and suffers its proud Waves to be bounded and checkt by the Sand. There go the ships and there is that Leviathan whom he hath made to play therein The Earth faithfully performs the Task that was imposed upon it at its first Creation and ceases not to bring forth its fruit in its Season and the most inconsiderable Creature that it nourishes even the smallest Fly publishes the wisdom and power of its Creator as much as the greatest Elephant And who again that considers these things can chuse but proceed with the Psalmist and say Praise the Lord from the earth ye dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapour stormy wind fulfilling his word Mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars beasts and all cattel creeping things and all fowl And shall all these inferiour Creatures daily laud and magnifie their Maker as most plainly they do while in their several Stations they perform his Commands shall the little Birds warble out Hymns of Praise and every Hedge produce a Quire to sing an Hallelujah and shall Man alone be silent Man whom God himself hath crowned with glory and honour whom he hath made to have dominion over the works of his hands and hath put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas Man whom when he had lost all this Honour when Sin had laid both it and himself together in the dust out of which they were both raised at the first God was pleased by a Miracle of mercy to restore to Honour once more nay to greater Honour than he had before even to the Honour if he forfeits it not again by his own monstrous Ingratitude of being made like unto the Angels in Heaven of being numbred among the children of God and having his lot among the saints I say shall Man whom of all the rest of his Creatures God hath delighted most to Honour be of all the rest of the Creatures the most ungrateful and most backward to give Praise and Glory to God Oh wheresoever this Ingratitude be to be found let it not be found amongst us but let us still joyn with the Psalmist and say Kings of the earth and all people princes and all judges of the earth both young men and maidens old men and children Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name only is excellent his glory is above the earth and heaven Thirdly that this Duty of glorifying God is both reasonable and necessary is evident in as much as all Mankind both good and bad shall most certainly one way or other give glory to God For the Lord will be King for ever be the people never so tumultuous and unquiet and though he be offended and provoked and blasphemed every day yet he is strong as well as patient and will one day vindicate his abused patience and longsuffering and will exalt himself above the heavens and his glory above all the earth Then shall all those foolish Wretches that refused to give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name and to celebrate the Praise of his mercy that endureth for ever be forced by their everlasting Punishment to glorifie his Justice For the glory of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his works For he hath made all things for himself saith Solomon Yea even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16.4 Thus did God get himself Honour as well by punishing the stubbornness of Pharaoh whom he overthrew in the Sea as by rewarding the obedience of Moses to whom he gave Power to command it And thus at the end of all things will he cause his Justice eternally to shine as bright and glorious below even in the midst of the infernal darkness as his mercy shall above in the Regions of light and happiness And Oh how sad how dreadful will our Condemnation be if we neglect this great Salvation that is offered us if notwithstanding this wonderful Redemption that God hath wrought for us we will again sell our selves Slaves to Sin and Satan And if but the tasting of a forbidden fruit brought Death into the world and made all Mankind obnoxious to the eternal wrath of God what Vengeance is reserved for them that tread under foot the Blood of his only begotten Son that despise the very height of his Love and the utmost riches of his Mercy Since then we must unavoidably glorifie either the Mercy of God or his Justice let us chuse rather to adore the former than to be broken in pieces by the latter for they that will not submit to his gentle Government while he holds forth his golden Sceptre shall be sure to feel the Severity of his rod of Iron Lastly for I must not be tedious though the Subject be so copious that I might heap up Arguments without number Since there is not the least part of the Creation excepting wicked Men and wicked Angels but what sets us an Example and invites us to glorifie our Creator this Duty of glorifying God is most highly reasonable for us to perform while we are upon Earth because it will be our eternal Task if ever we come to Heaven Those glorious Mansions above resound incessantly with Hymns of Praise unto the King of Saints To whom all Angels cry aloud continually the Heavous and all the powers therein Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaoth Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory If therefore we desire to perform this Duty in the next Life it is not only reasonable but necessary that we begin is in this For certainly if we do not now tune our Voice to an Hallelujah and practise the Musick of Heaven while we are upon Earth Candidates for a Place in the celestial Choire we shall never be qualified to bear a part in that new Song which is to be sung before the throne of God and none shall be able to learn it but the Saints that are redeemed from the Earth Let us therefore now and evermore joyn with those blessed Spirits in glorifying our Almighty Creator saying as our Church teaches us and with which words we will at present break off our Discourse Therefore with Angels and Archangels and with all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnifie thy glorious Name evermore praising thee and saying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high SERMON V. 1 COR. VI. 20. For ye are bought with a price c. THE reasonableness of this Duty of glorifying God to which in these words the Apostle exhorts us we have already seen and indeed he must be blind that sees it not when the whole Creation joins unanimously in the constant performance of it and every Corner of it declares the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of the
