Casuistical Morning-Exercises.  
The Fourth Volume.  
By Several MINISTERS In and about LONDON, Preached in October, 1689.  JEREM. XXXV. 15. I have sent— unto you— my servants the Prophets, rising up early, and sending them, saying, Return you now every Man from his evil ways, and amend your do.— 
LONDON, Printed by James Astwood for John Dunton, at the Raven in the Poultry, over against the Compter. 1690.   

TO THE READER.  
THese Sermons are sent out into the World upon the same Design with the former, viz. To promote Practical Godliness. Though none (I hope) will be offended with the Matter, yet the Circumstances require some Apology, which serious Readers will candidly interpret. This Collection is less than the former, the usual Time of the Exercise being contracted from a Month to a Fortnight, and I could in Modesty crave but a Week's addition: Besides, a less disorderly pageing is made use of, to prevent a greater, while all Errors of this kind could not possiby be avoided, the Book being wrought off at several Presses; and that necessitated by the Importunity of those who heard the Sermons, they being impatient till they can read, what they heard with so great Satisfaction. Yet such things as these may occasion an abatement of their acceptation; but greater prejudices than these may be blown away with a Breath; do but say [and hold,] that you will set yourselves to profit, to mend your own Faults, not to hunt for others; my Apology will appear less necessary, the Sermons more useful, and my Recommendation of them superfluous.  
I suppose some may single out some particular Case with special respect to the Question or Preacher, and may probably be induced to Read on, till he meet with more Profit than he desired. In a word, I shall as hearty pray, that every Reader may get good by his Reading, as I hearty request every one that doth get good by it, to lift up a Prayer for  
Your worthless Soul-servant, Samuel Annesley. Decemb. 4. 1689.   

The Names of the MINISTERS, and the Cases they Resolved.  


Dr. Annesley.  Serm. I. HOW may we give Christ a satisfying Account why we attend upon the Ministry of the Word? Mat. 11.19. p 1  

Mr. Barker.  Serm. II. Wherein, and wherefore will the Damnation of those that perish under the Gospel, be more intolerable than the Damnation of Sodom, or the worst of Heathens at the day of Judgement? Mat. 11.24. p. 33.  

Mr. Steel.  Serm. III. How may the Uncharitable and dangerous Contentions that are amongst Professors of the true Religion be allayed? Gal. 5.15. p. 45.  

Mr. Mayo.  Serm. IU. From what Fear of Death are the Children of God delivered by Christ, and by what Means doth he deliver them from it? Heb. 2.15. p. 64  

Mr. Vink.  Serm. V. How is Gospel-Grace the best Motive to Holiness? 2 Tim. 2.19. p. 69  

Mr. Alsop.  Serm. VI What is the fullness of God, which every true Christian ought to pray and strive to be filled with? Eph. 3.19. 200  

Mr. adam's.  Serm. VII. How are the ordinary Means of Grace more certainly successful for Conversion, than if Persons from Heaven or Hell should tell us what is done there? Luke 16.31. p. 214  

Mr. Cole.  Serm. VIII. How may it convincingly appear, that those who think it an easy matter to believe, are yet destitute of saving Faith? Eph. 1.19, 20. p. 223  

Mr. Veal.  Serm. IX. What is the danger of a Deathbed Repentance? Luke 23.42. p. 230  

Mr. Woodcock.  Serm. X. How doth practical Godliness better rectify the Judgement, than doubtful Disputations? Rom. 14.1. p. 241  

Dr. Bates.  Serm. XI. How is Sin the most formidable Evil? Gen. 39.9. last clause. p. 249  

Mr. Hamond.  Serm. XII. How may private Christians be most helpful to promote the Entertainment of the Gospel? Col. 4.5. p. 300  

Mr. Vincent.  Serm. XIII. How is Christ to be followed as our Example? 1 Pet. 2.21. lat. part. p. 314  

Mr. Sylvester.  Serm. XIV. How may a lukewarm Temper be most effectually cured? Heb. 10.24, 25. p. 321  

Mr. Slater.  Serm. XV. What is the Duty of Magistrates, from the highest to the lowest, for the suppressing of Profaneness? Rom. 13.3. p. 336  

Mr. Hurst.  Serm. XVI. How may we inquire after News, not as Athenians, but as Christians, for the better managing of our Prayers and Praises for the Church of God? Act. 17.21. p. 400  

Mr. Burgess.  Serm. XVII. Wherein may we more hopefully attempt the Conversion of Young Persons than of any others? Eccl. 12.1. p. 410.  

Mr. Williams.  Serm. XVIII. What Repentance of National Sins doth God require, as ever we expect National Mercies? Hos. 10.12. p. 427    

Quest. How may we give Christ a satisfying Account, why we attend upon the Ministry of the Word? SERMON I.  MATTH. XI. 9 But what went ye out for to see? 
COuld I Preface this Exercise with any thing, which through Grace would force its own Application, and lie lieger in your Consciences, to mingle with every Sermon you shall hear; that these Sermons may influence your Lives, so that your profiting (though you modestly veil it, yet may shine through the vail, and) may appear unto all men, so as to commend Religion in them who are prejudiced against it, and to encourage those who have made some entrance into it; than you and I, when we shall meet in Glory, shall bless God for this Exercise.  
 try, Christians, what may be done? Conscience do thine office, and through God's assistance, I'll endeavour to do mine.  
John Baptist was Bodily in Prison, Spiritually in Heaven; he is not solicitous about himself, but his Disciples, and therefore sends them to Christ: As a dying Father consigns his Children to a faithful Tutor, and then dies quietly; he had instructed them while he could, and now recommends them to Christ. When John's Disciples were gone, Christ asked the people, who used to flock after John's Ministry while he flourished, but now grew cold upon his long Imprisonment; Christ asks them what end they proposed to themselves; what went ye out into the wilderness to see, a reed shaken with the wind? q. d. You could not look upon John to be a light, hollow, empty Preacher, to bend with every wind and wave. But what went ye out for to see, a man clothed in soft raiment? q. d. You could not expect any thing smooth and delicate; John was no Court Preacher, if he had, he would not be so long in Prison, and now in daily danger of his Life. These two Metaphors show what John was not like: my Text lies in the question, which is not Negative, but Affirmative; they looked upon him as a Prophet; an extraordinary person sent from God; yea, saith Christ, and more than a Prophet; that is, John spoke of Christ in another manner than the former Prophets; they spoke of him as a great way off, John points to him as 
(a) Joh. 1.29.  present: Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the World. I know some give quite another sense of the words, which I will not so much as mention, but presently propose what I take to be the sum of the Text.  
Doctrine. We should strictly and frequently call ourselves to an account, that we may the better give an answer to Christ's question, what end we propose to ourselves in attending upon the Ministry of the Word.  
'Twas but a little while since, there was a general flocking after John Baptist, as if they would turn the City into a Wilderness, and make the Wilderness the City. 
(b) Joh. 5.35.  He was a burning and a shining light, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light; but that flash is over, and now they are flocking after Christ with like affection. Christ doth as it were say to them, 'Tis a foolish and ridiculous lightness to run after the best Preachers in the World, without proposing some end unto ourselves beyond the vanity and pomp of the World, some fruit that may remain. The blessed Apostle would have those that had been his Hearers to call themselves to an account; examine themselves 
(c) 2 Cor. 13.5 ; put such searching questions to their own Consciences, whether they be in the Faith; whether the Doctrine of Faith hold them, that they do not fwerve from it; and whether the Grace of Faith be in them, that they live by it? If not, they can't expect that Christ should approve of them.  
I shall endeavour to make my way to the stating of the Case, thorough the explaining of the Doctrine by these Propositions.  
Proposition 1. John Baptists Ministry was the best in the world, when he began to Preach; and all people that had any care of their Souls went out after him: His Ministry differed from the ordinary Ministry of the Times: He cried not up Humane Inventions before Divine Institutions; but with holy vehemency pressed the necessary Doctrine of Repentance; a Repentance upon which they might expect pardon of sin 
(d) Luke 3.3. ; and 'twas convincing where 'twas not converting; those that loved their sins better than to yield: 'Twas of Divine Authority, yet they loved their credit better than to affirm 'twas but of Humane Authority. 
(e) Mar. 11.14, 32.  In short, his main design was to bring or send persons to Christ. I Baptise you with water 
(f) Mat. 3.11, 12.  to repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose sho●s I am not worthy to bear; he shall Baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with f●re: Whose ●an is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his ●●●or, and g●th●r his w●●at into his ga●ner; but will burn up the chasf with unqu nchable fire. (q. d.) Christ will Baptise with the pouring out of his Spirit on Believers, and with that fiery trial which shall refine the Gold from the Dross, and winnow the Wheat from the Chaff, he will gather the Faithful into his Heavenly Kingdom, and burn up Unbelievers with unquenchable fire.  
Prop. 2. Persons of all ranks, with some kind of pains and self-denial, followed John Baptist for his convincing Instruction 
(g) Mat. 3.5. : Some were savingly converted, and got that good by his Ministry which they made good use of many a year after: 'Tis said of Apollo's 
(h) Acts 18.25, 26. , that he knew only the baptism of John: He taught diligently the things of the Lord, and with the help of what he got by Christian Conference, he mightily convinced the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah; but besides few such,  
1. The Pharisees they followed him, who were themselves the most applauded Preachers among the Jews; they, whose Dictates were taken for Oracles; they left the chair of Moses to hear this Elias.  
2. The Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection, and the Immortality of the Soul; John asks them 
(i) Mat. 3.7.8. , Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. q. d. You Pharisees are so conceited of your own Righteousness, that you think you are in no danger of Hell; and you Sadducees think there is none. John presses both to Repentance, that might evidence itself by its fruit to be sincere.  
3. Persons that pretend nothing to Religion, but were so infamous for gross wickedness, that every one who valued his Reputation, shunned being seen in their company. 
(k) Mat. 21.31, 32.  The Publicans and the Harlots got Heaven by believing.  
4. Soldiers, that the Romans kept to maintain their Conquest of Judea; such do not use to trouble themselves with Cases of Conscience. 
(l) Luke 3.14.  The Soldiers also demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? He doth not blame the employment, but regulates their behaviour.  
5. Courtiers, who could not bear plain dealing, yet could expect no other from him. They could not but fear him, though they did not love him. 'Tis said that Herod himself 
(m) Mar. 6.20.  feared John, knowing that he was a just man, and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. As if he would bribe his Conscience by parting with some sins more quietly, to give him leave to keep others, that he could not part with. And thus you see what a Congregation John preached to.  
Prop. 3. Those that attend upon the Ministry of the Word, they do, or should propose unto themselves some End why they do it. Those who through Grace propose a good end to themselves, they always obtain their end; they 
(n) 2 The. 2.10.  who receive the truth in the love of it, shall be saved: But for the most,  
1. Some propose to themselves no End at all; neither can they so much as speak sense to any one that shall ask them why they come there: I cannot better express it, than in the words of the Divine Historian, in describing of that rout, truly so called; (though he names it a Church) 
(o) Acts 19.32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  the assembly was confused, and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. I am loath to say this description fits too many Congregations.  
2. Some propose to themselves Ends downright sinful; viz. Some to catch at expressions, for the exercise of their frothy Wits over a glass of Wine. 
(p) Isa. 28.22.  Be not mockers, lest your bands be made too strong for you to break. Some to ensnare the Minister; we need not think it strange, for they dealt so with our Master. 
(q) Mark 12.13, 14.  They send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to catch him in his words; and they pretend a scrupulous Conscience; they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man; for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give that as Tribute to Caesaer, which Moses appointed for the use of the Sanctuary? Christ doth as it were answer them; If 'twere really a Case of Conscience, they would not stick at paying both; the one because they must, the other because they ought. Some get into the greatest crowd for the advancement of their diving trade of picking pockets, they not at all observing, how the Devil tricks them of their Souls for perverting the ends of the Gospel.  
3. Some propose Ends frivolous and trifling (though they are sinful too); e. g. some to see fashions; some to be taken notice of among serious Christians, for Worldly, not Spiritual advantage.  
Prop. 4. Those that propose a good End, must call themselves to a strict and severe account, how that end is obtained or lost. A slight account is in some respect worse than none at all; for by a shuffling account you do but as it were bribe God's Officer (natural Conscience) to respite you from time to time, till Death surpriseth you with a summons to give up your account to Christ himself.  
I'll name four Metaphors which will illustrate and prove this.  
1. We must give such an account as a Scholar to his Teacher, of what he learns: 
(r) Mar. 4.13.  And he said unto them, know ye not this parable, and how then will ye know all parables? q. d. If you understand not those similitudes that most plainly show you how you must receive the Word, if ever you get saving benefit by it, how will you ever profit by any thing else?  
2. You must give an account as a Steward to his Master; 
(s) Luk. 16.2.  Give an account of thy Stewardship, etc. But here's the difference between being Stewards to our Heavenly, and to an Earthly Master; Christ and his Servants have but one and the same interest; if we improve whatever he intrust us with for our real profit, we do thereby give him the Glory he expects, and he will accept of our accounts.  
3. We must give an account as a Debtor to our Creditor. 
(t) Mat. 18.24.  The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a certain King which would take account of his Debtors, and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which ought him ten thousand talents, etc. We are so far sinfully indebted to the Justice of God, that unless we be discharged upon our Sureties payment, we must be imprisoned with Devils unto Eternity.  
4. We must give an account as a Malefactor to a Judge: 
(u) Mat. 12.36.  Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgement, for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Unprofitable words cannot scape being accounted for. Let's fulfil all these Metaphors in calling ourselves to account; and when we have done that, we have not done all; for,  
Prop. 5. The strict Account we take of ourselves must be frequent. Every Christian is Christ's Garden, that drinketh 
(w) Heb. 6.7.  in the rain that cometh oft upon it: As there must be frequent Showers on God's part, so there must be frequent Weeding on our part, or no Blessing to be expected. This is not a Duty that can be dispatched at once; those that do not often account, never account as they ought. Methinks I may allude unto the dying words of Elisha to Joash 
(y) 2 King. 13.18, 19 , when he bid the King smite upon the ground, without prescribing how oft; but when he smote only thrice, the man of God was wroth with him, and told him, he should have smitten oftener. What, do you reflect upon yourselves only upon some qualm of Conscience, or upon some rousing Sermon, or upon some startling Providence? Don't you know that your hearts are incredibly deceitful; Satan perpetually watchful to steal away the Word, and he will do it unless you 
(z) Ps. 119.11.  hid it in your heart. Your ordinary Experience tells you, that you never let your accounts run on to any length, but they are entangled; and that your frequent self-reflections are always blessed with growth of Grace. But I'll come to some Inferences from the Doctrine.  
Infer. 1. It is not the bare hearing of the best Preachers in the World that will save you. Though a Minister be never so successful in the Conversion of Sinners, unless your Souls be Converted, you had better never have heard him. Let not any scoffing Atheist say, Then I'll never hear any of them more. Sirs, pray believe this one word; that will not make your Damnation more tolerable. 
(a) Ezek. 20.32, 33.  That which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; We will be as the Heathen, as the families of the Country, to serve wood and stone. As I live saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you. God will not send his Word to a people, and leave them at their liberty to continue in their infidelity, or to return to it at their pleasure; if they will live as Heathens, their Condemnation shall be far worse.  
Infer. 2. Many persons, who lay aside other Business, spend much time, and take much pains to hear the best Preachers, but they either not proposing, or not pursuing a right end, renders all they do worse than nothing; and they drop into Hell, while they seem to be knocking at Heaven door. We read of five thousand Men, besides Women and Children; (may we not moderately reckon the Women and Children to double the number?) 
(b) Mat. 14.15. etc. and 15.32. etc.  these poor people when they came from home took Provision with them for several days, drank Water, lay several nights upon the ground in the open Fields, stayed after their Victuals was s●ent, till they were scarce able to get home for saintness; all this appears by having Baskets so ready to gather up the Fragments; whereas in the Wilderness there was none to be bought or borrowed. But alas! How few of this Ten Thousand were then savingly Converted? We read not of any great numbers of Converts by Christ's Preaching, for Christ but covertly and sparingly discovered himself to be the Messiah, lest he should hinder the main thing he came into the World for, viz. to die for sinners; for 
(c) 1 Cor. 2.8.  had they known him, they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory. Besides, Christ told his Disciples, 
(d) Joh. 14.12.  their Preaching should be followed with the Conversion of more Souls, than his. Pauze a little, and think, how many will tell Christ they have heard him Preach in their streets, and they have followed him into the Wilderness; they have there wanted their sleep in the night, and gone with a hungry belly in the day, for which Christ fed them by Miracle; and yet Christ will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity 
(e) Lu. 13.26, 27. . Let me follow these Inferences with a word or two of,  
Reproof. 1. Of those whose other Duties do not hold proportion with their Hearing. Mistake me not; I had rather never speak word more while I live, than speak a word to gratify scoffers at Religion, who scornfully twit those that are better than themselves with their Hearing so many Sermons; but yet I dare not soothe up those in their Hypocrisy, whose Religion lies all in Hearing of Sermons, as if there were no other Duties to be minded; no Family Duties, no Relative Duties, whereas only Hearing will make at best but rickety Christians.  
2. They are also to be reproved, that only go to See a Sermon. What went ye out into the Wilderness to see? What? To see Fashions? They can give a more exact account of every fantastical Dress, than of any one savoury Truth they heard; whereas 'tis said of Christ's hearers 
(f) Luk. 4.20. , the Eyes of all that were in the Synagogue were fastened on him. A wandering Eye is an infallible evidence of a wand'ring Heart. But I'll come closer to the Case, in a Use of  
Exhortation: With Directions to all sorts of Hearers, that they would sorthwith set upon the practice of this great comprehensive Duty, to give Christ a satisfying account, why they attend upon the Ministry of the Word. Every one must give an account of himself to God. That you may do it with Comsort, take these or such like Directions.  
Direction 1. Set yourselves towards the removing of those Hindrances; whi●h ti●l you i● good earnest set upon the removing of them, you can never give a good account to yourselves, much less to Christ, of any Soul-business. I'll name but four, and with the naming of them give a word of Direction how to attempt their removal: e. g.  
1. The state of unregeneracy is a dead weight to the Soul; it keeps it down from lifting up itself Heaven-ward. One dead in sin, blesseth himself that his Conscience is not troublesome; i. e. 'tis neither squeamish to boggle at sin, nor inquisitive after the danger of it. The only Remedy I shall name is this; viz. Mind Conversion as far as 'tis possible for an unconverted person to mind it. How far is that? Thou canst never tell till thou hast tried. Query, Whether ever any pushed this forward to the utmost, and miss of Conversion. Not that any thing an Unconverted person can possibly do, can merit Grace; but the Soul's holding on in its attempt, and in some measure breaking through the Corruptions and Temptations that waylay it, is a token for good, that the Spirit of Grace is hopefully at work, to bring over the Soul to Christ; the Spirit of God saying to that Soul, what David said to his Son Solomon, 
(g) 1 Chr. 22.16.  Arise and be doing, and the Lord be with thee.  
2. The second hindrance is love of Ease. Persons don't love to meddle with that which they apprehend will be a troublesome business. What? To be always upon our watch? To be always examining, why, and to what end, we so much as hear a Sermon? This is wearisome and intolerable. For Remedy; Rouse up thy Soul, as thou wouldst do thy Body in a Lethargy; thou wouldst then be jogged and pulled, and shook; there's more need in thy Soul-Lethargy: 'Tis the voice of him that deserves to be thy Beloved that calls thee; do not give an answer directly contrary to Christ's Spouse; 
(h) Cant. 5.2.  I am awake, but my heart is asleep.  
3. A third hindrance is Unbelief. (As to this) I speak not now of the state of Unbelief, but they do not believe this to be so needful as 'tis represented. The truth is, if we run up sins into their causes, we shall find Unbelief to be the most teeming Mother of most omissions, and of more than omissions: e. g. Why do you omit such a Duty? I do not believe it to be necessary. Why do you not reflect upon the Duties which you do not omit? I do not believe God requires it. For cure,  
Consider, you have more grounds and Motives for Faith in this matter, than you have for any thing you practise. e. g. You Pray, (I hope you do, I would not have my supposition fail me) 'tis more your Duty to reflect why you Pray, and how you Pray, than 'tis merely to Pray: you may teach a Parrot to speak words of Prayer, but 'tis a special exercise of Grace to Pray aright as to the manner of it. So, you believe 'tis a Duty to attend upon the Word, 'tis more your Duty to propose a right End, and to reflect, how that end is pursued, attained or lost, than 'tis barely to hear. Pardon me, if I use a nauseous Metaphor to set forth an odious sin: Some of you bring your Dogs with you, and they hear the sound of words, lie still, and departed when the Sermon is ended. Upon reflection, you'll be ashamed to do no more.  
4. A fourth hindrance is the satisfaction that natural Conscience takes in a little tiny Devotion: Natural Conscience requireth a little, and but a little, a little will satisfy it, so it be but something: Doeg 
(i) 1 Sam. 2.7.  was detained before the Lord. It had been better for him to have been sick in's Bed, than to have been quieting his Conscience with such circumstantiated devotion: For cure,  
Do but review what thy natural Conscience takes satisfaction in, and thou wilt be more dissatisfyed; bring but thy Conscience, with thy Duty, to the Rule, and then examine it. To act only like 
(k) Gal. 4.30.  a Slave, that desires no more than to turn his Work off hand, to do no more than he needs must, this leads to rejection; whereas a Conscience guided by Scripture, will put you upon doing all as a Child, that the Manner of it may please your heavenly Father; and this will qualify you for an heavenly Inheritance: This is the first Direction, remove hindrances.  
Direct. 2. Call yourselves to an Account, before, in, and after the hearing of the Word, to what End thou camest, and how the end is pursued, or dropped.  
(1.) Before you hear. Solomon adviseth thus: 
(l) Eccles. 5.1.  Keep thy foot when thou goest to the House of God, and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of Fools; be more ready to receive Instruction, and to accept of what God says, which will be thy Wisdom, than to offer Sacrifice, and neglect Obedience, like foolish Hypocrites. And a greater than Solomon, 
(m) Luke 14.28, 31.  our Lord Jesus Christ, cautions us by a double Metaphor at his School-door, when we come to be his Disciples, viz. That spiritual Edification will be in this like worldly building, cost more than we imagine; and our Spiritual warfare will be in this like the carnal, more costly than at first we conceive: 'twill cost us more careful thoughts, more waking nights, more painful days, more Prayers and Tears, more Self-denial and Contempt of the World, than inconsiderate persons will believe. For your care before you hear, I shall propose but three things.  
1. Renew your Repentance of the Sins of your hearing: the more particularly, and expressly, and hearty you do this, the better you will be able to give account of your attendance upon the Word: This will be like the washing or scouring of a Vessel before you fill it, that what you put into it may not be spoiled. According to that of the Apostle James, 
(n) Jam. 1.21.  Lay apart, not only restrain and keep in, but put off and throw away all filthiness. 
(●) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sordes.  'Tis a Metaphor borrowed from the filth of the Body, and thence transferred to the Soul: Sin is a sordid thing, and we must not only lay aside all things that defile us, but all superfluity of naughtiness: Some interpret of it those Excrements which we are in pain till we are rid of them: q. d. Wash off all outward filth, and purge out all inward, for without this we can never savingly receive the Word.  
2. Propose to yourselves such an End for your hearing, that you will not be ashamed of. If God should give you your Liberty, propose what End you will to yourselves, provided it be such as upon serious reflection you will not be ashamed of. e. g. You go to hear a Sermon to see a Mistress, is not that an End to be ashamed of? or you fetch a Walk for your Recreation, and sit down to rest you at the end of it to hear a Sermon, and when you have rested you return, may you not be ashamed of this? You go to a Sermon for the Language, or Notions of it, though both these may be excellent, your End is sinful. But yet I'll close this with this Advice, viz, Hold on to hear Sermons, though with an end to be repent of, for while you play with the Bait, you may be caught with the Hook; while you are in the way of Grace, you may be graciously surprised.  
3. Above all, preface your hearing with Prayer: As praying is the last thing the Minister doth before he Preacheth, let praying be the last thing you do before you go out to hear: Neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. 
(p) 1 Cor. 3.7.  Many times our profiting is according to our praying: But here again, I advice you to hear, though you pray not at all, for by hearing you'll be convinced that 'tis your Duty to pray, you'll be instructed, and encouraged in it.  
(2.) In hearing. When you are engaged, pray don't gratify Satan then by a diversion for Preparation: No, though it be by Prayer, (any other than Ejaculatory,) that must have been before; herein likewise take these three Directions.  
1. Set yourselves before God, to hear Christ speaking to you from Heaven: The more actually and seriously you presentiate Christ unto yourselves, the more you will give up yourselves to him. I grant, we can't preach as the Apostles wrote, by the immediate guidance of the Holy Ghost, without all error and mistake, (Query, whether all their popular Sermons were so infallibly guided, it seems not,) 
(*) Gal. 2.11.  yet Christ speaks through us as through a cracked Trumpet: though we betray our own frailties, yet for the main of our Sermons, we dare say, T'has saith the Lord, which is a proof of Christ speaking 
(q) 2 Cor. 13.3  in us, this will be matter of thanksgivings by both your Ministers, and yourselves, when 
(r) 1 Thes. 2.13.  you receive the Word of God, which ye heard of us; not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the Word of God; then 'twill certainly work effectually.  
2. Mix your hearing with Ejaculatory Prayers: Ejaculations to God, and Soliloquies to yourselves, will help to make and keep the heart tied: Jog your own hearts, as you do your sleeping Neighbour; call in your thoughts while they are within call, and as far as 'tis possible, think of nothing but what you are about: A Heart thus confined, is like to be most enlarged both with Grace and Comfort.  
3. Be sure to hold fast the Seope of what you hear: Not only those passages which more particularly affect you, but that which is the main design of the Sermon: I think this the weakest Memory may retain; and I think, this will do most good when 'tis retained. In short, be be sure you retain something: Do thus, or somewhat like it, in hearing.  
(3.) After hearing. These Questions were proposed by Christ, both negatively and affirmatively, some months, perhaps some years after they had heard John: And Christ proposeth that with some vehemency: That you may give a good answer, I shall commend to you but two things.  
1. Consideration. Chew the Cud, this is the Metaphor that's commonly made use of. 
(s) Leu. 11.3.  The Beasts that chewed the cud, were clean for food and sacrifice●; these Creatures gather up their food into a kind of inward bag, and then they sit down and bring it up to chew it over again, and then convey it into the stomach for nourishment: So that Christian, whose self and service is a Sacrifice acceptable to God, gathers up what he thinks the Best in a Sermon, and when retired, chews it over again for his spiritual nourishment and growth in Grace. As your considering, thinking Man, is the only wise man, so your considering thinking Christian, is the only thriving Christian.  
2. Add something to your practice, and continue [that] till it give way to something else of greater moment. I am far from laying any stress upon any spiritual Prudentials that I can offer, but I would humbly propose it to thinking Christians, whether if every Lord's-day, (I do not exclude other days; but) Query, Whether we may not expect more from Lords-days Sermons than any other? The Lord's-day being the time of Divine appointment, and other days of humane conveniency: The business of the Lord's-day is Devotion, on other days we make a escape from worldly business to a Sermon, and then rush into the World again, as if we would redeem that time for the World, that we spent with Go●: I query therefore, If we do charge ourselves upon what we hear on the Lord's-day, to practise something more, or something more carefully than before; and to keep to that till that give place to something else of greater moment. Did we beg something of God more this week than the last: Did we single out some sin for mortification more this week than the last: Did we do something enjoined on the Lord's-day: This would be to us like the Shewbread to Israel, which was made thus: They brought twenty four pecks of Wheat-meal, out of which they sifted twenty four Pottles of fine flower, of which they made twelve unleavened Cakes, every one was ten hand breadth long, and five broad, and seven fingers high; which signified the multitude of the Faithful, presented unto God in his Church, as upon a pure Table, continually serving him; 
(t) Leu. 24.8.9  as also the Spiritual repast which the Church of God obtaineth from and before God, who feedeth them with Christ the Bread of Life, especially every Sabbath day. Were this, or some such course taken from week to week, would not this hook into your practice all the great Duties of Religion? And so you would give a good account of your hearing; but,  
3. My third Direction is this: Do not only satisfy yourselves, but carry on your enquiry, that it may through grace satisfy Christ. My Text is a question proposed by Christ, and to him must we give our answer. You may give a plausible account to Ministers, but 'pray' remember you must give an account to Christ: You may by leading questions misled Ministers, as persons that go to Law do their Lawyers, and they lose their Cause by it; but when by studied Hypocrisy, you misled Ministers to gratify you with a mistaken judgement, you lose your Souls by it. 'Tis Christ that asks the question, not to be informed by you, for he knows what is in man, better than they themselves: Christ would have you to be  and ingenuous, that wherein you see cause to complain, he may help you: When the trembling Soul after the hearing of such Ministers as would undeceive them, is like Jeremy, for his people's being deceived by false Prophets; 
(u) Jer. 23. ●.  My heart within me is broken, because of the Prophets, all my bones shake: I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his Holiness. q. d. Fear and trembling takes hold of me, I am ashamed, I am at my Wit's end, the word of God calls for so much Holiness, and I have so little. Thou enquirest, Lord, what I hear for? I dare not say that my intentions and ends are so serious as they should be; I am afraid to own any thing that is good: Christ in a way of compassion is ready to encourage such a Soul. Canst thou but sincerely say thou comest to meet Christ, and to learn of Christ, Jesus Christ welcomes such to him, and they may answer him with comfort. Under this head, consider  
1. Christ asks thee here in this World, that thou mayst now be able to give such an answer as thou mayst stand by at the last day, when there will be neither Hopes nor Time to rectify it, if it be insufficient. 'Tis in this something like our Plead in Courts of Judicature; we must put in our Plea, and stand to it. Thou knowest Lord, there is through Grace something of sincerity, but for any thing else do thou Lord answer for me. 'Pray' mark this; when once the Soul can bring the question back again to Christ; thus, Thou askest me what I come for; Lord I come for thee to answer for me. I can't satisfy my own Conscience; 'tis ready to fly in my Face; much less can I satisfy my Jealous Master, unless tho● compassionately answer for me: Lord, thou usest to answer for thine own.  
May we then suppose Christ thus to inquire, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of any one, who sincerely comes to wait for me in mine Ordinances? Can we suppose any one to be so daring, as to perk up, and say, I charge all these to be a company of proud, conceited Hypocrites, they'll needs be wiser than their Neighbours; they spend their time in running up and down to hear Sermons. Christ doth as it were answer; Dost thou make this a Crime? What he did 'twas out of Love to me, and Obedience to me: He hath chosen that good 
(w) Luk. 10.42.  part which shall not be taken away from him; and for you, who are so ready to accuse others and excuse yourselves for slighting, or ill managing all the means offered for your Salvation; 
(x) Mat. 22.13.  Bind him hand and foot, that he may make no resistance; take him away, that he may neither make an escape, nor have any hopes of Mercy, and cast him into outer darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth.  
2. If you do not give Christ an answer which he will accept of, 'tis in vain to expect relief from any other. If the Father be offended, Christ interposeth himself, bears the wrath of God, and prevents it from us. Christ is the days-man between God and us.  
If the Spirit be grieved by our quenching his motions, and striving against his striving with us to hear and obey the Lord Jesus, [provided that rise not to THE Sin against the Holy Ghost,] which the greatest part of trembling Christians often fear they have committed, though by the way let me tell them, that their fear they have committed it, yields them sufficient assurance they have not committed it, for this sin is always attended with such hardness of Heart, that they sin without remorse. So that while the Spirit overcomes their resistances, and prevails with them to comply with Christ; through Christ their sins against the Spirit shall be pardoned.  
But 
(y) Exod. 23.20, 21.  when the Angel of the Covenant, Jesus Christ, was promised to be sent before the Israelites in the Wilderness, to keep them in the way, and to bring them into the place prepared for them; they are expressly charged to beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your Transgressions, but severely punish them. Not that sins against Christ shall never be pardoned, though repent of, but to keep us from adventuring upon sin, as if it should easily be pardoned; whereas the Apostle tells us, 
(z) Heb. 10.26.  If we sin wilfully,— there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin: i. e. Those that reject and renounce Christ's Sacrifice for sin, there's no other Sacrifice can atone God for them. I grant, that this Text chief concerns the unpardonable sin: But I pray you consider, those that do not make it the main business of their Lives to give Christ such an account as he will accept of; what improvement they have made of his Word; if they live and die in that neglect, they shall as certainly perish as they who commit the sin against the Holy Ghost. There are but very few can commit that sin, but an incredible number commit this, without considering the danger of it. Now Christians is your time to make up such an account, as you must stand or fall by to Eternity. [Oh that I had but one Minutes such conception of Eternity, as 'tis possible to be had in this World! I reckon 'twould influence my whole Life]. Christ's Sentence at last will be according to 〈◊〉 account we give him here; and if his Sentence bened as you would have it, there will be no altering of it: Your Repentance then will be no small part of your Torment.  
Object. I can't think that Christ will be so sharp and severe. This affrights me more than any thing: This is the most terrible Consideration that ever I heard: I expected relief from Christ at last, and that Christ should hear me at my first Call; though I have neglected to hear him, so as to have any practical regard to what he said all my Life. The thoughts of what you say would amaze me, did I believe it: But I hope to find it otherwise.  
Answ. 1. Do not flatter yourselves with vain hopes, but let what I have spoken fright you to your Duty, not from it. You may expect as much from Christ as you can reasonably desire. Would you have Christ to be to you like a foolish Mother to a cockered Child? Let the Child do what he will; do but chide him, or threaten him, he runs to his Mother, and she'll excuse all, and bear him out in all, though it be to his future undoing of Soul and Body. Christians, never expect it, Christ will never do so. Christ tells us before hand, that none shall be more ready than he to help us against sin; provided we will be ruled by him: But we shall find none will be more severe against it, if they be impenitently rebellious. 
(a) Zech. 7. 1●.  As he cried and they would not hear, so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of Hosts. And,  
2. How absurdly disingenuous is it, to be careless of our account, and to expect that Christ should answer for us! Christ was more ready to answer for his Disciples, than they could be to ask him; when through Infirmity they were Sleeping, when they should have been Praying: But 'tis absurd to expect any thing like it, when 'tis not Infirmity but Wilfulness, through dislike of his Service, and hatred of Holiness: You'd verify the Pharisees slander of Christ, that he is a friend of Publicans and Sinners; a friend to their sins, not to their Souls. In short therefore, be conscientiously solicitous to give an account to Christ, such as may be graciously acceptable; and though there's nothing beyond this, yet there may be something over and above. Let this therefore be my last Direction.  
4. Make it your care to give a silencing account to the Devil, and all his Agents. I grant, that neither he nor they will ever be silent, they'll reproach and revile you, they'll mutter and whisper, and secretly say and do all they can against you, and they'll never want something out of which they'll force matter of reproach. You have Christ in this very Context, saying, 
(b) Mat. 11.16.17, 18.  Whereunto shall I liken this Generation? It is like unto Children sitting in the Markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented; for John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a Devil: The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man Gluttonous, and a Wine-bibber; a friend of Publicans and Sinners: But Wisdom is justified of her Children. They do as it were say of John, the Devil enables him to endure such hardship, and therefore they reject his Doctrine; and they reproach Christ's person, as if his more free temper encouraged Licentiousness. Let a Godly Man's Conversation be what it will, 'twill never please those that hate Holiness. But yet my Brethren, 'twill strangely muzzle them, they can but grumble out a reproach; or if they speak out, 'tis by clamour, to drown the whispers of their Consciences, when they can say something like that; 
(c) Ruth 2.15, 18, 19  So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned:— And she took it up, and went into the City, and— brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved, after she was sufficed; and her Mother in Law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? etc. q. d. Such of Christ's Harvest-men have been at work, and I have been gleaning after them; I have met with that which to me hath been a feast, the Word hath been refreshing, and I can show you some of the handfuls that I have gleaned; I have attended upon the Ministry of the Word, and have picked up some Knowledge, who was before an ignorant wretch, and never minded my Soul. I have picked up something of food for my Soul, whereas I was pining away in mine iniquities. My Conversation will witness where I have been gleaning, and I humbly resolve there I'll abide, in the use of such means, while God vouchsafes them. When you thus resolve, you must expect Satan will do his utmost to flatter or fright you out of your purposes: But while you can approve your ends to Christ, yourselves may answer Satan in the hindrances he'll throw in your way. e. g. Satan. Why art thou so solicitous for thy Soul, thou mayest be saved without all this ado, 'tis more than needs. Soul. No, Satan, all I can do is too little, did not Christ undertake for me, but I will not do the less, for Christ's doing so much. Satan. All thou dost is to no purpose, thou shalt be damned at last. Soul. Should it be so, I'll rather serve God for nothing, than thee for all thy flattering, lying Promises: I'll do God all the service I can, for the Mercies I have received, though I should never have more; the very work of Religion is better than the work of Sin, even without a Reward. Satan. Spare thyself, poor Soul; thou art not all Spirit, thou hast Flesh and Blood as well as others; why wilt thou expose thyself to Contempt and Sufferings; no Man in his Wits will court a general hatred.— Soul. Peace Satan, be it known to thee, and to all thy Imps, I had rather have your hatred than your love, all your kindness to me is to ruin me. Satan. Be not so conceited of thine own Wisdom, look about thee in the World; have not others Souls to save as well as thee, and they done't proudly pretend to be wiser than their Neighbours. Soul. Be gone Satan, I'll parley no longer; if others neglect Salvation, therefore must I? Will their missing of Salvation relieve me, for the loss of mine? Though a Peter persuade Christ to spare himself: Nay, when 
(d) Mar. 3.21, 31.  his friends went out to lay hold of him, thinking his Zeal had crazed him: Nay, when his Brethren had wheedled in his Mother to send to him, to abate his work, he would not yield a minute: By the Grace of God, (though I shall come infinitely short) I'll make Christ my Pattern, and therefore Satan say thy worst, and do thy worst, through Christ I defy thee. Will not some such account (in some respect I may say) to the Devil himself, more confound him? When he shall see all his spiteful insinuations work out comfortable Evidences of present Grace; aye, of growing Grace, and future Glory. If this will not silence him, 'twill make him roar in his Chains. When he finds himself tied up from doing what mischief he would, he roars for vexation; while the gracious person (Thanks to Christ) laughs at him. 
(e) Psal. 8.2.  Out of the mouths of very unlikely persons hast thou ordained strength, that thou mightest still the Enemy and the Avenger. q. d. God doth by the Spiritual Skill and Strength which he gives even to young, weak Converts, unfit to grapple with an Enemy; God enables even such, to silence, confound and conquer the Enemies of God and his People, and the Devil in the head of them, whose Kingdom and Power is broken by this means, and those that fight under his Banner against God and Christ. And pray observe the Title here given him, viz. the Avenger; he being Sentenced by God to Eternal Torments, makes it his business to revenge himself, what he can, upon God and Christ, upon his Children and Servants. Christians, if you can through Grace make Satan himself, against his will, help you to profit by the Word, this will raise your Souls beyond what is ordinary, both for Grace and Comfort: Or, if God in his Wisdom suspend such manifestations of himself; yet such exercise of Grace shall certainly tend to the multiplying of Praises in the other World.  
And now, though I have (in my pitiful manner) answered the Case, my work is not yet done, till I have answered a Complaint upon the Case; and 'tis the Complaint of those who have least cause; of those who give Christ that Answer to his Question, which satisfies him, but yet can't give an Answer will satisfy themselves. Their Hearts ache from the very proposing of the Question, and their Hearts misgive them under all that's said in Answer to it.  
Complaint. We have more Cause to complain than we are able to express. Oh, the Sermons that we have lost, of which we can give no account at all; and of those that are not utterly lost, we have made no suitable improvement. We are convinced that we should be as impartial now in examining, whether we have got saving Faith by hearing of the Word: We should be as strict now, as if we were upon our Dying Bed. (We know not whether ever we shall have a Deathbed; many more likely to live than ourselves, die suddenly, and why not we?) Nay, rather now; for we have not now wearisome Sickness to disable us: We have now those helps that we can't have then; Freedom of Ordinances in public; Capacities for Duties in secret. We may now bring things to an issue, which is then next to impossible. These, and a Thousand such Considerations even fright me; when I sit down to think, my Thoughts even overwhelm me, to reflect what a sorry account I can give of all that I have heard. These, and more doleful Complaints are the usual entertainments of their most serious Christian Friends. To all which I shall offer these Answers.  
Answ. 1. The Word of God which they apply to their Sorrow, they ought as well to apply to their Comfort; for those who are really grieved that they can't satisfy themselves, much less, as they think, Christ: They are mistaken; for Christ is ordinarily best satisfied, with that which the gracious Soul is least satisfied. e. g. That Prayer which he is most ashamed of, Christ most approves of. 
(f) Cant. 2.12.  The Flowers appear on the Earth, the time of the Singing of Birds is come, and the Voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land. 'Tis Springtime in the Soul: When the Groans of a contrite Heart sound harsh to others, they are Music in Christ's Ears; not that Christ delights in his people's Sorrows, but as they are Evidences of his Graces in them, and of his Spirit's abiding with them. It is only the gracious Soul that is grieved at Heart, that he can't give Christ a better account of his profiting. 
(g) Ezr. 9.6, 10. ch. 10.2.  O my God I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God— What shall I say after this?— There's hope in Israel concerning this thing. The Apostle expressly assures us, that 
(h) 1 Cor. 11.31, 32.  those that judge themselves shall not be judged, with a Judgement of Condemnation. Cheer up therefore, poor dropping Soul, and to thy comfort consider, whether this be not the only thing wherein Christ and you Believers be not of the same mind: Christ puts a better interpretation of his actings, than he himself dares; many a time Christ owns that as Grace, which he condemns for Hypocrisy; Christ forgives him that which he can never forgive himself; Christ says, Well done good and faithful Servant, for that which he ever finds fault with.  
But the complaining Soul saith, I mistake him, I speak to the rung person. Propose comfort to those that are grieved, they can't give Christ a satisfying account; whereas I am not troubled enough, nor grieved enough; a serious reflection upon such returns as mine to Christ's kindness, would certainly break any Heart but mine: But alas, I am next to nothing affected with it.  
2. I therefore further answer, Thy complaining for want of sensible complaining, entitles thee to Comfort. Darest thou own so much as this, that thou art troubled thou canst be no more troubled at the shameful account thou givest to Christ. Thou art afraid that Word has overtaken thee: 
(i) Isa. 6.9, 10.  Hear ye indeed but understand not, and see ye indeed but perceive not; make the Heart of this People fat, and make their Ears heavy, and shut their Eyes; lest they see with their Eyes, and hear with their Ears, and understand with their Heart, etc. Surely thou canst not think worse of thyself than this. Let me tell thee, the more thou thinkest of this, the less cause thou hast to apply this to thyself; for those who God gives up to judicial hardness, never think or speak of such things, but in scorn, and to make a mock of them, and that thou darest not do; there's another word for thee to think of: 
(k) Isa. 66.1, 2▪  Thus saith the Lord, The Heaven is my Throne, and the Earth is my Footstool; where's the place of my rest? To this Man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite Spirit, and that trembleth at my Word. If God hath any place upon Earth for his Repose, it is in that Soul that stands in awe of his Word, and with due Reverence receives it. What! Dost thou complain thou art not troubled enough? Nor contrite enough? Not humbled enough? How do many Souls bring their Complaints to Ministers, and bring their Bills to Congregations, for brokeness of Heart, and a deep sense of Sin, when they are so much broken already, that their other Duties are almost justled out by it. Don't therefore overlook that Text; 
(l) Rom. 14.17.  The Kingdom of God is Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost. We should make it our business, to live in a ferious course of Holiness towards God, and Righteousness towards Men, in the love and practice of Peace with all; and in the joyful sense of the love of God, and hopes of Glory, taking pleasure in the promoting of the Graces and Comforts of others in our way to Heaven. Christians, forget not, that the joy of the Lord is your strength 
(m) Neh. 8.10. : The serving of God with cheerfulness strengtheneth both Body and Mind, whereas excess of grief damps the Spirit, and infeebles the Body, unfitting us for the Service of either God or Man.  
But the complaining Soul will still complain. Say what you will or can, Comfort belongs not to me. 
(n) Ps. 77.3, 4.  I may say with Asaph, My Soul refuseth to be comforted, I remember God, and am troubled, I complain, and my Spirit is overwhelmed; God holds mine Eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak, q. d. I cannot but reject all the Consolations that my Friends suggest to me: The thoughts of God's Goodness, Wisdom and Power, have sometimes been refreshing to me, but now they are matter of terror to me; God is angry with me, and I cannot bear it; my trouble is so great I can't express it; your speaking Comfort to me, is but as the Singing of Songs to a heavy Heart.  
3. Notwithstanding all this, and a great deal more of such Complaints, yet I'll assert, and make good my assertion: That Comfort belongs to them that conclude against themselves that their case is hopeless; and I'll try to make those very persons confess it. We are not to take men's own word, that either the Promises or Threaten are their portion; but we must examine the grounds of their peremptory assertion. e. g. If a wicked wretch shall confidently boast, he doth not in the least doubt, but he shall as certainly be saved as any of those that take most care about their Salvation, though he ne'er troubles his thoughts about it: Do you think that in taking his Accounts, Chest will let his Confidence pass for saving Faith, and give him Heaven for his Presumption? surely you can't think he will, while he hath given us so plain a Rule, how to judge of words by things, viz. By their fruits you shall know them; 
(o) Mat. 7.16. etc.  A good Tree cannot bring forth evil fruit: So then, as a Man shall not save his Soul for his groundless Presumption, so neither shall he lose his Soul for his groundless despondency. Thou complainest of thyself, not of Christ, he is precious 
(p) 1 Pet. 2.7.  in thine eye, therefore thy Faith is saving; thou fearest that thou dost not cleave to Christ, yet thou hadst rather die than offend him; this is a Faith of adherence, and that is saving: Thou complainest, but restlessly strivest to be more inwardly, outwardly; universally holy; that is a good Evidence thy state is good, though while under a Temptation, or under a Cloud, thou canst not see it to be so.  
But thou still sayest, I am an unprofitable Hearer, and I cannot believe that Christ will pardon what is amiss, and accept of any thing as good, of what I can do; and therefore pray quit this way of answering my complaint, by telling me of Comfort: If you have any thing else to offer, I'll hear it, I may expect rather to hear of Christ in a clap of Thunder, than in a soft and still voice.  
4. I'll speak to thee no more directly of Comfort, but only ask thee a Question about the Comforts of others. What are thy thoughts about the Comforts and Joys of the Holy Ghost? are there any such things, or are they mere Fancies? If there be any such things, what thinkest thou of those that partake of them? Is the enjoyment of them desirable? Are they happy that have them? Whether is more eligible, to spend your Life in mourning Complaints, or to spend it in the joyful Praises of the Lord our Redeemer? Are these Questions hard to be answered? These Questions are out of question: Oh! there are no joys like the joys of the Holy Ghost, the best of carnal joys are incomparably below them. Though I fear I shall never be so happy as to enjoy them, yet I can't but admire them that do. Do you ask which is more eligible, a life of mourning Complaints, or a life of Joys? Ask a Man under a fit of the Stone, whether that is more eligible than a state of health? Well, dost thou speak this hearty? Ask thy Heart again, that thou mayest not mistake me, or go back from thine own answer. Are the joys of the Holy Ghost Realities? Are they unspeakably beyond all other joys? Are they happy that enjoy them? Wilt thou stand to thy word? Then they are all thine own, thou hast a title to them at present, and as sure as thy Redeemer lives, thou shalt be put into the possession of them: Mark how I prove it. Every one that hath Truth of Grace, hath an indefeasible Title to Glory: 
(q) 1 John 5.13.  These things which I have written unto you, that believe on the Name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal life; 
(r) 2 Cor. 1.22.  They have a Seal for Assurance, but an earnest which is a begun possession, elsewhere called the first-fruits; 
(s) Rom. 8.23.  but every one that prizeth the holy joys of the Holy Ghost, hath Truth of Grace: Graceless Persons make a mock of the joys of the Holy Ghost; they can scarce forbear sneering at the mention of them; he perfers carnal Comforts before them; 
(t) Psal. 4.6, 7,  Many say, who will show us any good? But the gracious Soul says, Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance; Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased: 
& ver. 3.  This is the godly Man, whom the Lord hath set apart for himself. Not any one that is not a Saint himself, hath any esteem for a Saint as a Saint: 
(u) 1 Joh. 3.14.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren: He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death. Now I dare appeal to yourselves, in the very midst of all your complaints; when thou fearest thou shalt never have any of these joys, yet thou hast a value for them above any other: Thou preferrest thy complaints before worldly Pleasures; thou dost not, thou canst not but follow Christ, though it be tremblingly: If all these be not infallible Evidences of Grace, what are? Chide thyself, and pray thyself out of thy complaining temper: 
(w) Eccl. 9.7.  Go thy way, eat thy Bread with joy, and drink thy Wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works: And thus you have my Answer, as well to the Complaint, as to the Case: God make it beneficial to all that shall read it. There remains some questions depending upon the Case, that require some Answer; I'll attempt that also.  
Qu. 1. When we make choice of a Minister to be under Christ, the special Guide of our Souls: How shall we avoid the sinful preferring of one before another? How may we escape that partiality which is one of the great sins of the Age, to cry up some, and decry others; to overvalue some, and to undervalue others; Every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollo's, and I of Cephas, and I of Chrst. 
(x) 1 Cor. 1.12.  I am of Paul: He had an extraordinary Call to the Apostolical Office, there's none preaches Free Grace like him. He withstood 
(y) Gal. 2.11.  ●●●r to the Face, because he was to be blamed: And as for Apollo's, he had need to learn of his Hearers: 
(z) Acts 18.26 24. end.  When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they ●●ok him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. None of these things can be spoken of Paul, and therefore I am for Paul. Another says, I am for Apollo's, 
(a) ch. 2.6, 10, 10.  he is a powerful Preacher, an eloquent Man, and mighty in the Scripture, fervent in Spirit, diligent in the things of the Lord, speaking boldly in the Synagogues, mightily convincing the Jews. I am for Apollo's, Paul is nothing to him for a Preacher, his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible, and therefore I am for Apollo's. Another saith, I am for Cephas, he was the chief Apostle, Christ gave him a special charge to feed his Sheep, and his Lambs, 
(b) Joh. 21.17.  and therefore I'll be of his Flock Another says, I am for Christ, all these have their imperfections but Christ hath none, and therefore I'll expect the immediate teaching of Christ by his Spirit; I'm not for the teachings of Men. And thus Christians do not only differ from one another in their esteem of Preachers; but we shall find them differ from themselves in their esteem of the same Persons; they magnify and vilify the same Ministers: 
(c) Joh. 5.35.  John was a burning and a shining light, and ye were willing for a season, and but for a season, to rejoice in his light: To Christ himself they said one day Hosanna, and the next day Crucify him; and of Paul, the Galathians 
(d) Gal. 4.14,— 16.  one while received him as an Angel of God, even as Christ Jesus; presently after are as shy of him as of an Enemy, because he insists upon some Truths they have no mind to. How may this Distemper be prevented or cured?  
Answ. 1. Keep up your Esteem of Jesus Christ, as your great Shepherd, and of all Faithful Ministers, or his under Officers: 
(e) 2 Cor. 4.5.  We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your Servants for Jesus sake. 'Tis impossible to overvalue Christ, provided you do not mistake his Work, and neglect your own; do not expect that from Christ which he will not do; he will not teach you without the Ministry of Man, where he vouchsafes it. Christ hath the words of Eternal Life, but yet he commits to the Ushers of his School, The Word of Reconciliation: 
(f) 2 Cor. 5.20  And we pray you in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God: And 'tis Christ that saith expressly: 
(g) Luk. 10.16.  He that heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. This doth not only relate to extraordinary Officers, such as the Apostles, for Christ as well 
(h) Eph. 4.11, 12.  gave Pastors and Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the Work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ: And therefore conscientiously Attend upon the Ministry of Men, but expect the benefit of it only by the Blessing of Christ; whoever plants or waters, the success is from Christ.  
2. Take heed of a narrow Spirit; confine not the Church of Christ to a Party: No, not the best Party upon Earth. What hath Christ only these few Sheep in the Wilderness? If Christ should have no other Subjects, his would ●e a little Flock indeed. 
(i) Rev. 7.9.  Whereas Christ's sealed Ones, who are sealed for Holiness, are a great multitude, which no Man could number, of all Nations, and Kindred's, and People, and Tongues, standing before the Throne, and before the Lamb, etc. Christians, be as severe against yourselves as you will, but be not so against others. Say to thyself, If I should be less strict than I am, I should question mine own fitness for Church Communion: But I dare not judge so of another, I do not know his temptations: I do not know how far God might leave him to himself, 
(k) 2 Chr. 32.32.  To try him, that he might know what was in his Heart, etc. Shall I from such an action judge of his State? No, I dare not: be severe to yourselves, but be charitable unto others.  
3. Take heed of over-esteeming any, lest God blast his Ministry as to you, that it be less profitable than before. You may easily observe, that when any one is overvalued, God is robbed of the overplus of Honour that is given to any Creature: This is a tender thing, and God will not bear it; let a well ordered Self-love steer you right in this matter. Query, Whether Ministers or Peoples falling into scandalous Sin, or dangerous Error, spring not from this Root? These Cautions concern as well the sincere as others; but my last under this Head concerns only Hypocrites, or those who have too cause to suspect themselves to be so.  
4. Take heed of being swayed by private Interest; 
(l) Judas 16.  To have men's persons in admiration, because of advantage. i e. Of flattering persons upon some carnal account: You have the Apostle naming some of their spiritual Diseases: 
(m) 1 Tim. 6.3.4, 5.  If any man affect to teach or to hear otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, i. e. words that tend to cure the Soul of Spiritual Distempers, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Doctrine which is according to Godliness, i. e. that Doctrine which promotes downright godliness; He is proud, i. e. he is swelled up, he is great in his own esteem, though knowing nothing solidly, but doting brainsick about questions of no use, and strifes of words, contending about words, whereof cometh envy of those that are wiser than himself: strife, An ignorant person will not yield that another knows more than himself; rail, What he wants in arguments, he'll make up with foul language; evil surmisings, Uncharitably suspecting what they will not speak out; perverse dispute, Not to clear up Truth, but to shuffle in Error; of men of corrupt minds, distempered in their heads; destitute of the Truth, have quitted savoury Truth; supposing that gain is godliness, whatever tends to their worldly interest, that is very well consistent with their Religion; from such withdraw thyself, have nothing to do with them.  
Qu. 2. When there's a difference in the Directions that are given by Ministers, what shall those do who are to observe them? Prescription are sometimes peremptory, and we are charged to do expressly thus; and when we hear the same Duty pressed by another, he directeth otherwise: 
(n) 1 Cor. 14.8  If the Trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the Spiritual Warfare?  
Answ. 1. Those that ordinarily ask this Question, don't do it for practical Direction, but for captious diversion; they don't speak by way of Enquiry, but excuse; they'll except against this, and the other, but they'll follow none; and therefore I'll pass by these.  
2. Do but practise that wherein all the Ministers of Christ are agreed, and you are safe: They all give the same Directions for substance; though their Directions are different, they are not contrary. You know there's nothing more ordinary than for two Ministers to preach upon one Text, and to handle it different ways, and to draw from it different Inferences, and different Uses; but while they keep to Scripture, and to the Analogy of Faith, all is commendable and beneficial. Christ is pleased variously to distribute both Graces and Gifts, both to Ministers and Christians, and 'tis to the Glory of his Wisdom and Grace that he doth so. All who are Faithful to Christ and Souls, agree in such things as these, viz. To convince of the evil of Sin, and of the necessity of Regeneration: there's none that's worth the name of a Minister that can give Sin a good word; they cannot speak slightly of sin, they cannot encourage sin, they cannot, they dare not flatter you in your sins; they all agree to assure you, 
(o) Numb. 32.23.  That your sin will find you out; that if you do not find out your Sin to Repentance, your Sin will find you out to your Ruin: They all agree to direct you to Christ, some do it with more skill and warmth than others, but all agree in the thing: 
(p) 1 Cor. 3.11  Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ: They all agree in pressing a Life of Holiness, to evidence the sincerity of your Faith; 
(q) Heb. 12.14.  Without holiness no man shall see the Lord with comfort.  
3. Endeavour to learn the holy Skill, and the holy Zeal of making your Advantage of the different Talents of Christ's faithful Ministers: Hear none but whom you may groundedly take to be Ministers of Christ: And then esteem such for their Master's sake; whoever brings me a Message from Christ shall be welcome; 
(r) Isa. 52.7.  How beautiful upon the Mountains are the feet (though sweaty, dusty, dirty,) of him that bringeth good tidings of the dissolution of the Babylonian Captivity,— that publisheth Salvation by Jesus Christ; how much more amiable must these be? 
(s) 1 Cor. 12, 7, 11, 21.  The Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,— dividing to every man severally as he will.— No one shall have all, lest he should be proud; none shall want all, lest he should be discouraged.  
4. Strive to approve yourselves to be of a healing Temper: You will hereby get more profit to yourselves, and be more useful unto others: 
(t) Mat. 5.9.  Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the Children of God. Those that long and labour for Peace, they are like God and Christ, and shall be owned as such: It is a Duty for every one to sit down under a particular Pastor, for the enjoyment of all Ordinances; but as still holding Communion with the truly Catholic Church. Though you can hold local Communion but with one Congregation at once, yet you may hold mental Communion with the whole Church of Christ at the same time: Do any thing but sin, to comply with others for their spiritual Edification; and be not too hasty in accounting any thing sinful, wherein the sincere Servants of Christ may have Sentiments different from yours; rather suspend your own practice, than censure others. I would commend it to you, to love the Truth and Peace, to love Truth more than Peace; but yet to consider several Truths of lesser moment, may be waved for Peace sake. e. g. I may part with several things of my own right for Peace sake. 
(u) Gen. 13.8.9.  Abraham the Uncle, lets his Nephew Lot make that choice which belonged to himself, lest their Infidel Neighbours should scorn both for their Contentions. The Blessed Apostle will not insist upon 
(w) 1 Cor. 9.12.  his due maintenance, lest he should hinder the spreading of the Gospel: This Rule is therefore to be observed, that when two different Commands at the same time call for our Obedience, we must consider which of them is of greatest moment, not so much in itself, as to that season; for so a Command about the immediate Worship of God, must give place to a command that concerns but Man's bodily relief, 
(x) Mat. 9.13.  I will have mercy rather than sacrifice: Several good works must be omitted, when the doing of them will do more hurt than good. I'll close this with that of the Apostle: 
(y) 1 Cor. 9.19.— 22.  Though I be free from all men, not obliged to any one more than another, yet have I made myself servant unto all: I have complied with the persuasions and inclinations of others in things Indifferent, that I might gain the more, that I might win them to Christ for their Salvation; To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews, i. e. To the unbelieving Jews I conformed to some of their Ceremonies, that I might persuade them to embrace Christianity; To them that are under the Law, as under the Law, that I might gain them that are under the Law. i. e. To those believing Jews and Gentiles, who yet think 'tis necessary to observe the Law of Moses, I comply also with them in some Ceremonies which were not yet unlawful: To them that are without the Law, as without Law. i. e. To those Gentiles that do not look upon themselves as bound to observe the Law of Moses, among them I use my Christian Liberey for the non-observing of days, and meats, etc. (being not without Law to God, but under the Law to Christ;) i. e. I walk by the Rule of the Moral Law, and subjecting myself to all the Commands of Christ in the Gospel: To th●●●ak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: i. e. I condescended to the weak, in teaching them according to their Capacity to learn; I am made all things, to all men, that I might by all means save some. i e. I accommodate myself to all persons, for the promoting of the Gospel.  
Quest. 3. How shall weak Christians, that have but low Parts, little Grace, few helps, and many hindrances, follow these or such like Directions?  
Answ. 1. Know this to your Comfort, that though you are such, yet while you are low in your own esteem, and diligent in the use of what means and helps you have, you stand fair to be as thriveing Christians, as rich in Grace and Comfort, as those you apprehended far exceed you. 'Tis the low valleys that are most fruitful: 
(a) 1 Cor. 27.28.  God hath chosen the foolish things of the world: God picks up those that seem to others to be the Refuse of the World, to confound the wise. As Christ chose the poor Fishermen, to convince the most knowing part of the World. God hath chosen the weak things of the world; such Persons as seem most uncapable of understanding the Mysteries of the Gospel, to confound the things that are mighty, to put to silence those that are far above them: And base things of the world, and things which are despised, God hath chosen: Yea, and things that are not, to bring to nought things that are. God by those who are as contemptible as if they had no Being to be taken notice of, manifests the emptiness of those that seem most excellent. Pray consider, when the whole World was drowned, and when Sodom and the neighbour Cities were burned, there was not one Servant saved: But now under the Gospel 
(b) Tit. 2.10.  they are in a special manner charged, (and honoured by the charge,) To adorn the Doctrine of God in all things; and they stand upon even ground as to Spiritual Privileges, with any rank of men in the World: There is 
(c) Col. 3.11.  neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all: It's neither the Grecians being the most learned part of the World, nor the Jews being the only National Church in the World; 'tis neither the observing the Ceremonial Law; 'tis not the Barbarian that wants Accomplishments, nor the Scythians, who are of all Barbarians most barbarous; 'tis not bond, i. e. those who are in the worst of humane slavery; nor free, i. e. those who were never in bondage to any, but Christ is all, and in all. i e. He infinitely supplies all outward defects, he's infinitely better to them than all outward Privileges; so that you have comparatively nothing else to do but to clear up your Union with Jesus Christ.  
2. Practise what you know, though it be never so little, improve what helps you have, though they be never so few, 〈◊〉 your Graces will grow more than you are ware of: 
(d) Mar. 4.26.27.  So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how. Those that receive the good Seed of the Word into good honest hearts, (or the Word hath made 'em so,) it hath an insensible efficacy, which produceth a gradual increase of Grace, even beyond observation: But you complain that you see no such thing: in some respect I may say, The less you take notice of your own Graces, the better; provided you do not belly the Spirit of God in overlooking, and denying what he hath wrought. Things necessary to Salvation are but few, and plain, easy to be (through Grace) sufficiently understood and practised; though there is not any thing so inconsiderable, but may exercise the greatest Parts and Learning attainable in this life; yet there is not any thing necessary to be known, but Jesus Christ, who is our Prophet to teach us, will both give Instruction, and Capacity to receive it, to all his willing Disciples; and Christ will require an Account for no more Talents than he gives.  
3. Endeavour to make a true Observation, how those things which are in their own nature Hindrances to the Soul, are graciously and powerfully governed by God for our Souls profiting by them; that as the Apostle, I would ye should understand 
(e) Phil. 1.12.  brethren, that the things which happened to me, have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel. When Paul was first taken off from preaching, and cast into Prison, who would not at first hearing be ready to cry, Oh! many a poor Soul will rue this day, this is the blackest Cloud that ever darkened our Gospel day. The Apostle doth as it were tell 'em, They are greatly mistaken, at present, the same of his Sufferings rung through Court, City and Country; and persons were so far from forsaking the Truth through discouragement, that they boldly own the Gospel: And now was he more at leisure to write those Epistles which would benefit the Church in future Ages. But to bring this down to ordinary Christians: You know that groundless fears, and trembling misgivings of heart are the ordinary diseases of a scrupulous Conscience; these now dispirit us, and hinder us from that cheerful behaviour that might render Religion more amiable, and so hinder the spreading of it. And besides this, Satan, that subtle Angler for Souls, strikes in with our Spiritual Diseases, and plies the Soul with next to overwhelming temptations; and he never fails of success through want of skill, or through want of industry: But blessed be God for overruling all this. God by but upholding the Soul under (not delivering the Soul from) its fears, keeps it humble, and makes it more useful throughout the whole course of its Regeneration: and as for the advantage that Satan takes, God is pleased to give the poor trembling Soul those experiences, that it is our sin not to take notice of them. e. g. That Christian that is in his own eyes the poorest, weakest, filliest Sheep in Christ's Fold, shall out-wit Satan in all his Stratagems, and overpower him in all his Assaults, though he knows not how he does it: Thus, the poor Soul when he is hard beset, retreats to Christ, and though he dare not call his carriage an acting Faith upon Christ, Christ will own it as such, and reward it as such. For how is it that such a poor Soul hath held out so many years under its own fears and Satan's Temptations, but that Christ upheld both it, and its Faith? Here's Faith not discerned, yet victorious.  
4. Endeavour thankfully and impartially to take notice of the Advantages of your Condition: Do not so much look at what you apprehend more  in another's Condition, as to know and consider the circumstances of your own Condition. Another's condition is better for them, God sees your condition to be better for you; 'tis the station wherein God sets you: 
(f) 1 Cor. 7.24.  Brethren, let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God: your station in the World is not so high as others, and your distractions in the World are not so great as others: God hath not set you in his Church so high as others, God doth not require so much of you as he doth of others: But alas! you have not the Graces that others have; neither have you the temptations nor desertions that others have. Those who have the largest measure, and the highest degrees of Grace, have always exercises suitable to their Receipts; they have sometimes the sorest Trials, sometimes the greatest Corruptions; and if not that, yet you'll find 'tis such as Job, and Asaph and Heman, that make most doleful complaints of the hidings of God's Face; 
(g) 1 Cor. 7.21.  therefore take the Apostle's counsel, Art thou called, being a Servant, care not for it. q. d. Be not troubled at it, as if thy mean condition in the Word, rendered thee less acceptable unto God; poor Lazarus is in rich Abraham's Bosom: 
(h) James 2.5.  Harken, my beloved brethren: q. d. This is a matter worthy your special notice; Hath not God chosen, q. d. dare ye deny it? the poor of this world, i. e. In the things of this World, or in the esteem of this World; rich in Faith, i. e. they have abundance of the Grace of Faith, and of the Privileges of Faith; they have no Inheritance on Earth, but they have at present a Title to, and they shall soon have the Possession of the heavenly Kingdom.   

