Enthusiasm THEY that acknowledge no Mysteries in the Gospel despise its Original and Divinity and by consequence they trample on the Priesthood also and therefore the followers of Socinus on this account are odious that they have forsaken the Belief of all Ages and what was received in the Christian Churches since the first Plantations of Christianity they have stript our Religion naked of its Mysteries and made the Holy Scriptures to bend and bow to that Scheme and Model that they have formed in their own fancies AND then again if this Well be so deep we can neither furnish our selves nor others with these Waters of Life without earnest Prayer profound Meditation and great Humility a serious and close application of Spirit So S. Paul advises Timothy Be in those things and it is an Apostolick Precept Give thy self to Reading CAN we think to beat down the Counter-batteries of Hell by carelesness and negligence ignorance or inadvertence Men will not resign their Reason without the best Arguments duly applyed and the Mines of the Holy Scriptures are not only rich but very deep we should dig in them night and day It was the great Commendation of Apollos that he was mighty in the Holy Scriptures BUT I go forward to the third Thing that I think implied in this Metaphor and that is the freedom unconstrain'd activity force and strength of their ebullitions 'T is a Well of Living Waters which cannot be contained in one place but must burst forth to water the Hills and Valleys high and low rich and poor When we remember what a World we live in how refractory and stubborn to the Yoke of Jesus we must not be niggardly of our Instructions we must reprove rebuke exhort in season and out of season with all long-suffering and doctrine here a little and there a little agitur de summa rei and there are no measures to be set to our endeavours but the measures of Charity It was said of the antient Christians upon that Monument rais'd to the Memory of Dioclesian that Superstitionem suam generi humano inculcabant they did embrace all occasions to make men acquainted with the truth and excellency of our Religion INDEED we should set our selves to do this with the greater readiness when we consider the opposition that we are like to encounter either First From the Malice of Satan or Secondly From our own Weaknesses and Infirmities or Thirdly From the Perverseness Hard-heartedness and Incredulity of them to whom the Gospel is preached First I SAY from the Malice of Satan When the Gospel began first to be proclaimed to the Nations the Powers of Hell did swell with fury and indignation they began with all spite and rage to crush the very beginnings of it he gathered together all the Forces and Legions of Darkness to consult how the growing Religion of Jesus might be stopped But the Apostles fortified themselves in the words of the Prophetic Psalm Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things It is the Devils very Nature to retard the Gospel 't is he that inspires Hereticks casts stumbling blocks in our way and finds out a thousand methods to stop our progress 1 Thess 2.18 We would have come unto you once and again but Satan hindered us and his endeavours in a peculiar manner are levelled against the Clergy who are most terrible to his Kingdom and beat down his strong holds and retirements in the Consciences of Men. Secondly WE are hindered by our own Weaknesses and Infirmities When we see so little success of our labours we are like to grow faint and give over and say with the Prophet Lord who hath believed our report 'T is true We have this treasure in earthen vessels and these Vessels are brittle and soon shattered and when we would vigorously and zealously serve our God we are dragged down again to the Earth by this dull and lumpish Body that we carry about us we cannot shake off human Passions Affections and Infirmities we are not priviledg'd to run his Errands so nimbly as the Angels do we are apt to despond and to suffer the flesh and its lazy whispers overcome our quickest motions and most zealous resolutions Oh! then to be within the Holy of Holies where the brightness of his face and the light of his Countenance can never suffer us to grow weary sullen and melancholy in his Service We shall minister before his Altar in the Sacrifices of Praise and Hallelujahs without fainting interruption or slumber BUT Thirdly We are opposed by the perverseness incredulity and ingratitude of the World When we contemplate the Arguments and Nature of our Religion we would think that they are so strong that no Soul could resist them but when we come abroad into the World and endeavour to reason men out of their folly and wickedness how hard is this undertaking How many Sermons are lost upon the inconsiderate multitude We must after many years endeavours sit down with sorrow and complain of their incurable madness THEY have hardned themselves against all reproof we must make our approaches to their hearts and cut out our way through Rocks and Iron Bars and inveterate Prejudices they have fenc'd themselves against our serious entreaties and stopped their ears like the deaf Adder when we have charmed never so wisely and affectionately HAD we nothing else to do but to let men see the reasonableness and excellency of the Christian Religion the folly and danger of Sin and Vice then our work had been easie as indeed it is honourable but we find to our sad experience that when we have chased them from one Cavil to another when we have shamed them out of all their denyals and exceptions they still keep their hold in defiance of all our Remonstrances The God of this World hath blinded the minds of men lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them How hard is it to recover the World from Sensuality and Error How difficult to make them love the Precepts of our Saviour and the Doctrine of the Cross To deny themselves and crucifie the flesh to forgive injuries to bless them that curse us to despise the World and all its trifling interest This is the aim of our Religion and this is it which men are loth to practise this ought to provoke our Zeal to the highest flame and make us set our faces against tho stream and current of wicked practices against all immoralities and errors THE Church like some Aromatick Spices the more you press them the more fragrant they smell their effluvia fly on all hands and their Smell perfumes the Air. The more we are besieged the more the Gospel takes Air like those precious Spices mentioned in the Verse before my Text so skilfully plac'd and so orderly disposed that by their Order suaviorem reddant odorem So the Prince of Poets in his Pastorals Sic
