to approach unto Christ himself with a Depart from me O Lord for I am a Sinfull man They would not separate from us Then like those Idolaters in Isaiah with a Stand farther off come not near to us for we are holier than you But rather like the Lepers under the Law of Leprosie would cover their faces with Confusion and stand aloof from God's House accusing themselves of their Vncleanness or like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Primitive Times of Discipline falling down flat upon their faces not in the Church but the Churchyard at an humble Distance would beg the Charity of Their Prayers whom they saw entring into God's House at the Times of Prayer Were they such Separatists as These and from such a Principle as This from the excesses onely of Meekness and not of Pride we should receive them with the Embraces of Arms and Hearts we should readily afford them even the Right hand of Fellowship we should conclude the Holy Ghost had so descended upon their Souls as once he did upon the Heads of the 12 Apostles or rather upon the Hearts of thâ—se 3000 who at S. Peter's one Sermon were added to them Though not in the Edifying Gifts which were bestowed upon the former yet in the Sanctifying Graces which were infused into the latter § 12. But having spoken enough already of Trying the Spirits in other men I think it fit to say something of Trying them also in our selves For considering the words of the Prophet Jeremy The Heart of man is deceitfull above all things and that 't is given to very few few I mean in comparison to know what Spirits they are of I guess it concerns us all in general and every one of us in particular to resume the whole Text and bring it home unto our selves to search and try our own Hearts and to examin our own Spirits whether or no they are of God 'T was the Precept of Pythagoras to every man of his Sect that he should bring himself to the Test or call himself to an Accompt every Evening of his whole Life with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what he had done in That Day which he ought to have omitted and what good thing he had omitted which 't was his Duty to have done Nor was he to suffer himself to sleep till he had made up this Reckoning three several Times So 't was the Precept of S. Paul in his 2 d Epistle to the Corinthians Examin your selves whether ye be in the Faith meaning That Faith which does work by Love all manner of Obedience to the Law of Christ's Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prove or try your own selves whether ye have not yet received the True Faith of Christ or whether having once received ye still retain it Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates So S. Paul reason'd with his Corinthians and so must we with or within our selves Know we not that Christ is in us by the Presence of his Spirit and by the Power of his Word and by the evident effects of His Operation Such as our Sorrow for our sins past our hatred of our selves in Remembrance of them and our stedfast Resolutions of better life Know we not that Christ is in us by such Evidences as These If we do Then let us treat him in such a manner as may become so Divine a Guest But if we do not we have some reason to fear lest we have sinn'd-away our Saviour as arrant Reprobates and Castaways as men unworthy to be call'd Christians as men who either are not at all Regenerate or else are fallen from That State of Regeneration which we were in or to express it with S. Paul as men who have received the Grace of God in vain And as it concerns us on all occasions to try the Spirit which is in us whether 't is a good or an evil Spirit so most especially does it concern us at such a Time as This is when we Tread in God's Courts to offer up the Gospel-sacrifice of Supplication and Thanksgiving to hear His Word to partake of his Sacraments Duties equally belonging to the first Sunday of the month For the Bread of God's Children must not be cast unto the Dogs and the Food which is Spiritual belongs to Them onely who can spiritually discern it and who live not after the Flesh but after the Spirit I do not mean after every Spirit for there are many more than good as I shew'd before but after The Spirit that is of God The Spirit of Holiness and Truth The Spirit of Vnity and Love The Spirit of Meekness and of Order The Spirit of Singleness and Sincerity The Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding The Spirit of Counsel and Ghostly Strength The Spirit of Knowledge and true Godliness and lastly The Spirit of God's Holy Fear as the divine Prophet Isaiah expresseth him resting upon Christ of whom the good King Hezekiah was but a Type in That place Unto all which if I should add The Spirit of Promise with S. Paul and The Spirit of Prophecy with S. John The Spirit of Grace with holy Zachary and The Spirit of Glory with S. Peter I should but say The same Spirit in the vindicating of whom from the many False Spirits which in this last Age especially have been debauching the Christian World I have imploy'd the little Time which is allow'd for this Part of our Morning Service To Him therefore with The Father in their Unity with The Son Sing we Hosannahs and Hallelujahs Blessing Glory Honour and Power To Him that liveth for evermore OF The exceeding Sinfulness OF SCHISM In how many GREAT REGARDS It is worse than HAERESIE AND Why more damning than other Crimes 2 THESS 3. 6. Now we command you Brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly § 1. A TEXT exciting us to a Duty which does equally invite and command Attention For the Duty is introduced with as important an Obtestation as is any-where us'd in S. Paul's Epistles and it must certainly be a matter of exceeding great moment which could extort from our Apostle so great and signal an Obtestation He calls us Brethren for we are now in the place of the Thessalonians to win our Love and to shew his own But withall he commands us as God's Embassador that he may make as good impression upon our Fear too We may take his whole Meaning in This plain Paraphrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We charge you and that by virtue of our Commission or in the power of our Apostleship in the name and the behalf by the Bowells and the Authority of our Lord Jesus Christ as ye will answer it at the great and terrible Day of Discrimination the Day wherein the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with