The Case I am to discourse of this Morning, is this: Quest. Wherein, and wherefore, the Damnation of those that perish under the Gospel, will be more Intolerable, than the Damnation of Sodom, or the worst of the Heathens, at the day of Judgement? SERMON II.  MATTH. XI. 24. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom in the day of Judgement, than for thee. 
WE read in the foregoing Chapter, our Saviour giving Commission to his Twelve Disciples, whom he called Apostles. Where we have their Commission asserted, Instructions about it, and Encouragements to the Discharge of it.  
But by his Commission given to them, he did not thereby excuse himself. By his sending them forth to preach and work Miracles, he did not forbear and indulge himself: Others labours did not excuse his own. For we read in the first Verse of this Chapter, When he had made an end of commanding his Disciples, he departed thence to teach and preach in their Cities. And some of the Cities are these mentioned in this Chapter; Corazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, three Cities in Galilee. And he gins his speech to them in a way of Exprobration. Then began he to upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, v. 20. Whence we may note, That this was not his first time of his coming to these Cities; he had been with them before both teaching and working Miracles, else how could he now upbraid them. And also, that these were not the only Cities where he had thus been present, but here the Text saith were wrought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, most of his mighty works.  
And he gins with Corazin and Bethsaida, and puts them both together, either because they were near one another, about two miles distant: Or, because they both had equal Privileges of his presence with them, and so equally under guilt.  
And in his upbraiding them, 1. We may consider, what he upbraids them for, that they repent not; notwithstanding the mighty works they had seen done before their Eyes, and the heavenly Doctrine they had heard preached in their Ears. 2. Who he upbraids them by, it is Tyre and Zid●n, the Tyrians and Zidonians; who were Phoenicians inhabiting Syria, none of the Jewish Nation, out of the Pale of the Church, brought up in the Ignorance of God, and true Religion, yet if the works done in these Cities had been done among them, they would have repent, and repent in dust and ashes, when these Cities repent not at all: Whereupon our Saviour denounceth a Woe against them, Woe to thee Corazin, etc. 3. He upbraids them by name and not in general, with other impenitent Sinners; for Particulars affect more than Generals.  
Next he proceeds to Capernaum; and because it may be this City was under greater guilt than the two former, or any other in Galilee, therefore Christ names it by itself, and doth not only name it but notify it. 1. As being lifted up to Heaven; not in outward Grandeur, Pomp or Power, but by signal Favours and Privileges from Christ's Presence, his Preaching, and mighty Works done in it.  
2. As a City to be cast down to Hell. Thou shalt be cast down to Hell: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Or hurled down by force and violence, as the Greek word imports: And to Hell, or as low as Hell. A great fall indeed. What so high as Heaven? and what so low as Hell? Though by Hell some understand a temporal destruction; some fatal Calamity, that should carry it to the grave of Oblivion, and bury it in ashes out of sight: which was executed upon it by the Assyrians, Caldaans', and then by the Romans. But seeing Christ speaks in the Text of the day of Judgement, I suppose he rather speaks of the Aeternal Hell and Damnation it should be hurled then into.  
3. He notifies it by the form of his Speech, directed to it in a way of indignation. And Thou Capernaum: As if he held up his hand, shook his head, and contracted his brow against it. Ah! Capernaum, Capernaum, of all Cities thou art likely to have the severest doom.  
4. And again by comparing it with Sodom, and representing it as worse than Sodom. If the mighty works done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. Sodom would have repent, or had so many righteous persons in it whereby not to be destroyed with Fire and Brimstone.  
Now as all these three Cities were in Galilee, so they belonged to the Tribes of Zabulon, and Naphtali; which are foretold by the Prophet Isaiah, as such as would first fall into the dimness and darkness of Affliction in the Assyrian Captivities; and as such as should f●rst have the Gospel Light shining amongst them in Christ's public Ministry, Isai. 9.1, 2. The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light. And therefore are first upbraided, and rebuked by our Saviour, because they repent not.  
But I pass from the Context to the Text, wherein we have our Saviour looking to the day of Judgement, and the rewards of Sinners to be then distributed. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom, in the day of Judgement, than for thee.  
Which words he speaks to Capernaum, and are a Prediction of its doom in the day of Judgement. And we might take up several Notes from them.  
There shall be a day of Judgement. Whether men will believe it or Note 1 not, yet it shall be. Christ here saith it, and the Righteousness of God makes it necessary; it hath a witness in every man's Conscience: Felix trembled, though an Heathen, when Paul discoursed of it. It is one of the Articles of the Creed, and one of the Principles of the Christian Religion, Heb. 6.2. called Eternal judgement. But I shall not insist on this.  
In the day of Judgement some Sinners shall far worse than others. Note 2 Of those that shall be Condemned, some will fall under sorer Condemnation. Of those that go into Everlasting fire, some, as in Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace, shall be cast into hotter flames: And those that are cast into utter darkness; yet for some is reserved the blackness of darkness. When our Saviour tells us of some that are made two times more the Children of Hell than others, Matth. 23.15. and of some that shall be beaten with few stripes, and others with many stripes, Luke 12.47, 48. it shows there are degrees of punishment in the state of Damnation. Some have questioned whether there will be degrees of Glory to the Saints in Heaven; but none but believe there will be degrees of Torment in Hell; some more, some less tolerable. But neither this shall I insist upon.  
In the day of Judgement there will be a distribution of Sinners punishments Note 3 according to the exact Rules of Justice. Why else shall it be more tolerable for some sinners than others?  
As Grace and Mercy will distribute the Rewards to the Saints; so Justice, Punishment to the Wicked. So that nothing will be added above what is due, and nothing abated of what is due; not one stripe inflicted, nor one diminished of what Justice shall determine. By him actions are weighed, saith Hannah in her Song, 1 Sam. 2.3. Bad actions as well as good; and the sinfulness of them known to a grain; and the heavier Sin shall have the heavier Judgement. Neither this do I insist upon.  
Christ's saying is sufficient ground for our believing. But I say unto Note 4 you, It shall be more tolerable, etc. He adds no more by way of proof; his saying it is enough. How often do we find in the Gospel these words, Verily I say unto you; and sometimes, Verily, verily, I say unto you; or Amen, Amen; and is himself called the Amen. We own this deference to him, as to believe him upon his naked Word. If an ipse dixit passed for a proof in Pythagoras' School, much more should it in Christ's. Neither will I insist on this.  
Note 5 In the day of Judgement it will be more tolerable for Sodom than Capernaum. And this will lead me to discourse of these two Cities literally, and from thence to speak of the Case proposed more at large, and generally.  
These two Cities may be considered under a threefold distinction:  
1. Nominal: The one is called Sodom; in the Hebrew Sedom, or Sedomah; sometimes we read of the Land of Sodom, or the Sodomites; and than it comprehends Gomorrah, which is often mentioned with it: as Isai. 1.9. Matth. 10.15, etc. And Admah, and Zeboim, and Bela also, may be meant by the Land of Sodom, and the Cities of the Plain, Gen. 19.25. And the other City is called Capernaum, which signifies in Hebrew, A Field of Consolation, or a pleasant Field: As Sodom hath its Name from a word that denotes Secrecy, or Coetus Consultantium, Gen. 49.6. But I shall not Criticise upon Names.  
2. Local: Sodom was on the East of Canaan, in the Plain of Jordan, which Lot chose at his parting from Abraham; and he is said to journey to the East, Gen. 13.11. and was a pleasant and fruitful Plain, and as the Garden of the Lord, till it was destroyed from Heaven, v. 10. But Capernaum was on the North, or Northwest of the Land of Judah.  
3. Moral: Both were sinful Cities, but their sins of a distinct kind. The sins of Sodom were sins against the Law more directly, and against the Light of Nature, and of the highest scandal; but Capernaum's sins were more against the New Light of the Gospel breaking forth upon them from Christ's Ministry, and the mighty Works whereby his Doctrine was confirmed among them.  
Now Christ considering both these Cities, and the sin of both, giveth the decision in the Text, That it will be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom, than Capernaum, in the day of Judgement.  
And may not this seem strange and amazing? Sodom was a City that was wicked to a Prodigy, and to a Proverb. It's said, Gen. 13.13. That the men of Sodom were sinners and wicked before the Lord exceedingly. And impudence in sin is called a declaring their sin like Sodom, Isai. 3.9. And they are to me like Sodom, saith God, speaking of the sin of the Jews, Jer. 23.14. And wicked Rulers are called Rulers of Sodom, Isai. 1.10. Whereupon Lot is said to vex his righteous Soul with their unlawful Deeds, 2 Pet. 2.8. And there is a sin, not fit to be mentioned, called by the name of Sodomy; so denominated from the place. Yet notwithstanding all this, it will be more tolerable for Sodom than Capernaum in the day of Judgement: Capernaum was lifted up to Heaven by many favours and privileges, which were not vouchsafed to Sodom; had means of knowing the Saviour of the World, and the way of Salvation above what Sodom had; had Christ himself, the Son of God present, preaching, and doing many wonderful Works in it, which Sodom never had. Many things are recorded in the Evangelists about this Capernaum, and its Privileges above most Cities. It's said, that Christ dwelled here, Matth. 4.13. Here he healed the Centurion's servant by a word from his mouth, Matth. 8. Here he healed Peter's Wife's Mother, and many that were sick, and possessed of Devils, ibid. And here he healed the Paralytic man let down through the Tiles of the House, Mark. 2.1, 2, 3, etc. And here he cast out the unclean Spirit by a rebuke from his mouth, Mark 1.24. Here he wrought the Miracle of the Tribute-money taken out of the mouth of a Fish, Matth. 17. Here he entered the Synagogue, and taught once and again, that they were astonished at his Doctrine. And here he preached that divine and mysterious Sermon about the Bread of life which came down from Heaven, and eating the Flesh, and drinking the Blood of the Son of Man, John 6.59. And this City was so famous for Christ's Miracles, that when he came to Nazareth, they expected him to do the works there which he had done in Capernaum, Luke 4.23. Now when after all this, Capernaum did not receive him nor his Doctrine, but murmured at both, John 6.41. and turned not to God by true repentance: this was the Sin of that City, which will make it more tolerable for Sodom in the day of Judgement, than for it.  
But that I might bring my discourse home and closer to ourselves, and to the case proposed, we shall consider these two Cities as Types and Examples of two sorts of Sinners, for so it may be supposed our Saviour intended them. Sodom, as a Type of the Heathen, and all that wickedness found among them, who have not heard of Christ and Salvation by him; and Capernaum a Type of those Sinners who live under the Gospel, and have had Christ preached to them, and present among them by his Word and Ordinances. And so I come to the last Note, which will fully answer to the Case proposed.  
That the worst of the Heathen, who never had Christ preached to them, Note 6 and Salvation offered by him, shall far better in the day of Judgement, than those that continue impenitent under the Gospel. A tremendous Doctrine.  
Sodom is here instanced in by our Saviour, as being the most notorious Sinners among all the Heathens, worse than Tire and Sidon before mentioned, or any Heathen City, and yet shall far better than Capernaum, though none of Sodom's sins be charged by our Saviour upon it. But they repent not under the means of Grace and Salvation: Because they repent not, saith the Text: this was their sin.  
Q. But what is this Impenitency under the Gospel?  
A. 1. It is not all hardness of Heart, that is Impenitency: many good Christians may still find something of it; but it is when men harden their own hearts, Heb. 3.8. which are two different things.  
2. It is not any particular act of Sin that may be called Impenitency, but a trade and course of Sin.  
3. It implies a wilful rejecting the Offers of Grace and Salvation by Christ, in those that live under the Gospel.  
4. It implies a slighting and contempt of the threaten denounced against Sin, and Sinners.  
5. It implies a resolved purpose to persist in Sin, though Man knows it to be Sin: when the Sinner's mind is not changed, nor he comes to himself, and to grow wise after all his folly, as the Greek word for Repentance doth import: this is Impenitency.  
This I premise to clear my way to the following discourse: As also by answering the following Objection.  
Obj. But Capernaum's case is not ours. Capernaum saw Christ in the Flesh, which we never did; they heard Doctrine preached from his own mouth, which we never did; they saw his Miracles wrought before their eyes, which we never saw. Had we had their advantages and privileges, we would not have done as they did, nor been impenitent as they were.  
Ans. This Evasion is much like that of the Scribes and Pharisees mentioned Matth. 23.30. Had we been in the days of our Fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets. When they at the same time were filled with that malice against Christ, which issued in the shedding of his precious blood. But I answer:  
1. Though we have not Christ with us in his fleshly Presence, yet we have his Doctrine still with us, and preached to us. And it was not his fleshly Presence that brought any Sinners to repentance, but his Doctrine.  
2. Though we see not Christ's Miracles wrought before our eyes, yet we h●●e them recorded by the four Evangelists, and by such as were either eye-witnesses, or wrote by an infallible Spirit, or rather both. And if we believe the Gospel, we believe what is there recorded: and Faith is the evidence of things not seen; and will make their impression upon the Heart, as if seen with the Eye.  
3. Of those many thousands both of Jews and Gentiles that were brought to repentance by the Gospel in the Primitive times, not one of an hundred or of a thousand did either see Christ in the Flesh, heard him Preach, or saw him work any Miracle.  
4. Of those many thousands that did see him and his Works, and hear him preach when he was upon Earth, not one of an hundred were brought to repentance thereby, vid. John 12.37. And are any sure in these days, had they then lived, they should not have been of that number? Considering that men have now the same blindness and hardness upon their minds and hearts which they had then; and the same love to their sins, and prejudices against Holiness as was then. And therefore Impenitency now will expose a man to as severe punishment, and present him as guilty before God at the day of Judgement as it will Capernaum. And doth not our Saviour denounce the same severities against them that received not his Disciples preaching, as his own. Matth. 10.14, 15. Whosoever shall not receive you, (having offered peace to them;) departed, and shake off the dust of your feet against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrah than that City. And this holds true in every Age, and in the present Age; in every City, and in this City; in every Nation, and in our own Nation.  
Thus having made my way clear, I now proceed: And show, That Impenitency under the Gospel will expose men to the most intolerable Judgement in the day of Christ.  

1. I shall prove that it will do so.  
2. Why it will do so.  
3. Wherein will this greater Intolerableness consist.   
1. That it will do so, I need not prove it by any other Argument, than what we have in the Text. I say unto you, saith our Saviour. And again, v. 22. I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable, etc. And he adds his Amen and Verily to it, Matth. 10.15. Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tire and Zidon in the day of Judgement, etc. If we believe not that Christ hath said this, we are Infidels to the Gospel. If we think he hath said false, we are guilty of Blasphemy. Is it not he that saith, Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my Words shall not pass away, that saith this? Is it not he who is styled the Amen, the true and faithful witness, that hath said this? Is it not he who came down from Heaven, out of the bosom of God, and spoke nothing but what he had seen and heard from his Father, that saith this? And therefore it may seem some reflection upon Christ's Veracity, and my Auditor's Infidelity and incredulity to bring any other proof.  
2. Next, Why will it be so at the day of Judgement?  
R. Because Impenitency under the Gospel hath more of sin in it, than any sin of the Heathen. And this is the general Reason.  
And where there is most Sin, there will be the severest Judgement. I suppose none of you think, as some Philosophers of old, that all sins are equal: And inequality of sin requires in justice inequality in punishment: That saying of Christ to Pilate shows that there are degrees of sin: He that delivered me to thee hath the greater sin, John 19.11. And so we may conclude there will be degrees of punishment.  
And these degrees of sin must needs be known to God, who is a God of Knowledge; and being known to him, his Justice requires of him Punishment in a proportion; though not in this life, yet at the day of the Revelation of the righteous judgement of God. When all men shall be put into the Scale, as Daniel told Belshazzar, and Judgement passed upon them according to what weight they bear. And their Actions also considered and weighed in all their Circumstances; what Grace and Holiness may be found in the actions of some, and what Sin in the actions of others?  
So that many sins that may pass for no sins now, may be found sinful then; and such as pass for small sins, and of little scandal before men now, may be found highly sinful in that day.  
There are many sins that have more Scandal than Impenitency under the Gospel, and yet not so much guilt: As we use to say in Divinity, that some sins are majoris reatus, but minoris scandali; so it is here. The sins of Sodom had more Scandal, but the sins of Capernaum greater Gild.  
Q. But wherein lies the sinfulness of Impenitency under the Gospel above other sin?  
Ans. 1. Such will be left without Excuse above all others. If the Heathen are said to be without excuse, not living and worshipping God according to the dictates of natural Light; and the notices of God suggested by the works of Creation, Rom. 1.20. If the Jews will have their Mouth stopped, having the written Law of God, and the Knowledge of God's Will therein, and yet transgressing this Law: as the Apostle speaks, Rom. 3.19. much more will those who live impenitently under the Gospel be without excuse, and have their mouths stopped in the day of Judgement. Had I not come and spoken to them, saith Christ, they had had no sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin, John 15.22. The Gospel strips sinners of every Cloak, and so exposeth them more naked to the severe Justice of God; 
John 3.19.  For this is the Condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light: And so are without excuse.  
1. Such cannot plead, as the Heathen may, that they were ignorant of a Saviour, and how to be saved by him from their sin.  
2. Neither can they plead, that Salvation by him was revealed so darkly, that they could not have any distinct knowledge of it, as the Jew may plead.  
3. Neither can they plead that this Revelation was never confirmed from Heaven, so that they might certainly believe it to be from Heaven, and not the invention of Men. The Confirmation of it is now made evident.  
4. Neither can they plead, that they knew not that Unbelief and Impenitency were damnable sins, and would expose men to the judgement and wrath of God.  
5. Neither can they plead Ignorance of God's punitive Justice: The Sufferings of Christ for sin to satisfy offended Justice, do clearly evidence this to all that know any thing of the Gospel: And this more fully, than any Judgements God hath inflicted upon sinners in this world, even Sodom itself.  
6. Neither can they plead Ignorance of a future state; of the Immortality of the Soul, the Resurrection of the Body, and Judgement to come, and Heaven and Hell. Though the Heathen had but dark notions, the wisest of them about these things; yet now Life and Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel; and a future state is more clearly revealed than before either to Jew or Gentile.  
7. Neither can they plead ignorance of God's pardoning Mercy, and his readiness to pardon upon repentance, whereby sinners may be hardened in their sin, as being without all hope. There is forgiveness with thee that thou may'st be feared, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 130.3. And knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, saith the Apostle, Rom. 2.4. 
2 Cor. 5.19.  And God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; His pardoning Mercy is now clearly revealed, which is the great Motive to Repentance.  
Obj. But then to be ignorant, will be a Man's advantage, and will furnish him with an excuse.  
Ans. 1. That Ignorance which is invincible, will excuse, but not slothful and affected Ignorance. If a King hath published and proclaimed his Law, a Man's Ignorance will not excuse him from the penalty: And to shut out the Light is as sinful, as to sin against it. When the light shineth in darkness, it will be no excuse, if the darkness comprehend it not.  
2. Impenitency under the Gospel is a resisting the loudest Calls of God to Repentance.  
The Heathen were called to Repentance by the Light of natural Conscience, and the Works of Creation and Providence. The Jews were called by the Law God gave them, and the Prophet's God sent among them; but now▪ under the Gospel, the Call is louder than before. When the Gospel was entering the World in John Baptist's Ministry, it entered thus; Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, Matth. 3.2.  
And under Christ's own Ministry the Call was louder; The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: Repent ye, and believe the Gospel, Mark 1.15.  
And under the Apostle's Ministry the Call went into all the World. Acts 17.30. The times of their ignorance God winked at, now he calls all men  to repent. And still the great Work of the Ministry is that which our Saviour speaks of his, and the end of his coming; Not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And what the Apostle Paul speaks of his Ministry in Asia, Teaching Repentance towards God, and Faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 20.21. this is the great Work of the Ministry now. And higher Motives are laid before sinners to repent, under the Gospel, than ever before.  
3. There is the highest Contempt of God in it: He called by his Prophets to repentance before, but now he hath called by his own Son. If a King sends his own Son to command Rebels to lay down their Arms, and accept of terms of Mercy, and they still refuse, it is greater Contempt than if he had sent his Servants. As the King in the Parable said, Surely they will reverence my Son, 
Matth. 21.37.  though they misused and killed his Servants.  
There hath been Contempt of God by sinners in every Age, as the Psalmist complains, Psal. 10.13. Wherefore do the wicked contemn God? But this Contempt riseth to an higher degree under the Gospel, since Christ came into the world.  
1. An higher Contempt of God's Authority.  
To transgress the Law of God delivered by Angels upon the Mount to Moses, and by Moses to the People, was a Contempt of God's Authority, and received a just recompense of reward, Heb. 2.2.  
How greater Contempt is it to disobey the Gospel which was preached by the Lord himself, as the Apostle there argues? To refuse him that spoke from Heaven, is greater Contempt of God's Authority, than to refuse him that spoke from Earth, Heb. 12.25.  
Rejecting the Gospel, Christ calls it a despising both him and his Father, Luke 10.16. And the Law was delivered in the hand of Christ to men, when he came into the world; so that now disobedience to it is an higher Contempt both of the Law and Lawgiver, than before. If I had not come and spoke, saith Christ, they had no sin, John 15.22. The Authority of the Speaker makes the Contempt the greater.  
2. An higher Contempt of God's Goodness.  
For the Goodness of God is now revealed in the Gospel more fully and clearly than before: Every impenitent sinner under the Gospel puts a Contempt upon the highest revelation of God's Goodness. And that Goodness that should lead him to Repentance, is now rejected and despised. And nothing doth aggravate Sin more than when committed against special Love, Grace, Kindness and Goodness. To turn Grace into Wantonness, is great abuse; but to put it under Contempt is abominable. Man can better bear to have his Power, or Authority, or Wisdom contemned, than his Goodness. Ingratitude is justly reputed among the worst of Vices; and the Contempt of Goodness is the highest act of ingratitude: And the higher the Goodness is that is Contemned, the higher still is the Ingratitude, and the more provoking.  
3. An higher Contempt of God's Threaten.  
God's Threaten under the Law were, for the most part, of Temporal Evils; but now, under the Gospel, the Threats rise higher, and are more dreadful: It is the damnation of Hell, everlasting Fire, utter darkness, where there is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth: Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, etc. And great Men cannot well bear to have their Anger slighted, and their Threats despised, or derided.  
But though the Lion roar, and God's Threats are denounced, and his Wrath revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of Men more than ever before; yet the impenitent Sinner trembles not, but goes on in his sin, and saith he shall have Peace; and so casts Contempt upon the severest Threaten of God.  
4. This Impenitency is a disappointing God in his End. It is a frustrating of his great design, which is to recover lost Man to himself by Jesus Christ. And Man is not recovered and brought back to God but by true repentance. And it is his great End in sending his Gospel to a People, to bring them to Repentance. And this End of God is now made void when sinners repent not: Men are sometimes grieved, and sometimes angried when they are disappointed in their End; so is God said to be: He complains often of this in the Scriptures, when he is disappointed in the End of his Corrections; he complains, Jer. 2.30. In vain have I smitten your Children, they received no Correction: And in the End of his showing favour, Isai. 1.2. I have nourished and brought up Children, and they have rebelled against me. And complains of his Vineyard disappointing the End of his care and cost about it; When I looked for Grapes, it brought forth wild Grapes, Isai. 5.4.  
Our Saviour is said to rejoice when Sinners were brought to repentance; he now enjoyed the End of his Coming, Luke 10.21. But then, at another time, he grieved, because of the hardness of men's hearts, Mark 3.5. And there is still joy in Heaven when sinners repent: And Christ's faithful Ministers rejoice also when sinners repent; for they now attain their End which they com● upon, and will give up their account with joy concerning such, as they will do with grief concerning others: Whereupon the Apostle, as a Co-worker with God, 
Heb. 13.17.  beseecheth the Corinthians, that they receive not the grace of God in vain, 2 Cor. 6.1. That neither God nor himself may be disappointed in the end of their work, being Co-workers. And Grace is bestowed in vain when it brings not Sinners to repentance; and when men accept not of the reconciliation mentioned in the foregoing Chapter, which Grace hath provided for them. It was a sad complaint of the Prophet, when he saith, I have laboured in vain, Isai. 49.4. Much more for an Apostle, and a Minister of the New Testament, thus to complain.  
And much more for Christ to complain thus, as sometimes he did. And most of all for God himself to complain, as he doth in the case of Sinners impenitency. So that Impenitency under the Gospel must needs be very sinful.  
5. This Impenitency hath much folly in it, as well as sin. For men to run themselves into the destruction which they might avoid, and refuse the offers of God's mercy and grace in the Gospel, is not this folly? He is called a fool that hath a price in his hand, and hath not an heart to use it, Prov. 17.16. And the Virgins in the Parable, that lost their Season of entering in with the Bridegroom, are styled foolish Virgins, Matth. 25. And are not Sinners that continue in their sin and impenitency under the Gospel, thus foolish? For they have set before them the fairest price, and the richest seasons. The Prodigal in the Parable, when he came home to his Father, is said to come to himself: 
Luke 1●.  So when a Sinner reputes, and comes home to God, he now comes to himself, as if his former life was folly and madness.  
6. Impenitency under the Gospel shows greater Wilfulness in sin. As it argues great folly in the Mind, so perverseness in the Will. And the more there is of the Will in sin, the more sinful it is: As the Schoolmen say; Bonitas & malitia moralis sunt potissimùm in voluntate. Paul could say it was not he that sinned, when he did sin, because his Will was against it, Rom. 7.20. The Evil that I would not, that I do. And this God chief looks at in Actions both good and evil. There seems to be more wilfulness in Impenitency under the Gospel, than ever before. The more Light and Knowledge men sin against, the more Will there is in sin. And the fairer offers are made to men of Heaven and Salvation, the more wilful is the refusal. And this is the case of Sinners under the Gospel. They do not repent, and they will not repent; they do not hear, and they will not hear; they do not leave their sin, and they will not leave it.  
7. Lastly, Impenitency under the Gospel is attended with the greatest resistance of the Spirit: Greater than in former time. There is more of the Spirit goes along with the Gospel-ministration, than with any before it. And there cannot be a disobedience to the Gospel, without resisting that Spirit that goes along with it: Upon some the Spirit prevails, and brings them to repentance; and in others he is resisted. And some resist to that degree, that they are said to offer despite to the Spirit of Grace, Heb. 10.29. And the sin that is accounted unpardonable, is committed against the Holy Ghost; and it's Thought cannot be committed, but under the Gospel; whereby Sinners are brought by a sinful, to a judicial Impenitency, Heb. 6.6. So that by this time you may see the great sinfulness of Impenitency under the Gospel, beyond what was, or could be in Sodom, whereby men's damnation will be more intolerable.  
Now I come to the last Particular, to show wherein the greater intolerableness will consist.  
1. Such will suffer greater Torments from their own Consciences. The worm of Conscience will gnaw them with greater pain. The reflections of it upon the sinner will be with greater force and fury. By how much Men have sinned against greater Light and Mercy, by so much the remembrance of this will be the more afflictive: It was some aggravation of Dives his Torments in Hell, the remembrance of former good things enjoyed; Much more will the remembrance of a day of Salvation lost, and of the refusal or neglect of Gospel-grace and mercy be afflictive to sinners in a state of Damnation.  
The Light they have sinned against will be Hell-fire in their Consciences for ever; and the clearer light, the hotter fire: And the higher they have been lifted up by the opportunities of Grace towards Heaven, the lower they will fall under the weight of Gild, and the rebukes of Conscience.  
2. They will suffer more than others from the Devil, and his Angels: For that they are the Executioners of God's wrath upon the wicked in this world, is out of question; and so some think they will be in the world to come, but only as under God's Commission: which they ground upon that Text, Agree with thine Adversary quickly, lest he deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge to the Tormentors, etc. by whom they understand Evil Spirits, Matth. 18.34.  
3. Christ himself will appear in greatest severity against such: He is said to be revealed in flames of fire against such that know not God, and obey not the Gospel, 2 Thess. 1.8. By both which expressions are meant impenitent Sinners under the Gospel. His first Coming was in a flame of Love to save Men; but when Men are impenitent, and reject his Salvation, he will come next in flames of Wrath to take Vengeance: And in the first place against these; To the Jew before the Gentile, Rom. 2.9. and to the impenitent Christian before both.  
4. Witnesses will rise up against these more than any other sinners. The Heathen will come in against them, as our Saviour speaks; The men of Niniveh shall rise up against this generation and condemn it. The Queen of the South shall rise up and condemn it, Matth. 12.41. The Heathen, who have gone further by the Light of Nature, than many who have lived under the Light of the Gospel, will come in as Witnesses against them.  
The Jew may come in as a witness also, who under the darker Light of the Law, hath outstripped many that were under a Gospel ministration.  
The good Angels may come in as Witnesses; who having been present in the Church-assemblies, have heard the Calls there given to Sinners to repent.  
The bad Angels may come in and plead against them, that they never refused the Calls of the Gospel to believe and repent; for they never had any.  
Ministers may come in as Witnesses, who spent their pains and strength upon them to invite and call them to Repentance, but they would not hear.  
Many of their Neighbours and Fellow-Christians may witness against them, who did believe and repent under the same means, whenas these did not. All which will contribute to make their Damnation the more intolerable.  

The APPLICATION.  
Use 1. We may hence learn what to judge of the Heathen, who have not heard of Christ. I shall not dispute whether any of them may be saved or not; yet this I can say, that their Damnation will be more tolerable than of many others. Those that sinned without the Law, shall have more favourable Judgement than those that sinned under the Law; and those that detained only natural Truth in unrighteousness, as the Heathen, 
Rom, 1.18.  shall far better than those that so detained Truth supernatural.  
And among the Heathen, Diogenes may far better than Dionysius, Cato than Catiline, Vespasian than Dioclesian. The last Judgement will be exactly righteous.  
Use 2. Hence it appears, that what is in itself a great Favour and Privilege to a People, may be the occasion of the greatest Evil. As the Gospel is in itself, yet will be an occasion to many of a Damnation that will be most inexcusable, and most intolerable. Christ was first preached to the Jews, which was their privilege; but they rejecting him, it brought sorer Calamities upon their Nation than ever before; And wrath came upon them to the utmost: And that Christ that is a Cornerstone to his Church, they first stumbled at, and then it fell upon them, and did grind them to powder. And how it will far with them in the day of Judgement, he tells them, John 12.48. The words that I have spoken, the same shall judge you at the last day. And what Judgement will be more severe than theirs, who have refused and rejected words that came immediately from the mouth of the Son of God? Words so full of Grace and Mercy, Truth and Faithfulness, Wisdom and Understanding; so that never any Man spoke as this Man. As the men of Bethshemesh rejoiced and offered Sacrifices of Thanksgiving at the Coming of the Ark to them, but it proved an occasion of the destruction of many Thousands of them, 1 Sam. 6.19.  
Use 3. We may hence take notice, how ineffectual the best outward Means are of themselves to bring a people to repentance. Can any City have greater means for it than Capernaum? Here Christ wrought Miracles that did amaze them, and preached Doctrine that did astonish them, but not bring them to repentance. The Gospel doth sometimes make some impressions upon the Minds of people, that may still continue impenitent in their sin.  
Some, when they have heard a Sermon, will applaud it, but not repent. Whether it be from a Conforming or Nonconforming Minister, yet by neither are brought to repentance.  
John Baptist preached Repentance, and Christ came and preached, Repent; and yet the Jews, for the greatest part, repent not by the one, or the other. Some are for Gospel-preaching, some for preaching the Law, and yet hold fast their sins under both. Such is the stupidity that is fallen upon Man, and such deceitfulness in his Heart, and is so fast bound by the Chains of his Sin.  
Obj. But God can bring Man to Repentance if he will.  
Ans. God hath a twofold Power, Potestas absoluta, & ordinata; A Power that he exerts immediately, or in the use of means. God can by his absolute Power preserve Man's life without eating or drinking, but he maintains it ordinarily in the use of means, which Man is obliged to use; and if he reject them, will be guilty of his own death. God affords Sinners means to bring them to repentance; and if they reject them, God is not obliged to work by his immediate Power. Hereupon God is said to be willing, that all should be saved, and come to repentance, 2 Pet. 3.9. by his calling them, and affording means to repentance.  
Q. But why doth God make these means effectual to some, not to others, by giving special Grace?  
A. When he that makes this Question can resolve me why Christ wrought his mighty Works in Corazin and Bethsaida, and not in Tire and Sidon, when he foresaw that Tire and Sidon would thereupon repent in dust and ashes, and Corazin and Bethsaida would not repent; I shall then answer him in his Enquiry: Secret things belong to God, but things revealed to us, and our Children. Let Sinners use the means, and wait there for God's special Grace.  
And can Sodom justly complain that Christ came not to do his mighty Works in it, and brought not the Light of the Gospel to it, when she offered such Violence to the common dictates of the Light and Law of Nature?  
Use 4. See hence what little Reason men have to boast of their Knowledge, or Gospel-priviledges, when these may turn to their sorer Condemnation. He that knows his Master's will, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes, Luke 12.47.  
And so Christ speaks to the Pharisees, who boasted themselves to be the Pechachim, the seeing men, whose eyes were opened; Because you say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth, John 9.41.  
And thus the Jews boasted over the Gentiles; That they knew God's will, were instructed out of the Law, and were instructers of the foolish, and teachers of babes, Rom. 2.18, 19, 20. and boasted themselves to be the Circumcision; but yet they not keeping the Law, the Uncircumcision should judge and condemn them, v. 27. We have many among us who boast of a little Knowledge they have more than others, and have learned to talk and dispute of Religion, and despise others as foolish, ignorant, blind and babes; when all this may make their Judgement the more intolerable. Some of the Jews have a Tradition, that the holy Fire of the Altar was hid in an hole of a Rock all the time of the Captivity; and when at their return they looked for it, it was turned into a Jelly, which they took and laid upon the Altar, and there was kindled into a Fire again by the beams of the Sun. When the Light that is in the Mind kindles a Flame of Love in the Heart, and thence are presented holy Sacrifices to God; this is Light sanctified, and sanctifying the Soul: but when it rests in the Mind, and is resisted in the Heart and Practice of Men, it will, whether Men will or no, shine into their Consciences first or last, to their greater Terror and Condemnation.  
And therefore let Men take heed of Sin against Light and Knowledge: Against the Light of Nature; the Light of Education; the Light of good Example; especially the Light of the Gospel: For such Sins make the greatest noise in the Conscience; do most harden men's hearts; make Men self-condemned, and will most expose Men at the day of Judgement.  
Use 5. And so I come to the next Use: which is, To awaken us of this City, and this Nation, who have had Gospel-favours and Privileges above most people under Heaven. May we not say of London as Christ of Capernaum? O London! who hast been lift up to Heaven! And if any from hence shall perish, and be cast down to Hell, how great will their fall be! It would be better perishing out of Tire and Sidon, and Sodom, than out of London. Tolluntur in altum, ut Casu graviore ruant; as the Poet speaks of Men that fall from high places. What though God hath by a wonderful Hand opened us a door of Liberty? What though we have such plenty of excellent Preaching? and what though we are such constant Hearers of these Lectures Morning by Morning? yet if any of us still continue Impenitent, it will but increase our Doom at Doomsday.  
Obj. But we hope that that day will never come; and all this Talk of it is but to fright people a little into good manners; A device of Princes to keep People under Government, or of Priests to make Markets of their Consciences.  
Ans. 1. It's true, few live as if they believed it. But can any Man say that he is sure it will never come? I think no Man dare say that. Therefore it is our best wisdom to prepare for that day which may come, though we should not be sure it will come. A wise Man will provide against an Evil that may possibly come, though he is not sure it will come; especially, considering the dreadful consequence of being surprised.  
2. And it's true that this day is delayed; but it is because God waits for Sinners repentance; and would have Men saved, and enter in before the door be shut. 2 Pet. 3.9.  
3. Do any of us not believe it, when the Devils themselves believe and tremble? When they said to our Saviour, Art thou come to torment us before our time? It showed they believed a day of Judgement. But I spoke of this before.  
Q. But what will preserve us then from Damnation, seeing such a Judgment-day must certainly come?  
Ans. That which would have preserved Corazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, will preserve us, and that is true repentance; which you may know what it is by the description I have given before of its contrary, which is Impenitency. Let us all in good earnest turn to God and repent. Let us repent of our Pride, and immodest Dresses in Apparel, and reform; Let our Women take down their high towering Dresses, and our Men shorten their monstrous Perukes. Let us repent of our Strife and Contention, and the Persecutions that have been amongst us. Let us repent of the great neglect of Family-duties, and our spending so much time at Taverns and Coffeehouses. Let others repent of their Frauds in Commerce and Trading; and others of their Oaths and Blasphemies; and others of their Extortion and Oppression; others of their base temporising in Religion. Let Children repent of Disobedience to Parents, and Parents of their neglect of the Instruction and Education of their Children; so Masters and Servants of the neglect of the Duties of their mutual Relation. Let us rerent of our careless Hearing, and our unprofitable Hearing; of our lose Observation of the Sabbath, and unworthy Receiving the Lord's-Supper, and bring forth fruits meet for Repentance. Let London remember what befell Sodom for not repenting, and take heed of Sodom's Sins, which are said to be Pride, 
Ezek. 16.49. 2 Pet. 2.6. Judas 7.  Idleness, and Fullness of Bread: and Fornication, and going after strange Flesh: and now have suffered the Vengeance of Eternal fire. That this City may not be called Sodom's Sister, as Jerusalem was for being so like her in her Sin, Ezek. 16.48. and her Fruit not like the Apples of Sodom, fair without, and within nothing but Ashes. But I have better hope concerning this City; and that, as God hath wonderfully saved it, so he will do still; and that its case is not as Sodoms, not to have in it ten righteous persons when Abraham interceded for the sparing of it.  
And though this City was once laid in Ashes, yet not as Sodom, which was never built again; and is now a bituminous Lake, called Asphaltites, and the Waters of it are deadly, and the Fumes out of it mortal, and the Ground and Trees about it barren; which Pliny, Solinus, Diodorus Siculus, and other Heathen Writers have taken notice of. But London stands up out of its Ruins, to the terror of those that designed it to oblivion and perpetual desolation, and is more populous than ever; and the joyful. Sound of the Gospel, and the Voice of the Turtle, are yet heard in her Streets, and not the Voice of Owls and Satyrs, as is foretold of Babylon. And is spiritually called Sodom, Rev. 11.8. And was Typed by the City Jericho, which would expose the Man to a fatal Curse that should attempt to rebuild it.  
Use Last. From all that hath been said, we may lastly conclude, That Sinners that are impenitent have little reason to flatter themselves, because of their present impunity. Let them consider how it will far with them in the day of Judgement. Christ refers to that in the Text. And those who have Eyes to see afar off, will look so far as that day: So did Paul, 2 Cor. 5.11. Wherefore we strive, whether present or absent, to be accepted; for we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ. And hereupon he counted it a small thing to be judged of Men, or at Man's day, looking to the Judgement to come, and that great Day of the Lord, 1 Cor. 4.5, 6. The fallen Angels are said to be bound in Chains of Darkness, reserved to the Judgement of the great Day; and so are impenitent Sinners reserved to that day; when, notwithstanding their present Impunity, they shall then fall under Judgement more intolerable than that of Sodom. As a Malefactor that is kept in the Gaol under Bolts and Fetters till the Assize, hath little reason to rejoice in his present freedom from the Sentence of the Judge. And this is the case of Sinners, Because Sentence is not speedily executed, their hearts are fully set to do evil, Eccles. 8.11. And so I make the Conclusion of this Discourse with that which Solomon makes the Conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep his Commandments, etc. For God will bring every work to Judgement, and every secret thing, whether Good or Evil.    