Religion so worthy of God to reveal so proper for us to be taught in as that system of true Piety and unaffected Morality that he has brought to Light WHEN I say Morality I do not understand Morality in the usual lame and defective signification of it as it regards our outward behaviour towards Man But rather the whole of our profound submission and obedience to the first and second Table of the Law And in this true and comprehensive notion I affirm that it was our Saviour's design to advance it unto practice and reputation amongst Mankind THE Jewish Religion take it all together was rather Gods indulgence and toleration than his law and commandment And tho it had the Seal of his Authority yet it was not in it self the best Religion but the best that they could bear When they returned from Aegypt the impressions of their servitude were not so soon worn off but that their proneness to Idolatry and former slavish dispositions remain'd And ever and anon upon all occasions for a long time after they relapse into their superstitions and Aegyptian Ceremonies IF we view them in the best periods of the Jewish Oeconomy their Religion was defective Many things were plainly permitted or tacitely conniv'd at as Polygamy and Divorce and some degrees of uncharitableness and revenge which natural and uncorrupted reason dislikes and condemns But when Our Saviour appear'd it was then high time to recover the World from their beggarly elements and to give us the true notions of Almighty God the spirituallity of his Worship and the extent of his universal Empire over Jew and Gentile and to form our manners by that accurate rule of his Doctrine and Example By which we were not only assured of Eternal Life but partly in a manner put in the possession of it A scheme of Christian Morals is given us in the Sermon on the Mount so pure and angelical that at first view we are forc'd to acknowledge that it came down from the Father of lights We are exhorted to whatsoever things are true honest just pure lovely and of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise to think on these things TO advance and facilitate the practice of this Morality was the design of our Saviour's undertaking when we consider the Gospel in its uniform strength and vigour as also to calm the consciences of men to remove our fears and to teach us to approach the Throne of God with a generous assurance of mind to bind us in the strongest bonds of Society amongst our selves and to liberate us from the yoke of Moses Law This was our Saviour 's business when he took upon him our Nature when we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth 1. I SAY one great part of his design was to form us into true Morals This is the comprehensive character by which good men are distinguished in the Holy Scriptures In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Thus runs the description of Job that he was a man perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil AND David's religious man walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart The great character of Moses was that he was very meek above all the men upon the face of the Earth And Cornelius the Centurion is said to be a devout man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much alms to the People and prayed to God alway BUT all along the New Testament the Pharisees are stigmatiz'd that they were cold and indifferent in the great Morals of Religion while they were very zealous and pragmatick to advance the rituals of it They were blind guides who strain'd at a Gnat and swallowed a Camel They tithed Mint Annise and Cummin and neglected the weightier matters of the Law WHEN the whole of Religion is summ'd up in the most compendious manner there is nothing else nam'd but the love of God and our neighbour Or the most ingenuous expressions of both What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And our Saviour tells us that on the Love of God and our neighbour hangs all the Law and Prophets And this is the same Doctrine that is preached by S. Paul for Love is the fullfiling of the Law And therefore we find that the Prophets upon all occasions did endeavour to withdraw the thoughts of the Jews from the External drudgery of their Religion to that Immortal Deity that was Worshiped and to convince them that if their Sacrifices were not attended with the Love of God and their Neighbour they could not be acceptable The blood of Bulls and of Goats was no entertainment for him that made Heaven and Earth A Soul disengaged from the corruptions of Life and animated in all its actions with true zeal and sincerity was the only acceptable Sacrifice AND the Rituals of Christianity if they are destitute of their true Spirit and Life are of no greater value Our Faith without works is dead in the language of S. James And S. Peter compares our Baptism if separated from Purity of Manners to the washing of Swine And our Communicating without Devotion is by S. Paul said to be our coming together to condemnation It is the pure heart and clean hands the modest and ingenuous temper of Spirit that perfume our Faith our Prayers and our Assemblies When we look into the New Testament this Doctrine runs through all its parts and breaths almost in every Line the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And for this very purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil IN all ages men have endeavoured to cross and oppose this part of our Saviour's design and to reconcile by little distinctions plausible and artificial tricks their Religion to their Lusts Some Religion they must have and that which renders them truly acceptable unto God penetrates too deep into the Soul searches the Hearts and Reins and teaches them to live in opposition to the corrupt Spirit of the World and to lead captive secret thoughts and imaginations unto the obedience of Christ The impressions of the Divinity are folded up in the Soul of Man the apprehensions and fears of an after reckoning haunt us whether we will or not