Almighty Creatour But though the reasonableness of this Duty must needs be apparent to all Men that believe that there is a God and they that believe not that though they may seem to be Rational Creatures are certainly most notorious Fools yet all Men are not so clearly agreed how to perform this Duty and that is the next thing that falls under our Consideration and the last Particular to be handled in my Text the manner how we must glorifie God we must do it in our Body and in our Spirit forasmuch as he hath redeemed and purchased both of them and both are his For ye are bought with a price c. First We must glorifie God in our Spirit that is in our Soul and in this all Parties are agreed even the very Quakers themselves the most stupid and senseless Fanaticks that have surfeited upon Religion and overwhelmed and oppressed their Reason by that very thing which was designed to refine and perfect it will all of them acknowledge that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and that their Soul ought to bow to him though their Body be as inflexible as a Pillar of Marble And indeed this is the chief and main thing that we are to take care of in the worship of God that our Soul be zealously and earnestly intent upon what we are about for God sees not as Man sees he regards not so much the outward Gestures of our Body though as I shall shew hereafter he expects these from us too but he looks especially upon the inward Thoughts and Intentions of our Heart and if these be not right all our bodily worship is nothing worth If we draw near to God with our Lips and our Heart be far from him if we lift up our Eyes and our Hands to Heaven and our Mind be wedded to the World if we prostrate our Bodies upon the Earth and lay our Mouths in the Dust yet if our Spirit be not proportionably humbled all this is no better than gross Hypocrisie a downright mocking of God who cannot be deceived with counterfeit shews and shadows of Religion If therefore we desire to glorifie God aright we must be sure chiefly and principally to glorifie him in our Spirit and as Solomon advises us we must keep our Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Prov. 4.23 Now this glorifying God in our Spirit implies briefly thus much That we make a free-will-offering of our Soul unto God committing the keeping of it unto him as unto a faithful Creator permitting him to guide and govern it according to his own good will and pleasure throughout the whole course of our life in whatsoever circumstances both in Prosperity and Adversity so that every thought and motion of it may evermore tend to his Glory He that hath made such an Offering as this unto God will always remember that he is not his own but that his Body and Soul are bought with a price and that both of them are God's and consequently will be careful to direct all his Thoughts Words and Actions to this one end that the Glory of God may be advanced by whatsoever he undertakes He will have God always in his thoughts as the only Object of his highest Love and Adoration and this will make him watch continually over his Soul and keep it pure and undefiled that no unclean thing may enter into that Spirit which is wholly devoted to the God of Purity For certainly nothing can be a more powerful motive to induce us to keep our Heart with all diligence than the consideration of God's Omnipresence and Omniscience that he sees us perpetually in our most private Retirements and searches and knows our most secret and hidden thoughts Hence it was that God himself gave that command to the Father of the Faithful Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect He that walks before God that is he that orders his whole Life and Conversation as knowing and considering that God's Eye is always upon him cannot chuse but endeavour to keep both his Soul and his Body blameless and undefiled and strive to be perfect as his Father which is in Heaven is perfect Again he that hath made such an Offering as this of his Soul unto God will be careful that in all things his Soul be obedient and conformable to the Will of God In his Health and Prosperity if Riches increase he will not set his Heart upon them but with Humility and Thankfulness will receive them as knowing himself not to be a Proprietor but a Steward only of the manifold Blessings of God and will accordingly dispose of them so that God may have the Glory and his distressed Brethren the benefit of his Wealth On the other hand if God sends Trouble and Affliction unto him if he deprives him of his Estate or his Health or both together whatsoever Calamity befalls him he will still bless and praise his Name as well when he takes away as when he gives when he smites as well as when he heals knowing and considering that whatsoever he either enjoys or suffers in this World comes to him from the Hand of an infinitely wise and good and gracious Father that will be sure first or last to make all things work together for good to them that love him Thus will the blessed Will and Pleasure of God be unto him as it were the Load-star to guide and direct his Soul how to steer its course towards the Haven of everlasting Happiness streight and steddy through all the Changes and Chances of this mortal life teaching him that hard Lesson