Quest. How the uncharitable and dangerous Contentions that are among Professors of the true Religion, may be allayed? SERMON III.  GALAT. V. 15. But if ye by't and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. 
MY Business from this Scripture is to inquire into the Cause, the Danger, and the Cure of uncharitable Contentions in the Church of God.  
The Holy Apostle Paul having some few Years before planted a Church in Galatia, a region in the upper parts of the lesser Asia, there soon crept in a sort of false Teachers; who contended, that the Mosaical Ceremonies, in particular, that Circumcision was still to be observed, even by the believing Gentiles; and that the Christians were not justified before God by Faith, but by the Works of the Law. Which two Errors, when he had fully confuted in the former part of this Epistle, he Applies in this Chapter and in the Next. 1. By way of Exhortation, to stand fast in this their Christian Liberty, ver. 1. which he backs with divers Arguments. 2. By way of Direction, to use the same aright, not for an occasion to the Flesh, ver. 13. the Works whereof he afterwards reckons up at large; but rather, that they should by Love serve one another, and abound in all Holiness and Goodness, which he enlargeth upon in the rest of this Chapter and in the Next.  
This Text in hand lies within the Verge of this latter Use; where the Apostle using their own Weapon, the Law, whereof they cracked so much, against themselves; he roundly tells them, that the whole Law, to wit, the second Table, which also hath an inviolable connexion with the first, is fulfilled in loving their Neighbour as themselves; and so, though they were free from the Law of Ceremonies, yet not from the Law of Love; and though the Moral Law had now no power to justify the Sinner, nor to condemn the Believer, yet still it hath the force of a Rule, to guide them in that grand Duty, as much as ever before.  
These Words than come in as a Motive, to press the Galathians to exercise that Charity, which he had affirmed before to be the sum and scope of the whole Law, and it is drawn from the Danger of the contrary temper. Plain Commands of God should be sufficient to sway us to our Duty; but generally we have need of the most powerful Motives; especially, when the violent streams of Rage, Lust, or Revenge do oppose it; as in the Case ●efore us, But if ye by't and devour one another, take heed that ye be not c●●●●med one of another.  
In which Words you may see, 1. The Sin specified, whereof they were supposed to be guilty: But if ye by't— that is, reproach and defame one another; some violently maintaining these Jewish Ceremonies, and others passionately opposing them:— and devour one another; that is, tear and oppress each other, by all the mischievous Hostilities ye can; for religious Feuds are always sharpest. 2. Here is the Danger forewarned, in Case they proceeded therein; take heed that ye be not consumed one of another; that is, you will certainly destroy one another. The Division of the Members must issue in the Dissolution of the Body. The Decay of your Love will weaken your Faith, both parties will rue it, ye will be in danger of total ruin, Body and Soul, here and hereafter.  
Now if we consider these words only in Hypothesi, or in Relation to these Persons in the Text, they teach us, 1. That there were Contentions in the Church of Galatia: So that Unity is no infallible Mark of a true Church. Unity may be out of the Church of Christ, and Dissension may be within it.  
2. That many People were Violent in them: For the Apostle would scarce have expressed himself in such terms of biting and devouring, unless there had been some outrageous Carriage among them toward one another.  
3. That these Contentions were very dangerous to them all: They threatened no less than the overthrow of both the contending Parties, the consumption of them all.  
But considering the words of the Text in Thesi, or Absolutely, which we may safely do, seeing the same Causes do still produce, or at least dispose unto the same Effects, we may collect this Conclusion.  That Uncharitable Contentions do prepare for utter Destruction. 
And here I shall, 1. Clear and open the Terms. 2. Amplify and confirm the Truth: And, 3. Apply and bring home the Influence of this Point unto ourselves.  
I. To understand the Subject of this Proposition, to wit, Uncharitable Contentions, we must distinguish  
1. Of the Matter of Contentions; and they are either of a Civil, or of a Spiritual Nature. 1. Of a Civil Nature, which concern Men in their Lives, Liberties, Names, or Estates: And these are either Private or Public. 1. Private Contentions, which are about Meum and Tuum; and these are troublesome to those which are in the right, and damnable to those that are in the wrong, and oftentimes ruinous unto both; and therefore are by all good means to be prevented, or else by all fair and just means to be managed; and all fit opportunities are to be watched, not so much to obtain a full Victory, as a quiet Conclusion; lest the Remedy prove, as it doth frequently, worse than the Disease. 2. Public Contentions, which are usually about the Succession, Power or Prerogative of Princes, and the Liberties or Properties of Subjects. And here, seeing Right and ●●stice can be but with one of the contending Parties, both aught to find it out, and to acquiesce therein; and to beware, lest private Ends preponderate the Public Good, that Princes be not fond of unlimited Power, nor Subjects fond of unlimited Liberty.  
2. Some Contentions are of a Spiritual Nature, concerning Religion, and matter of Conscience: And these are either about things that are Essential and Fundamental therein, that is, about such Truths as are plainly revealed, and necessary to Salvation; for these indeed we must contend earnestly, but yet charitably, with the softest words, and hardest Arguments we can; even for these things we must not by't and devour one another: Such were some of the Points in debate among the Galathians. Or else they are about things that are Controversal in Religion, that is, that are not Essential or Fundamental, or that are not plainly appointed of God; as matters of Order, Ceremony, and such other circumstances: About which, in these latter Ages of the Church, there have been in divers places the greatest Contentions. Now as it is very culpable to be Circumstantial in Fundamentals, so it is very ridiculous to be Fundamental in Circumstantials.  
2. We must Distinguish of the Manner of these Contentions. They are either 1. Charitable, when there is Love in the Heart, when there is Kindness in the Tongue and Pen, when there is a civil and sweet Behaviour in the Carriage of the Parties that differ; and these may be called rather Dissensions than Contentions; rather differing from one another's Conceptions, than contrary to one another's Persons. Or else they are 2. Uncharitable, when rancour is in the Heart, reviling in the Tongue or Pen, rage, at least all manner of rudeness and disobligation in the Carriage; when men speak and write so, as if they would by't and devour one another: And of these the Conclusion is to be understood, that they prepare for utter Distraction; and this now is the First thing to be opened.  
2. What Destruction those do prepare for, which is the Predicate of the Proposition: And the Destruction they threaten, is, 1. Mutual or Total: All that the one opposite Party aims at, is to disgrace, to run down and to ruin the other; but take heed that ye be not consumed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, each by other, or that ye perish not one under another. Satan, the old Apollyon, who blows the bellows of Contention, designs and endeavours the ruin of both; neither of you will have cause to boast in the end. 2. The Destruction that these lead unto is Final, eternal Destruction, so the Word in the Text doth frequently signify: The Wrath of God kindled hereby may inflict it, and the Infidelity and Scepticism that results from them may procure it: So saith a Great Divine 
(a) Luther in loc.  abroad, that ye perish not utterly; so saith, a Great Divine 
(b) Bp. Hall par. in loc.  at home, Take heed lest ye be the Authors of each others endless Confusion: And so much for the Explication.  
II. The Amplifying and Confirming of this Point shall be done under these following Propositions.  
1. That there ever were, are, and will be Differences amongst God's own People in the matters of Religion.  
2. That these Differences may, and should be managed with Charity.  
3. That these Contentions are Uncharitable, when men by't and devour one another.  
4. That such Contentions do prepare for Destruction.  
Propos. 1. There ever were, are, and will be Differences among God's own People in the matters of Religion: Even amongst the Jews, who had such punctual Rules prescribed before them, yet the School of Hillel went one way, and the School of Shammai went another, and their Contentions sometimes were sprinkled with the Blood one of another. And no sooner was the Gospel planted, but the Professors of it fell at variance about matters of Religion: Plain in the Controversies about Circumcision, for the quieting whereof that famous Council met at Jerusalem, Act. 15. The like Differences arose in the Church at Rome about Meats and Days, the strong Christians despising the weak, and the weak censuring the strong, Rom. 14. The like Dissension in the Church of Corinth, about eating Meats offered to Idols, 1 Cor. 8. and about the exercise of spiritual Gifts, 1 Cor. 14. In the Church of Galatia, you may perceive by this Text, to what height their Differences did rise, that they were in danger to devour one another. At Philipi, Colosse and Thessalonica, matters were much at the same pass: Scarce any single Church in the New Testament was clear of Difference in matters of Religion: And this whilst the Blood of Our Saviour was warm, and divers of the Apostles were yet alive. Shortly after, what dreadful Combustions were kindled in the Church by Novatus, then by Donatus; to say nothing of other Heretics, who not holding the Head, cannot reasonably be reckoned in the Body Mystical of Christ, his Church. The Story is sadly remarkable of Chrysostom and Epiphanius, two Bishops that contended so bitterly with one another, that Epiphanius in his fury wished that Chrysostom might never die a Bishop, and Chrysostom in his Passion wished that Epiphanius might never go home-alive; and the History tells us, that it fell out to them both accordingly. So that no considering man will admire, or be offended at a Disease, which hath been incident to the true Church of Christ in all ages past.  
Let not the present Church of Rome too much boast of her Unity, for the Case hath been no better there: For, as there hath been more Schisms among them, than in any other Church whatsoever, so there have been Collected out of the very Writings of their Eminent Doctors, some Hundreds of Differences among themselves in Points of Religion; and they are Strangers in the World that are ignorant of the Quarrels between the Thomists and the Scotists, between the Dominicans and the Jesuits; and many can still remember the feuds between the Jansenists and Molinists, all of them within that Communion.  
And it is not only among Christians, that these Differences in Religious matters are to be found; but the like Dissension is to be met with among Turks and Infidels: The Persian Kingdom and divers Others following Haly, and the Grand Signior and his Dominions following Osman, the two great Sect-masters in that sorry Religion; insomuch as the Persian Turks do execrate the other in their daily Prayers, saying, Cursed be Ebubeker, Omar and Osman, and God be favourable to Haly, and be well pleased with him. Yea, it is no better among the very Heathens, even the most learned of them, to wit, the Philosophers; of whom One of their Own saith, Tunc inter Philosophos conveniet, quando inter Horologia: Well therefore doth Athanasius answer them, when they objected Diversity of Opinions to the Christians in the Primitive times, that even they did some of them worship one God, and some of them another, and could neither agree about the Object, nor the Manner of their Devotions.  
By all which it is evident, that as there have been different Opinions and Practices among all sorts of Religions in the World, so the Church of God hath been subject to the same Malady.  
And as it was from the beginning, so it is now, and so will it be, till the World have an end, until the Church of God be presented to Jesus Christ, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing: And the Causes hereof are evident.  
1. Our general Imperfection in this Life: As the best men are imperperfect in their Holiness, so are they in their Knowledge, there will be Defects in our Understanding, as well as in our Will: Some are Babes in Knowledge, others are strong Men; some have need of Milk, being unskilful in the Word of righteousness; others are of fuller Age, and have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, Heb. 5.12, 13, 14. Foolish men are ready to burden the Scriptures in Vulgar Tongues with the Differences that are found in Religion; but therein they blaspheme the Holy Ghost, for the Word of God is a clear Light; the Cause of Mistakes is the weakness and blindness of our Eyesight, whereby we cannot all with equal clearness see into the meaning of it, by reason of this our Imperfection: So that it is scarce possible to prevent all Diversity of Opinions in Religion, unless every pious Man had a Promise of Infallibility annexed to his Piety.  
2. men's Education contributes much hereunto: It is manifest how strong an Influence this hath upon all People's Understandings: The Principles which then they imbibe, be they right or wrong, they generally live and die with: Few will be at the pains to examine them, and few have a mind to alter them. So that it is much to be doubted, that if it had been the fate of many of our professed Christians; to have been born and bred under the Turk or M●gu●, they had both quietly and resolutely proceeded in their Religion. And proportionably to be bred under Parents, Masters, or Tutors of a different Opinion or Practice in the true Religion, must needs greatly bias such Persons towards the same; and every one not having the very same Education, there follows a kind of necessity of some difference in Religion.  
3. men's Capacities are different: Some have a greater sagacity to penetrate into things than others; some have a clearer Judgement to weigh and determine of things than others; some have more solid Learning by far than others, and these doubtless will attain to an higher Form and Class than others can. Others have neither such natural Abilities, nor Time to read and think of matters, so as to improve and advance their minds to the pitch of others. And there are not a few, who as they are duller in Apprehension, so they are commonly hotter in Affection and Resolution. And it is scarce possible to reduce these Persons, that are so unequal in their Capacity, to an Identity of Opinion: And then out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth will be apt to speak, and so there will follow some Difference in the matters of Religion.  
4. men's natural Tempers are different; some more airy and Mercurial, some more stiff and Melancholy; and those Complexions do strongly and insensibly incline People to those Sentiments that are most suitable and proper to such Temperaments; which being divers, yea, almost contrary, must of necessity when they are applied to matters of Religion, breed variety of Apprehensions. And the same Holy Spirit which inspired the sacred Penmen of the Scriptures, and yet therein adapts himself, as is manifest, to their Natural Genius, cannot be expected in his Ordinary Illuminations to thwart and stifle the natural temper of all Mankind; neither are those Notions which do grow upon men's Natural Constitution, easily any other way altered. And,  
5. men's Interests are different; the best of Men have something of the Old Adam in them: And though the sincere Christian must and will strive against any such Temptation, yet according to the strength of unmortified Corruption Men will be prone to be for this Opinion, Practice or Party, and against that Opinion, Practice or Party that falls in or out with their Worldly Interest. Not that any good Man doth wittingly calculate his Profession for his base ends, but yet they may secretly bias him, especially in more minute and dubious matters belonging to Religion. It is a great Question, what Way or Party many Men would choose, if their present Profession were quite stripped of all carnal and worldly Advantages and Considerations, and that they were left to square out their Religion only with the Bible.  
Now from these and many other Causes it sadly follows, (for the consequence is a matter to be bewailed) there will be Differences among the People of God in Points of Religion; especially in minuter matters, which are but darkly described, and more darkly apprehended by the Sons of Men. In short, that there is no more hope of perfect. Unity on Earth, than there is of perfect Holiness: 'Tis to be endeavoured, but not fully attained till we arrive in Heaven: Then we shall come in the Unity of the Faith, and of the Knowledge of the Son of God, when we are grown perfect men, according to the measure of the s●●ture of the fullness of Christ, Ephes. 4.11.  
Propos. 2. These Differences may and should be managed with Charity▪ Not but that Unity should by all good men be first endeavoured; and to that end, they should all impartially seek for Truth, on which side soever it lies; and this every humble diligent man shall find. The Spirit of God, which is promised unto his Church, and which every true Believer shall have for ask, will guide all such into all necessary saving Truth; and all other Unity save in the Truth, is but Conspiracy: Accursed is that Charity, saith Luther, which is preserved by the Shipwreck of Faith or Truth, to which all things must give place, both Charity, yea on Apostle, yea an Angel from Heaven. If the one must be dispensed withal, it is Peace and not Truth. Better to have Truth without public Peace, than Peace without saving Truth: So Dr. Gauden. We must not sail for the Commodity of Peace beyond the Line of Truth; we must break the Peace in Truth's quarrel, so another Learned man. But this is to be understood of necessary and essential Truths, in which Case, that Man little consults the Will and Honour of God, who will expose the Truth to obtain (as saith Nazianzen) the repute of an easy mildness: Speciosum quidem nomen est pacis, & pulchra opinio Vnitatis, sed quis dubitat eam solam Ecclesiae pacem esse, qua Christi est, saith Hilary. But when as, after all such endeavours have been used, as are within the reach of a Man's Parts and Calling, ●●ill Differences do remain in smaller matters, these aught to be managed with all Charity; that is, with true Love, a Love of Honour and respect to those that are above us; a Love of Condescension and forbearance to those that are below us; and a Love of hearty  and Kindness to those that are equal to us; for Aquinas well saith, that that Concord which is the Effect of Charity, is the union of Affections not of Opinions: There may be the same Love in the Heart, where there are not the same Notions in the Head; and this will keep the strong Christian from despising the weak, and this will keep the weak Christian from censuring and judging the strong. They may be of the same Heart, who are not every way of the same Mind; or else there could scarce be real Affection between any two Persons in the World: Pax non est consensio ingeniorum, sed conjunctio animorum; sentire in omnibus tecum, nunc quidem non possum, sed amare debeo; as Naeranus well said. This is that more excellent way, which the Apostle doth so divinely describe and advance, 1 Cor. 13. throughout a whole Chapter.  
But yet this Method is Hard, and very rare, and that chief by reason of our Pride: Most men thinking too well of themselves, and consequently of their Opinion and Practice; and thereupon vilifying all others that differ from them. Every man would be a Lawgiver, a God to another, would prescribe to them and quarrel with them for their Dissent; insomuch as the Wise man affirms, Prov. 13.10. that Only by Pride comes contention. If we had but that lowliness of mind, whereby to esteem others better than ourselves, than nothing would be done through strife or vainglory, which the Holy Ghost doth earnestly require, Philip. 2.3. But we are as apt to be fond of our own Notions, as of our own Children; and as rarely to value others, as if we were the only People, and Wisdom must die with us, and all others must strike sail unto us: And from this root springs Passion and distemper of spirit; and then perit Judicium, cùm res transit in Affectum; when men's Passions are once kindled, than Wrath and Revenge manage the Controversy, and one Christian is ready to by't and devour another.  
But certainly it should not be thus: Religious Differences should be managed religiously; that is, piously and charitably: This may be, 'tis possible, for it is prescribed and pressed, Rom. 14.13. Let us not therefore judge one another any more— And why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? and ver. 19 Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace. And this should be; for Charity is a Grace of an universal extent, we own it to all, to the weak, to the ignorant, to the peevish, to the proud, to the good and to the bad, Rom. 13.8. Own no man any thing, but to love one another. And it is of that necessary Connexion with other saving Graces, that we can neither have Faith nor Hope, unless we have Charity; yea, the greatest of these is Charity, 1 Cor. 13.13. And herein the true Church of Christ hath ever excelled: The Fathers of old in their dealing wit the Donatists would account them their Brethren, when they could not prevail with them for a Reciprocation. And it is a Golden saying of Bernard; Adhaerebo vobis, etiamsi nolitis, adhaerebo vobis etsi nolim ipse: cum turbatis, ero pacificus; dabo locum ●rae, ne diabolo dem: I'll cleave to you against your Will; I will cleave to you even against my own Will; when ye are moved, I will be quiet; I'll give place to anger, that I may not give place to the Devil.  
And there is great Reason for such a Temper; for every Difference in Religion creates not a different Religion: While Men do hold the Head, they must needs be of the Body. Where the same substantial Doctrine is avowed, accidental variety is very tolerable, especially where the Peace of God's Church is not infringed. It was worthy Bishop Reynolds' Conclusion, Where the same strait road to Heaven is kept, a small difference of paths hinders not Travellers from coming to the same Inn at night: So neither should they bitterly contest about the next way, who steadily own the same Guide, the same Rule, the same End; only every one hath not so clear an Eye, nor such opportunity to know the more obscure Points pertaining to the Christian Religion, which others have: Therefore in these things Luther's Motto is best, In quo aliquid Christi video, illum diligo; where there is any thing of Christ, there I love: And this Love will cover, not one or two, but a multitude of sins and infirmities.  
Propos. 3. These Dissensions are Uncharitable, when Persons by't and devour one another. The spring of all this Poison is in the Heart, for out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh and the Hand acts. There's a Defect of real and fervent Love, and an Excess of Selfishness within; Self-opinion, Self-will, and Self-interest: And this Arrogance breeds Insolence, and all the biting and devouring mentioned in this place. Now if these two Expressions do bear a distinct signification, than  
1. Men do By't one another by keen and venomous Words. When Men do whet their Tongues like a Sword, and bend their bows to shoot their Arrows, even bitter words, Psal. 64.3. The Tongue (unbridled) is a fire, a world of Iniquity, it sets on fire the course of Nature, and it is set on fire of Hell, Jam. 3.6. What flames of Strife have the Tongues and Pens of Men kindled and continued in the World!  
Sometimes by Censuring their Brethren, they are time-servers, proud, covetous, superstitious; or they are conceited, peevish, factious: Especially if any one be really scandalous, by imputing it presently to all his Party, as if they were all such, which is the most Unjust and Uncharitable Inference imaginable; for what Party of Men is there on Earth, wherein there are none that are foolish, false and wicked? In short, there is no Vice more common and mischievous, not only among different Parties, but with all sorts of People, than in their ordinary Conversation to let fly their censorious Arrows against others; insomuch as it's very rare to speak of any one behind their back, without some reflection upon them, which is not only a biting, but a backbiting one another, and so the more base and mischievous.  
Sometimes Men By't one another by plain Slandering one another, charging them with Crimes which they abhor; thus One Party reckons all their Opposites to be presently Enemies to the King and to the Church, who on the Other side are as ready to count them Enemies to God and to his People, monopolising Godliness to One Party, and Loyalty to Another: Nay, each is ready to appropriate all Religion and good Conscience to themselves, and to unsanctify and vilify all of the contrary mind. A common course of Hypocrites, first to degrade a godly Man into ungodliness, that so they may have room to hate him. Though the same Law, and the same Lawgiver forbids us to bear false witness against our Neighbour, that forbids the Worshipping of a graven Image.  
And sometimes men By't by downright Railing, if not Cursing those that differ from them, devising and affixing the most disgraceful Names and Titles, concluding them all to be Knaves or Fools that are of a contrary mind, both Praying and Drinking to their Confusion. Thus Men sharpen their Tongues like a Serpent; Adders Poison is under their lips, Psal. 140.3. Their throat is an open sepulchre, their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: But the wrath of man worketh not the Righteousness of God. A bad cause is never made better, but a good cause is always made worse by such methods. Adeo invisa est mihi discordia (says Erasmus) ut veritas etiam seditiosa displiceat: As God's Truth needs not Man's lie, so neither doth it need his rancour to uphold or promote it.  
2. Men Devour one another by Actual Endeavours to injure and hurt one another, when their inward rage breaks out into overt Actions, and Practices tending to ruin their Brethren: And this is done sometimes, 1. By fraud, which signifies all the cunning devices, which Malice can suggest, whereby to undermine their credit, estate and comfort. Such there were of old, and yet Professors of a true Religion; of whom the Psalmist, Psal. 10.9, 10. He lieth in wait to catch the poor: He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his Net: He croucheth and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. It is endless to particularise all the arts and sleights of uncharitable men each against other; but the end is to devour the Estates, Lives, Names and Posterity of others. And is this to love your Neighbour as yourselves? or to do as you would be done to? nothing less. 2. Sometimes this is done by Force: When either party can get any humane Law on their side, down without mercy go all their Opposites; yea, sometimes without it, and beyond it; yea, oftentimes you shall see them most zealous for compliance with one or two Laws, which fit their humour, who live in the continual breach of twenty others. All Ages have groaned under this disease; what work did not only the Arians and Circumcellians make of old, when they got power into their hands, but in latter ages nothing hath been more common, than the employing the secular arm to the utmost by those that could obtain it, to promote their purposes. But where is that Dovelike innocence and harmlesness this while? Columbae non sunt, (saith Augustine,) accipitres sunt, milvi sunt, non laniat columba: And he, though he was zealous in writing against the Errors of the Donatists, yet professed that he had rather be slain by them, than occasion their persecution unto Death.  
Propos. 4. These uncharitable Contentions do prepare for utter Destruction. So saith, 1. The Scripture. So 2. All History and Experience. 3. Undeny- Reason confirms it.  
1. For Scripture; see Hos. 10.2. Their heart is divided, now shall they be found faulty. There may be different Notions in the head, yea, there may be different practices, one may eat Flesh, and another only Herbs, and yet the Church may flourish. It was a good Motto of a great Scholar, Opinionum varietas, & Opinantium unitas non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But when the Distemper lodges at the Heart, when that's wounded, when that's divided, the Man dies: And this is not only meant of man's heart divided and distracted from God, but of men's hearts divided from one another, which it should seem was the Case of Israel at that time under the reign of Hoshea. And what follows? Now shall they be found faulty, or, as the word will bear, and others render it, They shall be made desolate. This will prepare them for certain and speedy desolation; now shall they be made desolate. Agreeable to which is our own Saviour's words, Matth. 12.25. Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought into desolation; and every City or House divided against itself, shall not stand. Where you see, 1. One great Cause of the ruin of a Kingdom, City or Family, which is being divided against itself. If the Head and Members be set one against another, nay, if there be only an inveterate jealousy between them, it is often fatal; but when the Hearts of a People in a Kingdom, City, or Family, are in a burning Fever one against another, and no art or means can qualify them; a dissolution of the Body, a desolation of that People is at hand; for so it follows, every such Kingdom is brought into desolation. Where 2. You see the greatness of that ruin that follows, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it shall be made desert and desolate; which implies and contains all the miseries that do concur to make a Kingdom a desert. It will not only be shaken, endangered, weakened and decayed; but if some speedy and effectual remedy be not applied, it is ruined utterly. 3. See the Certainty thereof; for, as our Saviour speaks positively in the beginning of the Verse, it is brought into desolation, so in the latter end of the verse as peremptorily, it shall not stand. The undoubted seeds of ruin are in it; nothing but an Eradication of them by real amendment can prevent it. And lest any place, Angle or Isle in the World should think to escape, see, 4. The universality of this Axiom: Every Kingdom, every City, and every House, though the Kingdom be never so well peopled, never so well furnished, never so well fortified; though the City be never so well built, never so well chartered, never so well traded; though the House be never so well situate, never so well guarded, never so well adorned; yet if the Inhabitants be divided against themselves, they will come to desolation. But the Text in hand is sufficient to affirm this position, Take heed that ye be not consumed one of another; which Caution questionless implies manifest danger, and the danger is no less than mutual consumption, or utter perishing, as you heard before: Hic enim est dimicationis exitus, as Grotius; the end of these Contentions, if they be not repent and extinguished, is Temporal, Spiritual, and Eternal Ruin.  
2. Histories and Experience do attest the same. For Contentions in general, it is evident, that the Divisions which were among the Trojans, made way for their overthrow by the Greeks: the like animosities among the Greeks, brought them under the slavery of Philip: The Feuds that were among the Assyrians, brought in the Persians; and the like among the Persians, subjected them to the Macedonians: and the Contentions among Alexander's Successors rendered them up to be swallowed by the Romans one after another; yea, the Roman Empire itself, near the time when the Western and the Eastern branches of it were hottest in Contention about the Supremacy of their Bishops, and about Images, behold the Goths and Vandals destroyed the one, and the Saracens and Turks ruined the other. The scandalous discords among the Jews, exposed Jerusalem at length to that dreadful desolation by Titus Vespasian: And for this Island, it hath been still accounted like some great Animal, that can only be ruined by its own strength: The Contentions of the Britan's, made the Romans Conquerors; Et cum singuli pugnant, omnes victi. Afterwards the Saxons came in upon the Divisions of the Natives; and the Contentions of the Saxons, prepared the way for the Normans. And for Religious differences, it's known how Julian the Apostate cherished those between the Catholics and the Donatists, saying, That no savage Beasts were so cruel against one another, as the Christians; so that he expected thereby to ruin them all. It is notorious what famous and numerous Churches were once in afric, but by the Contentions of the Manichees, then of the Donatists, they are now extinguished. The Contentions among the Protestants in King Edward the Sixth's Reign, ended in the Persecution by Queen Mary: and if ever the Romans ruin us again, it will be procured by our Contentions among ourselves. It is but reasonable to leave those Children in the dark, who will be still fight about the Candle; and it will be just with God to force them to agree in Red, that are still bickering about Black and White. The one party may think to extirpate the other, but both are like to rue it; and they that have been complices in guilt, must look to be companions in the punishment. By all which you may see whither these uncharitable Contentions do usually tend, and where they are like to end: And,  
3. There is too much Reason for it. 1. Ex parte Rei. These Dissensions have a natural tendency to promote our destruction; nothing can more properly bring it to effect. For,  
1. They weaken that Confidence that is necessary for the preservation of a People. Jealousy is the great bane of Families, Churches and Nations, but a mutual confidence establishes them. How can those that by't and devour one another, confide in one another? And if the Parts be thus ill-affected, how crazy must the whole Body be? When we can see little or nothing amiss in a Person, or in an Action, and yet do suspect that there is something concealed, even this creates a distrust, and weakens the welfare of the whole; much more when suspicions are boiled up into actual dissension, it must needs expose such a Church and Nation to the utmost peril. For than men presently put the worst construction upon each other, and upon all their words and actions. You know every thing hath two handles; we should take every thing by the charitable handle, and if it be capable of a fair and friendly sense, so we should receive it; for so we desire in all Cases to be understood: we would not be always interpreted in the worst sense, and why then should we deal so with others? Charity thinketh no evil. It's true, it behoves Men in Office and Trust to be watchful, and to stand much upon their guard, for the prevention of public dangers; but with private persons to put ill interpretations upon one another's words or carriage, argues ill Nature and baseness of Spirit; and this humour greatly weakens that confidence which is necessary to the happiness of any people.  
2. They destroy that Love which is the Cement of all Societies. As they proceed from a defect of Love, so they quite ruin the remainders of it. Now this love unites, and so strengthens: but when men's Hearts are once divided from each other, what care I what becomes of them I hate? That made that Scythian Scilurus when he was on his Deathbed, to cause a bundle of Javelins to be brought and laid before his eighty Sons, who being commanded to break the whole bundle, could not possibly do it; but when they were untied, they easily broke them one after another: teaching them thereby to cleave to one another, and that their Division would be their Destruction. Hereupon it is worth our notice, that the Apostle when he musters up the works of the Flesh in this Chapter, vers. 20. Nine kinds of them are contrary to this Love, to wit, Hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders: And when the Fruits of the Spirit are reckoned, vers. 22. behold how many of them are akin to this Love which I am speaking of. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness: As if the carnal man were composed only of Flame, and the spiritual man made up of Benignity: But such unkind Contentions, like rust or canker, do consume this love; and so each part looking only to itself, there is none that take care of the whole; and so, as by Concord small things increase, so by Discord great things waste to nothing.  
3. They prepare for the most desperate Actions. For when there is a dislike settled within, and that men's spirits are exasperated by provoking words and actions, there wants nothing but opportunity to produce the most violent effects. The Text seems to give warning hereof, by saying, Take heed that ye be not consumed one of another; as if he should say, Whomsoever you thus by't and provoke, may possibly be tempted to revenge it, and so you will fall foul upon one another: your common Enemies may well think and say, Let them alone, they'll tear one another in pieces, etc. Behold the sparks of Civil War, and what else but ruin can follow such premises? We undertake hereby to be our own Executioners, and spare our Enemies the pains of destroying us. From whence come wars and fightings among you, come they not from hence, even of your lusts, that war in your members? And hereupon that following advice is given; Speak not evil one of another, brethren: He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the Law, and judgeth the Law, Jam. 4.1.11. And it hath been observed, that Religious Feuds (the more is the pity) are generally the most fierce and violent; whether because the best things being corrupted, prove the worst; or that mistaken Conscience, and misguided Zeal do hurry men to the greatest excesses; and that people think that they can never be too earnest and vigorous in their actings for God; John 16.2. The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth God service. How dangerous must those Bigotts and those Zealots be to one another, that believe they serve God best, when they hate and mischief one another worst? No persecution from without can be so fatal to the Church of God, as the struggle in her Womb: As no storms or tempests do rend and tear the Earth so much, as the convulsions that are within it. And as their Uncharitable Contentions do thus Ex parte Rei, procure,  
So 2. They do Ex parte Dei, deserve Destruction; and therefore they do plainly prepare for it. 1. They do provoke the Wrath of God. God is Love, he is the God of Peace, and then these must evidently offend and cross his Blessed Nature. The more patiented, quiet and mild men are, the liker are they to God, and the more uncharitable and implacable, the liker to the Devil, the Accuser of the Brethren. When our dear Saviour, who came on purpose to reconcile God and Man, and men to men; The Anthem which was sung by Angels, was, Glory to God in the highest, on Earth peace, and goodwill unto men. These Contentions do ring these Bells backward, and chase away that peace and goodwill back to Heaven again. When Joseph was so kind to his guilty Brethren, as to be reconciled to them, he sent them back again with this charge, Genes. 45.24. See that ye fall not out by the way; q. d. See, I am reconciled to you all, quarrel not among yourselves; a most kind and equal advice! In like manner our Blessed Saviour, when he had obtained Remission for us, commanded all his Disciples to have salt in themselves, and to have peace one with aaother; he renews no Commandment, but that of loving one another: And the Holy Ghost in the Apostles doth still inculcate this Lesson above all others, to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, to be like minded, to have the same Love, to do nothing through strife or vainglory, to avoid the provoking one another. Now how inexcusable doth this leave all fiery and contentious spirits? And how justly may they be handled without any Mercy, that handle their brethren without any Charity? And certainly, as the Lord commands a blessing upon Brethren that dwell together in unity, Psal. 133. so it is a manifest token of his wrath, when a spirit of dissension is sent upon People; when Manasseh is set against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manass●h, and they together against Judah, than it follows, for all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still: Isa. 9.21. And look as the Husbandman deals with his wayward , when they cannot agree in the Field, he pounds them up, and makes them quiet in the Fold; so may our Just and Holy God make all those that cannot unite in the Church, to agree at the Stake. As Meletius and Peter Bishop of Alexandria, who fell into such debate when they were in Prison for the same Cause, that they refused to hold communion together, till they both at length agreed in Red. And so two other learned men were at such discord in the Mines, whither they were condemned for Christianity, that they made up a Wall between their Works, to keep them asunder, till at last they met at the fatal Pile.  
2. They consume the Power and Life of Godliness. God's grace never thrives in an unquiet Spirit. The Jews say that Jehovah lives in Salem, which signifies Peace; but he cannot live in Babel, which signifies Confusion. That Zeal, that Time, those Studies which should be employed in the increasing of saving Knowledge, Faith, Hope and Holiness, they are all consumed in these uncharitable Contentions. Instead of making our own Calling and Election sure, we are busy to reprobrate our Brethren, and to render their Calling ineffectual: Instead of considering one another to provoke to Love and good Works, these engage us to consider all the defects and faults of others, and to provoke them to Anger, and to every evil Work. This is fasting for strife and debate; these embitter our Prayers, and hinder our access to God, when we cannot lift up unto him holy hands without wrath, nor without doubting; yea, they'll tempt us to restrain Prayer before God, or to do, as Mr. Latimer tells of some, that would not say the Lord's-Prayer at all, lest they should be thereby obliged to forgive others; and therefore in the stead thereof went to our Lady's Psalter. How can such approach the Holy Table, that will make no agreement with their Adversaries? that will not forgive, that desire not to be forgiven? In short, where envying and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work. But the Wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated— And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace, Jam. 3.16, 17, 18.  
It will be Objected here, That it is our Duty, where we have Right and Truth on our side, to contend earnestly. So they were exhorted, Judas 3. to contend earnestly for the Faith, which was once delivered to the Saints. To be cool or lukewarm, is to betray and sell the Truth; and this Neutrality becomes no man in the Cause of Truth.  
To this I Answer, 1. We must consider the Nature and Consequence of Truth; that is, that it be a great or necessary Truth: For though no Truth must be denied, yet many Truths may be forborn. If every Man should be obliged to vent and propagate at all times every thing which he holds to be true, no place or conversation would be quiet. It was a Truth that a Believer might eat all things, yet the Apostle did not think it necessary to urge or insist upon it, nor that it would quit the cost of a doubtful disputation, Rom. 14.12.  
2. In asserting any Truth a Man may be earnest, and yet charitable: he may think well of his Opposites, and yet think ill of their Opinions; he may oppose an error with a spirit of meekness, with soft words and hard arguments: An excellent direction there is for this; 2 Tim. 2.23, 24, 25. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes: And the Servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patiented: In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. This is far from aggravating men's mistakes, spinning out odious consequences from them, concluding that all of another persuasion do militate against their own Consciences, that worldly interest or vain Humour sways them, that they are ignorant Sots, or superstitious Time-servers, (and the like;) these kind of strive are not for any Servant of the Lord. When Michael had the worst of all adversaries to dispute with, he durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee, Judas 9 And if a little railing might not be mixed in a Dispute with the Devil himself, how dare any man use it against any one of the same Nature, Nation, and Religion with himself? Most piously therefore was it resolved by divers eminent Germane Divines, who met at Marpurg, to discuss the point of the Real Presence, that though they could not accord therein, yet that they would preserve the bond of Charity inviolable among them.  
Yea, but you Object, That our Opposites are violent; and if we be gentle, we shall but encourage them: Shall they be hot in the wrong, and we lukewarm in the right? How can we handle charitably, such uncharitable persons?  
Unto this I Answer: We may be resolute, and yet charitable, for one Grace never crosses another: As the greatest Courage is still accompanied with the greatest generousness to an Adversary, so the warmest zeal, if true, is attended with the purest Charity; otherwise it is but Rage and Brutishness which is very foreign to the Christian temper. Where true Grace is impressed on the Soul, there graciousness and kindness will be expressed to all men. When all is said and done, all true Christians are sworn Brethren, and must love and bear with one another. Proh dolour! (S. Cyprian) quid facit in cord Christianorum luporum feritas & canum rabbiss?  
2. Bitterness can never cure violence: As the wrath of Man works not the Righteousness of God, so neither doth it work the Reformution of men: One sin can never work a right cure upon another. We see this in ourselves, severity and violence cures no body; and this should be men's design in all Arguments, Disputes and Reproofs, namely, to recover and cure those that are out of the way; but durum super durum non facit murum: Hence the expression of that peaceable Bishop Hall, I am, and profess to be, as the terms stand, on neither, and yet on both parts; for the peace of both, for the humour of neither: how should mortar cement, if it lie not between both stones? The Kingdom of God stands not in meats, in colours, in noises, in gestures; God stands not on such trifles, and why should we? etc. The Wisest of men determines this: Prov. 30.33. The wring of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.  
O but God's Glory (you'll say) is at the stake! therefore it is not only lawful to be zealous, but necessary.  
But, 1. Be sure it be so, that the Honour of God be really concerned in these your Contentions: It is a dangerous thing to engage God's Glory in our sinful affections or expressions. You know how dear it cost Moses that Servant of the Lord, when in great heat against his erring Brethren, he broke out unadvisedly with his lips, saying, Numb. 20.10. Hear now, ye Rebels, must we fetch you water out of this Rock? Though otherwise he was the meekest man upon Earth, and was at that time sufficiently provoked, yet Almighty God would not bear to hear this language from him, and shut him out of the promised land for it. God knows, we are more apt to press God's Glory into the service of our Passions and Interests, than to engage ourselves, and all our abilities, or to deny our humours, for the promoting thereof.  
2. Be it known to you, that though your Ends be very sincere, yet God's Glory hath no need of your Intemperance. As his Truth hath no need of our Lie, so his Honour needs not the rotten pillars of men's passions: Job 13.7, 8. Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him? Will ye accept His Person? Will ye contend for God? He requires it not, he needs it not. The excellency of the end will not legitimate the viciousness of the means; nay, by breaking his Law in these uncharitable Contentions you dishonour him. God's Truth and Honour have almost suffered as much by weak and passionate Advocates, as by open Adversaries.  
3. If you be indeed so concerned for God's Glory, and for his Truth, than you will use all other means to reduce men into the way of Truth. His Glory must be promoted by his own means; you will not only rebuke them, but you'll pray for them; you'll speak as zealously for them to God in Heaven, as you speak against them upon Earth. If they hunger, you will feed them; if they be disparaged or distressed, you will assist them; and thus by heaping coals of fire upon their heads, you will melt them into Repentance; you are not ignorant that the blustering Winds make the Traveller gird his Cloak closer to him, when the warm Sun forces him to lay it aside: And men generally will strengthen themselves in their Opinions, when they are only pelted with wrath and rancour, who may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, when they are instructed with meekness.  
III. For Application. 1. Then it follows, That Union is the true means of our Preservation. Unity of Judgement, this I say again should be endeavoured, not only in weighty Points, but in all matters of Doctrine and Practice: And if men would labour to divest themselves of Prejudice and Interest, this might in a great measure be obtained. Truth is but One; and if all did truly seek Truth, they would surely find it: The integrity of the upright shall guide them, and, the righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way; Prov. 11.3.5. But a violent Prejudice for or against any Opinion or Practice, is a notorious hindrance in finding out the Truth; it shuts the windows that light cannot ●nter: Whoso therefore would find out the plain Truth, must strip himself of all such pre-occupation, as will not suffer him to make an impartial search into the Mind of God about it; and having found it, must render himself prisoner unto it. So also must all worldly Interests be laid at the feet of Truth, and whether the Doctrine or Practice in question be in repute or under disgrace, whether it will gain or lose my best Friends, whether it will prefer or undo me, are not Considerations worthy of him that hath learned to deny himself, and to value the World to come above the Word that now is: I say again, if men did but sincerely seek, they should certainly find, according to Christ's Promise, Matth. 7.7. and so Unity in Judgement, would be attained more than it is, which doubtless would be a sovereign Preservative from Destruction.  
But there is another Unity, which is in Affection, and that is Charity, which is of no less Excellency and Use to our preservation. There may be many, who may call for Unity, not for Truth's sake, but for their own. As Musculus observes upon the Soldiers, that would not divide our Saviour's seamless Coat; but it was not out of any respect to Him, but hoping every one, that it would fall to his Lot: So many cry out for Unity, saith he, not out of Love to the Truth or Unity, but in expectation that the stream shall run in their own Channel. But now Charity, as it would be in all material things on Truth's side, so in things more disputable it can bear some contradiction: and so concludes, In the Substance of Christianity, he that is not with us, is against us; in things Indifferent, he that is not against us, is for us: And to promote this among ourselves, I mean, the Contending Protestants in these Nations,  
Let us consider, 1. How many things we agree in. And if men would begin at this end, and not still at the wrong end, to wit, the few and small things wherein we differ, we could not for very shame be so implacable to one another. We agree in the acknowledgement of the Being and Providence of God against Atheists and Epicures; In the Doctrine of the Trinity, against Mahometans; we agree about the Person, Natures, and Offices of our Redeemer, against all Heretics both Old and New: In short, we agree in the same Creeds, in all the Articles of the Christian Doctrine; yea, we agree in the Substance of the same Wors●●●, and in the same Sacraments, against both Papists, Socinians and Quakers: We have one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. And then in Civils, we agree in our hearty Approbation of our Monarchy, and in a dutiful Allegiance to our King, and in refusing the Supremacy of any other at home or abroad. And how many Particulars of the greatest weight are contained under these Heads, wherein all we Protestants are agreed? And if Unity in the Truth be any ground for Love and Charity, it is incomprehensible, that they who agree in all these things, should be more inveterate against one another, than against such as differ not toto Caelo, but toto tartaro from them both! But it is observed, that the nearer some men are to a conjunction, some difference remaining, the greater is their hatred; thus a Jew hates a Christian, more than he doth a Pagan; and a Papist hates a Protestant, worse than he doth a Jew; and a nominal Protestant hates a Puritan more than he doth a Papist, (as Dr. Featley notes): The Contention of Brethren are like the Bars of a Castle: Prov. 18.19. A most unreasonable, though a very common thing!  
2. Consider the Imperfections of our humane Nature. Our Understandings were sore wounded by the Fall of Adam, and they are but imperfectly and unequally recovered by all the means which the Gospel affords. Why should we condemn every one that is not endowed with our Abilities, or advanced to our Capacity? Do we fall out with one that is purblind, because he cannot see so far, nor so quick as we? we should rather pity him, and praise God who hath been kinder to us. They that are most intelligent, know but in part. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know, 1 Cor. 8.2. That was therefore a good Answer which Melancthon made to those who objected to the Protestants their Divisions; saith he, The judicious agree in fundamentals; but as in a great Army, the skill or strength of all the Captains and of all the Soldiers is not equal, but they all agree in their wills and honest designs to serve their Prince; so all good men have not the like knowledge, but all agree in their sincere love to goodness.  
3. Consider, that you who are so violent, do differ from others, just as far as they differ from you. Do you think that one kind of Government in the Church is best? they do as verily think so of another: do you hold such and such Ceremonies in Religion to be unlawful? they are as confident of the lawfulness of them. Do you conclude, that all Private men's Opinions in such matters ought to be swallowed up, and to acquiesce in the public Determination? they verily believe that the Church should leave them, as the Apostles did, in their first Indifference. Now when such, as do not otherwise forfeit their Veracity, come and profess that they cannot for their Hearts think otherwise than they do; you cannot yield to them▪ they cannot comply with you, what remedy then is so proper, so Christian, as Charity to each other? relying upon that Promise, Philip. 3.15. If in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.  
4. Consider, that there have been greater Differences than Ours among those that were the true Members of Christ's Church: Witness Act. 15.1. Certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. A material Point, and urged you see with great confidence; and yet God forbidden we should blot these out of the roll of true Christians. How resolute were some Great Divines in the Church pro and con in the Case of Rebaptising those that were lapsed in the Primitive times! And what Heart can be so hard, as to deny the Lutherans and Calvinists a place in the Church of Christ, who yet differ in greater matters than ours? Wherefore seeing their Differences were greater than ours, we should not aggravate them against one another, nor by our violence render them intolerable.  
5. Consider your own personal moral Failings. Hath not each of us some right Eye? are we perfectly good? are not we all Men of like Passions? What if our Judge shall say, And why beholdest thou the more that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? thou Hypocrite, etc. Matth. 7.3. Alas, if we were truly conscious of our own Neglects of many Duties, whereof we have been convinced, toward our God, our Neighbour and ourselves; and of the many Transgressions and Faults which we frequently commit, we should much abate our Rigour towards others, and turn our Indignation against ourselves. How sad a business would it be, if any of those who have censured and damned their Opposites for some dubious matters, should prove Slaves to their own Lusts, and be found at last to be wretched Hypocrites in the main things of Religion.  
Use 2. If Uncharitable Contentions do prepare for utter Destruction, Then Woe be to the Instruments and Bellows of our Contentions: If the Evil of them be so great, if the Danger from them be so dreadful, then most wicked and wretched are the promoters of them. woe to the World because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come; but Woe to that Man by whom the offence cometh, Matth. 18.7. If those that set an House or Town on Fire, be justly reckoned and treated as Enemies to humane Society, certainly they who inflame the Souls of Christians against one another, to the ruin of a Church and Nation, deserve the worst Character, and the worst Punishment. But as Ahasuerus once said to Esther, c. 7. v. 5. Who is he? and where is he that dare presume in his heart to do so? And as she answered, The Adversary and Enemy is this wicked Haman; so I may answer,  
1. Our common Adversary and Enemy in this matter is Satan. Our Contentions do plainly smell of fire and brimstone. Legions of Devils, though we cannot see them, are employed herein: He is the Old Accuser of the Brethren, both to God and to one another; that wicked Spirit is the truest Salamander, that lives in the fire of Contention. Divisions are the Devil's Music, but that which makes the Devil laugh should make us weep. How often have there been Essays and Endeavours to reconcile our unhappy Differences, and this cunning and malicious Enemy hath defeated them all? I have somewhere read of a Treaty between a former King of England, and another of France, which was held and concluded in an old Chapel, while their several Armies stood ready expecting the issue: The Kings agreed, and coming out of the Chapel, a Snake or Viper crept out of the old Wall, which they seeing, drew their Swords to defend themselves; which being discerned by their Servants who attended at the door, they drew likewise, and the Armies seeing this did the like, and slaughtered one another a long time before they understood the mistake. And just so hath it often fared with God's Church abroad and at home. Wise and good Men have been ready for a Reconciliation, and in effect agreed, when that Old Serpent the Devil, being ready to burst with Malice at it, hath spoiled so good an enterprise, and renewed the flames of Discord again.  
2. Jesuits and other Emissaries from Rome: These have been Satan's Instruments to set the World in Flames. It was Campanella's old Advice to the Spaniard, that they should by all means keep up Union among themselves, and keep open the breaches among the Protestants. The like by Adam Contzen, another Jesuit, in his Politics. These doubtless did blow the Coals in our Civil Wars, and insinuated themselves into each Party: And it is strange, that though this their Principle and Practice be undeniable, neither side will discern or yield any such Boutefeu's to be among them. What else could maintain that deadly rage and violent Prejudice so long among Englishmen and Protestants, whose Temper and Religion is of itself so sweet and gentle, but such Instruments as these, who aggravate Differences, and exasperated men's spirits, and endeavour to persuade People, that it is better to yield to a Foreign Religion than to one another? and to this end their Doctrines and Ceremonies are represented with the fairest and falsest Colours, our first Reformers abroad and at home slily censured, and our domestic Differences rendered irreconcilable.  
3. Atheistical and Debauched Persons: These hate all sound Religion in whomsoever, and are ripe for any Profession which will gratify their Lusts, and so are as ready to be Mahumetans as Romans; who for all their Professions of Loyalty, would hate their Governors at the Heart, if the Laws were strictly executed against their Vices. These cry out, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us; and so must needs abhor any such Settlement, as would conduce to the flourishing o● ●eal Piety. Besides, their Practices provoke God to fasten his Judgements upon us, whereof our Contentions are not the least. And also these having an inveterate Antipathy to all sober and religious Persons of what Character soever, do equally hate such of every Party, and on the other side adhere unto and animate the loser sort, whose Religion consists in Humour, Noise, or Show; and wherever they live are pouring Oil into our Flames.  
4. Ignorant and Proud People, whereof the number is too great in every Party: Such as have neither read the Scriptures with Judgement, nor other Ecclesiastical Histories, nor considered the Constitution of the Churches of God in other parts of the World, but only poor upon what is next to their Senses; and these commonly are most conceited and unmoveable, abounding only in their own sense, and condemning all others with the greatest contempt. Of such good old Mr. Greenham is to be understood, when being asked by the Lord Treasurer Cecil, where the blame of that great rent lay between the Bishops of those times and Others: The fault, said he, is on both sides, and on neither side; for the godly-wise on both sides bear with each other, and concur in the main; but there be some selfish, peevish spirits on both sides, and these make the quarrel. And how few are there, that are no way biased by their worldly Interest? which is a strong and irrefragable Argument, and where it rules, will make men content to behold a whole Nation on fire, so that they may warm themselves thereby. How rare a thing is a public Spirit, or a Man that, looking upon the distracted condition of a Church and Nation without the false Spectacles of Prejudice and private Interest, can drop a Christian Tear, or impartially offer any Balm to cure their Wounds? From such as these beforementioned, proceed our Uncharitable Contentions: And woe be to them, unless they repent, that is, amend.  
Use 3. If these prepare for Destruction, Then We in this sinful Nation are in the ready way to misery. For,  
1. Our Differences and Contentions are notorious. Divisions in the Church, Divisions in the Nation; Cities divided, yea Houses divided: Names of Distinction imposed, and no Pacificatory Endeavours, nor Inviting Providences have yet cemented us. Our Enemies smile at it, and our wellwishers mourn.  
2. We are Uncharitable in these Contentions, we by't and devour one another, we censure, we slander, we rail, we damn, and we are ready to mischieve one another, by force, by fraud; the Press sweats, the Pulpit rings with Invectives and with Reproaches. O Lord, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear! even cry out to thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! why dost thou show me iniquity and grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention, etc. Habac. 1.2, 3. The Law of Kindness is banished out of men's Mouths, the Law of Love too much out of men's Hearts: Yea, some Preach Christ of envy, strife, and contention, supposing to add affliction to others bands, (as it was Philip. 1.17.) We may take up Optatus complaint of old, Nullus vestrum est, qui non convitia nostra suis tractatibus misceat: Lectiones Dominicas incipitis, & tractatus vestros ad nostras injurias explicatis. Profertis Evangelium, & facitis absenti fratri convitium. Auditorum animis infigitis odia, inimicitias suadendo, docendo suadetis. This hath been Englished too often in Pulpits, I am loath to do it. In all concourses, instead of kindness, freedom and love, either uncivil clashings, or a fearful reservedness: The worst Interpretations made of one another's actions, words, looks, and behaviour. Certainly the Enemy hath done this, his cloven Foot is evident in these effects; but this is matter of fact, and undeniable.  
3. Too many of those that should quench these flames, exasperated them. If St. Paul were here, he would ask again, as 1 Cor. 6.5. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? I speak it to your shame. If St. James were among us, he would ask as Jam. 3.13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good Conversation his works with meekness of wisdom; and conclude, But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. Magistrates and Ministers should be Healers, but there have been some of these, and that of each Party, that have increased these flames. How industriously have our wounds been kept open? and some have not been ashamed to set themselves against all Coalition and Union. Where are our healing Shepherds? Is there no Balm in Gilead? is there no Physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my People recovered? The Pythagorians had a Custom, that when two fell at Contention, their Leaders would appoint them a meeting before Sunset, and cause them to embrace one another. But we have many to push us on, and few to moderate us in our Contentions. We tear one another in pieces; and if any interpose, he is stigmatised for a Neuter, or else meets with the Parter's portion, to wit, blows on both sides; he finds Livie's Observation but too true, that Media via neque amicos parit nec inimicos tollit. Hear Holy Augustine in the like Case to Hierome and Ruffinus, who were in Contention. Woe is me that I cannot find you nearer together! how am I moved, how do I grieve, what fear am I in! I would fall down at your feet, I would weep and beg each for himself, each for the other, yea for others sakes, especially the weak, that look upon you to their great hazard, Combating as it were upon a Theatre. But where hath this Holy Man left his healing spirit? I am sure this would become those in each Function, and turn to their honour and comfort both here and hereafter.  
4. Our Common Enemy is ready to devour us. The Holy Ghost observes, that when Abraham said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, for we be brethren, that the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land, Gen. 13.7, 8. that if the Relation of Brethren would not sway his Kinsman, yet the reproach and the danger that might fall upon them both from the Canaanite and the Perizzite might check any further breach between them. We have the Canaanites both within the Land and without, that are ready to make one morsel of us, and who after we have condemned one another for Superstition and Schism, will truss us all up for Heresy, without the infinite Mercy of God. Now even Antipathies are laid aside in common dangers, as it is probable that all the Creatures, though of contrary dispositions, agreed in the Ark: And yet we cannot, in this our common peril, agree with our own Countrymen. Luther tells of two Goats, that meeting upon a narrow Plank over a deep River, whereby they could neither turn back nor pass by; the one of them lies down, that the other going over him, they might both escape the danger. If mere Nature can teach these poor Creatures to yield so far to one another, to prevent the Ruin of both; surely Reason, and especially God's Grace being superadded, should teach each different Party, in common dangers, to strive which should submit to other, in what possibly they can, to preserve the whole. It is evident, that we all have a watchful and an unmerciful Enemy, who as they have long abetted our Divisions, so they build their greatest hopes upon the continuance of them; and although they may carry fairer to one side than to another, yet even such must only expect to be used by them as Ulysses was by Polyphemus, to be devoured last. What unaccountable folly than is it for us, with Archimedes, to be taken up with drawing unnecessary lines and figures, while in the mean time, the City is taken, and the Romans come, and take away both our place and Nation.  
Use 4. Let us all then be entreated, conjured, and persuaded to forbear biting and devouring one another. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies, be ye like minded, having the same love, be of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife and vainglory, Philip. 2.1, 2, 3. Leave off this brutish Behaviour towards one another. To which end Consider, 1. The Greatness and baseness of the Sin. 2. The Certainty and sadness of the Danger that attends it. 3. The best Method to Cure the Sin and prevent the Danger.  
For the first, the Greatness and baseness of the Sin.  
1. You break the great Command of God's Law, which is Love. For next to the Love of God, is the Love of our Neighbour; and they are so conjoined, that the one cannot exist without the other: For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 1 Joh. 4.20. When therefore you think you are zealous for God, by this kind of managery you are breaking his Laws. Yea, you break the Royal Law, which Commands you to Love your Neighbour as yourselves, Jam. 2.8. and no other Devotion, Preciseness or Charity will answer for this Defect; as it follws ver. 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, (referring to this very fault) he is guilty of all.  
2. You trample upon the great Precept of the Gospel, which is Love. 1 Joh. 3.23. And this is his Commandment, that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us Commandment. See here, Commandment in the beginning of the Verse, and Commandment again in the end of it; and then it's joined, and goes hand in hand with Faith in Jesus Christ; so that you may as safely be without the one as without the other. And again 1 Joh. 4.21. And this Commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. Now what Love can there be in the Heart, when there is nothing but reproach, contempt and rage, in the Tongue, in the Pen, and in the Carriage? It is certain, That out of the abundance of the Heart, the Tongue speaks; and the Lungs must needs be corrupt within, when such purulent matter is expectorated. Say not, that your Love to the Truth, or to the Public Good, must regulate your behaviour to particular Persons: For neither the Truth nor the Public good do need your uncharitable words or behaviour. Our Blessed Saviour had great Truths to declare, and great Errors to oppose, yet He did not strive, nor cry, neither did any man hear his Voice in the streets, Mat. 12.19. And as Lactantius argued with the Heathens, Vel Ethnici Christianos sapientes judicant, vel stultos; tamen non vel sapientes imitantur, vel stultis parcunt. So either your Opposites are either wise or foolish: If wise, you should comply with them, respect and reverence them; if foolish, you should forbear and pity them: But whatsoever they are, you ought entirely to love them.  
3. These Contentions do bring great dishonour to Jesus Christ. He is the Prince of Peace, the true King of Salem; the great Promoter of Peace, and the great pattern of it. When he came into the World, Peace was sung, when he departed out of the World, Peace was bequeathed. Now this quarrelsome temper in his Servants doth grievously reflect upon him. For he saith, John 17.20, 21. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them that shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one— That the world may believe that thou hast sent me. As if he had said, Their dissensions and quarrels will tempt men to think that I came not from thee, who art the Mirror of Wisdom and Love. He employed all his Sacred Breath, to pluck men out of the power of the Devil, the World, and the Flesh, to promote Faith, Repentance, and Holiness, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. And accordingly the Apostles tell us, That the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Let not us therefore dishonour our Redeemer, let us not calculate a new Gospel, let us not lay too great a stress on small matters, let us not provoke men to think, that our great Master came to tithe mint, anise and cummin, who came about far other work, and taught us far greater matters. It is recorded of Alexander Severus an Heathen Emperor, that seeing two Christians contending, he forbade them to assume the name of Christians upon them, for that by their quarrelling they disgraced their Master. How many now by this Rule would be interdicted that worthy Name?  
4. These Uncharitable Contentions do grieve the Holy Spirit of God. He descended like a Dove, and cannot brook the gall of bitterness. When therefore the Apostle had dehorted the Ephesians, c. 4.30. from grieving the Holy Spirit of God, he adds in the next verse, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking be put away from you, with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, etc. This sweet Dove will never lodge in a Vulture's nest. You heard the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, etc. And whatsoever pretences any may make to the Spirit, if they do not verify them by a meek, loving, and charitable behaviour to others, they abuse the Holy Spirit, and deceive others. For as nothing is more grateful to this good Spirit, than Love and Peace, so nothing more distasteful than Wrath and Contention.  
5. These Contentions do stir up much Corruption, both in the Aggressour and the Defendant. There is a great deal of folly in the wisest and best of men, and this either lurks in the habit, or is produced into Act, more or less, as there is greater or lesser temptation. Sin dwells in our Natures, as the mud in the bottom of a glass of water; when it is shaken, it appears and stains the whole glass. There is a world of pride, anger; envy and revenge in men's hearts, and these Contentions draw them forth, strengthen them, and make them rampant. Prov. 26.21. As Coals to burning Coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. So that the Wise Man concludes, That he loveth transgression, that loveth strife, Prov. 19.19. And hereupon some have made observations upon the deaths of Bishop Ridley, and Bishop Hooper, that they suffered with more torture than others, and that because of their Contentions together before.  
6. They do greatly hinder the Conversion of the , and the progress in Holiness of the Godly. Whereas the great work of God's Ministers should be to instruct the ignorant, to convince and reform the profane, to build up God's Children in their Faith and Holiness; this should be their study in private, this their business in public: Now the ignorant and ungodly are left quiet in their sins, the Sober and Pious are little improved in their Christian course, and men's Talents of Time, Parts and Pains, are laid out in dry and unprofitable Controversies. And then private persons, who should employ their converse together to their mutual edification, they are perpetually irritating one another by these fruitless Contentions .. I have heard of a Monster born in Scotland, in the Reign of James the Fourth, with two Heads and one Body, which two heads would be still arguing and knocking each other in eager disputes, (too fit an Emblem of this disputing Age!) But we that have but one Blessed Head, yet the members are always contending among themselves. Instead of exhorting, we are censuring; instead of reproving, we are reproaching; instead of provoking to Love and good works, we provoke one another to wrath and discontent. And then for the devout use of Prayer, doubtless these wrathful Contentions must needs greatly disturb it. For if Husband and Wife should maintain a constant amity, that their Prayers be not hindered, 1 Pet. 3.7. a continual contesting with our Brethren must greatly clog and damp them. Whereupon Cyprian, citing those words of our Saviour, When two agree on Earth to ask, etc. hath this Observation, Plus impetrari potest paucorum concordi prece, quam discordi oratione multorum. A few in concord shall obtain more than many in discord.  
7. These Contentions in Religion tempt men to be Atheists. When they read and hear such unmerciful rage in Christians one against another, and that they who profess agreement in nineteen things, are ready to anathemize one another about the twentieth; what a stumbling-block must it needs be unto weak and unresolved persons, and tempt them to throw aside all Religion? So Optatus observed of old in the like Case, Vos dicitis, Licet; nos dicimus, Non licet: Inter licet vestrum, & non licet nostrum, n●t ant animae populorum. I say this tempts men, but it is only a temptation: For who that hath a present Journey to go for his Life, will sullenly forbear to set forward, because all his Friends in the Town are not agreed what a Clock it is at his setting out? Every Man is bound upon peril of everlasting damnation to win Christ, and be found in him, to work out his own Salvation, and to set about it without delay: Now what a weak thing is it for any man to refuse or neglect this necessary work, because some men are not agreed about a Gesture or a Ceremony? Such fools shall die in their sin, but their blood shall be required at their hands, who have been a scandal to them.  
8. These biting and devouring Contentions are uncivil, Inhuman and barbarous. It hath been always reckoned for good Breeding, not to be confident and peremptory in asserting any thing, whereof any in the Company modestly doubts: And on the other side, if any cannot comply with the Sentiments of another, to enter his dissent with all possible respect, and without any reflection or provocation. We account it barbarous rudeness in discoursing, yea, or in discussing any point, to signify in civil company the least provoking gesture, much more to fall into a rage or to express revenge: And yet if you hear the Harangues, and read the printed discourses of some Gentlemen, you would conclude that they have but a small pittance either of good humour or of ingenious Education. Man is a rational Creature, and is not born with Teeth, nor formed with Sting or with Horns, neither is he teachable or ductile by such boisterous methods. When Love indites the reproof, when that accompanies the argument, it penetrates and prevails: Dilige & dic quod vis. But there not only were, Psal. 52.2. but yet there are tongues that devise mischief, like a sharp Razor, working deceitfully. Ver. 4. Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful Tongue! I should somewhat suspect their Divinity whose Ethics are no better. Thus you see the manifold Sinfulness and base Vileness of this sin, truly, but imperfectly described. And now,  
2. Consider the Certainty, and Sadness of the Danger. You were assured of the Certainty of Ruin from these Contentions in the fourth Proposition, that it is in vain to expect safety, to be exempted from the calamity threatened. Do but weigh this very Scripture, and that determination of our Saviour, Matth. 12. and you will conclude, That nothing but a miraculous interposition of God's Power and Mercy can prevent it. As when a Disease is in its nature and degree mortal, the Physician adviseth the Man to settle his Conscience and Estate, for his danger is imminent; so when we see that Charity broken, which is the Girdle that binds a Nation together; when we see the black and blue spots of Rancour and Revenge on the faces and looks, and in the words and carriage of so many, it sufficiently proclaims our danger; that if we escape more sudden and violent destruction, yet we are sure of a Consumption. Take heed ye be not consumed one of other. And though you may be dead in your own Persons, before this denunciation take effect, yet you will, so far as guilty herein, entail ruin upon the Generation to come. And if you would but consider, that you must be sick, and die yourselves, at which time in all likelihood, you will have different apprehensions of these controversies; when Conscience shows you the History of your sinful Life, and discovers an Holy God, before whom you must immediately appear, and the strict account which you must presently give, and the Ocean of Eternity which is just before you, than you'll see that these other points were but of small moment in comparison, and not worth that heat and vigour you spent upon them. And as the Danger signified by this word Consumed, is sure, so it is very sad and great. For  
1. It includes the Ruin of our outward Comforts. We know not when we are well. To have Houses, Plenty, Liberty, Peace and Quiet, are to be reputed for very great mercies; but these feuds and quarrels tend to dispossess you of them. Our sad Experience shows us how our Body politic languisheth by reason of the uncharitable Contentions of the Members thereof. What Decay of Trade, what breaking of Tradesmen, what sinking of the Rents of Land, and what a general Consumption invades us. The Judgements of God are already as a mouth to us, well if they break not forth as a Lion upon us, as was once threatened and fulfilled upon Ephraim, Hos. 12.14. We are rendered by our Contentions suspicious of one another's Integrity, doubtful of one another's Ability, and some have proceeded to that height of Animosity, as to forbear all dealing and commerce with those of an opposite Party. Whither must this tend, where must this end but in Desolation? If the blood do not circulate, the whole body will suffer for it; and if but a part be miserable, the whole cannot be happy. And if all your present Adversaries were ruined and gone, yet consider, that the Benjamites were all save six hundred destroyed, and that for maintaining a bad Cause, and the Men of Israel had sworn in their fury that none of them would give his Daughter to Wife to any of them, yet when their hot blood was cooled, they lamented, and said, There is one Tribe cut off from Israel this day; and then they used all their wits and policy to restore that Tribe again. We shall be worse than Jews, if we have not such like Resentments.  
2. It threatens the Ruin of our Religion, the only true and safe Religion on Earth; which should be dearer to every man than his Life. Upon the occasion of such Distempers in his time, Greg. Nazianzen cried out, I fear Antichrist will come upon us: And they drew from him that pathetical expression, whereby he wished that he might with Jonah be thrown into the Sea, if thereby the tempests then in the Church might be calmed. Our common Enemies are Powerful, Cunning and Malicious, and they gape for our destruction. This Island is the great shelter and bulwark of the Protestant Religion, what madness then seizeth us, to destroy ourselves? Who hath bewitched us? Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her own hands, Prov. 14.1. Would to God that we had but the honest policy of Aristides and Themistocles; who though they were often jarring, yet being employed abroad together about their countries' affairs, made an agreement to leave their quarrels upon the Mountains, which they were then travelling over, till the common business was dispatched which they wen● about, and then agreed afterwards to examine them. Let us be so wise and charitable, as to let fall our contests against one another, till our common Profession be out of imminent danger, and then we may with more leisure and safety adjust our differences. How shall we by't our Nails, yea, our very Tongues for indignation, if we shall first exasperate, and then weaken one another to that degree, that the cruel Enemies of both shall have made an easy conquest of us! It is no new thing for Truth (like Christ, John 5.13.) to slip away in the throng of men's Contentions.  
3. This Destruction infers the Ruin of our Posterity. They are embarked with us in the same Vessel, and are in a fair likelihood to be sunk with us. And this must greatly affect any considering person: That your sinfulness should not only provoke God to deliver his Ark into his Enemy's hands, and deprive you of the Gospel, but also that your Children and Posterity, who have been faultless herein, should be left to live in Egyptian darkness: Inherit your Estates, and the Curse that is entailed upon them. We have been contending about the Shadow of Religion, and they must fu●●er for the Substance of it.  
The Providence of God hath several times most expressly called us to Unity, to Charity, and to Concord. In the Year 1660. our general Union in Civils, and our general Flexibleness to a mutual agreement in Religious matters, was a plain direction of Providence to us to bury our debate and strife, and to put up the Temporal and Spiritual Sword together. But we have been biting and devouring one another ever since, now almost thirty years. When it pleased God to contend from Heaven with us by the Plague, and Fire, and to permit men to contend with us by War, it was a sufficient Item to us to make our Peace with God, and to be at peace among ourselves: but we have been biting and devouring one another for all that. In the Year 1678, when there appeared deep and strong designs and endeavours to subvert Religion, and to bury both Parties in the same grave: Divine Providence did thereby articulately call to us to lay our quarrels to sleep, and cordially to join our Prayers and Endeavours in our places to rescue our common Faith from so great a danger; but yet we have been since that time, biting and devouring one another, as sharply as ever before. And now once more we have a fair Call, and each Party hath professed a serious Inclination to unite together against our common Adversaries. God forbidden that our Prejudices, Humours or Interests should still hinder so great a Blessing!  
I come now, in the Third and Last place, to direct the best Method to cure this great Evil, and to prevent this great Danger. And  
1. Lament your own and others sin in this particular. All sound Amendment gins in godly sorrow. We are glowing hot in wrath and strife, Tears are necessary to quench this Flame; mourn for others fierceness and for your own. For the Divisions of Reuben; let there be great search of heart. When we are once truly humbled and penitent before God, our Brethren will have better quarter from us. Consider, how often you have added fuel to this fire, how you have exasperated this burning Fever, and how little you have done to assuage and mitigate it. How easily you have been prejudiced, how easily provoked, how hardly pacified. If you should have met with such treatment from your Heavenly Father, as your Brethren have had from you, you had been devoured and consumed long ago .. Do not think that needless Divisions in Christ's Church, is so light a fault, that reproaches and revile are venial sins; when Our Saviour hath assured us, Matth. 18.6. That it were better for him that shall offend one of his little ones that believe in him, to have a Millstone hanged about his Neck, and be drowned in the depth of the Sea. And how wittily soever it be expressed, yet he that shall say to his Brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of Hell-fire, Mat. 5.22. Whatever uncharitable Reflection therefore you have been guilty of, repent of it speedily; and also mourn for the miscarriages of others. When we are a little melted for our own and others faults, than we are fit for the healing mercy of God. And the Lord turned the Captivity of Job, when he prayed for his Friends, Job 42.10.  
2. Learn Christian Wisdom. Thereby you will be able to weigh and consider things, and to look at them on every side. What mischief hath Zeal without Wisdom done in the Church of God A wise man will observe the weight and consequence of the things he undertakes to oppose and defend; and then he will consider what are the most proper means to convince, and to reduce his mistaken Adversary. He that hath knowledge, and a man of understanding is of an excellent (that is, a sedate, calm, and cool) Spirit, Prov. 17.27. A wise Man distinguisheth between tolerable mistakes and intolerable, and proportions his zeal and the expressions thereof accordingly: Whereas a fools lips enter into contention, Prov. 18.6. He is hurried by his folly into all the terms, moods and figures of Provocation. And therefore the Apostle James calls for such wisdom upon this account, Jam. 3.13. Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him come with his meekness of wisdom. As the deepest Rivers run most calmly, so the wisest minds are ever most peaceable. A wise Man will consider that it will be in the Church, as it is in an House; some Children do work, and others make work; some are for the School, some for the Field, some for the Cradle, and yet all Children; and thus God hath tempered the Body, that there may be a various love among the Members, in the strong to the weak a love of Care, in the weak to the strong a love of Reverence. Again, a wise Man can govern his passions, and not cast Firebrands, Arrows, and Death, and then say, Am I not in sport? Prov. 26.19. No, he will make Controversies as few, and then as short as he can, and manage Sacred matters with a solid gravity. And therefore get wisdom, and with all your getting get understanding: And to that end, add to earnest Prayer, reading in God's Book especially; and as far as your Calling and Capacity will permit, in the Histories of the Church; and withal Observe and Digest those things which you have seen, or heard, or read; so will you be able perhaps to make peace among others, how ever to keep the peace yourselves.  
3. Endeavour for a Catholic Spirit, that is, a due and tender respect to all the parts and members of the Christian Church. For of that whole Mystical Body, every true Christian is a Member. For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit: — Now ye are the Body of Christ, and Members in particular, 1 Corinth. 12.13.27. Hereby we shall not suddenly un-Church others, at home or abroad, for some imperfections or corruptions; for he is but meanly read in the Records of the Church, that hath not observed manifold defects, deformities, and corruptions in all the Christian Societies which have been in the World; and on the other side, that some holy Persons in all Ages, have in some thing or other dissented from the Common Opinions; and that many weak and peevish people have and ever will exercise the Patience and Charity of the rest. On the contrary, a poor narrow spirit in many, hath not been the least cause of our Contentions; whereby they have confined the Grace, Presence, and Goodness of God to some few Persons or Societies, that have been more strict and devout than others. No godly People but they, none godly Ministers but theirs. And the Papists are notoriously culpable in this point, while they would impropriate all Christianity to themselves; not valuing any person, how Learned and Holy soever, who will not be of their Communion. But a true Catholic, though he be fully persuaded in his own Mind of his Principles and Practices, yet he can wish well unto, and think well of, and cordially embrace all that are sound in the Fundamentals of Religion, though in divers things they do err and go astray.  
4. Be clothed with Humility. For whatsoever Pleas and Pretences are hung out, it is Pride within which hath an hand in the beginning and maintaining of our quarrels. Prov. 22.10. Cast out the Scorner, and Contention shall go out: Yea, strife and reproach shall cease. Hereby we are wise in our own eyes, we look not on others things, but only on our own. This makes the Superior look upon the Inferior that differs from him with great contempt; and this prompts him that is on the lower ground to all the envious Reflections and constructions imaginable of him that is got above him. Says the one, Shall I give way or yield a jot to Men so ordinary for their Parts, and so obnoxious for their Circumstances? I that neither need them nor value them?— Says the other, These men are all either blinded with preferment, or hunting after it; their Parts are either utterly abused or quite blasted: Thus the Ball of Contention is tossed from one to another by the hands of Pride and Scorn. Whereas Humility makes a Man think meanly of himself, moderately of his own Notions and Apprehensions, highly of those that deserve it, and respectfully of all. It was this which taught excellent Bishop Ridley, when he was in Prison thus to accost honest Bishop Hooper; However in some by-matters and circumstances of Religion, your wisdom and my simplicity, I grant, hath a little jarred— yet now, etc. More comfort to them, if they had been on these terms in the time of their Liberty and Prosperity. Humility is a great step to Unity, Ephes. 4.2. I beseech you, that ye walk with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love: Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Pray behold how these Graces are here linked together, lowliness, meekness, unity and peace. The humble man will not endure that his Reputation shall outweigh the Peace of the Church; and therefore is more willing that Truth should be victorious than Himself. he'll go two miles for one to meet his Adversary in an honest way of Accommodation, and when he cannot make his Judgement to bend, yet his Heart shall stoop to you with all sincerity. This Virtue made Aristippus come to Eschines, when they were at feud, with this greeting, Eschines, Shall we be friends? And this dictated his answer, Yes, Sir, with all my heart: But remember, saith Aristippus, That I being elder than you, do make the first motion; Yea, said the other, and therefore I conclude you to be the worthier man, for I began the strife, and you began the peace. Let us all then be clothed with Humility, assume not in regard of your Learning, Wit or Parts; consider you are but Sharers in our Common Benefactor; neither let your Riches or Dignities make you to speak or write otherwise than you would do without them; and this will go a great way to prevent our biting and devouring one another.  
5. Apply yourselves to the Practice of Real Piety. By this I mean, that we should employ our chief care to procure and increase a lively Faith, to exercise daily Repentance, to strengthen our Hope, to inflame our Love to God, and to our Neighbour, to grow in Humility, Zeal, Patience, and Self-denial: To be diligent in Watchfulness over our Thoughts, Words and Ways, in Mortification of our sinful Passions and Affections, in the Examination of our Spiritual Estate, in Meditation, in secret and fervent Prayer, and in universal and steady Obedience. In these things do run the vital spirits of Religion: And whoso is seriously employed in these, will have but little time, and less mind for unnecessary Contentions. These will keep that heat about the Heart, which evaporating, degenerates into airy and fiery exhalations, and leaves the Soul as cold as Ice to any holy desires. It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein, Hebr. 13.9. It is manifest what a sad decay of these hath followed our multiplied quarrels; and how hard it is to be fervent in Spirit, and withal to be fiery in Controversies. He that walks with God, and whose Conversation is in Heaven, will be quickly weary of windy disputes with men, and will be apt to conclude with one of the Ancients, Lassus sum, dum & cum sermone, atque invidia, & cum hostibus, & cum nostris pugno. Which hath occasioned divers great Divines the more earnestly to long for Heaven, that they might be out of the noise of endless and perverse disputations. The serious Practice of Godliness hath the Promise of Divine Direction in all material points. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his Covenant. Psal. 25.14. If any man will do his Will, he shall know of the Doctrine, whether it be of God, John 7.17. And likewise, he that lives in the Spirit, and walks in the Spirit, dares not by't or devour his Neighbour. Let not us, saith the Apostle, that so walk, be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another, Gal. 5.25▪ 26.  
6. Fellow after Charity. Knowedge puffeth up, but Charity edifieth. This is the healing Grace, and if this be not applied to our bleeding wounds, they will never be cured. This suffereth long, and is kind. Charity envieth not, Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. [Pray read on, and mark all these passages:] Charity doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil: Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the Truth. Beareth all things, (tolerable) believeth all things, (credible) hopeth all things, (possible) endureth all things, and (as it follows,) endureth after all things; 1 Corinth. 13. That whole Chapter most fit to be read, and often studied by all that love peace. Charitas dicit aliorum bona certa, meliora; certa mala, minora; bona dubia, certa; dubia mala, nulla. An excellent Conclusion of Charity! That it reckons the good parts, qualities, or actions that are certainly in others, to be rather better than they are indeed; and the ills, to be less than they are indeed; the doubtful good things in them, to be certain; and the doubtful evil to be none. And how far would this Temper and Practice go to the promoting of Unity and Concord! And how directly contrary do most of them proceed, that make the greatest noise in our irreligious quarrels! Not only putting the most invidious fence upon one another's words and actions, but also the most uncharitable judgement upon their persons, upon their Spiritual and Eternal Estate.  
We must know that as Faith unites us to the Head, so Love unites us to all the Members; and as we can have no Faith nor Hope without Charity, so as any Man increaseth in Faith, so he is enlarged in his Charity. The more true Piety any man hath, doubtless the more Charity still that man hath. We that did hate one another, (saith J●stin Martyr of the Christians) do now live most friendly and familiarly together, and pray for our Enemies. If we must err one way, (as who is infallible?) it is safer for you to err by too much mildness, than by overmuch rigour; for Almighty God, though he be Wise and Just, yet he is most emphatically called, Love. 1 John 4.8. Beloved, let us love one another, for Love is of God: and every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is Love. And for you to reply, That you do hearty love those that are every way Orthodox, that is, that agree with you in Opinion, is nothing thankworthy; do not even the Publicans the same? That may be nothing but Self-love; but your Religion enjoins you to love your Enemies; and it is but a sorry expression of this Love to by't and devour one another for unnecessary matters. It were better (as One says) that Caesar should break all Pollio's curious Glasses, than they should break the bond of Charity; or that the breach of them should be the occasion of so much inhumanity of Brethren one against another. Let Charity therefore guide the Magistrate in making and executing Civil Laws; let Charity accompany Christ's Ministers in their Studies, Pulpits, and Behaviour to their People. Let Charity be maintained by all the Laity towards one another: Then shall we have that Unity, Peace and Concord's, which we solemnly pray for; this Dove will bring back the Olive-branch into the Ark of the Church.  
7. Avoid Extremes. Do not labour to screw up one another to the utmost. It is observed, that every Peace, that is concluded upon rigorous or disadvantageous terms, endures but a while; the aggrieved party will take the first opportunity of relief, as an over-rented Tenant to throw up his Lease. Conscience must be wary, but it would be easy in matters of Religion; and therefore should be directed, but may not, indeed cannot be forced contrary to its Sentiments. When a late French King had earnestly solicited a great Statesman that was retiring from the Court, to leave with him some of his most Politic Observations, and to that end had locked him up in his Closet, only with Pen, Ink, and Paper: It is said, that he only took several sheets of Paper, and wrote in the top of the sheet Modus: in the middle Modus, and in the bottom again Modu●: advertising his Master thereby, that the sum of all Prudence in Government was to observe a Mean in his Administrations.  
Indeed if one Party have all the Truth on their side, it is most fit, the others should yield themselves to be their Prisoners: But if that be not evident, as it is scarce probable, it is most equal that each do move toward the other, as far as they can, or else they will never come together. If the things in question be any way necessary, God forbidden that ye should refuse them; if they be not, God forbidden that ye should urge them. It was King James his ●ence to Cardinal Peron— Quare existimat ejus Majestas nullam ad incundam concordiam breviorem viam sore, quam si diligenter separentur necessaria à non necessariis; & ut de necessariis conveniat, omnis opera insumatur: in non necessariis, libertati Christiana locus detur: That is, The next way to Concord, is to distinguish between things that are necessary, and to endeavour a full Agreement in those; and things that are not necessary, and to allow a Christian Liberty in these. Not that in dissuading you from extremes, I would commend Lukewarmness or halting in the course that men have chosen; but that they so govern their Resolution by Wisdom and Charity, that they may not unnecessarily provoke, grieve or exasperate others, who perhaps have as sound hearts if not as clear heads as themselves. It was a Great and a Wise Man's Motto, Mediocria firma; and a true Proverb among the Vulgar, Too-too will break in two.  
8. Mind every one his own business. The Apostle gives this Rule, 1 Thes. 4.11. That ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, as we have commanded you. It is not a thing Arbitrary but Commanded: And that upon good Reason; for when men want employment, or have Employments too mean for their spirits, or having good Callings do neglect them, they are fit Instruments to stir up Contention; these permit their Tongues to walk through the Earth, and will exercise themselves in things too high for them; these collect and disperse all the invidious Narrations they can meet with, and make no Conscience of wounding every man's Reputation that is on the other side: By all which they greatly contribute to the heightening and exasperating the Differences that are among us; and in short, they are the seventh sort of People that are abomination to the Lord, namely, such as sow Discord among brethren, Prov. 6.19. If therefore men would mind first and chief the business of their own Souls, and exercise themselves in this, to have always a Conscience void of offence towards God, and towards men; if they would keep their own Vineyards, weed up those tares which spring up in their own Hearts, and stir up the Graces of God's Holy Spirit in them; and then travel in birth with earnest endeavours for the Conversion and Salvation of their own poor Children and Servants; and then be diligent in their temporal Callings, they would have neither list nor leisure to wander about from house to house, from Alehouse to Tavern, from Tavern to Coffee-house, as they do; and are not only idle but busybodies, speaking things they ought not, like those Women which are reproved, 1 Tim. 5.13.  
Every Man hath his particular Post and Province to attend; and, I grant, besides his Domestic Concerns, he is bound in Conscience to promote the good of the Town, Parish, City and Nation whereunto he belongs; and in consequence thereto wisely and resolutely to asse● and preserve all the Privileges belonging to any of them, and conscionably to discharge the respective Duties incumbent upon him; but this entitles no private Person to be correcting their Governors, instructing their ●●nisters, turning the World upside down, disquieting themselves and others, and leaving bad impressions upon those they converse withal; whereas our great business should be to have the Salt of Grace and Truth in ourselves, and to have and further peace with one another.  
9 Observe that good Old Rule, Of doing to others as you would be done to. You would have others to bear with you, and why will not you bear with others? you would have the best sense put upon your words, actions and carriages, and why will not you put the best sense on their words, actions and carriages? you would not be imposed on, censured, reproached, back-bitten, slandered; no more should you impose upon others, or censure them, or reproach, or backbite, or slander them. I may say to you as Chrysostom, on that Mat. 7.12. Let thy own Will here be thy Law. Let not this Rule which was reverenced by Heathens, be trampled on by Christians. It's true, Error cannot reasonably expect the same regard from Truth, as the Truth may from Error; yet erroneous Persons, whose errors are not mortal, should no more be devoured by the servants of Truth, than those who have right on their side, by those that are in the wrong. Those who have not otherwise forfeited the repute of sobriety, piety and honesty, save only that they cannot be of your mind; let them still be so esteemed and treated, as you yourselves desire to be esteemed and treated, if any contrary Party should ever have Wind and Sun with them. Remember how this melted Sesostris a Pagan into Compassion, when he observed one of his Royal Captives who helped to draw his Charlot, looking wistly on the Wheel, how the part now lowest was presently uppermost; so that he, considering the mutability of these sublunary things, released him from that bondage. And however, forget not what the Holy Ghost saith, Jam. 2.13. He shall have judgement without mercy, that showeth no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against judgement.  
10. My last Advice is, to Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: This every one may do, and this every one ought to do. Psal. 122.6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. There are few greater Reasons for our solemn Fasting and Prayer than this: If some Plague, or War, or Drought come upon us, we reckon it's high time to Fast and Pray: But alas! those are in themselves but Miseries, but our Contentions are so our Miseries, that they are our sins also: Those will but destroy some of our People, but Uncharitable Contentions will consume us all. But whatever Others do herein, let it be every sincere Christian's care to lay holy violence to Heaven upon this Account. You have done all that is in your Power to restore Love and Peace, and it is in vain; try th●● what God can do, Abi in cellam, & dic miserere Deus. He can make Men to be of one mind in a House, City and Nation: He can bow the Hearts of a whole Nation, even as the Heart of one man, and that in a moment of time; He can bring the Wolf, and the Lion, and the Lamb to feed together, so that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all his holy mountain, Isa. 65, 25. And O that the Prayer of our most Blessed Saviour, Joh. 17.21. may yet prevail with God to pour down a spirit of Love and Peace into us all!  
In the mean time, let all those that are passive, that are upright, humble, and quiet, comfort themselves with Salvian's saying, Insectantur nos, & in nobis Deum. Christ is a fellow-sufferer with all that suffer as Christians; and their design is against God himself, that devour his servants. And then pergant nostrae patientiae praecones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, beatos nos hoc modo facient, dum vellent miseros. They that speak and write all manner of evil of you, so it be falfely, while they endeavour to render you miserable, do thereby make you happy. True Virtue and Piety shines most in the fire, and therefore in Patience possess your Souls, if you can possess nothing else.  
And for Others, if after all Warnings and Endeavours, their Hearts be still filled with Rancour, and bend upon mischief, we must leave them to St. Augustine's Sentence, Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat. There is a God who tells his Servants wander, and puts their tears in his bottle, and who will execute judgement upon all that have spoken or done hardly toward them; and though they may support themselves with their present impunity and prosperity, yet the Lord of that servant; that began to smite his fellow servants, will come in a day he looked not for him, and in an hour that he is not ware of, and shall cut him asunder, Matth. 24.50. And though they may think it a long time to that day, they will find there is a longer space after it. They that choose the Fire, sha●● have their fill of it: For to them that are contentious there remains indignation and wrath, and Fire that is everlasting.  
But I despair not of so much Remorse in such as have without Prejudice and with Consideration read these Pages, but that they will awake and shake off the Enchantment which hath possessed them; and discerning their Sin and our common Danger, they will embrace all their faithful Brethren, and become sincere lovers of Truth and Peace; which effect the God of Love and Peace work in us all by his Holy Spirit, for the sake of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen. Amen.   

