thou shalt love thy neighâ—…our as thy self ye do well A Law that carries the fairest Stamp and Signature both of the Divine Nature and Authority A Law that shines with its own Light into the Soul of Man No Man would Defraud Oppress Persecute another if he would give his Conscience leave to put this Question to him Would I be thus treated thus dealt with my self A due Attendance to this Rule would not only teach us to do Justice but to shew Mercy to Others upon this single consideration I expect Justice and may need Mercy and Pity from others for certainly I am obliged to give what I expect and to shew what I my self may need And nothing would more reclaim Men from their Unchristian their Antichristian Barbarities than to put our selves into the same Condition and Case to suppose our selves chained in the same Prison labouring under the same pressures with others of our Brethren 1. Whatever Mercy Pity Charity we may possibly need in our Extremity let us learn to shew it to others in theirs If we shut up our Bowels of Compassion what may we expect but that God will shut up his and that will restrain the Bowels of Compassion of all the World to us as the first Cause either draws nigh to us or recedes from so will the second either assist or forsake us This Reason the Apostle offers Heb. xiii 3. why we should Remember these that are in bonds and sympathize with them as if we were bound with them and them that suffer affliction as being your selves also in the body Suppose we are not actually bound yet we are in the body and may be so We are not Sick as others are yet we are in the body and may be so and shall then need those Charitable Visits that Relief which we now forget or neglect to Administer Or perhaps we now abound dwell at ease yet still we are in the body and may soon in that very Kind need Compassion And this may seasonably lead us into the Admiration of the Pity Compassion and Bounty of our gracious God who being out of the reach of our Necessities yet can exercise Bowels of tender Mercy to us poor sinning and suffering Worms and into the Admiration of the pities of Christ who now upon the Throne and out of the way of those Afflictions and Temptations wherewith we are encompassed yet has not left the Humane Nature behind him but taken it with him into Heaven that he might therein compassionate his distressed Members whom he is not ashamed to call his brethren Phil ii 11. 2. This ought to teach us to do that Justice to others which we expect others should do to us for with what judgment we judg we shall be judged Matth. vii 2. This one thing would marvellously Adorn the Gospel when we can Convince all the World that our Religion has made us better Men when it made us Christians and that we brought along with us Morality when we espoused and came over to Christianity 2. Secondly Maintain a heavenly Mind and Conversation Let all see that though your Root be in Heaven yet you bring forth Fruit here on Earth It has reflected highly upon our Profession that we believe well but live ill we have got a Systeme of heavenly Truths in our Mouths but we disparage them with Earthly Lives A heavenly Mind a heavenly Frame of Heart would support a heavenly Conversation now because this is that great thing that must recover the Credit and Honour of the Gospel I will in few words shew you what it is 1. A heavenly Mind has unmoveably fixt and pitcht upon Heaven for its great and commanding end this is his Fathers House whither he is always Travelling 't is the Port for which he is Bound And because there may be a mistake in the Notion of Heaven as that it may be only a place of Ease a state of Rest from the Troubles of this Life he is satisfied that the enjoyment of God in that Place and State makes the real Heaven Psal. lxxiii 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee 2. The heavenly Mind and Heart is always vigorously pursuing that great Design and because there are many impertinent avocations that would seduce or steal his Heart from his end he shakes them off with indignation as those that would divert him in that Holy pursuit nor does he so much consider how much of his Race he has run as he ties up himself to run the rest Phil. iii. 14. Forgetting the things that are behind and looking unto those that are before we press towards the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus 3. The heavenly Mind endeavours especially to maintain a heavenly Temper and frame of Heart which is the life of all heavenly pursuits The Habits of Grace must be reduced into Act and Exercise and Grace must be laid out to its highest and noblest end as the best Instrument must be in Tune before the skilful Hand can make Melody upon it so must the Heart be kept in Frame suitable to the services which are proper to it 4. A heavenly Mind must Conform it self to and Exercise it self in those imployments here below which are the proper Work of Heaven always recovering it self when it deviates from its main end with this Question My soul How do the Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect spend their blâ—…ssed Eternity above They are surely Praising Blessing Admiring Adoring Loving and Serving their God their Redeemer their Sanctifier and Comforter and why do not we Conform our selves to their Pattern The great Law of Heaven governs them and every Thought and Motion of their Wills why do we not then more fervently Pray that we may do the Will of God on Earth as t is done in Heaven With the same chearfulness and perseverance And though we come short of their Perfect Love Praise and Service yet let us be Practising and tuning our Hearts and Harps for those Hallelujahs The Work of Eternity must be begun in time upon us and done in time by us nor is there a wilder Fancy that can delude the vain Heart of Man than to
