he had reproved us for breach of Commands for Omission and Neglect of Sacrifices we would have taken with it But what means this reproof for well doing The Lord is a hard Master if we neglect Sacrifices and offer up the worst of the Flock he is angry If we have a care of them and offer them punctually and keep appoynted days precisely he is angry what shall we do to please him I think many of you are put to as great a Non-plus when your prayers and repentance and fasting is quarreled Do ye not say in your hearts we know not what to do Ministers are angry at us if we pray not and ouâ— praying they cry out against They command us to Repent and Fast and yet say that God will abhore both these This is a Mystery and we shall endeavour to unfold it to you from the World It concerns us to know how God is pleased with our publick Services and Fastings For the most part of people have no more Religion Ye all I know desire to know what True Religion is Consult the Scriptures and search them for there ye shall find Eternal Life We frame to our self a wrong Patern and Coppy of it and so we judge our selves wrong Our narrow Spirits do not take in the Latitude of the Scriptures Religion but taking in one part it excludes another and thinks God rigid if it be not taken of our hand so But I pray consider these three things which seem to make up the good Old Way the Religion of the Old and New Testament First Religion takes in all the Commands it is universal hath respect to all the Commandments Psal 119. 6. It carries the two Tables in both-hands the first Table in the right hand and the second in the left These are so intirely conjoyned that if ye receive not both ye cannot receive any truely Secondly it takes in all the man his Soul and Spirit al 's well as his Body Nay it principally includes that which is principal in the man his Soul and Spirit his Mind and Affections If ye divide these ye have not a man present but a body And what fellowship can bodies have with him who in a Spirit If ye divide these among themselves ye have not a Spirit indeed present If the mind be not present surely the heart cannot but if the mind be and the heart away Religion is not Religion but some empty Speculation The mind cannot serve but by the heart Where the heart is there a man is reckoned to be Thirdly it takes in Jesus Christ as all and excludes altogether a mans self He worships God in the Spirit but he rejoyces not in himself and in his spirit but in Jesus Christ and hath no confidence in himself or the flesh phil 3. 3 8. It includes the Soul and Spirit and all the Commands but it denyes them all and embraces Jesus Christ by Faith as the only Object of glorying into and trusting into All a mans self becomes dross in this Consideration Now the first of these is drawn from the last therefore it appears first I say an indeavour in walking in every thing Commanded of conforming our way to the present rule and patern is a stream flowing from the pure heart within A mans Soul and Affections must once be purified or it send out such Streams in Conversation And from whence doth that pure heart come Is it the Fountain and Original No certainly The heart is desperately wicked above all things and how will it cleanse it self But this purity proceeds from another Fountain from Faith in Jesus Christ And it is this that lies nearest the uncreated Fountain Christ himself it is the most immediat Conduit the Mouth of the Fountain or the Bucket to draw out of the deep Wells of Salvation All these are conjoyned in this order 1 Tim. 1. 5. The end of the Command is love Ye know Love is said elsewhere to be the fulfilling of the Law And when we say Love we mean all Duties to God and man which Love ought immediately to principle Now this Love proceeds from a pure Heart cleansed and sanctified which pure heart proceeds from Faith unfeigned So then we must go up in our searching from external obedience all alongs till we arrive at the inward Fountain of Christ dwelling in us by Faith And then have ye found true Religion indeed Now ye may think possibly we have used too much circumlocution What is all this to the present purpose Yes very much Ye shall find the Lord rejecting this peoples publick Worship and solemn Ordinances upon these three grounds either they did not joyn with them the observation of weightier Commands or they did not worship him in them with their Spirits had not Souls present or they knew not the end and use for which God had appoynted these Sacrifices and Ceremonies they did not see to the end of all which was Jesus Christ First then I say the people was much in exâ—ernal Sacrifices and Ceremonies Commanded of God but they were ignorant of the end of â—is Commands and of the use of them Ye now in themselves they had no goodness but â—nly in relation to such an end as he pleased they â—ould lead to But they stayed upon the Ceâ—emony and shadow and were not led to use it â—s a means for such an end And so though â—ey fancied that they obeyed and pleased God â—et really they wholly perverted his meaning and intention in the Command Therefore doth the Lord plead wâ—th them in this place for their Sacrificeing as if it had been Murther They used to object his Commands What sayes the Lord did I command these things Who required them Meaning eertainly who required them for such an end to take away your sin who required them but as a shadow of the substance to come Who required them but as signes of that Lamb and Sacrifice to be offered up in the fullnesse of time And for asmuch as ye passe over all these and think to please me with the external Ceremony was that ever my intent or meaning Certainly ye have fancied a new Law of your own I never gave such a Law Therefore it is said Psal 50. 13. God pleads just after this manner Will I eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the blood of Goats c. And Micah 6. 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rammes or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl He who hath no pleasure in sinful men what pleasure can he have in beasts Therefore it was to signify to them who thought God would be pleased with them for their offering that he could not endure them it was worse to him to offer him such a recompense then if they had done none at all Hâ— is only well pleased in his well beloved Son And when they separat a Lamb or a Bullocâ— from the well bâ—loved what was it to him morâ— nor a dogs neck or swines flesh It was
