a work How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Hos 11.8 9. ô Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim my Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together c. i. e. Thô thou deservest to be forsaken by my Mercy which thou hast abused and seized by my Justice which thou hast provok't yet how shall I find in my Heart to permit it tho I can hardly tell how to bear with thee any longer or without the dishonour of my Government delay the Execution of my threatned Anger yet Oh Ephraim my dear son How shall I give thee up O Israel the Posterity of my ancient Friend Jacob how shall I deliver thee over to final ruin and as Admah and Zeboim that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah Jude v. 7. Deut. 29. c. 23. My Heart is turned within me I find such strugglings of kindness in my Heart towards thee that I know not how to forsake thee when it comes to the Execution my Bowels are moved my affections stirr'd and I know not how to do it My Repentings are kindled together all the thoughts and arguments that might perswade me to repent of my threatned Judgments are all muster'd together to disswade me so that I begin to Repent of the Evils I have threatned I will not Execute the fierceness of mine Anger and make a full end of thee The like in other Places O Israel what shall I do unto Thee O Judah what shall I do unto thee Oh! Hos 6. c. 4. Isei 5. c. 4. Mic. 5. c. 3 4 5. that there were such an Heart in them Oh that they knew the things of their Peace How long doth he wait on a sinful Nation how earnestly doth he summon them to Repentance sometimes by the voice of his Prophets Woing them by his prophets who have the Sword of his mouth 6. Hos 5. That they may not be cut off by the sword of Judgment And sometimes in the threatning of Judgment he roars like a Lion that he may not devour and tear in pieces By lesser strokes of Judgment he sometimes gives warning to prevent greater He first makes use of a pruning Hook before he takes the Ax in hand he speaks once yea twice and a third time doubling and trebling his calls to Repentance by the Voice of his Rod before he gives over a people called by his Name He shoots his arrows of lesser Judgments 1 Sam. 20. c. as Jonathan did his to David with Letters round about them not utterly to destroy but mercifully to instruct Hos 5. c. 12 15. He is first as a Moth to Israel and as rottenness to Judah before he comes like a Lion and a Bear to destroy The Impenitent Jews had lesser Judgments the beginning of sorrows before Wrath came upon them to the uttermost We read of Golden Vials full of the wrath of God 15. Rev. 7. Golden Vials because the death of men is precious and God delights not in it and Vials such vessels as no great Evils can come out of at once coming out thro a narrow neck they hinder one another and cannot come out but by degrees unless we break the Vials in pieces by bolder provocations and hasten destructive Judgments on our selves Nay he doth not presently destroy tho his warnings be slighted but all the day long he is said to spread out his hands to a stiff-necked and rebellious People thô he might have consum'd them in the morning or at noon He sets many Beacons on fire shoots off many a warning piece and gives many an Alarm to awaken us to Repentance He first whets his sword Psalm 7.12 and bends his bow and makes ready his arrows He was but six days in making the World but was seven days in destroying one little City Josh. 6. as Chrysostom observes concerning Jericho He departs gradually as if he were loath to be gone He gives orders for their destruction and then recals the Warrant and tries one year longer When Justice renews her plea Mercy interposeth to beg a reprieve and pardon On this account God permitted Abraham to plead with him so long on the behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other Cities of the Plain If there be but Fifty if there be but Forty if there be but Thirty but Twenty Gen. 18. c. 23. but Ten Righteous Persons for whose sake he should spare them it should be done God was willing to hear the utmost which Abraham could urge to prevent their destruction as if he had told him that he would have been glad to meet with an Argument that might disswade him from so unpleasing a work He grants him so often till the Patriarch was ashamed to ask further So unwilling was God to destroy such a Burden is the inflicting of Judgment even to God himself 2. T is a Burden to the Prophets and Ministers who are imployed to denounce and declare the Judgments of God. How doth the Prophet Isaiah express his Affection in such a case when he was to threaten Judgment in the name of the Lord and foresaw the Execution of it 22 Chap. 4 5. Look away from me I will be bitter in weeping labour not to comfort me because of the spoiling of the Daughter of my people For it is a day of Trouble and of treading down and of Perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts in the valley of Vision So the Prophet Jeremy 4. c. 19. My Bowels my Bowels I am pained at my very heart my Heart maketh a noise in me I cannot hold my Peace because thou hast heard O my soul the sound of the Trompet the alarm of War. By the spirit of Prophecy he knew it was at hand and as certain as if he had already heard it And when the Iews scoffed at the word of the Lord and dar'd his vengeance saying let it come 17. c. 15. How doth he appeal to God v. 16. As for me I have not hastned from being a Pastor to follow thee i. e. as I did not on my own head without thy call seek the Office of a Prophet to this people so being called I did not decline to follow thee neither have I desired the woful day thou knowest that which came out of my Lips was right before thee i. e. I was loath to be a Messenger of such sad Tidings but I have done it in obedience to thee Lord thou knowest So for Spiritual and Eternal Iudgments threatned by the Ministers of Christ to the Impenitent T is a Burden to their souls to consider the Folly and fore-see the Misery of hardned deluded sinners and declare the woes and curses in the book of God against them But tho we tell you weeping as the Apostle 3 Phil. 18. we must declare that their End will be Destruction who are Enemies to the Cross of Christ by wicked works You force us to speak terribly in the
name of the Lord. We had rather be Ambassadors of Peace than Heralds of War We would feign be every one a Barnabas Sons of Consolation but in faithfulness to our trust from God and to the souls of men we must frequently be Boanerges's Sons of Thunder We would rather bring nothing but glad-tidings of Joy but 't is part of our Commission to publish the Severity as well as the Mercy of God and knowing the Terrors of the Lord do endeavor to perswade men 1 Corin 5.11 by that which may work upon their Fears as well as their Hopes We would rather be like Doves to bring an Olive branch in our mouths as a symbol of Peace and Reconciliation than like Ravens to presage Death croak Funerals and foretel destruction but Necessity is laid upon us to declare the whole Counsel of God not only that whosoever believes and obeys the Gospel shall be saved but that he who doth not shall be damned John 3. c. 16 18. Hebr. 10. c. 26 31. Luke 13. c. 3. he is condemn'd already and the wrath of God abideth on him that there is no escaping if we neglect so great salvation and except you Repent you shall perish 3. A Burden to the People and Persons against whom Iudgment is either threatned or inflicted Most men would have us Prophecy nothing but smooth and pleasant things and care not to hear of the Terrors of the Lord of the certain and intolerable Damnation of the Wicked who will not turn and live This is legal preaching saith one this will fright men out of their wits saith another these are hard sayings who can bear 'em this is the way to make men run distracted and to drive them to Dispair and if all this be true who shall who can be saved Therefore many think and some say of the most Faithful Ministers of Christ what the Priest of Bethel said to Icroboam concerning Amos Amos 9 c. 10. The land is not able to bear his words According to the prediction that in the latter days men shall not endure sound and searching Doctrine 2 Tim. 4. c. 3 On this account the men of the Earth or Carnal sensual men are said to Rejoyce at the silencing and slaying of the Witnesses Rev. 11. c. 10. because they tormented them with their Words But if the threatning and Denunciation of divine Judgments be so burdensom what will the Execution of them be If the roaring of the Lion be so dreadful what will it be when he shall devour and tear in pieces If the menacing Voice of God by his Messengers be so heavy when he is said to Hew men by his Prophets how much heavier will his Hand be in the inflicting Judgment If the message of the Word be insupportable which tells you you must Turn or Dye Repent or Perish if that flash Hell fire in your faces and you cannot bear it how much less will you be able to bear the Wrath of God as a Consuming Fire when he shall make good his word and fulfil his threatnings Jer 17 c. 15. Ames 5. c. 18. Isai 5. c. 19. They therefore who say where is the word of the Lord let it come who desire the day of the Lord and say let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let his Counsel draw nigh that we may know it they know not what they say for the day of the Lord is Darkness and not Light. They know not what they wish for all his threatnings will prove Terrible Burdens when ever they are executed however now they be despised and made light of Which brings me to the Second thing propos'd viz. 2. From the Question Watchman what of the Night as in Raillery and derision of the Prophet to consider the Sin and Folly and Danger of mocking at the threatned Judgments of God whether temporal or Eternal I