Christianity 1. I SAY Let us consider the Nature of that God whom we serve NOTHING purifies and enlarges the Mind more than the true account of the Divine Nature And therefore our Saviour when he came to accomplish the great Reformation did in the first place establish the true Notion of Almighty God and reveal the Father unto us No wonder then if the Heathen World was miserably sunk and buried in their Lusts and Impieties when the very History of their Gods and the Fables of their Poets did represent them under the Tyranny of their Passion Lust Jealousie Rapine and Revenge acting all the Extravagancies that make our Nature miserable and infamous How could they think it but honourable to be like their Gods could they be induc'd to reform what was heroically virtuous BUT blessed be God we have no such subterfuge and pretence for our wickedness God hath manifested himself clearly unto us we have such Notions of the Deity as are adequate to the Reason and Spirituality of our Souls fix'd in the Gospel THE Holy Scriptures every where represent him as the first Original and Self sufficient Being at an eternal distance from all weakness mixture change or composition the only Center of all Life Power Goodness and Omniscience WILL you consider his Power See how elegantly the Prophet Isaiah confutes from his Power the folly of Idolatry The Nations are as a drop of a bucket they are counted as the small dust of the ballance He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing all Nations are as nothing and they are less than nothing and vanity It is he hath sitteth on the circle of the Earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers he stretches out the heavens as a Curtain and spreads them out as a Tent to dwell in THE Armies of Heaven wait his call the brightest Seraphims stand ready to fly his errands up and down the Creation to whom then will ye liken God what likeness will ye compare him to When we think of his Power the very first thoughts of it should allay the pride and swellings of Vanity How soon were the passionate complaints of Job run down with the mention of his ineffable Power and his heart struck with Silence and Reverence IF you consider his Wisdom O Lord how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches The Lord of Hosts is wonderful in Council and excellent in working Great in Council and mighty in works who from the darkest Labyrinths and Intricacies of Providence makes the event beautiful and comely IF you consider his Goodness it endures for ever He is the Center and the Fountain of it If his Justice it is inviolable The Scepter of his Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness If his Holiness He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity If his Knowledge and Omniscience He is light it self and dwells in light inaccessible and with him is no darkness at all LET us then but a little more feriously reflect upon the Nature of God and warm our Soul at this fire Let us ask Is this God whose Majesty fills the Heavens and the Earth to be indeed approach'd with flat and tepid Devotions Did the Heathens worship their Idols with so much Lukewarmness as is too too visible among the Christians Nay but their sacrifices prostrations vain repetitions their superstitious Pageantry and Ceremonies requir'd a great deal of attention and application The very Devils if they were worshipped would not be satisfied with the careless behaviour of the Christians in our days and shall we approach the Invisible Immortal God with less regard than the Pagans did their dumb idols Our God is a Spirit saith our Saviour and must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And if you would allow me to speak a little more plainly nothing casts greater contempt upon the God that we adore or the Religion that we espouse than the manner of our Worship When we approach our Patrons and Benefactors on Earth we meet their smiles with the lowest submissions and acknowledgements But when we come unto the Altar we offer the blind and the lame in the language of the Prophet Offer it now unto thy Governour saith the Prophet The Living God must be worshipped with life and serv'd with vigour and ador'd with devotion He is all Perfection and cannot be serv'd with the cold and faint essays of half conviction and lame consideration I ask then when we dwell on the Nature of God whether or no the whole Soul ought to be employed in his Worship and Service BUT had we to do with such a Deity as the Epicureans fancied one that had eternally locked up himself within the Imperial Heavens If our actions and affairs came not at all under his cognizance then we might approach him with that remissness coldness and unconcernedness that is visible in our addresses But our God is all pure Life intent upon the Government of the World all things are open and naked before him with whom we have to do His eyes pierce into the Secrets that are buried in darkness He look'd down to see if any did seek after God He humbles himself to behold the things that are done in Heaven and in Earth There passes nothing unobserved Whether shall I fly from his presence If we ascend into the Heavens he is there in his Majesty and Power and his glorious Troops attend his pleasure He worketh all things after the Council of his own Will Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he both in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places The most casual and apparently fortuitous actions are ordered by his Wisdom Nothing so little but it falls under his care He is not a little Prince confin'd to the Hills and Mountains as the Aramites profanely