faster when it was watered with the Blood of the Martyrs Proâ—…perity and that Loosness which commonly attends it was the Poyson poured out into the Church The frequent mowing down of Christ's Field makes it come up the thicker and greener Plures efficimur quoties metimur was Tertullians Observation Debauching Prosperity has been the greatest Enemy that ever Religion had in the World Isa. v. 4. when God looked as after all his Cost and Pains he might well look that his Vineyard should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes Go to now saith he I 'll tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down and I will lay it waste The Politicks of Earth are vastly different from those of Heaven both in the Securing and the Adorning Religion The Methods of humane Wisdom to secure Religion proceed thus They hedge it about with strict Laws and severe Penalties which sometimes are as cruel as the Crimes they would restrain are Enormous and whilst by these Artifices they would entail Religion upon Posterity corruption of Doctrine defiling of Worship and loosness of Manners provokes God to cut off the Entail And thus when we have lost the Power of Religion upon our Hearts and the Purity of it in our Lives our Care is to supply the Defect by trimming and tricking it up with gaudy ceremonial Ornaments How much more beautiful were our first Parents in their Original Nakedness than when the Sense of Sin and Shame taught them to patch together a few Fig-leaves to cover it but Religion is its own Strength it s own Beauty 'T is its own Ornament and Muniment nothing adorns nothing secures Religion but Religion Let us therefore shew an Exemplary Conversation and this will Beautify this will Fortify it better than all our politick Contrivances and fruitful Inventions It was a Glorious Promise which God gave to the Gospel-Church under the Notion of Jerusalem Zech. ii 4 5. Jerusalem shall be inhabited as Towns without walls and bulwarks For I saith the Lord will be a wall of fire round about her and will be the glory in the midst of her Holiness engages God's special Presence and that Presence is our Protection Secure God's Glory in the Center and we shall have a Wall of Fire in the Circumference A parallel Promise we have Isa. iv 5. Upon all the Glory there shall be a Defence If therefore we are careless of that Glory let us make what Walls we can our Walls of Water and of Wood will deceive us nothing but such a Holiness as will engage the Divine Presence and Protection can secure us and the Gospel of God our Saviour unto us 3. Cansideration Nothing but a holy exemplary Conversation can possibly propagate the Gospel abroad our Lives speak louder than our Words and we may with more ease live Men over than dispute them over to Christ. Let us be never so Zealous in our Arguings they will readily retort it upon us Why do you persuade to go to Zion when you your selves are running to Babylon In vain did we plead with others to Turn and look towards Heaven if we are treading the broad way that leads towards Hell Do we then indeed wish well to the Kingdom of Christ Should we rejoyce to see the heathen given him for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possessions First remove the stumbling Blocks we have laid in the way of their Conversion then win them over by an Heavenly Holy Sober Righteous Conversation speak so that Men may see that what you speak you believe to be Truth There were more brought in and converted in the first Twenty Years of the â—…eformation than in the last Century and of our few Modern Converts it's to be fear'd some of them need Conversion This was the Glory of the early Days of Christianity Act. 2. 46. They continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God And the Lord added daily to the Church such as should be saved And the same Success the Gospel had upon the same reason Act. ix 31. Then had the Churches rest and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comforts of the Holy Ghost were multiplied 4. Consideration The Adorning of the Gospel by a holy practical Conversation would contribute much to the healing of our present deplorable Divisions our scandalous Separations and that Spirit of frowardness and perverseness which has possess'd this present Generation The Differences amongst us are not so great as are imagined nor yet so small as not to be lamented Wisdom Humility and a temper of Moderation might have managed as great Matters as these came to without any notable Scandal but a Spirit of Pride Hatred uncharitable Censoriousness has inflamed these little things to a prodigious height Now the process was thus Some Professors had given Offence by their remiss or perhaps some irregular Walking there began the Offence first at the Person then at the Profession The Disgust at one grew up to a Disgust against all of the same Denomination from an Ossence at the Persons it grew up into a Distaste of their Worship and Administrations and when this