to the Will of God to have Granted or Denied to us as shall seem most agreeable to His infinite Wisdom the Good things of this present Life and hungering and thirsting desires after Righteousness after those Divine Dispositions and Qualifications which are necessary to our being made meet for the Kingdom of Heaven In such things as these doth consist the Soul and Spirit of Prayer These are the Absolutely necessary and Essential ingredients thereof But Fourthly As for Words they are but a circumstantial part of Prayer and no farther necessary than as they tend to the more quickening our Affections exciting our Desires inlivening our Sense of the forementioned Objects and keeping our Minds fixed and intent And in publick Prayer or Prayer with others they are necessary to enable others to joyn with us But the Omniscient God understands the sense of our Souls the temper of our Spirits and the desires of our Hearts though no words be used for the expressing of them And always measures our Prayers by those not at all by these I say not at all by Words because if they flow from an honest Heart and a good disposition of Mind they cannot be so faulty as to make a Prayer unacceptable And therefore it is the same thing to God whether a good Sense and good Desires be from time to time expressed by the same or by variety of Words and Phrases And he who is affected as he ought to be in the use of a Form who hath such Desires and such a Sense as he ought to have as thousands of good Christians have hath as much the true Spirit of Prayer and as much of it too as he can have who hath the most notable Faculty at varying his Expressions And he who hath this Faculty but wants that Sense and those good Dispositions is notwithstanding utterly destitute of the Spirit of Prayer But it is incomparably most fit that there should be a Liturgy or Forms prescribed for the publick Worship of God for Prayer and Praising of God in the Church and for the celebration of the Holy Sacraments with the other Offices because the publick Worship of God ought always to be performed with the greatest Gravity and Solemnity possible But such a performance of Divine Worship can never be secured where Ministers are wholly left to their own Liberty and permitted to put up all the Confessions Petitions and Thanksgivings of the Congregation and to perform all the Offices in their own Arbitrary and Extemporary Expressions For though some Ministers who take this Liberty may pray excellently well when their heads are clear and they are in a good Temper yet I doubt there are very few who have always that Presence of Mind that Composedness of Thoughts and Constancy of Temper as not to be forced sometimes to use many Tautologies and indecent expressions But however the Church is never like to be provided with such Ministers as shall be able for the most part of them to keep themselves from great confusion in their conceived Prayers from bald and absurd phrases and from Nauseating their Auditory with repetitions of the same things fulâ—om sayings or lamentable misapplications of Texts of Scripture through over-much modesty or other infelicities of Temper in some and in others through ignorance or weakness of Natural parts either slowness of Invention or want of Judgment And besides there is this necessity of having a Liturgy that without one there is no rational way of perswading strangers to hold Communion with us Except we can shew them something which is acknowledged by common Agreement for a Form and Method of Divine Worship we cannot satisfie them what publick Service we perform to God it will then be so various that is as not alike in all places so neither at all times in the same places But to complete my Answer to the Question in hand Fifthly The affecting us with a profound Sense of the Majesty and Glorious perfections of the God we pray to and of our own Vileness and Unworthiness And a Submissive frame of Mind to the Divine Will Ardent Breathings after more of the Divine Image and Likeness And a lively Faith in the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God which are as I said the Substantial and Essential parts of Prayer all these we heartily and thankfully acknowledge to be the Gifts of the Spirit We own them to be so otherwise than all other good things which are every of them expressions of the Divine Bounty and consequently Gifts of the Spirit as He is one of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity But we profess to owe them to the more special operations and influences of the Holy Ghost And for the working and encrease of these all good Christians do daily crave the Spirits assistance Now I need not say that to endeavour to put a restraint upon the exercise of such Gifts as these is a most wicked invasion and violation of our Christian Liberty according to our own Notion of it But what we have discoursed concerning Prayer gives me occasion to add something of Preaching too and to shew also how far an ability for that performance is to be ascribed to the Holy Spirit or called one of his Gifts And consequently we may from hence be satisfied whether a Preacher of the Gospel is inâ—â—tled to such a Liberty in reference to Preaching as may not be limited by Auâ—hority or upon no accounts taken wholâ— from him without putting an affront upon the Holy Spirit First It is out of doubt that no man 〈◊〉 hath the Gift of Preaching in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power in the sence that S. Paul and his fellow-Apostles had it For by the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power is meant