Quest. From what Fear of Death are the Children of God delivered by Christ, and by what Means doth He deliver them from it? SERMON IU.  HEB. II. 15. And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject unto bondage. 
IN this, and in the foregoing Verse, you have some Account of the design and end of our Lord Jesus Christ in his Incarnation and Passion. There were divers weighty Reasons why he assumed our Nature, and therein subjected himself to Death, and two of them are told us in this Context.  
1. That he might destroy the Devil.  
2. That he might deliver the Elect People of God.  
1. That he might destroy the Devil, who is described to be one that had the power of Death; not the supreme, but a subordinate Power of Death; a Power of Death as God's Executioner to inflict it, and affright men with it; to make it terrible and formidable to them, by heightening their guilty Fears, and representing to them its dreadful consequents. In these, and in divers other respects, that might be mentioned, the Devil is said to have the Power of Death. Him (as it follows) hath Christ destroyed: That is, disarmed and disabled. Christ hath not destroyed him as to his being and substance, but as to his Power and Authority over the Children and chosen of God: And this Christ did by his own Death; Through, or by death he destroyed him that had the power of Death, viz. The Devil. It was upon the Cross that be spoiled Principalities and Powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.  
2. To come to what I intent, another End and reason of Christ's Incarnation and Passion, was, that he might deliver the Elect People of God: These he calls the Children, in the foregoing Verse; not the Children of Men, as some expound it, but the Children of God: Such Children as the Father had given the Son, so they are said to be Ver. 13. Behold (says Christ) I and the Children which thou hast given me; such as were predestinated to the adoption of Children, as it is phrased, Ephes. 1.5. These the Text also describes, and tells us in what Condition they were by Nature; Through fear of Death they were all their life-time subject to bondage. By all their Life time you must understand all that time which they lived before they were delivered. This is the Condition of the Elect of God, as they come into the World, they are not only subject unto Death, but unto the Fear of Death, and unto bondage by reason thereof. The word (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) which is rendered subject, signifies they were held fast, and manacled, as Birds that are taken in a snare, or as Malefactors that are going to their Execution. The word (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) which is rendered bondage, signifies a state of servitude or slavery, such as men dislike but cannot avoid: One calls it a penal disquietment or perplexity of mind, that ariseth from a sense of misery, that a man would fain be rid of and can't; 'tis a Yoke whereby his Neck is galled, but he can't put it off; and if he should be released from it by any undue ways or means, it would be to his farther detriment and danger in the end. Now from this Fear of Death the Children are said to be delivered by Christ. There are many evils from which he redeems and delivers them; he delivers them from the bondage of sin and Satan, from the rigour and Curse of the Law, from everlasting Punishment and Wrath to come, and he delivers them also from the Fear of Death: This is employed, if it be not expressed in the Text; for upon the mentioning of their deliverance he gives this description of the Persons that are delivered, that they w●●e such as were afraid of Death, and liable to continual bondage by reason thereof. Hence all Expositors, both ancient and modern, do rationally infer, That the Fear of Death is one of those evils from whence we are delivered by Jesus Christ.  
The Text thus briefly opened, administers a fair occasion of resolving this Case or Question. From what Fear of Death are the Children of God delivered by Jesus Christ, and by what means doth he deliver them from it?  
I shall break this Question in two; and inquire,  
1. From what Fear of Death the Children of God are delivered from by Jesus Christ? And then,  
2. By what Means or Methods he doth deliver them from it?  
1. From what Fear of Death are the Children of God delivered by Jesus Christ? That I may resolve this Question aright, I must distinguish of the Fear of Death.  
1. There is a natural Fear of Death: This is common to all Men as Men, and 'tis more or less in them according to their different Constitutions, and other accidental Occurrences. This is nothing else but Nature's aversation to it's own dissolution, and in its self it is a sinless infirmity, such as sickness, weariness, or the like. To be loath or afraid to die, is humane and inseparable from the nature of man; this fear of Death is found with the best of men. Nature (as one says) hath a share in them as well as in others, and will work as Nature, or like itself. The Apostle Paul tells us how good godly men are unwilling to be unclothed, and to put off the body. 
2 Cor. 5.4.  Our blessed Saviour (who was a true though not a mere Man) without the least impeachment of the Holiness and Perfection of his humane Nature, expressed at some times an aversion to death: 
John 12.27. Mark 14.35.  This therefore is not the fear of Death of which the Text speaks, and from which the Children of God are delivered by Jesus Christ.  
2. There is a slavish Fear of Death, which hath Torment in it, or which torments the Souls of men, which fills their hearts with terrors and distractions, which discomposeth their minds, and unfits them for the duties of their general or particular callings, and totally disables them from prosecuting the things that belong to their Peace and Welfare. This is that fear of Death of which the Text speaks, and from which the Children are delivered, such as genders unto bondage, and is servile or slavish; a fear of Death as penal, and drawing after it everlasting punishment: This fear of Death takes hold of carnal men; they are not so much afraid of Death, as of that which the Scripture calls the second Death; 
Revel. 2.11. & 20.6. Heb. 9.26.  'tis that which follows after death, that makes it so formidable to them; after Death (as that Text speaks) comes Judgement, when they must receive according to the things which they have done in the Body. When they die, they must launch out into an endless Ocean, and go the way (as Job says) from whence they shall never return: 
Job 16.22.  And if Death overtakes them in their unregenerate state and condition, than it will be an entrance or inlet into outer darkness, where there is weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. These and suchlike are the considerations that make Death so dreadful to the Children of Men, that give it the denomination of the King of Terrors, and of terrible things the most terrible; they are not (as one said) afraid to die, but they are afraid to be damned. Hence it is, that though Death be terrible to all men, yet it is most terrible to those whose Consciences are awakened, and whose understandings are enlightened; who have been instructed in the Knowledge of God, and of a future State of Retribution. Death (as one observes) is not half so terrible to a Heathen, as it is to an ungodly Christian; Heathen men are in the dark, and see but little of that which is the true terror of Death: But enlightened Christians, who have been acquainted with the Scripture, who know that the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; 
Rom. 1.18. 1 Cor. 6.9. Psal. 9.17. 2 Thes. 1.7, 8, 9  that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, that the wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all Nations and people that forget God; that Jesus Christ shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the Glory of his Power: That the greatest part (by far) of the wages of sin, which is eternal damnation, shall be paid in another World. These are they that are surrounded with the slavish fears of Death.  
'Tis true, that many wicked Persons who live under the Gospel, are under none of these terrors; but then 'tis because they look on Death at a great distance from them, and the remoteness of any Object, though in its self never so terrible, takes away the fear of it.  
Or else it is because they are over-busied and taken up about the things of the World, as the lust of the flesh, or of the eyes, or the pride of life; and if any thoughts of Death, and of the World to come arise in their minds, they are presently smothered and stifled by worldly objects and diversions. Cain was a while afraid of Death, he thought every one that met him would slay him, but by and by he gets into the Land of Nod, and there he falls a building of Cities, and doth so immerse or drown himself in the affairs of the World, that by little and little the slavish fear he had of Death, did wear out of his mind.  
Or else it is because of their Atheism or Infidelity, there is a great deal of this amongst professed Christians. All wicked men (as the Apostle Paul says) are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Eph. 2.12.  without God in the World, or as it may be rendered, they are Atheists in the World: They are all practical Atheists, and too many are Atheists in Opinion likewise; they say in their Hearts, though they don't speak it out with their Tongues, that there is no God; 
Psal. 14.1.  they have not a thorough belief of a Deity, or of a future State of Rewards and Punishments.  
Or else it is, in the last place, because of their great Security. Multitudes of professed Christians are fast asleep in their sins; they give up themselves sinfully, and many of them are given up of God judicially, to a spirit of slumber and of deep sleep: And when this is the case with men, no wonder they are without any dread of Death, or Hell, or any thing else. You know when a Man is in a deep sleep, he fears no danger whatsoever.  
These and suchlike are the reasons, why many carnal persons do spend their days in mirth and sensuality, without any actual fear of Death, or of its dreadful consequents: But than it must be remembered, that these very persons are subject or liable thereunto; and if God awaken their Consciences, and rouse them out of their security, 
Job 24.17. Psal. 55.4, 5.  than they are (as 'tis in Job) in the terrors of the shadow of death; horror overwhelmes them, (as 'tis in that Psalm) and the terrors of death fall upon them: Like Foelix, they fall a trembling, and like Belshazzar their knees are ready to smite one against another.  
'Tis time now, that I should come to the second branch of the Question, which is,  
By what Means and Methods are the Children of God delivered by Christ from the fear of Death?  
To this I shall return an Answer: First, By showing you what Christ hath already done; and then, Secondly, What he continues still to do in order to this end.  
1. I shall show you, what Christ hath already done to deliver or free the Children of God from the fear of Death: He himself in his own Person hath suffered or tasted death for them. This is every where declared in the New Testament, and 'tis hinted to us in the Text. Christ by death, that is, by his own death, hath delivered the Children from the fear of death. The death of Christ hath made Death to look with another face than formerly it had: As the Wood that Moses cast into the waters of Marah did alter their property, so the Death of Christ hath altered the property of Death, and taken away the bitterness and formidableness thereof; hence 'tis that the death of Believers in Scripture is called a Sleep: It is said of Stephen when he died, (though it was by a violent death) That he fell asleep: 
Acts 7.60.  And the Apostle Paul says, 1 Thes. 4.14. That as Jesus died and risen again, even so them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. It is well observed by some, that the Apostle doth seem purposely to vary the Phrase, he says, that Jesus died, and that the Saints sleep in Him; and the reason is, because that he sustained Death with all its terrors, that so it might become a calm and quiet sleep unto the Saints. The Death of Christ must needs sweeten the fore-thoughts of death to the Children and Chosen of God, because that he died in their stead; he did not only die in their Nature, but in their Room; not only for rheir good, but also in their stead. You know how it was with the Sacrifices of old, they were put to death in the room of the Sacrificers: So it was with Christ, the truth of those Sacrifices, he was put to death in the room of Sinners, and they died in him as their Representative. Now this serves to free them from an enthralling fear of Death; why should they fear that, which Christ hath undergone in their place and room.  
There are two things more to be considered under this Head.  
(1.) Christ by his Death hath taken away the true Reason of the fear of Death, that is, the Curse and Condemnation of the Law of God. The Apostle Paul says, That the sting of death is sin, 
1 Cor. 15.56.  and the strength of sin is the Law: Death hath its wounding power from sin, and sin hath its condemning power from the Law; 'tis the Law that discovers the nature of sin, that enhanceth the guilt of sin, that denounceth condemnation against him that commits it; and 'tis this condemnation of the Law that torments the Sinner with the fear of death. Now Christ having in our stead subjected himself to death, and so undergone the penalty of the Law, he hath taken away the Curse and condemning power thereof. He hath, says the Apostle Paul, redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being himself made a Curse for us. 
Gal. 3.13.  There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. 
Rom. 8.1.  The death of Christ hath satisfied every demand of the broken Law: The Law of God hath nothing now to lay to the charge of God's Elect, it owns the Blood of Christ to be a sufficient compensation for their violations of it; there are no petty satisfactions to be made by themselves, since Christ hath made complete satisfaction for them, and in their behalf. The Law now is ready to acquit the Believer, it says, Thou mayst live for all me, and live eternally; I require not thy death as being satisfied with the Death of Christ: When thou diest a natural death, it is rather to comply with the appointment of God, and in order to the raising up hereafter, a better and more curious Fabric of thy Body, than to satisfy any demand of mine.  
(2.) Christ by his Death hath deprived the Devil of the power of death; and by this means also he hath delivered the Children from a servile fear of Death. The Devil (as I said before) hath a power to terrify the Consciences of men, with the apprehension of death, and the dreadful consequents thereof; you see into what bondage he brings men upon this account, many times he brings the Children themselves into the suburbs of Hell, and lays them under dreadful terrors and horrors; the pains of Hell, says one of them, got hold of me, I found trouble and sorrow; 
Psal. 116.3. 2 Sam. 22.6.  and again at another time, the sorrows of death compassed me about: Now this power of Satan is taken away by the Death of Christ. The Blood of Christ hath cancelled, or at least contracted and lessened his Commission: So that when he assaults a Believer in this kind, he is easily resisted; the Devil gives ground if the Believer stands his ground; he can't prevail against a Child of God, unless God give him a special Commission, or unless he yields to his Temptation; being justified by Faith in the Death of Christ, we have that peace which all the Devils in Hell are not able to disturb; the weapons of his power, and warfare in this way, are wrested out of his hands by the Death of Christ. Thus you see what Christ hath already done.  
2. Let me proceed to show you what he continues still to do, in order to the freeing and delivering the Children of God from the fear of death, and the bondage that ensues thereon.  
(1.) He worketh and increaseth those Graces of his Spirit in them which are destructive hereof, and opposite hereunto: you'll say, which are they?  
1. There is the Grace of Faith: This is the Grace that conquers the World, that conquers the Devil, and that conquers also the slavish fear of Death. This excellent Grace of Faith hath such an excellent hand in the conquering of all these, that it is called the conquest and victory its self; This is the victory, (says the Apostle John,) 1 John 5.4. even your Faith: Our Saviour tells Peter, Luke 22.31, 32. That Satan had desired to have him, that he might sift him as Wheat. And with what did he sift and shake him? Why, it was with the fear of Death; he was afraid they would deal with him, as they did with his Master: It was his slavish fear of Death that made him deny Christ, and to do it once and again; but anon he recovered himself, and got above this fear, he was re●dy by and by boldly to confess Christ, and that in the face of Death and danger. How came this about? Why it was by means of Faith: Christ had prayed for him that his Faith should not fail; it may be said of those that are fearful of death, that they are of little Faith.  
2. A second Grace is Love: An ardent love of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, will banish all slavish fear of death out of the Soul, 1 John 4.18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. Of what fear doth he speak? The next words tell you, he speaks of slavish tormenting fear, of that fear which hath torment: By perfect love, he means a greater measure and degree of love. I said but now of fearful Christians, that they have but little Faith, I may add also, that they have but little Love, for perfect or great love expels all tormenting and servile fear.  
3. A third Grace is Hope: The very nature of Hope is quite contrary to fear. Where there is a Hope of eternal life, there can be no prevailing fear of Death. 'Tis said of the righteous, 
Prov. 14.32.  that they have Hope in their death, and those that have Hope in their death, they are not afraid to die. Then Hope doth more especially free us from an inordinate fear of Death, when it grows up to that which the Scripture calls The full assurance of Faith: 
Heb. 6.11.  this is a gracious Gift which the Father bestows upon many of his Children; they know that they are in him, that they are pass ●● from death to life; 
1 John 2.5.3.14. 2 Cor. 5.1.  that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, they shall have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. Ay, this is that which steels and fortifies them against the fear and terror of Death. This leads me to consider of a second way or means whereby Christ delivers the Children from a slavish fear of death.  
(2.) He delivers them from it by convincing and parswading them that they shall not be Losers, but Gainers, yea, great gainers thereby. It was this persuasion that made the Apostle Paul to desire death, rather than to dread it; I desire (says he) to departed, or to be dissolved, which is far better, Philip. 1.23. And again, v. 21. he saith, For me to die is gain. It were easy here to expatiate, and show the advantage, the exceeding great advantage that Believers have by Death: It is commonly said to consist in these two things, in a freedom from all Evil, in the fruition of all Good.  
1. It consists in a freedom from all Evil, which is subdivided into the evil of Sorrow, and the evil of Sin. Believers are freed by Death from the evil of Sorrow. 'Tis one blessed Notion of the life to come, that God will wipe off all tears from his people's eyes, and remove all sorrow, and causes of Sorrow from their Hearts. Believers also are freed by Death from the evil of sin, which is indeed the greatest evil, the evil of evils, all the evils of sorrow are but the effects and fruits of the evil of sin. By Death they are delivered from all actual sins, not only from Fleshly but Spiritual filthiness: Now they are delivered ordinarily from inordinate actions, but then also from inordinate affections; they shall never any more be troubled with Pride, Passion, Discontent, Unbelief, or the like. By Death also they are discharged from Original sin, and all remainders thereof; when the Body dies, Believers are rid of that body of death which dwelleth in them, and is always present with them; they no more complain of themselves as wretched creatures upon the account thereof.  
2. It consists in the fruition of all Good. Believers when they die they enjoy God Himself, who is the chiefest Good; He is bonum in quae omnia bona; all other things that are good and  are comprised in him, as the Sunbeams are in the Sun: the Saints enjoyment of God in this life, is a Heaven upon Earth, but our enjoyment of God after death will be the Heaven of Heavens. David says in one Place, 
Psal. 73.25.  Whom have I in Heaven but thee? There are Saints and Angels and Arch-Angels in Heaven, (says Musculus,) with whom David and such as he will have to do; but what are these to God? Believers won't barely enjoy God after death, but they will enjoy him fully. In this life they enjoy a little of God; and oh how sweet and refreshing it is! But in the life to come they shall have as much enjoyment of God as their hearts can wish, or hold: Now they enjoy God in the use of means, in Prayer, in hearing the Word, and in receiving the Lords Supper; but hereafter they shall have not only a full, but an immediate fruition of God: Now they see the Face of God in the Glass of his Word and Ordinances, and 〈◊〉 what a lovely sight is it! But then they shall see God face to face, and what tongue can mention, or heart imagine the loveliness of that sight?  
If it were not too great a digression, I could readily demonstrate the gain and advantage of Death from other Topics. Believers in the other life, shall possess and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, which doth more transcend the Kingdoms of this World, and all the glory of them, than the light of the Sun doth excel the light of a Candle; they shall be most gloriously perfected both in their Souls, and in their Bodies; their vile bodies at the Resurrection, shall be changed and fashioned like unto the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ: 
Phil. 3.21.  Their gain and happiness will be greatly augmented in the other life, by the work and employment that they shall do, and by the Society and Company that they shall have; they shall associate with an innumerable company of Angels, and with just men made perfect; with many of their dearest Relations and Friends, whom whilst alive they dearly loved, and whose death and departure hence they greatly lamented. Let me close this with one Text, 'tis in 1 John 3.2. There the Apostle tells, us wherein the gain and glory of the godly consisteth after death, he sums it up in two things, They shall be like Christ, and they shall see him as he is. Ay, that is the happiness of the Children when they die, it lies in Conformity to Christ, and in the Vision, the beatifical Vision of him.  
3. Christ delivers Believers from the slavish fear of Death, by giving them some real Foretastes of Heaven, and of Eternal Life: It is usual with God to give his People some Cluster of the Grapes of Canaan here in the Wilderness; to give them some drops and sips of that new Wine, which they shall drink full draughts of in the Kingdom of their Father; he gives them to taste not only of the good Word of God, and of the heavenly gift, but of the powers of the world to come; and this sets them a longing to have their fill thereof: Even as the Gauls when they had tasted the Wines of Italy, they were not satisfied to have those Wines brought to them, but they would go and possess the Land where they grew. This foretaste of Heaven is that which the Scripture calls The earnest of our Inheritance; 
Eph. 1.14.  'tis both a pledge and a small part of that Happiness which the Saints shall hereafter inherit: 
Rom. 8.23.  We (says the Apostle) that have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, do groan within ourselves, waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body: By Redemption he means the Resurrection of the Body at the last day, which the Scripture calls a Resurrection unto Life. The Apostle knew there could be no Redemption of the Body without the dissolution thereof; therefore in waiting for the one, he must needs also wait for the other. The Apostle and the Believers with him did groan for this; they were so far from groaning under the fears of Death, that they rather groaned to be partakers of that which follows after Death, nay, In this they groaned earnestly, 
2 Cor. 5.2.  as he elsewhere speaks: Now whence was this, but from their having the first-fruits of the Spirit, which are all one with the foretastes of Heaven and everlasting Happiness, of which I have been speaking. Those that whilst they live have these tastes of future Blessedness, they are not afraid of Death, the door by which they enter into the full enjoyment of them.  
Having thus resolved this Question in both its Branches, give me leave to make some short Application of what I have said, and I'll conclude.  
I would Exhort you that are the Children of God; (and Oh that all that read these Lines were of the number of such) I would earnestly beseech and exhort you to prize and improve this great Privilege, to wit, a deliverance from the slavish Fear of Death.  
1. Be persuaded to Prize it; it is a Privilege that was purchased for you at a dear rate, even with the precious Blood of Christ. Oh what a blessed Privilege is this, not only to be delivered from the second Death, but also from the servile and enthralling fear of the first Death! This is the benefit and blessing that the Apostle Paul seems to be so much affected with: Thanks be to God (says he) who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ: What Victory doth he mean? The foregoing words tell us, 
1 Cor. 15. 5●.  that he means a Victory over Death, with all its fearful concomitants and consequents. Death is become a Friend, and not an Enemy; 'tis without any Sting or Curse attending of it: Oh! this is owing to Jesus Christ, he is the great Deliverer; he hath so ordered the matter, that though we must die, yet we shall not be in bondage all our days, through a slavish Fear of Death.  
2. Be persuaded to Improve this Privilege; put in for a part and share therein. See to it, that you be Partakers of this benefit of Christ's Death, to live without any tormenting fear of your own. You'll say, how shall we help it? can we contribute any thing towards our Deliverance from the Fear of Death? I answer, You may: And therefore as I have shown you what Christ hath done, and doth to deliver you; so now give me leave to show you farther what you must do towards your own Deliverance. I'll give you some short hints of things, which you may enlarge upon at your leisure in your own thoughts.  
1. You must be earnest with God that he would apply to you this benefit of his Son's Death, by his blessed Spirit. Oh! beg of God, and that with all importunity, that the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus may set you free from a tormenting Fear of Death: This hath been done for others, and who can tell but it may be done for you likewise; 
Ezek. 36.37.  only remember that God will be enquired of by you, to do this for you.  
2. You must give all diligence to the attaining of a greater measure of Faith, Love, and Hope; yea, to the attaining of a full Assurance of Hope; 'tis by means hereof (as you heard before) that the Children are delivered in part from the Fear of Death. 'Tis Grace, and the Assurance of Grace that is the Anchor of the Soul, that keeps it safe from the fear of Shipwreck.  
3. You must resist the Devil, and withstand his Temptations, not only to other sins, but to the sin of Despondency in particular: You must not give place to Satan, nor give way to enthralling Fear, when he tempts you thereunto. Remember, (as I told you before) 'tis the Law of the Combat betwixt the Devil and you, that if you fight, he shall fly; if you stand your ground, he must give ground.  
4. You must have frequent Meditation of Death, and of the gain that is to be gotten thereby; the frequent thoughts hereof will familiarize Death to you, and if once Death and you be familiar together, you won't be so much afraid of it.  
5. You must have frequent Contemplation also of the Resurrection. You find that Job had conquered the Fear of Death, and if you read the 9th. Chapter of Job, and Ver. 26, 27. you will see that his thoughts of the Resurrection were very helpful to him herein. He is a Conqueror over the Fear of Death, that considers with the Apostle Paul, that the Grave shall lose its Victory. 
1 Cor. 15.56.  It was the saying of a worthy Minister of our Nation, That nothing lifted him over the Fear of Death, like the belief and Meditation of the Resurrection to Eternal Life.  
6. You must take heed of living or allowing yourselves in any known Sin; if it be as your right eye, you must pull it out. The guilt of one known sin will put a sting into Death, and make it very terrible to you, especially in your near approaches unto it.  
7. You must look to it, that your whole Conversation be ordered aright▪ and that it be as becomes the Gospel of Christ. When all is done, an upright and holy Life is one of the best Defences against the dread of Death. We are told in two several Chapters of the Proverbs, that Righteousness delivers from Death: 
Prov. 10.2.11.14.  Whatever other Interpretations those words will admit of, I am sure this is a true one, That it delivers from a slavish Fear of Death. Hear how David speaks, he bids you Mark the perfect man, and behold the righteous or upright, 
Psal. 37.37.  for the the end of that man is peace. The Apostle Paul was above the Fear of Death, he seemed rather to desire than dread it, (as I said before) and well it might be thus with him, seeing he lived in all good Conscience; and had this Testimony from his Conscience, That in simplicity and godly sincerity, 
Acts 23.1. 2 Cor. 1.12.  and not with fleshly wisdom, but by the Grace of God, he had his Conversation in the World.   

