Lustre upon the Solemnization of this present Day A Day which if any may most properly be said to be made by the Lord since it bears the liveliest Characters and Impresses of his Power and knowledge of his Wisdom and Goodness and of all those other glorious Attributes whereby we are assur'd that he governs the World For trace the Histories of ancient Times turn over all Authors both Sacred and Prophane and the Day of our Spiritual Redemption excepted produce me a Day like This so memorable in its Circumstances so glorious in its Issue and so unparallel'd in its Consummation Of all those Deliverances God in past Ages vouchsaf'd his Church methinks none ever amounted to the Wonder of this Day when I consider 1. The black and dismal nature of the Design which was this Day fram'd against us And 2. The Strangeness and Unexpectedness of our Deliverance from it 1. I say It will appear that of all those Deliverances God in past Ages vouchsaf'd his Church none ever amounted to the Wonder of this Day and consequently that this Day of all others may most properly be said to be made by the Lord if we consider the black and dismal nature of the Design which was this Day fram'd against us As the Heavens rejoyc'd and the Earth was glad to see the glory of the Lord in the uncorrupted Light of the Gospel after a long Night of Ignorance and Superstition arise in Brightness upon us so those restless Spirits who always bore Evil-will to our Zion as though they had received a second Downfall in their undiscerned Habitations vented themselves in nothing but Lamentations and Mournings and Woe They saw the unparallell'd Beauty of her Countenance which tho' long mask'd and clouded with the Veil of Widowhood did now at length break forth in such Splendour and Brightness that the Gentiles were coming to her Light and Kings to rejoyce in the Brightness of her Rising That therefore in this holy Mountain there was no Den for such Beasts of Prey but that they must either forego their beloved Dainties and peaceably lie down in the Pastures with the Lamb or for their own Security betake themselves to harder seeding in the barren Recesses of the Wilderness Wherefore impatient both of Restraint and Exile they incontinently breathed out our Destruction and to support and underprop their sinking Interest at sundry Times and in divers Manners endeavour'd to overturn the Foundations of our Felicity sometimes with the factious Son of Sheba they blow'd the Trumpet of Rebellion disclaim'd their Right in David and endeavoured by good Words and fair Speeches to perswade others also that they likewise had no Inheritance in the King Sometimes on the contrary by the terrible Assaults of Anathema's Curses and Excommunications they laboured to scare and fright us into a Compliance But when they found that notwithstanding all their Craft and Subtlety their Designs were still defeated and unravell'd and all their most cunningly contriv'd Enterprises dwindled into continual Disappointments that their ravenous woolfish Nature tho' never so close cover'd with Sheeps-cloathing was always discovered and that none therefore dar'd to come in to their Standard nor tho' led on by the Infallible Hero himself to enter the Field against the Lords Anointed so that neither their Armado's from Spain nor false Witnesses from St. Omers nor all those dreadful Thunderings and Lightnings from Rome could prevail any thing at all but that the Virgin the Daughter of Zion despis'd them and laugh'd them to scorn the Daughter of Jerusalem still shook her head at them as Men even encouraged by Disappointments and emboldned by Repulses they start anew and rather than be for ever frustrated are contented to devest themselves utterly of their Humanity and to embark into so barbarous so savage a Design as will make the ears of all Posterity to tingle Many Waters cannot quench their burning Rage neither can the Floods how deep soever drown their Fury but they resolve to tear in pieces the more excellent Prey and one way or other to take their Pastime in Rivers of Royal Blood Flectere fi nequeunt Superos Since Heaven and Earth Angels and Men are against them they descend into the Regions of Darkness and Obscurity as if they design'd to ask Counsel of the Powers of Darkness And indeed whoever accurately contemplates the nature of this cursed Design must needs acknowledge it to bear all the marks of a hellish diabolical Off-spring For where but in the dismal Regions of everlasting Malice and Cruelty could be hatch'd so barbarous so villainous a Conspiracy A Conspiracy so black and detestable so hideous in its Circumstances so fatal in its Consequences that 't is hardly possible to imagine that it could have been invented by Man unless what the Jews of old thought of their Daemoniacks they had really been converted into the Nature and Substance of fierce implacable destructive Daemons A Conspiracy which if it had taken effect would have utterly extinguish'd the Light of our Israel and overspread the Nation again with thick Darkness of Ignorance and Superstition which would have murdered the Lord 's Anointed and accomplish'd the savage Tyrants most execrable Wish at one Blow cutting off the Head even of three Kingdoms nay in a moment in the twinkling of an eye have entirely destroy'd both Root and Branch King and Parliment Prince and People Peers and Prelates Lords and Commons A Conspiracy that would have involv'd us all in Blood exposed our Wives and Children to the merciless Fury of our Enemies and enslav'd our Lives and Fortunes Souls and Bodies to the imperious and domineering Lords of monopolizing Rome Lastly A Conspiracy it was whose teeming Womb was ready to bring forth the ghastly Issue of Blood and Fire and pillars of smoak which would either have rendered our beautiful Cities a Wilderness or which is worse an Habitation of Dragons and made Jerusalem a Desolation Alas These unrighteous and cruel Men did not design only to shake off the Leaves or to lop off the Branches of this fruitful Vine but entirely to pluck her up by the Roots * Ps 137.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lay her wast and down with her even to the ground was all the Cry So that not only our Land would have mourn'd for the Loss of her Gracious Soveraign our Cities of their wise and prudent Governours our Countries of their vigilant and powerful Guardians which alone would have rendred us the Wonder and Astonishment of Men and Angels but which is yet worse if any thing can be worse our pure and undefil'd Religion had also been lost in the general Devastation Those insatiable flames which had devour'd her noble Patrons would likewise unmercifully have prey'd upon her drooping Vitals till they had rarisy'd her Substance into a mere empty Shadow and chang'd the Spirituality of her Worship into external cumbersome impertinent Ceremonies In short Whatever the very Quintessence and Elixir of all villainy and
have any Man's Learning or Piety in such Veneration as to receive all he says for an Oracle for an infallible Rule of your Faith and Manners but that you always remember that you have a great Master in Heaven who has given you a sure and certain Rule to walk by and who expects your Obedience without any Reserve This Caution was given by our Lord himself to his Disciples Mat. 23. and it truly favours of the excellent Wisdom and Providence of its Author For the Proselites of the Pharisees were possest with such a Perswasion of the great Sanctity and unparallell'd Learning of their Masters that they entirely resign'd themselves up to their Conduct and Guidance becoming thereby both in Notion and Practice twofold more the Children of Hell than themselves and those famous Contests between the Thomists and Scotists and other Disputants in the Church of Rome are wholly to be ascrib'd to the over-weening Opinion which they all pertinaciously retain for their own Patriarchs Nay the First Sin that crept into the World came this way for I conceive with a great and learned * Joseph Mede Book 1. Disc xl Author of our own that 't was the too great Opinion which the Woman entertain'd of the Wisdom of the Serpent that induc'd her first to listen to and then to comply with his Suggestions and I doubt not but that the Apostate Spirits themselves might still have kept their Heavenly Habitations had not their deluded Fancies doubled the Glory of that Son of the Morning Lucifer In short †Vid. Hen. Dodwell Ep. 2. Sect. 5. Steph. Penton Appar Spec. ad Theol. par 1. cap. 6. 'T is the superstitious Reverence and unaccountable Honour which the Schoolmen pay to Authority that betrays them into many unhappy Errors as well in their Theological as Philosophical Speculations Honour Men then only as Men. Whatever their Natural or Acquir'd Excellencies may be they are all subject to Error Try all their Doctrines therefore whether they be of God and believe nothing tho' enforced with the greatest Human Authority unless upon due Examination you find it consonant to Scripture and Reason And so I come to the 2. Thing advisable which is That you would try all Things and not take up your Religion upon Trust upon the Authority and Recommendation of your Natural Civil or Spiritual Fathers but that you would let it be what it ought to be a Rational Service the Result of your own mature impartial and well-weigh'd Considerations And what in this I say unto you I would say more particularly to our Dissenting Brethren They are equally guilty with the Romanists in this Point depending too securely upon the Authority and acquiescing in the Reports and Representations of their Leaders I would therefore I say most earnestly intreat them as they will answer it at the Dreadful Day of Judgment when every Man must stand or fall by his own Conscience to judge for themselves and fairly and ingenuously severely and impartially to weigh and consider the Doctrine and Discipline the Principles and Order of our Establish'd Church Could we thus far prevail I am verily parsuaded that those Heats and Passions which now so tumultuously boil in some Mens Bowels against her would all evaporate and expire and we should soon walk together into the House of God as Friends Which I therefore believe because 't is well known that many of her Adversaries have been perfectly reconcil'd to her upon lesser Motives only by venturing to consult their own Senses and calmly and sedately to look into her Devotions The Church did then to their unbiass'd Judgments most clearly unfold her ravishing Beauty and Brightness and their wondring Eyes saw and confess'd her Parts and comely Proportions She appear'd fair as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem and quite contrary to their Expectations terrible to Enthusiasm and Popery too as an Army with Banners I would therefore I say again most earnestly intreat these Persons to lay aside their Prejudices and