design of the Gospel which invite us to rejoice in God WE are miserably mistaken in the rules and mesures as may appear not only by the Reason glanced at from their dangeros tendency or by the Silence of Scripture which in mater of duty is equivalent to a Negative but by the contrary conduct of the Apost'l in governing this exercise For however his words seem to prescribe self-examination as every mans duty yet doth he plainly direct it to a quite contrary purpose His words are Gal. 6.4 Let every man prove his ownwork Let Every man without exception Prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 examin his own Work in the most comprehensive sense as the French express a man's whole business by son fait else will the Plaster be too narrow for the Sore which is discovered in the words immediatly ' foregoing If a man think himself to be som thing when he is nothing he deceiveth himself All this seemeth to amount to no less than Let every man examin the state of his own soul that he may not be deceived but certainly understand whether he be a lively member of Christ or no. I shall not fence with these words by pleading that by Every man is meant Every man Concerned in the advice which is directed only to them which are Spiritual or that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant not only Prove but Approve but which is much better I shall mesure the Plaster by the Sore the Meaning of the Words by the Design of the Author which the first verse discovereth to be Charity to offenders the Means prescribed for this good end is Self-consideration 1. Consideration of human frailty whereto while himself is subject he is neither above the Reach nor secure against the Power of the tentation 2. Consideration of his own Experience which if he examin may inform him that himself hath be'n guilty perhaps of the Same perhaps of Greatâ—â—… crimes This is the plain design of the precept it is prescribed as a specifik against a particular evil to cauterize the proud flesh to lance the swelling apostem to divert the sharp humor from our neighbors to our own weakness or wickedness to pass from judging another to judging our selvs wherein we shall have better Evidence better Autority and better Success And what success doth the Apost'l promise Is it thou shalt be frighted at thy danger and confounded with thy guilt This indeed one would expect as most serviceab'l to the purpose in hand but bicause it is least so to the general design of the Gospel the Apost'l turneth short to a quite contrary inference and then shall he have rejoycing How careful that no particular precept should cross the Vniversal that his Precepts should have no wors consequent than his Reproofs But may clear themselvs and say as he did in his Apology to the Corinthians for having made them sory 2 Coo. 7.9 you have received damage by us in nothing which this exercise can hardly be able to plead if fear hold the scales and we weigh our selvs by grains and scruples and those authorized only by the precarios dictates of melancholy Our Apost'l hath plainly enogh told us that our adaequate mark is Faith working by Love If hereby we examin our selvs the work will be neither tedios in the Performance nor tormenting in the Issu Not tedios in the Performance for it cannot sure require much skill time or labor to search whether I love or no I look no further than mine own bowels for assurance whether I love this or that neighbor or kinsman and why may they not with the same ease and certainty secure me whether I love God or no Nor tormenting in the Issu for at worst I shall be put to no wors penance or task than to labor for a greater Mesure of Love and all Love's tasks are full of pleasure To ly down and afflict my self with grief for want of Love or as is prescribed in the second place for want of grief or with fear for want of any kind of grief c. is more likely to quench Love than to inflame it But to apply my affections to the original of all loveliness the infinite beauties of God in his own perfections the glories of his goodness towards his creatures and to my self in particular c. is certainly of all exercises most proper for this end and most pleasant in the practise This must needs be the fittest ground for the fruits of the Spirit Love Joy Peace ANnot 5. Nothing certainly but Fearfulness It may be worth observing how the light of Nature concurreth with that of the Gospel to cast out this spirit For as in All Ages Nations and Religions it hath possessed and tormented the Weakest so hath it in them All be'n exorcised by the Wisest The Greeks gave it a name which expresseth its Nature the Latins gave it one that expresseth its Operaetions for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth it in its Cause Superstition in its Effects That signifieth Fearfulness towards God This signifyeth Overdoing our duty toward him yet Both agree in the same apprehensions For when the Greeks describe its Operations they paint them with the very same colours as do the Latins witness Theophrastus's Character and again when the Latins define its Nature they do it by the very name which the Greeks have given it witness Varro who maketh this the essential difference between Religion and Superstition that the Superstitios Fear the Gods while the