mention both because the same Principle of Infidelity is the source of both and that I may render this discourse the more useful to every Reader let us consider 1. The Sin of Scoffing The Devil hath tried without success by the Rage of Persecutors and by the subtilty of Deceivers and false Teachers to destroy Religion and banish the Fear of God out of the world but of late he hath attempted the same thing by Atheists and Sadduces and Epicurean Deists endeavoring by drollery and Buffoonry to expose the Mysteries of Religion to contempt and render them ridiculous deriding the Threatnings and Fears of divine Judgment as a groundless Bugbear as only the trade of Ministers and the trick of States Men. Such Scoffers 't is foretold should arise in the Latter days Jude v. 18. walking after their own lusts In other sins men do not so directly strike at God but seek the Satisfaction of some lust or appetite but in this scoffing humour there is an immediate Affront to God a downright Cotnempt of him and opposition to him whereas the very Devils own his Being and tremble at his Power and Vengeance 2. However they may set up for Wits and think themselves considerable assoon as they are Impudent enough to break a Jest upon the H. Scriptures and deride Religion yet this their way is their Folly. Not only as against all the rules of good Manners to make a mock of that which the greatest part of their Neighbors and Acquaintance do reverence and reckon sacred but as they employ their Understanding Fancy and Wit against the God who gave them Reason and a Capacity for Religion to distinguish them from Brutes and as in defiance to all reason they contradict the faith of all History and the Experience of all Ages and run against the setled Judgment and Testimony of all wise and sober men who have inquir'd into these things yea some of them against their own Convictions and Experience which they have drown'd by sensuality and made a shift to forget but the Folly of it will be more apparent if we consider 3. The Danger of it for if there be a God an infinitely Holy Almighty and Righteous God and the Scriptures be his word they pull down vengeance on their own heads laugh themselves into Misery and Ruin and shall dearly pay for their scoffing Humour let them read 28 Isai 14 15 18. and tremble 'T is seldom they escape the Righteous Judgment of God in this world Yea the places where such infect the Air and the Societies to which they are related do fare the worse for them 2 Chron. 36. c. 15 16. They mocked the Messengers of God and despised his word 'till the wrath of God rose against his People and there was no Remedy But if in this world they escape the day is hastning and oh how certain and how near is that day when God will speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure And when Death and Judgment are in view will they then stand to what now they
scornfully utter in their drunken Mirth Will you then maintain your Slanders and justifie your contempt of God and his threatned Judgments will you then avouch it as your setled opinion when you are to leave this world Alas while you are scorning the Judgment of God and by foolish Jests and Raillery make a mock of Sin how many Thousands are suffering under endless Despair that threatned severity of God which you despise and some of them too did once deride Will the Holy God think you be afraid to fulfil his word because you make light of it Will he not laugh at your Calamity Prov. 1. c. 25.26 and mock when your Fear cometh That day is hastening for as the Morning cometh so also the Night which is next to be considered 3. From the Succession of the Night to the Day that a Time of Darkness and Distress a season of Calamity and Trouble shall succeed and follow the Present Prosperity and Peace of the wicked This will appear to be true both as to particular Persons and Nations 1. Particular Persons have their Morning their time of Light and a Day of Gods Patience to which a Night of Darkness and Affliction succeeds Let us not be confident and Secure in the midst of Plenty Health and Peace while the light of God shines upon our Tabernacle and the Evil day seems afar off because Clouds and Darkness Storms and a Tempest may overtake us ere we are aware and tho they should not yet the Night will quickly come And oftentimes when we are most secure and confident and please our selves with dreams of a long Continuance of Earthly Blessings some great Disaster and Calamity some surprizing Stroke of Judgment doth seise us on a sudden when we least expect it The tables may be turned the scene alter and our Light go out in darkness Let us therefore use this World as not abusing it knowing that the Fashion of the World passeth away 'T is certain the clearest and most prosperous and brightest Day of the Wicked will be followed by an Everlasting Night Yet a little while and their Sun will set and gross Darkness that may be felt Vuter and Eternal Darkness be the Portion of their Cup. If we believe and foresee it let us not envy their present Sun-shine for after they have warm'd themselves a while with the sparks of their own kindling they shall lie down in Sorrow 2. 