dividing Zeal had usurpt the Title of Divine Fervour then Heaven and Earth Church and State must be involved in unquenchable Flames This was therefore the generous Spirit of the Apostle 2 Cor. xi 12. What I do that I will do that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion that wherein they glory they may be found even as we But I must shut up this Discourse which a sincere desire to restore our Holy Religion to its due Honour and Repute has made to grow under my hands to a bulk far greater than at first designed Give me leave to reassume my Exhortation I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God and the Bowels of our Lord and Saviour that you would consider and pity the sad Case of his blessed Gospel which has been wounded either by our hands or through our sides and make it your great Business to Adorn it in All things I deny not but though you should walk like Angels there are a Generation of Men would reproach you as Devils but yet there are many Curable Souls whose Reconciliation to the Ways of God wants nothing waits for nothing so much as that you should shew them the way to Heaven by your Heavenly Example And that our Endeavours may be successful let us all join with the Prophet in his Pious Prayer Hab. iii. 2. O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid O Lord revive thy work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make known in wrath remember mercy Amen FINIS
it to Christ that he had kept all the commandmâ—…nts from his youth he began early continued long promised to persevere to the â—…nd I confess I suspect he either lyed against his Conscience or else had a very bad one and he had been more hopeful if from a sound Conviction he had bitterly cried out All these commandments I have broken from my youth But be it so Christ willing to try the truth of his Active by his Passive Obâ—…dience put him upon this Trial Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven This was a pinching Word indeed The Neck-Verse for a Hypocrite Methinks I see his Courage cool his Countenance change and grow pale Amazement and Confusion in his Looks he turns about and goes away sorrowful sar he had great possessions Upon no lower Terms than these must wâ—… hope to Recover the Glory departed from our Profession Then when we can cast all at Christ's Feet resign all into his Hands and whether he gives or takes say with holy Job Job 1. 21. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. Let us therefore set before our Faith and imitate the Father of the faithful Gen. xxii who when called of God to offer up his Son his only Son his well-beloved Son the Son of the Promise and that in a way which seemed to Contravene the Law of Nature the positive Law of God yet disputed not delayed not but gave this clear Demonstration that he had nothing too Dear for his God 5. In all things Whether in a more narrow and private or in a more enlarged and publick capacity The Heavenly Orbs are of different Diameters yet they move regularly according to the Laws imposed upon them by their Creator The Stars are of differing Lustre and Glory and yet they shine and grudge not their influences to this lower ungrateful World which returns them nothing but Fogs and Mists to obscure their Light and Beauty God has placed us All in Spheres of different Circumferences how small soever they be let our Motion be Regular and Orderly he has filled us with various degrees Grace and Gifts let us lay out all faithfully There are various Talents with which our Soveraign Lord has intrusted us for kind for number 1 Cor. xii 11. Wrought by that one and the same spirit dividing to every one severally as he will If then our Talents be few let 's be faithful in the using diligent in the improving them the unprofitable servant Matth. xxv was not condemned because he had but one Talent but because he hid it in a Napkin He that has but a little spot of Ground may Cultivate it and shew that diligence in improving it that it may reward his Labour with a blessing Since I considered that passage in the History of Absalom 2 Sam. xv 4. O that I were made judg in the Land that every one that has any suit or cause might come unto me and I would do him justice It has taught me never to be ambitious of great things without more Grace to manage them but we are frank and liberal in our Promises to God to Men and to our selves The poor Man says O had I Riches how rich would I be in good Works The Illiterate says O that I were Learned what service would I do But let us Pray that we may have Grace to be useful and serviceable with what we have that whether in a narrow or more dilated Capacity we may Adorn the doctrine of our God and Saviour in all things 6 In all things In affirmative as well as negative Duties 'T is not enough that we Curse not God we must Bless him The Pharisee Luke xviii 11. had a Religion made up most of Negatives with a small sprinkling of lesser Duties and not without a mixture of Superstition God I thank thee I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican When the final Sentence shall pass upon every wicked Man it will proceed thus Matth. xxv 42. I was hungry and ye gave me no meat I was naked and ye cloathed me not I was sick and in prison and ye visited me not The Indictment will not be laid that they plucked the Bread out of the Disciples Mouths but that they did not feed them Nor did