those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Prophecy and Miracles accompanying their Preaching whereby they demonstrated the truth of the Doctrine preached by them And so Origen understands it in his Book against Celâ—us Secondly There is not the least ground to believe that any man hath now the Gift of Preaching by Inspiration or from the immediate Revelation of the Spirit Nor do any seriously pretend to it but wild Enthusiasts Brain-sick Melancholy and Hot-headed people who take their own Fancies and Whims and the products of an ungoverned imagination for Inspirations I say none but those who plainly discover themselves to be such do seriously pretend to this Gift because there have been and still are a company of Knaves in the World as is manifest by their actings who for the carrying on their corrupt and naughty designs pretend to that which they are conscious to themselves they have nothing of But sober and honest Preachers of the Gospel do profess to deliver nothing to their people but what they conceive to be long ago revealed But what they acknowledge they have with study and pains gathered from the Holy Scriptures either immediately or by plain consequence wherein are contained all things necessary
Attention in saying their Prayers and numbering them over is as much as is necessary And if we can believe that we need not mind our Prayers we have no reason to blame those of them who do not desire to understand them Nor yet their Church for enjoyning the saying them in a Language which the Generality of Her Children are ignorant of as if She designed in so doing to put an Affront upon S. Paul who hath taught us in the most express terms the quite contrary Doctrine in the 14 Chapter of the First to the Corinthians To conclude this Chapter Our Notion of Christian Liberty is so very far from befriending Popery that 't is not possible it should have a greater Enemy in that it so highly conduceth to the advancing of the true Spirit and Power of Religion and to the perfect ridding our Minds of those two as Great Friends to Popery as Pests to Religion and even Humane Society viz. Superstition and fanaticism I mean by these two a Base Unworthy Apprehension of the Deity and a Blind Irrational Heady Zeal If it be said after all that supposing the two Notions of Christian Liberty which we have now declared our Sense 〈◊〉 be never so false yet we are notwithstanding too confined in Our Notion in â—hat Christian Liberty doth not onely â—onsist in Freedom from the Dominion of 〈◊〉 and the other sad Consequents of it â—ut also in our Freedom as to all things â—fan Indifferent nature to or from which â—e are not determined as by any Divine 〈◊〉 neither by any Humane Law If this â—say be objected our Answer in one â—ord is this This is not Christian but â—his is Natural Liberty That of S. Paul â—ving been in All Ages and in refeâ—ence to all sorts of People as Great a Truth as it hath been since our Saviours â—ime and in reference to Christians viz. Where no Law is there is no Transgression CHAP. XIV An Answer to this Question Whether the Prescribing of Forms of Prayer for the Publick Worship of God be not an Encroachment upon Christian Liberty Wherein it is shewed that this is not a Stifling of the Spirit or Restraining the exercise of his Gift And what in Prayer is not as also what is the Gift of the Spirit Whereby is occasioned an Answer to another Question viz. Whether an Ability for Preaching be properly a Gift of the Spirit WHat hath been last discoursed gives me occasion to Enquire Whether the Imposing of a Liturgy or Forms of Prayer for the Publick Worship of God be not an Encroachment upon Christian Liberty I answer it is if that Principle taken up by very many among us be a true one viz. That this is a Stifling of the Spirit and a Restraining of the Exercise of one of his Gifts If this be so I say it can be no better than a very great invasion of Christian Liberty and a far greater than the mere obliging men to things Indifferent For as S. Paul saith 1 Cor. 12. 7. The Maniâ—estation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal and therefore for Christians to be limited in doing good by a Gift of the Spirit must needs be a robbing them of that Liberty which Christ in sending Him design'd to give them By the way it shall be no part of my Reply to say that onely the Ministers are here concerned not at all the People For although a Conceived Prayer of the Minister be of the nature of a prescribed Form to those that joyn with him as to the confining their Spirits yet the People must needs be sufferers by means of their Ministers being stinted in the exercise of a Gift of the Spirit since it was designed for their profit and therefore upon this account and moreover in regard of the Countenance they will thereby give to Authority in such a kind of Sacrilegious Usurpation of power over Ministers it cannot be justifiable in them to Attend willingly upon such Forms But in order to the undeceiving of those who are so tenacious of this conceit that a prescribed Liturgy is a hinderance to the Free Exercise of a Gift of the Spirit I must freely profess that I know of no Gifts of the Spirit which we have warrant from Scripture to believe are continued to the Church at this day besides those which S. Paul calls the Fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. Where he saith The fruit of the Spirit is Love Ioy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance These and the like Christian Graces are Gifts which the Spirit still bestows and therefore called Graces They are supernatural Gifts as no man by his