which so few can learn how to separate Riches from Pride and Poverty from Impatience that neither the one may prevail with him to forget God and worship Mammon nor the other to repine at the Divine Providence and to fret and vex himself at the Prosperity of his Brethren If God blesses him he will acknowledge himself to be less than the least of all his Mercies and if he afflicts him he will receive it as the Correction of a tender Father that pities and loves his Children even when he chastizes them Lastly He that hath made this Offering of his Soul unto God whensoever he is in God's House in order to the celebration of his Publick Worship or whensoever he is in his Closet performing his Private Devotions will be exceeding careful to set his Heart and Affections then especially upon those things which are above he will be sure to banish all worldly thoughts out of his Mind and study to behave himself so as becomes one that is admitted to appear in the Presence-Chamber of the King of Kings either to put up his Petitions to him or to receive his Commands following that excellent Counsel of Solomon Eccl. 5.1 Keep thy Foot when thou goest to the House of God and be more ready to hear than to give the Sacrifice of Fools for they consider not that
that we have a great High priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God This the Scripture testifies frequently in other places We have such an High-priest saith our Apostle who is set on the Right-hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not Man Heb. 81.2 and c. 6.20 he tells us that the Fore-runner is for us entred into that within the Veil even Jesus made an High-priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck Now the office of Christ our High-priest consists chiefly in these things 1. In being our Advocate to make intercession for us to the Father If any man sin saith S. John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 and who is he that condemneth saith S. Paul It is Christ that died yearather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 How great a favour how inestimable a benfiet is this to have the only beloved Son of God in whom he is well pleased and to whom he will deny nothing continually to plead and make intercession for us unto his Father They only are truly sensible of this Blessing who are wounded with the Arrows of the Almighty and pressed sore with his hand so that there is no soundness in their flesh because of his anger neither any rest in their Bones because of their Sin They find the benefit of such an Intercession and how desperate and remediless their condition would be had they not such an High-priest that is ever ready upon their true Repentance to make an atonement for them to plead the merit of his sufferings in their behalf and to interpose betwixt them and the wrath of God 2. Christ ascended into Heaven as our High-priest that being thither ascended he might send unto us the Comforter even the Holy Ghost to abide with us for ever This was one main reason of his Ascension as himself declares to his Disciples John 16.7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you This he had promised long before by the prophet Joel c. 2. of that Prophecy v. 28. It shall come to pass saith he that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie your old men shall dream Dreams your young men shall see Visions This promise he fulfilled upon his Apostles upon the day of Pentecost Acts 2. and he performs it dayly to all his elect continually begetting and increasing in their hearts the Graces of his Holy Spirit by the Ministery of his word This is that blessed Spirit of truth that guides us into all truth and teaches us all things that bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God and seals us unto the day of Redemption and this Holy Spirit Christ as our High-priest sends unto us from Heaven For although he be present every where in respect of his Divine Essence which is Omnipresent yet by his gracious Operation he is present only in the Hearts of his Elect unto whom he is sent by Christ as a Pledge of his Love to abide with them for ever The third Office which Christ performs for us as our High-priest is to prepare a place for us in Heaven The Sin of Adam had shut the Gate of Heaven against us For nothing that is Defiled or Unclean shall enter into the New Jerusalem but Christ by his perfect Obedience and by his meritorious Sufferings for our Sakes hath Expiated the Guilt of this Sin and by his ascending up thither himself hath opened unto us the Gate of Heaven again and given us assurance that he will draw us up after him This he promised to his Disciples Joh. 14.2 I go saith he to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Thus is Christ ascended into Heaven as our High-priest he is gone thither before us to prepare a place for us a place of endless Bliss and Felicity in those glorious Mansions of his Heavenly Father And so I have done with the Doctrinal part of my Text and shewed you that Christ is really ascended into Heaven and that he is ascended thither as our High-priest I come now to the last Thing I propounded which is to press to you the Apostles Application and to shew you how strongly the Consideration of this Doctrine should oblige us to hold fast our Profession And what can oblige us more to hold fast our Profession to lead a Godly and a Christian Life and to have our Conversation in Heaven than this that we have a great High-priest Jesus the Son of God that is already passed into the Heavens on purpose to prepare for us there an Everlasting Crown of Glory The consideration of the blessed Effects of the Ascension of our Lord if we make a right use of it will enable us to fight the good fight of Faith with Courage to keep our selves unspotted of the World in whatsoever Circumstances we are and to steer our Course