with their own Eyes seriously to look into and examine her Constitution If she injoyns any thing that 's inconsistent with any Law of Reason any Law or Rule of the Gospel any Article of our Faith any part of Christian Worship or the Practice of the Universal Church in the First and Purest Ages Reason would that we should bear with their Separation But if her Doctrine be truly consonant to the Word of God If her Discipline serves directly to the Beating down the Strong-holds of Sin and to the Promotion of Piety and a Good Life If her Devotions are substantially pious and prudent serious and comprehensive significant and intelligible and Every way most wisely and divinely compos'd If her Ceremonies are not only few in Number but likewise decent grave significant and edifying in their Nature and Use In a word If she does all things according to the Apostolical Injunction Decently and in order after the Primitive Patterns according to the best measures of Human Wisdom If I say she does all this and all this 't will be demonstratively evident to every impartial Enquirer that she does then I cannot but affirm that their Separation from us in point of Conscience is altogether unwarrantable impious schismatical But because they are taught to be deaf to our Apologies and with an unmanly blind implicit Faith to believe us Apostates to Popery and Innovation I would I say most earnestly beseech them to use their own Senses and to read to think and to judge at last for themselves That they would not pass Sentence upon us before they know us nor judge of the Doctrine or Discipline of our Church by the Prejudices of their Education or the disingenuous illaudable Reports of their Partial Leaders but wholly and entirely by the word of God the sure infallible Rule of the Holy-Scriptures A Method which in the next place I likewise most heartily advise you to 3. Then Read the Scriptures This is the Duty of Every Christian requir'd and injoyn'd by the Saviour of our Souls the Lord Christ Jesus Search the Scriptures says * Joh. 5.39 he for in them ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testifie of me And indeed 't was by these that our Lord himself repell'd the impudent Assaults and crafty Insinuations of the Devil that his Apostles both planted and water'd his Church and that the pious Fathers and Councils baffled the Heresies and put to Silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. Let as many of us therefore as can distinguish between Good and Evil Young Men and Maidens Old Men and even Children be conversant in these Writings They are that Rule which if duly attended to will not suffer us to err being not like the Oracles of Daemons wrapt up in intricate obscure ambiguous Expressions but plain and easie to the meanest Understanding Plain and Easie I say in all things necessary to Salvation the Credenda as well as the Agenda of our Religion the things
Death This last Enemy has at present an absolute and entire Domination over us our Beauty Honour and Glory mouldering and consuming all away in his insatiable Dwellings But yet he who hath the Keys of Hell and of Death hath promis'd to unlock the Doors of these loathsome Prisons and to let the Prisoners go forth into a state of Liberty and Glory He turneth Man to Destruction but his Almighty Voice will one day call through all the Receptacles of Nature Come again ye Children of Men. By him lastly who liveth and was dead and is alive for evermore shall those that sleep in the Dust of the Earth be awak'd and sing Death is swallowed up in Victory Which Consideration alone as it is full of Comfort and Joy and Triumph to every faithful Christian so is it likewise sufficient to curb the Arrogance and Haughtiness of that Apostate Spirit Who therefore says an ingenious * Br. Rel. Med. pag. 87. Author of our own chiefly frequents Coemeteries Charnel-Houses and Churches because they are the Dormitories of the Dead where like an insolent Champion he beholds with Pride the Spoils and Trophies of his Victory over Adam And thus I have discharg'd my first General Head which was to shew the Greatness of the Salvation wrought for us by Christ I now proceed to my Second which is very briefly to lay before you our Inexcusableness and the intolerable Aggravations of our Guilt and Punishment if we neglect it How shall we escape c. 1. Then we shall be utterly inexcusable and intolerably aggravate our Guilt and Punishment if we neglect this great Salvation which Christ hath wrought for us because we shall be entirely destitute of the mollifying Circumstances and Considerations of Ignorance Whilst Men had little or no Understanding but walk'd on still in Darkness 't was no wonder that the Foundations of the Moral as well as of the Intellectual World were out of course Their broken Notices of another State and beggarly Conceptions of its Delights and Entertainments induc'd them rather to let loose the Reins to their Intemperance than to correct and retrench the Luxuriancy of their Vices A more delicious Canaan the Fields and Groves of Elysium and a Mahometan Paradise naturally lead Men to an unbounded Gratification of their sensual Appetites as to that which is the End and Perfection of their Beings their ultimate Portion in the Regions of Eternity So that a truly moral Man with such Perswasions about him would be an Object equally strange and surprizing as Fewel or dry Stubble that will not take fire in the midst of a burning firy Furnace But now with Christians is the Case quite otherwise We know for certain both the Existence and Nature of the other State That for pure and holy Souls who are entirely cleans'd from the Stains and Pollutions of corrupted Nature and rais'd to the Possession of their Primitive Brightness remains a most glorious and undefil'd Inheritance Entertainments most agreeable to their enlarged Faculties exalted and divine Joys for evermore That for impure and sensual Souls on the contrary who fight under the Banner of the World and the Flesh forsaking God that made them and lightly esteeming the Rock of their Salvation is prepar'd a Worm that will never die and a Fire that will ne'er be quench'd We know I say that Refin'd and Purified Souls will be receiv'd into serene undisturbed Mansions of everlasting Happiness the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem where with all the shining and innumerable Companies of Holy Angels they shall for ever behold and praise the unfolded Beauties of their God and Saviour That on the other hand there are sad uncomfortable Regions of Darkness and Misery where Fire and Brimstone Storms and Tempests will be the lamentable and everlasting Portion of the Ungodly Fire and Brimstone to possess inflame and torment their Bodies and the Storms and Tempests of an enraged Conscience impetuously to hurry their awak'ned Souls through all the unhappy Stages of that woful Eternity If we then dare to commit Wickedness who have received this clear Knowledge of its sad Effects and Consequences that it cuts off all our hopes of the Glories of Heaven and irrevocably condemns us to the unconceivable Agonies and Amazements of Hell we put our selves beyond all possibility of Excuse and as our Saviour himself assures us unmeasurably enhanse the Severities of our Condemnation This is the Condemnation * Joh. 3.19 says he with an Emphasis i. e. the highest the greatest the most intolerable Condemnation that when Light is come into the World Men love Darkness rather than Light In a word God may vouchsafe to wink at the times of Ignorance and graciously overlook the unhappy Miscarriages of the unenlightned World He may be favourable to the Servant that knows not his Will and therefore does unwittingly things worthy of Stripes But Christians who know their Lord's Will and yet prepare not themselves nor do accordingly will have nothing to plead or pretend for their Disobedience and therefore will most certainly be beaten with many Stripes 2. We shall be utterly inexcusable and intolerably aggravate our Guilt and Punishment if we neglect this great Salvation which Christ has wrought for us because we thereby become guilty of the vilest Ingratitude We know the infinite Obligations to Duty and Gratitude which our Heavenly Father has laid upon us all the Stratagems of his Goodness the astonishing Miracles of Divine Mercy and Condescension That he whom the Virgins the untainted Beings above adore and love meekly drew a veil over his Essential Glories and cloath'd himself with Flesh for the Society of Mankind That the Eternal Independent All-sufficient One stoop'd down for our sakes to the lowest Estate of Uneasiness and Need and the Lord and Governour of all the Kingdoms of the Earth vouchsaf'd to dwell among us though he scarce found a place where to lay his Head That the King of Glory was contented not only to be despis'd and rejected of Men to become a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief but also to suffer his most precious Life to be most cruelly and ignominiously taken from among Men that be might entitle us again to Happiness and Glory Nay we have seen the only begotten Son of the Living God oppress'd and groaning under a heavier load of Misery than all this almost sinking under the insupportable Burthen of his Father's Wrath and in the Anguish and Bitterness of 〈◊〉 Soul most lamentably complaining tâ— his Father too whom he had never offeâ—â—ed had for the Foulness and Blackneâ—â— our Iniquities hid his Face from him 〈◊〉 more we are sensible that we our seâ— have been the Betrayers and Murtherers of the Lord of Life that he has frequently bled afresh and been crucify'd again 〈◊〉 our new Sins that our repeated Impieties have wounded his sacred Side and the 〈◊〉 rows of our Ingratitude pierc'd him to 〈◊〉 very Heart How notwithstanding 〈◊〉 this he