Quest. How is Gospel-Grace the best Motive to Holiness? SERMON V.  2 TIM. II. 19 And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity. 

1 Tim. 1.2. 2 Tim. 1.2.  THis Epistle was wrote by St. Paul to his Son Timothy (whom he had begot in the Faith,) as his fatherly Blessing a little before his death; for he was at the writing of it in bonds, Ch. 1. vers. 8. and he had finished his course. Ch. 4. v. 7. This very Paul whom God had so miraculously delivered at Damascus, 
2 Cor. 11.32. Acts 16.26.  and at Philippi, and where not?— for whosoever reads the Catalogue of his sufferings, 1 Cor. 11.26. may wonder how so many evils could befall any one man; but as they did abound, deliverance did proportionably abound: yet now when God had no further work for him to do, he calls his Servant home to receive his wages; and being so near the end of his Race, 
Phil. 3.14.  Paul stretches out his hand, for the prize of his high calling in Christ Jesus.  
And if we cannot but allow the Children of God to grow in Grace, and in Knowledge; 
2 Pet. 3.18.  and that the Lights of God's setting up in his Church, are brightest a little before they are extinguished by death: Timothy, and all Believers, had reason to mind especially the words of this dying Man: This Epistle being his last Will and Testament, in which every Member of Christ's Church hath a Legacy left unto him ' more precious (if understood and improved) than Gold that perish.  
In the beginning of this Chapter, the Apostle requires, that those things he had taught, 
Vers. 2.  might be continued still to be taught, and to be practised. He knew that there was no getting into Heaven per saltum; that there was no coming to Glory, but by taking the degrees (at least, arriving at the truth) of Grace; and therefore here as elsewhere in all his Epistles, so many Exhortations and Dehortations are to be found, so many Precepts about what we are to do, and Cautions about what we are to avoid. The Philosopher treating of Happiness, observes, 
Arist. Rhet.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Way is narrow, and the Danger is great, and they are the best Friends to us that bid us beware, and are jealous lest we should mistake.  
But withal the Apostle here meets with a great Obstacle, a Stone or Rock of Offence, which he endeavours to remove out of our way.  
Hymenaeus and Philetus, two considerable persons, and probably highly accounted of in the Church (for we find no such difficulty arose at the turning away of Phygellus and Hermogenes, of whom mention is made, Chap. 1. vers. 15.) Apostatised from the Truth; and whether they were by their Office, Teachers, or no, is not certain; but that their breath was infectious, and that their words did eat as a canker, is testified vers. 17.  
That their error was in a fundamental Article, (denying the Resurrection) is very obvious; for as the Apostle says, If there be no Resurrection, then is our preaching vain, and our believing vain; 
1 Cor. 15.13.14.  yet such a darkness, or perverseness rather, hath the Fall, and our corruption betrayed us to, that without God cause his Light to shine into us, there is nothing so senseless, irrational, or unscriptural, which we shall not embrace for truth.  
Hence these wretches did not perish alone, but overthrew the Faith of some, (vers. 18.) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or temporary Believers, who assented to the Truths of the Gospel, and were reckoned amongst the Faithful; nay, and they shrewdly shaked the Faith of others. When men in a Field-battle, see such fall who stood next them, or were before them, their hearts are apt to misgive them, lest the next Bullet should take them off also.  
Especially true Believers, knowing so much of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, as to make them humble all their days, and being so charitable towards others, and apt to believe any better than themselves: Their concern also being so great for their Souls, Hinc lacrymae, they cry, we shall one day fall.  
To such the Apostle accommodates these words: Nevertheless, as if he had said, Granting all that any fearful and weak (but true) Believers amongst you can Object, that so many fall away, and such as seemed so resolute, have Apostatised, 
Mat. 7.24.25.  Yet the Foundation of God standeth sure: Tho' they who built upon the Sand, with their statelyest and highest confidence, fell; yet every building upon the Rock should hold out all winds and weathers.  
To prove which, the Apostle offers a double security.  
1. From the Election and foreknowledge of God. The Lord knoweth them that are his: Verba sensûs & intellectus ponunt affectum & effectum, is a known Rule, to understand Scripture by. God does not only know his People, as he does all other men, and all other Creatures in the World; but he hath a special eye upon every one of them, and a special care for them as well as Love unto them; and this is as it were the Privy Seal which every Child of God may take for his security.  
2. They have also a broad Seal, their Sanctification; which comparatively at least, is evident, for it is as a light set on a Candlestick, and is visible, more or less unto all; at least they may have the Testimony of a good Conscience, 
● Cor. 1.12.  which is as a thousand Witnesses.  
Some have thought that these words may relate to an ancient custom of putting words and sentences upon such stones as were laid for Foundations in buildings, in which something of the Builder, or Author, or at lest something thought worthy by him to be perpetuated, 
Rom. 11.33.  was inserted; and what more worthy than that which I have now mentioned of the depth of the Riches of the Wisdom, and Knowledge of God? which may be allowed to be on the top of this foundation-stone, and round about the Stone, that which follows; Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity.  
Which words I shall at present be confined to; they may be understood as a seasonable Caution, lest any that heard of the Continuance and Assurance of God's Care and Love should be puffed up: for as the Apostle would not have the defection of others to cause any to despond; so he would by no means have others security upon any pretensions whatsoever, to cause them to presume; but as a wise Physician, having prescribed so great a Cordial against their fainting at the sight of others falling, 
●. Cor 3.9.  by telling them, that they who were of God's Building, should stand; he gives them direction how to use this Cordial, lest, if unwarily taken, it might strengthen their distemper: in which Direction we may take notice,  
1. Upon whom this Injunction is laid, viz. Every one that nameth the Name of Christ.  
2. The Injunction its self, viz. To departed from Iniquity; which last words, to departed from Iniquity, I shall suppose to be so far understood, as that I need not to stay in the Explication of them. All Sin is an unequal and unjust thing; against our Duty which we own to God or Man, 'tis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But the manner of the Apostles expression is equivalent to a Negative Form, which is most comprehensive; and therefore Eight of the Ten Commandments at least are Negative, but they do all include the contrary positive. As the forbidding us to have any other God, commands us to take Jehovah for our God, and to Love and Obey him accordingly. And thus the departing from Iniquity includes not only the leaving of all Sin, but the following after, and practising of Holiness in all Duties that are required, in every Relation and Condition: So that there is no Duty to God or Man, but he that names the Name of Christ is required to practise it; nor no Sin against God or Man, against the first or second Table; but he is enjoined to forsake it; which will farther appear when we have considered,  
1. What is meant by naming the Name of Christ, or who is understood by the Apostle to name this Name of Christ.  
2. That such an one as thus names the Name of Christ, is especially concerned and obliged to departed from Iniquity.  
As to the first, What is meant by naming the Name of Christ? 
What is meant by naming the name of Christ.  it is evident, that it cannot be understood of a bare speaking of the word Christ, sounding the letters of which it is made, which Pagans and Mahometans may do, and the wicked Jews often did; but by naming the Name of Christ, is understood, a making some special use of it, or of him that is signified by it: We must therefore consider,  
That wheresoever there is any thing of Divine Revelation, there man's Fall and Misery is manifested: for though by natural Light it could be perceived that all was not well with Man; hence the many complaints, that Nature dealt very hardly with Man, the noblest visible Creature, that had rule and command over the rest of the Creation, yet that he was so short-lived, so full of misery and trouble, 
Job 5.7.  which seemed as natural to him, as for sparks to fly upward: This was for a lamentation amongst the very Heathen: But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, whence all this mischief came they knew not. In Scripture only we find the Cause of our disease, and the Remedy against it; and here, Vbi invenitur venenum, juxta latus ejus nascitur Antidote. Where we may discover the Malady, we may seek for and discover the Remedy.  
In the Word of God we have Means prescribed, Institutions appointed, which being used, and observed, will help and recover us.  
In the former Oeconomy and Dispensation, they were veiled under Shadows and Types. The wages of Sin being Death, 
Gen. 2.17. Rom. 6.23.  every Transgressor of the Law forfeits his Life, and his sin cannot be expiated but by Blood, it might justly have been his own blood, and no others: But the Lawgiver being graciously pleased to accept of Animam vicariam, another's blood or life, such as he should appoint; he did for a while accept of the sacrificing of Beasts in the stead of the Sinners, till the fullness of time was come, in which he sent his Son (this Christ whom the Text mentions) to make full satisfaction to his offended Justice, and by his Death to expiate for all the sins of them that by Faith apply themselves unto him. Hence it is said, he was made sin for us, and that he was bruised for our Iniquities, 
2 Cor. 5.21. Isa. 53.5.  and that the chastisement of our peace was upon him.  
But as under the Law the Transgressor was to lay his hand upon the Beast to be sacrificed, thereby acknowledging that he was the Creature that had deserved to die, and desiring that the death of the Beast to be sacrificed might be accepted in his stead; 
Leu. 3.2.4.4.  so under the Gospel we must apply to Christ with a due sense of our sins, and our deserving of death for them, and be accordingly affected with them.  
Yet more, when all the outward Ceremonies were performed, the sacrificed Beast accepted and slain, though the Law according to the letter was satisfied, and a legal Expiation did ensue, and a legal Atonement was made; yet if the Person that brought the Sacrifice did not mortify his sin, as well as the Priest kill the Sacrifice, his Conscience inwardly remained defiled, and God still provoked and incensed: Nay, if the Sinner had done one without the other, killed his Beast, and spared his sin alive, God looked upon it as a double Iniquity, for so indeed it was; to acknowledge he had offended God, and to pretend that he desired to be reconciled unto him, and yet to go on in provoking of him. Hence God did forbid and reject their Sacrifices, though of his own appointment; 
Psal. 50.9.  I will take no Bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy fold: Nay, he declares that in such a case, he that killeth an Ox, 
Isa. 66.3.  is as if he slew a Man; he that sacrificeth a Lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an Oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an Idol; and elsewhere, Bring no more vain oblations, 
Isa. 1.3.  incense is an abomination unto me.  
Now that all Sacrifices were Types of Christ, through whom only they had their virtue and efficacy, is confessed by all Christians: Thus Christ was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the World: 
Rev. 13.8.  And the Christian when affected with his sin, and desirous to be reconciled to God, whom by his sin he hath provoked, lays the hand of his Faith upon Christ, and humbly begs that Christ's Death for him may be accepted instead of his own, which he had deserved. But now (to give a further illustration of my Text and Subject) if he pleads (though for Christ's sake) for pardon of sin, and yet retains a love and liking to his sin; if he desires never so earnestly that he may not die for sin, and yet is willing that his sin may live, these are vain Oblations, vain Prayers, but most real and dreadful provocations. There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Beast within us, which we must kill, I mean every corruption, or no Sacrifice (no, not of the Lamb of God himself,) will be accepted for us; Habes in te, quod occidas. Every Man hath some sin or other within him (nay, a whole body of sin,) which he must slay, by at least a sincere continued endeavour, or all Legal and Gospel sacrifices too in the World will not avail him: we must mortify the deeds of the flesh, 
Rom. 8.13.  or we cannot live.  
And now we may easily understand who they are that name the Name of Christ. And to what purpose? For our Saviour is he who is so called (the same with Messiah) from his being anointed by God to those Offices of King, Priest and Prophet to his Church.  

All Christians name the name of Christ.  Now those that apply themselves unto him for Life and Salvation, are necessitated to name his Name: And so they do,  

1. In their Profession.  (1.) In their Profession. Hence we are called Christians, and we own the Name, and rejoice and glory in it, as a name divinely imposed on the Disciples of the Blessed Jesus, by God himself, for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does import; and in our Baptism we agree to be listed amongst his Soldiers, 
Acts 11.26.  and to fight under his Banner; nay, we name Christ's Name, and 'tis our ambition to be called by it.  
1. Owning him as our Father: 
1 Pet. 1.23.  By whose Spirit we are born again through his Word; and as Jacob would have his Name named on the Children of Joseph, 
Gen. 48.16.  thereby owning and respecting of them as if they were his own Children; so does Christ look upon all Believers as his Children, and condescends to have his Name named on them; nay, he names them his Children, when he says, Here am I, 
Hebr. 2.13. Isa. 8.18.  and the Children which thou hast given me.  
2. Looking upon Christ as our Husband; 
2 Cor. 11.2.  to whom this Apostle tells us that we are espoused: It is as ancient as the Prophet Isaiah's time, to have the Wife called by the name of her Husband, 
Isa. 4.1.  which is the meaning of their desire, Let us be called by thy name, i. e. that being married they might change their names for that of their Husbands; and this was the custom amongst many of the Romans, (as still amongst us,) Vbi tu Caius ibi ego Caia.  
And thus all that look upon Christ as their Father, and hope for the Inheritance he hath so dearly bought for them, or whosoever beholds him as their Husband, and esteem his Love, and long for the enjoying of him, are concerned in this Obligation, to departed from Iniquity. As also,  
(2.) In their Petition naming Christ. 
2. In their Petition.  In every Prayer to be sure they name the Name of Christ, in that they ask all in his Name, that is, in his strength, and for his sake: So indeed runs the Promise, 
John 14.13, 14.  Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name, and i'th' next verse; If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it; especially after our Saviour's Ascension, when he had paid the price for his People, and for all the Pardons and Graces, Strength or Comfort they should want, he bids them expressly to mention his Name; relying on his Merit for the obtaining of them: He told them a little before his going to suffer for them, John 16.24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name; though doubtless they had prayed according as they were commanded, (Luke 11.2.) the Lord's Prayer, day by day, and implicitly at least desired all those mercies thro' a Mediator: They knew that the High Priest was to appear with the Names of God's Israel, and to offer up Incense for them; yet clearly and explicitly Christ's own Apostles did not enjoy this great privilege. And doubtless some new advantages have accrued to the Disciples of Christ (since that Prayer was recommended, or commanded) by his Death and Resurrection: Now the explicit naming of Christ is a very great encouragement in Prayer, whether in those, or any other words.  
More particularly, Pardon and Acceptance, Justification and Peace with God, must especially be desired in the Name of Christ, and for his sake only, for he was made a Curse for us, 
Gal. 3.13.  and by being a Curse for us, hath redeemed us from the Curse; he was as accursed in our stead, and did bear what the Curse did threaten to transgressors; which being done, and God's Justice and the Law satisfied, it follows, that in him God is well-pleased: 
Mat. 3.17.17.5.  which words are not only mentioned by the other Evangelists, but repeated again in that extraordinary voice at his Transfiguration, and are the more remarkable, in that it is not said, That Christ was God's beloved Son, with whom God was pleased, (though that was a truth from all Eternity,) but that God is pleased in him; that is, that God is well-pleased with all that are by Faith united to him, and are as it were engrafted in him. Hence we are said to be justified freely by the Grace of God, thro' the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ: 
Rom. 3.24.  So that all who are liable to condemnation, have no other Remedy, no hope, or help; but in Christ Jesus; 
Acts 4.12. 1 Cor. 6.11.  and there is no other Name by which they can be saved, but by the name of Christ, for we are justified by Faith in his Name.  
Justification (properly speaking) is not the making of any righteous or holy, (though none are justified, who are not also sanctified) but it is the accepting of any person (who duly comes in the Name of Christ,) as righteous and holy, for so he is in God's sight, Christ's Righteousness being imputed unto him; and for Christ's sake he becomes one of those blessed ones unto whom the Lord does not impute sin, 
Psal. 32.2.  as the Psalmist expresses it in those very words.  

En Graecis bonis Latina fecere non bona. Ter.  Whatsoever the import of the Latin word, from whence our English word Justification may seem to be, the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, used by the Apostle, are Juridical words, and relate to a Court of Judicature, where when the accused Party upon sufficient ground is acquitted, he is said to be justified; and Justification or Absolution is the proper Antitheton to Condemnation, as by the whole of St. Paul to the Romans, ch. 8.33. may appear.  
Now we must suppose that the convinced Sinner sets himself as in God's sight, and having seriously considered what the Law threatens, dreading that Curse and Wrath to come; hearing his Conscience pleading guilty to the Accusations of the Law against him, he seems to hear the Judge ask of him what he hath to say for himself, why the sentence of death should not pass upon him; here it is that he names Christ, and remembers in Prayer unto God, what the Blessed Jesus did and suffered unto the utmost for him, he became sin for him; he could not be a Sinner, but he was dealt withal as if he had been one, because he was in the Sinners stead: Now the convinced Sinner urges God's Promise and Covenant with Christ, that He should see of the travel of his Soul, etc. Thus the Name of Christ is the Souls strong Tower, 
Isa 53.11. Prov. 18.10. Isa. 44.24.  he runneth unto it and is safe, and in Christ (who is also the Lord Jehovah) he hath righteousness and strength. Again,  
Is the penitent Sinner so oppressed, that words fail him, only sighs and groans (which in his case are never wanting) are frequent with him, the Name of Christ upholds him; for he knows (as God said of Aaron) that he can speak well, 
Exod. 4.14. Heb. 7.25.  and he ever lives to make intercession for him.  
I do not wonder that our being thus made whole only thro' the Name of Christ should be by so many gainsayed and ridiculed; 
Rom. 10.3. 2 Cor. 5.21.  for 'tis hard to bring our Thoughts into subjection unto the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ: and when I read it so often called the Righteousness of God in Scripture, (as surely he alone could find out the Ransom, etc.) I know it must be something beyond the ordinary apprehension of Man; for no man knows the things of God, but the Spirit of God, 
1 Cor. 2.11.  and Nil diurnum nox capit.  
May this suffice concerning the Subject of my Text, viz. He that nameth the Name of Christ. We must now speak of the Injunction that is laid upon him, or the Direction given unto him, Let every such an One depart from Iniquity: In which we shall have cause to inquire how it consists with the naming of Christ, (especially for our Justification,) as I have explained it; and these four Particulars I shall offer to your consideration.  
1. That departing from Iniquity (or Holiness) is no Cause of our Justification, properly taken; notwithstanding,  
2. Holiness hath an Influence upon our Salvation; and also,  
3. Holiness is indispensibly necessary to all justified Persons.  
4. Nay more, Free Justification, or Justification by God's Free Grace in Jesus Christ, is the best, and most forcible Incentive unto Holiness. 
Departing from Iniquity is no cause of Justification.   
Reason 1 (1.) It will appear that Holiness is no Cause of our Justification: It did neither move God when foreseen to choose us, or when actually existing to justify us. 
Mercy is only from something in God.   
1. For all God's Works of Mercy arise from something in God himself, who is the fountain of Mercy, or of living waters; and Judgements are said to be his strange Work, because he never proceeds to them but when he is necessitated to vindicate the Glory of his injured Attributes; that is, 
Jer. 17.13.  the cause of all God's severities is out of himself, and only to be found in the provocations of his Creatures. The Cause of all his Mercies are his own Bowels and Compassions, and wholly in and from himself: O Israel, 
Hos. 13.9.  thy destruction is from thyself, but in me is thy help: Nay, when God says unto the Soul, Live, 
Ezek. 16.6.  he sees it in its Blood; and it remains in its Blood, until he says unto it, Live: for in the Apostles Phrase, 
Rom. 4.5, 6.  he justifies the ungodly and the sinners; that is, God does for Christ's sake discharge and acquit Sinners who flee unto him, and desire Pardon and Acceptance thro' the Blood of his Son, The Lamb of God that thus taketh away the sin of the World.  
And yet thus the Judge of all the Earth does right too, when he makes Christ to become Righteousness unto the believing and penitent Sinners; for by the same Reason and Justice that they fell in one Adam, they may be made alive in another, and where is the Disputer? 
Rom. 5.19.   
2. There is no commutative Justice betwixt God and his Creature: 
2. Reason. There is no commutative Justice between God and his Creature.  We can give no Equivalent for the least mercy, the least crumb, the least drop (to be sure) as coming from God. The giver puts a suitable price upon the Gift; as the Giver is in excellency, so is the Gift in esteem; what a Prince or a King gives, is much magnified, though many times otherwise a trifle; but here is Eternal Life, and a Crown immortal given by the great King of Heaven and Earth, to such as know themselves to be but dust and ashes, and to be sure they cry, Grace, 
Zech. 4.7.  Grace unto it.  
God gets nothing by all our holiest Performances, devoutest Prayers, 
Job. 22.2.  and most spiritual Duties: Our righeousness cannot profit him. Can a Man be profitable unto God? that is, he cannot by any ways be profitable unto his Maker: no, 'tis for our sakes that God hath given us his Commandments and Institutions, that we might by them mend the frame and temper of our hearts, and be fitted for to enjoy him to all Eternity; in the mean while to stay our longing after him, he affords us to see him thus, though as in a glass darkly.  
But if God could be promerited (as they speak) and obliged, it must be by some things that are our own; and Secondly, It must be by such things as are not due upon any other account whatsoever: 
1 Cor. 4.7  Now what hast thou which thou hast not received? Thy Faculties and Powers, thy Grace and Goodness, a Heart and Will to do good, every Enlargement of Prayer, and Exercise of Faith, or any other Grace, is his; it is he that works in us to will and to do accord-to his own good pleasure; 
Phil. 2.13. Luke 17.9.  and if thanks be not due to a Servant when he does what he is bidden, (as our Saviour expresses,) what can be due to a Creature from his Creator, who gives him Food and Raiment, Life and Breath, and all things? Where is there any proportion betwixt these, and any returns we can make? In all Trading or Exchanging, there 'tis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a quid for quo, which cannot be given to God by us.  
(2.) Departing from Iniquity hath an Influence upon our Salvation, though it be not a Cause of our Salvation: 
Departing from Iniquity hath its influence upon (though no cause of) our salvation.  And though it cannot be admitted as a foregoing condition of our Justification, for the Reasons above given; yet it must be acknowledged to be a condition in the Heirs of Salvation, for without holiness no Man shall see God: And rightly understood, Holiness is such a thing with which we shall be saved, 
Heb. 12.14.  and to be sure without which we shall not be saved. The Heathens made the way to the Temple of Honour thro' the Temple of Virtue: And amongst Christians, Grace is the way to Glory; that is, walking in the way of God's Commandments, brings us to the place where God is, which way is as necessary to be walked in by all those that will go to God at last, as a path that leads to a Town or place must be gone in, by all that will come thither.  
'Tis true, good Works do not go before Justification, but follow after; for being sanctified also when we are justified, we are created unto good works in Christ Jesus. 
Eph. 2.10.  Till we have a Being we cannot act, and till the Root be made good, the Fruit cannot be good. Amongst the Moralists it may still be a Rule, Bona agendo, sumus boni; By doing good we become good; but this must not be so strictly urged in Divinity, where the Fountain must be cleansed before the Stream can run pure: indeed after Conversion and Regeneration, nothing increases the habits of Grace more than the actings of Grace; and in this, natural and infused Habits do agree; they are both strengthened by acting of them. Whatsoever Grace you would have strong and lively in the Soul; let it be conscientiously and frequently exercised, and it will become so: This hath many a probatum est amongst the Children of God.  
The consideration of these things do give us a true account, why in Scripture we shall find good Works and Holiness so much magnified on the one hand, and yet sometimes on the other hand so debased: Not to make proof of the former, (the extolling good works, which deservedly is every where in Scripture:) Yet withal we shall find them very diminutively spoken of in Scripture; as where it is said, That Our righteousnesses are as filthy Rags; and also where the Apostle says, 
Isa. 64.6.  That he accounts his blamelesness and righteousness which is in the Law, but loss, nay dung.  
That is to say, when good Works are considered with any relation to Justification, or when they are compared with the Righteousness of Christ, we cannot think or speak too meanly of them: But when Holiness is considered as a Fruit of the Spirit, always accompanying Justification, and a requisite preparative for Glory, and an Ornament to our Profession; in the mean while we cannot too much extol it, nor be too zealous and earnest in the acquiring and practising of it; especially considering that  
(3.) Holiness is indispensibly necessary unto all justified Persons. 
Holiness is indispensably cessary to justified Ones.  Departing from Iniquity is the Duty of all that name the Name of Christ.  
As it was necessary that Christ should take upon him our Flesh; so it is as necessary that we should receive from him his Spirit; he must become Flesh of our flesh, and Bone of our bone, that he might pay our debt in the same nature which contracted it; so we must partake of his Spirit, that we may be capacitated to receive the Fruit of his Redemption, and be one with him.  
Nay all Promises, the very Covenant of Grace its self is thus to be understood, viz. That the Beneficiaries, or they that receive benefit by them, should be holy, otherwise they might not, without presumption, hope for any good from them: And though we do not meet with this always expressed; yet it is always to be understood, 
Jer. 22.24.  God expressly declaring, that though Coniah a wicked Person, was as a Signet upon his right hand, yet he would pluck him thence.  
And when God engageth to continue his Favour unto any, he engageth to continue them in a fit disposition to receive his Favour. Thus to the Posterity of David, 
Psal. 89.32.  which in a Type were the Representatives of the spiritual Seed that should be raised to our Elder Brother-Christ Jesus, whom David typified, it was promised that they should endure for ever; but then in case of forsaking of God's Law, he would visit their Transgressions with a Rod, 
Vers. 29.  or he would use such means (though irksome for him to do, and grievous for them to bear,) as might bring them back unto himself by Repentance. Nay were the Promise of God never so plain and full in any case unto any Person, yet there is always a Subintelligitur of such a demeanour as may be fit to receive the mercy promised, as we may see in the case of Eli and his Family, which God doth acknowledge that he had promised the Priesthood to; and yet upon the provocations of Eli and his Sons, 
1 Sam. 2.30.  God says, Be it far from me, that I should perform it: Neither is God unrighteous, or his Veracity to be excepted against, for so long as we have to do with so Hol● a God, all Covenants are to be understood so, as may agree with his Holiness, and not otherwise.  
Thou sayest, But they are but vain words, that thou hast such Mercies promised unto thee, and treasured up for thee, whereas unless thou be'st sanctified and born again, thou canst not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, 
John 3.3.  or so much as see the Kingdom of God, or be benefited by any promise that God hath made: As 'tis storied of one who was very debauched and wicked, and taking up a Bible, which by his Religion he had not been acquainted with, (being a Papist) he confessed that whatsoever Book that was, it made against him: So unless thou dost sincerely labour after holiness, there is never a word in all the Book of God that speaks any comfort unto thee, none of the Fruit that grows upon the Tree of Life can be tasted by thee.  
This might be more evinced, if we fix our mind on these following Reasons.  

1. Reason. From the Nature of God.  1. The first may be taken from the Nature of God, I mean the Essential Holiness of this Nature, by which he cannot have communion with any one that is unholy, no more than Light can have fellowship with Darkness; but he indispensibly hates and opposes all wickedness, and hath declared his Enmity against it. As fire cannot but devour stubble, 
Isa. 5.24.  so God's Holiness will not suffer him to spare any whom he finds sin and guilt upon: hence so many threaten and denunciations of Judgements against it, which do not linger, whatsoever the Sinner may think; neither can the Gospel change God's Nature, or make him less to abhor sin. It is indeed a Declaration of the way and means which God hath ordained to exalt his Grace and Mercy to the Sinner by, but it is in saving of him from his sin, and not with it. Nay,  

2. Reason. From the requisites in the Gospel its self.  2. All the Privileges of the Gospel do include, or presuppose departing from Iniquity. An unholy Person, whilst such, Ipsa salus non potest salvare; Salvation its self cannot preserve. How did the Jews search every hole and corner of their houses to find out leaven, and how earnestly did they cast it away, or else the Paschal Lamb would not have availed them, and the destroying Angel would not have passed from them: 
1 Cor. 10.6.  And these things are our Examples, and tell us, that unless we industriously search out and cast away the leaven of sin and wickedness, the very Death of Christ, the Lamb of God, will profit us nothing. 'Tis as the first Principle of the Christian Religion, that the Unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God; which the Apostle took for granted the Corinthians could not but know. 
Vers. 10.  And what a Bead-roll is there of such as he declares shall not inherit the Kingdom of God No less than ten abominations are there mentioned to exclude from Heaven, and some of them valued in common account but as Peccadillo's. Men are apt to say of any sin, Is it not a little one, and my Soul shall live? But as the Apostle there cautions, Be not deceived; deceits of this nature are frequent, but very dangerous. And this is the Gospel to which we appeal, when we are scared and frighted by the Law: But in all the Gospel there is nothing that can take away, or lessen our Obligation to God's Commandments; but what does every way straighten and strengthen it: Now we are bound with a double Cord, which is harder to be broken, and it shows that sin under the Gospel hath acquired greater strength when it snaps it asunder.  
Let us take a view of the Privileges of those that are saved by the Gospel, and see how they are obliged to Holiness by them. 
Eph. 1.4.   
1. Election is the first, and if we are chosen in Christ Jesus, the Apostle tells us, that We are chosen in him, that we should be holy, and without blame before him; 
2 Pet. 1.10.  and if we should make our Calling and Election sure, it must be with fear and trembling. The Book of Life is with God in Heaven; thou canst not see thy Name there, but it is transcribed for thy comfort in thy Heart when thou art sanctified, and the more thou proceedest in Holiness, the more legible it will be unto thee.  
2. Our Vocation is unto Holiness. Does God call any of his to come from the World and Sin unto him? As Christ called Saul, and His Sheep do hear his voice, they are called to be Saints, 
Rom. 1.7.  they are called to be made holy, and to be sanctified; whatsoever they were before, when once they come to Christ, 
1 Cor. 6.11.  but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified: Christ comes by Water and Blood, and not by Water or Blood only; and Christ is made of God unto us not only Righteousness, but Sanctification. 
1 Cor. 1.30.   
3. Our Regeneration or being Born again, which the Gospel insists so much upon, is in being made like unto God, 
2 Pet. 1.4.  partakers of the Divine Nature, enabled to love what he loves, and to hate what he hates, and to be conformed unto him in all things: So that God and regenerate Ones have but one Will: Thus they are said to be created again unto good works.  
4. And what is Glory which we seek for, and endeavour after, 
Rom. 2.7.  but only Holiness in perfection? Grace is Glory in the Bud, Glory is Grace in the Flower; hence they are put together, and we are said to be called to Glory and Virtue. Wheresoever true Grace is, 
2 Pet. 1.3.  there will be Glory; and in whomsoever Glory is, there hath been Grace. God hath put these two together, and let no Man put them asunder: As Laban's two Daughters were disposed of; the Elder, though less lovely, must be first accepted by Jacob; 
Gen. 29.26.  so God deals with his two, Grace and Glory: Grace is the elder, and though not so , every one would covet Glory: yet this is the Law of the Land, the Younger must not be given before the Elder, you must woe for, and obtain Grace, before you can be admitted to the enjoyment of Glory.  
Nay, we are only so far Christians as we are like Christ in Principle and Practice, as we partake of the Spirit which he had, and lead such a Life as he did. Christian is not an empty name, and being called so, makes us not to be so. Every one is not a Scholar, or an Artist in any faculty, who is called so: Besides, Christianity is a practical Science, and thou hast no more of it than thou dost practise. (Oh how little have most men!) The Heathen painted their Deified Heroes with this sentence proceeding from them, Si feceritis sicut nos, eritis sicut nos. We may imagine we hear our Saviour telling us from Heaven: If ye do as I did, ye shall be as I am.  
And certainly, though Heaven and the Glory of it be freely promised, and 'tis no contradiction to say, that it is fully purchased, and sufficiently paid for, 
Eph. 1.14.  being the Apostle calls it a purchased possession; yet there must be a meetness and suitableness to it, in every one that shall be admitted to the fruition of it: We must be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in Light. 
Col. 1.12.  What should an unholy heart do in Heaven? Heaven would not be Heaven unto it; that is, it could not be a place of Bliss, and Joy unspeakable unto such. There are no carnal delights, not so much as the here lawful (because necessary) one's, of eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage: there is no Gold and Silver to fill the Bags of the covetous Earthworms; no Dalilahs for the Wantoness; no Company to debauch and carouse with: If a Sermon or a Lord's day be so tedious, when will it be gone? How unhappy would an unchanged, unsanctified Soul think its self to hear perpetual Hallelujahs and Praises, to be confined amongst the Souls of just men, and Holy Angels! God certainly will not cast his Jewels before such Swine. 
Heb. 12.23, 14.   
Besides, the Gospel does by no means take away the ground of that Discrimination which will be at the last between the Sheep and Goats, between them that shall stand on the right hand, and on the left, of the Judge of the quick and dead. In the final Sentence there must be a Truth in what shall be said to the Blessed; I was an hungered and ye gave me meat, 
Mat. 25.35. vers. 42.  as well as the final Condemnation of the Cursed, I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat, etc.  
But I need not multiply Reasons, to prove that every one must departed from Iniquity, even such as hope to be saved. For,  

3. Reason. Taken from our very Natures. Psal. 148.  3. It is writ in our very Natures, did we but understand them. Every Man that receives a reasonable Soul, is by his receiving of it obliged to give God a reasonable service: as all Creatures are called upon to glorify and praise God; and they do it in their kind, by affording unto Man (who is their Priest, and only can offer for them) cause of thanksgiving and admiration.  
But Man owes most for himself, as having received most. There is no Man comes into the World, but he hath some of his Lord's Money entrusted with him, under an Obligation and Charge to Occupy it until he come; and he hath undertaken to do so: 
Luke 19.13.  This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or the inessentiate Promise which every one is understood to make at his Creation, viz. To perform all reasonable service, (and it is such, whatsoever God commands) and to be subject to his Maker in all things.  
And when this Promise or Oath is broken, Man cannot but be uneasy, his Conscience accuses, condemns, torments him; so that it is indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. A wicked Man is in more trouble and pain in the pursuit of his lust, and wickedness, than a good Man meets with in all the severest exercise of holiness.  
The Soul that is renewed and born again, is so far from being disengaged from Holiness, that its engagement is doubled, for he is redeemed, That he might serve God in Holiness and Righteousness: 
Luke 1.74, 75.  God hath chosen him for his Champion, to fight against The World, the Flesh, and the Devil; and should such a one desert or yield, it were Cowardice or Treachery: God expects greater matters from such, that being form for himself, he should show forth his praise. 
Isa. 43.21.   
To be sure, no Act of Grace, no Gospel-priviledge or Advantage, present or to come, can take away, or lessen our Obligation to become holy; for this being the Law of our Creation, whilst we are God's Creatures, so made, so endued; that is, whilst we have our beings, and we are at all: we carry our bonds about with us, which we may not break without sinning against the Law of our Creation, which it is impossible that any thing or matter in the Gospel (which comes after it) should disannul.  
But if Holiness be so absolutely necessary to Life and Happiness; Object. and that under the Gospel, to which men flee to escape the condemnation of the Law, who then can be saved?  
The Apostles propounded that Question unto our Saviour upon the Observation our Saviour had made (the rich Young man having departed from him) of the very great difficulty in the Salvation of a Rich man. 'Tis observable, that the Disciples do not say, What rich man can then be saved? 
Mat. 19.25.  But being conscious that every Condition had its temptations, as a rich man had his, so they had theirs, they therefore propound the question more generally. To which, so far as my Subject leads me, I answer,  
1. By Concession, that certainly there will be but few saved. Answ. Christ's Flock is a very little One, a little diminutive Flock. 
Luke 12.37.  Of the many that came out of Egypt how few entered Canaan! And if the Apostles were so solicitous, when it was told them, that one of them (though but one of the twelve) was the Son of Perdition, how careful should we be, when our Saviour tells us, That strait is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 
Mat. 7.14.  Who that thinks seriously on this, will not make the Apostles solicitous Question, Is it I?  
2. God does undertake for Holiness too, to enable all that in sense of their inability come unto him in the Name of Christ: Nay, God knows them that are his, and draws them unto Christ, who hath received gifts for the rebellious, 
Psal. 68.18.  (good news for the humbled, penitent Sinner!) that the Lord God might dwell amongst them: Nay, Christ hath all fullness, 
Col. 1.19.  which it pleased the Father should be in Him. And God hath promised to take away the stony heart, and to give them a heart of Flesh: 
Ezek. 11.19.  As for others that perish in their Blood and Sin, God is righteous, for who of them does what he could do, and aught to do? and God may do with his own (all Grace is his) as he please.  
3. A sincere Endeavour to departed from Iniquity, and to keep the Commandments of God, shall be accepted at thy hand for Christ's sake. In the first Covenant (according to the tenor of it) the Person was accepted only for the Works sake; but in the Covenant of Grace, the Works are accepted for the Persons sake: if thou hast made thy Peace with God through Jesus Christ, and art beloved in him, God will accept thee according to what thou hast, 
2 Cor. 8.12.  and not reject thee for what thou hast not.  
But be not mistaken, as if some sorry wishes, and faint endeavours after Holiness were sufficient. Do men pursue so coldly and faintly things which they value? especially if it be for their lives? therefore they shall be your Judges: But having exceeded in the foregoing Particulars, (like those Children that come first have usually the biggest portion) I must hasten to the fourth and last, 
Particular.  and be brief in it. viz.  

Free Pardon the best Motive to become holy.  (4.) This Grace of the Gospel, to wit, our Justification through the Name and Merit of Jesus Christ, is the strongest Motive towards our departing from Iniquity.  
Though departing from Iniquity is in its self very good and necessary, yet the Motive for such our departing does very much vary it. Our Saviour taxeth the Scribes and Pharisees, that they did all their works to be seen of men, 
Mat. 23.5.  which was as a Fly in the Box of their precious Ointments; any good Action ought to consist (ex integris causis) of good Causes in every respect. If the Principle out of which it flows, or End to which it tends be not good, the whole work is marred, it cannot be a good work. Our business at present, is to inquire about the End which we propound in our Obedience, in which,  

Meriting, or retaliating, may not move us.  (1.) If it be to Expiate for by past offences, or to merit undeserved Favours, it must needs be abominable in the sight of God, being the highest act of Pride or Presumption that can be imagined. Let our works be what they will, 
Isa. 64.6.  (though the Best are as filthy Rags,) if they be offered unto God by way of Barter or Exchange; they become most abominable: As if God stood in need of something that we have, or that we were so sufficient as to be able to benefit God too.  
(2.) To departed from Iniquity, or to labour in Holiness, 
But Thankfulness to God, excites us.  in order to express our Thankfulness unto God, for his mercies in Jesus Christ, is most grateful and most forcible.  
1. It must be most Acceptable unto God, being it speaks the Soul truly affected with, and sensible of God's Free Grace and Mercy. It does not come to God with any Purpose to deserve at God's hands, 
Psal. 103.1, 2.  but with a What shall I render? With many blessings of God for his pardoning of his Iniquity, and healing his diseases.  
2. Thankfulness (as low as sin hath sunk Man) is yet left, as visibly engraven on the Nature of Man: Hence the Heathen could account Unthankfulness as the sum of all vices; 
Isa. 1.3.  and Scripture makes the unkthankfull Man worse than a Beast. Now if Thankfulness remain and be cogent, what can oblige more than the Mercies of God in Christ? If we serve them that give us Food and Raiment, what Service is too much for Him that gives us all things? Nay, that gives us Christ, and with him all things. Oh! there is a vast difference in having Christ, (the Peace and Love of God through Him,) in having Christ, his Spirit to enable us to improve what we have from God; and not having Christ with our present Enjoyments. Methinks when we see our Children or Servants run or go where we would have them, do any thing to please or gratify us; we cannot but blush to think how little we do, and how awkward it is what we do for God.  
Who is it that considers the Love of God in Jesus Christ, and can forbear crying out with the Psalmist, Truly Lord, I am thy servant, I am thy servant? 
Psal. 116.16.  (Away with all formal Pops:) It is ingeminated, because of our Obligation to God's service, from our Redemption, as well as from our Creation: And if thou dost say so, as thou dost in effect in every Prayer, let not God find thee with a Lie in thy mouth.  

God's and Christ's Love constrains us.  3. Love unto God for all his glorious Excellencies, especially for his Mercy in Christ Jesus, is the best Principle of Holiness, and our departing from Iniquity.  

Prov. 23.26.  God requires his Children to give him their Heart: And indeed, in all the Acts of Religion and Devotion, what the Heart does not do, is looked upon by God as not done at all: Nay, it were well for the Hypocrite, that all his outside Services and formal Professions had never been. 
2 Thes. 3.5.  This made St. Paul to pray for the Thessalonians, That the Lord would direct their Hearts into the Love of God.  

Cant. 8.7.  Now Love is as a Fire which many waters cannot quench: Difficulties will be overcome, and Obedience will be permanent where true Love to God is. And this Love in the Soul to God is begun by, and flows from God's Love first unto the Soul, 
1 John 4.19.  (as Fire kindles Fire;) he loved us first; and had it not been a very great Flame, it could never have thawed and warmed our frozen Hearts. We do but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Love when we are beloved; but when we are made sensible of Christ's Love, the freeness, efficacy and usefulness of it, (I know not what to say first or last concerning it, 
2 Cor. 5.14. ) it passeth Knowledge, than we are constrained; that is, as effectually, though inwardly, forced, as any strong man can by his strength force us to do any outward act.  
He that acts according to any of God's Commandments, out of hope to merit by them, may act out of Love indeed, but it must be then self-love, to obtain, as he vainly thinks, by his Obedience, Eternal Happiness. Our Love of God should exceed Self-love, as far as God himself exceeds us, which is infinitely. Our Love of God is a Virtue, and the Foundation of all the rest: Our Love of ourselves (thus taken) is a sin, and a Mother-sin, the Cause of all the rest of our sins.  
To hear a penitent and believing Sinner exulting in his Praises unto God, professing his deep sense of his Mercies, considering what Returns he shall make unto God, 
Psal. 51.12.  (for the Spirit of God is a free and ingenuous Spirit,) it were the pleasantest and desirablest Music on this side of the heavenly Quire. Thou mayst set about it thyself, and make this Melody in thy own Heart: 
Eph. 5.19.  Ruminate on what God hath done for thee, and what he daily does: What thou owest for the Mercies of every Day, and Night, and Moment; and what suitable sense thou oughtest to have of them; and to thy poor power, thy little all, what Returns thou oughtest to make for them. But when thou settest thyself as in the sight of God, to consider what thou shouldest return to thy God for his Mercy in Christ Jesus; thou wilt find that thyself, thy Service, thy All, is too little; but you must cry out with Mr. Herbert, Alas! my God, I know not what.  

APPLICATION.  
I cannot wholly omit Application, 
Applicat.  though I have in a great measure prevented myself: Take what remains in these few Uses.  
(1.) This Justifies God: For no Doctrine, 
Instruct. This justifies God.  no Dispensation of his did ever countenance Sin. Nay, nothing does show so plainly God's hatred of Sin, as the Gospel does. If we take a walk in the Garden, where our Saviour sweat those drops of Blood; 
Luke 22.44. Matth. 27.46.  or be within hearing of that lamentable Cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? If we ask, Why does the Son of God thus cry out, what makes him thus sweat? The Gospel informs us, that it was our Sin that pressed this Blood out of him, and forced this bitter Cry from him: 
Luke 23.31.  And if this be done in the green tree, what shall be done to the dry?  

It discovers vain Pretensions.  (2.) This discovers the groundless Pretensions, and vain Confidence of most men; who live in Sin, and yet hope (or would seem to hope) to live with God. Oh! Know ye not your own selves? Read the whole Testament over; either that is not the Gospel, or you cannot receive comfort from it: Not one good word is there in it, to any in whom sin reigns; unless those Threaten of Hell and Destruction may be called good, (Oh that they might prove so!) to awaken you to a due sense of your Condition, and be as a Schoolmaster to lead, or drive you to Christ; to take him for your Lord as well as for your Saviour; if he be not both, 
2 Pet. 1.11. Ch. 2.20.  he is neither unto you. You cannot be saved by your Book, could you read it, and understand it never so well, unless you practise it also. Christ must be in you, 
Coloss. 1.27. 2 Thess. 2.16:  (his Spirit entertained in your Heart,) or there is no Hope of Glory for you: All good Hope is through Grace. Thou flatterest thyself that God is thy Father, and so thou callest him in thy Prayers; but if thou be'st not like him, 
2 Pet. 2.4.  if thou partakest not of His divine Nature, thou takest his Name in vain, and he will not hold thee guiltless, (for thy Prayers will be turned into sin unto thee: 
Psal. 109.12. ) And yet Pray thou must, or thou runnest into a greater Iniquity; by neglecting to acknowledge thy dependence upon God, thou wilt at least border upon Atheism. Oh what a miserable Dilemma does thy wickedness betray thee unto!  
If thou hadst a design to dishonour God, thou couldst not more effectually execute it, than by saying, That thou art his Servant or Child, and by sin to disparage him thy Father, or Lord and Master: As he must needs provoke any great and noble Person, who in the Livery of his Servant, or Garb of his Child, acts filthiness and abominations.  
And as for laying hold on Christ, and shrouding of thyself amongst his Retinue, calling him thy Husband, or professing him to be thy Head, what a Monster (pardon the expression, I tremble to mention it,) wouldst make him? As if he were a Dagon, whose head was like a Man, but his lower parts like stinking Fish. The truth is, the pretensions of such unto Salvation, would make Scripture a Lie, and Christ the Minister of unrighteousness, 
Gal. 2.17. ult.  which God forbidden.  
Dost thou think it will serve thy turn well enough, if thou canst but with Stephen say at last, 
Acts 7.59.  Lord Jesus receive my Spirit? Unless thy Spirit be sanctified, and sins washed away in his Blood, thou wilt now soon hear him say unto thee, Depart thou Cursed into everlasting fire.  
Men, Brethren, and Fathers, hear our Apology: If we be taxed, because we maintain free Grace, and Free Justification, that we make a way for free sinning, and free living, and doing what we please, and yet getting thus into Heaven at last, and that we may be assured of it in the mean while; we justly abomnate such Inferences, and think they can least of all be inferred from such premises. May we all agree to stand up for God, and to oppose sin to our outmost, which is the last, and only Use that remains, and the best, and suitablest to the Text that can be made.  
It is foretold concerning the times of the Gospel, 
Exhortation. To Departed from Iniquity. Hos. 3.5.  That in the latter days they should fear the Lord and his goodness: Oh that these words might be now fulfilled! That men would fear to abuse the Goodness of God, which is designed to lead them to Repentance. 
Rom. 2.4.  The richest and sweetest Wines (they say) make the sharpest Vinegar: I am sure sweetest Promises, when neglected or abused, issue in the severest Torments; Woe to thee Chorazin, woe to thee Bethsaida; why is so sad a woe denounced, (beyond that on Ty●e and Sidon)? 
Mat. 11.21.23.  And Capernaum too is threatened with a more terrible destruction than that of Sodom and Gomorrah, because those miserable ones perished without having had the Means of Salvation declared in the Gospel amongst them; these refused to come to be saved, though invited by Christ himself. The hotter the Sunbeams are, the more they harden the Clay that will not be softened by it.  
If you keep your Sins now, you do despite unto the Spirit of Grace that in the Gospel, 
Heb. 10.29.  invites, persuades, and offers to enable you to forsake them: You trample under foot the precious Blood of the Son of God, which should wash you from all your Impurities; you count it as a common thing, and let it be spilt in vain, as water on the ground. One brings in Satan upbraiding our Saviour with the fewness of his Followers, and true Disciples; he (Satan) did never any good for Man, he is Man's Enemy on all accounts; and yet upon the offer of any foolish Toy, Profit or Pleasure, he is obeyed, and men yield themselves up to his service, though so hard and tyrannical a Master. Our Blessed Lord became Man, lived meanly, died miserably, that he might gain Obedience to such just Precepts and Commandments that are for our good, and yet hath so very few that will serve and obey him: 
Jerem. 2.12. Rom. 14.9. 1 Cor. 15.27. Eph. 1.22. Psal. 66.7.  Be astonished, O ye Heavens; Therefore Christ died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord of the living and of the dead: All things are put under his feet, and by his Power he ruleth over all, whether they will or no: But Christ died and suffered, that he might obtain a willing People, 
Psal. 110.3.  such as out of choice and love would obey him.  
And do any of you pretend to be bought with a Price, even with the precious Blood of the Son of God? 
1 Cor. 6.20.7.23.  then you ought to glorify him with those Bodies and Spirits which are his.  
'Tis now Sacrilege indeed to rob God, and he will bring thee into Judgement, and indite thee (ay, and condemn thee too, without serious and timely Repentance,) for it. And, Oh how hot is that Hell which is especially prepared for Hypocrites and Unbelievers!  
Thy Obligation is as strict, (and as you heard) stricter too under the Gospel, than it was to any under the Law, and yet the Transgressor's of the Law deserved then to perish without mercy, 
Heb. 10.28.  and how shall we escape?  
One difference there is indeed betwixt the Law and the Gospel: The Law required the full tale of Brick, but afforded no Straw: It required Obedience, but the Law (as such) afforded no means to perform it. The Means how thou mayest be enabled to do the Will of God, and to departed from Iniquity, is manifested in the Gospel; here thou art shown a fullness in Christ, 
Colos. 1.19.  out of which thou mayest have Grace for Grace.  
Thou art invited to come, thou art assured to be welcome; bring never so many empty Vessels, thou mayest fill them freely; 'tis in vain to say, Thou canst not, 
Isa. 55.1.  but thou wilt not be holy. Did any now, in a sense of their weakness and inability, beg Strength and Power from him to do his Will, and walk in his Commandments, there would be Joy in Heaven for such a Petition, 
Luke 15.7, 10.  so readily would it be heard and granted.  
You have heard, that every one that calls himself a Christian, does it therefore, because he pretends to be married to Jesus Christ; but in good earnest (to use the words of Rebecka's Friends,) Wilt thou go with this Man? Wilt thou go with Christ, and be a Follower of him? Say, and do it, 
Gen. 24.58.  and God speed thee well: I cannot wish thee more Joy than thou wilt find.  
And Oh what Advantages would this bring, would Christians be what they profess, and would seem to be! were the Precepts of Christ obeyed, and his Life copied out by them, this would mend the World indeed. Pagans and Mahometans, Papists and Jews would not be able to stand out against the power of Godliness, when it once appear in the lives of Men: Not only Ministers may Convert, 
1. Pet. 3.1.  but even Women too; thus the Husband (the Apostle tells us,) may be gained to Christ by his Wife; thus a Servant (that does his Service as to the Lord,) may convert his Master.  
Oh! up and be doing, your labour shall not be in vain: No, 
1 Cor. 15.58.  but great shall be your Reward in Heaven: When you shall be taken up to shine as the Stars in the Firmament for ever and ever. 
Dan. 12.3.   