aright through all the manifold Changes and Chances of this Mortal Life till we arrive at the end of our Hope even the Salvation of our Souls Let our Condition be what it will good or bad I say the thoughts of this will enable us to behave our selves so as shall be most for the Glory of God and our own Good For first Hath God Blessed us with Peace and Prosperity in this World Hath he given us a plentiful Portion of the good Things of this Life Hath he heaped upon us Riches and Honour filled our Barns with Plenty and caused our Presses to burst out with new Wine Though these things are strong Temptations and very apt to alienate our Hearts from God yet the consideration of our Saviour's Ascension will enable us to overcome them If in the midst of these worldly Blessings we frequently and seriously call to mind that we have a great High-priest that is preparing for us things that are incomparably better and more glorious in Heaven our Eyes then will not be dazled nor our Hearts bewitched with these fading and perishing Enjoyments upon Earth We shall set no higher an Estimate upon them than they deserve but shall be careful to use them with a Christian Prudence and Moderation to the glory of God and the good of our Selves and such poor Members of Christ as we see stand in need of our Charity We shall look upon all these temporal Blessings to be but only lent us for a time but our Hearts and Affections will be wholly fixed with most ardent and longing Desires upon that eternal
not therein transgress this Commandment If then we had no other Text in Scripture but this one to be guided by in this case it is manifest that we who understanding these words of our Saviour in the strictest sense refuse to give Religious Worship to any one but God himself cannot thereby incur his Displeasure since he cannot condemn us for it without directly giving himself the lye and renouncing his own Law whereas the Church of Rome interpreting this Law without any warrant for it in a larger sense viz. as not restraining all Religious Worship solely unto God but only prohibiting the giving of it to wicked Spirits or to the Heathen Gods or Idols and the like and thereupon presuming to give such Worship though in an inferiour Degree to the Holy Angels and Saints is altogether as inexcusable in so doing as Saul was in his expedition against the Amalekites But though Saul's Fault was great enough as it was yet it would have been much greater if God in the Commission which he gave him had expresly named Agag and forbidden him to save even the King himself and he had spared him notwithstanding certainly this had been a willful and obstinate Rebellion against the Divine Command And yet the Church of Rome ventures as far as this and curses all the World that will not joyn with her in it For God hath not only in general forbidden us to direct our Religious Worship to any other Object but himself only but he hath moreover in express Terms commanded us particularly not to Worship Angels in these words of my Text. Let no man beguile you of your Reward in a voluntary Humility and Worshiping of Angels nay and hath also given us two plain instances by way of example to satisfie us that the Angels themselves abhor such Worship and dare no more to accept of it than Man may dare safely to give it to them For in the 19th and 22d Chapters of the Revelation when S. John sell at the Angels seet to Worship him the Angel immediately forbids him and reproves him in both places for it in the same words See thou do it not for I am thy fellow-Servant Worship God And yet all this will not satisfie them that the Worship of Angels is unlawful and it seems God cannot make a Law so plain even though he interpret it and make it a judged case by an example but the Schoolmen will find out some subtile Distinctions or other to evade the force of it And yet all these Distinctions may be easily baffled and they will be so at the Day of Judgment with this one question Who hath required this at your hand They are not able to give any tolerable Answer to it now For in the New Testament they confess that There is neither any direct Command nor Example for the Worship of Angels In the Old they can find never a Command for it and all that they insist upon there is the Examples of some holy Men that did worship Angels without being reproved for it which they think is a plain Argument that such Worship was not then unlawful and consequently cannot be so now But all this may be answered in two words For first it is the opinion of some of the Fathers and of most of the best Expositours of Scripture that it was our blessed Saviour himself that appeared to those holy Men in the Old Testament and then it is no wonder that he received Divine Worship from them without giving them a check for it But secondly though we should grant which we do not that before the Coming of Christ the Worship of Angels was Lawful yet it doth not at all follow that it is so still since God hath since expressly forbiden it and declared it to be unlawful both by Precept and Example And therefore if they will answer ingenuously to this Question Who hath required this at your hand they must confess that it was not God but themselves that it is a Will worship of their own devising And if so I am sure that Saul had every whit as fair a Pretence for his voluntary Mâ—rcy in sparing Agag as they have for their voluntary Humility in worshipping of Angels and God deliver us from such lame Obedience Thus much of the Apostles first Argument against the worshipping of Angels It is a false and voluntary Humility a Will-worship as he expresly calls it and other such like humane Impositions in the last Verse of this Chapter His next Argument is this It proceeds from a real and carnal Pride he that goes about to impose it upon us intrudes into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly Mind We have been long enquiring after Humility and have missed of it after all our search for it proves a false one but we need not look so long for the Pride of the Imposers of this Worship for that will soon discover it self to be a real one And indeed Pride is very often found and easily discerned under the false Mask of Humility and we know who would never stoop so low as to stile himself Servus Servorum Dei if it were not to add a greater lustre to his more beloved Title of Christi Vicarius which how pleasing soever it may seem in Latin I am sure hath a very unlucky sound in Greek For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as properly signifies Christi Vicarius as Christi Adversarius and it is not improbable but that the Holy Ghost made choice of this word on purpose to point at a Person unto whom it might be applicable in either sence one who under pretence of being Christ's Vicar should indeed be his Enemy Now the Pride of the imposer of his Worship is so notorious that I need not go about to expose it since every own knows that he exalts himself above all that is called God not only in a mystical but even in a literal sence For as if it were a small matter to tread upon the Necks of Kings and Emperours and to kick their Crowns off of their Heads at his pleasure he ventures once in his life viz. at his Inauguration to come as near as possible to the trampling upon Christ himself placing his Feet upon the high Altar esteeming his Masters Throne no better than his footstool and himself as God sitting in the Temple of God and shewing himself that he is God This I think is a sufficient Demonstration of an unparallelled Pride in one that is vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind I might as easily shew that he intrudes into those things which he hath not seen whilst by counterfeit Miracles fabulous Legends and such like Impostures he endeavours to perswade us that he is thoroughly acquainted with all the Transactions of the other World telling us that the holy Angels and saints do not only pray for us but that they also can hear our Prayers nay that any one of them can hear the Prayers
came in a very Mean and despicable Condition so poorly provided for that he had not so much as a House wherein he might lay his Head nor a cradle wherein he might rest but was forced to be content with a Stable for the one and a Manger for the other And all the rest of his Life was answerable to this Mean beginning He was continually affronted and abused and persecuted by the Chief Priests and Scribes and Pharisees and by almost all Men with whom he conversed and after all this he was most perfidiously betrayed by one of his own Disciples denied by another of them and forsaken by all the rest and at the last most barbarously murdered by bloudy and sinful Men. And if God dealt thus hardly with his only begotten Son in whom he was ever well-pleased it would be unreasonable for his Disciples and Followers to expect to fare so much better than their Lord as to be wholly exempted from Afflictions in this Life If the Captain of our Salvation was not made perfect but through sufferings surely then we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven except we drink more or less of the same Cup. This our blessed Lord hath assured us shall be the Portion of all that will follow him Luke 14.26 27. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple And whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple And In the World ye shall have Tribulation John 16.33 And this the holy Apostles afterwards found true by their own Experience They were all hated and maligned and persecuted whithersoever they went and not one of them died a natural Death but S. John the Disciple whom our Saviour seemed to love above the rest and perhaps was therefore pleased to exempt him from suffering a violent Death as the other did And thus it fared afterwards with their Successours the Bishops and Pastours of the primitive Church yea and not only with them but with the greatest part of their Flock too Every one that was known to profess the Faith of Christ was persecuted as a Traytour and to be a Christian was to be a capital Offender And though at present by the blessing of God the Light of the Gospel shines amongst us gloriously yet even amongst Christians themselves those few rare Examples of Piety those Persons that are extraordinarily strict and careful to live answerable to their Profession in all Holy Conversation and Godliness are generally hated and scorned and looked upon with an evil Eye and suffer more Sorrow and Affliction in the World than other Men. And now I have given you an Account of all those dangerous Enemies and those manifold and great Difficulties and Troubles which the Righteous Man hath to overcome in his way to Heaven And from what I have said it is sufficiently evident that he shall scarcely be saved that is it shall cost him great pains and striving to work out his Salvation and through much Tribulation he shall enter into the Kingdom of God And if the Righteous be thus scarcely saved I need not insist much upon the other Proposition nor spend many words to shew you that the wicked the ungodly and the sinner shall most certainly be damned For this follows from the former Doctrine by an undeniable consequence and therefore the Apostle takes it for granted appeals to your own Judgment and leaves it to your selves to determine the question in the words of my Text If the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear If the Righteous that hath undergone so many Troubles hath taken so much pains to subdue and mortifie his Lusts hath with so much Constancy and Resolution turned away his Eyes and his Heart from the bewitching Baits and ensnaring Pomps and Vanities of this sinful World hath with so much Courage and