'T is true of Nations and Countries they have their Morning and a day of Peace which is succeeded by a Night of Judgment and publick Calamity Thô God had favor'd the Jews above all other People and by a Covenant of Peculiarity they were his Portion and Inheritance yet there was a Time when it might be said by the Daughters of Sion in the valley of vision Wo be unto us for the day goeth away Jer. 6 4. and the shadows of the Evening are stretched out Their day had many a dark cloud and violent Storms when their Country was made Desolate and their people carried Captive and at last Destruction by the Romans put an end to the day of their Peace And tho more than sixteen hundred years are past their Night is not yet ended The like is fore-told should happen to the Enemies of the Church All mine Enemies saith she have heard of my Trouble they are glad that thou hast done it Lam. 1.21 but thou wilt bring on them the Day of Calamity that thou hast proclaimed they shall be like unto me They shall have their time of darkness and distress as I have mine There is an hour of Temptation for Nations Luke 8.13 21 Chap. 22. as well as particular Persons 'T is true God waits long and gives frequent warning before he doth execute vengeance on a Wicked People but when they have filled up the measure of their sins all their Priviledges and prayers shall not save them Tho Noah Job and Daniel should intercede for them he will not be intreated Then shall they cry unto the Lord but he will not hear them he will even hide his face from them at that time Mic. 3.4 1 c. 14. as they have behaved themselves evil in their doings And all their Auxiliaries and Succors all their Friends Confederates and Allies shall prove a vain Refuge Now that we may know how far we and our Brthren are concerned in this and what use we ought to make of such a Reflection let us 4. Consider this Question in the Text as a Serious Enquiry by those who apprehended themselves and their Country in a more than ordinary Danger and the Answer to it as containing proper Counsel and Advice to prevent a threatned storm that we may be informed 1. What time of the Night it is with us and reflect upon the signs of a Darker Night approaching at least enquire whether the state of our Case be not such as may cause us to apprehend and fear it 2. Upon such an Enquiry consider what Returning to God by Repentance and to love and unity with one Another is our present Duty that if it be not too late we may yet prevent it That there are some Signs of the Times that we not only may but ought to observe cannot be denied because some are operative and Moral which have an active influence on the dismal Events they presignifie There are others which are only Indicative and concerning them 't is more difficult certainly to determin or to make a Judgment by ' em Altho I am far from prescribing limits to the Long-suffering of God or pretending to tell when his Patience will Expire and bear no longer with the Provocations of English Protestants yet to reflect on the Moral Prognostications and propable fore-runners of National Calamity can neither be presumptuous or impertinent but a seasonable duty because 't is by a serious observation of such things that God awakens his People to betake themselves to their Hiding place in obedience to that Call 26 Isai 20 21. Come my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the Indignation be over past for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Iniquities Such things the wicked who continue to do wickedly shall not understand but the wise shall understand 12 Dan. 4 10. And the neglect of observing these things is the subject of a divine Complaint and Threatning that the stork and the Crane and the Swallow should know their time but my People saith God Jer. 8.7 Psalm 28.5 know not the Judgment of the Lord. i. e. They will not observe they do not take notice of what I have done or am about to do in the Earth That the night is not past with respect to the Reformed Churches but further Darkness to be expected may be argued in the general from the flourishing of that Antichristian Kingdom and