mere Natural power can obtain them but only by the Spirit 's blessing of our Endeavours and to the sincere use of the Gospel-means the Spirit is always ready to give his blessing And the reason why in these latter Ages these blessed Gifts are bestowed upon no more Professors of Christianity than they are is because the generality of such are miserably wanting to themselves and to the Holy Spirit in refusing to do their part and to cooperate with Him Because they will not attend to the evidence the Spirit hath given to the Truth of the Gospel and therefore have too weak and ineffectual a belief thereof Because they will not consider the Doctrine of the Gospel they will not weigh well and lay to heart its Precepts with the infinitely powerful motives wherewith they are inforced Because they will not listen to the Spirits good motions and suggestions whereby he works in men to Will and begets in them good Resolutions but do truly â—â—ench the Spirit though that phrase is â—sed in reference to his miraculous Gifts and resist the Holy Ghost and because they will not make a believing Application to Him for his powerful Assistance I say it is upon these and such like accounts that the forementioned Gifts of the Spirit are so rare and that the generality of those who are honoured with the Title of Christians are so destitute of them as we see they are Nay multitudes are so befooled by the enemy of their Souls as to expect that the Spirit should do all in them without their doing any thing that He should make them Temperate Righteous Charitable Meek Humble and Submissive to God's Will Heavenly-minded and the like without their due attendance upon those Ordinances of the Word Sacrament and Prayer and serious Consideration and Watchfulness over themselves wherein alone we have ground to expect the powerful working of the Divine Grace in our Souls But I say though these Gifts are observable in so very few comparatively the account whereof I have briefly touched upon and shewed that 't is mens own fault that they are not very common yet we have no warrant from Scripture that I know of to call those which are much more common though they are by many so reputed Gifts of the Spirit notwithstanding the Prophecies and Promises of so
said to be weak through the flesh or in regard of the impetuosity and violence of mens fleshly Appetites Rom. 8. 3. Nor is there any express mention in the Ceremonial Law of any necessity of purity of heart This was only represented by the divers legal washings and other Rites the mortification of corrupt Affections was signified by the cutting off the foreskin of the flesh and the great substantial duties were veiled under dark shadows So that a man might be very punctually observant of this Law according to the mere literal sence thereof and yet his Soul remain perfectly under the power of sinful Affections And the Learned Mr. Chillingworth in his Sermon on Gal. 5. 5. saith thus even of the Moral Duties of the two Tables as they are part of the Mosaical Jewish Law viz. That they required only an external obedience and conformity to the Affirmative Precepts thereof and an abstaining from an Outward practice of the Negative They did not reach unto the Conscience no more than the National Laws of other Kingdoms do So that for example when the law of Moses forbids Adultery upon pain of death he that should in his heart lust after a Woman could not be accounted a Transgressor of Moses his law neither was he liable to the punishment therein specified Whereas the Gospel requires not only an Outward and as I may say corporal obedience to God's Commandments but also an inward sanctification of the Soul and Conscience upon the same penalty of everlasting damnation with the former And what is now said proceeds he of the Moral Precepts as they are part of Moses his law by the same proportion likewise is to be understood of the Iudicial And as for the Promises of this Law they were only of Temporal good things and therefore the Gospel is called by the Author to the Hebrews The bringing in of a better hope Chap. 7. 19. And is said to be established upon better promises Chap. 8. 6. 'T is confessed that promises of Heavenly things were contained in those of Earthly as some of the latter were Types of the former particularly the land of Canaan of the Eternal Rest in Heaven and the promises of good things in the general had those of the other life implied in them but there is not the least express mention in this Law of any Life after this I do not say in any part of the Old Testament but in this Law Now then seeing it abounded with Temporal Promises and none but such being in express terms contained therein 't is no wonder if it became an occasion to the sensual Iews of their being the more eager and vehement in prosecuting the profits honours and pleasures of this life as it was of their being the more Mercenary in their obedience The like may be said of the Threatnings of this Law they are all so expressed as if they were only of Present Temporal Evils and the Iews for the most part looking no farther than the outward letter of these Threatnings it was not to be expected that they should be excited by them to obey from any higher motive than the mere fear of such evils as those that did not look beyond the letter of the Promises were obedient only from the hope of some sensual present good And by this means especially did this Law Gender to bondage as we read it did Gal. 4. 