Faith resisted the Temptations of Satan and quenched all the fiery Darts of the Wicked hath with so much Patience and Meekness born his Cross and indured the Afflictions and sufferings of this present Life is after all these painful and glorious Performances even when he hath gained a full and compleat Victory over all his Spiritual Enemies and is a Triumphant Conquerour over Principalities and Powers still but an unprofitable Servant and dares not appear before God's Tribunal trusting in his own Righteousness but in that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith how then shall the Ungodly and the Sinner that hath taken no pains at all to fight the good Fight of Faith that hath let loose the Reins to his Lusts that hath yielded himself a Slave to his Passions that hath put God out of all his Thoughts hath set-his Heart and Affections wholly upon the things which are on Earth and glutted himself with sensual Pleasures hath harkned to the wicked suggestions of the Devil hath walked according to the Course of this World according to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that works in the Children of Disobedience hath enjoyed his good things in this Life and hath not come into trouble like other Men be able to stand before the Righteous Judge of all the Earth when he shall be summoned to give an account of all his Actions done in the flesh The case is plain he shall not be able to stand at all but shall be overwhelmed with everlasting Confusion and Misery and Despair The Vngodly saith the Psalmist shall not stand in the Judgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous For the Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous but the way of the Vngodly shall perish Psal 1.5 6. If then we desire to stand in that great Day and to lift up our Heads with joy at the coming of our Saviour let us resolve and labour with all our Might now to stand and fight the Lords Battles Manfully against all the Enemies of our Souls Ye see in what Circumstances we are how great Opposition every faithful Champion of Jesus Christ is like to meet with in this troublesome Wilderness before he can arrive at his heavenly Canaan But though the difficulties which threaten us be great yet they are not insuperable but we may by the Assistance of God's holy Spirit who is ready to help our Infirmities overcome them if we will Let not any thing then discourage nor affright us from our perseverance in well-doing but let us animate our selves by the Example of the blessed Apostles and Martyrs and Confessours to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Authour and finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the Right-hand of the Throne of God Let us consider him that endured such Contradiction of Sinners against
undoubtedly saved Now it is as certain by God's Word that no Man can be saved but by Grace and then it follows on the one hand that all Infants in their baptism do receive Grace or else by virtue of their baptism without it they cannot be saved and it follows likewise on the other hand that they that have received grace may fall from it or else no Children that have been baptized can be damned which no Man living will admit of It is manifest therefore that they that have Grace may fall away from it And if so then certainly it is every Mans Duty to take heed lest he do so fall And this is the second thing I propounded to speak of Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall To fall let it be in what manner it will always implies danger and mischief but to fall from Grace is the most dangerous and dreadful fall imaginable It is a fall from Christ a fall from God a fall from Salvation a fall like that of Lucifer from the highest Heavens into the bottomless Pit a fall from the Glory and Light and Happiness of the bright Sons of the Morning into the Eternal Confusion and Horrour and Misery of the Children of Perdition Of all the rich Jewels which God hath to bestow upon us there is none so precious as that of Grace For upon whomsoever he bestows this upon him he designs to bestow Heaven it self Grace being the only sure and certain Guide to conduct us to those blessed Mansions of Everlasting Glory Without this we are able of our selves to do nothing at all that is good we cannot walk one step in the way of Life we cannot do a good Action nor think a good Thought except the Holy Spirit of God enable us Who works in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure The Enemies of our Salvation are both numerous and powerful and the very weakest of them will be sure to be too strong for us if we be not assisted from on high For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against Spiritual Wickedness in high Places against such Adversaries as if they were not restrained by the Omnipotent Power of God would quickly destroy the whole Race of Man and cause Confusion and Desolation throughout all the Earth How doth it behove us therefore that we may be able to overcome them to take unto us the whole Armour of God the Girdle of Truth the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Shield of Faith the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit It is Grace alone that can furnish us with these Weapons And so long as we are thus armed we may assure our selves that the Gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail against us But if once we fall from Grace and thereby disarm our selves of all this Spiritual Armour how can we expect then to fight the Lord's Battels when we have cast away the Weapons of our Warfare That roaring Lion that seeks to devour us and dares venture to assault us when we are armed Cap a pe with the Armour of Heaven though he dreads a Wound from the Sword of the Spirit and knows that the Shield of Faith is impregnable against all his fiery Darts will easily make a Prey of