is a through and intire change It is like a new Creation that must destroy the first Subject to get place for that which is to come It is a putting off old Garments to put one new The putting off an old form and engraven Image to make place for a new engraving Men do not put a Seal above a Seal but deface the old and so put on the new Men do not put new Cloaths upon the old but put the old off and so they have place for the new Religion must have a naked man Godlinesse is a new Suit that will not go on upon so many Lusts No no it is more meet and more conformed unto the inwards of the Soul then so The cold must go out as the heat comes in Many men do not change their Garments but mends them puts some new pieces into them They retain their old lusts their heart idols and they will add unto these a patch of some External Obedience But alas is this godlinesse Hypocrisie will be content of a mixture sin is the harlot whose heart could endure to see the Child parted It can give God a part to get leave to brook the most part Sin will give God liberty to take some of the outward man if it keep the heart and soul But God will not reckon on these terms he will have all the man or nothing for he is the Righteous Owner True godlinesse cannot mix so but false and counterfeit may do it well Other men again possibly uncloaths themselves of some practices but they put on no new cloathing They reform some passages for fear of censure or shame or such like They are found it may be blamelesse either because so Educated or their Disposition is against particular grosse sins But they are not cloathed upon with Holinesse and well doing and so they are but naked and bare in Gods sight not beautiful They have sweept their house and some Devil put out or kept out but because the good Spirit enters not ordinarily seven worse enter again into-such men There is a great moment of perswasion in this order of the Exhortation Wash you and then put away the evil of your doings and cease to do evil Do not continue in your former customs It is strange how contrary our hearts are to God We use to turn Grace unto wantonnesse We use to take more liberty to sin when we conceive we are pardoned But I do not know any more strong and constraining perswasion to forsake sin then the consideration of the forgiving of it might yeild Oh what an inducement and grand Argument to renouncing of evils is the consideration of the remission of them This is even that ye are now called unto who have fled to Jesus to escape Wrath What should ye be taken up with in all the World but this to live to him henceforth who died for us To forsake our own old way and that from the constraining principle of Love to him 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Oh that ye would enforce your own hearts with such a thought when there are any solicitations to sin to former lusts Should I that am dead to sin lâ—ve any longer therein Rom. 6. Should I who am washed from such pollutions return again to the pollutions of the World Should I again defile my self who am cleansed by so precious Blood And forget him that washed me Should I return with the dog to the vomit and with the sow to the puddle God forbid I pray you consider if you be Christians indeed give a proof of it What hath Jesus Christ done for you He hath given himself his own precious Blood a Ransom for us will ye not give up your selves to him Will not ye give him your sins and lusts which are not your self but enemies to your self Will not ye put away these ills that he came in this world to destroy Art thou a Christian and are there yet so many sins and works of the Devil raigning in thee and set up in Gods sight VVhat an inconsistency is this If thou be his follower thou must put these away Give them a bill of divorcement never to turn again Many a man parts with his sin because it leaves him he puts it not away Temptation goes and occasion goes away but the root of it abids within him Many men have particular jarrs with their corruptions but they reconcile again as differences between married persons They do not arise to hate their sin in its sinful Nature But if thou hate it then put it away And who would not hate it that Christ so hated that he came to destroy it 1 Jo. 3. 5. What a great indignity must it be to the Gospel to make that the ground of living in sin which is pressed in it as the grand perswasion to forsake it Seing we are washed from the guilt of it Oh let us not love to keep the stain and filth of it Why are we washen Was it not Christs great intendment and purpose to purifie to himself a Holy People We are washen from the guilt of our sins and is it to defile again Is it not rather to keep our selves henceforth clean that we may be presented holy and unblameable in his sight That we may seek to be al 's like Heaven as may be But who ceases to do these evils that he says are pardoned Who puts away the evils of these doings the guilt whereof he thinks God hath put away Could ye find in your hearts to intertain those evils so familiarly to pour out your Souls unto them if that Peace of God were indeed spoken unto you Would not he reflex of his Love prove more constraining on your hears Were it possible that if ye did indeed consider that your lusts cost Christ a dear price to shed his Blood that your pleasures made his Soul heavy to death and that he hath laid down his Life to Ransom you from Hell were it possible I say that ye would live still in these lusts and choose these pleasurs of sin which were so bitter to our Lord Jesus I beseech you be not deceived if ye love the puddle still that ye cannot live out of it do not say that ye are washed Ye may have washen your selves with Sope and Nitre but the Blood of Christ hath not cleansed For if that Blood sprinkled your Conscience once to give you an answer to all challenges it could not but send forth Streams to purifie the heart and so the whole man The Blood and VVater might be joyned the Justifying Saviour and the Sanctifying Spirit For both these are in this Gospel washing 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Jo 5. 6. This is be that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and blood Not by water only but by blood also and I say not by blood only but by water also The very purpose of forgivenesse is not to lay a foundation for more sin but that men