the Charge run that they stripp'd the Cloaths off the Saints Backs but that they did not Cloath them They are not Accused that they Cast them into Prison but that they relieved them not visited them not when there we have all cause to Pray with the holy Person Lord pardon my sins of Omission Negatives will never intitle us to that blessing of living many days and seeing much good We must join the Affirmative with them Psal. xxxiv 14. Depart from evil and do good 〈◊〉 In all things In all Companies whether holy or unholy The Apostle discharges the Corinthians 1 Cor. v. 9 10. from the Company of Fornicators And yet he seems to correct or limit the Prohibition yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with Idolaters for in that Latitude the Command would not be practicable for then says he ye must needs go out of the world Either a Christian must retire wholly from all Business in the World or must quite remove his Station into the other World A godly Man then may possibly be cast amongst them though a prudent Man will not of Choice frequent them The holy Art and Skill is how he may Adorn the Gospel when he is inevitably thrown amongst them And it 's a good Rule that if we cannot make wicked Men ashamed of their wickedness yet should we neither be ashamed of nor a shame to Holiness if they will not go to Heaven with us let us not in complaisance go to Hell with them Though Prudence will advise us to be wise as serpents a good Conscience will oblige us to keep our selves innocent as Doves That our unseasonable Rashness may not expose us to the fury of Men nor our temporizing Compliance to the wrath of God David had studied this Case with great accuracy Psal. xxxix 1 2 3. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me I was dumb with silence I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred My heart waxed hot within me while I was musing the fire kindled then spake I with my tongue Here was a notable conflict in David's soul betwixt his Prudence and his Zeal while the wicked were before him Prudence advised Silence Zeal counselled Speech while the Case was desperate and no hope of doing good appeared Prudence prevailed he was silent but as soon as there appeared fair probability of doing more good than harm or rather some good and no harm then Zeal unlock'd his Lips and he spake with his tongue A modest
word in season even amongst the Profane has proved a seed of God lodged in the mind which Divine Grace in due time has awakend to Conversion Let us therefore earnestly beg of God this mixture of holy Zeal and holy Prudence That when Providence shall cast our Lot into evil Company though we must have some Commerce with wicked Mens Persons we may have no Communion with them in their wickedness I conclude this Head with that blessed Advice of 1 Pet. ii 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorisie God in the day of visitation 1 Pet. iii. 13. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as evil doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good conversation in Christ. 8. In all things In all those Relations wherein the goodness and wisdom of God has placed us It has pleased the Soveraign disposer of all things in his own World which he powerfully made and wisely Administers to set his Rational Creatures in several Relations some he has appointed to govern others to obey but whatever Post the Divine Pleasure has allotted us to keep our business must be to Adorn the Doctrine of our God and Saviour in All things Rom. xii 6 7 8. Having therefore gifts differing according to the grace that is given us whether ministry let us wait on our one ministring or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation or he that ruleth with diligence that so we may fill up that Relation with a holy Zeal to glorifie our God and Saviour 1. There is the Master and his Servant the Master perhaps may think he 's above the Control of his poor Servant but he must know that he has also a master in heaven Col. iv 1. Let him then remember that with this God there is no respect of persons Let them make a Conscience to give unto their servants that which is just and equal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It 's just that they receive the Reward of their Labour which by Compact or Desert they may claim It 's Equal that as Masters exact of their Servants time for their Service that they allow them competent time for the service of God nor let Servants think that their Relation to God does exempt them from Fidelity to their Masters on Earth 1 Tim. vi 1. Let as many servants as are under the yoak count their own masters worthy of all honour that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed To plead or pretend Christian Liberty as a Manumission from Christian Subjection and Duty is an open blaspheming of the Doctrine of God But because the Case of Servants seems hard the Divine Goodness has made the Promise adequate to the Precept Col. iii. 23 24. Whatever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance This Exhortation is inculcated in our Text and Context Ver. 9. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things not purloining but shewing all good fidelity and all upon this great Consideration which has its influence upon all other Relations and their respective Duties that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things 2. Upon the same Reason and account it is that Wives are strictly commanded 2 Tit. iv 5. To be sober to love their husbands to love their children to be discreet keepers at home good obedient to their own husbands and all this enforced with the same great Motive That the word of God be not blasphemed All inferior Relations carry some inconveniences with them they have the labouring Oar which renders their Case somewhat difficult and furnishes corrupt Hearts with matter of discontent but still this one thing may abundantly satisfie them that in whatsoever Station the wise God has fixt them they are yet capable of adorning the doctrine of our God and Saviour 3. This consideration is also pressed upon the Consciences of Subjects 1 Pet. ii 13 14. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for so is the will of God that by well doing ye put to silence the ignorance of foolish men Abundance of reproach has been thrown in the Face of Religion on this score which we can never wash off without Tears 't is well it was not washt off with our Blood nor shall we be able to do it till Obedience for Conscience sake shall convince the World that though the Ordinance be of Man yet the Authority is of God by which they Reign and for which we obey Ver. 10. As free and yet not using our liberty as a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God 9. Lastly In all things In all those various Conditions to which we are obnoxious in this Life Plenty or Want Sickness Health good or evil Report Liberty Restraint in all these or whatever other diversities of Providence the wise God shall try and exercise us with the Gospel of Christ must be Regarded and Advanced As Poverty gives no dispensation to Murmur Repine or Steal so Riches gives no indulgence to Oppression Luxury or Riot The Doctrine of the Gospel reacheth the highest bindeth the lowest Hath God favoured thee with Prosperity Bless his Name but humour not thy self in Vanity Hath God humbled thee Humble thy self under his mighty and righteous hand that he may exalt thee in his due time 1 Pet. v. 6. A Garment may be made decent and comely as well for a Funeral as a Wedding In Prosperity God invites us to Rejoice Eccles. vii 14. But yet to wear our Garments of praise with humility In the day of Adversity we are called to Consider that God has set the one over against the other Of this excellent Spirit was the Apostle Phil. iv 12. I know both how to be abased and how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need This one instance fairly Copied out upon our Hearts and expressed in our walking would convince the World of the excellency of the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Grace of God that can teach the Soul to maintain an equipoise of Mind in all Estates To have a humble Heart in an elevated and a high Faith in a low condition Afflictive Sorrows and exalting Comforts divide our whole Lives between them yet both of them are capable of glorifying God Jam. v. 13. If any man be afflicted let him pray Prayer under Affliction witnesses that we believe our God to be good and gracious in it that he can support us under it can do us much good by it and deliver us from it But if any be
be remedied The Apostle answers If any obey not the word they may be won by the conversation of the wives but the question is what Conversation will reach that end He answers again While they behold your chast conversation coupled with fear Are there any of you who have a Neighbour a Relation a Friend that is as your own soul for whose Conversion you have longed prayed mourned and added Counsel Entreaties to your Prayers and Tears add a holy humble consciencious Conversation keeping your Consciences void of offence toward God and Men and despair not of success 5. Reason There 's nothing more Provokes the wrath of God than to throw Dirt in the Face of the Gospel and the next Provocation is not to wipe that off which others have thrown upon it Which way God will vindicate his insulted Honour which way he will Avenge himself upon a careless or loose or indifferent Generation of Professors I cannot foretel whether he will take the Sword into his provoked Hand or give a Commission to Fire Plague or other Judgment to avenge the Quarrel of his Gospel but certain it is he will do it Levit. xxvi 25 26. I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenantâ—… and when you are gathered together in your Cities I will send the pestilence amongst you and ye shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies and when I have broken the staff of your bread c. We have notoriously assronted the Gospel of our God and Saviour either by unmerciful Persecution or an unsuitable Conversation this Gospel has just cause of Quarrel against us God takes the Quarrel of his despised Truths Precepts Promises Ordinances into his own Hands he will avenge it He has already sent us a Challenge nay he has drawn blood on us but yet his patience waits and strives with us and calls to us to take up the Controversie what shall we do Either we must fight it out and carry on a vigorous War against Heaven or entertain O that we would entertain better wiser Counsels and Agree with our Adversary quickly whilst we are in the way with him and he in the way with us lest I tremble to mention what follows Let us then Repent and turn to the Lord with our whole Heart let us Reform our Persons Families our Lives