a naked and defenceless Soul a Soul that hath forsaken God and is therefore forsaken of him and delivered into the Hands of the Enemy to be taken Captive by him at his Will Let us take heed then lest having begun in the Spirit we end in the Flesh lest having once run well we turn aside and leave the Paths of Vprightness to walk in the ways of Darkness lest having for some time fought manfully under Christ's Banner the good Fight of Faith we afterwards grow weary and faint desert our Colours make shipwreck of our Faith and forsake the Captain of our Salvation Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall And so I come to the last thing I undertook to do in handling these words which is To give you some necessary Rules and Directions to be observed by all that will take heed that they do not so fall First then that we may take heed that we do not fall let us remember that we may fall As there is a possibility for him that is already fallen to rise again for him that is at the present defiled with the pollutions of Sin to be washed again and sanctified and cleansed from those Pollutions for him that is at the present in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity entangled in the snare of Satan to be delivered from that Bondage into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God and therefore we ought not to despair of the Salvation of any Man so likewise there is a possibility for him that for the present runs well the good race that is set before him to faint before he comes to the End of it and by so doing to lose his Prize for him that for a while believed in time of Temptation when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word to be offended and fall away for him who had once escaped the Pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to be again entangled therein and overcome insomuch that his latter end shall be worse than the beginning and therefore no Man ought to be over confident and secure of his final Perseverance nor to presume that because at the present upon a strict Examination of his Conscience and of the Condition of his Soul he finds that he is in a State of Grace that that State is unalterable and that he shall infallibly continue in it unto his life's end for he that thinks he stands may fall And of what a dangerous Consequence such a presumption is we may see by the Example of S. Peter and indeed of all the rest of our Saviour's Disciples for as they all joyned with S. Peter in that good Resolution of never forsaking Christ for Peter said unto him Though I should die with thee yet will I not deny thee Likewise also said all the Disciples so they did all of them in effect joyn with him also in the denial of him for S. Matthew tells us that they all forsook him and fled But S. Peter that was the most confident of all denies him the most shamefully and basely of all with Oaths and Curses swearing that he knew him not Thus dangerous was Presumption to that great Saint and it will be as dangerous to every one of us if we entertain it in our Hearts He that thinks he stands so firm that he can never fall 't is much to be feared that he is fallen already and fallen so low that he is in danger never to rise again except it be by some extraordinary Act of Mercy such as our Saviour
shewed to S. Peter when he turned and looked upon him after his fall and by that look infused new Grace into his Heart which immediately burst out at his Eyes in tears of repentance Let us not therefore be high minded but let us fear for happy is the Man that feareth alway but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief Proverbs 28.14 Secondly if we will take heed that we fall not from Grace let us take heed that we fall not into Sin especially into presumptuous and willful Sin against the light of our conscience All Sin whatsoever though it be but a Sin of Ignorance or Infirmity tends more or less if it be not speedily repented of to the impairing and diminishing of the Grace of God in our Hearts which is bestowed upon us on purpose to preserve and defend us from the power of Sin that it may not Reign in our mortal Bodies that we should obey it in the lusts thereof But Sins of Presumption and Wilfulness against our knowledge and the checks of our conscience do not only much impair Grace but they totally exstinguish it and bring us into great danger of final Apostacy For there can be no fellowship betwixt Righteousness and Unrighteousness no Communion betwixt Light and Darkness no Concord betwixt Christ and Belial no Agreement nor Cohabitation of the Spirit of God and Satan And therefore David prays most earnestly against such Sins as these Psal 19.13 Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous Sins let them not have domminion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great Transgression And how deadly a wound such Sins make in the conscience God for our instruction that his example might be a warning to us to beware of the like Sins suffered him to find by a sad Experience That premeditated wilful Murder of one of his innocent subjects changed the Man after God's own Heart into one after the Heart of him who was a murderer from the beginning and made him such an one as Satan would have all Men to be if he could prevail It is impossible while he was in this Condition that he should find any comfort in the performance of his Devotions if he did then perform any at all His Hand his Tongue his Heart were all out of tune all unfit for the Celebration of God's Praises in which they were wo … continually to be imployed Even his own sacred Hymns and Anthems were nauseous to him and the sweet Psalmist of Israel was become a stranger to the songs of Sion Grace was then lost and Sin reigned in him the Spirit of God had for that Time forsaken him and Satan had taken Possession of his Soul Let us take heed