24. The terrible manner in which the Law was given and the Threatnings of Present death or other temporal Calamities upon the Transgression thereof did occasion that slavish sear which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage in those words Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear Rom. 8. 5. God dealt with the Iews as it was most fit to deal with such a carnal such a stiff-necked stubborn and disingenuous people who would not be wrought upon and overcome by love to himself or a sense of the loveliness of Virtue and true Goodness nor regard any Laws but such as were enforced with severe present Penalties or promises of sensual good things Which obedience of theirs was most truly and properly the obedience of Slaves a Servile and Mercenary Obedience So that this Law having been abused by the Iews to the so much the more captivating them to their fleshly lusts for this reason chiefly was it laid aside namely because the Liberty which consisteth in a thorough compliance with the Rules of Righteousness the Obligation of this Law would have greatly obstructed the promoting of And the things expresly required in this Law being such as had no internal goodness in them being weak and beggarly Elements as the Apostle calls them Gal. 4. 9. the imposition of many such must needs be apt to call away mens Minds and Affections from those that are essentially and immutably good whilest the spiritual meaning of those injunctions is either not understood or not attended to And that it had this effect upon the generality of the Iews by this means is a case too plain to need to be proved And though the great substantial duties which are in their own nature Good and Necessary and of Eternal obligation were inculcated upon them by all their Prophets as well as taught by Natural Light such as Doing Iustice loving Mercy walking humbly with God and the like yet they generally were so sottish as to think that He valued Sacrifices and the other Ceremonial and External Performances of the Law so much above such Duties nay though he had expresly also declared the quite contrary as that their exact and diligent observation of those would make expiation for their remisness in these and fully satisfie for gross immoralities They trusted in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these implying that their continual attendance on the services there performed according to the prescription of the Law would effectually secure them from Divine vengeance although they refused to amend their ways and were never so immoral in their Practices And their constant Trading in Sacrifices in Rituals and Ceremonial things occasioned their having but very little sense of things Morally good so that that distinction was almost lost among them of things Positively and Morally so or things good only because commanded and things commanded because good Their being so intent upon a many little things caused them to sleight and overlook the great ones as our Saviour told the Pharisees Luke 11. 42. Ye tithe Mint and Rue and all manner of Herbs and pass over judgment and the love of God And Mat. 23. 23. Ye pay tith of Mint and Anise and Cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law judgment mercy and faith And their omitting these things was too plain an Argument alone though there is other proof of it of their having scarcely any notion of things Absolutely Immutably and Essentially Good and Evil which was occasioned as I said by their
instate us in this Liberty shewed in several particulars viz. that 1. He hath most fully informed us concerning all the Parts and Particulars of our Liberty 2. He hath furnished us with the most potent Means for the gaining of it 3. He hath purchased a rich supply of Grace and Strength to enable us to use these Means successfully 4. He hath laid before us the most powerful Motives and Arguments to prevail on our Wills to make use of this Strength and comply with this Grace HAving I hope sufficiently cleared the truth of this Proposition that our Christian Liberty both mainly and wholly consisteth in Freedom to holy Obedience and deliverance from Sin I now come to shew Secondly How Christ instates men in this Liberty or what Course he hath taken for the effecting hereof By the way we are to take notice that the Method our Lord hath made choice of for the setting us free from our Corrupt Affections is such as is most Suitable to the Nature of those that are to be delivered and such as is most suitable to the Nature of that Bondage and Slavery from which he delivers Those who are to be delivered being Reasonable Creatures Voluntary and therefore Free Agents who act not by mere Necessity of Nature or Blind instincts and much less from External Force and Compulsion he dealeth with them in Setting them free as with such a sort of Creatures Again the Slavery as also the Confinement from which he delivers being Spiritual not Corporal I mean being Originally in the Mind Will and Affections and not in the Outward man he hath accordingly applied himself to the effecting our deliverance So that our Deliverer hath not done all for us that is to be done and left nothing for us to do in order to our being set free Nor can this be said of any other who designs to deliver out of Bondage or Prison persons arrived at years of discretion and that are able to use their hands and legs Such a one accounts that he hath done abundantly enough when he hath paid the Slaves Ransom and removed the necessity he was under of continuing in servitude If afterward he will not stir a foot he doth not think himself obliged to hale him by main force out of the Gallies or House of bondage He also looks upon his work as done when he hath set the Prison doors wide