ever and ever Let it warn us to be perpetually mindful of our Mortality and humbly and diligently to wait all the days of our appointed time till our Change come In a word Let it oblige us to forget those things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before to press with all possible Vehemence towards the Mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus 2. You have seen how great and glorious the Rewards that expect us in the other World are that they are both proportion'd to the utmost Capacity of the Soul and also will be enjoy'd to all Eternity Do not you then long for this happy state and sigh and desire ardently with St. Paul to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ * My Father and Mr. John Gregory in his posthumous Discourse of the Morality of the Sabbath pag. 101. Here as says a Blessed Author you have hard Working-days sore Labour and Travel under the Sun The Devil assaults you the World hates you your own evil Hearts many times distress you and crazy Bodies discourage you We are all here clouded with Sin and Misery and ah our Vileness is upon us Let us then bear up our Souls upon the loftiest Wing of Divine Contemplation and follow our Ascending Lord above this Darkness and miserable Habitations into the radiant Mansions of his Fathers House the Kingdom of Glory Let us meditate Day and Night upon that blessed time when we shall have our Feet upon the Top of Mount Sion and rejoyce in the Felicity of his Chosen the unfolded and essential Glories of his Divine Countenance which are too bright for our mortal Faculties and which none can see and live When we shall give Thanks with his Inheritance the blessed Societies of Saints and Angels and everlastingly enjoy the delicious Repasts of Anthems and Allelujahs in short upon the infinite Transports and Ravishments of the Soul in the secure and everlasting Fruition of the Divine Love upon the mutual Endearments and Caresses of Immortal Spirits and upon all those glorious things which are spoken by him who made and fully understands them of the City of God Let us frequently and seriously I say contemplate these things and they will most assuredly so influence our Wills and fan the Flame of our Affections that we shall become perfectly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dead to our selves and to all the luscious Relishes of the sensual Nature continually tending upwards with importunate Reaches towards heavenly Objects Then we shall be sufficiently encourag'd to take up the Cross of Christ and willingly and chearfully undergo all the Afflictions and Tribulations of this Life well knowing that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compar'd with the Glory that shall be revealed in us this light Affliction which is but for a moment working for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an infinitely more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Lastly As our future Happiness proceeds from the Vision of God so you have seen that without Holiness no Man can see him Let this then excite us to form and fashion the Frame of our Minds into a Likeness and Affinity with our Blessed Maker Let it oblige us to prepare our selves for the Intuition of his Beauty to purifie ourselves as he is pure and to purge refine and spiritualize our Nature that we may be qualify'd for the Possession of our proper Centre our home and native Region the Highest Heaven Let it lead our awak'ned Souls to the Divine Goodness and Philanthropy for the Regulation of their disorderly and tumultuous Appetites and induce them humbly and intensly to pray at the Throne of Grace that they may perfect Holiness in the Fear of God For when we thus sincerely desire to shake our selves from the Dust to arise and put on our beautiful Garments and to see the King in his Beauty the Glory of the Lord will be revealed to us and we shall certainly behold the Excellency of our God As the Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride solacing himself in the ardent and dear Reciprocations of her Love so will our God rejoyce over us He will be in the midst of us he will save us he will rejoyce over us with Joy He will rest in his Love he will rejoyce over us with Singing He will take away all our Dross and for his Name 's sake purifie and cleanse the Corruptions of our Nature until the Righteousness thereof go forth as Brightness and the Salvation thereof as a Lamp that burneth In a word He will vouchsafe us the most gracious Visitations and Elapses of his Holy Spirit and never leave letting himself down into us till he has quite loosen'd us from Sin and from ourselves and wrought us up into such a blessed Uniformity with the Divine Nature as will make us meet for his amiable Dwellings the City of Righteousness where we shall joyfully mention the loving Kindnesses of the Lord and be for ever delighted with the Abundance of his Glory Which God of his Infinite Mercy grant c. HEBREWS ii 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation IN handling these Words I shall endeavour to shew 1. The Greatness of the Salvation wrought for us by Christ and 2. Our Inexcusableness and the intolerable Aggravations of our Guilt and Punishment if we neglect it That so either common Gratitude in reflecting upon the infinite Condescensions of Divine Love may draw us or at least the Terrors of the Lord may affright us into Obedience For how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation I. I am to shew the greatness of the Salvation wrought for us by Christ And this appears 1. From the Consideration of the Greatness and Majesty of the Person undertaking it Now 't was not any one of the Patriarchs who were burning and shining Lights in their Generations 'T was not Moses nor one of the Prophets by whom in times past he spake unto the Fathers But when the Fulness of the time was come God dealt with us as the Lord of the Vineyard did with his Husbandmen last of all sending even his own Son to be his Ambassadour to Mankind His own Son from whom by the Spirit all those Divine Teachers which from the Beginning of the World to his Birth went before him in the Flesh receiv'd their Power and Commission Of whom Moses and the Prophets were only Types Fore-runners and Shadows Figures Ministers and Substitutes to prepare and enable the World by degrees to receive this great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh this last and universal Declaration of Life and Immortality brought to light in his Gospel His own Son who is his only-Begotten Co-essential and Co-eternal with himself the Heir of all things the Lord of Glory the very Brightness of his Fathers Glory the Express Image of his Person full of Grace and Truth His own Son * Col. 1.16 17. by whom were
increas'd in Wisdom and Knowledge Though as God he is from Everlasting and World without end yet that as Man he had a Beginning in the Circumscriptions of time Lastly Though as God 't was impossible for him to suffer yet that as Man he was the Subject of Torment and Misery 2. That some Virtues and Excellencies were then in the Soul of Jesus which are not consistent with a glorify'd State such as Hope Holy Desires and the like All which having their Seat in the Soul do suppose her yet in a state of Pilgrimage a Condition that is imperfect and in order to something beyond what is present it being impossible as St. Paul observes for a Man to hope for that which he already sees and enjoys 3. That this Opinion annuls and destroys the whole Merit of his Sufferings For the least glympse of Glory the minutest Ray of Beatifick Vision out-weighs the greatest Calamities and infinitely exceeds all that Spirit of Pain that can be extracted from the Infelicities of this World But the Holy Scriptures everywhere assure us that his Passion upon the Cross was a state of Merit and Work and that as a Reward of it he was crown'd with Glory and Immortality We see Jesus says the * Heb. 2.9 Apostle who was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of Death crowned with glory and honour And ‖ Phil. 2.8 9. again Christ humbled himself and became obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name For his Sufferings you see his Name was exalted his Kingdom glorify'd and his Humanity advanc'd above all the Orders of Angels For these he was made the Lord of all the Creatures the First-fruits of the Resurrection the Exemplar of Glory the Prince and Head of the Catholick Church And therefore since all this was his Recompence the Reward of his Sufferings it could not be a necessary Consequence and natural Efflux of the Personal Union of the Godhead with the Humanity On the other hand there are who affirm that the Soul of Jesus upon the Cross suffered the Pains of Hell and all the Torments of the Damn'd and that without such Sufferings it is not imaginable he should pay the Price which God's Wrath did demand of us But the same that reproves the former does likewise reprehend these latter For the Hope which was the support of his Soul in the midst of its Agonies as it confesseth an Imperfection that is not consistent with the state of Glory so does it exclude that Despair which is the Sting and Torment of accursed Souls Our dearest Lord suffer'd indeed the whole Condition of Humanity Sin only excepted and by those sad Pains he endur'd upon the Cross merited Heaven for himself as the Head and for all his faithful Servants as the Members of his Mystical Body But yet I say we cannot conceive that he was ever under the Amazement of Hell or that upon the Cross he felt the formal Misery and Spirit of Pain which is the Portion of Damned Spirits because 't was impossible he should despair and without Despair 't is impossible there should be a Hell But though I can by no means subscribe to this Assertion yet I think 't is highly probable that in the Intention of Degrees and present Anguish the Soul of our Lord upon the Cross might feel a greater Load of Wrath than is incumbent in every instant upon perishing Souls S. Paul tells us that every Sinner as such carries no less a Load about with him than a whole Body of Death How many Death 's then and unconceivable Agonies must the Lamb of God have felt when as the Prophet speaks the Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all Certainly the lively Sense of united concentred Vengeance due to the Sins of the whole World and the vast and singular Capacity of his Soul who was the Word incarnate rendred his Sufferings most amazing and insupportable His Agony was so great that it compell'd him for a time almost to despair and sink under its weight Sure we are it extorted from him this most bitter Cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And how insupportable must those Sufferings have been which could appear even to stagger such a Faith and to eclipse his Assurance of the Presence and Love of his Heavenly Father But now again How great is the Bitterness of that Death the rescuing us from which brought so much Shame and Pain and Amazement upon the Son of God How unparalell'd and unconceivably great that Salvation in the purchasing of which the Lord of Hosts himself did even bleed and die The Waters of Bitterness you see entred his Soul and the Storms of Death and of his Father's Anger broke him all in pieces But if this was done in the Green Tree what without this would have been done in the Dry If I say the Sufferings of our Lord who was the Son of God and innocent who was all fair and had no spot in him were so sad and lamentable then how amazing and insupportable had our Portion been without this Atonement whom Sin had rendred his profess'd Enemies and as it were fitted and mark'd out as Fewel for everlasting Burnings But 3. The Greatness of our Salvation appears in that it frees us from the Bondage and Slavery of the Law This was a grievous and servile Dispensation consisting of innumerable little Rites and Ceremonies which had no intrinsick Value in themselves and are therefore said by God himself to be Statutes that were not good but were only adapted for a time to the weak Capacities and babe-like Humours of the Jews Of Rites and Ceremonies I say so heavy and burdensome that the Apostles themselves complained that 't was a Yoke upon their Necks which neither they nor their Forefathers were ever able to bear But now has Christ taken this Yoke from off our Necks and made out a way for us into the Liberty of the Sons of God He deals no longer with us as with Children in our Minority but has deliver'd us from the Tutorage and Paedagogy of the Law from the Severity of its Commands from the exact Punctilio's and Numerousness of its Imposition The new Moons and Sabbatical Years the many Washings and Purifications stand us in no stead neither are we oblig'd to long and tedious Journeys to Jerusalem to present our Oblations and Sacrifices at the Temple Christ our Passover having been sacrificed for us and the Messiah cut off all those typical Oblations and Sacrifices must for ever cease the Shadow give place to the Substance those Ritual Observances to Natural and Moral Duties those Carnal Ceremonies to the Spiritual Worship and that Temporary Dispensation to the Everlasting Covenant of the Gospel Circumcision now avails no more than Uncircumcision and 't is neither Meat nor Drink but a new Creature only that commends a Man to God In