then of presumptuous and wilful Sins and every habitual Sin is a step towards them they wrought a sad change in David but they may work a worse in us God was pleased to raise him again but if we fall after the same manner he may perhaps deny the same Favour to us and then our Case is irrecoverable Thirdly If we will take heed that we fall not from Grace let us endeavour daily to grow in it and improve it So S. Peter exhorts us in the end of his Second Epistle Ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness But grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ He that thinks he hath Grace enough already hath indeed very little or none at all but blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled The path of the just saith Solomon is as the shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day Prov. 4.18 And our blessed Saviour compares the Kingdom of Heaven by which is meant the Grace of God in our Hearts unto a grain of mustard seed which though it be less than all the seeds that be in the earth yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes a tree So likewise should the Grace of God grow and increase in our Hearts and so it will do if it be not purely by our own fault hindered and stifled That we may not therefore fall from Grace let us be careful to improve that Grace which God hath already bestowed upon us by waiting upon him duly and constantly in all those Ordinances which he hath appointed for the begetting preserving and increasing it in our Souls such as are diligent Reading and Meditating in his Word at home hearing it preached and expounded in his House frequent receiving the Holy Sacrament and praying unto God continually both in private and publick as our Church teaches us that his Grace may always prevent and follow us and make us continually to be given to all good Works He that doth these things in Truth and sincerity shall never fall God will never leave nor forsake such a Man but will be sure to guide him with his Counsel here and afterward receive him to Glory FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by John Hartley over-against Grays-Inn in Holborn A Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris with an Answer to the Objections of the Honourable Charles Boyle Esq By Richard Bentley D. D. Master of Trinity College in Cambridge Chaplain in Ordinary and Library-keeper to His Majesty 8vo Price 6 s. The History and Fate of Sacrilege discover'd by Examples of Scripture of Heathens and of Christians from the beginning of the World continually to this Day By Sir Henry Spelman Kt. Wrote in the Year 1632. A Treatise omitted in the late Edition of his Posthumous Works and now publish'd for the Terrour of Evil Doers To which is added an Historical Account of the beginners of a Monastick Life in Asia Africa and Europe By Sir Roger Twisden Kt. and Baronet Price 4 s. Catalogus Universalis Librorum in omni Facultate Linguaque Graeca praesertim insignium rarissimorum non solum ex Catalogis Bibliothecarum Bodleianae Lugduno-Batavae Ultrajectinae Barberinae Thuanae Cordesianae Tellerianae Slusianae Heinsianae sed etiam ex omnibus fere aliis prelo impressis magno labore sumptu in usum Studiosorum collectus Cura J. H. Bibliopolae Londinensis Herodian's History of the Roman Emperours containing many strange and wonderful Revolutions of State in Europe Asia and Africa Also their most remarkable Embassies Speeches Antiquities c. Together with the most Solemn Ceremonies us'd at the Deification of the Roman Emperours with a Character of the ancient Britains Done from the Greek by a Gentleman at Oxford The Blasphemous Socinian Heresie disprov'd and confuted Wherein the Doctrinal and Controversial Parts of those Points are handled and the Adversaries Scripture and School-Arguments answered With Animadversions upon a late Book call'd Christianity not Mysterious Humbly Dedicated to both Houses of Parliament By J. Gailhard Gent. Price 3 s. 6 d. The Epistle and Preface to the Book against the Blasp … mous Socinian Heresie vindicated and the Charge therein against Socinianism made good In answer to two Letters By J. Gailhard Gent. Price 1 s. The true Character of the Spirit and Principles of Socinianism drawn out of their Writings With some additional Proofs of the Most Holy Trinity of our Lord's and of the Holy Ghost's Divinity By J. Gailhard Gent. Price 2 s. The Principles of the Christian Religion briefly explain'd together with the Scriptures on which they are grounded By Archbishop Usher Now fully corrected and much enlarged Also a Summary of the same by the incomparable Judge Hale To which is added the Catechism and Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England containing the true Doctrine thereof Very necessary and profitable for all Persons and proper to be given away by such who are charitably enclin'd The Second Edition Price 3 d. per Book and 20 s. for a Hundred Verdicts of the Learned concerning Virgil's and Homer's Heroick Poems Quarto Price 6 d. Regular and Irregular Thoughts in Poets and Orators Quarto Price 6 d. Utopia Written in Latin by Sir Thomas More Chancellor of England Translated into English by Bishop B. Antonii le Grand Dissertatio de Ratione Cognoscendi Appendix de Mutatione Formali cum Castigationibus Errorum Calumniarum Praevaricationum quibus J. S. in duobus Libris quorum prior Methodus sciendi alter Solida Philosophia intitulatur Cartesium Malbranchium Ideistas quos vocat Omnes Immo Aristotelem si non Deum ipsum multa cum Futilitate nec minore Fastu nuperrime adortus est Price 2 s. * ⎠* There is now going to the Press and will be speedily Publish'd Justin's Abridgment of Trogus Pompeius's Universal History With some Geographical and Critical Annotations and a Dissertation about the Author Done into English for the Use of his Highness the Duke of Gloucester By Mr. T. Brown