open and hath cleared the Prisoner's passage out and put the Key into his hand for the unlocking his Fetters and offered to assist him if he cannot do it by his own strength But when all this is done if the Prisoner will do nothing towards his own escape he who hath done thus much in his behalf will think it great pity but that there he should lie There is no Prince but will be satisfied that he hath quitted himself bravely and fully performed the part of a Deliverer when he hath put Weapons into the hands of a Conquered People and furnished them with sufficient aids for the rescuing themselves from the Tyranny of their Oppressors but if after all they will not be perswaded to use their Weapons and are so dastardly as not to joyn with those Forces that are sent for their help he nevertheless deserves the Title of a Deliverer In like manner it is not our Blessed Saviour's Method to drag men with irresistible force out of their Spiritual Vassallage and Slavery He doth not deliver us against our Wills nor in such a manner as if we were Creatures that have no Wills nor doth so overpower our Wills at least ordinarily as that they shall have left them no power of resistance but be necessitated to give their Consent But this is the Course he hath taken which is the most wise and in its own nature the most admirably effectual First He hath fully informed us concerning all the Parts and Particulars of our Liberty Secondly He hath Directed us to the most potent Means for the gaining thereof Thirdly He hath purchased a rich supply of Grace and Strength to enable us to use these Means successfully Fourthly He hath laid before us the most powerful Motives and Arguments imaginable to prevail with our Wills to use this Strength to comply with this Grace First He hath fully informed us concerning all the Parts and Particulars of our Liberty I mean he hath instructed us in all those Rules of Righteousness and Goodness in the Observance of which consists our best and most desirable Liberty This he hath done by the Precepts he hath given us as also by the Example he hath set before us In Matthew 11. 28 29. he proposeth both these the one to be obeyed the other to be followed in order to the possessing our selves of this Liberty Come unto me saith he all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest And what he meaneth by Coming unto him he tells us in the next words Take my Yoke upon you or obey my Precepts and Learn of me or follow my Example for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find Rest unto your Souls Rest from the Slavish drudgery of sinful Affections As to our Saviours Precepts whatsoever he hath required of us it is either a Part of our Liberty or a Means for the gaining and maintenance thereof Now as to the Christian Precepts which oblige us to those things in the doing of which our Liberty consisteth as they incomparably excel the Precepts of whatsoever Religion was before or since the coming of our Saviour so there is nothing defective or wanting in them There is not any thing left out of them that is necessary to the completing of the freedom and happiness of our Souls All the defects of the Mosaical Law and of the Law of Nature are supplied and made up by them As our Lord came not to destroy the Law so he came to fulfil it To perfect it and fill it up as he himself hath told us Matth. 5. 17. There is nothing that conduceth to the restoring humane nature to its Primitive Perfection to the bringing every thing in man into due order to the effecting a complete Harmony and Agreement between his various disagreeing Powers and Faculties to the putting him into that state wherein every thing would be with him as his own heart could wish to have it or in one word to the making him partaker of the God-like Nature and consequently of the God-like Liberty Freedom and Blessedness There is nothing I say conduceable to these excellent purposes but our Saviour hath in his own Person when he was on Earth and by his Apostles since he left the World acquainted us with it over and over inculcated it again and again minded us of it and urged it upon our practice To speak in the words of the Apostle S. Paul Phil. 4. 8. Whatsoever things are true or remote from insincerity and hypocrisie Whatsoever things are honest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venerable
the next words as the reason or design hereof that we might receive the Adoption of Sons But doth not the Relation of a Son necessarily infer Obligation to Obedience It doth so no less than that of a Servant For where God saith If I am a Master where is my Fear he saith also If I am a Father where is mine Honour The Law therefore which is to be understood in these and the like places is the purely Iewish Law the mere External and Drudging Observances of the Mosaical Dispensation which the Iewish Believers thought themselves to be still under the Obligation of and Condemned the Gentile Converts for not submitting their Necks to the same Yoke And the Apostle takes a great deal of pains in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians to confute that mistake and to convince the Iews that that Law was made by Christ null and void that He had Cancelled it and taken away its Obliging power And in each of those places the Apostle as plainly affirms this to be the Law they were delivered from as that it is not the Moral Law We will therefore a third time go them over again Rom. 7. 