Olive-branches in its hands to offer them Peace to set them at perfect Liberty from the Bondage of Corruption the Servitude and Thraldom of their mortal Bodies They know their happy Souls will be immediately convey'd by Angels into the Presence of their Savior and by him presented to his Father without Spot or Wrinkle invested with his Righteousness compleat in his Holiness and prepar'd and qualified for an Everlasting Communion with him in Glory That they are the Reward of his Sufferings the precious and dear Purchase of his Blood and therefore that they shall be joyfully received into Heaven by him who will then see the glorious Effects of the Travail of his Soul and be satisfied That the Angels who rejoyc'd at their Conversion will much more do so at their Glorification and the Church of the First-born who have before them entred into Glory have a new Accession of Joy to see them safely arriv'd at the same undefil'd and immortal Inheritance These things I say thus duly considered must needs inspire them with Courage and Alacrity and enable them chearfully to lay down their Bodies that they may ascend to the Seat of Blessedness this happy Society above that inspires mutual Endearments and Joys for evermore I am sure 't was thus with the Primitive Christians S. Paul with the most earnest Affections and passionate Zeal desir'd to depart hence to leave the transitory dissatisfying Pleasures of this Life to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ and the Martyrs with all imaginable Boldness and Gallantry encountred Death that interpos'd between them and Glory They as willingly left their Bodies as Elias let fall his Mantle to ascend into Heaven Some indeed of these excellent Persons as ‖ Hom. 8. S. Chrysostom tells us went to Death with many Appearances of Fear When they heard the wild Beasts roar they were struck with Horror At the sight of the Executioners and the Instruments of Torture they were pale and trembling The Flesh seem'd to cry out O! Let this Cup pass from me But these alas were but the little ineffectual Struglings of innocent Nature which though weak and faint follow'd the Spirit and corrected its own Desire with Not my Will but thine be done As the Moon in Eclipse though obscure goes on in a Regular Course as when 't is full of Light by the Reflection of the Sun so these Christian Heroes though as it were forsaken and depriv'd of the kind Influences of the Spirit the bright Beams and Irradiations of Divine Comfort persever'd notwithstanding in their Regular Motion the resolute and undaunted Profession of the Truth No Torments could force them to renounce their Saviour no Terrors of Death to warp from the Profession of their Faith but the Consideration of that eternal weight of Glory which after a short night of Sorrow and Heaviness they should receive in the Inheritance of the Saints in Light enabled them at length to overcome their Fears and in spight of all the Reluctancy of Nature to keep the Command of God and the Faith of Jesus Thus the Stars fall down from Heaven and Clods of Earth ascend and shine in the Firmament The Angels that excell'd in Strength and Knowledge kept not their state of Purity and Glory but are shamefully sunk down into Corruption and Misery but these humble Believers though weak and encompass'd with many Difficulties were preserved by the Blood of Jesus from destructive Evil from the Fear of the First and the Power of the Second Death passing undauntedly through the Dominions of the King of Terrors to their Fathers Kingdom where with all the Company of Holy Angels and Beatified Souls they now lie infolded in the Circles of Peace and Joy expecting the Consummation of Blessedness the Redemption of their Bodies in the joyful and glorious Morning of the Resurrection Which brings me to my Seventh and Last Particular which is to shew the Greatness of the Salvation wrought for us by Christ in that he has not only merited the Salvation of our Souls but the Redemption likewise or the Resurrection of our Bodies 7. Of all the Christian Doctrines this was ever esteemed the most incredible and has accordingly in all Ages met with the greatest Opposition The Learned Heathens generally look'd upon the Body as the Prison the Dungeon and Sepulchre of the Soul and therefore do not stick to affirm That for a separated Soul to return into a Body is to undergo a second Death Nay that famous Rabbin Ben Maimon was of the same Perswasion it being a known Aphorism of his in his Great Work That in the World to come or state of consummate Happiness there shall be nothing but pure Incorporeity This engag'd them to employ all their Learning and Parts to represent this Doctrine as a monstrous and ridiculous Paradox not fit to be embrac'd by any of the genuine Sons of Wisdom and Learning Accordingly we find St. Paul was counted mad by Festus and but a Babler at best by the great Wits at Athens for venturing to preach to them Jesus and his Resurrection and it chiefly stomachs the Heathen in Minutius Felix that the Christians should peremptorily assert the Resurrection of the Body which every Eye saw to be subject to Corruption and yet at the same time threaten Ruin and Destruction to the Heavenly Bodies which the generality of Philosophers acknowledg'd incorruptible Nay some Christians themselves have not been very careful to answer us fairly in this matter Photius tells us of Synesius that for his great Parts and singular Abilities he was made a Bishop before he believ'd this Article and the Socinians Anabaptists and some other Sectaries seem to be no great Favourers of it at this day But what if these Men believe not Shall their Unbelief make the Faith of God of none effect God forbid Yea let God be true as the Apostle speaks though every Man a Lyar. He then that is Truth it self who therefore can neither deceive nor be deceived has told us that the hour is coming in the which all that are in the ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 5.28 Grave shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation And now my pious Brethren how joyful and pleasant a thing is this to hear of the Restitution of our lost Parts the Renovation of our corrupted and putrefy'd Bodies that they shall not be devour'd in the Jaws of Death and the Grave but restor'd to us again all Fair and Beautiful and Glorious Sin indeed removes us all into the Retirements of the Grave and securely locks us up for a time in the Iron Embraces of the King of Terrors It dismantles us of all our Strength and Beauty and dooms us to dwell for ever in those dark Houses of Forgetfulness and Corruption We lie in the Grave like Sheep helpless and fast bound in the Chains and Fetters of
all Duty and Obedience a Charter only of Libertinism and Licentiousness Provided a Man be orthodox in his Notions and sound in his Faith 't is no matter how he lives like an Angel or like a Devil so apt are Men to abjure their Reason in complement to their Senses and rather than forsake their darling Vices to shelter them under the Patronage even of the immaculate Jesus But if we look upon Christianity as our Great Master himself is pleas'd to hold the Perspective as he is all Fair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 50.2 the Perfection of Beauty and the Holy One of Israel so would his Institution appear to be a most fair and amiable Copy of his Eternal Beauty and Holiness It commands us not to rest in a fruitless barren and dead Faith but to evidence its Life and Reality by our Works That we walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are called turning from these Idols of our own Brains these vain fantastick Ideas of our carnal Imaginations to serve truly and painfully the Living God That we trifle not away our precious hours in Idleness and Impertinence but work out our Salvation with all that Care and Solicitude a matter of such moment requires even with Fear and Trembling It endeavour◠by all the endearing Methods of everlasting Love and Kindness to allure and charm us into the Practice of all Vertues beseeching us even by the Mercies of God all those ineffable Appearances of Goodness which take up the Wonder the Praises and the Adorations of the Sons of God in Glory that we think no Sacrifices worthy of our Maker but such as are offer'd in the purest Fires the most ardent and brightest Flames of Seraphick Love That the Redeem'd of the Lord declare not his Glory in such feeble Sounds and Voices as are the faint Echoes of a distant Valley but that they clap their hands together with Joy and Chearfulness and sing Praises to him lustily and with a good Courage That our Souls with all their Powers and Faculties magnifie and set forth the admirable Greatness of the Lord and our Minds also or Spirits rejoyce with Joy unspeakable in God their Saviour In a word That we do not the Work of the Lord negligently nor be remiss and slothful in the great Business of our Souls but always fervent in Spirit vigorously industrious to improve all those Talents all those golden Opportunities God intrusts us with to our greatest Advantage with our utmost Diligence serving the Lord. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might The Reasonableness of which Exhortation I shall briefly represent to you from these following Considerations I. From the Nature of God II. From the Nature of our own Souls III. From the transcendent and inestimable Value of the Rewards that attend us And IV. From the exceeding Brevity or Shortness of the time we are allow'd to work in 1. From the Nature of God Was God indeed such a one as the Epicureans fansi'd him to be a Being taken up with the Fruition and Contemplation of his own Blessedness and that would never vouchsafe to respect the humble Addresses and Supplications of his most faithful Servants we should have no great reason to wonder at that Coldness and Indifferency that lukewarm and careless Behaviour which appears so visibly in our Religious Performances Nay I could willingly conclude with the Wise * Senec. de Benef. lib. 4. cap. 4. Heathen that nothing but pure Madness could induce Mankind to bestow any Worship at all upon such a Being who as though he was deaf as Baal and helpless as Dagon after all their Wrestlings and Importunities would neither hear them nor help them But alas we have no such Pretence or Subterfuge for our Impiety The God whom we serve is indeed that Blessedness and Eternal Being that rests upon his own Center without the Assistance of any External Object enjoying infinite Delight and Complacency from the solitary Contemplation of his own Essential Perfections He dwells in the high and lofty Place encircled with such transcendent Rays of Light that the brightest Seraphim veil their Faces and at an awful distance adore his inaccessible Glory Yet do Mercy and Goodness so essentially sit enthron'd with his glorious Majesty that even he who thus inhabits Eternity humbleth himself to behold the things that are done both in Heaven and Earth The Lord looketh down from Heaven says the * Psal 33.13 Psalmist and beholds all the Children of Men from the habitation of his Dwelling he considereth all them that dwell upon the Earth And the Philosophick Orator without the help of Revelation Sit persuasum civibus says he and so on i. e. Let all the Citizens assuredly know that God takes particular notice what manner of Persons we are with what Mind and Devotion we perform the Acts of our Religious Worship and that he will deal with every man according to his Works He is not a petty Prince 1 King 20.13 28. as the Syrians profanely imagin'd whose Knowledge and Soveraignty are confin'd only to a particular Province but the Lord most High is terrible he is a great King over all the Earth Not only the shining Inhabitants of the Courts above the innumerable and invincible Legions of Glorious Angels but the inferiour Troops likewise of natural Causes serve under his Banner and duly execute his Commands He maketh the Spirits or Winds his Messengers and the flaming Fires his Agents or Ministers The Clouds at his Command drop Fatness upon the Hills and Mountains and the Valleys likewise by his Blessing stand in their Season so thick with Corn that they laugh and sing Yea the most casual and seemingly fortuitous Actions are order'd by his Wisdom and the Sun sees nothing in all his Course so little and inconsiderable but what falls under his Care and Providence He feeds the young Ravens that call upon him and the Lions roaring after their prey do seek and receive their Meat from God By him do the Rose in Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys on play their fragrant Beauties and the airy Choiristers securely sit upon the Boughs and sing not one of them falling to the ground without our heavenly Father Yea the very Hairs of our Head says our Lord are all numbred In short no Space no Place exludes his Presence He penetrates into the Center of our Spirits enters the secret Chambers the closest Recesses and Retirements of our Hearts yea and discovers all our most secret Thoughts and Imaginations long before we our selves do even before they are He is about our Paths and about our Beds and spies out all our ways Now then considering the Nature of God how ought our Souls think ye to be employ'd in his Worship and Service Is this God whose Majesty fills Heaven and Earth to be approach'd with flat and tepid Devotions Is he fond of trifling impertinent Ceremonies or to be pleas'd with Lip-Devotion and complemental Addresses
so neither is our purchas'd Inheritance of so trifling and inconsiderable a value The Liberty of the Sons of God is an Eternal Emancipation from Sin and Misery from the Sollicitations of our Senses the Importunities of Satan and from all the Disadvantages and Incumbrances of this mortal State Have you seen the Cedars or the Fir-Trees which from a little Seed rise so high and spread their Branches so wide Just so will it fare with Man in the State of Regeneration infinitely beyond his present Self will his Perfections be Here the Corruptible Body presseth down the Soul and the Earthly Tabernacle weighs down the Mind which otherwise would muse of many things But there will our Spirits to their endless Joy and Comfort find their Garments lighter this unweildy Clog of Flesh and Blood being made fit to serve them in their briskest Motions and even to vye with the swiftest Seraph that flies in the Regions of Light and Glory Here though we sometimes travel with Vigour and Alacrity in the way that leads to Sion yet in an instant such Fogs and Vapours rise from our terrene and sensual Affections as cast a cold Damp over all our Faculties and make us heartless and unactive as the Earth we tread on But there we shall be all Life and Spirit and Wing entirely freed from the Vicissitudes of Mortality and bath our active and sprightly Plumes in the Silver Streams of Eternal Joy and Delight Here Satan sometimes mixeth himself among the Children of God and many enter into the Choirs of the Saints who know not how to chant their ravishing Melody the Songs of Sion But in the Blessed Consort above every Soul will be harmonious and skilfully contribute its part to the full Musick of Heaven The glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs together with the several Orders of glorious Angels will stand about the Throne with one Heart and one Voice giving glory to him who sits thereupon and to the Lamb for ever and ever They shall wear Crowns on their Heads more bright and glittering than those of the Mightiest Oppressors and those immortal Palms they shall carry in their hands declare That Death is Swallowed up in victory They shall no longer stand behind the Wall of Partition nor be debarr'd by a thick House of Clay from beholding the ultimate Object of their Love and Praise but all intervening Obstacles and Impediments shall be remov'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 84.7 and that Summum Bonum that Fountain of Life and Blessedness that Primitive and Original Beauty the God of Gods himself appear in his Essential Lustre and Brightness to every one of them in Sion In short 'T is in vain to attempt the painting of this Blessed State by Rhetorical Colours no Words no Thoughts can reach it yea the bold licentious Metaphors even of Poets themselves fall infinitely short of its Greatness and Excellency Eye hath not seen says St. Paul nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Now then can we think this Blessed State design'd for them that are at Ease in Sion who rest in the Notional Considerations of the Goodness of their Maker and therefore lie securely dissolv'd in the softest Caresses of Luxury and Voluptuousness No. We must be conformable to our Lord in the Likeness of his Death before we can be so in the Likeness of his Resurrection We must crucifie the Old Man and utterly abolish the whole Body of Sin and by our constant and uniform Practice of an Universal Righteousness strive to enter in at the strait Gate We must labour with all our Might to make our Calling and Election sure and press with all possible Vehemence towards the Mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus If these Corruptible Crowns the fading momentary Honours of this Life if I say the transient Favour of a Prince and the vain uncertain Plaudite's and Hosanna's of the Crowd cannot be justly atchiev'd without Toll and Labour then surely we cannot expect that these immortal Honours the Approbation of God himself the Applause of his Holy Angels and the Crown of Immortality can be obtain'd at a cheaper Rate This were to prostitute the Divine Favours to vilifie the Pearl of Price and insufferably to debase that Glory which cannot be comprehended but by the Circle of Eternity Nothing then but Constancy and Perseverance can crown the Christian Hero and set on his Head an immortal Diadem Be faithful unto the End saith our Lord and I will give thee the Crown of Life and again To him that overcometh I will grant to sit down with me on my Throne even as I also overcame and am sat down with my Father on his Throne Lift up the Hands then that hang down and strengthen the feeble Knees Behold Thy Saviour holds out to thee a Crown of Glory and invites thee to partake of his immortal Joys He calls thee to the blissful Choir of Angels and to the glorious Society of Just Men made perfect who following him in White Robes do nothing but sing and love to all Eternity Alas could we but hear some Echoes of those Songs wherewith they make the Paradise of God the Place of his happy Residence the Seat of his Eternal Empire the Heaven of Heavens continually resound some Remains of those Voices that Symphony and Joy wherewith the Saints above triumph in the Praises and solemn Adoration of the King of Spirits how would they inflame our Desires to be join'd with them O how amiable should we think those Dwellings of the Lord of Hosts Our Souls would most passionately desire and long to enter into the Courts of the Lord and to go and sing with those glorious Beings the Praises of the Living God We should choose rather to be Door-Keepers the very meanest Persons of all that Blessed Company in the House of God than to enjoy for ever the utmost Liberality of Created Nature in the Tents of Wickedness We should think nothing too much to part with for that Blessed Inheritance but readily sell all that we have for that Pearl of Price that inestimable Treasure those solid and substantial Glories of the Kingdom of Heaven In a word we should chearfully follow the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Confessors through all the Stages of Mortification and Self-denial most gladly encount'ring all the Tribulations Hardships and Difficulties the World or Satan can bring upon us that we might at last attain to that ineffable Glory But Lastly I come to represent to you the Reasonableness of the Exhortation contain'd in the Text from the Consideration of the exceeding Brevity or Shortness of the Time we are allow'd to work in Man is like a thing of nought says the Psalmist his time passeth away like a Shadow that necessarily disappears when the Sun leaves our Horizon and