against all Pretenders And This is that which is commanded in the two first Precepts of the Decalogue Thou shalt have no God but me Thou shalt not make any graven Images to bow down to them or worship them This is holiness in Thought Which however 't is Necessary is not enough And therefore to this we must add our Reverence That we know to be a vertue which is equally compounded of Love and Fear and by which an Inferiour does speak with Awe concerning any one above him whom he does honour or admire And this is that which is commanded in the third Precept of the Decalogue Thou shalt not lift up the name of thy God in vain Thou shalt not onely not use it falsly but not so much as upon trivial and slight Occasions This is holiness in Word Which however it is Necessary is not enough neither And therefore to this there must be added our active Service That we know is an execution of what our Master gives us in charge And as an acknowledgment of Supremacy as well as of Maintenance and Protection a setting aside our own business that we may wholly attend upon our Master's And this is that which is commanded in the fourth Precept of the Decalogue Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath Day Six days are allowed thee to do thine own business but the seventh is set apart in the seventh thou shalt do no manner of Work No manner of work which is thine own but all manner of work which is thy Master's Not onely acts of Sacrifice such as our Duties in the Church but works of Justice and Mercy too For these indeed are the things in which especially consisteth the Sanctification of a Sabbath and are call'd by our Saviour the weightier matters of the Law This is holiness in action And so we see the three things wherein our holiness is to consist which comprehends our whole obedience to the first Table of the Law § 19. I have the rather been thus plain in shewing the Latitude and the Nature of these Grand Duties that the exactness of our Knowledge may be our Directory to Practice It being necessary to know what it is necessary to practise Holiness towards God and Peace with all men For whilst we are told by our Apostle that without these two there will be no seeing of God we are as good as assur'd by God himself that These precisely are the Terms on which Salvation is to be had Insomuch that if either of these is wanting there 's no escaping the Pains of Hell nor any attaining the Joys of Heaven And therefore after their Nature I am to speak of their Necessity their absolute Necessity to Life eternal § 20. And first Observe how other Scriptures do hold conformity with This. Without these two we cannot possibly make our Calling and Election sure Not the first For we have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus that we may draw near with a pure Heart having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10. 19. 22. Nor yet the second For God hath chosen us in his Son that we should be Holy and without Blame Eph. 1. 4. Without these two our Justification vvill be in vain For God did therefore Reconcile us when we were Enemies in our Minds by wicked works that he might present us Holy and Vnblameable and Vnreproveable in his sight Colos 1. 22. Without these two vve lose the End and so do frustrate the Work of our Redemption For our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for the Church that he might present it unto himself a Glorious Church that it should be Holy and without Blemish Eph. 5. 25. 27. Without these two vve lose the Benefit of the Rod and do partake of That as Bastards which is intended to us as Sons For as vve are told by the Apostle that if we are without chastisement then are we Bastards and not Sons so he presently adds that God correcteth us for our profit to make us Partakers of his Holiness Heb. 12. 10. In a vvord Without an earnest prosecution of Peace and Holiness Vnited for I have shewed that the one cannot subsist vvithout the other vve lose the Benefit of Grace and so evacuate the Means of our Glorification For we all with open face behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord that we may be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3. 18. § 21. Nor have vve onely store of Scripture but Reason for it For if Salvation vvere to be had by appearing Righteous unto men The greatest Hypocrites would become the most glorious Saints If by the stoutness of a Belief or by a Hope without doubting None would be happier than the presumptuous and such as are carnally secure If by the Latitude of a Knowledge or by the Rectitude of Opinions it would be better sure with none than the Lapsed Angels who are as Knowing and as Orthodox as any meer man can be thought to be Heaven would Then be a kind of Jayl full of the guiltiest Malefactors The Error of the Origenists would presently pass into a Truth and the worst of Devils receive the Benefit of a Redemption But no man's reason will yield to That For whosoever does but believe there is a Heaven and a Hell must grant that the one is for the Recompence of the Good and the other for the Punishment of Evil Doers Which shews the absolute Necessity of Peace and Holiness being as 't were the two Eyes without which it is impossible to see the Lord. § 22. But here withall we are to take an especial Care that we do not divide the consideration of their Nature from the consideration â—f their Necessity but still consider what it is wherein our holiness is to consist as well as what it is which depends upon it For through the want of this Caution the empty Picture of Holiness is oft mistaken for the Life there are that think themselves Holy when indeed they are Hypocritical and many hope to be sav'd for their being Cheats There were Professors amongst the Jews who were indeed very punctual in the worship of God and thence concluded they were The Godly but 't was a worship which consisted in the outward washing of Cups and Platters in external Rites and legal Ceremonies which were but shadows of things to come in spreading forth their hands and making Prayers for a pretense in fasting often to appear Righteous unto men in keeping Sabbaths and new Moons in building the Tombs of the Prophets and adorning the Sepulchers of the righteous when all the while they neglected the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith They did so pull the Motes out of other mens Eyes as not at all to see the Beams in their own They did so strain at Gnats as to swallow Camels for they devoured even Orphans and Widows Houses Camels Those with