Ceremonies almost Jewish and of Superstitions and Idolatry almost Pagan This Light hath been continued by an able and faithful Ministry No Country in the World hath had greater or on all accounts equal Advantages with our own in this particular Forreigners have admir'd the Burning and shining Lights in our Candlestick And if in any part of England there is any defect of this Light 't is part of our sin and Punishment As Men as Christians as English Christians our Portion hath been that of the Firstborn greater than our Brethren have enjoyed And tho we have waxed fat and lifted up the Heel forgot the God of our Mercies and provok't him by our Ingratitude yet with what admirable Patience hath he born with us By what various methods hath he called us to Repentance Warning us by lesser strokes and then turning from the fierceness of his Anger saving us for his own Names sake when our own Follies or the Malice of our Popish Enemies have brought us within a step of Ruin How often hath he defeated their Counsels prevented their Cruelty and brought their works of Darkness to Light Many a time and often may we say with the Church Ps 129. have they afflicted me from my Youth yet have they not prevailed God hath cut in funder the Cords of the Wicked tied up their hands broken their Measures bafled their Projects discovered their plots and cut out other work for 'em so that they could not hitherto accomplish their Enterprize and God grant they never may of Extirpating the Reformed Religion out of these Islands What Gratitude do we owe to God when we Constder the many deceived oppressed Nations of the Earth that are without Knowledge Holiness or Peace The vast Countries under Heathenism Infidelity or Popery While Brittain still continues to be Emanuel's Land. Hath any Nation under Heaven been honoured with more signal marks of divine Favour How many and famous have our Deliverances and Salvations been which all about us observe and say Ps 126.3 The Lord hath done Great things for them At the same time while we have been spared others have been made Examples to warn us his Anger hath smoakt against his own Inheritance in other places Our Brethren especially in France and Piedmont have been exposed to the Rage of barbarous Persecutors multitudes imprison'd tormented executed innumerable families and almost whole Provinces ruin'd Ministers banisht Temples demolisht and a thousand Out-rages committed against the Professors of the same Faith that we as yet quietly profess and own Their solemn Assemblies have mourn'd and their Blood been mingled with their Sacrifices while we have had the liberty to worship God according to the Rule of the Gospel and at the same time sit peaceably under our own Vines and Fig-trees Their Harps have been hanged on the Willows in Babylon while we might sing the songs of Sion in the publick Assemblies of his People and our Country been made a Refuge and a Sanctuary to the escaped Remnant who are as Fire-brands pluckt out of the Burning and in their Exile state have experienced the generous and Christian Charity of Great Brittain Holland and some other Protestant Countries Shall we not then mingle our Tears with the dust of Sion and put on sackloth when she is thus covered with a cloud Shall we not weep with our Brethren that weep for the loss of their Pleasant things and feel the Irons entring into their souls Shall we gratifie our Pride and put on our Ornaments and indulge our selves in Luxury While they are stript naked and afflicted with Baldness while they are fed with the Bread of Adversity Isai 22.12 13 14. and the Water of Affliction such shall go Captive with the First that go Captive and this their Iniquity shall not be purged away Secondly Humility and Cautionary Fear in opposition to vain Confidence and Presumption concerning any particular Church or Nation Let us not trust in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord as if because we have received the Knowledge of the Truth rejecting the Corruptions of the Roman Church in Doctrine and Worship that no Corruption of Manners could provoke God to punish and to destroy us Some build their Confidence of our safety on the vast Numbers of Protestants on the strength of the National Church on the Multitude of those who by common Interest are obliged to defend it and on other such considerations for the present or with reference to the future which may be of some weight to a meer Rationalist but if God upon the Provocation of National Guilt be risen out of his Place to execute Judgment he will reject and shame us notwithstanding our Confidence except we Repent For whatever may be apprehended to be the immediate Occasion of a People's Ruin in vain do men think to obviate and prevent it without making peace with God. And whoever be the Instruments of Calamity to a People 't is the Justice of God as provok't by sin that must principally be attended to without which we can be consident of the success of nothing that is attempted for our Preservation 'T is he who in righteous Judgment permits an open Enemy to prevail or suffers a most unseasonable Misunderstanding among them who should Unite Isai 9.14 T is He who mingles a perverse spirit among those who have manifold obligations to agree together If the Voice of Union and Concord among Protestants cannot be heard at a time when there are most pressing and importunate Calls to it it is of the Lord who doth not give an Ear to hear nor a Heart to consider 1 Kings 12.23 