6. Now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in Newness of Spirit and not in the Oldness of the Letter That is We are delivered from that Law that considered literally required nothing but a company of Bodily Washings Outward Services and Carnal Performances which the Iews generally rested in and thought no more was to be done to render them Acceptable in the sight of God And the reason why we are delivered from this Law is that so we may be the more intent upon the Great Substantial Duties and the Purification of our Hearts Souls and Spirits Gal. 2. 19. I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God Or I by virtue of the Law of Christ am dead to the Law of Moses that I may have all impediments taken out of my way to the being intirely devoted as to the Inward as well as Outward man to the Service of God And it hath been shewed how injurious this Law did Accidentally become to the great Design of the Gospel viz. The making us Spiritually Obedient the enduing us with Inward Real Substantial Righteousness or the Divine Likeness Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace That is There is no necessity of your continuing under the power and dominion of Sin because you are not under the weak Dispensation of Moses which made nothing perfect and gave no strength to mortifie Lust but under the Gospel Dispensation which is accompanied with Promises of Plentiful Supplies of Grace and Strength Gal. 4. 5. God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Or That we might no longer drudge like Servants of the inferior Sort in such Employments as are mean and low having no Internal Goodness in them and that from the hope only of some sleight Reward from the hope of some mere Earthly good things such as are Gratifications only of the Animal and Sensual life and from the Fear of mere Temporal Evils and the present Lash that Law containing no other express Promises or Threatnings but Temporal as was shewed but may be dealt with as Sons be Honourably employed viz. in such services as are of the most Excellent nature and do recommend themselves by their own Goodness and Agreeableness to our Rational and Intellectual Faculty And be acted also by a more Noble Principle viz. Love and encouraged by an Infinitely more Noble Reward which consisteth in a perfect Likeness to God and an Everlasting Enjoyment of him And thus we see these very Texts that are made use of by the Antinomians to prove this mad Notion of Christian Liberty from the Obligation of the Moral Law are so far from signifying any thing to this purpose that they give manifest and clear proof of the Contrary As they are far from asserting that any such Liberty as this belongs to Christians so they assure us that no such Liberty belongeth to them Tertullian hath a good saying to our present purpose The Yokes of Works meaning the Drudgeries of the Ceremonial Law are cast off not those of Rules to walk by Liberty in Christ is not injurious to innocence The intire Law of Piety Holiness Humanity Vâ—rity Chastity Righteousness Mercy Bâ—nâ—volence Purity is still of force And indeed should we find this Doctrine in those Texts that our Saviour hath procured for us Freedom from this Law then First The Blessed Apostle would have most expresly contradicted his Great Master and so have proved himself no Apostle For our Saviour plainly saith Matth. 5. 17. Think not let not such a wild fancy enter into your Heads that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fill it up or Preach it fully I am so far from such a Design as that of destroying or Abolishing the Moral Law that on the contrary I am come to Preach it more fully and perfectly than ever it was before my Coming And this he presently sets upon doing Vers. 21 22 27 28 c. Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not Kill and whosoever shall Kill shall be in danger of the judgment but I say unto you that whosoâ—vâ—r is Angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment c. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery but I say unto you that whosoevâ—r shall look upon a Woman to lust after hâ—r hath committed Adultery already with her in his heart And so He goes on to Perfect and Fill up Law in the following Verses Again our Saviour saith vers 18. Verily I say unto you that till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till all be done or till all things come to an End according to Doctor Hammond He hath not here respect to the Universal Conflagration saith Grotius upon the place but it is a Proverbial speech as if it were said in Latine Vsque dum Coelum ruat Till the Heavens fall Which is thus expressed Luke 16. 17. And it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail In which manner of speaking as saith the same Learned Expositor He hath respect to the Order of Nature and not to the Power of God But according to Nature it seems impossible that Heaven and Earth should pass away or perish So that the meaning of these Texts is plainly this viz. The Obligation of the Law