Matth. 25.11.  But if you shall neglect or refuse, my Soul shall mourn in secret for you, as knowing that the crying, Lord, Lord, will not avail you, nor any confident Profession of Christ's Name, stand you in any stead.— When the Deluge came, how many perishing Wretches ran to the Ark, and laid hold on it, cried earnestly for to be admitted into it, but in vain! 
Fac quod dicis, & fides est.  You know whom the Ark represented, even this Christ, in whom alone is Salvation: Oh get into him, by a true and living Faith, and that to day, whilst it is called to day, 
2 Pet. 2.1.  least swift destruction come upon you. 
2 Cor. 5.11.  May we all so know and consider the terrors of the Lord, that we may be persuaded.    

Quest. What is that fullness of God every true Christian ought to pray, and strive to be filled with? SERMON VI.  Ephes. III. 19 
And to know the Love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the Fullness of God.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
THESE words are a considerable part of that excellent Prayer put up to God by the Apostle, for his beloved Ephesians: from vers. 16. to the end. And indeed Prayer was his tried Engine by which he always could bring down supplies of Grace, from the God of all Grace, for his own, and the Souls of others: In this Branch of it, you will easily observe, he prays for Grace the End, and Grace the Mean to reach that End.  
1. He Prays for Grace the End. That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. This being the utmost of the Souls Perfection, aught to be the height of its Ambition: beyond this we cannot reach, and therefore in the attainment of this we must rest.  
2. He Prays for Grace the Mean to compass that End, viz. To know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge. As we grow up into a greater Measure of the knowledge of the Love of Christ to us, we shall enjoy more of the fullness of God in us.  
But here we meet, in each of these parts of the Text, with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a seeming contradiction in the Terms. To know the Love of Christ, which passeth knowledge? What is that, but to know what is unknowable? And to be filled with all the fullness of God? What is that, but to comprehend, what is incomprehensible? The narrow vessel of our Heart can no more contain the boundless, and bottomless Ocean of the Divine fullness, than our weak intellectual Eye can drink in the glorious Light of that knowledge.  
And yet there are many such expressions in the Holy Scripture: Thus Moses, Hebr. 11.27. saw him that was invisible. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. He saw him by the Eye of Faith, in the glass of a Revelation, whom he could not see by the Eye of Reason, in the glass of Creation: And thus we are instructed in the Gospel, how to approach that God who is unapproachable, 1 Tim. 6.16. To approach that God by Jesus Christ, according to the Terms of the New Covenant, to whom considered absolutely, in himself we could never approach.  
Let us therefore first clear and remove the obscurity of the Phrases, that we may more comfortably handle the Divine matter contained in them; Always taking along with us this useful caution, That we run not away with a swelling metaphor, and from thence form in our minds rude, undigested Notions of Spiritual things; nor fancy we see Miracles, when we should content ourselves with Marvels.  

(1.)  The former of these seeming repugnances, is, To know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge? If this love of Christ passeth knowledge; why do we pray, why should we strive to know it? If it be our duty to pray that we may know it, how is it supposed to pass knowledge? Must we endeavour to reach that which is above all heights? To fathom that which is an Abyss and has no bottom? Or to take the Dimensions of that, which is unmeasurable?  
To remove this difficulty, there have been many expedients found out. 1. 
I.  Some carry the sense thus; To know the Love of Christ, which passeth, or surpasseth the knowledge of all other things: There is an excellency, an usefulness in the knowledge, of Christ's Love, which is not to be found in the knowledgc of any thing else. A man may know to his own pride, to the Admiration of others, he may have the knowledge of all Tongues, and Languages; may understand all Arts and Sciences, may dive deep into the secrets of Nature; may be profound in Worldly Policies, may have the Theory of all Religions true and false, and yet when he comes to cast up his Accounts, shall find himself, never the better, never the holier, indeed never the wiser, never the nearer satisfaction till he can reach this blessed knowledge of the Love of Christ.  
Only the excellency of the knowledge of the Love of Christ, consists herein.  
1. It must be a knowledge of Christ's Love by way of Appropriation, to know with the Apostle, Gal. 2.20. That he loved me, and gave himself for me.  
2. By way of efficacious Operation; Rev. 1.5. That he loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.  
3. By way of Reflection; that his Love has kindled a mutual Love in our Souls to him, 1 John 4.19. We love him because he first loved us.  
4. By way of practical Subjection; when his Love subdues our Hearts to himself, and constrains us to new obedience, 2 Cor. 5.14, The Love of Christ constrains us; it restrains us from sinning against him, and engages us to obey him: To know, that we may know, and make knowledge the end of itself is nothing but vain curiosity: To know that we may be known, is nothing but vainglorious arrogancy. To know that we may make others know, is indeed an edifying charity; but to know that we may be transformed into the image and likeness of what we know of the Love of Christ, this is the true, the excellent, the transcendent way of knowledge; And this was that knowledge of Christ, and of his Love, which the Apostle set such a price upon, 1 Cor. 2.2. when he determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified: That he might there see the Love of Christ streaming out of his heart, at his wounds in his blood; and there see Divine Justice satisfied, the Law fulfilled, and thence feel his Conscience purified, and pacified, and his Soul engaged, and quickened to walk in all new obedience; This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The transcendent knowledge of Christ, in comparison of which all other things were loss, and dross, and dung; That he might know Christ, and the power of his Resurrection, and the fellowship of his Sufferings, being made conformable to his Death, Phil. 3.8, 10. And this is one way of clearing the difficulty, and reconciling the seeming contradiction.  
2. Others have recourse to a Hyperbaton: and would clear the Thing by transposing the words: And they order the words thus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. To know the surpassing Love of the knowledge of Christ; and then the sense will be this, I pray that you may know that surpassing, that incomparable Love of God, which appeared in giving you the knowledge of Christ. And it must be for ever acknowledged, that this was a marvellous instance of the Love of God, that he was pleased to Communicate to the World the knowledge of a Redeemer; but yet it seems rather to impoverish the sense, than to give us the full import of the expression.  
3. There is no need to fly to Critical Niceties, nor to call in Rhetoric, and its figures to our Relief. The words will be consistent, and freed from all appearance of self-contradiction if we attend to these following Positions.  
1. That which cannot be known by a mere humane understanding, may yet be understood by the Spirit of Christ, which searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, 1 Cor. 2.10. And the Spirit of God is given for this end, to shed abroad the Love of God, (and so the Love of Christ) in our Hearts, Rom. 5.5.  
2. That which cannot be fully known of the Love of Christ in this present state, where our understandings are very much clouded, and our faith weak through the remainders of inward Corruption, yet shall be more gloriously known when we come to see God in Christ, face to face, 1 Cor. 13.12. Now we know but in part, but then we shall know as we are also known.  
3. Although there be much of the Love of Christ which passes all our present knowledge, yet there's enough of that Love that may be known: enough to feed our knowledge, that it starve not, in this life, and yet to whet the edge of the Souls appetite to know more in the life to come; enough to guide us, and conduct us through our pilgrimage, and abundance more reserved for our portion. The Love of Christ has Depths in it wherein the daring Soul may drown, and yet those shallows wherein the humble Soul may safely wade, and comfortably bathe itself, without danger of being swallowed up: And we have some parallel expressions in Scripture, which may well illustrate this of the Text, Phil. 4.7. The peace of God passes all understanding: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it exceeds all conception, and yet there is that in the Peace of God, which may be conceived and expressed too; even something of that inward satisfaction which arises from a well grounded hope that our peace is made with God, and that peace copied out upon, and exemplified in a pure and quiet Conscience: so in the verse following my Text, we read that God is able to do exceeding abundantly (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) above that we can ask and think: and yet we may conceive something of what God will do for us, and  those conceptions with suitable expressions, and make our humble Addresses to him for what he has promised to give to us, and do for us in such a way as shall be acceptable to God through the Interest of our Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ. In a word, As Moses could not see God's face and live, Exod. 33.20. And yet Moses could not live except he saw God's face: so is there a measure, a degree of the knowledge of the Love of Christ, which we cannot reach if we would die for't; and yet there is such a measure, such a Degree of the knowledge of that Love of Christ, which we must reach, or we die for't: And hence I will briefly touch upon two Propositions.  

I. Prop. There is something in the Love of Christ, which in this present state surpasses all perfect knowledge of it: Something of which we may say as one said of a Learned Book: If that which I understand be so admirable, what is that which I do not understand?  
Take any one mystery of the Gospel, and when we have pursued it as far as our faculties are able to trace it, we must be forced to make a stand, and as Paul upon the shore of the Ocean of God's unsearchable, untraceable Counsels, Rom. 11.33. to cry out, O the Depth! or as Job chap. 26.14. Lo, these are parts of his ways, and how little a portion is heard of him!  
There are two things that are unmeasurable; The evil of sin, and the Love of a Saviour: And the Love of a Saviour must be therefore unmeasurable to the sinner, because the evil of sin is unmeasurable. He that knows not the exceeding greatness of his debt, can never fully know the exceeding greatness of his Love that became a surety for it: He that cannot measure the greatness of the Curse he lay under, can never measure the Love of his Deliverer: And he that never could fully estimate the misery of his bondage, can never fully value or conceive aright of the Love of his Redeemer.  
(1.) The evil of his is unmeasurable: It is so whether we consider the Object against whom sin is committed, or the Punishment which sin hath deserved, or the Agonies which the Redeemer suffered to Atone it.  
1. If we consider sin as committed against an infinite God, so sin is infinite objectively, and therefore unmeasurable: the malignity of sin is unconceivable, it strikes at the Authority, the Glory, the very Being of the chiefest Good: Every sin would in its tendency dethrone the most High.  
(2.) If we consider the demerit of sin, it is that which passes all understanding, Psal. 90.11. Who knows the power of thine anger? We cannot take the just, and Adequate measure of that wrath which is due to sin, by all the Plagues, and Judgements by which God ever bore witness against the evil of sin: The fire of Sodom and Gomorra, was dreadful fire, but yet it was quenched, a little time extinguished it; but that fire of wrath which burns upon, but never burns up sinners is inextinguishable fire, Mark 9.44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The fire is inextinguishable: It is everlasting punishment, Matth. 25.46. The Deluge that drowned the old World argued great Displeasure against sinners, yet neither was that a just measure of God's wrath that is due to sin: for the waters of the Deluge were soon dried up; but so will not the Floods of Divine Vengeance poured out upon sinners to the uttermost: for the breath (that is, the anger) of the Lord as a stream of fire, and brimstone kindles, and feeds the matter of those flames. The Plagues of Egypt were exceeding great demonstrations of Divine anger against sin, yet they were determinate for number and duration, and so could not give us a just measure of the demerits of sin.  
3. If we consider the sufferings of Christ, they will prove that the evil of sin is unmeasurable; they were such as could not be expressed; and therefore the Ancient Christians used, in their Prayers, to beg of Christ that he would deliver them, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. by thy unknown torments, Lord deliver us! And hence we may infer, that the Love of Christ must needs be unmeasurable, because he delivered us from unmeasurable wrath, by unconceivable torments.  
(2.) The Love of Christ to sinners is unmeasurable, for these Reasons.  
1. Reas. We have no scale in nature, in which we can weigh; no line in created things by which we can measure it.  
§ 1. If we examine the love of Relations, we find them all limited and bounded, and they ought to be so: The love of a Father to a child is an intense love; the love of a Father to an undutiful child, a rebellious child, may stretch the line somewhat farther, yet this will fall vastly short of the Love of Christ to sinners. The highest instance of this love that I remember was that of David to his rebellious Son Absalon, expressed 2 Sam. 18.33. O Absalon my son! my son! would God I had died for thee, O Absalon my Son! my Son! Here is Paternal love strained up to the highest pitch imaginable; That a King should desire to die for a Rebellious Subject; that a Father should be willing to die for the most disingenuous and rebellious of Sons: This was great; but yet we find this love extended but to a natural death; he would have been unwilling to have died a Cursed death, to have been made a Curse for him; to have been made sin for him: And yet the torrent of this impetuous love soon dried up; it was founded in passion rather than judgement, and perhaps in cool blood, he would have been unwilling to have died that such a wretch might live: I question much whether David durst deliberately, advisedly, and premeditately, have laid down his life to save that of a vicious debauched Son; yet such was the Love of Christ, who laid down his life for sinners, the greatest of sinners, 1 Tim. 1.15. And laid it down voluntarily, when none could take it away, John 10.18. and not only died against the persuasions of his friends to save his life, Mark 8.32. but against that bitter malice of his Enemies, which always sparkled, and at last flamed out in the most cruel, bloody, implacable fury that ever was in the World; nay, against the just displeasure of God as a Judge, all which he had a clear prospect into, and yet gave this great pregnant proof of his unconquerable Love, that he not only poured out his Soul in tears, Luke 19.41. his Soul in prayers, Luke 23.34. Father forgive them: but his Soul in sacrifice too, unto the death, Isa. 53.12.  
But if the love of a Father to his Son will not measure this Love of Christ, perhaps the love of a Mother to her Son may: And this is indeed naturally the more soft and passionate Sex; and of this love the case is put, Isa. 49.15. Can a Woman forget her sucking Child, that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb? The case is put exceeding strong. A Child, a sucking Child, that hangs upon the breast and is always crying for pity, in its natural dialect; the Son of the Womb, that's more than the Child of the breast; she can hardly forget that at any rate, which she brought forth at such a dear rate: yet the circumstances may be such, that this tender Mother may forsake, and forget, nay kill, and destroy too, this innocent Child; such exigences they have been in, that Nature has proved unnatural; or Nature in one instance has overcome Nature in another: A Mother's hunger, has caused her to forget her pity to the Child of her Womb, Lam. 4.10. The hands of the pitiful Women have sodden their own children: to forsake, to forget, to kill, to cook, and at last to eat, is certainly the greatest stemming of the current, and stream of natural affection that we can conceive of: but Christ's Love will not suffer him to forget, to forsake; he has oftens forgotten himself, to remember them; he has forgotten his own food, that he might provide for their Souls, John 4.34. he has forgotten his own approaching death, that he might provide for their life, 1 Cor. 11.23. The same night in which he was betrayed he took bread, etc.  
And yet perhaps the love of the Husband to his Wife, may come up to this example of Love, Ephes. 5.25. Husband's love your Wives, as Christ loved his Church, and gave himself for it: Here's an argument indeed to enforce that conjugal Love; and here's a precedent for conjugal Love to look upon: but that [As] is not a note of equality, but of some general similitude: for the Husband gives himself to his Wife, but will not, is not bound to die for his Wife: he cannot be persuaded to have her sins charged upon his Soul: How short are all the Loves, the Affections of Relations to give us a pattern and example of the Love of Christ!  
But possibly we may find a love in Nature more strong than any of these: And that, if any where, must be amongst some of those great instances of Love which have been amongst friends: It is indeed said, 1 Sam. 18.1, 3. That Jonathan loved David as his own Soul; and in Deut. 13.6. The friend is said to be as a Man's own Soul. But yet when we come to examine these expressions, they fade away, and signify nothing but the life; where is the friend that will make his Soul an offering for sin? Isa. 53.10. However this is the highest flight that ever humane love took, to lay down life for a friend; but Christ has put this quite out of countenance, John 15.13. Greater love has no man than that he lay down his life for his friend; but a far greater Love than this had Christ, that he laid down his life for enemies. Christ laid down a better life, for them that were worse. And this is proposed to our consideration, as that which has outdone all the love in the World, Rom. 5.7, 8. Scarcely for a righteous Man will one die: No, I think it's out of question that none will; for who would be so friendly to him, that walks by the rules of strict justice; that will do no wrong, yet shows no mercy? but peradventure for a good Man some would even dare to die: If there be an instance found in the World of any that has laid down his life for another, it must be for a good Man; one that is a public blessing to the age wherein he lives, some one may throw away his private life, which is not very useful, for so generous a Person, that is a Common good to his Country; but if such an instance be found, which is but a peradventure; we have that which will shut it out of all consideration, and eclipse that which otherwise might have had some lustre, vers. 8. God commends his love to us that when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  
§ 2. If the love of relations will not afford us a just Measure for the Love of Christ; let's see if there be any thing else in the whole scale of Nature that may furnish us with a line commensurate to it: And we can no sooner think of making the Inquiry, but we propose to ourselves, the height of Heaven, the breadth of the Earth, Prov. 25.3. The Heaven for height, and the Earth for breadth: but we must despair of finding any thing that may measure, or circumscribe this love, since the Apostle has assured us, Ephes. 3.8. that the riches of Christ are unsearchable, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, such as we must expect no footsteps of in the whole Creation. The Apostle might Preach it, but could not fully reach it. The treasures of Gold, and Silver, which wise providence has hid so deep in the bowels of the Earth, yet the vein may be pursued so far, till it's worn out; but this treasure of Love in the Heart of Christ, is so deep, and is so rich that we can neither find out nor exhaust the fullness of it: when God would give us some shadow of his Love, he represents it by the height of the Heavens; not that his Love reaches no higher, but because there's nothing in created Nature higher to represent it by, Psal. 103.11. As the Heaven is high above the Earth, so great is his Mercy towards them that fear him. The Love of God is only to be measured by itself, that is by himself, for God is Love, 1 John 4.8. No Creature, no Saint, no Angel, can fathom the Love of God's heart, Jer. 29.11. I know the thoughts that I think towards you.  
And we must say the same of Christ's Love; there's one Dimension more in the Love of Christ, than in the Creation, Ephes. 3.18. That you may be able to comprehend, with all Saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, etc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
We are taught to distinguish between the measure of a Man and the measure of God: All bodies have but three dimensions, Rev. 21.17. He measured the City with a Reed, twelve thousand furlongs; the length, the breadth, the height were equal, according to the measure of a Man; but in the measuring Spiritual, Heavenly things, such as are the Love of God, and of Christ, there's one dimension more: So we have it in that sublime discourse of Zophar, Job 11.7, 8, 9 Canst thou by searching find out God, canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is as high as Heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than Hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the Earth, and broader than the Sea. And thus we are taught modesty, and not to limit God, and his purposes of Love by our narrow conceptions, Isa. 55.8. My thoughts are not your thoughts, for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my thoughts then your thoughts, saith the Lord.  
And 1. for the Breadth of the Love of Christ; It reaches Jews, and Gentiles, it extends to all ranks of Men, high and low, rich and poor: it reaches all the cases of Men's Souls; the Tempted, Deserted, the Backslider, and Persecutor; it reaches the bruised Reed, the smoking Flax; it extends to the pardon of all sins truly repent of: so that we may say that his promises, which are the vehicles of Truth and Love, are exceeding broad, as well as his Precepts, which are the indications of his Authority, and Power: The Love of Christ is wider than Man's will, Rom. 10.21. All the day long I have stretched out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people: It's wider than Man's power, for John 6.44. No Man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And yet vers. 37. All that the Father has given me shall come unto me. It is wider than all our wants, and necessities; there's more bread in his house, than there are hungry Souls to eat; more mansions in Heaven than there are Souls to fill; it's wider than our capacities, and we may sooner enter into our Master's joy, Matth. 25. than that joy can enter into us, 1 Cor. 2.9. It cannot enter into the heart of Man what things God has prepared for them that love him.  
2. The length of the Love of Christ: An extent of Grace, and Love that reaches Souls at the greatest distance: It reached Paul, when he was in the heat, and height of his desperate fury; mad, and desperately mad, with an inveterate enmity against Christ: It reached Mary Magdalen, when she was possessed with seven Devils; it reached the Gentiles when they were far off from God, estranged from the light, and life of God by their Abominable Idolatries, Ephes. 2.13. Ye who sometimes were a far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ: It reached the Prodigal when he was far off, Luke 15.20. And as it finds and reaches Souls at the greatest distance of sin, and enmity, so it reaches a length, which we cannot with consistence of thought conceive of, Hebr. 7.25. Able to save to the utmost, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. To the uttermost length of God's Promise, and the believers Faith and Hope; to the uttermost extent of God's Purposes, and our Prayers; to the uttermost duration of this Life, and the next, through all time, beyond all time, to eternity.  
3. The depth of the Love of Christ: And here unless we could sound the depth of our Misery, we can never fathom the depth of Christ's Love; unless we could know the power of God's Anger, Psal. 90.11. we can never reach the power of Christ's Love: The Torments of Hell are unknown Torments, and those Torments which Christ endured in his Soul, to deliver us from thence, were unknown Torments: The Love of Christ does not only reach the depth of our Misery, by reason of Sin, but those depths of Sorrow into which sometimes even holy Souls are plunged by Desertion: The Psalmist cried unto God out of the Depth; Divine Love heard him and reached him there, Psal. 130.1. Jonah cried unto God out of the belly of Hell: Divine Love heard him there and delivered him thence, Jonah 2.2. Heman was plunged in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps; yet Love reached him in that sad, and dismal condition, Psal. 88.6.  
4. The height of the Love of Christ: All the measure of the height of Christ's Love we can take, is to say its unmeasurable; It is high, we cannot attain unto it, Psal. 139.6. his Love reaches the Soul on Earth, and never leaves it, till it has conducted it to Heaven; he Loves Grace into the Soul, and Loves the Soul into Glory; what that Glory is, Go and see! The taste of it, is to be had here, the feast is reserved for hereafter; wrath to come, and life to come are unconceivable, and therefore unexpressible; we can neither order our Speech by reason of our inward darkness, nor of that ineffable Light, thoughts fail us, words fail us; we are lost in the thoughts of future blessedness, as well as in those of our former misery! What therefore we cannot perfectly understand, let us silently, and reverently Admire, and Adore! What a prodigious height did Man fall from, when he fell from his God? What a desperate Abyss of misery did he fall into when he fell into sin? And therefore what a stupendious height is that which Love shall raise him to in Glory? All we can do, is to put no bounds to our Love to Christ: The true measure of our Love to Christ, should be to Love him without measure; and the true degree of our Love to a Redeemer is to Love him in the highest Degree; But alas! Where is our Love to Christ? How weakly do we express our Love to him, who has given us the fullest, clearest demonstrations of his to us, beyond all expressions! His was stronger than death, ours ready to die; the water-floods couldst not quench his, a few drops extinguish ours; he shed blood for us with more freedom, than we a few tears over him, and his bleeding, almost dying interest in the World; he loved sinners better than we can love Saints; he died for us with more flame of zeal, than we can live to, and for him: Let us be ashamed that we can find a love so vehement for our perishing comforts, nay for our kill corruptions, and yet have so indifferent affections for a Saviour! How shall we be able to Love our enemies for his sake, when we can neither Love him with an intense Love for his sake, nor our own? Let us mourn therefore bitterly that the Love of Christ should be unconceivable, and invisible, and that our Love to him should be so too, upon such different accounts; his for the greatness of it, ours for its smallness.   

II. Prop. There is a sufficiency of the Love of Christ to us that may be known.  
The Love of Christ to sinners may be considered either in the cause, or as in the effects; in the Spring and Fountain, or in the streams that flow from thence into Souls: Love as it was in the heart of Christ is unmeasurable; the Spring, the original cause and reason of it, was his own unaccountable Love, and can only be measured by the Love of the Father to his Son, which is equally unmeasurable, John 15.9. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you: But Christ's Love in the effects, that it has been pleased to produce in, and upon our Souls, may be understood, and in some good measure apprehended: If we cannot fix our eyes immediately upon the body of the Sun in its meridian glory, yet we may comfortably refresh ourselves with its beams, and feel the healing warmth of the Sun of righteousness arising and shining upon our Souls; If we cannot measure Christ's Love when it dealt with God, in making his Soul an offering for sin; nor what that Love was wherewith he loved us, and gave himself for us, Gal. 2.20. yet we may know that Love wherewith he loved us, and washed us from our sins, Rev. 1.5. The Love of Satisfaction passes knowledge, the Love of Sanctification may be known: As that poor Man, John 9.15. tho' he could not give a Philosophical account to the Scribes and Pharisees, how Clay and Spittle should contribute to the opening his Eyes, yet could say, This one thing, I know, that whereas I was born blind I now see. So may a renewed Soul say, Tho' I know not from what unmeasurable Fountain this Grace and Mercy did proceed; tho' I am ignorant of the manner of its working, yet this one thing I can say, Whereas I was a lover of sin, I now hate it; and whereas I have been a despiser of Christ, I now prize, and love him as the chiefest of Ten thousand. I can say, That that vanity, that corruption which sometime had a mighty power over me, is now subdued and conquered. More particularly,  
1. Although we cannot perfectly know the Love of Christ, yet may we know so much of it, as may raise our desires to know more: As he that meets with a Vein of precious Metal, tho' it be small, yet it gives him hopes of meeting with more, and those hopes encourage his labours to dig deeper and search further; so that little we can attain of the knowledge of Christ's Love in our wayfaring state, makes the Soul labour and strive, and hope and pray, that it may come to fuller knowledge of that love in its own Country.  
As that sight which Moses had of God, encouraged him to pray, Exod. 33.18. I beseech thee show me thy glory: So that view we have of Christ in a glass darkly, serves to engage our endeavours, and sharpen our desires to see him face to face in glory. As we gain upon the knowledge of Christ, so we grow, and as it were encroach upon him still; if God will condescend, and come down to visit the Soul, the Soul will make an argument from thence, that he would take it up to himself: A taste of Christ's Love, whets the Spiritual appetite after a feast, 1 Pet. 2.2. As new born babes desire ye the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby. If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.  
2. However our knowledge of Christ's Love is imperfect, yet we may know so much as may shame us that we have loved him no better; we know the Love of Christ carried him out to suffer most dreadful things upon our account, and may hence reflect upon ourselves with great shame, that our love has been so weak as not to carry us out to suffer for his Name; he endured the cross, we are terrified at the sight of it: The argument is very strong, 1 John 3.16. Thus if Christ laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren: But how weakly does it work upon us? How little a matter can this love constrain us to lay down for their sakes? And it's a most concluding argument, Col. 3.13. that we should forbear and forgive one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, as Christ forgave us; but alas! how little does this instance of the Love of Christ prevail upon us? That Love which prevailed with him to forgive us Talents, will not, does not prevail with us to forgive our brethren a few Pence, Matth. 18.27, 28. The Love of Christ was a conquering, a triumphant Love, it bore down  stood in its way: It grappled with the displeasure of God, with the malice of Devils, the fury of unreasonable Men, and with the unkindness of his Friends, it broke through all Discouragements, and trampled upon all Oppositions, the waters could not quench it, the floods could not drown it, Cant. 8.7. So much we know, and may blush, that our Love to Christ is so easily quenched, discouraged, and disheartened.  
3. Although our knowledge of Christ be imperfect, yet so much we may know as may serve to guide and encourage our obedience to him: All our knowledge of Christ is vain, all our love to him is a pretence, if we know him not that we may love him, and love him not that we may keep his Commandments, 1 John 2.4. He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; for as that is not reputed with God to be any obedience, which is not performed by a principle of love, so neither is that accepted as any love, that is not productive of obedience: The Authority of Christ over us is the reason of our obedience, but the Love of Christ in us is the true principle of that obedience, John 14.21. He that hath my Commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: Christ will not acknowledge any Man to love him that does not serve him: And as the Love of Christ was an universal Love, it extended to all our Spiritual necessities; so must our Love to Christ, be as universal, and have a sincere respect to all his Commandments: And upon lower terms than these, Christ will not own our love to be any thing, John 15.14. Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.  
4. Although we cannot perfectly understand the Love of Christ, in this our present state, yet may we know so much of his Love as shall be of more true use and worth than all we know besides; we may know something of God, and know it to our terror and confusion: There may be such rays of Divine knowledge let into a guilty Soul, as may make it wish it could shut them out again: And hence it is, that sinners say, Job 21.14. Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. The most ungrateful,  thing to an impenitent sinner in the World, is to see God, and to be convinced that God sees him: That God's omniscience looks into his rotten heart; and the sinner must needs sit very uneasy under this knowledge of God, till he can see God reconciled to him in Christ, and have the light of that knowledge comfortably shining into his heart in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 4.6.  
There is no knowledge to be compared with the knowledge of God; no knowledge of God comparable to the knowledge of God as reconciled in Christ; no knowledge of Christ to be compared with the knowledge of his Love, nor any knowledge of his Love to be compared with that knowledge of it, which subdues our hearts to his obedience, transforms our Souls into his likeness, and raises up the Soul to aspire after his enjoyment. Thus it is that we joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement, Rom. 5.11.  
All other knowledge may swell the head, sooner than better the heart or reform the life: A Man may go silently down to Hell by hypocrisy; he may go triumphantly thither by open profaneness, and he may go Learnedly down to Hell with great pomp and ostentation,  he knows, if he knows not the Love of Christ, ruling in him, and giving Laws to him, and conforming him both to the Death, and Resurrection of his Saviour.  
And let this suffice to have spoken of the second Proposition: That tho' the Love of Christ in its highest elevation passes all perfect knowledge, in our present dark imperfect state, yet there's enough of the Love of Christ that may be known, to engage our desires and endeavours to know more, to shame us that we know so little of what may be known; to engage our hearts to him, and make us confess that whatever else we know without this, is not worth the knowing.  
Come we now to the second part of the Text, viz. the Apostles Prayer, for Grace the End: That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God, wherein we meet with a second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or something that implies a contradiction in appearance.  
The Apostle prays that the Ephesians might, and certainly we ought to add our Prayers to his, that we may; and to second our Prayers with endeavours, that God would fill us with all his fullness: And yet we are here aground again, To be filled with God's fullness? With all his fullness, seems rather the object of our Despair, than of our Prayer; 'tis that which startles Faith, discourages Hope, which supersedes Prayer and Endeavour; for how can our finite grasp his Infinite? Our narrow vessel comprehend the Sea of his Divine perfections? We can no more comprehend the incomprehensible of God, than we can apprehend the unapprehensible Love of Christ: Our hearts must needs be narrow, because our minds are so; we can see but little, we can love no more than we can see: what the Eye cannot behold, the Hand cannot hold.  
For the solution of this, I shall only observe at the present, That as there is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that which may be known of God, Rom. 1.19. and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that which cannot be known of God; in which respect we are like the Athenians, and erect our Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to the unknown God, Acts 17.23. so there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that which may be comprehended of God, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that which cannot be comprehended, in which respects we are all sceptics, and must confess, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I cannot comprehend it.  
For the clearing therefore of this difficulty, perhaps we may have some relief from the Original; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which we may render thus, That ye may be filled unto all that fullness of God. There is a measure of Grace unto which the Divine Wisdom has appointed Believers; unto that measure, that degree of fullness we ought to aspire, and to pray that God would fill us with it; which seems to be the purport of that other Prayer of this Apostle for the Thessalonians, 2 Thes. 1.11. We pray always for you, that God would fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. God is the Fountain, his Saints are Vessels: These Vessels are of several capacities; God according to his good pleasure has gauged these Vessels; now it is our duty to pray and strive, to strive and pray, that God from the inexhaustible Fountain of his goodness would fill these Vessels with Grace up to the brim; and that according to that capacity which God has graciously bestowed he would graciously fill up that capacity. For if you should pour the whole Ocean upon a Vessel, yet it receives only according to its own Dimensions: And this is the Interpretation of Theophylact, who when he had recited, and rejected, some other interpretations, fixes on this, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I conceive (says he) this to be the best interpretation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That ye may be perfect in every Divine perfection, knowing all Spiritual things as far as 'tis possible. Seeing then there is a fullness of God which we cannot comprehend, cannot receive; and yet there is something of the fullness of God which we may receive, it will be seasonable to propound that Question which has been recommended to our Consideration.  
Question, What is that fullness of God which every true Christian ought to pray, and strive to be filled with?  
This Inquiry will oblige us to speak something by way of Supposition, and then something further by way of direct Solution.  
§ 1. That which is necessary to be spoken by way of Supposition, will fall under these two Heads; That there is a fullness in God, and of God, which we cannot be filled with; And that there is a fullness of God with which we may, and therefore ought to pray and strive to be filled with.  
1. Supposition, It is presupposed to this Inquiry, That there is a fullness in God, with which we cannot be filled, and therefore ought not to pray, ought not to strive to be filled with it.  
It was the destructive suggestion and temptation of Satan, to persuade our first Parents to be ambitious of being like to God, Gen. 3.5. Ye shall be as Gods: And the Tempter never showed himself to be more a Devil, than when he prosecuted this Design; nor did Man ever fall more below himself, than when he was blown up to an Ambition to be above himself: It is the perfection, the glory, the happiness of the Rational creature to be like unto God, in his communicable Attributes: It is the destruction, the ruin of the Rational creatures to aspire after a likeness to God in his incommunicable ones; And 'tis a sinful ambition too to aspire after a likeness to God even in his communicable Attributes, and perfections in that way, wherein they are in God; so that it may be our destruction to aspire after a conformity to God, and it may be our perfection to aspire after a conformity to him.  
For first, God is essentially full of all Divine excellencies, he is so by nature, by essence; what we are, we are by Grace: 'Tis not much we have, and that little is Grace, 1 Cor. 15.10. By the grace of God, I am that I am: Holiness is not our essence, there was a time when we were not holy; we were born without it, and may die without it; but if we die as empty of Grace as we were born, it had been good for us never to have been born.  
Secondly, The holiness of God is a Self-holiness; God is not only full, § 2 but self-ful, full with his own fullness; he lends to all, borrows of none: But the fullness of a Believer is a borrowed, a precarious fullness; we depend on God for the beginning and begetting of Grace; for the increasing and nourishing of that Grace he has begotten and begun; for the confirming and strengthening that Grace he has increased; for the perfecting and completing of that Grace he has confirmed and strengthened, and for the crowning of what he has so perfected and completed. Chrysostom, upon that, John 1.16. And of his fullness, we all have received, and grace for grace, informs us, that Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very Self-fountain. Believers must confess with David, Psal. 71.8. That all our Springs are in him. Again, that Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very Self-root: We must freely and thankfully own, that in him is our fruit found, Hosea 14.8. Again, that Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very Self-life, John 5.26. He has Life in himself: That we have, we acknowledge it to be from him, as our Principle, Spring, Root, with whom is the fountain of life, Psal. 36.9. And that the life which we live in the Flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. 2.20. In a word, all our Obedience is rooted in the habits of Grace wrought in the Soul, and those habits are all rooted in Christ, who, as Chrysostom goes on, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, contains in himself the treasures of all good things: and not only so, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he overflows, and ever flows with Streams of Grace to all the Saints; not only being full, but filling others; not only rich, but enriching others; a living Jesus, and giving Life to others. And thus by Faith engrafted into Christ, we partake of the root and of the fatness of the Olive-tree, Rom. 11.17.  
Thirdly, The fullness of holiness of Grace, of all perfections that are in God, are unlimited, boundless, and infinite: God is a Sea § 3 without a Shoar; an Ocean of Grace without a Bottom: The fullness of Believers is circumscribed within the bounds and limits of their narrow, and finite Being's: And this finiteness of Nature will for ever cleave to the Saints, when they shall be enlarged in their Souls to the utmost capacity. Mortal shall put on Mortality; but finite shall never put on Infiniteness; Corruptible shall put on Incorruption; but our measured Natures shall never put on Immensity.  
Fourthly, And hence the fullness of God is inexhaustible. As all the § 4 lesser Stars replenish their Urns with light from the Sun, and yet he's never the less full of light. Thus God is called the Father of lights, Jam. 1.17. by which some think is meant the Father of Spirits, who, as so many Lamps are lighted up from the Sun; or else the Father of all Grace, Comfort, Peace, each of which may be termed Light. Now when all the Saints in Earth, all the Angels in Heaven have filled up their Vessels from this Fountain, yet he is still the same infinitely blessed all-full God.  
Fifthly, And the forementioned Father thinks that the similitude of § 5 the Fountain, and of the Ocean, do not fully express the fullness of God: For, if you take but one drop from the Ocean, there is that drop less in the Ocean, than there had been, if it had not been taken thence; and therefore we add this last Head: That the fullness of Goodness, Grace, Holiness, and all other Divine Perfections that are in him are not only inexhaustible, but undiminishable: For after all the derivations of Grace from the God of Grace, he remains full, and not only so, but as he expresses it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Not at all lessened by those communications: Nor need we puzzle ourselves with this matter, for our Derivations from God are not essential, but influential; the Soul partakes not of the Divine Nature, materially, but by way of efficiency. Believers are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Partakers of the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1.4. Not by substance, but resemblance; for we must hold this as a fixed Principle, that the Divine Nature, essentially considered, is not discerptible, nor divisible, and therefore not communicable.  
This therefore is the first thing we must suppose, and take as granted, That there is a Fullness in God, viz. his essential self-fulness, which is infinite, inexhaustible, undiminishable, and therefore incommunicable.  
2. A second thing we must suppose, is, That there is a fullness of God with which we may, and therefore ought to pray and labour that we may be filled: We cannot reach the original fullness, but we may a borrowed derivative fullness; tho' we cannot attain the fullness of the Fountain, we may receive a fullness of the Vessel from that Fountain; and if we cannot partake any thing of God's Essence, we may partake of his Influence; we cannot be filled with the formal holiness of God, for that holiness is God; yet may we derive holiness from him as an efficient cause, who works all things according to the counsel of his Will, Eph. 1.11. The Wisdom of God, there's Principium dirigens; the Will of God, there's Principium imperans; and he works according to these, there's the Principium exequens. His Will commands, his Wisdom guides, his Power executes the Decrees and Purposes of his wise Counsel, and holy Will.  
Having thus cleared the way, we proceed to the direct Solution of the Question, What is that fullness of God, which every true Christian ought to pray, and strive to be filled with?  
For seeing we have supposed that there is a fullness of God, which we cannot be filled with; we must lay aside all ambitions, and vain aspire after that fullness; and seeing we have supposed, that there is a fullness of God wherewith we may be filled, and the very Prayer of the Apostle supposes it: We therefore are to take up this holy and humble ambition to be filled with it.  
Now this Question can be no sooner proposed, but our thoughts will suggest to us these two things. First, What is the matter of that Fullness, and what is the measure of that Fullness; with what of God, and with how much of God ought we to pray and strive, that we may be filled? And therefore of necessity we must divide the Question into these two Branches.  
First Branch of the Question. What is the matter of that Fullness of God which we are to pray, and strive to be filled with?  
When we speak of Filling, we conceive immediately that under that Metaphor there must be comprised these three things: A Fountain from whence that Fullness is communicated: A Recipient, a Vessel, a Cistern into which that Fullness is derived: And then of something Analogous to the matter, which from that Fountain is communicated, and by that Vessel received. Now in the Case before us; This Fountain must needs be God, the Author of every good and perfect Gift, Jam. 1.17. Souls are the Vessel into which the Fullness is received; but what we are to conceive and understand by the matter (or the quasi materia) with which these Vessels from that Fountain are filled, is the Subject of our present Enquiry.  
And to this branch of the main Inquiry I shall answer, First, more generally. Secondly, more particularly.  
(1.) To speak generally: That which we are to pray, and strive to be filled with, is the Spirit of God, Eph. 5.18. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit; where first the Apostle dehorts against Intemperance; we may have too much of the best outward things: It's easy to run into excess in these matters: The Psalmist assures us, Psal. 104.15. That Wine makes glad the heart of man. And the Prophet, Hos. 4.11. assures us too, that Wine takes away the Heart. It's no more but this; the Use is good, the Abuse is sinful; and the danger is, lest from the lawfulness of the Use we slide insensibly into the Abuse. Be not therefore filled with wine, wherein is excess; but then he exhorts too, But be ye filled with the Spirit: No fear of excess, or Intemperance in this case; when God fills the Souls of his People with his Spirit, he fills them with all the Spiritual good things that their hearts can fill their Prayers with: Compare but these two places: Matth. 7.11. How much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him? Luke 11.13. How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? The comparing of these two Scriptures evidently proves, that in praying for the Holy Spirit, we pray virtually for all good things; and that when God is graciously pleased to communicate his Spirit, he communicates all good things; when the Father gives his Son, he gives all things: So the Apostle has taught us to believe, and argue, Rom. 8, 32. He that spared not his Son, but delivered him up for us All; how shall he not with him freely give us all things? And we have equal reason to believe, that he that spared his Spirit, and gave him to us, will in him, and with him freely give us all things: But these all things are to be taken in suo genere: The Gift of Christ comprehends all things that are to be done for us; the gift of the Spirit includes all things to be wrought in us: Christ is all things for Justification, the Spirit is all things for Sanctification and Consolation. I shall touch at present upon some few things.  
1. Do you find an emptiness of Grace, and do you long to have your Souls replenished with it? You go to the God of all Grace, 1 Pet. 5.10. That he would give you more Faith, more Love, more Patience, more Self-denial, more Heavenly-mindedness, etc. you do well; but the compendious way is, to pray that God would fulfil that Promise, and so fill your Souls with his Spirit; Zech. 12.10. I will pour out upon the House of David, and Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplication. First the Spirit of Grace, that we may pray; and then the Spirit of Prayer, that we may be filled with more Grace: Can we be content with a few drops, when God has promised to pour out his Spirit? John 7.38. He that believes in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water; this spoke he of the Spirit. Can we  ourselves, that we have so much Grace as just keeps us alive, when if we would pray and strive for the Spirit, we might be more lively and vigorous Christians? Can we be content with a Taste, when God has provided a Feast? Some of the Ancients, who were anointed with material Oil, were anointed with the Cruise, others with the Horn: O let us not be satified that we have a few drops from the Cruise, when God is ready to pour out his Grace more abundantly! John 10.10.  
2. Would you answer the glorious Title of a Child of God with a more glorious and suitable Spirit, that you may pray as Children, walk as dear Children? come to God, not as Slaves, but as Children; and walk before God, not under the resemblance of the Spirit of Bondage, but with an ingenuous Liberty, and Freedom, as becomes the Heirs of Salvation: Pray for the Spirit of God; that he may be a Spirit of Adoption to you, as well as of Regeneration; pray in the Spirit for the Spirit, that you may have the frame of a Child, filled with Zeal for the Father's Name and Interest: 'Tis the Spirit of Adoption that teaches us to cry Abba Father, Rom. 8.15. 'Tis the Spirit of God that gives us an inward freedom and liberty, 2 Cor. 3.17. Wh●●e the Spirit of the Lord is, there's Liberty. This Spirit will not give you a liberty unto sin, but from it; nor from God, but with him: This Spirit will not break the Bonds of the Commandment, but tie up your hearts to it, and give you liberty and cheerfulness in it.  
We read that the Son makes us free, John 8.36 If the Son shall make you free, then are you free indeed: We read also that the Spirit makes us free too, but in different respects: The Son makes us free from the Curse of the Law, from the guilt of Sin, from the Wrath of God; but the Spirit makes us free too, from the reigning power of sin, from the bondage that is in the Conscience: The Authority of God has made his Precepts necessary; what is necessary in the precept, the Spirit makes voluntary in the principle; God charges the Conscience with Duty, and the Spirit enlarges the heart to obedience, Psal. 119.32. I will run the way of thy Commandment, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.  
3. Pray for the Spirit, that he would perform his whole Office to you, that you may not partake only of the work of the Spirit in some one or some few of his operations, but in all that are common to Believers. And especially that he that has been an anointing Spirit to you, would be a sealing Spirit to you also; that he that has sealed you, may be a witnessing Spirit to his own work; and that he would be the earnest of your inheritance, a pledge of what God has further promised and purposed for you, 2 Cor. 1.21, 22. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed you, is God. Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit into our hearts.  
(2.) To speak a little more particularly; what the Apostle prays for his Ephesians in more general Terms, he prays for the Colossians more particularly, Col. 1.9, 10. We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his Will, in all Wisdom, and Spiritual Understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. And when I have opened the particulars of this Scripture, I shall not need to seek elsewhere for an answer to this Inquiry, What is the matter of the fullness of God, which we ought to pray and strive to be filled with?  
I. Let us pray and strive, and strive and pray again, adding endeavours § 1 to prayers, and prayers to endeavours, that we may be filled with the knowledge of Gods will. And we have need to make this an essential part of our prayer; for first, We may happily do the will of God Materially, when we do it not Formally; not under that formal and precise consideration, that what we do is the will of God, and that we do it under that consideration because it is the will of God. A Man may perhaps stumble upon some practices that are commanded by the Moral Law, and yet in all this not do Gods will but his own; that which in all our obedience we are to eye, and regard, is the Authority, the will of God; we cannot be said to observe a Commandment, unless we observe God's Authority in that Commandment; nor to keep God's Statutes, unless we keep God in our eye as the great Legislator and Statute maker: A blind obedience even to God is no more acceptable, than a blind obedience to Men is justifiable. Secondly, We ought to pray that we may be filled with the knowledge of God's will, that there may be more employment for the powers and faculties of the Soul, which in every heart wherein the grace of God radically is, are in the general inclined to do the will of God: There are some well disposed Christians, of strong affections and good inclinations to do Gods will, who are but slenderly furnished with knowledge what that will of God is, which he would have them do: And thus those warm propensions of Spirit, either lie like dead stocks upon their hands, or else they laid out the zeal of their Souls upon that which is not the will of God; and when they have spent their vigour and strength of Soul upon it, they come to God for a reward, who asks them, who required this at your hand? And thus even holy David's zeal was mislaid upon this account, that God had not spoken a word, nor revealed his will in the Case, 2 Sam. 7.7. Thirdly, It's our great concern that we may know the will of God, and be filled with that knowledge; that the knowledge of Gods will may be an operative principle of obedience; thus David prays, Psal. 143.10. Teach me to do thy will, O God: We are to pray that God would teach us to know, and then teach us to do his will: knowledge without obedience is lame, obedience without knowledge is blind; and we must never hope for acceptance if we offer the blind and the lame to God, Luke 12.47. That Servant which knew his Lords will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes: As therefore all our practice must be guided by knowledge, so must all our knowledge be referred to practice. Fourthly, and lastly, We ought to pray that we may be filled with the knowledge of God's will; that this knowledge being rooted and grounded in our Souls, it may render that obedience easy and delightful, which is so necessary to its acceptation: when Satan had entered Judas his heart, he would not stick at any of the Devils commands; and when he had filled the heart of Ananias and Saphira, Acts 5.3. how ready were they to lie unto God? If our hearts were more filled with the knowledge of God's will, that this Divine Law were written there, duty would be our delight, obedience our meat and drink; nor would there be room left for those corruptions which hang upon us like dead weight, always encumbering us in our obedience.  
§ 2 II. Let us pray again that we be filled with all wisdom in the doing of the will of God; we want knowledge much, we want wisdom more; we need more light into the will of God, and more judgement how to perform it. For first, It's one great instance of wisdom, to know the seasons of duty, and what every day calls for: As the providence of God disposes us under various circumstances, so it calls for the exercise of various duties; one circumstance calls for mourning another for rejoicing; and yet neither aught our mourning to exclude a humble rejoicing in God; nor our rejoicing shut out a holy mourning: The Men of Issachar are recorded as famous on this account, 1 Chron. 12.32. That they had understanding of the time, to know what Israel ought to do. And herein we are oftentimes at a great loss, like those children, Matth. 11.17. that complained of their fellows, they had piped unto them, and yet not been answered with dancing; that they had mourned to them, but they had not lamented. Holy Wisdom would teach us to accommodate the present frame of our hearts to Gods present dispensations: Providence does not teach us new duties, but how to single out those that God has made our duties. Secondly, We need wisdom that we be not deluded with shadows instead of substances, that we take not appearances for realities; for want of which, O how often are we cheated out of our interests, our real concerns, our integrity of heart, and peace of Conscience! We account him a weak and foolish Man who is imposed upon, by Copper for Gold; that would warm his hands by painted fire, or hope to satisfy his craving appetite with painted food; yet such are we, who spend our money for that which is not bread, and our labour for that which profits us not, Isa. 55.2. who set our affections on those things that are not, Prov. 23.5. Thirdly, Another point of wisdom which we need to be instructed in, is the worth of Time, and what a weight of eternity depends on these short and flitting moments; but we weak and silly ones count a day for no more than it stands for in the Calendar; an hour no more than so much time measured by the hourglass; when one hour to repent in, a moment to make our Calling and Election sure in, may come to be more worth than all the World can be to us. Fourthly, Wisdom would teach us the due order and method of all things, what first, what last ought to be our study, and our concern; wisdom would teach us to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, Matth. 6.33. And then if there be time to spare, to bestow some small portion of it, for those other things which God in his bounty will not deny, and in his wisdom knows in what measure to bestow. Fifthly, Wisdom would teach us the true worth and value of all things; to labour, pray, and strive for them proportionable to their true intrinsic dignities; to think that Heaven cannot be too dear,  we pay for it; nor Hell cheap how easily soever we come by it; wisdom would instruct us, that we cannot lay out too much of our time, strength, contrivance upon Eternals, nor too little upon these perishing Temporals; that Earth deserves very little of our Hand, less of our Head, and nothing at all of our Heart; little of our pains, less of our plotting, and least of all of our love and affections.  
III. Let's pray and strive, strive in the due and diligent use of § 3 means; and pray for a blessing upon them, that we may be filled with a spiritual understanding: A carnal heart will carnalize the most spiritual Mercies, and a carnal mind will debase the most spiritual Truths; the Manna was designed to feed the Souls as well as the Bodies of the Jews; but they eaten the spiritual meat, and drank the spiritual drink, 
1 Cor. 10.23.  with very carnal Heads and Hearts; so that they needed the Spirit of God to instruct them in the right use of it, Nehem. 9.10. Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them, and with-heldest not the Manna from their mouth. They might then have eaten their own condemnation as well as we under the Gospel, by that Symbol; John 3.3. Christ had delivered a great and necessary Truth, except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven; but Nicodemus tho' a great Rabbi, turns it into a gross and carnal interpretation: How can a Man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his Mother's womb and be born again? And at the same pass were his rude and carnal hearers, John 6.51. I am the living bread (says Christ) that came down from Heaven; if any Man eat of this bread he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh that I will give for the life of the world; but his Capernatical hearers conceive of nothing but a literal, and oral Manducation of his natural flesh, vers. 52. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this Man give us his flesh to eat? And yet Christ had said enough to obviate that gross mistake, vers. 35. I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.  
One Man hears the great Duties of the Gospel pressed upon his Conscience, and either sitting down despondeth at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or else undertakes them in his own strength, and the power of his free will, not considering that there is Covenant grace to answer Covenant duties, and Covenant pardon for those imperfections that attend them. Another perhaps hears the curse thundered out against, Every one that continues not in all things written in the Law to do them, Gal. 3.10. he hears that the primitive end of the Law was to justify a righteous person that had perfectly observed it, and he falls upon the observation of that Law, as the condition of the Covenant of works, hoping to drudge out a righteousness thereby, that shall present him blameless before God; not knowing, that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth, Rom. 10.4. Let us therefore pray for a spiritual understanding, that we may know every Truth as it is in Jesus, Ephes. 4.21. that every line, every letter of the Old and New Testament has its centre in a Redeemer.  
§ 4 iv Let's pray again, and strive that we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing: knowing that all our services, all our sacrifices are nothing unless our God smell a sweet savour in them: nor can we fill the sails of our Souls with a more noble and generous ambition, than to be accepted of God. This was the height of the Apostles ambition, 2 Cor. 5.9. We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him: which was the glorious frame of our blessed Saviour's heart, John 8.29. That he always did the things that pleased his Father: It's a common delusion of Professors, that if they can get the work of their hands, not to regard whether ever it comes upon God's heart or no: But what are our Prayers if God receives them not? Our Praises if God accepts them not? Our Obedience if God regards it not? Now that we may reach this great end, we must walk worthy of the Lord; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. There aught to be a suitableness between the frame of our hearts, and the tenor of our conversations to this God whom we serve: If there be not that exact and punctual walking up to what God in strict justice may expect, yet there must be that accuracy and circumspection which God in mercy will accept; we must be holy as the Lord our God is holy; Spiritual, because we walk before him that is a Spirit: sincere, as being always under his omniscient Eye; acting our faith upon him that is faithful and true; casting our care and burden upon him that has undertaken to care for us; and in all things proving what is the will of God, and then approving that will, and practising what we have thus approved.  
§ 5 V Let us pray and strive; let's add holy endeavours to humble Prayers, and second again those endeavours with our Prayers, That we may be fruitful in every good work. That there may be Grace in the root, Grace in the fruit, Grace in the habit strengthened, Grace in the exercise multiplied. Let's pray that our Faith may not be a dead Faith, for want of the Grace of obedience; that our obedience be not a dead obedience, for want of a living Faith, and a lively, active Love; that our Fruit may be of the right kind, new obedience from a new heart; that it may be right for its proportion; for herein is our Father glorified, that we bring forth much fruit, John 15.8. that it be rightly directed; that we may bring forth fruit to God, and not to ourselves: And to all our Prayers we must add this, that we may increase in the knowledge of God: That knowing God better, we may love him better; and loving him more, we may serve and glorify him more, and be riper every day for the enjoyment of him.  
And thus much in answer to the first Branch of the Question: I proceed to the Second.  
Second Branch of the Question. What is the measure of that fullness of God, with which every true Christian ought to pray, and strive that he may be filled?  
There is Plenitudo fontis, & Plenitudo Vasis; the Fullness of the Fountain, and the Fullness of the Vessel. There is again Plenitudo Solis, & Stellae; the fullness of Light in the Sun, and the fullness of Light in a Star. Again, there is Plenitudo Capitis, & Membri, the Fullness of the Head, and the fullness of a Member: A Fountain is full; a Vessel may be full, but with different measures: Jesus Christ, as Head of the Church, has the Fullness of the Spirit without measure, John 3.34. A gracious Soul may be also full, but it is with the residue of the Spirit, which Christ can spare for the use of those that are his, Mal. 2.15.  
God is full of all Grace, with the fullness of the Fountain; he is full with his own fullness, but not filled from another. A Believer may be full too, but he is filled from the fullness of God. Thus John the Baptist is said to be filled with the Holy Ghost, Luke 1.15. And so Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, v. 4. So was Zechariah, v. 67. And thus were the Disciples all filled with the Holy Ghost, Acts 2.4. All these were full, but their fullness was borrowed; they were filled: It was of Christ's fullness, that they received grace for grace, John 1.16. They were filled, but they could not fill others from thelr fullness; they had Grace, but none to spare: And every Believer must answer his Brother that would borrow of him, as the wise Virgins did, Matth. 25.9. Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. There is an All-sufficiency of Grace in Christ; it's well if Believers have a sufficiency according to Christ's promise to the Apostle, 2 Cor. 12.19. My grace is sufficient for thee: And having premised this little, I shall give the direct Answer to the Question in these following particulars.  
(1.) Every gracious Soul ought to pray, and strive to be filled with such a measure of the fullness of God, and of his Grace, as the Holy Spirit, who is the proper Judge of that measure shall see fit to communicate to us.  
The Holy Spirit has these parts in this matter. 1. He is the immediate Worker of Grace. 2. He is the Distributer of all Grace. 3. He is the Arbitrator of that Quota, and proportion of Grace, which every Believer has need of, 1 Cor. 12.11. All these worketh one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every one severally as he will; where you may observe the several parts that the Spirit of God hath in this matter. 1. He works this Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 'tis by his Energy, or powerful working that there is root or fruit, habit in us, or Act of Grace proceeding from us. 2. He divides, and distributes to every one severally, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he is the great Steward of the Household of Christ, and dispenses the measure of Grace to Individuals. 3. This measure is distributed by his absolute power; 'tis according to his will, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as he pleases; for the Grace being his own, he may do with, and dispose of his own Grace according to his own will: And tho' he will be faithful in the discharge of his trust, yet will he be sought unto to do it for us. Thus when there was a promise, Ezek. 36.25. that God would sprinkle clean water upon his people, and cleanse them from all their filthiness, and from all their Idols: And v. 26. That he would give them a new heart, and a new Spirit, and take away the Heart of stone, and give them a Heart of Flesh, and put his Spirit within them v. 27. etc. Yet still, v. 37. I will yet for all this be enquired of, by the house of Israel to do it for them.  
(2.) Every gracious Soul ought to pray for such a measure of Grace as may fit his Capacity; none are so full, but they may receive more: We have so little of Grace, because we ask no more, Jam. 4.2. Ye have not, because ye ask not: We are but poor in ourselves, we might be enriched from Christ; and if we were more poor in Spirit, we should be more enriched with Grace from him, John 16.24. Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full: We should not satisfy ourselves with the present measure of Grace received: but pray, and strive, that we may have grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ, Eph. 4.7.  
(3.) We ought to pray and strive that our narrow Vessels may be widened, our Capacities enlarged that we may be more capable of Grace. The Vessels of Divine Grace are of different sizes; as one Star differs from another in glory, so one Saint differs from another in Grace. And as the Spirit enlarges the Heart, he will enlarge his own hand, Psal. 18.10. I am the Lord even thy God, open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Our blessed Saviour may say to us, as the Apostle to the Corinthians, 2 Cor. 6.12. Ye are not straitened in me, but ye are straitened in your own Bowels: Our hearts are narrow towards Spiritual and Heavenly things, because they are so enlarged towards earthly and visible things; when the heart is enlarged as Hell, and death that cannot be satisfied, Hab. 2.5. For these perishing things, no wonder if there be little room for the Graces of the Spirit. This is therefore our great concern to pray, that God would enlarge our desires, that he may satisfy and fill them.  
(4.) We ought to pray and strive, That all the Powers and Faculties of the whole man may be filled according to their measures. There is much room in our Souls that is not furnished; much waste ground there that is not cultivated and improved to its utmost: We might have more light in the Understanding, more tractableness in the Will, more heat in our Love, and a sharper edge set upon our Zeal: And we have warrant to pray for this measure of the fullness of God, 1 Thess. 5.23. Now the God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole Spirit, Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  
(5.) Every gracious Soul ought to pray and strive for such a measure of Grace, that he may be qualified for any Duty and Service that God shall call him to, and engage him in. The Hebrew word, which we render Consecration, or separation to an Office, is Filling the hand, Exod. 29.9. Consecrate ye Aaron and his Sons, in the Hebrew, Fill the hand of Aaron and his Sons: Where God employs the hand, he will fill the hand; we have ground to believe that he will send us about no Errand, but he will bear our Charges; wherever he gives a Commission, he will bestow a competent qualification; when we go about his Work, we may expect his presence and assistance in the Work: And Moses seems to stand upon these terms with God, Exod. 33.15. If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence: As therefore there is great variety of Duties in our Christian Calling, we may in Faith expect, and from that believing expectation pray, that we may be furnished with a suitable variety of Grace for the discharge of them.  
(6.) Every true Christian ought to pray & strive for such a measure of Grace, as may enable him to bear patiently, cheerfully and creditably, those afflictions and sufferings, which either God's good pleasure shall lay upon us, or for his Names sake we may draw upon ourselves: We ought to pray, that either he will lay no more upon us than our present strength can bear; or if he increases our trials, he will increase our Faith. There's no danger of excess in our Prayers, when we confine them to the limits of his gracious promises. Now here we have encouragement from his Word, 1 Cor. 10.13. God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.  
(7.) Every true Christian ought to pray and strive for such a measure of Grace, as may bring the Soul to a settlement and stability, that he be not soon shaken by the cross and adverse evils that he shall meet with in this Life.  
And the Apostle Peter has gone before us in this Prayer, 1 Pet. 5.10. The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. And herein especially let us keep an eye upon these particulars.  
§ 1. Pray that God would so establish you in the truth, that ye may not be blown away with every wind of Doctrine. A sorry trivial Error many times oversets and puzzles a weak Understanding: Now 'tis our great Interest to pray, and strive that we may reach such a clear, distinct, coherent Light into the Doctrine of the Gospel, that every small piece of Sophistry may not perplex and stagger our Belief of it: So the Apostle Paul, Eph. 4.14. would have Believers be no more Children tossed to and fro, with every wind of Doctrine, by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.  
§ 2. Pray also that God would so establish you in the truth of the promises, that your Faith may not be shaken with every wind of Providence: We are apt to have our hearts tossed by contrary Dispensations. So upon a rumour, Isa. 7.2. The heart of Asa was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. It argues great weakness of Faith that we cannot maintain an equality of mind under various Providences, the only remedy of which evil is to pray that God would increase and strengthen our Faith; that we may be so firmly built upon the unmoveable rock, that we may not be afraid of evil tidings, having our hearts fixed, trusting in the Lord, Psal. 112.7. And this was the glory of Job's Faith, Job 13.15. That tho' God should slay him, yet would he trust in him.  
§ 3. Let us pray, and strive that God would so settle and establish us in Love to himself, that no blast of Afflictions from his hand may cool the fire of Divine Love in our hearts: We want exceedingly the Faith, that God carries on a design of Love under all his various and seemingly contrary deal with us; he can love and correct; why then cannot we love a correcting God? Whether he wounds or heals, his love is the same, and why not ours? Can we not love God upon the security of Faith, that he will do us good, as well as upon the experience that he has done us good?  
§ 4. Pray we and strive that God would so settle and establish us in our inward peace, that no wind of temptation may overthrow it: 'Tis a slender and ill-made peace which every assault of the Tempter dissolves. The Psalmist stood upon a firmer bottom; when the terrifying Onsets from without made him fly more confidently to his God, Psal. 56.3. What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in thee. And we have Gods own promise to answer our Faith, Isa. 26.3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.  
And thus I have returned some Answer to the second Branch of the Question, What is the measure of the fullness of God with which every true Christian ought to pray, and strive to be filled?  
There will still remain an enquiry, How we may reach to such a measure of the Divine fullness as has been described? To which tho' the limits of this discourse will not allow a full and just Answer, yet the importance of the Question will oblige me to point at some few things, upon which your own Meditations may find matter of enlargement.  
1. And first it is necessary that we be convinced that we are very far short of that fullness of God, which is attainable even in this life: Many might have had more grace, if they had not been under the delusion that they had grace enough already: The dream of Perfection attained, has prejudiced the perfection which is attainable: As Tully observes, Multi ad sapientiam pervenissent, nisi eo jam se pervenisse putassent: Many Men had arrived at a high degree of Wisdom, had they not fond conceited that they had already reached the top of it: The Apostle's frame was most excellent and imitable, Phil. 3.12, 13. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after it, that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. He considered more what was before, than what he had left behind; that is, he more looked forward to what he had not yet attained, than backward to what he had.  
2. Let us pray that we may know more of the Love of Christ to us, as the proper mean to be filled more with the fullness of God in us: This is the expedient of the Text; and what greater encouragement can there be, to love, serve, obey and glorify our God, than that he has so freely, wonderfully loved us in Christ?  
3. Let us strive to keep our vessels pure and clean, tho' they be small and narrow; that however they are of a narrow capacity, yet being pure and clean, God may delight to fill us, and to enlarge our hearts that we may receive more of his fullness, Matth. 5.8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God: The sight of God which a pure and holy heart qualifies us for, is the enjoyment of God, i. e. God's communicating his love in its sanctifying and saving effects; and so we shall find, if we compare John 3.3. Except a Man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God; with vers. 5. Except a Man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  
4. Labour to experience poverty of Spirit: The way to be rich in Grace, is to be poor in Spirit; which poverty of Spirit, does not consist in having little Grace, but in a sense that whatever we have little or much, it's not of, or from ourselves, but from the fullness of God.  
The more we empty ourselves, (in that sense) the more God will fill us, Luke 3.5. Every valley shall be filled: The humble valleys are often fruitful when the high hills are commonly barren: self-sufficiency discharges and disobliges the all-sufficiency of God, Luke 1.53. The rich he sends empty away; Now as by the Rich we are here to understand, such as are rich in their own conceit, tho' they be really poor; so by the poor in Spirit we are to understand them that are convinced of their own original indigency, though by the Grace of God they are enriched, and their spiritual wants supplied, Phil. 4.20.  
This poverty of Spirit, tho' it pretend not to merit, yet has a meetness for the fullness of God, Jer. 31.25. I have satiated the weary Soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful Soul.  
5. From this Spiritual poverty arises a Spiritul hunger and thirst after more of the grace of God, which temper of Soul lies directly in the way of that promise, Matth. 5.6. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled: for 'tis upon him that is thirsty that God promises to pour out water; and 'tis the dry ground that God promises to satisfy with the floods, Isa. 44.3.  
6. Attend in Conscience, and Faith, with constancy and perseverance, upon all the Ordinances of the New Testament; you read, Zech. 4.12. of two olive branches, that through the two golden pipes, empty the golden oil out of themselves. Let the two Olive branches be the Person of Christ in two Natures; the golden oil will then be his precious Grace; and the golden pipes, the Ordinances of Christ, by which he empties out of himself that precious Grace, into holy, and clean, tho' earthen vessels.  
Amongst many other terms which the Ancients gave to the Lords Supper, they called it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The perfect or the perfection: so Zonoras', 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. To come to the Perfection is to come to the holy Eucharist: And indeed where do believers find their choicest derivations from God, their sweetest Communion with God, but in that Sacred Ordinance worthily received?  
7. And lastly, To all these we must add, and with all these we must join, fervent and believing Prayer, which as it glorifies God, God will glorify it, and make it the means of conveying down to our Souls such a measure of fullness as may serve us in the time of our need: we can never be poor whilst we can pray: He that is the Spirit of Supplication in us will be th● Spirit of Grace to us. Let us therefore pray with the Apostle, Rom. 15.13, That the God of hope would fill us with joy and peace in believing. Let us pray, that the God of all Grace would make us perfect, establish, strengthen, settle us, 1 Pet. 5.10. That the God of Peace would sanctify us wholly, 1 Thes. 5.23. And let us pray, that the same God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, would give us to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.    