defend or avenge them All. The second is taken from the End of the divine Constitution of Human Authorities in the World To wit an equal Distribution both of Punishments and Rewards Those to Evil-Doers and These to Them that do well v. 14. By which Distribution of which two things is procured the Peace and Quiet and by consequence the Happiness of human life The Third and special Argument touching us meerly as we are Christians is taken from the Credit of Jesus Christ and His Gospel which We who are Christians are highly obliged to assert And assert it we cannot by any one Argument so well as by submitting our selves impartially to every Ordinance of Man By making it appear to the Jews and Heathens that the Gospel or Law of Christ obliges its Subjects to live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty That Christianity is a Religion either reviving or introducing love and loyalty and order and Tranquillity into the World That Obedience to the Authority of human Laws and Legislators is one of the Prime Characteristicks whereby a Christian is to be known That the best Christians are still the loyal'st That the more we love and fear the Lord Jesus Christ the more we submit for the Lord's sake to every Ordinance of Man And that They who do otherwise are but Titular Christians not at all Christians but in Profession none of Christ's Followers but in Repute And therefore Christianity must not be estimated by Them who are Rebels to the Gospel of Jesus Christ Nor must We who are The Lord's by submitting our selves for the Lord's sake be measur'd by Them who are none of Vs but Disorderly Walkers out of the High way to Heaven from whom S. Paul bids us withdraw our selves and whom S. John bids us not receive into our Houses nor bid them God speed and that for the Credit of the Gospel which but for this Prophylactick They would bring into Disgrace § 3. This Third and last and special Argument of S. Peter drawn from the Credit of Christianity for the inforcing of our Submission to every Ordinance of Man thereby meaning our Obedience to human Laws and Legislators is of so great a value with him and so peculiar to us as Christians that He urges This Twice in a little room immediately before and immediately after my present Text. First our Loyalty and Obedience and all other honest Conversation must be made known unto The Gentiles that they who speak against us as Evil-doers may by our good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of Visitation v. 12. Next it is the will of God that with such our well-doing we may put to silence the ignorance of foolish Men. v. 15. This is an Argument which S. Paul does urge often whereby to make men afraid and asham'd of Vice Through you says He unto the Christians who dwelt at Rome the Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles For the unbelieving Gentiles do judge by your Practice of your Profession by the Blemishes of your lives who are called Christians they grow averse to Christianity and have no good opinion of Christ himself whom you worship because they guess that your Religion has so very ill an influence upon your Lives So again argues S. Paul to Timothy Let as many Servants as are under the Yoke either under Heathen Masters or amongst Heathen Men count their Masters worthy of all honour that the name of God and his Doctrine be not blasphemed For when Servants are refractory or Subjects rebellious although they are such to Heathen Masters or Magistrates they draw disgrace upon the Gospel and tempt the Infidels to believe that men are the worse for being Christians that the Doctrine of Christ is corruptive of Principles as well as Manners and Christian Liberty but a Cloak for rebellious Practice Now to antidote this Venom and to wipe off this Disparagement as well from the Doctrine as from the Name of Jesus Christ S. Paul commands Timothy to be earnest and often in preaching Obedience and Submission to all Superiours esteeming These the weightier things of the Christian Law And therefore These things Teach and Exhort says He to Timothy with an Emphasis as being Things most essential not onely to the saving of Christian's Souls but essential to the saving of Christianity it self and to the saving of our Saviour from being blasphemed among the Gentiles And for as much as no Obedience can be more naturally or politically or religiously due from one Mortal unto another than from Wives to their own Husbands S. Paul does therefore press Titus to preach up This also for This great End that the Word of God be not blasphemed That Christian Religion may not suffer by their Enemies taking notice of their unchristian disobedience to those above them That Jews or Gentiles may not suspect any ill Issues or Infusions of Christian Principles as if they were exclusive of moral Virtue and that Inferiours either were or that they might be the worse for their being Christians Lastly since Masters are a kind of Domestick Magistrates to whom Obedience also is due by the same divine Right and no sturdy Servant will ever make a good Subject Servants therefore must be urged to be Obedient to their own Masters and to please them well in all things not answering again for This Great Reason that they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things and that he who is of the contrary part may be asham'd having no evil thing to say of them § 4. From All which ways of Argumentation put together I conceive my self qualified to make these profitable Conclusions That Obedience and Submission to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether Supreme or Subordinate by his Commission does make the most of all Duties for the Ornament and Honour of Christianity That Disobedience and Resistance do make the most for its Disgrace That the Doctrine of Obedience to publick Parents both Civil and Ecclesiastical is more authenticated and taught by Jesus Christ and his Apostles throughout the Gospel than by all other Systems Codes or Pandects by all other Bodies Collections or Constitutions of Religion or Philosophy throughout the World From all which things it seems to follow that they who call themselves Christians and yet are Authors or Fomenters of Schisms and Factions such industrious Embroilers of Church and State by sowing the Seeds of discontentment and of dissatisfaction in People's Minds as if they long'd to be fishing in Troubl'd Waters and to be licking up again those publick Spoils and Revenues which they were forced to disgorge in the Great Year of Restitution They I say who thus act and yet do call themselves Christians are the greatest Antichristians the greatest Adversaries of Christ and the greatest underminers of Christianity which He can possibly set on Work who was a Murtherer from the Beginning Can any Man wonder at the