Religios reverence them as Parents but do not fear them as Enemies and what is this other than St Paul's doctrine You have not received the spirit of Fear but you have received the spirit of Adoption Seneca more Laconically giveth us account both of its Nature and Effects Superstitio error insanus amandos timet quos colit violat Superstition is a mad error whom it should love it feareth whom it worshippeth it slandereth And more largely in another place Sicui intueri vacet quae patiuntur superstitiosi invenies tam indecora honestis tam indigna liberis tam dissimilia sanis ut nemo fuerit dubitaturus furere eos si cum paucioribus furerent If any one be at leisure to view what the superstitious suffer you shall find things so disgraceful for gentlemen so unworthy of free men so unsuitabl to sound men that no man would doubt but they were mad were they mad with fewer companions Give us who can a better explication of those words of St. Paul which call it the spirit of bondage and oppose it to the spirit of Power of Love and of a Sound mind And all this St. Paul spoke of the Law of Moses which had been nothing else but Superstition had not God authorised it For as throughout the Old Testament Fear is Godliness so in all the ceremonies of the Law Obedience hallowed the exercises For as I said but now Superstition however exploded by the Wisest ever possessed the Weakest
of those unhappy widows and orphans who have nothing left them by their deceased husbands and fathers but their merits to administer But oh the disappointment Our Apost'l after his so great boast of the Galatians love quickly complains Where is the blessedness you spoak of And well may we demand Where is this great beauty that so descends to the very feet Hath age withered it to a deformity equal to its youthful loveliness Our very eyes are as loathsom as the primitive Preachers very feet were beatiful and the deformity descends to our posterity as their only sure inheritance yea som are so impios as to make God a party with themselvs in the entayl pretending that Clergy-mens children are equally hated of God and Man seldom or never attaining either worth in themselvs or prosperity in the world God be blessed we are henceforth secured from that malicios slander This conspicuos and perhaps matchless assembly having for ever rooted that fals toung out of its dwelling Yet thogh the Toung be rooted out the Heart is still the same so void of Love so full of ' spite against this once so honored caling that we must think it a great bargain if we can compound for ordinary charity and depose my Text to this poor plea The Preachers of the Gospel bring no evil tidings therefor they deserv not to be hated And since it is better to Cure an evil than to Complain of it I conceve I cannot do better service to my Text the Gospel and its Preachers than by removing the cause of the hatred we sink under which indeed is no other than that Epidemical mistake the root of all misery the taking things by wrong handl The Gospel hath two handls Threats and Promises its threats are Few and its promises Many its Threats shew us our danger only that we may rejoyce in our escape its Promises immediately raise our joys Threats therefor both in quantity and design sit upon the face of the Gospel as beauty-spots do upon that of a fair Lady here one and there another to this only end that by their vanquished blackness they may set off the lustre of the beauty which is to adorn the very feet but by the unhappy officiosness of melancholy messengers those spots have been enlarged to a visor which so cover the face of Religion that we cannot see its Joys for its Fears and the very grace of God which bringeth salvation appeareth like the inhumane Nero saying Let them Hate me so they Fear me This ugly visor shall I endeavor to pull off as my Text directs me by two Propositions 1. The Gospel doth not design to bring us to God by Fear but by Love For it is a Gospel of Peace glad tidings of good things 2. The mistake of this is the cause that the Gospel and its Preachers are so hated by the world For if Glad tidings make the messenger beautiful Evil tidings must make him loathsom I. THE Gospel doth not draw men to God by Fear but by Love This as it is clearly exprest in my Text so is it almost in every page of the New Testament I shall instance but in one or two places more which expresly offer one handle and reject the other In this same Epistle ch 8 v. 15. our Apost'l declareth as clearly as possib'l You have not receved the spirit of bondage again fear but the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father And no less clearly 2 Tim. 1.7 God hath not given us the spirit of Fear but of Power of Love and of a Sound mind In the former place he opposeth the spirit of the Gospel to That of the Law and in the later he vieth with the Philosophers who pretend to exalt the mind to the highest freedom and perfection If this can be yet more clear St John hath made it so for with pomp unmatched by any other pen he ushereth his first Epistl with This proclamation These things we write unto you that your joy may be full and throghout the whole body of the following Epistl exalteth Love as the only way to this fulness of Joy ch 4. v. 18. There is no fear in Love but Love when it is perfected casteth out fear bicaus Fear hath Torment It is impossib'l to find Plainer and therefor needless to seek for More declarations of this truth Nothing can remain but that we reconcile them with such other words of Scripture as seem to contradict them Two such especially there are One spoken by our Lord and another by our same Apostl to which may be reduced all others of the same air These two therefore if we can reconcile we shall both State and Clear the truth 1. Our Apostl himself seemeth to contradict this Phil. 2 12. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling Doth not this offer salvation by that handl which but now he rejected That we may now or at any other time reconcile appearances of contradiction we must carefully consider which of the two Propositions may best be broght to compliance It is plain that what we have heard declared a-against Fear cannot be bent to any other sence we must therefor try whether the fear and trembling which he recommendeth to the Philippians may agree both with his declaration in two other Epistl's that we have not receved the spirit of fear or with his exhortation in the same Epistl ch v. Rejoyce in the Lord evermore and again I say rejoice To find out this it is necessary we look about us and see how he useth the same phrase upon other occasions possibly it may be an Idiom Twice more we find him at the same phrase and in both places his meaning will very well comply with Love and Joy Eph 6.5 Servants obey your Masters with Fear and Trembling What doth not a Servant please both God and his Master better if he Obey him with Love and Chearfulness And what shall we say to the 9 th verse And you Masters do the same things to Them Must Masters also treat their Servants with Fear and Trembling Yes but such as may circulate between the best Masters and the best Servants even such as himself explaineth by good will v. 7. This possibly will be plainer by 2 Cor. 7.15 His inward affection is more abundant towards you while he remembreth the obedience of you all how with Fear and Trembling you receved him Titus came in kindness to visit them and they welcomed him with such endearing caresses as made his already great inward affection more abundant than before Here certainly the Fear and Trembling which so welcomed and heightned Love must be so far from excluding it and Joy that they import an extraordinary mesure of them Yea we need look no farther for a good light whereby to see the meaning of this phrase in That his exhortation to the Philippians than the encoragement wherewith he quickneth them in the words immediately following For it is God which worketh in you
our own defence and so far to turn Atheists as to wish there were no God Such fear as this Love certainly must cast out and it cannot be our duty to help It to cast out Love but on the contrary to cherish the Antecedent of the Apost'ls argument for the Consequent's sake We love him bicause he loved us first and thence take spurr to serv him by the mesures of thankfulness i.e. without mesure II. WE HAVE seen what an enemy Fear is to Religion in general Consider we now how much it is so to our own in particular and we shall soon discover that our enemies on Both hands the Papists and Nonconformists are made such by the spirit of Fear I. THE PAPISTS it is plain have corrupted the Gospel from a doctrine according to Godliness to a doctrine according to Interest especially in its two great limbs Faith and Repentance Articls of Faith they have multiplied and in every one multiplied difficulties on purpose to make an infallib'l guide necessary to determin them and Conditions of Repentance they have multiplied and imbittered on purpose to fright men not out of their Sins but out of their Reason and their Mony They drive men To Repentance by fear of Damnation and From Repentance by fear of its Torments and allow them no quiet but by the Priest's Absolution If now there be This only difference between Us and Them that We Drive men to Repentance by the same Fear and Torment them in it with the same Grief but do not reliev them by the same Remedies we have much less reason to wonder that som half-considering peop'l run from us to them than that so many scape the temtation especially seeing how greedily Fear and Pain catch at any however improbab'l offer of help II. That the NONCONFORMISTS on the other side are possessed by the same evil spirit needeth no other evidence but this That they are frighted from our Communion by such things as themselvs acknowledge Indifferent Fears and Jealousies fill both pages both in their Religion and Polity Their whole constitution is sowred by the melancholy humor uneasy both to Themselvs and others especially their Governors It is not possib'l in fewer and plainer words both to Describe and Condemn this unhappy spirit than we have found do'n by our Apost'l You have not receved the spirit of Fear but of Power of Love and of a Sound mind Love is opposed to Fear Power to Weakness a Sound mind to a Pained one I wish he had never spoken worse who said that to be much and long troubled with any scruple is a certain indication of a weak and cowardly spirit bicause if the weight be considerably greater in either scale the suspens will soon be ended if not the cause of doubt must