peradventure the Lord may be nay certainly the Lord will be reconciled to us and have Mercy upon us § 5. The Improvement of the Point only remains and till we have done that we have done nothing but here we are usually under some mistake we think it is only the Preachers work to make Application when it 's the proper Duty of All to apply it All he can do is to Direct how it may how it must be appplied by all that hear it This Truth must be applied and improved two ways by way of Humiliation and Exhortation I. Improvement by way of Humiliation ARE we then throughly convinced that it ought to be the cautious care of all that Profess the Gospel to Adorn the Doctrine of it in all things Let us then be humbled Let us take up a bitter Lamentation over this bleeding gasping and if Grace prevent not this dying Gospel It has fared amongst us just as the poor Man Luke x. 30. Who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves they strip him wound him and leave him half dead but who could expect better quarter from bloody Thieves In this dying and desperate state there comes by a Priest he sees him but his Eyes did not affect his Heart but passes by A Levite next he bestows a careless look upon him but passes by on the other side Might not better things have been expected from the Priests and Levites Well! In the agony and pangs of Death comes by a Samaritan one abhorred both by Priest and Levite one that they damned for a wretched Schismatick but yet he had Bowels of Compassion for the expiring Man he binds up his Wounds and takes care for his Cure The Doctrine the Gospel of God our Saviour lies here a bleeding a dying 'T is in vain to inquire who has been the Assassin who has committed the Massacre For all will remove the guilt from themselves though all be guilty in the mean time Religion bleeds on and is ready to give up the Ghost Now it 's usual when a Person is found sore wounded in the Streets to ask who wounded him At least to describe them by such Characters that they may be pursued seized and brought to Condign Punishment But have we Courage enough Conscience enough to ask wounded Religion this question How readily would it answer though with the Accents of a languishing Voice It was you all and every one of you that are guilty and our own Consciences will accuse and convict us that we are the Men When our Saviour Matth. xxvi 21 22. Had told his Apostles that one of them should betray him They were exceeding sorrowful and began to say one by one Lord is it I Lord is it I He that knows his own deceitful Heart and the Corruption that lies dormant there will find Reason to suspect that a Temptation may awaken it to deny his Lord nay to betray and sell his Lord and Saviour Peter and James and John suspected themselves as much as Judas and none of us but have cause to say Lord was it I I that denyed thy Truth I that blemished thy Gospel And if so O let us mourn and mourn bitterly over him whom we have pierced as one that mourneth for an only Son Zech. xii 10. It was a cutting word that would have wounded the Heart of any but an Obdurate Judas Judas betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss Do we pretend to Kiss him and yet basely betray him The smiling Face aggravates the Rancour of the false Heart This was the baseness of Joab that he saluted Aâ—…ner and stabbed him do we Complement Christ and Stab him The Gospel may say to us in the language of that Prophetick Scheme Zech. xiii 6. The Qucstion was asked What are those wounds in thy hands Religion will answer Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends This is that which wounds deeper than the Swords the Nails the Spear the Thorns that wounded Christ He has been wounded in the House of his Friends Let not our deceitful Hearts think to evade the charge by saying Lord when did I Buffet thee or Spit upon thee It was the Soldiers When did I Crown thee with Thorns or put a Reed into thy Hands Or nail thee to the Cross or pierce thy side with a Spear It was the Jews that Accused thee Pilate that Condemn'd thee the Souldier that Pierced thee Nay but it was thou even thou who pretending to submit to my Scepter didst make it at pleasure but a broken Reed It was thou that didst profess much love with thy Lips and yet
's Good and Profitable to Men. It is calculated expresly according to the Image of him that is good and doth good Psal. cxix 68. Such is this Holy Doctrine it 's a sanctifying and a saving Doctrine Prov. iv 1 2. Hear ye children attend to know understanding for I give you good doctrine forsake ye not my law This Doctrine reveals Eternal Life and the only way to it it discovers what we must know that we perish not in Ignorance what we must believe that we perish not in Infidelity what we must do that we perish not by Disobedience what we must avoid that we perish not in our Rashness It reveals the end of Creation Redemption and how to reach the end of our Faith Hope Prayers in the Enjoyment of God blessed for ever to Eternity But if you would have the Particulars in which 't is good and profitable laid before you at once read that place 2 Tim. iii. 16 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnisht unto all good works And upon this Account if our Eyes were Rivers and our Heads a Fountain of Tears we could not enough mourn that Men have turned God's glory into shame Psal. iv 2. The Divine Glory has displayed