imagin'd but the valleys also are his The young Lions roar and seek their meat from God the Lillies of the field are adorned not a Sparrow falls to the ground without your Father your very hairs are all numbered But 2 LET me press this from the Nature of his Law the sum whereof obliges us to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our strength and our neighbour as our selves The Laws of Men restrain our hands and determine our outward motions but the Laws of God set bounds to our very thoughts He that gave Man understanding sees the very first risings of our inventions and there is nothing appears irregular without but what was formed within for out of the heart proceed murders adulteries c. And therefore the Divine Law reaches the inside as well as the outside it makes a very exact Anatomy of the whole Soul and opens up our hearts unto our selves and discovers what we knew not before and yet now we know to be exactly true The most intricate cases are comprehended under
the Spirit of Jesus 3. Having these promises saith the Apostle let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the Flesh and of the Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 'T is certain that every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure If we are Candidates for eternal life our Souls must be purified from Vice for the pure in heart only shall see God 4. Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it The Israelites in the Wilderness came short of the Promises made to them by their sickleness and inconstancy Their goodness was like the early dew as the Prophet speaks and by their cowardice they were afraid of the Children of Anak partly by their unbelief they would not believe Moses nor the faithful Spies And this is easily applicable to our case for there is no way to be saved but to believe the Promises to break through all obstacles to fight the good fight of Faith and to lay hold of eternal life 5. LET us ponder and consider the excellencies of these Promises I shall name but the two Epithets bestow'd upon them in the Text. 1. They are Great 2. They are Precious I say 1. They are Great and that in three regards 1. With regard to their Author the only begotten Son of God whom all the Angels worship and adore He is the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his person and upholds all things by the word of his power This one consideration is enough to overawe the boldest sinner and it is frequently taken notice of to magnifie the Gospel and to recommend to us the Precepts of our Saviour that he was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation c. Shall we contemn the Promises made by the Son of God God sent his Son to give the Jews the last and most undenyable proof of his Love and Wisdom Certainly they will reverence my Son Thus reasons the Author to the Hebrews How shall we 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 And again He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace Against whom does the incorrigible sinner sport himself against the Son of God and the clearest proofs of his love For herein is love not that we loved him but that he loved us and gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 2. THE Promises are Great in their intrinsic value I mean not only the Promise of eternal life but all the other Promises that are of a relative and subordinate Nature the Graces of the Spirit the remission of our sins the peace of our Consciences these are things to be valued above Gold and Silver Wisdom is preferred above the choicest Rubies the Gold of Ophir is not to be compar'd unto her Therefore the Graces of the Spirit are compar'd unto the most costly things I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white rayment that thou mayest be cloathed and the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see 3. The Promises are Great in their tendency and design to recover the World sunk into Corruption to overthrow the Worship of Devils to enlighten the World to take down the Kingdom of Darkness and to advance the Image of God upon the Souls of Men were designs becoming the Goodness and Majesty of the Son of God But of this I shall have occasion to speak under the fourth Particular And therefore I consider the second Epithet bestowed upon the Promises They are not only Great but 2. PRECIOUS And that in regard of their 1. Price 2. Certainty 3. Durableness 1. In regard of their Price S. Peter informs us that we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot or blemish There is no Religion wants its Sacrifice and this is the Mysterious Sacrifice of our Religion the blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel that powerful Atonement that so successfully pleads for pity and compassion in the ears of God the Sacrifice under whose intercession we come with boldness to the Throne of Grace the Sacrifice that laid aside all the Mosaick Oblations the Sacrifice that was typified by all the former and was more acceptable unto God than the Cattel upon a thousand bills This is the Sacrifice that the Prophets foretold and the Apostles preach'd and upon which we must lean at the hour of death Nature teacheth us to fly to the strongest refuge when we are reduc'd to the saddest extremities And therefore do we grasp the Merit of his Sacrifice in our last conflicts and agonies for he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world This is the Sacrifice that bears the weight of all their sins who are penitent So reasons the Divine Author to the Hebrews for if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God THEY that allow him no more than to be a resolute Martyr for the Truth who rob us of the comforts of his Sacrifice and Propitiation take away the great pillar of our hope at the hour of death they would reform us unto a gentile kind of Paganism though there be no error more plainly opposite to the Scriptures than theirs For the Notion of a piacular Sacrifice and the penal substitution of it in the room of the criminal was receiv'd amongst all Nations and the Scripture makes use of the same words that are used by other Authors to express a proper atonement when they speak of the Sacrifice of our blessed Saviour WHEN we consider this it may confirm our hope and withal put us in mind how fearful a thing it is to trample upon the blood of the Son of God for being redeem'd by his blood we are no more our own 2. THE Promises are precious because of their certainty The frame of Nature may sooner be dissolv'd the pillars of the Creation may shake and crumble into their first disorder rather than that his Word should