his Grace what Apologie or Pretense are we able to make for our Impieties We cannot alledge at his Tribunal That we were ignorant of his Glory and unacquainted with his Works for the heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Psal 19. 1. We cannot say in that hour that we were destitute of the Law for He hath written it in our Hearts Nor that we wanted his Gospel for He hath put it into our Ears Nor that we were strangers unto his Name for we daily take it into our Lips Nor can we plead that He exacted more than 't was possible for us to do for we know we can do all things through Him that strengthens us And he accepteth according to what we have although it be but a willing mind where nothing more can be perform'd 2 Cor. 8. 12. He accepts the least Things where the least are the greatest that we can give Sincere we can be although not sinless Let us but be what we can and be perfectly willing to be what we can not that is let us be perfect as it is possible for us to be and perfectly willing to be perfect as our Father in Heaven and then we have that willing mind which S. Paul doth assure us will be accepted But here I would not be so mistaken by such as love to be misled into pleasant Errors as if I had hinted that the Will is still as good as the Deed or that if we are desirous to do our Duties and do them not it will certainly serve our turn as well as if we had done them The Apostle does not so speak and I onely speak with the Apostle whose words to the Corinthians are plainly These If there be first a willing mind God accepteth according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not Which is as if he should have said God will not punish any man living who does as much as he is able for the not doing of That which 't is impossible for him to do From whence 't is obvious to infer not that any man may presume upon God's acceptance of his Will or his woulding rather without the performance of his Duty when he is able to perform as well as will it for this were to justifie our wilfullest which are our very worst sins but that when we have in earnest done the greatest good we can God accepts of our willingness to do the good we can not Being as good as we are able he will not be angry we are no better When he finds us sincere in all our Services he will not condemn us for not being sinless But notwithstanding all This which is indeed for our Comfort It is every whit as true and for our Humiliation that we shall be utterly unexcusable at the last great Audit in the day when God shall judge the Secrets of men by Jesus Christ in case we so far refuse Him that speaks to us from Heaven as live no more strictly with all the Advantages of the Gospel than the Jews and the Gentiles who liv'd without them First from the Gentiles 't is argued Thus by S. Paul If They were left without excuse who had no other Scripture than the great Book of Hieroglyphicks the double System of the Creatures in Heaven and Earth and had no other Light than that of Reason whereby to read it and had no Law to go by but That of Nature and had no where else to see it but in the Tables of their Hearts and where 't was written in no Characters but what were Invisible to their Eyes then what excuse can We hope for whom God hath spoken to by his Son and who besides the Light of Nature have All the Instruments of Grace too if We shall sin against the light of so clear a Knowledge 'T is very plain that we Christians may be less excusable than the Gentiles who many of them never heard of the Name of Christ and yet for all that were unexcusable Secondly from the Jews we find our Author to the Hebrews disputing thus Heb. 10. 28 29. If he that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of how much sorer Punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God And He is reckon'd to be the Man that hath trodden under foot the Son of God whoever he is that sinneth wilfully after he hath received the knowledge of the Truth v. 26. For if then we sin wilfully there remaineth no more sacrifice or expiation for sins but a certain fearfull looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries v. 27. The confirmation of this we have Heb. 6. 4 5 6. where 't is affirm'd to be impossible for them that once have been inlightned and have tasted of the good word of God if They fall away to be renewed unto Repentance And the reason there is because in God's interpretation they crucifie to themselves the Son of God and put him to an open shame This again is confirm'd by 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. where the End of relapsed Christians is said to be worse than the Beginning And thence 't is inferred to be better never to have known the way of Truth than after they have known it to turn c. Thus you see how the Jews might be less excusable than the Gentiles and yet how We who are Christians may be less excusable than the Jews And therefore let us look to it that we refuse not him that speaketh but rather that we make him some proportionable Answer speaking back to him better than by our Sins to wit by Repentance and change of Life For if They escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth much less shall we if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven § 8. I do insist so much the rather upon this fourth and last Topick from which the Caveat or Warning is now inforc'd because the hope of Reward in a world to come is less available with men than the fear of Punishment and because the Holy Ghost does seem to prefer this way of arguing not onely in my Text but in diverse other places of this Epistle In the second Chapter more especially at the first second third and fourth Verses we find the Argument and the Inference to be much the same that they are here First of all observe the Argument and especially the Topick from which 't is drawn If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Transgression and Disobedience received a just recompence of reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How shall we then escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and diverse Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost
I need not say more Committing therefore what I have said to due and serious Consideration I shut up all with That Prayer which is the fittest to compleat and conclude the Sermon That what we have heard at this time with our outward Ears may by the powerfull Grace of God be so grafted inwardly in our Hearts as to bring forth in us the fruit of good Living to the Honour and Praise of his Name through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with the Father in the unity of the Spirit be Glory and Thanksgiving both now and for ever Amen THE APPENDIX § 1. OUr steddy Adherence or Assent to the Two last Articles of the Creed and indeed to the other Ten cannot possibly subsist without our Assent unto the First We cannot certainly believe that we shall rise from the Dead unless it be by believing that Christ is risen And as little can we believe that Christ is risen unless it be by believing first that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself This implies and presupposes the First Article of our Creed which is as well the Foundation as the Support of all the Rest But since the breaking loose of Hell in This last Age of a loathsome World we have met with such Enemies not onely to ours but to All Religion as from their wishing and woulding there were no God no Resurrection of the Body no life after Death no Day of Judgment have proceeded so far as to say and teach There is no God nor any one of those Things which have been regularly built upon This Foundation And if we suffer This Foundation to be either undermin'd or but shaken in us All the Fabrick of our Faith will fall to nothing in an Instant An Error here is like one in the first Concoction which cannot be mended in the second If we do not believe in God the first Article of our Creed we cannot choose but be Infidels in All that follow Nor are we onely to believe him as Belief is opposed unto a comprehensive knowledge But we must knowingly believe him as Belief is consistent with knowledge meerly Apprehensive And so as to say with as much Truth as S. Paul to Timothy every man for himself in whatsoever Temptations and Times of Trial For I know whom I have believed § 2. A Text which serves well for a double purpose to ascertain our Knowledge and to establish our Belief as well as to shew the just measure and use of Both in our Religion A Text accordingly to be consider'd not onely in its Relative but in its Absolute importance First the words in their Relation to Those that follow and go before them will be most easily understood by being paraphrased Thus. I am a Preacher and an Apostle and therefore now a Prisoner of Jesus Christ Even for this very cause of my being sent forth by the Will of God and made a Teacher of the Gentiles I suffer these Bonds and Persecutions of the Jews But I am not asham'd of my Bonds or Office I am not sorry for my Preaching though 't is the Cause of my Imprisonment For He on whom I have depended will never forsake me I am sure In His hands I can with chearfulness repose my Life by whom my Death will be a Door to my Resurrection For I have not believ'd I know not whom Nor do I nakedly believe whom I love and adore and rely upon but I perfectly Know whom I have believed and have a plentitude of Perswasion that He for whom I now suffer will never fail me on Him my Cares are all cast who careth for me With Him I have intrusted the whole Depositum of my Labours in the preaching of the Gospel and the Depositum of my Sufferings for having preach'd it And whatsoever I have intrusted or shall intrust to His keeping be it my Body or my Soul my Body in Peace or my Soul in Patience I am assur'd he is Able and am perswaded he is Willing to lay it up for me against That Day A Day expressed to us in Scripture by such Periphrases as These The Day wherein the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire The day wherein God shall judge the Secrets of men by Jesus Christ The Day when all that are in the Grave shall hear his Voice and come forth The Day of Discrimination when He will make up his Jewels and a Book of Remembrance shall lie before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name All my Concerns are left with Him who will keep them in safety against That Day Thus lies the Text in its relation to the Context § 3. But being consider'd in it self and without such Relation 't will be as easily understood by this other Paraphrase I know Him perfectly as to his Being whom I believe as to his Essence or whom as to his Essence I know in part onely I can demonstrate his Existence although I can but most firmly believe his Word For at one and the same time as also in one and the same respect I cannot know and believe him too because what I know I do more than believe or am past believing And what I do but believe I have not yet attained the knowledge of Knowledge and Belief do move in two distinct Spheres and That of Knowledge is so much higher than This of Faith that 't is the Perfection of a man's Faith wholly to perish and expire to be drown'd and swallow'd up into perfect Knowledge St. Paul expresseth his Believing by his knowing in part And the Top of his comfort does stand in This that when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away Here we can but see darkly as through a glass but the time is now coming when we shall see face to face Here we onely can Believe the Three Subsistences of the Godhead in but one and the same Substance whereas in That Day of Revelation and Restitution we shall Know this great Mystery even as also we are Known Here we can but Believe the Resurrection of our Bodies but in the great Day of Recompence our Fruition and Experience will make us Know it We do not know more exactly that Five and Five do make Ten or that a part of any Dimension is unequal to the whole than we do Know and can demonstrate against the Enemies of a Deity the uncontroulable existence of the Deity we adore But This I say onely of God's Existence and of his Essence onely in part For in our deepest Contemplation of certain Mysteries in our Religion such as a Trinity of the Persons in the Vnity of the Godhead the Generation of the Second the Procession of the Third and yet the Coessentiality of Both-together with the First I say in This contemplation our Childish understandings become so froward they cannot be quieted but by