be very light and to be much troubled about light maters must needs signifie great weakness Objection What then must we think any sin litl or can we be too fearful of the least Answ Distinguish between Sin Known and Sin Suspected We must more fear the least Known sin than the most cruel death But to fear that which we only Suspect to be sin as much as that which God hath declared to be so This is it self a sin against God bicause it maketh our own Suspicion equal to his Laws and against our Selvs our Country and our Governors bicause we troubl them without competent reason Our Lord's parab'l will illustrate this The Gospel is a great Lord's Fest and at such a Tab'l you may easily discern the Welbred from the Clown by the frankness of his cariage He payeth all due deference to his great Inviter careful not to do or say any thing that may offer him the least disgust nor to neglect any thing that may in any degree please him specially to cary himself with such a decent mixture of Humility and Chearfulness as may speak his joy and thankfulness for the favor do'n him In the Other you find not the least air of chearfulness but a Fear to mis-behave himself in every motion of hand or ey every bit that he bringeth To his mouth and every word that he uttereth Out of it and thus by too much fear of misbehaving himself falleth into it Thus differ the truly Religios and Superstitios the One serveth God with a Careful yet Chearful spirit will rather incurr the worst death than the least sin yet despiseth litl scrupls as unworthy to discompose his frank spirit the Other disordereth the whole frame of his conversation by timorosnes in such maters as he Knoweth to be Indifferent yet Suspecteth to be evil a mere Spiritual Clown Which of the two is best manners in the Kingdom of God our Apost'l taght both the Corinthians and Romans Both those Churches were troubled with a scruple concerning meats offered to Idols a scruple the more considerab'l bicause himself had taght them that it is impossib'l to partake the Lord's tab'l and the tab'l of Devils How doth the Apost'l treat this great question Why he spurns it as no other way considerab'l but in the mischief it might do to the peace of the Churches The Kingdom of Heaven saith he is not meat and drink but Righteosness and Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost for he that in these things serveth Christ is accepted of God and approved of men Let us therefor pursue the things that make for Peace c. Apply this decision of that Great controversy to those pety ones that troub'l our peace it will Determin them them the best way by Destroying them The Kingdom of Heaven is no more Vesture and Gesture than it is Meat and Drink Righteosness and Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost are still the best manners in sight of God and Man and to pursue the things that make for peace is still the best cours in such litl questions as endanger it We have therefore nothing to enquire but this Who best conform to this Rule They who in such small maters submit to their Governors or they who disturb the peace of the Church However obvios the answer be it is more obvios what the spirit is that maketh men in such things troublesom to themselvs and their country Nothing certainly but fearfulness can make a man so to fly his own shadow as to run into the ditch We see the Apost'l thinketh no way better to preserv the peace than by settling our Fundamental Position Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost are the best manners in the Kingdom of Heaven most pleasing to God and man and the best preservative both of Publik and Private quiet which is in other words The Gospel designeth not our Fear but our Love I HOPE I have now effectually performed the task I undertook which was not to exhaust all the contents of my Text but to dig up that root of bitterness which so undeservedly troubleth the world and especially the Ministers of the Gospel and most especially those of our Own Church who are
of all others most unhappy because whether they they prevail or no they are sure to create themselvs enemies If they prevail not then are they treated by the impenitent as our Lord was by the Devils What have we to do with thee art thou com'n to torment us If they do prevail they do no better than journy-work either for the Papists to whom the Sanguin run for Anodynes of Absolution or for the Nonconformists to whom the Melancholy run for food for their unsatisfiab'l scruples So we are hated on All hands by our enemies in Religion bicause we will not torment our selvs with Their fears and by our enemies in Irreligion bicause they suspect we will betray them to that place of torment which others hate us for renouncing But in all that I have spoken to this too necessary purpose how short am I falen of the requires of my Text I have not be'n able to display any of the glad tidings of good things cannot say as St. John doth These things have I spoken that your joy may be full or as St. Peter We rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorios Yet have we made no slight advance toward all this if we have cast out Fear For this visor once pluckt off holiness will so display its beauty that we shall soon find Plato's aphorism verified in its charms And now I