fail for he is everlasting truth and he cannot lye Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sun for a light by day and the Ordinances of the Moon and of the Stars for a light by night which divideth the Sea when the waves thereof roar the Lord of Hosts is his Name If those Ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a Nation before me for ever These Promises are made to the Spiritual seed of the true Israelites as is proved by S. Paul And therefore to remove all our doubts and diffidence all our distrust and hesitation they are confirm'd by his Oath Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us 3. THE Promises are precious in regard of their durableness I mean that the things promised are eternal There is nothing liable to decay that can give true repose to the Spirit of a Man the Christian Religion settles the frame and satisfies the enquiries of our Souls by bringing life and immortality to light Nothing else can satisfie the vast capacities of the mind of Man The endless duration of our happiness is express'd in the Scriptures by full and plain phrases And this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life And again in the Gospel of S. John He that keepeth my sayings shall never see death And S. Peter assures us that we are begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead To an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you And can there be any thing that so adequately satisfies the boundless desires and intellectual appetites of a reasonable Creature as an eternal weight of glory O Eternity who can forget Thee that remembers himself and the frame of his Nature Who can contemn eternal things that thinks that he himself is any thing more excellent than the Beasts that perish Have we naturally such strong inclinations to immortality and can we despise the Gospel that prepares and trims our Souls for life eternal Who can reflect on the variety and Spirituality of his own thoughts and yet conclude that he was made to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Let no such thoughts dwell within thee but rather look at the things which are not seen For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens And now when we look upon whole Gospel its entire frame and design we may safely say of it as the Apostle says of its Promises that it is Great and Precious in all its lineaments and features Especially when we consider the great design that is carried on by the Gospel and that is nothing less than to make us partakers of the Divine Nature And this leads me to the fourth Particular that I promis'd to speak to viz. 4. THE Scope of the Gospel and its Promises to restore the Image of God on the Souls of men to repair the breaches and decays of Humane Nature to make him look up again to Heaven with briskness and innocence as he did when he was newly form'd by the finger of God to restore life unto the degenerate World not that animal and feculent life that oppresses the Divine Nature but a life of true Reason united to God and fitted for the Society of Angels to make Man as near unto God as Humane Nature could allow and all Mankind who allow themselves the exercise of their Reason must acknowledge at first view that this is the top of Humane Glory the heighth of true felicity the elevation of Reason to its noblest exercise and object to be made like unto God THE Eternal Son of God became Man that he might heal the bruises and wounds that we received by the first A-Adam To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Which were born not of blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the Sons of God We must be new moulded into the Image of our Maker we must live no more unto sin but unto God we must be acted by higher Motives and Principles than the Life of Nature We must steer our course towards Heaven by other Engines than such as set the World in motion And so much is imply'd in that saying of our Saviour He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me And he that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me To make this a little more clear I shall enquire into two things 1. Why there must be such a thorough change of our Nature 2. Wherein do the Characters of the Divine Nature plainly appear 1. There must be such a thorough change of our Nature Whether we consider 1. The plain account of Scripture Or 2. The Notions we have of the Deity Or 3. The Corruption of our Nature and its distance from Heaven 1. Do but consider the plain account of Scripture Without Holiness it is impossible to see God He that is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof He that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure God hath declared in innumerable places of Scripture that there is no access to his favour but by an entire reformation his eyes penetrate to the Center of our Spirits all things are naked and open before him Though the Gospel hath the Nature of a Covenant it is no less the transcript of his Nature than his Royal Edict Holiness is as much our happiness as our duty and no arts no shifts can preserve the favour of God and our sins together How strangely presumptuous must they be who think to compound with the Almighty and venture to bring instead of a true heart sincere love and filial simplicity Sacrifices Oblations and Perfumes To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-Goats Learn to do well seek judgement relieve the oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow The New and the Old Testament the Patriarchal as well as the Mosaic Dispensation the Pagan as well as the