a Prison before the Tribunal of Christ and hear the just Sentence of Eternal Death more solemnly pronounc'd against them before the General Assembly of the Saints and Angels This I say is the deplorable and undone Condition of the Apostate Angels Their Fall is irrecoverable their Sin irremissible and the Decree that is gone out against them irreversible But Man tho' a Being of a much lower Class and an Apostate too finds Favour and Mercy at the hands of his God He vouchsafes him the liberty of Second Thoughts and if we will but be obedient and hearken promiseth an entire Renovation of his Corrupted Nature by the abundant and powerful Communications of his most Holy Spirit Nay so desirous is he of this happy Change that he long prostitutes his Patience as I shall instantly shew more at large to Mens wanton Humours in Expectation of it is contented to lay aside his amazing Glories and seems to divest and strip himself of all his Attributes save that of Mercy His All-seeing Eye graciously overlooks our manifold Sins and Wickednesses and as tho' he saw them not continues to shine upon us with its reviving Brightness His Justice gives way to his Forbearance and Long-suffering and when it takes place 't is so temper'd and qualify'd that in the midst of Judgment he always remembers Mercy Mercy is his Favourite his darling Excellence that lovely and amiable Attribute which is over all his Works and in which we are sure his Soul takes most Delight and Complacency 'T was by this Name he in the Presence and Assembly of his invincible Holy Ones upon Mount Sinai most solemnly proclaim'd himself to his Servant Moses The Lord Exod. 34.6 says he the Lord God merciful and gracious Nay tho' he is the God of all Truth and therefore can no more deceive than be deceived yet as though it had been a small thing thus to have proclaim'd himself before Men and Angels he has likewise in a gracious and wonderful Condescension to the Infirmities of his Creatures and that the broken and contrite Spirit might have the surest Word of Promise that could possibly be given it vouchsaf'd even to interpose his Oath and as solemnly to swear the same thing As I live saith the Lord God Ezek. 33.11 I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel What tender what compassionate Strains are these 'T is as if he had said Since there is no Being so great as my self by my self I have sworn that as sure as I am God that eternal and faithful Being with whom is no Variableness or Shadow of Turning I desire not the Death of any Sinner but had rather ten thousand times over that you would all from the least to the greatest hear my Voice in this Accepted Time this day of Salvation and repent and be sav'd For now do I freely offer you my Grace which I most passionately beseech and intreat you to accept and to return and live Turn ye then turn ye unto me for why will ye die Why will ye weary me out with your continued Provocations Why will ye constrain me by your unworthy and most wretched Abuses of my Grace your insufferable Grievings of my Spirit at length to depart from you and to leave you to die in your Sins Is Eternal Death so desirable a thing Is Heaven and my Glory so despicable and vile Why then let me ask you again since you have my free Grace to enable you to Return nay since 't is far easier for you to be saved than to be damned why why will ye die O house of Israel Thus does our Heavenly Father by the most solemn Protestations demonstrate his Everlasting Love and Kindness to Mankind And how exactly do all his Dispensations correspond with these his gracious Declarations With what Patience I say and Forbearance does he deal even with the greatest of Sinners How affectionately intreat them to fly into the Harbour and to secure themselves by a timely Reformation from the Wrath which is to come Such various Ways and Methods does he contrive to bring them to Repentance so earnestly beg and sollicite them to accept in time the Terms of Salvation that one would think 't was his own not their Interest that Men should be sav'd He always like a generous Enemy declares Sinners his just Anger and Displeasure and excites them before it be too late to prepare to Meet him and with Weapons which will most certainly prevail viz. Prayers and Tears to disarm his Justice Thus when within the small compass of about two thousand years his gracious and marvellous Works of Creation and Providence were so far from being prais'd and had in Honour that all Flesh had degenerated from this great End of its Creation and most shamefully corrupted its way upon the Earth tho' he was griev'd to speak after the manner of Men at the very Heart and it repented him that he had made Man yet he could not immediately withdraw his Hand and let him fall into Ruine but mercifully prolong'd the day of Vengeance and gave his sinful Creatures time and space for Repentance He resolv'd indeed that the Spirits which he had made should not Eternally remain in their Bodies as Slaves and Vassals to those Instruments of Unrighteousness but that if Men repented not he would open the Windows of Heaven and break up the Fountains of the great Deep and bring in a Flood upon them that should sweep them all away But before he can do this Noah a Preacher of Righteousness must daily assure them of their Danger and he waits their Repentance a hundred and twenty Years Thus too tho' the Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were very grievous and cryed loud and the Cry of them ascended up into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth yet could not they prevail with him to let loose his Thunder to overwhelm them with a swift and deserv'd Destruction but on the contrary to prevent if possible their Ruine he by his good Providence so order'd and dispos'd things that Lot a holy and pious Person living amongst them should first lay before them their prodigious Impieties and warn them to prevent the heavy Judgments due to them by a speedy Repentance And when notwithstanding all this they sinned yet more and forc'd his Holy Spirit to forsake them utterly by their intolerable Fornications yet would not his Goodness then give him leave to execute upon them the Fierceness of his Indignation but still stay'd his hand and engag'd him to be gracious As though 't was possible for him to be deceiv'd it induc'd him to make a further Enquiry to go down and see whether they had indeed done altogether according to the Cry of it which was come unto him Nay tho' their Sins and Provocations were so many and so great yet so much
greater was his Mercy so unwilling was he that they should perish that he promis'd the interceeding Patriarch that if he cou'd find but ten Righteous Persons amongst them he would save them all But not to multiply Instances which are numberless the liveliest and most breathing Image of the Divine Mercy and Pity the most glorious and ravishing Displays of his unbounded Compassions appears in the wonderful Contrivance of our Restitution the mysterious and Costly Redemption of Lapsed Man This is an Instance of Love so astonishing and unfathomable as will afford new matter through all the Ages of Eternity for the Contemplation and Praises of the Saints and Angels in Heaven Since 't is a Province too great for any Created Being the Son of God himself before whose insupportable Glories the Seraphims veil their faces graciously descends from the Celestial Paradise into the Wilderness of this World to seek his straying Creatures to restore the lost sheep of the House of Israel and with his own Voice to call them back to himself the great Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls He comes in his Father's Name to proclaim Pardon and Forgiveness to all that return to him to demonstrate his infinite Tenderness and Compassion for every Soul of the Sons of Adam that notwithstanding all their Sins he would not have any of them perish not the greatest not the oldest not the most presumptuous of Sinners but that all should come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be sav'd This is his Business This his Errand This the great End and Design of his Coming which having finish'd in all the Parts he undertook and to confirm our Faith seal'd his Letters of Invitation with his own Blood and being now to return to the Father he to the Everlasting Comfort and Joy of Repenting Sinners commands his Apostles to go forth and carry them into all Parts of the World Go * Mark 16.15 says he and Preach the Gospel these glad Tidings of Reconciliation and Peace between God and Man to every Creature And accordingly too St. †2 Cor. 5.19 Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing to them their trespasses and sins The whole Tenour and Design you see of the Evangelical Dispensation is to bring Sinners to their Saviour to call them off from all their vain Confidences to believe and trust only in the Son of God to beseech them to come to Christ that they may be refresh'd and find Rest unto their Souls And so I am brought to the Second Thing observable in the Text viz. the Person to whom the Invitation is made To Me that is to our only Saviour and Redeemer the Lord Christ Jesus 2. We are not then to unfold our Necessities or to present our Supplications and Prayers to Saints or Martyrs to Patriarchs Prophets or Apostles no not to the Blessed Virgin Mother her self The Votaries indeed of this Glorious Saint in the Romish Church are as a Learned * See a Discourse of the due Praise and Honour of the Virgin Mary intituled Speculum Beatae Virginis Author of our own has shewn at large sufficiently extravagant in the Honours they pay to her They exalt her above the Thrones even of Cherubim and Seraphim array her in the brightest Robes of Majesty and Honour and most religiously and devoutly Romance her into a Deity Nay this is not the Practice only of her private Authors but the more Authentick Voice likewise of her publick Offices in which they frequently invoke her by the paramount Titles of Mother of Mercy Mother of Grace Sweet Parent of Mercy Queen of Heaven the Gate of the Great King the only Hope of Sinners and their most gracious Lady Now these I say are Rants and Excesses indeed Excesses which questionless if known would put the Modesty of this Blessed Virgin to a much greater Blush than did the Appearance and Complement of the Angel Gabriel We confess her Privileges and Prerogatives are singularly great He that is Mighty hath magnify'd her and Blessed is her Name We acknowledge her a most happy Instrument of our Good and therefore shall her Memory be always Dear to us Dear and Honour'd throughout all Generations Dear and Reverenc'd but not worshipp'd and ador'd In a word Her according to her own Prediction will we ever call Blessed but only amongst Women To Her will we ascribe Glory Honour and Praise But to her Son alone with the Father and the Holy Spirit Power Might Majesty and Dominion For to speak a little closer to this Point if the Saints in Heaven This Blessed Virgin and the Rest have no constant Knowledge of our Affairs here below then 't is the Inference of every Elementary Logician and the