his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power by every thing that is dreadfull or dear unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we declare we denounce we command you Brethren that if ye observe any Professor of the Christian Religion who for that reason onely is call'd a Brother to forsake his proper Calling his Place and Station and to meddle as a Buisybody in other mens Matters v. 11. and so to cast off all Obedience to the Rules of Direction which we have given especially if ye observe him to leap from the Shop into the Pulpit or out of the Church into a Synagogue consisting of the most factious and disorderly Opiniators who under colour of serving God despise the Ordinances of Men ye presently Note him and mark him out as a Disorderly Walker as a Disturber of Society as a Disseminator of Discords the very Bane of all Religion and the Discredit of Christianity most unworthy to be admitted to any Commerce or Conversation with regular Christians but to be shunn'd like any Leper and to be cast out of your Company as if he had a Plague-sore v. 14. Thus I paraphrase the Text as I find it relating to the Context and by comparing our Apostle's with our Saviour's own Rule For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Brother walking disorderly in this present verse does seem to be the same unruly and irregular Person who is expressed by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 5. 14. Which being a Military expression and of peculiar use in Tacticks does properly signifie a Souldier who runs away from his Colours quits the Service he undertook and ingaged in denies obedience to his Commander not onely to his Lieutenant but Captain-General that is to say without a Metaphor depraves the Doctrin disturbs the Disciplin disowns the Government of the Church By any one of which Three he is disorderly in his Walking however they are commonly all Three in one § 2. Now when a Brother that is a Christian at least in Profession and Pretense is so disorderly in his Walking as that he will not hear the Church but is a Contemner of Authority and Publick Order He is by the Rule of our Blessed Saviour to be look'd upon and dealt with just as Heathen-men and Publicans were look'd upon and dealt with amongst the Jews We must avoid him as a prophane and an impious person as one who is void of all Religion and as it were without God in the World Thus we must brand and stigmatize him for two good Reasons and pious Ends first that himself may be asham'd and being asham'd may be converted 2 Thess 3. 14. next that others also may fear to doe and suffer by his Example § 3. That This was the meaning of our Lord Matth. 18. 17. seems to me very evident from Two especially of his Apostles I mean the most learned and most beloved They tell us Both that when a Brother is become contumacious and not reclaimable either by private or by publick Admonitions we must not onely not religiously but not so much as civilly entertain commerce with him We must not eat with such a Brother or keep him company must not receive him into our Houses or bid him God speed And there is reason for this Severity which S. Paul and S. John have thus injoyn'd us For can there be any thing more apposite more pertinent or proper than to deny them our Company in private Houses who disdain to afford us their own in God's Why should we eat and drink with Them either at Their or Our Tables who are therefore too unworthy because they think they are too Good to eat and drink in our company at the Table of the Lord Why should we any-where go with Them who will not go with Vs to Heaven and hate the means of Salvation so far forth as we injoy them Is it any way consistent either with Charity or Reason that we should bid a man God speed in the ways of Corah or affect his Society who hates our Religion and our God No he is rather says our Apostle to be put away from us and from among us as a foul pestilential accursed thing and even deliver'd up to Satan by the Censures of the Church although it be to this charitable and wholsome end that he may learn not to blaspheme that he may learn to be conformable to Rules and Rulers and so that his Spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus § 4. 'T is true that All vicious persons are disorderly Walkers who walk as far as they are able from the strait Path of God's Commandments and from All that are Scandalous we are commanded to withdraw For so saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 5. 11. I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is call'd a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such a one no not to eat No not in one of your private Houses much less in the Sacrament and House of God But I do not here speak nor does S. Paul touching absolute Apostates who do renounce and fall away from the whole Faith of Christ and the very Profession of Christianity because They are not so much as call'd or accompted Brethren Nor do I speak of Jews or Heathens who because they are avow'd and open Enemies of Christ may with much the more safety or rather with much the less danger be traffick'd with And accordingly S. Paul has excepted Them in the very next verse before my Text and the next verse after But I speak of gross Sinners on whom the name of Christ is call'd And amongst Them in special manner I aim at two sorts of men who are called Brethren and so like Judas downright do betray the whole Cause of Christianity with a Kiss I mean the Haeretick for one who breaks the Unity of the Church in point of Doctrin by denying one or more of her Fundamentals I mean the Schismatick for another who breaks the Unity of the Church in point of Disciplin by doing as much as in him lies to overthrow her very Government Laws and Order The First of These we must reject and withdraw our selves from in case he shall not reform himself after a couple of Admonitions Tit. 3. 10. Much more the Second as the more Scandalous and the more mischievous and the more impious of the two And being by much the most irregular of all disorderly Walkers my Text intends he is the fitter to be the Subject of my Discourse at this Time For an Haeretick as he is such does onely offend against Faith and Truth and keeping his Errour to himself as very