Plutarch reports sound out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SAVIOVR SAVIOVR with such a Courage that the Birds which flew over them fell Astonisht to the Ground And can we be so little Affected with what our Saviour hath done for us in order to our being rescued from that Slavery which is so much worse than theirs as not to accept Deliverance at his hands Can we be so unconcerned at what King IESVS hath done for our Redemption as to refuse to embrace his offers of it Have we conceived so low an opinion of the Service of God and his Blessed Son as to chuse to be Drudges and Vassals to most Cruel Pharaohs rather than to be their Free-men Had we rather still toil in the Brick-Kilns of Egypt than inherit and possess the good Land the Land of Peace and Rest Liberty and Joy God forbid O that therefore we would at length be perswaded first to accept of and then to stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ would make us free and no more be intangled with the yoke of Bondage Hath Christ Iesus taken such an admirable course in order to our being set free from the power of Sin and its dismal Effects Then let us no longer cry out O wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from the body of this death as if we knew of no Deliverer but let us thank God through Iesus Christ our Lord. It hath been shewed that Christ is not so our Deliverer as to leave us nothing to do as to bid us stand still as Moses did the Israelites at the Red-Sea and see the Salvation of God and see what himself will do for us but that he doth expect we should do our part in order to our being set Free But he hath done as much as we can reasonably desire he should do for that end and abundantly more than could ever have entered into our hearts to imagine he would have done and so much that it must be now wholly long of our selves our own inexcusable negligence if what he hath done prove at last unsuccessful We are too weak to deliver our selves by our own strength by our own natural power we are utterly unable to rescue our selves from under the dominion of our Spiritual Adversaries but Christ hath purchased that Grace which shall be sufficient for us if we will make a believing Application to him for it so that we may if it be not our own fault be strong in the Lord and in the power of his Might and therefore our weakness can be no excuse It is to be acknowledged also that we are naturally very listless and averse to the using of the means of our Deliverance but what would we desire our Saviour to do more than he hath done to excite our Wills and quicken our Endeavours Nor can we plead Ignorance of the Means to be used for we have understood how fully our Saviour and his Apostles have instructed us in these Now hath Christ been so wonderfully concerned for our Deliverance and can we our selves be unconcerned Did he pay such a Ransom and Price for us and not think much of coming down from Heaven of taking our Nature of parting with his precious Bloud and suffering inexpressible Torments in order to this great End and can we think it unworthy of our serious Care What is this but to tread under foot the Son of God and that Bloud whereby we are Redeemed Was ever any miserable Slave heard of that might if he would be set at Liberty and yet refused Or is it imaginable that such a one could listen to any temptation whatsoever to continue in Slavery especially if he were promised by a Person able to make good his word that he should exchange his Prison for a Palace and his House of Bondage for a Kingdom But we have seen that no less a Motive than this is presented to us by one who cannot lie and who is as Able as Faithful We have the greatest Security in the World given us of a Crown of Glory and an Everlasting Kingdom which infinitely surpasseth all the Crowns and Kingdoms upon Earth to perswade us to comply with that Rare most Powerful and most Wise Method which our Lord hath taken to make us Free What a wonderful thing is this that our Lord should hire us to accept of Liberty and that at such a Rate as this That he should have such Compassion and Love for our Souls as that so we may be perswaded to do that which is onely our own Interest and infinitely our greatest Interest to do that so we may be won upon to cease from the vilest most filthy and most miserable Drudgery and to Engage in his most Free and Blessed Service he should think that he cannot make us too large Offers That he should so strangely out-bid the Devil and our Lusts and that we may no longer be beâ—ooled by their pitiful Promises of Vanishing Empty and False Pleasures should proffer us such Joys such Bliss as to which those Pleasures were they truly so and never so durable cannot bear the least proportion And that we might no longer suffer our selves to be Insulted and Tyrannized over by them and to be as it were their Footstool he should assure us of his willingness nay of his great desire to advance us to his own Throne For as hath been said he hath promised To grant unto him that overcometh that he shall sit with him upon his Throne even as he also overcame and is set down with his Father upon his Throne He applieth himself to that Principle which is most predominant in our natures so that if the love of himself cannot yet the love of our own selves may even compel us to come in to his Service But one would think we should find it no less impossible to be so Disingenuous towards our dear Lord than to be so cruel to our selves as to slight such promises or that his most gracious and endearing Invitation Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find Rest to your Souls For my yoke is easie and my burden is light Matth. 11. 28 29 30. But then are we able to think of it with any Patience that Christ should Do and Suffer in our behalf so much in vain that we should frustrate the Design of his Astonishing Condescension in assuming our Nature and of all he did and suffered for us Hath he paid so Excessively dear for us and can we be content that after all he should lose his Purchase Especially since he purchased us not because he stood in the least need of our Service but that we might serve our selves in serving him and be made thereby unconceivably and Everlastingly Happy Do we not look upon the Iews as a very strange Generation of Pople and as no less Ill-natured