Concession of the greatest Champions of their own Party that 't is altogether in vain and to no purpose to Pray to them Si non cognoscant nostras orationes videtur otiosum supervacaneum ad ipsos orare are * De Relig tom 2. l. 1. c. 10. Suarez his own Words But that the Saints in Heaven this Blessed Virgin and the Rest have no constant Knowledge of our Affairs here below and consequently that 't is altogether in vain and to no purpose to Pray to them is evident from that of the Prophet †Cap. 63. v. 16. Isaiah Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knows us not For certainly if Abraham and Israel were ignorant and know nothing of the Affairs of that very People which descended from their own Loins then we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that the Saints in Heaven have no constant Knowledge of us and of our Affairs who are perfect Strangers to their Blood and Families Our Adversaries I know will be here ready to Object That Abraham and Israel were rightly said by the Prophet to be ignorant and to know nothing in his Time of the Affairs of Mankind and consequently that then indeed 't was but in vain and to no purpose to pray to them because before the Resurrection of our Lord the Patriarchs were not admitted into Heaven but lay only in Limbo the Retir'd and Secret Caverns of the Earth where they were utterly excluded from the Vision of God and likewise from all Traffick and Commerce with Men. But that now the case is quite alter'd with them that they are all translated from those Regions of Darkness that State of Expectation those Tabernacles of Hope into the inmost Court of Heaven the Kingdom of their Father the Land of Fruition where their Understandings are so widen'd and enlarg'd that they have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done both in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life so that now they are become the proper Objects of our Devotion being both privy to all our Necessities and also as Fellow-Members of the same Mystical Body most willing and
into the Kingdom of God Yet he means not by this Assertion utterly to exclude all Rich Men from the Hopes of Heaven but only signifies to us that 't is a very hard and difficult matter for them that trust in Riches saying to Gold Thou art our Hope and to the fine Gold Thou art our Confidence ever to undertake the severer Discipline of the Gospel here and consequently to be made Partakers of his Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter How hard is it says he to his astonish'd Disciples for them that trust in Riches to enter into the Kingdom of God In like manner say these Learned Men when he positively asserts that all Sins and Blasphemies whatsoever shall be forgiven unto Men but that the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven he means not that 't is absolutely impossible it should ever be forgiven but only that it shall not be forgiven so easily but more hardly and with greater Difficulty than any other Sin or Blasphemy whatsoever Non utiquè quod remitti non possit as the fore-cited Jesuit not that it cannot he forgiven at all but because they who commit it nullam peccati sui excusationem habent are utterly destitute of all Apologies and Excuses and therefore are more unpardonable than other Men. I confess I can determine nothing in this matter whether this Sin be irremissible or not I can only answer with the humble Prophet Lord thou knowest God's gracious dealing indeed with David after his Adultery and Murther with Peter after his Denial of his Master with Paul after his persecuting the Church and with a thousand other Sinners of the same Magnitude obligeth me to believe that there is no Sin or Blasphemy whatsoever which is irremissible in respect of God and that therefore if the Sin against the Holy Ghost be indeed irremissible 't is only because it utterly excludes those who commit it from Repentance But tho I dare not be positive as to the Consequences of this Sin yet what is a greater matter of Comfort to despairing Souls I may venture to affirm that as to the Nature of it 't is such as cannot be committed by any Christian If you ask me what 't is I briefly answer That 't is a Total Apostasie and Final Falling away from Christ and his Gospel I say a Total Apostasie and Final Falling away And yet not every Total Apostasie and Final Falling away neither For 't is possible a poor ignorant Soul may be so decluded as to Apostatize from Christianity to Mahometism or some other Imposture and yet still believe Christ to have been a very good Man But this is such a Total Apostasie such a Final Falling away from Christ and his Gospel as is attended with the greatest Virulency Rancour Spight and Malice against both as can be imagin'd When a Man not only utterly renounceth the known Truth but also doth hate and abhor Christ and his Word doth revile and spit upon him doth with the Scribes and Pharisees crucifie and mock him and is so far from acknowledging him to be the Son of God or indeed so much as a good Man who did all his Miracles by the Power and Assistance of the Holy Spirit that he most maliciously and despitefully after full Conviction of his Conscience to the contrary pronounceth him the greatest of Cheats a most grand Impostor the Eldest Son of the Devil who acted only by Commission from Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils This I take to be plain from our Saviour's own Words when he mention'd this Sin There was brought unto him says the Evangelist one possess'd with a Devil blind and dumb Matt. 12. compar'd with Mark 3. and he heal'd him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw The People amaz'd at this great Miracle gave Glory to him confessing him to be in very deed the promis'd Messiah the Son of David But the Scribes and Pharisees mov'd with envy tho' they knew the Miracle to be the Effect only of the Spirit of God yet to lessen his Reputation among the People declar'd against their own Consciences that 't was not by any Divine Authority but purely by Vertue of a black Confederacy with the Infernal Powers that he did these things This Fellow say they with unparallell'd Rancour and Disdain doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Upon this says our Lord All Sins shall be forgiven unto the Sons of Men and Blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation And then is added the Reason of this Assertion which plainly shews what the Sin against the Holy Ghost is in these words because they said He hath an unclean Spirit Now then My Brother do'st thou believe and confess That our Lord Jesus Christ is in very deed the Eternal Son of the Living God That when he was here upon Earth he acted only by Commission from his Father and that the Mighty Works which did shew forth themselves in him were done by the Vertue and Power of his own most Holy Spirit If thou dost then be of good cheer that hast not yet and as long as thou continuest in this Faith thou canst not commit this Sin against the Holy Ghost Nothing now but thy Impenitence can separate between thee and thy God Thou hast his own word for 't All sins and blaspemies whatsoever shall he forgiven unto the Sons of Men tho' perhaps this Sin against the Holy Ghost which thou hast not committed shall never be forgiven Break off thy sins then by Repentance and they shall all be forgiven thee Depart out of Babylon and come to Christ and thou shalt be refresh'd and find Rest unto thy Soul And so I come to the Last Thing observable in my Text viz. the Benefit of accepting our Lord's Invitation I will give you Rest 4. What joyful Tidings are these What Ease is here to wounded Consciences what Comfort to Despairing Sinners * Cant. 2. v. 11 12. Lo the Winter that dismal time wherein Ignorance Error and Superstition like Floods in the Winter-season overflow'd the earth is past and the Rain those cloudy uncomfortable days wherein we could see and enjoy but little of him is over and gone All the tokens of a new World appear and invite us to come and partake of heavenly joys and pleasures The Flowers appear on the Earth All manner of Blessings spring up in abundance now the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon us The time of the singing of Birds is come and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land The heavenly Host sing for Joy and excite all Mankind to praise their Saviour with joyful Lips Is then thy Soul full of Sorrow and Heaviness and drooping under the Apprehensions of thine approaching Judgment Does thy Conscience tell thee That Hell is thy Portion and thine Inheritance in the
Land where Death reigns for ever and ever Is this I say thy case Why do not any longer despond but throw away thy Garments thy Sins that encompass thee about and rise up for thy Saviour calls thee Behold the Wise Men rise up at his Call they acknowledge his gracious Summons and hastily come away from a far Country and therefore are kindly receiv'd tho' their * Vid. Justin M. Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. pag. 304. Orig. cont Cels lib. 1. p. 45 46. Witchcrafts and Idolatries are so many The humble Shepherd likewise obey the Heavenly Vision as soon as the Angels are gone to Heaven they leave their feeble Flocks and tender Lambs and therefore are graciously admitted to the Presence and Adoration of the great Shepherd of their Souls The Star out of Jacob is risen upon thee also and and if thou wilt follow its Light 't will conduct thee to the Mansions of thy Lord and Saviour The Glory of the Lord too is ready to shine round about thee the abundant Visitations of his Grace from Heaven will if thou art willing dispell the uncomfortable Darkness of the Night all the black Clouds of Melancholy and Despair and enlighten thy Understanding and actuate all thy Faculties till at length they happily bring thee to Bethlehem to the Presence and Embraces of the Holy Jesus Come then I say thou sinking despairing Soul unto thy Saviour Come to him by Faith and Repentance and he will by no means cast thee off Come to him and he will most tenderly receive thee The Bowels of his Compassion will immediatelâ— move towards thee and he will gently take thee by the hand and guide thee into the way that leads to Sion 'T was his Meat and Drink when he liv'd amongst us to proclaim Liberty to the Captives to loosen those whom Sin and Satan has bound to bind up the Broken-hearted to give Medicines to heal their Sicknesses and to preach the acceptable Year of the Lord. And tho' now he is gone to Heaven yet he has not left thee comfortless He is abstracted from thee as to his bodily Presence but his Divine Spirit and Grace still attend and wait upon thee Not all the Glories of Heaven the Allelujahs of the Angels and the triumphant Songs of the Saints can make him forget thee but the same Tenderness of Spirit the same Mercy and Loving-kindness which he had