have mentioned Plato I shall vouch not only his Opinion but his Experience He spoke so much and so well of the excellences and powers of Love that the best Fathers of our Religion have not disdained to write after his copy stiling him the Christian Philosopher Dion the greatest Noble-man in Syracuse went to Athens to hear him and afteward prevailed with him to take a voyage to Sicily to convert his unhappy Prince miserably corrupted by ill education He came and his First labor was to encorage his hearers that they should not be afraid of vertu This he perpetually inculcated and having removed that prejudice he charmed the whole Court and especially the young Prince into such a love of virtu and himself that never was Lover more fond or jelos He would not endure that Plato should go out of his Palace hardly out of his sight was impatient that any beside himself should have any interest in Plato's love made Plato Lord of all his power and wealth and had he not be'n countermined upon reasons of State was in a fair way to have resigned up to the love of Plato and vertu that unjust Kingdom from which he was afterward banished For this Diogenes upbraided Plato saying he had flattered a Tyran and I doubt not but som of the same Cynical humor will object against me that I would have the Clergy flatter the Peop'l Plato owned the charge and so do I. It is our work to flatter our peop'l just as Plato did Dionysius not In their lusts but Out of them not for our Own benefit but Theirs We must out-flatter Epicurus yea we must out-flater Plato we must flater like our Apost'l the greatest flatterer in the world Read his Epistl's with application see if you can match them for tenderness in any of the Romances He saith in one of them that he had espoused his disciples to Christ and in that and all the rest he courted them with all the arts and insinuations of a wooer And he plainly telleth us that His and Our Commission require it We are saith he Embassadors for Christ as if God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God Which is a great improvement of my Text and giveth us title to a nobler welcom We are not only Messengers to bring Tidings of peace but Embassadors to Negotiate for its acceptance to Negotiate as in the Person of Christ yet in the Posture of supplicants Christ again deposeth himself from his Majesty and creepeth to his rebellios subjects like a petitioner begging in most humb'l manner what that they would not again destroy him no but that they would permit him to save them and in this posture are we commissioned to represent him True Embassadors if they find it necessary may sharpen their importunities for peace by displaying the terrib'lness and unavoidabl'ness of That destruction which is to be the portion of the irreconcileab'l provided they do it with such tenderness as may speak their Master's goodness equal to his power more loth to destroy them than themselvs are to perish A preacher of the Gospel sure must not com short in kindness to a prophet vnder the Law yet in this posture doth Ezekiel represent God As I live faith the Lord I desire not the death of him that dieth but rather that he will turn and live turn ye turn ye why will ye dy ye hous of Israel Do ye say that he offereth salvation only to a few Elect Behold he saith yea he sweareth that he desireth not the death even of Him that dieth The difference is very observab'l which our Savior puts between the two sentences The blessed are invited to the Kingdom prepared for them from the beginning of the world but the cursed are dispatched to the fire that was prepared not for Them but for the Divel and his Angels There is therefore great difference between Election and Reprobation The one is a Positive act the other a mere reterition which doth not deprive men of Sufficient yea Abundant means of salvation The Reprobates are so far from prepared for hell-fire that the fire is not prepared for Them but only for the Divel and his Angels Many indeed will at last find it their portion but by their own carving God useth all the means that a Wise and Good father can to hinder them from it His Wisdom will not work miracl's except in cases extraordinary and in such cases possibly he may by irresistib'l grace qualify som few chosen vessels for som extraordinary service but in ordinary he offereth no such violence to Nature thogh he use all means suitab'l to it for the benefit of the creature whom he endeavoreth to make happy His Laws are far from grievos he requireth no Satisfaction for the past but Amendment for the futur and That Amendment too he requireth for This only reason that we may be as happy both now and hereafter as we are capab'l We are fond of our hedg-hedg-fruit bicause we know no better but he provideth for us bankets infinitly more delicios and he Inviteth he Intreateth if this will not prevail he Driveth us to this purpose only that we may be happy in his fellowship Plato broght the most dissolute to the love of vertu thogh he had no other motive but its mere beauty unendowed with any other reward than its self But we have commission to promise you a dowry great as its beauty and to embellish that beauty with most glorios additions The glory of God's love shineth infinitely brighter in the face of Jesus Christ than in