the Flame to increase his Indignation The most part of Christians are guilty here We come to the Ordinances as it were to discharge a Custome and perform a Ceremony that we may have it to say to our Conscience that it is done and there is no more intent and purpose We do not seek to have Soul communion with God We come to Sermon to hear some new thing or new truth or new fashion of it To learn a Notional Experience of Cases But alas this is not the great purpose and use of these things It is to have some new sense of these things we know We know already but we should come to get the Truth mâ—re received in our Love to serve God in our Spirits and to return to him our selves in a Sacrifice acceptable This is the greater half if not the whole of Religion Love to Jesus Christ who loved us and living to him because he died for us and livihg to him because we love him Now all our Ordinances and Duties should be Channels to cary our Love to him and occasions of venting our Affections Thirdly the Lord rejected this peoples services because they were exact and punctual in them and neglected other parts of his Commandments And this is clearly expressed here I will not hear your prayers though there be many of them Why Your hands are full of blood Ye come to worship me and pray to me and yet there are many Abominations in your Conversation which you continue in and do not challenge in your selves Ye have unclean hands and shall your prayer be accepted which should come up with pure Hands They took his Covenant in their mouth and offered many Sacrifices but what have ye to do with these things sayeth the Lord since ye hate to be reformed since ye hate personal Reformation of your Lives and in your Families what have ye to do to profess to be my people Psal 50 19 17 The Lord requires an universality if ye would prove sincerity If ye have respect to any of his Commands as his Commands then will ye respect all If ye be partial and choose one Duty that is easy and refuse another harder ye will come to the Church and hear but ye will not pray at home Ye will fast in publck but not in private Then sayes the Lord ye do not at all obey me but your own humour ye do not at all fast unto me but unto your selves As much as your interest lyes in a Duty so much are ye carried to it And I take this to be the reason why many are so Eager in pursuing publick Ordinances following Communions and Conferences with Gods people ready to Pray in publick rather then alone If ye would follow them into their secret Chamber how much indifferency is there how great infrequency how little fervency VVell sayes the Lord did ye pray to me when ye prayed among others No ye prayed either to your selves or the company or both Did ye seek me in a Communion No sayeth the Lord ye sought not me but your selves If ye sought me indeed with others ye would be al 's earnest if not more to seek me alone Zech. 7. 6. And again the Lord especially requires the weightier matters of the Law to be considered As it was among the Jews their Ceremonies were commanded and so good but they were not so much good in themselves as because they were means appointed for another end and use But the Moral Law was binding in it self and good in it self without relation to another thing And therefore Christ lays this heavy Charge to the Pharisees Ye tithe mint and anise Mat. 23. 23. Woe unto you for ye neglect the weightier matters of the Law Judgement Mercy and Faith these ye ought to have done and not left the other undone Are there not many who would think it a great fault to stay away from the Church on the Sabbath or Week day and yet will not stick to swear to drink often VVoe unto you for ye strain at a gnat and swallow a camel Therefore are the Prophets full of these Expostulations The people seemed to make Conscience of Ceremonies and External Ordinances but they did not order their Conversation aright They did not execute Judgment and relieve the oppressed did not walk soberly did not mortify sinful lusts c. Alas we deceive our selves with the noise of a Covenant and a Cause of God we cry it up as an Antidot against all evils use it as a charm even as the Jews did their Temple and in the mean time we do not care how we walk before God or with our Neighbours Well thus saith the Lord Trust ye not in lying words Jer. 7. 4 5 6. If drunkenness reign among you if filthiness swearing oppression cruelty reign among you your Covenant is but a ly all your professions are but lying words and shall never keep you in your Inheritances and Dwellings The Lord tells you what he requires of you Is it not to do justly and walk humbly with God Mic. 6. 7. This is that which the grace of God teaches To deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly towards your God your neighbour and your self Tit. 2. 11 12. And this he prefers to your publick Ordinances your Fasting Covenanting Preaching and such like Is not this to know me saith the Lord Jer. 22. 15. 16. You think you know God when you can discourse well of Religion and intertain conferences of practical Cases You think it is knowledge to understand Preachings and Scripture But thus saith the Lord To do justly to all men to walk humbly towards God to walk soberly in your selves is more real knowledge of God then all the Volumes of Doctors contain or the heads of Professors Is this knowledge of God to have a long flowrishing discourse containing much Religion in it Alas no to do justly to oppress none to pray more in secret to walk humbly and soberly this is to know the Lord practice is real knowledge indeed it argues that what a man knows he receives in love that the Truth hath a deep impression on the heart that the Light shines into the heart to inflame it What is knowledge before God As much as principles Affection and Action as much as hath Influence on your Conversations If you do not and love not what you know is that to know the Lord Shall not your knowledge be a Testimony against your practice and no more SERMON X. Isai 1. 16. Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil c. IF we would have a sum of pure and undefiled Religion here it is set down in opposition to this peopleâ— shadow of Religion that consisted in External Ordinances and Rites We think that God should be al 's well pleased with our service as we our selves therefore we choose his commands which our humour hath no