24. Thus we find it concerning the Division of the Ten Tribes of Israel from the two Some are Confident on other grounds and expect the speedy accomplishment of many Prophecies and Promises of the latter days and presume to speak positively as to the time But how uncomfortable will be the Disappointment if we should conclude for one time when God hath determin'd another at the distance of several years How many Holy Men have been mistaken already and lived to see themselves Confuted How different are the Opinions of Learned and Good men concerning the Calculation of the Times in the Apocalypse as to the Slaying and the Resurrection of the Witnesses and the pouring out of the Vials whether they have already emptied themselves upon their proper objects or when they shall when the 1260 Days of the Woman's Wilderness State shall expire and Babylons Time and Day be no more to determin which we must know when it began how different are the Opinions of Learned Protestants as to the Time of these things Let us not therefore anticipate the Counsels of God the vision being for an appointed Time by too positive Conclusions as to such things but give him Glory as the fittest Judge of the Times and seasons wherein to accomplish his own Great and Holy Purposes Neither can we argue from any unfulfilled Prophecies
the preservation of any particular Country or Church after great and general provocations without suitable Repentance and Reformation And thô that of all others be the most neglected and despised method of national safety the most think by Politicks and Numbers Confederates and such imaginary Fences to keep off danger they will yet find that they cannot more despise Repentance and Returning to God than he doth contemn and will defeat and shame all their wise Counsels and Contrivances without it Therefore the next and principal Duty we are called to is Thirdly Humiliation and Repentance among Protestants of all Parties and Denominations for their respective Guilt with serious endeavors to promote practical Holiness and Reformation of Manners All have contributed to provoke the Anger of God and more or less have been faulty in our carriage to one another and therefore it becomes us all to search and try our Ways and turn unto the Lord. God and Men are our Accusers we have opened our own shame and it cannot be hid and the fire is already kindled which reveals our sin in the effects of it 't is no time for any Party or Profession to stand upon their Credit and excuse themselves but rather endeavor to turn away the displeasure of God by falling at his feet in penitent Confessions of sin and sincere Repentance Without this all other methods will be ineffectual and the Anger of God will most easily and certainly bear down before it all the little Banks and Ramparts that humane Policy or strength can oppose It will prove a dangerous and fatal Mistake for us to imagin by any other means if this be neglected to be able to provide for our safety The Folly of the ancient Gaules related by N. Damascen De moribus Gentilium may move our Compassion who when the sea broke into their Country went and stood in the breach with their weapons in their hands and we shall be guilty of the same or worse folly if we think to secure the interest of Religion in England against a threatning Inundation by any Humane Expedients whatsoever without Repentance The use of Wisdom and Prudence is now if ever seasonable but that alone is not to be trusted to for the Highest Wisdom of any People under such a Guilt as ours is to make Peace with God by Humiliation for sin Whilst this Achan remains undiscovered or indulged the Camp of Israel will be troubled and we shall not be able to stand before an Enemy An Heathen Cato as we are inform'd by S. Augustine De Civitate Dei lib. 1. c. 33. who commends the saying could tell the wise and warlike Romans that it was impossible their Commonwealth should flourish stantibus Maenibus ruentibus Moribus thô their Walls were never so firm if their Manners were degenerate Our Lives and Conversations must protest against the Corruptions of Popery if ever we keep it out 'T is a dismal symptom of an approaching Darkness that so few in comparison are awaken'd to a due sense of this obligation God's Calls unto it are more loud than ordinary and we never seem'd to be more deaf to such a voice than now God may justly complain of us as he did of the Israelites of old Jer. 8.6 I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man Repented him of his Wickedness saying What have I done This therefore we must in good earnest set about if ever we are established and saved Every one must reflect and mourn for his own sins in particular and then for the sins of others There is no party or sort of men among us who have reason to think that all the sins whereby God is provoked and which are to be confess'd and reform'd are among those who differ from them I am