Quest. How are the ordinary means of Grace, more certainly successful for Conversion, than if persons from Heaven or Hell should tell us what is done there? SERMON VII.  Luke XVI. 31. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. 
WHether the Narrative of our Saviour, beginning at the 19th verse of this Chapter, concerning the Richman and Lazarus be an History relating really matter of fact, or a simple Parable, representing the matter by way of similitude? Or an useful discourse by way of Delineation partaking of both, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just. Martyr.  viz. a Parabolical History, or Historical Parable? Hath been variously determined both by the Ancients and Moderns 
* Voss. Thes. Dispt. 5. . One 
† Lomierus.  indeed would go further and have it to be a Prophetical Parable, representing by Dives, Judaisme; and by Lazarus, Gentilism; This latter as he thinks from the name Lazarus imports one (before Christ came) that had no help, forsaken of all, kept out of doors amongst the Dogs. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  They who conceive it to be an History, argue it, from the proper Name of Lazarus; others who judge it to be a Parable, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dr. Lightfoot, etc.  allege that the Talmudists do frequently use Lahazar contractly for Eleazar; yet here not as a proper Name, but common, denoting a destitute beggar indefinitely, or him, who of himself is bereft of help, or one to whom help should be showed. As Rachel is used Appellatively; 
1 Jer. 31.13. with Mat. 2.18.  and as Civil Lawyers propose a Case under the Name of Titius. Considering further to speak properly, the Richman could have no tongue to cool, when his body was in the cold grave, nor Lazarus a tip of a finger to dip in water, whiles in a state of separation. But that which we are mostly to regard in this Dialogue, is the main scope and design of our Saviour, which is, as to set forth the misery of the covetous uncharitabe rich, (who died impenitently) and the happiness of the godly charitable poor (who walked according to Scripture Canon): 
Gal. 6.16.  so to teach us, there is no mercy to those who die in their sins unrepented of; (there being a great gulf fixed betwixt them, and those in Abraham's bosom, advanced to chief dignity in Heaven, vers. 26.) and that there are no revelations concerning eternal rewards and punishments, to be expected now from the other World for Conversion in order to Salvation, by those who do not really give credit to the written Doctrine of Moses and the Prophets. Christ here intimating the approaching ruin of the unbelieving Jews (not willing to come to him for life 
2 John 5.40. ) tho' one even he himself, should rise again from the dead: For this He aims at here in my Text.  
Wherein we have Abraham's concluding answer, to the Rich-man's request of one from the Dead, in an Hypothetical form; as it were from the Denial of the Consequent, or that which doth necessarily follow from the Antecedent which is here; [having Moses and the Prophets,] whom they should have believed, but did not: and therefore from more than a parity of Reason (my thinks) he doth infer, even as from the greater to the less, it certainly follows by a sure sequel or consequence, that if they did not give credit to that (which Peter calls a) surer words of Prophecy, 
3 Pet. 1.19.  yea, which cannot be shaken 
4 Heb. 12.28. v. 34, etc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. , they would not to that which could have no such appointment and attestation as the other already had; even of divine Authority upon their own concession. If the ordinary means which was granted by themselves to be of Divine institution, was not effectual to Conversion, 'tis not easy to imagine how a Novel means extraordinary, which they had no proof of, (only in their own conceit) should become successful. Which may be a sufficient ground to found the Case upon, that I am desired, as I can practically, to resolve this Morning, in the terms given me, viz.  How are the ordinary means of Grace more certainly successful for Conversion, than if persons from Heaven or Hell should tell us what is done there? 
In resolving of which I shall endeavour to show,  
I. That this Proposition, [The ordinary means of Grace are more certainly successful for Conversion, than if persons from Heaven or Hell should tell us what is done there,] may be clearly deduced from the words, according to the purport of it, in a short explication.  
II. How or upon what grounds it so comes to pass. And then  
III. Make some improvement of it in a short Application.  
I. To explain the Proposition, That the ordinary means of Grace are more certainly successful for Conversion, than if some from Heaven or Hell should tell us what is done there. That we may see it doth clearly result from the Text I shall speak to a few Particulars.  
I. Concerning the ordinary means of grace, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  I understand what is here meant and prescribed by Moses and the Prophets, which they had, and were to observe, v. 29. with 16. and elsewhere 
5 Matth. 11.11. Luke 24.27. , namely, the Holy Scriptures, and what is thereby required, the true and saving Doctrine contained in the Oracles of God, which were committed to the Jews 
6 Rom. 3.2.— 9.4 Psal. 147.19. Deut. 4.10.— 31, 9, 10. Isa. 2.3. Zach. 8.13. , and admirably preserved by the diligence of the Massorites, who were very solicitous that one iota, or tittle of it might not perish. Neither hath the Providence of God been less concerned, in the preservation of the Doctrine therein contained, than of the Holy Writings. And if in preserving the whole entire, it hath suffered a variety of Reading to creep in about things of less or no importance amongst the Copies we have, it may serve but as a Spur to quicken us to search the Scriptures 
7 John 5.39. , most frequently put absolutely in the New Testament for the written word of God, the Bible 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 2.22. Mat. 22.42. & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Luke 4.17. John 20.30. . So the Holy Scriptures 
8 Rom. 7.2. , and all Scriptures of Divine Inspiration 
9 2 Tim. 3.15, 16. . And tho' Christ here by Abraham doth expressly mention only Moses and the Prophets; yet he coucheth the Historical Books under the Prophets, according to the common acceptation of the Jews, and their usual manner of reading them in the Synagogues 
* Dr. Lightfoot.  (Canonising them) as he doth elsewhere 
10 Luke 11.49.  the Prophets and Apostles: Not only importing the Law given by Moses his Ministry, and the writings of the Prophets; but also the Preachers of the same Doctrine which Moses wrote, even of Christ 
11 John 5.46. with Gen. 3.15 &— 22.18.— 49.10 Nu. 24.17. etc. Deut. 18.15. , whose practice it was to demonstrate himself from Moses and the Prophets 
12 John 5.33. Luke 24.47. Mat. 21.42.— 22.43, 44. , which method the Apostles also used 
13 Acts 18.28.— 24.14.— 28.23. . For Moses and the Prophets spoke of the Person of the Messiah, and his Natures both Divine 
14 Jer. 23.5. Mic. 5.2. Prov. 8.12, 22.  and Humane 
15 Gen. 3.15. Isa. 7.14. , his Offices Prophetical 
16 Deut. 18.15. John 1.45. , Priestly 
17 Psal. 110.4. , Kingly 
18 Psal. 〈◊〉 , and States both of Humiliation 
19 Isa. 52.2. etc. Psal. 22.18. , and Exaltation 
20 & 47.2. & 68.18. & 118.22. , with the benefits thereof 
21 Psal. 23.5. : I might add, that the whole Scope of the Ceremonial Law was to prefigure Christ, coming to suffer for man's Redemption, being the end of the Law to every one that believeth, for righteousness 
22 Rom. 10.4. Gal. 3.24. Acts 7.2, 37.  what was taught by Moses about Sacrifices, having relation to the Sacrifice of Christ, foretold by the Prophet Isaiah 
23 Is. 53. p. tot. . This was acknowledged by Tryphon the Jew in his Discourse with Justin Martyr, tho' denied by the Modern Jews. So that there is an Harmony and Identity, or Sameness of Doctrine, and Rules of Practice, for substance, in the Old and New Testament, the Old having in it the Life and Soul of the New, tho' different in degrees; the same Object Christ, to whom all the Prophets witnessed 
24 Acts 10.43. . And therefore, tho' the generality of the stiffnecked Jews did not give credit to the main importance of the Old, yet the sincere ones, who did believe the Prophets, as the Apostles exhorted 
1 Acts 26.27. John 20.31. , they with Philip and Nathaneel, Israelites indeed, rejoiced they had found him of whom Moses has written in the Law 
2 John 1.41. , and whom the Prophet foretold should be the desire of all Nations 
3 Hag. 2.7. , a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of the people Israel. Wherefore I may very fairly hence under this First Head in the explication deduce from my Text,  
I. That the Holy Scriptures, read, preached, and heard, accompanied with Prayer, and other institutions of Christ, as the Seals of the new Covenant, and the Ministry of Reconciliation are the Means of Grace ordained of God, to bring Men and Women to repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ 
4 Acts 20.21. : That Men by the applying themselves sincerely to the use of these means (which tho' they have no natural force in, and of themselves to the effecting of a change) may by the efficacy of the Spirit exerting insuperable Grace, 
4 John 15.3.— 17.17 Eph. 5.26.  be cleansed ⁵: God, the great Efficient, may in these helps of his own ordaining, reveal his own arm 
6 Isa. 53.1. , draw them unto Christ 
7 John 6.45. Rev. 1.16. , make the Seed of the Word fruitful, and putting forth his own Power, bring them to salvation in the Heavenly Kingdom, and rest sweetly in Abraham's Bosom, where they shall not know trouble any more.  
II. These are ordinary means, according to the order established by the supreme Ruler, who knows what's best for those under his Government, in opposition to extraordinary, which seldom happen, upon some singular work of Judgement or Mercy to a Person or People. 'Tis true, the most Sovereign Agent, who is most free, he may if he pleaseth, without means, by an immediate Impression of Light and infusion of Grace work on the Soul, as he did on the Apostles and Paul 
8 Acts 2.4.— 9.1 etc. Gal. 1.12. ; but generally and for the most part God revealeth himself mediately, by the ordinary means he hath settled to abide in his Church to the end, there being an aptness and fitness in them under Divine Influence for converting the Soul 
9 Psal: 19.17. , when Ambassadors come in Christ's stead, beseeching men to be reconciled to God 
10 2 Cor. 5.20. , having a promise of his Presence with them to the end of the World 
11 Mat. 28. ult. , in communicating of the mind of God, by writing, or speaking; reading, or interpreting; exhorting, and directing 
12 2 Pet. 3.1. Acts 21.25.— 4.20, 29.— 15.21.— 8.30, 35. 1 Cor. 12.30. Acts 15.32. 1 Thess. 2.11. ; every way preaching for the begetting of Faith 
13 Ro. 10.13, 15 , when the advice of Gregory Nazianzen is observed, namely, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i. e. Pray and search; having prayed with David, Open thou mine eyes (or reveal 
14 Psal. 119.18. ) that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law. It concerns us to be much in meditating upon it 
15— 1.2. John 5.39. . Gregory (called the Great) gives an account of an illiterate man, who bought a Bible, hired one to read to him out of it, and thereby became a great Proficient in the School of Christianity. Luther 
‖ Melch. Adeon. in vita.  by reading of it was turned from Popery; so was John Hus by reading of our Wickliff's Books, proving his Doctrine from it. We know Augustine was converted by taking it up, and reading 
* Confess. l. 8. ch. 8. § 2. Nicephor. p. 5. 27. . And 'tis said, Cyprian, by reading the Prophet Ionas: As Junius, by the first Chapter of John's Gospel, tho' 'tis supposed neither of them then had much skill in the Originals, but were beholding to Translations. Thus we see how the Scripture is the means, and the ordinary means. The next thing in the explication is to show,  
II. That this means becomes more certainly successful, or effectual. Certainly is to be understood in opposition to that which happens uncertainly and peradventure. Not as if every where that the Immortal Seed of the Word is sown, Conversion did certainly and always follow, it being but a subservient Instrument; some Seed meets with bad ground 
16 Mat. 13.4, 5. ; some reject the Counsel of God against themselves 
17 Luke 7.30. ; they put it from them, judging themselves unworthy of eternal Life 
18 Acts 13.46. ; i. e. by contradicting of the Word, they do as evidently deprive themselves of eternal Life, as if the Judge did pass that Sentence upon the Bench. So what is the Savour of Life to others, becomes the Savour of Death to them 
19 2 Cor. 2.16 . The Richman, as he is brought in here, conceits after the mode of the Jews, seeking for Signs 
20 John 4.48.— 6.30. , (which Christ gave check to, when by his accomplishment of the Prophecies, he had demonstrated himself to be the Messiah, and they would have him to be a Political or Temporal King 
21 Mat. 12.39. ) that one rising miraculously from the dead, and preaching, would keep others from Hell. But Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, who knew what it was to repent and believe, and be converted, was of another persuasion: He bids hearken to the written word, read and preached; on which Faith and Repentance was to be grounded; God's Providential Works, how admirable soever, not being the Rule for Men to go by, but his Word: It being no good sense, that God's extraordinary actings should be our ordinary Rule. He that would not Blow or Sow till Manna be reigned from Heaven, because it once did, may expect Bread till he starve; and so may he that looks to be fed with Ravens, as Elias once was: Man may be most certainly assured from God's Word what his Mind is: God himself indeed doth principally make any means effectual, or successful; Paul's planting, and Apollo 's watering comes to nothing without him, his influence and blessing 
22 1 Cor. 3.6, 7. De Gratia Christi, ch. 24. .) Augustine said right, Men may read and understand, behold and confess, not by the Law and Doctrine sounding outwardly, but by the inward and hidden, wonderful and ineffable power God, doth not only work Divine true Revelations, but also good Wills. Yet from the external preaching of the Word of God, as a means of his appointment, there is a Godly Sorrow, or a sorrowing after God wrought, which worketh repentance to Salvation 
23 2 Cor. 7.10, 11. . It proves successful to some, who are not hearers only, but doers of the Word 
24 Jam. 1.22. . It falls out prosperously and happily with them, using of the means. Solomon saith, 
1 Prov. 13.15  A good understanding giveth favour and success: Be sure a good understanding of God's mind from his Word, becomes ordinarily more successful, that the Soul may be in health and prosper 
2 3 Epist. John v. 1. , than any expectation of that which can only give an uncertain sound, till evidenced to be from Heaven, as the Word is.  
3. For Conversion, i. e. From all sin to God; which imports a thorough change of Heart and Life, and that it is indeed from God the Author, by his Spirit 
3 2 Thess. 2.13. Tit. 3.5. , above the creatures power and activity 
4 John 1.13. ; yet God useth Christ's Ambassadors in the Ministry of Reconciliation 
5 2 Cor. 5.19 20 Acts 26.18. , and those who are Instructors in him 
6 Job 22.21. , that we may be acquainted with God, receive forgiveness, and be built up ⁶ even an habitation of God, through the Spirit, upon the foundation (doctrinal) of the Prophets and Apostles, Christ (personally) being the chief Cornerstone 
7 Eph. 2.20. : Wherefore Paul urgeth Timothy to read the Divinely inspired Scriptures, in that they were able (as an Instrument in God's hands) to make him wise to Salvation 
8 2 Tim. 3.15. , as they were a ground of hope and comfort to others 
9 Rom. 15.4. , by means of which we are begotten or born again 
10 Jam. 1.18. 1 Pet. 1.23. ; yea, and from God's appointment and ordination; or (as it were) Common Law, we are not only first converted from Sin to God, but are carried on in a state of grace, till we, in exercising ourselves unto Godliness, are afterwards brought unto glory. It remains before I leave the Explication that I touch upon  
4. The Persons whom the Rich Man is here represented to desire to come from Heaven or Hell, to give an Information to his Relatives how things go in those unchangeable States of Happiness or Misery, are only brought in ex hypothesi, upon supposition, or condition, granting it were so: Not that there is a ground for the expectation of any new Messengers from the other World; we may yield the thing possible, though not probable; we are not to limit the Holy One who is most perfect; he is not bounded as to his Omnipotency, any more than his Omnisciency: He could, if he would, reveal himself now, as he did to John in the Isle of Patmos 
11 Rev. 1.9. . He might, if he would, in the dispensation of his Grace and Providence, use the Ministration of Angels 
12 Heb. 1.14. , without giving any account of his matters 
13 Job 33.12, 13 , and put them upon Obedience extraordinarily; for those Heavenly Spirits must be at his Service, in the affairs of his Kingdom 
14 Rev. 22.9. . Indeed the great instance of their Ministry was about the Person of Christ; yet he did use them afterwards to reveal his mind 
15 Rev 1.1.— 19.10. . How far he is pleased to do it at this day in any rare instance, is not for me to determine: but some have pretended, to have Revelations from Angels, which have proved Delusions. There is, it's true, a Ministry of them (in this Chapter where my Text is, vers. 22.) to carry holy Souls to Abraham's bosom, which is ordinary: But we will suppose there should be any extraordinary, yet that would not be any more (if so much) regarded than the ordinary means; and we should through the Grace given, be careful not to be wise above that which is written 
16 Rom. 12.3. . Having thus explained the sense of the Answer to the Case before me; I hope, according to the Explication given, you will come to conclude with me, that it doth clearly result from my Text, and is proved thence.  
II. The Second General is to show, How, or upon what grounds the ordinary means of Grace are more certainly succefsful for Conversion, than if Persons from Heaven or Hell should tell us what is done there? as hath been explained.  
That I may do this as well as I can in a little room, I shall be concerned like Bezaleel and Aholiab 
17 Exod. 36.7.  (tho' not with the like Wisdom) to lay by much of the good stuff would offer itself to me in this case. Somewhat methinks I should premise in the General, and then proceed to particular grounds.  
1. Let me premise in the general these two or three things,  
1. From my Text, and in a Christian Congregation, I am not necessitated, in showing how this comes about, which I have deduced from it, to prove Moses and the Prophets, or which is all one for substance, more largely, the Holy Scriptures, to be the Word of God. That being the Hypothesis or what is presupposed and not Questioned in this Dialogue between the Richman and the Father of the Faithful, as we find vers. 29th as well as in the words compared with vers. 16th of this Chapter. The Jews did acknowledge it, and never denied it, when our Saviour and his Apostles, did ever and anon show them how the Scriptures were fulfilled, manifested, and accomplished. So that not to grant this were to take away the substratum or foundation of the Case. Which the Jews frankly yielded, 
17 John 9.29.  We know that God spoke unto Moses; indeed it was evident enough when he refuted any objection against it, 
18 Exod. 3.2, 6, 14— 4.1, 2, etc.— 14.31.— 20.1, etc. Numb. 11.17.  comforting of them by showing them that God was with him. We find they did readily agree to it that God was the Author of the Old Testament. Apollos we read 
19 Acts 18.24, 28.  did mightily convince many of the Jews from the Scriptures, i. e. those Books which they did own to be of Divine inspiration. And by consequence if people be not worse than Jews the New Testament should be owned to be so too, being the Old directs to it. When Christ was transfigured, Moses and Elias appeared talking with him 
20 Mat. 17.2, 3 , and so gave their Testimonies to the main subject and substance of the Gospel, sigh In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge 
21 Col. 2.3. .  
2. Man in his innocent state had an innate pure light, consisting in the knowledge of God the Creator, Lawgiver, Governor, and Rewarder; presently enlarged by Revelation from without, in the Sacramental precept of the Divine will under the first Covenant: 
22 Gen. 2.17.  and from the consideration of God's works which were all very good 
23 Gen. 1.31. , and this was necessary to that state. But sigh Man being mutable, sought out many inventions 
24 Eccles. 7.27 , and hearkened to the Serpent's suggestion 
1 Gen. 3.5.  had obscured this light, God of his infinite goodness, pitying the vanity of fallen Man as mortal, not knowing how to deliver his Soul from the hand of the grave, 
Ps2al. 89.47, 48  ² did think it necessary to reveal himself, and magnify his grace, in condescending to enter into a new Covenant with this fallen creature; giving his Word, or first Promise, that the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's head 
3 Gen. 3.15. John 1.14. . Herein Christ was promised, and hence called the Word: being He indeed, concerning whom, that saving Word of God, or Word of Promise is made. As we say, I will give you my word for it. We may easily conceive it requisite, from that natural light which remained in the reasonable creature, that God the Creator, and Governor is to be worshipped 
4 Acts 17.23. Rom. 1.23, 25 1 Kings 18.21. : and that no worship can be accepted of God, but what is instituted of himself: and sigh there abides in Man naturally, a strong desire of truth and immortality; of knowing how he may be accepted of God 
5 2 Cor. 5.9. Psal. 4.6.— 73.24. , and enjoy Communion with him, that there should be some assured 
6 2 Tim. 3.14.  Revelation 
7 John 1.18. Deut. 29.29.  (whereby he doth manifest himself and declare his will) as the glass of his Divinity 
8 2 Cor. 3.18.— 4.6. , and the rule of his worship 
9 Isa. 1.10, 12. Matth. 7.21. Col. 2.23, 24. , that we may not be guilty of worshipping we know not what, or how, being he is a Spirit, and will be worshipped in Spirit and in truth 
10 Joh. 4.22, 24 .  
3. Tho' God in infinite Wisdom, during the time of the long-lived Patriarches, till some time after the flood, thought it sufficient, (notwithstanding there was an early defection from his appointments, which yet in some measure, came under the Reformation of Enoch 
11 Gen. 4.26. , Noah 
12 Gen. 8.20.— 9.5. , and Abraham 
13 Gen. 17.1, etc. Deut. 8.5.— 4.7, 8. ) to continue that way of Revelation from one to another, during the infancy of his Church: however when she grew up, it became necessary, for the due Conservation, Vindication and Propagation of his Word, that as all Nations by the light of Nature are directed generally to the use of Laws, (his own Laws reaching to the very motions of the heart,) should be written. 
14 Prov. 22.19, 20. Luke 1.3, 4. Rom. 15.4.  This is found to be the most credible way of Proposal, it being most fit we should ascribe that to God, which is really consonant to the greatest Wisdom; that the certainty of the Word of truth might be known and communicated, God himself wrote his Laws 
15 Exod. 24.12 Hos. 8.12. , and commanded Moses 
16 Exod. 34.1, 27. , and the Prophets 
17 Hab. 2.2. Jer. 36.2. Scripta tabella manet. Dr. Templer.  to write his will and oracles. These coming as the credential Letters of the supreme infallible Majesty which are to remain inviolable, not be rejected by any, who could never see any demonstrative evidence to weaken the Authority thereof. So that it would be most injurious to the Divine benignity, to suspect that the Alwise and most gracious God would be wanting to his Church, in so necessary a matter. The great Doctor of the Gentiles would argue, 
‖ Rom. 8.32.  He that spared not his Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  
These things being premised,  
2. I shall proceed to the particular grounds of the Assertion: so as I would hope they may not only satisfy real Christians; but such as are doubting of the Divine Authority of the holy Scriptures, if not disposed to be Antiscripturists.  
1. The Assent of Divine Faith whereby a sinner is converted and brought nigh to God, is only built upon the Authority of God the Revealer; considering his infallible Veracity, that he is a God of truth and cannot deceive or be deceived; having dominion over his Creatures, who are therefore to submit to his Word, penned upon his command, by those who were divinely inspired 
18 2 Tim. 3.16 2 Sam. 23.2, 3. Hos. 12.10. 2 Pet. 1.21. 1 Thes. 2.13. , as they vouched and proved themselves to be, and we have no solid reason to except against their Proof. Tho' the Prophets and Penmen of Scripture were not always accompanied with miracles, when they delivered their Messages from God: yet they required an attendance and obedience under an eternal penalty to be inflicted upon those who did disobey the voice and Message of God, which if they to whom it came did not receive with a Divine Faith, they did in God's account refuse to obey. There is no suspending our Assent, when God expressly declares his Will, by himself or his Messengers coming in his Name, as in the last days he did by his Son 
19 Heb. 1.1. , who spoke with Authority and not as the Scribes 
20 Matth. 7.29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. . There was a Divinity discerned in it by the hearers, and so there was in some proportion, in the Prophets of the Lord, somewhat Divine, which might be discerned by those unto whom it came; (as by Paul distinctly ‖) else it had been hard for God to have charged their eternal and temporal welfare or ruin, 
6 Acts 22.9.  upon their discerning or not discerning a right▪ betwixt his Word in the mouth of his own Prophets, and that Word which pretended only so to be in the mouths of the false Prophets. We have a notable instance hereof, in opposition to those who pretended to Prophecy in the Name of the Lord, to gain credit to their lies. 
21 Jer. 23.22, 25, 28.  The Prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my Word let him speak it faithfully: what is the Chaff to the Wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my Word like fire, saith the Lord? And like an hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? The righteous God would not have required of Men under a dreadful penalty to have assented to his Word, (in opposition to the impostors dreams) had there not been most certain tokens, for the differencing of it from that of the false prophets, whose words (as all others besides his) were as Chaff, light and useless stuff for Man's food, which the Wheat, the bread of life, might be easily known from, by those who had eyes to see, and did not, because of their evil deeds love darkness rather than light 
‖ John 3.19. ; we know they who by a good light, are conversant in receiving and paying of moneys, do readily discern the genuine, from counterfeit coin. Whereupon Gerson 
* Pars prima, De distinctione verarum Visionum a falsis.  affirmed, that the true coin of Divine Revelation may be known from the counterfeits of Diabolical Visions, as true Gold is from its counterfeit, by its weight, flexibility, and durableness, (or continuity and incorruptibleness) configuration and colour. God's holy Word had light and heat, and power proper to it, which made it evident, tho' prejudice, and conceited interest hindered many to whom it came, from giving entire credit to it, delivered by the Lords true Prophets 
21 Isa. 53.1. Jer. 43.3. , and Christ himself 
22 John 9.29.— 12.37, 38. , who will certainly manifest himself, as in displeasure to those who reject him, revealing the Father; so in favour to those who receive him 
23 John 14.21 Matth. 11.20. . 'tis no way likely that one from the dead should so manifest himself, if he came to impart his experiences to his friends, yet in the state of the living: who should in all reason consider, that if we receive the witness of Men, the witness of God is greater 
24 1 John 5.9. ; and consequently should be deemed more successful for conversion. Hence,  
2. The Scriptures prove themselves by their own light to be from God, and appointed by him, to convince and convert sinners, and direct them to come to him for rest. If God do reveal himself, his attributes, and will by his works 
1 Psal. 145.15.  which praise him, and manifest his eternal power and godhead 
2 Rom. 1.20. Praesentemque refert quaelibet herba Deum. , to leave Men inexcusable so far as that evidence goes: and likewise by the voice of Nature, or the innate light, those common principles left in the Consciences of Men exercised to discern betwixt good and evil; 
3 Rom. 2.14, 15  then he having magnified his word above all his Name 
4 Psal. 132.2. , which is all that whereby he makes himself known, there be certainly more clear characters and glorious impressions of the Divine Majesty, his Power, Holiness, Goodness, Wisdom, and Grace to be discerned therein, than any where besides. 'Tis rational to collect, that by the same Counsel God did inscribe Ensigns of himself in the works of his own hands; 
Dr. Templer de Sacro Canone.  he did impress documents of Divinity on the words of his mouth, wherein the lineaments of Heavenly Wisdom are as conspicuous, as the sagacity of Joab, in the speech of the Woman of Tekoa unto David 
5 2 Sam. 14.19 . Even as by the light of the Sun in the Firmament, we may see the glorious body of the Sun itself: So by the Word of God, which is pure, enlightening the Eyes ⁶, 
Psal. 19.4, 8.  we may discern clearly who is the Author of it. By the condescending beams and influences vouchsafed in that bright Sun, who is indeed the Father of lights, from whom every good and perfect gift descends 
4 James 1.17. , we may come to see our chief good, and the only way to enjoy it. In him is the fountain of life, and in his light we shall see light 
5 Psal. 36.9. . God who is the true invariable light, in whom there is no darkness at all 
‖ 1 John 1.7. , can so shine upon the glass 
6 James 1.23. 2 Cor. 3.18.  of his Word, that we may see therein a lively Spiritual portraiture of himself, and his pleasure towards us, with our duty unto him. For you know by looking in a glass we see the glass itself, ourselves, and other things within reach in the room; and so by the Crystal glass of the Word we may see God who speaks it, ourselves, with our besmeared faces, and the emptiness of the creatures in the same room with us; which may well engage us to seek to the fountain of all fullness, God himself. But then, we should remember, (as an Honourable Person adviseth 
* Mr. Boyl Style of Scripture, p. 72. ) to consider the Holy Bible as an harmonious Systeme, tho' written by parts and piece-meal in several ages. It being like a fair suit of Arras, of which, tho' a shred may assure us of the fineness of the colours and the richness of the stuff, yet the hang never appear to their true advantage, but when they are displayed to their full dimensions and seen together. Besure the Scriptures (to which we do well to take heed, as to a light shining in a dark-place 
7 2 Pet. 1.19. ) will in this prospect clearly show their Author and original, namely that they came from him who is the light of Men, and shineth in darkness 
8 John 1.4, 5. 1 John 1.4, 5. , to the good satisfaction of the Consciences of the honest beholders themselves, whatever objections may be made by carnal reasonings to the contrary; hereby being far more effectual to convert the Soul and rejoice the Heart 
9 Psal. 19.7, 8. , than any appearances of prodigious spectres giving some notice of what passes in the other World, could ever do. Sith the real resurrection of Lazarus had no other influence on some of the Jews, than only to give them occasion of turning informers to the Pharisees, against Christ, who had just before their Eyes, wrought that most notable miracle 
10 John 11.46 . Hence,  
3. The power and efficacy the Scriptures have had in changing the minds and hearts of men, show that as to any future expectations, they are more successful for conversion, than any new revelations or appearances from the other World. The powerful effects of it, proving the Word of God, to be a perpetual Ordinance, or covenant which God hath commanded for ever 
11 Psal. 111.9. , deriving virtue from him for this very end, and by its powerfulness and quickness evidencing him to be the undoubted Author of it 
12 Heb. 4.12. , when it is received (tho' revealed to, and by Men immediately or mediately) not as the word of Men, but (as it is in truth) the Word of God, which worketh effectually in them that believe 
13 1 Thes. 2.13 , yea and brings men to believe, who are not preposessed with prejudices and corrupt affections, which cause a rage against Divine appointments, whereupon the God of this World (the Prince of Darkness) blinds their minds, lest the light of the Gospel of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, should shine into them 
14 2 Cor. 4.3, 4. . Yet in the dispensation of the Word there is an evidence of Divinity in it, commending itself to the Consciences of unprejudiced Men. The ordinary means of grace being mighty through God, to the pulling down of the strong holds 
15 2 Cor. 10.4, 5. , yea every thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, from whom it came, and unto whom it directs us. Even great ones have been astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord 
16 Acts 13.12. Psal. 119.111. , drawn from vicious courses into virtuous and holy practices; from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God 
17 Acts 26.18. , when little good comparatively was done by Christ himself preaching at Capernaum 
18 Mat. 11.23.— 13.58. . The Magazine of his Miracles, those extraordinary Discoveries of their Author. In the use of the ordinary means of Grace, even at one Sermon of Peter's, we find three thousand converted 
19 Acts 2.41. ; and afterwards upon hearing of the Word, we meet with about five thousand more that believed 
20 Acts 4.4. , which may well evidence who was the Author of it, and in whose hand it was an Instrument 
21 Eph. 2.20. . Many have been built upon this Foundation, enlightened and directed by this Light 
22 Ps. 119.105. , fed with this meat 
23 Heb. 5.13, 14 , regenerated by this Seed 
24 1 Pet. 1.23. , which as a grain of Mustardseed in a matter of Sixty Six years' space, after the sowing of it, grew into a great Tree, which Pliny 
* 
Plin. Secund. lib. 10. Epist. mox ipso tractu ut fieri solet, diffundente se crimine, etc.  
Adversus gentes ipsa multitudine perturbatus.  , the Proconsul in Bythinia, employed by Trajan to root up Christianity (which they accounted a Crime) did acknowledge. Tertullian, and others, prove the spreading of it in the Second and Third Centuries. So mightily grew the Word of God, and prevailed 
25 Acts 19.20.  in the primitive times, ingenerating unconquered Constancy of Faith and Godliness in the minds of the Hearers, and always victoriously triumphing over the Kingdom of Satan, and false Religions. In the beginning of the Reformation, said Luther 
* Tom. 4.282. Ubique experimur in Templo, in Rep. etc. , We do everywhere experience in the Church, in the Commonwealth, in the Family, certain fruits of the Word, which as Leaven doth spread itself into all the parts of the Commonwealth, the Offices, and all the States.  
Afterwards we find how it did diffuse itself in England, Scotland, and Ireland, etc. 
‖ See the Fulfilling of Scriptures, p. 401, 414. Is. 46.10. John 10.35. Acts 1.16.  Notwithstanding they of the Antichristian state have laboured to keep up their Superstition and Idolatry, by feigned Apparitions, as may be seen in later Collections of Popish Miracles, the History of Jetzer, etc.  
4. The Holy Bible being the appointed Instrument wherewith the Holy Spirit will work for the sanctification of the Soul 
24 John 17.17. 1 Pet. 1.22. ; it is indeed a surer word of prophecy (which the Spirit of Christ that spoke in the Prophets themselves did signify 
1 1 Pet. 1.11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ) than that which came from Heaven at the transfiguration 
2 2 Pet. 1.18, 19 Mat. 17.5. . Not in regard of the truth, (for therein they were both equal but in regard that at the Transfiguration was more transient, being heard but by a few; this of the Scripture more firm and fixed, being written for an unalterable Record; just so as Holy Men had it brought to them at several times by the Holy Ghost; it was not of any private Conception, for it came not by the will of man, but was brought into them by the will of God, who hath strongly preserved it amongst his People, notwithstanding the endeavours of Antiochus to destroy it under the Old Testament; and afterwards, when the Canon was completed, tho' several of the Roman Emperors used their utmost power to burn it 
* Euseb. Eccles. Hist. l. 10. ch. 3, 4. & 8.2, 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. . For rather than they whom the Spirit of God had wrought upon by it, in the communication of Spiritual Light and Life would become Traditores (such Traitors to God and their own Soul, as) to deliver it up to Dioclesian's Officers, they in great numbers suffered themselves in Egypt to be bodily destroyed, in humble confidence the Author of it would take their Souls into Abraham's Bosom, to be for ever happy there. So successful a means is the Word of God for the work of Grace in the Soul, that no marvel upon the Rich man's speaking his own conceit, or odd wish, for some ones prodigious return from the other World; as if a Preacher thence would bring his Brethren to return to God; Father Abraham discovers himself to be of another mind, as it were giving him a Reprimand, shows that the Written Word, giving more clear evidence of its really coming from above, and so manifesting itself to be from God, should rather do it, as being the stated means, which the Spirit useth in the conversion of others. And therefore the hankering after Messengers to come anew from Heaven or Hell, argues those who are so disposed to be such (as our Saviour shown in confuting the Sadduces) who really know not the Scriptures, nor the power of God therein 
3 Mat. 22.29. . For let us suppose one who had been dead, and known to be so, for several years, should be wonderfully raised up by God, to warn his known Friends here in this World, to flee from the wrath to come, and to return to God: What new Arguments could He use, that had not been used in the Ministration of the Word before, sigh therein he had been acquainted with the pure Precepts of the Divine Majesty; and also his sure promises of Heaven to the Obedient, with the certain threaten of Hell to the Disobedient, and the never-ceasing pains under the execution of them, felt by him who in this Parable here would have warning given to his Brethren? What can He supposed to come from the other World, offer more to the serious consideration of his Relatives? After a little startling of them, who it may be would be somewhat concerned a little while at the surprise; as the Drunkard, seeing his Pot-Companion fall down dead under the Table, or others struck dead on every side in a dreadful Pestilence; yet the Survivers remain unchanged in their Minds, Wills, and Affections of Love and Hatred, Hope and Fear all this while. Tho' they have often heard the Ministers of the Word even in Christ's stead, laying cogent Arguments before them to gain their Assent, powerful Motives to work upon their Wills and Affections from the sure Word universally suited to the Cases of their several Souls; when it may be they had some common motions of the Spirit which they have quenched, whereupon they may now be prone to doubt, whether this supposed new and extraordinary Messenger be indeed Commissioned from God, unless he produce his Credentials, and these be attested to by the Spirit 
4 Gal. 3.1, 2. Lavater de Spectris. . For, upon the appearance of an Angel, there might well be a suspicion, sigh if a good one, his Message would accord with God's Word; if a bad one, he would endeavour to deceive by his Lies: When the Angel did instruct Joseph by a Vision, he forthwith adjoined a Testimony from the Prophetical Scripture 
5 Mat. 1.23. Isa. 7.14. , which Christ and his Apostles had respect to, tho' they could work Miracles to confirm their Doctrine.  
5. God out of his infinite Wisdom hath given us his Oracles, and sent his Ambassadors in the ministry of reconciliation 
4 2 Cor 5.19, 20 , men like to ourselves, as more suitable to us in houses of Clay, than Angels, which live out of the Sphere of our Commerce. God might think now their Testimonies to his Church here below, would not be so convenient for his Government, and so consequently not so successful for the beginning of Conversion. He could have had the use of the Noblest Spirits for his Errand, and Embodied them, if he would, for expedition, when he chose to employ Moses, notwithstanding his excuses 
5 Ex. 3.11, 12. ; when the Promise of God's Presence with him on his Embassy might answer all 
6 Ex. 4.10, 12. ; so that he found be might say with converted Paul, 
‖ Phil. 4.13.  He could do all things through Christ enstrengthning him. Man is best drawn in such a way as is most agreeable to his Nature: The Head, which is the governing part in the Organical Body, may move most uniformly with Members of the same nature 
7 Deut. 18.15. , who have the irrefregable Authority of God's Word to back them, wherein they speak for God to stubborn ones; and tho' the Treasure is presented in Earthen Vessels 
8 2 Cor. 4.7. , yet the excellency of the Power is of God 
9 1 Cor. 1.17. . Converse with good Angels is a Dignity which our present state in the Body cannot well bear, and therefore it is rare. There is indeed a Story related in Bodin 
* Lib. 1. de Magorum cum Satana commercio.  of one who had desired much the guidance and assistance of an Angel; and from the thirty seventh year of his Age, he said, he had a Spirit that assisted and followed him to his Death: He would knock and awake him early in the morning; if he spoke unwary words, he would reprove him for it by a Dream in the night; if he was reading a bad Book, the Angel would strike o● the Book for him to leave it; and give some pre-notice to him in a Dream when some accident was like to befall him, etc. This is related from the Man as matter of Fact. But it concerns us to be wary, and not to be wise above that which is written 
10 1 Cor. 4.6. . If we are not satisfied with the infallible Testimony of God himself, how should the coming of a Creature in a strange way give us satisfaction? The Father of Lies may impose on our simplicity, and deceive us in the Habit of an Angel of Light 
11 2 Cor. 11.14. . Too many easy People have been imposed on by the Popish Legends. Luther 
* In Genes. c. 22.  being acquainted with such Impostures, said, Satan indeed hath often tempted me (even as Augustine, who deprecated, that an Angel might not appear to him) that I might ask a Sign of God: But far be it from me that I should hearken to this temptation. The Martyrs without the apparition of Angels, confirmed by the Word alone, did meet. Death for the name of Christ; and why should not we acquiesce in the same? 'Tis said, when once he had kept a day of Humiliation and Prayer, he had a Vision of Christ, when he said, Away! away! 
In Cap. 37 Gen. pactum feci cum Domino Deo meo▪ etc.  I know no picture of Christ but the Scripture. And elsewhere, I have made a Covenant with the Lord my God, that he may not send me Visions, or Dreams, or Angels; for I am content with this Gift that I have, the Holy Scripture, which doth abundantly teach and supply all things that are necessary both to this and a future Life. Let us all then content ourselves with the ordinary means of Grace, which are more successful for Conversion to carry it on from first to last, rather than expect persons from Heaven or Hell to acquaint us what is done there.  