the Multitude of the Sects which are seen amongst us For whilst 't is taken by them for granted and also confessed by our selves that True Religion can be but one 't is natural for them to infer That wheresoever there is Truth there must be Vnity at least in men of the same Profession Whereupon whilst they observe how the Professors of Christianity do stand divided amongst themselves and that in point of Opinion as well as Practice they easily slide into a Jealousie touching the Tenor and the Truth of the whole Profession Now the way to make Peace and remove the Scandal is not to conquer them into orthodoxy by dint of Argument alone though That indeed is one of our fittest Weapons as vvell because the greater part have not light enough to see a victorious Truth as because if they have they are not humble enough to own they have liv'd in Errour No the hopefullest way left for ought I am able to apprehend is not to mention Those Doctrines vvherein we find by Experience we always differ and to insist on those alone wherein we find by Experience we all agree A thing vvhich cannot be brought about by all the Subjects put together but perhaps with ease enough by the Kings of Christendom as vvell because they are but few and therefore the fitter to determin as because they are Supreme and of Power to execute § 25. For it happily falls out through the Evidence of Truth and the good Providence of God That though we differ in Superstructures yet we agree in the Foundation and Fundamentals of Christianity Which Fundamentals as they are Few and therefore easie to be remember'd so are they also very Plain and therefore easily understood and that by all sorts of People who are not flatly Fools or Mad-men As the wittiest or the most learned cannot need to know more so the most simple and illiterate cannot easily know less than what it is to fear God and to keep his Commandments which yet does grasp the whole Duty of Man as Man Again it is the whole Duty of Man as Christian to have a practical Knowledge of Jesus Christ and him Crucified And as the wisest man living needs not know any thing more so the most learned of the Apostles would not know any thing else Another Summary of Religion as to the practical part of it which is the main we have express'd in Three words both from a Prophet and an Apostle A Summary so short and yet so copious that as a man the most unskilfull cannot easily know less so the most learned and subtil Doctor is not bound to practise more than to do Justice and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with his God or to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World § 26. Now if 't is granted and agreed by every Sort of Real Christians That the Creed and the Commandments are comprehensive of the All that is Fundamental or of Necessity in Religion for Faith and Practice and if All under Authority will but allow it to be the privilege of such as are placed in Authority to judge of the Decency and the Order which S. Paul in the general and every Nation in particular thinks it a duty to observe in the publick Worship to wit the Place and the Time and the Manner of its performance which being but Accidents or Adjuncts or Externals of Religion should not be differ'd about by Them who fully agree in its Essentials It will be difficult to imagin how the Divisions and Separations which are so many and so wide as we see they are can be able to escape a most happy Closure A thing which the Preachers can but press and the best of the People can but pray for but the Rulers of the Earth can easily bring into Effect too if their Endeavours shall be as hearty as their Authority is divine and their Power cogent Which how can they possibly imploy unto a better end or use than is the binding up the Wounds of a bleeding Saviour who owns himself to be the Head of That mangl'd Body whereof the greatest men on Earth are but lofty Members Now the better to prevail with men of all Ranks both with Them who are in Authority and with Them who live under it I would present but Two things to their respective Considerations First That they who are in Authority ought not to urge the Accidentals and Externals in Religion with as much vehemence as they do the Essentials of it nor create too many Necessities in the use of things Indifferent where God himself has created none Next That the people under Authority ought not to lessen their Obedience to God in Man by still pretending their obligation of obeying God rather than Man An Axiom True indeed at all Times but yet at those times impertinent and urged quite out of Season when God does choose to be obey'd by our obedience to his Vicegerents Who if they have any right at all to make positive Laws must inevitably make them of Things Indifferent § 27. I press the former consideration with due submission to Authority and in behalf not of wilfull but of truly-weak Brethren because I conceive the Laws of Men can reach no farther than the Objects of outward Sense and therefore cannot punish Avarice Pride or Malice though they can and do Invasion Theft and Murther Nor wrong Opinions in Religion whilst they quietly lye sleeping or disturb nothing more than their Owner's Minds but onely as breaking forth of their Mouths and at last running out at their fingers ends I know the Sword is apt to terrifie but not instruct to change a Sectary's Confession but not his Creed and therefore the Maladies of the Spirit are to be Spiritually dealt with to work their Cure Not by the Gibbet or the Jayl but by the force of sound Doctrine and argumentative Conversation A man who wanders out of his way for want of light onely and not Sobriety overtaken not with Drink but with the Darkness of the Night deserves a Lantern for his Direction a great deal rather than a Rod. He would be thought a strange Organist who should not scruple to break his Pipes as oft as he finds them out of Tune Nor could our Magistrates think kindly of God himself should he recall them with a Thunderbolt as fast as he sees them going astray § 28. And as for such reasons as These I press the First Consideration so I discern as great reasons and such as make as much for Peace to resume the Second For though Ceremonies and Rites are onely Accidents in Religion yet Obedience to Authority cannot but pass for an Essential Because whatever God commands us by his Moses and his Aaron his Zerubbabel and his Jeshua his anointed Lieutenants both King and Priest he does as really and as truly and as authoritatively command us as what he commands us by a Voice or an Hand from Heaven And