upon Earth he now in the mid'st of all his Glories still retains for thee in Heaven We have not such an High-Priest says the Apostle as cannot be touch'd with the feeling of our Infirmities but who having been tempted himself is able to succour them that are tempted He sits in those glorious Mansions at the Right hand of the Father to make intercession for us His Merits continually plead the Pardon of Repenting Sinners at the Throne of Grace and he is able and willing to save all them to the uttermost that come unto God by him Nay 't is his Glory his Joy and Crown to forgive Sins 'T is the reward of his Sufferings the Recompence of his Agonies to Save Sinners This he so ardently desires and thirsts after that he breaks not the bruised Reed nor quencheth the smoaking Flax but still more and more softens and mollifies the relenting Heart 'till he sends forth Judgment unto Victory He cannot be always chiding neither keepeth he is Anger for ever but tho' he cause Grief yet will he have Compassion according to the multitude of his Mercies Thus when Ephraim turn'd and repented when he smote upon his Thigh and was asham'd for the reproachful Sins of his Youth how tenderly how affectionately does his Maker deal with him Is Ephraim * Jer. 31.20 says he my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child that is Ephraim is indeed my dear Son he is a most pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. In the same manner when Zion deeply sensible of her Sins grew disconsolate and said within her self The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me he earnestly protests to her that his Heart was more tender of her than the Heart of any Parent could be of the Child of Infant of her own Womb. Can a Woman * Isa 49.15 says she forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb Tea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands Nay farther is so pleas'd at the Return of a Sinner that he assures us there is Joy in Heaven over such a One yea more Joy among the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth than over Ninety and Nine Just Persons who need no Repentance When a lost Sheep of the house of Israel is found when it is rescu'd out of the Jaws of Death and of Hell Snatch'd out of the Paw of that roaring Lion who continually goes about seeking whom he may devour and safely brought back into the Fold of the great Shepherd the Lord Christ Jesus These Blessed Spirits are no sooner acquainted with it but they take into their hands their instruments of Musick and in the highest Strains of Seraphick Joy contulate his Return The Vallies to speak after the Excellent Bishop Taylor are no sooner fill'd with Benediction and a fruitful Shower from Heaven but these Mountains leap with Joy even the Joy of Conquerours This he has sensibly represented to us in the Parable of the Prodigal Luke 15. He had most grievously transgress'd his Duty in every point both to God and Man When his indulgent Father upon his Request had kindly Divided his Living between Him and his Brother expecting you may be sure no small Comfort and Satisfaction from the joynt Welfare and Happiness of his dutiful Children this ungrateful and inhumane Wretch not many days after gathers all together and gets him away into a far Country where forgetful of his most tender Father forgetful of his sorrowful Relations forgetful of his most gracious God he lies wallowing in the Mire of all Fifthiness and Debauchery mispending his precious hours in the Conversation and Caresses of shameless prostitute abominable Strumpets and wasting all his Substance in a most profligate brutish and riotous way of living Yet no sooner does his Father spy him returning home with a penitent Confession in his Mouth but notwithstanding his great Unworthiness his Bowels are mov'd towards him yea he becomes impatient cannot expect his near Approach but his Joy and Affection give him wings Whilst he is yet a great way off he runs he flies to meet him has not Patience to stay for his humble Confession but immediately in an Extasie of Joy falls upon his Neck forgives and kisses him The best Robe the fattest Calf Musick and Dancing all the Expressions of the most solemn and extraordinary Joy
secure Empire a safe House valiant Armies a faithful Senate a good People a peaceable World quaecunque Hominis Caesaris Vota sunt and whatsoever Caesar either as a Man or Emperour can wish 'T is manifest then that these Primitive Christians never thought it their Duty to assassinate Princes tho' Pagan or Heretical for the Cause of Religion or to excite their Subjects to Rebellion for the Interest of the Gospel They did not illuminate Mens Understandings with Fire and Faggots nor convince or silence Gainsayers by the uncontroulable Arguments of Apostolical Dragooners As their Battels were Spiritual so neither were their Weapons Carnal 'T was the peculiar Honour of their Profession that it grew victorious by Sufferings and triumph'd in Persecutions That Tears were its Jewels and its Chains its chiefest Ornaments That whereas all other Religions in the World did by a multitude of Sacrifices as it were train up and inure Mens Minds to Blood and Destruction it was always like its great Author upon the Passive not by Swords and Daggers by Fire and Faggots by Plots and Caballs but by enduring all things by bearing all things recommending it self to the World Now then is the Church of Rome this meek and gentle spouse of Christ which is therefore comely as the Curtains of Solomon because black through the Heat of Persecutions Is she I say that Church whose Foundations are laid on the Blood not of her Enemies but dearest Friends However Bellarmine might pride himself in his Notes of the true Church yet surely her red and bloody Garments speak her to be either that Beast in the Apocalypse that kills all those that will not receive his Mark in their Foreheads nor worship his Image or that great Babylon the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth which St. John saw drunken with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus O my Soul then come not thou into her secret and unto her Assemblies mine Honour be not thou united 2. We cannot better express our Joy and Gratitude to God for the transcendant Mercy of this Day than by letting it remind us of his infinite Goodness in calling us from the Tents of these wicked Men who by teaching and maintaining such pernicious Doctrines do not only as you have already seen carry Men on to the most heinous Immoralities but also as a natural Consequence from such Premises wholly and entirely pervert the Simplicity of the Gospel of Christ To some unthinking Persons perhaps this may seem a bold Charge yet I need not be long in the Proof of it For not to tell you that these Men have set up such a number of Intercessors that as the Prophet Jeremy speaks according to the number of their Cities so are their Gods tho' the * 1 Tim. 2.5 Apostle for his Argument is levell'd against the Heathens who never so much as heard of a Mediator of Redemption and therefore did only acknowledge those of Intercession expresly declares that there is but One. Not I say to remind you that tho' our Saviour in his Farewell-speech most passionately bequeaths to us mutual Love and Kindness and the more to endear this Duty to us adds withal that this should be so evident a Mark of our Profession that hereby should all Men know that we are indeed his Disciples yet †Vid. Concil Lateran 4 Can. 3. de Haeret. These Men teach that if we will be Christians indeed we must rifle and plunder one another kill and stab our Brethren butcher our Benefactors blow up Parliaments and destroy Heretical Kings and States for this is not only lawful but also laudable excellent heroick and meritorious Lastly nor to say that they forbid their Priests to Marry and condemn that Sacred Institution in such Persons as impious and damnable tho' ‖ Heb. 13.4 St. Paul assures us that 't is equally honourable in all sorts of Men nay * 1 Tim. 4.1 3. reckons the Prohibition of it amongst the Doctrines of Devils and the Primitive Church never thought the worse of her Bishops for it What else speak their taking the Cup from the Laity tho' according to the positive command of Christ that they should all Drink of it the Primitive Church as they themselves confess allow'd it them and rather than not worship an Idol or Image their abolishing as much as they can the Commandment that forbids it What mean their Indulgences their Fairs and Sales of Masses and frequent Prayers for the dead by all which they have inverted the Assertion of our blessed Saviour rendring it almost impossible for a Poor Man to be Sav'd or for a Rich Man to be Damn'd Why have they interdicted the Use of the Scriptures to the People when the †2 Tim. 3.15 Apostle assures us that they are so far from doing them harm as they pretend that they are able to make them wise to Salvation and the ‖ Psal 1.1 2. Psalmist in an Ecstasie pronounceth the Blessedness of that Man unspeakably great whose Delight is in the law of the Lord and who therefore with unwearied Study meditates continually therein both Day and Night Nay when * Joh. 5.39 and Mat. 22.29 Christ himself expresly Commands them to read them diligently and attributes the pernicious Errors of the Sadducees to their Ignorance of them Are these things indeed with their other repudiated Doctrines built upon the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the Head-corner-stone Alas If you look narrowly into them you will discern their Nature to be aliene and extraneous some of them being borrowed purely from the Heathens others from the Post of the Primitive Church the Gnosticks and most of them as they themselves acknowledge from Oral Tradition there being not one Word to countenance them in all the Scriptures But is not this to invert the Religion of Christ and entirely to overthrow the fundamental and substantial Principles of our Profession Is not this with the Pharisees to make the Word of God of none effect by humane Traditions or rather to preach another Gospel than what we have receiv'd from Christ and his Apostles the which tho' an Angel from Heaven should do the †Gal. 1.8 9. Holy Ghost has long since pronounc'd him accurs'd How they are like to escape this Imputation at God's Tribunal they would do well to consider I wish it could never be laid to their charge To return then to ourselves What infinite Reason have we to bless God who has graciously purg'd out this old Leaven from amongst us and made us a new Lump unto himself Who by the glorious Instruments of our Reformation has brought us out of the darkness of Errour and Innovation into the true and genuine Light of the Gospel and for those Leeks and Garlick our Souls so much abhorr'd feeds us with heavenly Manna to the full Certainly if Heaps of Mercies both Spiritual and Temporal If the