far from laying the Guilt of National sins to any one party of Protestants because there are no Orders and Degrees of men no Particular Societies or Parties in Cities or Country however some Individuals may have approv'd themselves to God but need a call to Repentance Besides the sins of Professors as such in Formality Barrenness Conformity to the World and decays of Faith Love and Zeal they who have suffer'd for their Non-Conformity have been too Impatient under their sufferings and have set themselves more than they ought against the Authors or Instruments of them and endeavor'd to make them odious Instead of looking up to God and praying for their Repentance and endeavoring their Conviction in the spirit of Meekness by Censures and Slanders Bitterness and the workings of Revenge they have fled from Concord and the way of Peace and made the Breaches wider What might tend to an Accommodation of our Differences hath by neither side been so well entertain'd as it ought Peacemakers and Reconcilers have been ill treated and had little success The want of a Publick spirit hath also been visible among the several parties and is one mischievous Consequence of our Divisions Every one shifting for himself in a time of Common Danger taking care of his own Goods and Cabin with the neglect of what is necessary to preserve the whole Ship from sinking There hath likewise been great partiality in our Esteem and Affection towards those of one party having mens Persons for the sake of their Opinions too much in Admiration whilst others very deserving of our Respect and Love have been despised and undervalued Neither is there any one Party but hath seem'd to suppose that the whole Intrest of Religion was more concerned than it is in the prosperity or sufferings of themselves and those of their Persuasion I speak these things in faithfulness to the souls of my Brethren and include my self as Guilty desiring forgiveness of God and professing Repentance I likewise beg of God that so Considerable and Worthy a Body of Protestants as the Church of England may seriously reflect upon the severities they have used to their Dissenting-Brethren to the silencing of so many Ministers whose preaching might be useful to the Ruin offo many Families and the hindrance of Common Christianity by obstructing the free Progress of the Gospel of Christ the endeavors of all who are qualified to serve that design were the number greater being little enough in so populous a Kingdom Besides the Ignorance Negligence and Scandalous Lives of so many of the Clergy with the Corruption of the Universities Ecclesiastical Courts and Cathedral Worship How hath the Conscientious Diligence of several Ministers been discountenanced and censured by the Inspectors of the Clergy for omitting some part of the Rubrical Conformity when such as were manifestly scandalous have been better treated In how many places have the more serious and Conscientious Christians been reproacht and prosecuted for their Non-Conformity when Drunkenness Swearing whoredom and scandalous Immoralities have been overlookt in others or the guilty persons so they kept to the Rites of the Church been more gently treated than Dissenters thô otherwise sober and
could learn more Mr. Baxter Cure of Ch. â—iv dir 5. 〈◊〉 Min. and edifie better by other mens Ministry than our own tho it may be some error in Judgment that directed their choice A true Mother who knows her Child is like to thrive more by the milk of another woman than her own will be so far from hatred or envy at the Nurse or Child that she will consent and be glad of it Would a faithful Physitian rather let his Patient pine away in a Consumption than be healed by another whom the Patient with or without cause prefers before him I know there needs a great deal of self-denial unto this but I think it ought to be so because the Apostle rejoyced that Christ was preacht Phil. 1.15 16 18. tho by them who did it in Strife and Envy to add affliction to his bonds If any number of Christians judge tho it should be by mistake that the terms of Church Communion required of them are sinful and of doubtful and numerous ones very many are like to think so can they act like Honest men to comply while they thus judge Will any be so unreasonable as to desire me to do that to please him and punish me if I will not when I apprehend I should displease God by doing it Is it at all strange that many serious Christians in a Country Parish cannot content themselves with such Guides of their souls as an Ignorant drunken Patron shall think fit to put over them who it may be are as bad as he What if they think they have a natural Right to choose one themselves As well as to choose their Physitian or Lawyer and rather as the Consequence is more and greater especially since such a Principle is allowed by Leading men in the Church of England For every man to Worship God according to his Conviction Preface