it self gloriously in the Gospel the Glory of his Mercy manifested to lost self-lost Sinners the Glory of his Justice manifested and satisfied in his Son the Glory of his Holiness shining out in the Precepts the Glory of his Truth shining out in the Promises the Glory of his Wisdom manifested in adjusting all Interests and answering all the Pretensions of the Holy Law and yet all these impiously turned into Shame § 2. To shew the Zeal of the Primitive Christians to Adorn their Religion In those Purest Times Religion had another Face than now it wears it was delivered Pure to them by Christ and his Apostles and they represented it suitably to the worst of their Enemies and these things were their Glory 1. First There was nothing more eminently sound amongst them than Love without Dissimulation The Heathen among whom they dwelt could not but say O how these Christians love one another Act. ii 1. They were all together with one accord in one house as if one Soul animated so many Bodies They were of one Heart one Lip and one Shoulder that they might bear one anothers burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ. Gal. vi 2. 2. A second Excellency in them was their fervent Zeal for the Honour of their Redeemer a Zeal so hot that it quench'd the Flames and the heat of the Fires which devoured their Bodies This they copied out from Christ the Grand Exemplar of Holy Zeal for his Father's Glory Joh. ii 17. The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up Christ's time for Sleep Food Rest was all eaten up by his Holy Zeal to do his Father's Will and finish his Work Such was the Original which they propounded to themselves for Imitation and they wrote after it with great Exactness they minded pursued more the concerns of their Lord than their own the publick Interest of the Church drowned thâ—…ir own private little Interests as the Sun shâ—…ing upon our culinary Fires extinguishes them so did their Zeal for Christ burn up all those petty Animosities which when peace and rest from Persecution indulged them broke out into dividing and consuming Flames Thirdly It was their Glory that they lived in a continual waiting for and expâ—…ctation of the coming of their Lord which glorious Day tho' they could not hasten yet their longing praying Souls hastened unto that Day 2 Pet. iii. 12. Looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of God How did they patiently wait and yet passionately pray come Lord Jesus come quickly Rev. xxii 20. They longed to see their Lord upon his Throne to see all the Kingdoms of the World brought into subjection to the King of Saints and their preparations were answerable to their expectations making ready for the blessed Appearance of their blessed Saviour Fourthly Their Discourses their Lives savoured of Heaven their Business their Conversation was above whence they looked for their Saviour their Persecutors when they stript them of all the accommodations of their Pilgrimage would say with scorn We do but ease you of what you say is your burden and impediment in running your Race and others when they dragged them to the Stake and Fire would scoff We do but send you whither you long and pray to go How wretchedly we have copied out those Excellencies all the World sees better than they who have most cause to be ashamed If we had holy Paul s Heart we should shed his Tears Phil. iii. 19. Many wâ—…lk of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping that thâ—…y are enemies of thâ—… cross of Christ who mind earthly things An earthly Conversation bears the clearest Contradiction to a heavenly Revelation And now what would dry up the Apostles Tears or what would wipe off this filth from the face of Religion but that gracious Temper of his vâ—…r 20. Our conversation is in heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his glorious body And let us from thence draw this Inference If we look that Christ should once at last vindicate our Bodies from the Dust let us be ambitious to vindicate his Gospel from the Dirt Do we look and hope that he will redeem our vile Bodies from the Grave let us labour to recover his precious Gospel from its Tomb and pray that at length it may have a glorious Resurrection § 3. Let us in the last place consider how Unworthily this Glorious Gospel has been defaced in our Generation and from thence furnish our Souls with Matter for Humiliation and Lamentation The Primitive Christians are remarkable for All Love we may be justly reproached for All Hatred they were united we divided and subdivided and crumbled into Parties when they were All one Bread Love and Affection is now confined to some discriminating mode of Profession and the Enquiry is not now whether a Man bears the Image and Superscription of Christ but whether he bears ours The old Heat of Primitive Zeal is turned into a feavourish preternatural Heat against each other It would be difficult to touch this Point and not to break out into Satyr but that we cannot Reprove another but we must Reproach our selves We have been so fiercely biting one another that it 's a Miracle of Divine Mercy that we are not devoured by one another Sheep whose Character has been Meekness and Mildness are become Roaring and Ravenous Lions How little do we express the likeness of Christ who was meek and lowly in heart The Gospel would have taught us another Spirit Col. iii. 13. Forbearing one another