seeing the same God that saith Thou shalt not worship a Graven Image does also say at the same time as well as in the same Decalogue Honour thy Father and thy Mother whether private or publick Ecclesiastical or Civil It is by consequence as Immediate a Sin against God to shew a contempt of That Authority which God hath commanded us to obey as 't is to worship a graven Image or to take God's Name in vain § 29. Now might I speak without Censure even by speaking with submission to all Superiours as well as to others of more Research and better Discretion than my self I would adventure to affirm it as the Conclusion of the whole matter That when Peace cannot be had by such a reciprocal Self-denial as I have now pleaded for in Them that are vested with Authority and in Them that live under it by Compassion in the former and by Compliance in the later by Condescension in the one and by Submission in the other but each will have his whole Will and not admit of a Composition nothing but Power Irresistible can succour such as make Laws against the Violence and Incursions of such as are stouter than to Obey them Nor will a wise man expect to have protection under the Laws and the Makers of them any longer than they Both shall be so protected § 30. But I return to that Point from which I have made a very pertinent because a profitable Digression nor yet a Digression from my Text but from the Thread of my Discourse touching the Nature and the Necessity of Peace and Holiness Which being both of such Importance as that our Happiness does depend upon the earnestness of our Pursuit How can we choose but be perswaded to do a thing which is so Natural as that a man would think it should be hard not to do it For find we any thing more Natural than to be Lovers of our selves and so to covet those things which we believe to be the most for our own Advantage A little Rhetorick one would think should be sufficient to perswade us to choose our Interest and so to follow even with earnestness the necessary means of our being Happy Be we never so illiterate or be we never so perverse yet through the little which hath been spoken of Peace and Holiness whether as separate or in conjunction we cannot be ignorant of their Nature or unconvinc'd of their Necessity § 31. If then in respect of their Common Nature They are as 't were the two Armes which do imbrace the whole Decalogue or Ten Commandments of the Law we must never flatter our selves that we are Christians good enough until we find our Obedience to be impartial that is as well to the first as to the second Table and no less to the second than to the first Nor may we ever give our selves Rest until we See we have attain'd to this Comparative perfection I mean a singleness of Heart and a love of obedience without reserve Our respect like that of the Psalmist must be to All God's Commandments and we must study to live a peaceable and quiet life in All Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. We must not be kinder or more indulgent to one Commandment than to another whether byass'd by Custom or Education but rather keep our selves in Awe by chewing on That of the Apostle Whosoever offends in one point is guilty of All. Jam. 2. 10. Thus we must argue from the Nature of Peace and Holiness And after a manner not unlike we ought to argue from their Necessity For if in respect of their Necessity they are as 't were the two Hinges upon which the very Door of Salvation turns or if you please the Two Wings as S. Bernard calls them wherewith the Soul of a Christian soar's up to Heaven Lord how nearly does it concern us to follow them both as is here requir'd and to pass the whole Time of our sojourning here in fear What manner of men ought we to be in the future Course of our Conversation To follow Holiness and Peace concerns us as much as Salvation comes to that is as much as our Souls are Worth Fail of these if we dare unless we are so stout that we dare be damn'd But yet how many of our Fiduciaries do miss of heaven meerly by thinking they cannot miss it because forsooth to the Regenerate 't is a Thing perfectly unavoidable And what numbers of Solifidians do make it difficult to be sav'd by making it easier than God will have it by thinking Salvation is to be had at a cheaper Rate than that of following Peace and Holiness Now can there be any thing more adviseable than that other mens mischiefs should keep us safe and we receive the whole benefit without the least danger of their unhappiness Mark well the reason which here is urg'd for the fixing of the Act on the double Object I shall but paraphrase the Text in a broader English Follow Peace and Holiness if for no other reason at least for This because ye are happy if ye doe and damn'd for ever if ye do not Less than This we must not preach and more than this we need not learn But if This of it self cannot find sufficient Place in our Consideration yet if we have any the least respect to our Secular Interest and Advantage as we desire to be free from the Charge and Costliness of Sin and to thrive by God's Blessing upon All we set our hearts and our hands unto or if we have any the least respect to our own good Name and Reputation as we desire to leave behind us a fair Report and to be honourably mention'd by them that dwell round about us or if we have any the least respect to our inward Quiet and Tranquillity as we desire to have the Peace of a cleansed Conscience which is in Solomon's Accompt a Continual Feast or if all these together cannot ingage our Resolutions yet if to these we add That which before was hinted If we have any the least respect to the Righteous Judge of all the World as we desire to escape from the Wrath to come and to enter with an Euge into the Joy of our Lord Let us think of these Things when the Sermon 's ended And the God of Peace and Holiness sanctifie us throughly That the whole of every one of us both Body Soul and Spirit may be kept blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ To Him be Glory for ever and ever Amen OF ABSTAINING FROM ALL APPEARANCE OF EVIL 1 THESS 5. 22. Abstain from all Appearance of evil § 1. IT was the Fancy of a wise and an honest Heathen that all a rational man's Duty might be express'd in two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bear and Forbear the first implying Patience under the evil of Affliction the second Abstinence from the evil of Sin Now in this Precept of our Apostle we have one of