concerning Persecution saith Dr. Burnet is an essential Right of Humane nature Antecedent to all humane Government and can never become subject to it What the Rev. Dean of S. Pauls whose singular Learning is so deservedly honoured in all the Reformed Churches hath discourst formerly on this subject cannot be too often transcrib'd viz in the peaceable and Christian Preface to his Irenicum and in the * Part. 1. c. 6 p. 118 123. book it self If he continue not in every thing of the same mind Truth and Reason is still the same And Dr. Sherlock tells the A. B. of Canterbury in the Epistle dedicatory to his Answer to the First part of The Protestant Reconciler That a Recantation of a Book is no Answer And let me add that the Christian Design of that book the First part of the Prot. Reconciler and the Judgment and Moderation of the Worthy Author it is hoped will now be otherwise esteem'd of than three or four years ago when so Great a man as the Master of the Temple treated both with so much sharpness and contempt The Laws of Christ saith Dr. St. were meek and gentle the Duties he required were necessary just and reasonable He that came to take away the insupportable yoke of Jewish Ceremonies certainly did never intend to gall the necks of his Disciples with another instead of it and it would be strange the Church should require more than Christ himself did and make other Conditions of Communion than our Saviour did of Discipleship What possible reason can be given why such things should not be sufficient for Communion with a Church that are sufficient for Eternal salvation and certainly those things are sufficient for that which are laid down as the Necessary duties of Christianity by our Lord and saviour in his word What ground is there why Christians should not stand on the same terms now which they did in the time of Christ and his Apostles was not Religion sufficiently guarded and fenced in them was there ever more true and Cordial Reverence in the Worship of God What Charter hath Christ ever given the Church to bind up men to more than himself hath done and to exclude those from her Society who may be admitted into Heaven The grand Commission the Apostles were sent out with was only to teach what Christ had commanded them not the least intimation of any power given them to impose or require any thing beyond what he himself had spoken to them or they were directed to by the immediate guidance of the spirit of God. We never read the Apostles making Laws but of things supposed necessary When the Council of the Apostles met at Jerusalem for deciding a Case that disturbed the Churches peace we see they would lay no other Burden on the Gentile Christians besides those Necessary things 15. Act. 29. It was not enough with them that the things would be necessary when they had requir'd them but they lookt on an Antecedent Necessity either absolute or for the present State which was the only ground of their imposing those Commands There were after this great Diversities of Practice and varieties of observations among Christians but the H. Ghost never thought those things fit to be made matters of Laws to which all Parties should Conform all that the Apostles required as to these was mutual forbearance and condescention towards each other in them The Apostles valued not Indifferences at all and those things 't is evident they accounted such which whether men did them or not was not of Concernment to Salvation And what Reason is there why men should be so strictly tied up to such things which they may do or let alone and yet be very good Christians still Without all Controversie saith the Doctor and Experience will confirm it the main in-let of all the Distractions Confusions and Divisions of the Christian World hath been by adding other Conditions of Church Communion than Christ hath done Would there ever be less Peace and Vnity in the Church if a Diversity were allowed as to Practices supposed indifferent yea there would be so much more if there were a mutual forbearance and Condescention as to such things The Vnity of the Church is an unity of Love and Affection Chap. 6. and not a bare Vniformity of Practice and Opinion Were we but so Happy as to take off things granted unnecessary by all and suspected by many and judged unlawful by some and to make nothing the bonds of our Communion but what Christ hath done one Faith one Baptism c. allowing a Liberty for matters of Indifferency and bearing with the Weakness of those who cannot bear things which others count lawful we might indeed be restored to a true primitive Lustre far sooner than by surbishing up some antiquated Ceremonies that can derive their pedigree no higher than some Ancient Custom and Tradition God will one day convince men that the Vnion of the Church lyes more in the Vnity of Faith and Affection than in the Vniformity of doubtful Rites and Ceremonies And after that unseasonable Sermon at