Except.  If some rare instance should be alleged of some Atheisttical Persons, who having been intimate Companions in wickedness; had agreed that when either of them should departed this World, and find a joyful Heaven, or dreadful Hell; he would, if possible, acquaint the Survivor with it: And thereupon some Spectre or Voice hath been heard or seen (or fancied to be so) upon such a Discovery there hath been an inclination to return to God, and an amendment of Life.  
Answ. I fear such an inclination and amendment have been but some temporary emotions upon such a prodigious occurrence, and have soon evanished like a blush; or have occasioned only some fainter Essays towards amendment of Life, which have not come to a thorough change, only to be an Almost Christian, as Agrippa; and not such an Altogether Christian, as Paul himself was, when Converted 
10 Acts 26.27.  upon the Call of Christ by whom God spoke to him 
11 Gal. 1.1. Heb. 1.2. , having ordained to reveal himself by the Word; but we do not now find the revelation by Angels, or the Spirits of those who are departed this Life, to be any stated Ordinance of God for man's Conversion, as the Scriptures be. For should we suppose Bad Angels to come to us, they are Enemies to man's Conversion: Good ones, as God's Ministers, would confirm his Word; should we suppose wand'ring Spirits or Spectres from the Dead (according to Dives his Conceit) to be Monitors of the living, we must reckon them to be either the Souls of Believers or unbelievers: If of Believers, they will after the example of Christ their Head, send us to the Holy Scriptures, as Agustine thought he heard a voice saying, Take and Read, Take and Read. They will say with God the Father concerning his Son and our Saviour, Hear ye him 
15 Mat. 17.5. . If the Souls of Unbelievers, and wicked Miscreants; Who would hearken to them, or give credit to what they Say? Further, what these supposed ones say, do either agree with the Written Word, or are contrary to it: If the former, they are received, not because they are believed by them, but because contained in the Word of God, which hath been found a successful means of God's own appointment for man's Conversion. If the latter, i. e. They be contrary to the Word, they ought by no means to be received. Should we suppose (that which is not possible) an Angel from Heaven should speak to them. But I fear I am become tedious; yet I beg your Patience a little longer, whiles I touch upon  
III. Some short Application of this stated Case, that The ordinary means of Grace are more certainly successful for Conversion, than if some Persons from Heaven or Hell, should tell us what is done there. And it shall be, for,  
1. The Reproof of those who disvalue the Scriptures, and discourage such as would search them in the language they understand, according to our Saviour's injunction to search the Scriptures 
11 John 5.39. : which we find to be Authentical, from God himself, as hath been evidenced, and might be further by other Arguments which have been urged by others 
* See Grotius, Mornaeus, Mr. Baxters' Saints Rest. Sir Charles Wolsey, Mr. White, etc. . The truth is, if God himself were not the Author of the Bible it must be some Creature either Good or Bad. If Bad, why forbids he evil so rigorously, and commands good so expressly, aiming at nothing but God's glory, and Man's happiness? If Good, why doth he challenge to himself that which is proper to God alone? As to make Laws for the heart, to punish and reward eternally. If no Creature, God himself must be the Author. 'Tis highly blame-worthy then to have low thoughts of Gods own Book: Yet such is the corruption of fallen Man, that even the generality of those who make some profession of the truth, are too apt to set light by Moses and the Prophets, which Paul styles the Oracles of God 
12 Rom. 3.2. . The Heathens were exceeding fond of their Oracles, which were but Riddles and Cheats; but many under the Christian name do disregard the lively and true Oracles of God; I mean not only those who of old looked upon the Old Testament as not indicted by the Spirit, 
Manichees, Weigelians, Papists.  or of later days as out of date under the New Testament, and all of it but as a dead letter, and those who forbidden the reading of it to the Laity: But such as sleight, and do not consult these infallible Oracles which really passed Gods own hands, having his Signature upon them, and being able to make us wise unto Salvation 
13 2 Tim. 3.15 : yea, are there not to be found those, who tho' they professedly renounce Popery, do yet droll upon the Holy Scriptures? Burlesque them, and make a ridicule of them, (and such would deal so with Monitors from the dead) wherein if we would indeed exercise our Spiritual senses to discern, we might see the face of God and live. Alas! How does the speech of many bewray them 
14 Matth. 27.73 ? (because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks) to have little value for the Divine Oracles: Sith they in all their talk seldom (if ever) discourse of them with reverence. Which would indeed dispose one to fear, that some under the name of Protestants have in reality no more value for the Oracles of God, than the Popes of Rome, who put their own Canons and Decrees, not only in the same rank with the Canonical Scriptures, but above them 
* Honoratus l. 2. Epist. 16. .  
2. We should not any of us tempt God in hankering after new Revelations or extraordinary discoveries; but adhere to God, in the ordinary means, he hath appointed, and allowed to us for conversion and confirmation. 'Tis true as a great Man 
† Mirand. de fid. & ord. cred.  hath well observed, All Religion doth depend, or is presumed to depend upon Revelations from above. Flesh and blood (saith Christ 
15 Matth. 16.17 ) hath not revealed it, but my Father which is in Heaven. But then when this is consigned in a sufficient and clear Canon, undoubtedly attested with an exclusion of additionals, under dreadful Plagues, 
16 Rev. 22.18.  we should rest satisfied, and not be reaching after novelties: yea, and we should hearty acknowledge our gratitude to our gracious God for his true light, which doth perpetually cast out his rays, and as Polybius 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  saith, Of truth, itself, doth by itself prevail and pulls down all the falsehood, that perks up its head against it. Oh how thankful should we be for the Liberty we do enjoy, for the good of our precious Souls, to worship God as he hath prescribed in his Word of eternal Truth! Hearty waiting as dependants upon him, 
Matth. 11.25, 26.  that he would open our Eyes to see the wonderful things contained in his Law 
17 Psal. 119.18 . We should be well contented with the proposals that God himself makes to us in his unerring Word, and not expect to have our curiosities gratified with strange Relations from the Dead. If the House of God amongst us be built upon the foundation of the true Prophets and Apostles; We shall not need (as a Learned Man saith 
* Dr. Spencer of Proph. ) daubing with such spurious Visions and Prophecies as the Romanists brag of. Luther, vexed with their Impositions, writes, 
† In Gen. c. 22. Ego soleo Deum precari, etc.  I am wont to pray God daily, that He may not send any Angel to me, for any cause; if any should be offered, I would not hear; unless he should signify somewhat of political necessity: even as pleasant dreams, and glad tidings are sometimes wont to cheer us up, in civil matters: and yet I know not whether even in such a case I would hearken to him and believe him. But in Spiritual things we do not desire Angels. The ordinary means of grace which I have been discoursing of, as being ordained of God, do discover what he would have us to do, and what he will do for us, is that which the Holy Spirit joins himself to, and makes more effectual usually to a saving change of the heart, than prodigious and sensible Alarms, which uneasy Souls desire to pry into: when as the Holy Angels desire to peep into the mysteries revealed to the Church, and made known by the manifold or embroidered Wisdom of God 
8 1 Pet. 1.12. Ephes. 3.10. .  
3. There should be no seeking to familiar Spirits, or consulting of Conjurers and cunning Men; as they would be thought to be, who converse with Satan, sigh we are called to the Law and to the Testimonies. If any pretenders to new lights, or discoveries from the other World, which speak not according to this Rule, that is already revealed and sealed, 'tis because there is no light in them 
19 Isa. 8.20. See Engl. Annotat. , some expound it; If they be otherwise minded than they have from God been advised; and will resolve to run after Witches and Wizards, there shall no daylight of prosperity befall them; but all darkness of affliction and misery shall betid them. God allows not a going to the Witch at Endor, having written Laws by which he will Rule and Judge the World. His people of old were not to hearken unto the word of those false Prophets that gave a sign or a wonder 
20 Deut. 13.1, 2, 3. 2 Thes. 2.9. , tho' God permitted it to come to pass, for their trial, when pretended to be an attestation to that which God abhorred. But they were to hearken unto the Prophet whom God would send, even Jesus Christ, 
21 Deut 18.15, 22. Matth. 17.5.  unto whom the true Prophets under the Old Testament did refer, and who hath silenced all lying Oracles. Which the true Oracles do caution us to take heed we be not deceived with 
22 Mat. 10.16.— 24.23, 24 1 Tim. 4.1, 2. 2 Thes. 2.9, 10 . Christ's Apostles brought the Conjurers, by the power of God's Word, to confess their delusions, and bring their Books to be burned openly, 
23 Acts 19.18, 19  which were of the same kind in effect with some Prognostications about future contingencies, that there can be no true foundation for, in genuine Astrology, though that be pretended, to the prejudice of the Divine Oracles. To which, who ever refuseth to give entire credit, upon due deliberation, he gives ground of suspicion that he hath none of the Spir●● of Christ 
24 1 Cor. 12.3. , neither would he ever believe Christ himself returning in the flesh, and all the Angels, or those from the dead. Hence we may take notice how the wonderful boldness of Satan bewrays itself; 
Beza.  as well as the incredulity of Men in receiving the Truth, and their credulity in embracing of Fables. For how many are there who account for such, those things concerning eternal punishment, which are declared by the Son of God? And on the other hand, how many, partly by mere fictions, partly by true nocturnal Apparitions of unclean Spirits assuming dead corpse? but to deceive miserable Men, have on purpose given themselves occasion to be deceived. (Not heeding Paul's fear, lest through the Serpent's subtlety, their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ 
1 2 Cor. 11.3. ). To which impostures the Popish Purgatory, Prayer for the Dead, Invocation of Saints, and that which they call the Adoration of Relics, own their Original. When the Lord hath of old forbidden, that the dead should be consulted or heard 
2 Deut. 18.11. . To conclude,  
4. Let's be exhorted to mind Moses and the Prophets. Let's labour in the light of the Scriptures to see the Author of them 
3 Psal. 36.9.— 84.11. , that we may thereby as the most successful means, be brought to repentance of our sins, avoid the torments of Hell, and enjoy the pleasures of Heaven. And if any of us under temptation, as looking for somewhat more sensible and lively; fall into doubting concerning the Divine Writ, or Word of God, as written; which yet I have showed is more credible, for that it shows itself in a Diviner way being written; as Water in the Fountain, or Light in the Sun: which while it is strained, passing thorough the Pipes and Instruments of Mortals, in a traditionary way, is defiled or obscured. Let's then take off our Eyes from curiosities, and not think to delight our senses with novelties, and Preter-Evangelical Doctrines, knowing the great Apostle, hath Anathematised, or cursed all them, who bring another Gospel, or Doctrines besides the Gospel, in the beginning of his Epistle to the Galathians 
4 Gal. 1.6, 7, 8, 9 . Christ here in my Text represents Abraham as preferring the Sacred Scriptures, to be more worthy of credit, and beneficial to Conversion, than the Reports of those raised from the Dead: and Paul (by whom Christ himself speaks) not writing rashly and unadvisedly, (when moved by the Holy Ghost) but upon mature deliberation, with a great deal of gravity repeats, [As we said before, so say I now again] (confirming what he and others for substance had de-delivered) for greater certainty. [If any man preach any other Gospel unto you] he doth not say (as some of the Ancients have observed 
* Chrysostom Theophylact. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ) any contrary, but any the least thing besides that we have preached and ye have received, tho' he be an Angel from Heaven, let him be accursed. He prefers the Divine Writ to the Angels coming down with a message from Heaven. Evangelical Doctrines to Angelical, could it be supposed, and that deservedly. Because, the Angels tho' great, yet are Servants and Ministers 
5 Heb. 1.14. , whereas all the Holy Scriptures are not commanded and sent of Servants to be written; but of God himself the Lord of all, as hath been showed 
6 2 Tim. 3.16. 1 Pet 1.11, 12. 2 Pet. 1.20, 21. John 20.31. . Let's then depend solely, upon the sure Word, which is most effectual to convert and comfort us. Here's a firm support, for if this Earthly Globe we stand upon, tho' heavy and bulkey, hang up, encompassed by the Heavens, not stirring from its centre, tho' it hath no Shores to uphold it, but the Word of God 
7 Heb. 1.3. , certainly it concerns us to stay ourselves securely, on the infallible promise of the eternal God, admiring the excellency of his Holy Writ; which (saith Augustine 
* Tract. 35. in Joh. Lucerna ardens est idonea, & alia quae tenebris operiebantur nudare, & seipsam tuis oculis demonstrare ) is a burning light fit both to make bare those things which are covered with darkness; and to demonstrate itself to thine Eyes. For indeed it contains the purest Precepts, the best Counsels, the clearest Examples, the strongest Helps, and the most cogent motives and encouragements to Duty, the most dreadful Threaten of Wrath to the Disobedient; and the surest, and fullest Promises of Rest to the Obedient.   

Quest. How may it convincingly appear, that those who think it an easy matter to believe, are yet destitute of saving Faith? SERM. VIII.  Ephes. I. 19, 20. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead? 
THE Design of this Epistle is to set forth the Freegrace of God in Man's Salvation by Christ.  
I More generally, vers. 3. who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings.  
II. By a particular enumeration of those eternal Blessings which were decreed for us in Christ, viz. Election and Adoption, vers. 4, 5.  
Having thus looked so far back before the foundation of the World, vers. 4. the Apostle sets down what Christ did in time for us in his own Person, when he took our Nature upon him, and entered into the Office of a Mediator, as our Head, completing our redemption in himself by dying for us, in whom we have redemption through his Blood, the forgiveness of Sins, vers. 7. Then follow the Blessings that we ourselves, as Members of Christ, are Partakers of in this Life; and they are all comprehended in Faith, and in the certain consequents of it.  
These Ephesians were called to this Faith by the preaching of the Gospel, which (the Spirit of God accompanying it) became effectual to beget Faith in them. Paul was mightily affected with the success the Gospel had among the Ephesians, gives God thanks for it, vers. 15. and prays hearty for a further increase of that Faith in them, vers. 16. and shows what a wonderful thing it is, that any are brought to believe in Jesus; 'tis as great a Miracle as the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead; that was an effect of Divine Power, and so is this.  
I have made what haste I could to bring down my Discourse to the Text, and to the Point or Question that I am desired to speak to this morning, viz. How it may convincingly appear that those who think it an easy matter to believe, are destitute of saving Faith?  
In stating this Case, I shall do these three things.  
1. Show what a difficult thing it is to believe.  
2. Give the reason why many Professors count it an easy thing to believe.  
3. Prove that those who count so, are destitute of saving Faith.  
First. The Difficulty of Believing.  
I. That which requires the greatest-power and strength to effect it, is no easy thing; but believing requires the greatest power to effect it, therefore it is no easy thing to believe.  
I prove the Assumption, viz. That the greatest power in Heaven and Earth is required to raise up Faith in us.  
Because Faith deals with the power of God only about those things which it believes, bears itself up upon that; and when God is about to persuade a Sinner to believe his Free Grace, he first convinces him of his power, that he is able to perform his promises.  
1. God asserts his Power, he declares himself to be an Almighty God. So to Abraham, Gen. 17.1. and in the new Testament he often asserts his Power, that all thing are possible to him. Omnipotency sticks at nothing, knows no difficulties; what cannot the exceeding greatness of his power do?  
2. God doth exert and put forth his Power in some visible exemplification of it, that fully demonstrates his Omnipotency, and can signify nothing less; such an instance we have in the Text, in the Resurrection of Christ, this overt act Speaks out his infinite power, 'tis matter of fact and cannot be denied.  
3. God gives the Saints some feeling and experience of the exceeding greatness of his power put forth in their own Souls, by working faith in them; they see 'tis the Lord's doing that nothing in Man would ever lead him out to it, if God did not persuade him, and bring over his heart to believe the Gospel.  
Believers under the new Testament though they hear much of the power of God set forth in the letter of the word, and though they experience the efficacy of this power in their own hearts yet that which puts the matter quite out of doubt with them, is this undeniabl instance of divine power in the Resurrection of Christ: Abraham wanted this, though he saw much of the power of God towards him, in calling him alone from his Father's house, and greatly increasing him afterwards, when he became two bands, Gen. 32.10. and in giving him a Son in his old age, etc. yet the greatest proof of God's power to Abraham was the inward efficacy of it upon his own heart, that he should be brought to believe a Resurrection, when there was never any instance of such a thing in the world before; 'tis a sign he was satisfied in the almighty power of God, accounted that God was able to raise him up, Heb. 11.19. though he received him from the dead in a figure; Isaac was not really slain, therefore Abrams Faith was more remarkable, that he should believe that God could raise his Son from the Dead; and that he would do it, rather than break his promise, he resolved to obey God for the present, and to trust him for the future: All that we believe now is but the consequent of Christ's Resurrection, and follows upon it; the Head being risen, the Members will also rise, every one in his own order; not only by a bodily Resurrection at the last day, but by a Spiritual Resurrection in their Souls here, when the time of their Conversion and Regeneration comes. That which convinces us of the Almighty Power of God to perform his Promises, is the Resurrection of Christ; but that which was the chiefest proof of God's Power to Abram, was the inward impression of it upon his Heart when he was first called.  
That he who as a Man had this Law written in his Heart, That he should not kill, should so readily yield to the kill of his Son; and when he was resolved so do, had the Knife in his hand ready stretched out, was under the highest impulse of Faith to do what God commanded him; that he should presently be taken off from it by a counter-command from Heaven: How did God try Abram, as if he had set himself to puzzle him; turns him and winds him this way and that way, backward and forward; he must not kill, and then he must kill; and by and by he must not kill; God was resolved his Faith should move as he would have it, according to his Will; and Abram was as ready to comply, He is my God, says Abram, and I will obey him; Isaac shall die, and Isaac shall live; what God will: He sees further than I do, I'll follow him, though I know not whether I go, nor what I do; God knows, that's enough for me, I'll trust him; Lord, what wilt thou have me do? tell me, and I'll do it; shall I kill my Son, or shall I spare my Son? it shall be as thou wilt, lord— Herein Abram excelled all Believers under the New Testament: though they have some experience of God's Power put forth upon their Souls in believing, yet they don't bear only upon this as Abram did; they have the Resurrection of Christ to support their Faith, which Abram had not, and yet believes a Resurrection Power as firmly as they who saw Christ risen from the Grave: God appeared to Abram, and made such immediate Impressions of his Power upon his Heart, that he needs no Sign, no visible Instance to confirm his Faith, he was satisfied without it; he saw that in God himself, that made him never to dispute his Power afterwards.  
Saints now, though they have experience of a Divine Power touching their Hearts, and drawing them to Christ, yet they cannot so clearly discern this conquering subduing Power of God in themselves, as they may in Christ their Head, because they are under many infirmities not yet removed; they don't see Sin and Death, and the Devil and the World quite overcome in themselves, but they see all overcome in Christ; his Resurrection proves all; and they are fain often to reflect upon that, to strengthen their Faith and Assurance of Victory in their own persons at last; they know that Christ did not die for himself, nor rise for himself, but for them; they see Christ crowned with Glory and Honour, Heb. 2.9. he suffers no more in his Person, though he still suffers in his Members; but they shall e'er long be as free from Suffering, as the glorified Person of Christ now is in Heaven; thus it will be when Christ mystical shall have all things put under his Feet; then Christ and his Saints will reign gloriously to all eternity, all tears shall be wiped from their eyes then, and this will as surely come to pass as Christ himself is risen from the Dead. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the World, I have, and you shall overcome it; in me you already are more than Conquerors, and in your own Persons you shall be, when I come again.  
II. Because no natural Principle in Man can take in the objects of Faith, Flesh and Blood can't reveal them to us; Faith is an act above Reason; how is it possible for a Man, as a Man, to act above his Reason? 'tis absurd and irrational to think so; Gospel-truths are so deep and mysterious, that they do transcend our humane capacities, and cannot be discerned but by the light of a Divine Faith: What is humane, we may undertake, and count that easy to us; but what is Divine is above us, quite out of our reach; therefore Faith is said to be the work of God, fulfilled by his Power, 2 Thess. 1.11. The knowledge of Faith, by which we are persuaded of that which we conceive not, is higher than all rational understanding; we acknowledge the truth of that, as Christians, which as Men we do not Scientifically know by any Logical Demonstration: Faith gives us the certainty of those things which we comprehend not.  
III. That which makes believing so difficult, is the seeming contradictory acts of Faith, it seems not to consist with itself. Here I take Faith more generally, as it has for its Object the whole Word of God, the Law and the Gospel, the special Object of Faith, as Saving, is the Promise; Saving Faith seeks Life which is not to be found in Commandments and Threats, but in a Promise of Mercy. Faith acting upon the whole Word of God, seems to contradict itself; for Faith believes a Sinner is to die according to the Law, and that he shall live, according to the Gospel; Faith has the Word of God for both, both for the Death and Life of a Sinner, and both are true; the Law must be executed, and the Promise must be performed; but how to reconcile this is not so obvious and easy to every one: Is the Law then against the Promises of God? God forbidden, Gal. 3.21. 'tis impossible both should be accomplished in the Person of a Sinner; he cannot die eternally, and live eternally, yet both are wonderfully brought about by Jesus Christ, according to the manifold Wisdom of God, without any Derogation to his Law and Justice; God and his Law are satisfied, and the Promise of Salvation made good to the Sinner, and so both Law and Gospel have their ends; not a tittle of either falls to the ground, Heaven and Earth may sooner pass away, than this can be. O what a mystery is Christ! Flesh and blood can't reveal this to us, every believer assents to the truth of the Law as well as the Gospel; he knows that both must have their full course, the Law is fulfilled in inflicting Death, the Gospel in giving Life; the Law contributes nothing to the eternal Life of a sinner, but kills him and leaves him weltering in his blood; is no more concerned about him for ever; if God will bring this dead sinner to life again, he may dispose of him as he please, the Law has done its utmost against him; so the Law did against Christ, spared him not, but killed him outright, and left him for a time under the power of Death; but having slain a Man, who was God as well as Man, Death was too weak to hold him, he swallows up Death in victory; he whom the Law slew as Man, riseth as God, by the power of his godhead; the Law contributed nothing to his Resurrection; the Law had the chief hand in his Death, but none in his Resurrection: And here gins our eternal Life, in the Resurrection of him who dies no more, and is the Resurrection and Life to all who believe in him.  
iv The reigning unbelief that is among the generality of Men, even among those who are of greatest reputation for Wisdom and Learning; Ay, and among those who carry the vogue for Zeal and Religion, are counted the Head and Pillars of the Church: Some pretending to Infallibility, others set up themselves and are cried up by many, as such competent Judges in all matters of Faith, that their judgement is not to be questioned, but readily complied with by all who would not be counted singular and Schismatical. So 'twas in our Saviour's time, the Jews who had been the only Professors of the true Religion for many ages, in opposition to all Idolatry and false Worship, they stumble at the Gospel: the Greeks who were the more Learned sort of the Heathen World, they counted it foolishness. And thus was the whole World set against Christ, here was the greatest outward hindrance of the belief of the Gospel that could be imagined; and add to this the indefatigable pains and industry of the Devil to keep out the light of the Gospel from shining in upon us; he blinds the Eyes of Men by a cursed influence upon their corrupt minds, that they should not believe: Is it not a hard matter under all these discouragements to embrace the Gospel, and declare our belief of it? Have any of the Rulers, or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who know not the Law, John 7.48, 49. Why should any regard what a company of poor illiterate people do? Their following Christ is rather an argument why we should not follow him, they are all but fools and idiots that do so; A cursed sort of people. This is the judgement the Men of the World have of believers. There is nothing among too many self-conceited Sceptics lies under a greater imputation of folly and madness, than faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: O what a pass are things come too, that after so many hundred years' profession of Christianity, we should grow weary of Christ and the Gospel!  
V The notorious Apostasy of many Professors this day, who have made Shipwreck of Faith and a good Conscience, 1 Tim. 1.19. may convince you all that 'tis no easy matter to believe; so to believe as to persevere in the Faith.  
VI Believers themselves find it a difficult matter to act their Faith; if their Lives lie upon it, they cannot act it at their pleasure, without the special aid and assistance of the Spirit; 'tis God must work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.  
Believers are hardly put to it, great is the labour and travel of their Souls in believing, they meet with much opposition from flesh and blood in every act of Faith they put forth; they are forced to cry out for help in the midst of an act of Faith, lest they should fail in it. I helieve, Lord help my unbelief, q. d. I am now under some light and power of Faith, but I see I can't hold it, if thou dost not help me. I feel flesh and blood rising up against my Faith, I begin to stagger already, Lord help me that I may not be run down by my carnal Heart. Temptations shake our Faith many times; there is a perpetual conflict between Faith and Diffidence, yet Faith fails not utterly, there 'tis still, Psal. 31.22, 23. Psal. 42.6, 9 Faith upholds the Heart still, Psal. 116.7. Unbelievers they tremble and turn away from God, but true believers in their greatest frights and fears, do run to God, Psal. 56.3. make towards him still. Were it an easy matter to believe, such sudden fits of unbelief would not come so strongly upon believers themselves.  
Secondly, The Reason why many Professors count it an easy thing to Believe.  
The main Reason is this, and I will insist upon no other, viz. Because they mistake a formal Profession of Faith, for real believing; this undoes thousands, who because they are qualified as National Protestants, for all worldly preferments, here they rest, and make no other use of their Religion, as if the Articles of their Faith obliged them to nothing. A formal Profession is general, takes up Religion in gross, but is not concerned in any one point of it. But real Believing is particular, brings down every Gospel Truth to ourselves, shows us our concernments in it: Save thyself, saith Faith, and work out thy own Salvation, see you neglect it no longer; no Man can save another Man's Soul by his Faith, his own he may; Faith busies itself about our own Salvation, shows us what we must do to be saved; were there more of this Faith among Professors, we should every one have work enough upon our hands, and not find it so easy a matter to secure our Souls into eternity. General Professors carry it as if they had nothing to do, were sure of Heaven already; at this rate we may count it an easy matter to believe, but when we come to die we shall not find it so: any Faith may serve some men's turns to live by, but every Faith will not serve our turns to die by; when we are dying in good earnest, a feigned Faith signifies little to our comfort, we see thorough it, and sink under it.  
If your Faith do not often call upon you to look to your own Souls, it cannot be saving Faith; he that seeks not to save himself, let him talk what he will of his Faith, it is not saving Faith, that is, intent upon the salvation of a believer, and finds enough to do in carrying on that work, with fear and trembling lest it should not go thorough with it. You who have been at this work in good earnest, don't find it so easy as some would make it; new doubts, new difficulties, new temptations do arise every day, that put the Faith of the best Christians to it; if Faith does not bestir itself, the Devil may be too hard for you and your Faith too; if the righteous are scarcely saved, surely 'tis no easy matter to get to Heaven; you must run, wrestle, strive, fight, contend earnestly, else you may miss of Heaven, and come short of all your expectation of eternal glory: I speak not this to discourage you, but to awaken you to that diligence and care that so weighty a business calls for.  
Saving Faith is to cast myself and my own Soul upon Christ for salvation; what ever your Faith may be 'tis not come to saving Faith, till you do this you may carry all your knowledge and all your Faith to Hell with you; any Faith that is not saving, but remains separate from it, will prove a damning Faith to you; 'twill greatly aggravate your condemnation, that you who knew such things, believed such things, assented to such Truths and Gospel Doctrines, should never put forth an act of saving Faith for your own Souls in particular, according to the import of those Doctrines; 'tis strange to see how many Professors do leave themselves quite out of their own Faith; they will not be at the pains to act it for themselves, but in general they believe as the Church believes; but let me tell you, 'tis not the Church, nor all the Churches in the World, 'tis not all the Angels in Heaven, nor all the Saints upon Earth can believe for you; you must every one believe for yourselves, and act your own business, cast your own Souls upon Christ for Salvation else they will be eternally lost: How many knowing historical Believers are there in Hell, who have Prophesied in his Name, Prayed in his Name, have Written, Disputed, Argued strongly for the Faith, have done every thing that belongs to a common Faith, but could never be brought to put forth one act of saving Faith upon Christ for the Salvation of their own Souls?  
Come unto me all ye that are weary, etc. is this done? till you personally come to Christ for the pardon of your sins, and for the Justification of your persons by name, John, Thomas, Mary, whatever your names are, he or she, I am sent this day to give you a particular call to come to Christ; and I do warn every one of you, and exhort every one to go to Christ by a personal act of your own Faith for eternal life; he has purchased it for all who come unto him, if you neglect it and will not go, your blood be upon your own heads, I have delivered my own Soul.  
Brethren be persuaded to hearken to the invitation that is given you in the Gospel, before it be too late. O what a do is there to bring a sinner to Christ! O that you would bethink yourselves this day, and set about saving Faith! act that Faith that will save you; and say, Lord, after all my Knowledge and long Profession, after all my Praying, Hearing, Reading, I now see these are but means in order to something else, the end of all is real believing in Christ; and I am now at last come to do that, to commit myself wholly to Christ, to cast my sinful Soul upon him for Righteousness and Life; Lord help me to do this, bring me to a through reliance upon Christ, and keep me in the frequent exercise and lively actings of this Faith every day, that I may see myself safe in him, who is faithful, and will keep that which I so commit unto him. The Just shall live by his own Faith which he acts for himself and for his own Soul; if you do not thus commit yourselves to Christ every day, by a renewed act of Faith, you may lose the joy of your Salvation ere you are ware.  
If you say this is done, I will not ask you when you did it first? that may seem too nice a question to some, but I will ask you when you did it last? I hope you do it every day, if you are at any stand in your thoughts about this, your wisest course is to act over this saving Faith more distinctly, more particularly, more frequently, for the Salvation of your own Soul; then your Faces will shine, and your Hearts will rejoice, we shall know you have been with Jesus.  
'Tis impossible to experience the power and efficacy of saving Faith till we act it in our own case, for our own Souls; than it comes home indeed to ourselves, than we feel the comfort of it; we may own the general Doctrine of Faith, and be little affected with it, or concerned about it; but when the Grace of Faith comes and makes a particular application of that Doctrine to thy Soul, and my Soul, than we believe for ourselves, and are filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory, that we should be received unto mercy, have all our sins pardoned, our persons accepted, and our Souls eternally saved; all this Faith makes out to us by name, from such undeniable grounds and reasons, that we cannot gainsay.  
They count it easy to believe who shut all acts of self-denial quite out of their Faith; they live as they did before, it may be walk on more securely in their evil courses, from a presumptuous persuasion of mercy at last; pray God deliver us from such a Faith that gives encouragement to sin: If your Faith do not strongly incline you to a holy Life, you may be sure 'tis not right saving Faith. 'Tis a sad thing to consider how little influence the Faith of some confident Professors has upon their Lives; they are not, they will not be governed by the Faith which they profess; the Devil allows of such a profession, and 'tis all the Religion he will admit of in his followers; provided they done't touch upon the power of godliness, all forms are alike to him; and in some cases the purest and most Scriptural serve his turn best, when separated from the power of godliness, than he has some Scripture on his side, to persuade them that all is well; then he cries, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are ye; settled in a Church way, according to all the Rules of Discipline laid down in the Word; and is not this Religion enough to save you? Thus the Devil will sometimes give the best form its due commendation from Scripture, when it may serve as an Argument to persuade a formal Christian to sit down short of the power of Godliness; he knows God's own form will not save us then, though he would make them believe otherwise: He put the Jews upon pleading this, and possessed them that all was well, while they held to the outward form of Worship that God had appointed, which made the Lord himself so often to declare against them; and the outward forms of Worship that he had appointed, because he saw they rested in them, and played the Hypocrites under them. Let us have a care in these Gospel-times, that we do not rest in Gospel-forms only, placing the whole of our Religion in that which God has made but a part of it; and such a part, that should never be divided by us, from the Power and Spirit of the Gospel. We talk of damnable Heresies, and there are such, the Lord keep us from them; but let me tell you, you may pass (though more silently) into Hell through a formal Profession of the Truth, and have your porticn with Hypocrites, who professed what you do, had the same form of Godliness that you have, but denied the power of it: I don't say as some of you do, I hope otherwise of you all; but let every one examine himself what powerful Influence those Gospel-truths have upon him, which he has lived so long under the profession of; you know this best, and others may more than guess at it, by your Lives and Conversations; but I spare you, having laid my finger upon the soar place, I take it off again, and leave every one to his own feeling.  
Obj. You seem as if you would put us off from our Profession.  
Answ. It may be, better off than on in some respects; but my design is to bring you up to your Profession, that you may be real in it, and not mock the Lord, nor deceive yourselves: I have often thought that he who makes a solemn Profession of his Faith, and says, I believe in God, and in Christ, had need consider well what he says, lest he lie unto the Holy Ghost; though what you profess be truth, yet your Profession may be a Lie, if you say you believe what you do not believe; with the Mouth Confession is made, but with the Heart Man believes; believing is Heart-work, which the Searcher of Hearts only can judge of; therefore you should consult your Hearts, whether you do indeed believe, before you tell God and Man that you do; 'tis a sad thing, that the frequeut repetition of our Creed, and the renewed Profession we make of our Faith, should be charged upon us as so many gross Lies, as Psal. 78.36, 37.  
Thirdly, They who count it an easy matter to believe, are destistute of Saving Faith.  
I prove it thus,  
1. They who have never found any Conflict in themselves about believing, are destitute of saving Faith.  
But they who count it an easy matter to believe, have never found any Conflict in themselves about believing, ergo.  
If Faith did not act in opposition to carnal Reason, and carry it against all the strong reasonings of the Flesh to the contrary; Supernatural Truths, which never enter, never be admitted, never find acceptance in the Soul, we should never be brought over to assent to them, so as to make them the sure ground of our trust and confidence in God; but Faith captivates all rebellious thoughts, that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, 
2 Cor. 10.5.  as if they could disprove all that the Gospel says; but the demonstrations of the Spirit are with that power, that we cannot resist them: Christ teaches, as one having Authority; besides the instructive evidence of Truth in clear reasonings, and full demonstrations of it by the Spirit, there is Authority and Power to back all this; so that having nothing to object that is and fully answered, we dare not but obey, because of his Authority lesh Power over us; were it not for this Authority and Power proud F the would pertinaciously stand out against all the Reasonings of the Spirit; but when the Rationale of the Gospel is made out by art Spirit beyond all contradiction from Flesh and Blood, the carnal p et is nonplussed and silenced, cannot speak sense against the Gospel; the e however, 'twill be muttering and kicking against the Truth; her comes in the Authoritative Act and Power of the Spirit, suppressing the insolence of the Flesh, and commanding the Soul in the Name of God to obey, and not stand it out any longer against such clear evidence, resisting the Wisdom of the Holy Ghost. You must know that Flesh and Blood, i. e. that carnal corrupt part that is in every Man is never convinced, 'tis not capable of any such thing; but the Power of the Spirit of God brings on a Conviction upon the Soul from a higher Light, notwithstanding all that the Wisdom of the Flesh can say to the contrary: Flesh is Flesh still in all chose who are born of the Spirit, but 'tis overpowered and kept under by the stronger reasonings of the Spirit, which is the cause of that continual Conflict that is between the Flesh and Spirit, to talk of easy believing, without any resistance from our own corrupt minds, is to talk of that that never was, nor can be in any man whatever; Saints are inclined two contrary ways; though one Principle be predominant, yet the other is not extinct, has not yet lost all its power; 'twill stir, and fight, and resist, though it can't overcome, and Faith itself feels the struggle of unbelief, and bears up with more Courage against them.  
2. They who were never convinced of the sinfulness of sin, and of the dreadfulness of God's Wrath against Sinners, are destitute of Saving Faith, but they who count it an easy matter, etc. ergo.  
I don't mean that all must pass under the like terrors of Conscience; some have a more easy passage from a state of Nature to Grace, from Death to Life, from Terror to Comfort; they may sooner get over their Tears, and attain to peace, than others may. But this I say, that all who have fled for refuge unto Christ, are sensible of this, that they have escaped eternal Death, are delivered from the wrath of God, they remain under this conviction; and it adds much to their comfort, that they have escaped so great danger, and glad they are to see themselves safe under the Wing of Christ; they live in a constant admiration of the goodness of God to them, in bringing about so great Salvation for them, who had no might nor power to do any thing for themselves; it was not their own Arm that saved them; they who know not the Nature of sin, may think it an easy matter to be saved; slight wounds are easily cured, but old putrified Sores require more Sovereign Remedies, and good skill to apply them. Sin is an old Sore, they who know the plague of their own Hearts do count it so; 'tis more than a cut Finger, it has infected the very Vitals, and will prove mortal; if the Blood of Christ be not applied as the only remedy in that case, nothing else will do. 'Slight thoughts of sin is the cause of all that neglect and contempt of Christ that is in the World; the whole need not a Physician, but they that are sick; 'tis a fatal Symptom when the Brain is affected, and the Senses taken away; when the malignity of sin has quite stupefied the Conscience, and wrought a numbness and mortification, there is little hope of such a one; and thus it is with too too many hardened, seared, senseless Sinners, who think themselves safe, though they are at the brink of destruction; they bless themselves, and cry, Peace, peace, when the Curse of God lies upon them, Deut. 29.19, 20.  
3. Those who have never been tempted to unbelief, are destitute of Saving Faith: but those who count it an easy matter to believe, were never sensible of any temptation to unbelief. No man ever got over temptations to unbelief without difficulty; unbelief has much to say for its self, and 'twill be sure to say all it can to hinder the Soul from closing in with Christ: When we come to set our Faith against all the strong Reasons that Flesh and Blood urges to the contrary; then tell me whether it be an easy matter to believe? here comes in all the trouble the Saints meet with in their way to Heaven; the sinking of their Faith discourages them, and lets in the strength of the Enemy upon them; they overcome the World by Faith, but if that fail, every thing is too hard for them; they stumble at every straw, who before could remove Mountains, and make nothing of 'em; all things are possible to him who believes, and every thing is next to impossible to him who believes not, is clouded and darkened in the apprehensions of his Faith, is not under the clear evidence of things not seen; he must have good eyes who discerns things that are not seen.  
4. He who is not much in Prayer, much in the use of all means to increase and strengthen his Faith, is destitute of saving Faith; but he who counts it an easy matter to believe, takes no pains this way, he can believe at any time; then thou canst do that that Flesh and Blood never did, that no mortal man ever did in his own strength.  
5. He who does not look upon a Life of Faith to be a careful, studious, laborious Life, is destitute, etc. Faith hath new rules, counsels, and methods of living, that a man was never acquainted with before; he meets with many scruples, doubts, and intricate cases, that put him to it, to find out the right way of pleasing God; for that is the great design of Faith to walk before God unto all wellpleasing; Faith lives in a continual fear of offending God, is very circumspect & watchful, lest it should take a wrong step: The Saints are busied much in building up themselves on their most holy Faith, Judas 20. they know all will run to ruin, if the spiritual building be neglected; it must be often viewed; we must see what is lacking in our Faith, what repairs are necessary; care must be taken that we fall not from our own steadfastness; when we begin to yield to a temptation, to move never so little from any point of truth formerly received, we may be quickly beside the foundation; therefore be unmoveable from the hope of the Gospel; when once you begin to move from Christ, you know not whether you may be carried, as the Galatians were, Gal. 1.6. all this shows what a careful laborious Life a Life of Faith is.  
Quest. These may be convincing Reasons to others, That those who count it an easy matter to believe, are destitute of saving Faith: But how shall we fasten a conviction of unbelief upon the persons themselves, who count it an easy matter?  
Answ. Tho' we may not convince them, yet we may lay convincing Arguments before them, that some time or other an awakened Conscience may take notice of, and urge upon them, especially when they are not under any present urgent temptation to unbelief; a Man may be convinced of a Sin before the temptation, and yet cast off all his Convictions under a Temptation, because Conscience is more disposed to judge impartially of the matter, when 'tis not biased by any present Temptation to the contrary, as Hazael, What is thy Servant a Dog, that he should do this great thing? 2 King. 8.13. Do you count me such a Villain, such a Wretch! and yet in an hour of temptation he acted over all that wickedness. Tho men may throw off all, and turn away from the light of their own Consciences; yet 'tis good to furnish Conscience with Arguments beforehand, that may be produced in a fit season; if not to the conviction, yet to the silencing of those who talked so fast before against all they were charged with; though you cannot convince a Man of this or that sin that you know he is guilty of, yet 'tis good to charge him home, and to lay convincing Arguments before him, that may be of great use when Conscience is at leisure to consider them, as it may be, and will be when the temptation is ended. And let me add this, I do conceive it possible even by reason to convince a Man of his unbelief, though not of the sin of unbelief; that is a further work, a special work of the Spirit. But you may by reason convince a Man of unbelief; whether he do well or ill in not believing, that's another case; but that so it is, that he does not believe such convincing evidences of this may be laid before him, that he cannot but own himself to be an Unbeliever. I don't speak now of negative Infidelity among Pagans, who never heard of the light of the Gospel, this needs no proof; Heathens do own their infidelity, they openly profess it: but I speak of positive wilful unbelief, in those who live under Gospel light, and under an outward profession of Faith too, yet really do not believe; they say they have Faith, but have it not: How to find out such Men, and to convince them of their unbelief; How to dig up this Fox that is so deeply earthed under a specious profession of Faith; This requires some skill, we shall find it difficult work, yet I conceive it may be done; they may be so narrowed up, that unless they deny their sense and their reason, they must own their unbelief.  
Though we cannot by reason bring Men to believe, yet we may by reason convince them of their unbelief; here we offer nothing new or surprising to them, we only state the matter as it is in their own Hearts, which they know to be so; we do but bring them to reason, to their own reason; we make them Judges of themselves in a matter of fact, of their own doing; though they say they have Faith; yet being close put to it, they must needs unsay that again; the evidence of the thing itself overthrows all they can say against it.  
I would argue thus with them,  
1. Let them if they can produce any of those fruits and effects of Faith that are inseparable from it, James 2.14. etc. To pretend to such an active principle as Faith is, and yet do nothing by it, is very unreasonable; they say they have Faith, they may as well say they have Wings and can fly, though they cannot bare up themselves one inch from the ground, unless some part of the body rest upon it; indeed if a Man's feet be upon the ground, all the other parts of the body may be erect; but for the whole body to carry all its weight upwards through the Air, this is flying: 'Tis equally absurd for Men to say they have Faith, are risen with Christ, are in an ascending posture, when they visibly rest upon the Earth; nay, when they lie flat upon it, are sunk into it, covered all over with it, are as it were buried alive in their carnal affections: Men may say what they will, 'tis apparently otherwise: upwards and downwards cannot be so confounded, that one should be taken for t'other, 'tis against common sense; Men may and must be convinced of this, that what is contrary to Faith is not Faith, Faith without works is dead; were there any thing of the true Nature, Life and Spirit of Faith in them, they could not carry it as they do.  
They make Faith an easy thing who make just nothing of it, and do nothing by it; nay, they do that which they might with far more colour of reason do, if they did not at all pretend to Faith; but to say they believe in Christ, and yet act in a direct opposition to him, and to their own Faith also, is that which no Man in his wits will give credit too.  
2. Let them try their skill in those indispensible acts of Faith that Christ requires in all his followers, Mat. 16.24, 25. The reading of those words is enough to convince any considering Man, that 'tis no easy matter to believe; that which is not easy to do, is not so easily believed.  
3. Let them consider the mysterious points of Faith, that are above our reason and do transcend our humane capacities, as the Doctrine of the Trinity, of the incarnation of Christ, of the Resurrection, of Justification by imputed Righteousness; how have Men stumbled at these things? could never come to any satisfaction in, by their own reason? and shall we say 'tis an easy matter to believe these things? they are stupidly ignorant of the mysteries of Faith who say so; if this be easy there is nothing hard or difficult in the World.  
Object. How comes it to pass that any do believe?  
Answ. Because God puts forth his power in some and not in others; there is not a greater instance of the power of God in the whole World than this, In bringing over the heart of a sinner to believe in Christ. O the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe! This is the undoubted experience of every true Believer. You who know not how you came by your Faith, but slid into it by custom, education, and long continuance under the means of Grace, and have always counted it an easy thing to believe; let me tell you, you know not what it is to believe, to this day. 'Tis true God makes it easy to believe, but so that we still see it impossible to believe without his help. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me: I live, yet not I: We may soar aloft when upon eagle's wings; we may move any where as we are carried; but all this while we know we are not the cause of our own motion; the Spring of it is not in ourselves, acti agimus, we act as we are acted; the root bears us, not we the root; we feel Christ living in us; We live, because he lives in us. What we receive from another, is ours when we receive it; but 'tis not from ourselves because we receive it from another: God makes us so to work, in such a dependence upon him, that we see 'tis He that worketh in us both to will and to do: To ascribe the free acts of own will to another, requires a humble mind sensible of its own weakness, and of the secret ways of God's divine communications to his creature Man, exactly suited to the rational nature of so free an agent as Man is; the freedom of whose will is preserved under a constant dependence upon God in every thing he does: God that gave him this freedom, can cause him freely to act it as he pleases; otherwise Man would not be a governable creature, if the natural freedom of his will did exempt him from a due subjection to God that made him; in which subjection he is as free, as he could be supposed to be, if left to himself to do what he list: A Believer lists and wills what he does, and yet he does not do what he lists, but freely subjects his own will to the will of God, whose service is perfect freedom. A Saint keeps up the liberty of his will, by a voluntary obedience to the will of God, and this is his Grace; till our stubborn Hearts are brought to this, they are, and will be rebellious against God.  
What I have said may be convincing to these easy Believers, that they are void of true saving Faith, unless they resolve not to be convinced; and though they do so resolve, yet they must be convinced whether they will or no: Truth and Reason plainly proposed never want a witness in the Conscience of Man, that will speak sometime or other as the thing is.   

Quest. What's the danger of a deathbed Repentance? SERMON IX.  Luke XXIII. 42. And he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. 
WE have in this little History of the two thiefs crucified with our Lord Jesus, a great instance both of Man's wickedness, and of Divine grace.  
I. Of Man's wickedness in both these thiefs, who had spent all their time in sin, even to the last hour of their lives; but especially in the impenitent thief, whom neither Bonds, nor Trial, nor Condemnation had humbled or mollified, or brought to repentance; but being still under the power of an hardened heart, we find him at the last gasp railing on a Saviour instead of believing in him, and belching out his blasphemies in the very mouth of Hell, vers. 39 If thou be Christ save thyself and us.  
II. Of Divine grace in the penitent thief.  
First, Converting grace, and that  
1. In the power and efficacy of it; for how powerful must that grace needs be which had wrought so great a change, had suppled that heart in an instant which had been hardening in sin for so many years? overcome so many stubborn inveterate lusts at once, and made the Man all on a sudden commence one of the most eminent Saints the World had ever yet had, and act faith to such an height, as might not only have become the chiefest of the Apostles, but did really exceed any they had hitherto shown? The Disciples of Christ who had sat so long at their Master's feet, yet were hardly induced to believe his Resurrection, even after he was risen, Luke 24.25. When this thief who hitherto had been a stranger to him, and now saw him hanging on a Cross, and dying, yet by faith sees him in his Kingdom triumphing over his Cross and Death too.  
2. In the freeness of it, for  
1. God's grace did not wait for his preparations, good moods, good dispositions; (these were all over if ever he had any) but it takes hold of him when at the height of sin, and not only was void of grace, but seemed past grace, i. e. never like to come to it by any ordinary methods.  
2. It seized on him and passed by the other, though no worse (that we know of) than himself. Grace makes a difference where none was before: of these two, in the like case, it takes one and leaves the other.  
II. Pardoning grace, This appears in our Lords answer and carriage to him, vers. 43. He doth not upbraid him with the abominations of his forepast life, his Theft, or Rapine, or Violence, his hardness of Heart, or long Impenitence; but easily, readily, gently receives him, and is so far from denying him a pardon, that he assures him of a present Salvation. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.  
The case of these two thiefs doth in a good measure parallel the case of other dying sinners, though dying upon their beds. They were in the extremity of their lives, drawing their last breath, both full of pain and anguish in their Bodies, and very likely full of shame and confusion in their Minds, considering their death was not only cruel and grievous, but reproachful in the eyes of Men, and accursed by the sentence of God. So that here was much to interrupt, disturb and distract them in so great, so close and serious a work as Repentance is. And is it not so with others who live in sin all their days and pretend to Repent at last? They are taking their leave of the World, groaning under their Diseases, racked with pains, and have many things (though not the same the thiefs had) to discompose, disquiet, and divert them from or hinder them in the like work. But if we look to the issue, the parallel will not reach so far. Here is Man for Man, one of the thiefs humble, believing, repenting, and accordingly accepted; the other unbroken, unbelieving, impenitent, and dying like a reprobate. This equality is not to be found among other dying sinners, (as hereafter we shall see.) However from the example of these two thiefs we may safely infer this Proposition, Doctrine. That though a very late, even a deathbed repentance may be sincere, yet it is not safe to run the hazard of it.  
Two parts there are of this Proposition, 1. That even a deathbed repeentance may be sincere; this I shall speak to by way of Concession. 2. That yet it is dangerous running the hazard of it, by deferring repentance till such a time; this I shall handle by way of Assertion.  
I. It is possible that a deathbed repentance may be sincere.  
In speaking to this I shall briefly  
1. Premise something in general concerning the nature of Repentance.  
2. Lay down the reasons of this Concession.  
First, For the former. Repentance may be considered either  
I. In the Act or exercise of it, which the Scripture usually expresses by turning or returning, implying that sinners are out of the way to God, and their own happiness, till by repentance they return into it. If we speak distinctly of it, we may consider,  
1. The Essence of repentance, which is the turning mentioned; a turning from sin to God, i. e. from all sin both of Heart and Life, as to the love, and allowance of it, and subjection to it; and a turning to God as our Sovereign Lord from whom we had revolted, to walk with him in all known ways of obedience and holiness. And though we cannot attain to a legal perfection in this Life, either as to freedom from all Sin, or the practice of all Duty, yet there is (not merely a temporary and transient, but) a peremptory, fixed, and settled purpose for the one, and against the other, which is more than a promise de futuro, and amounts to a present breach with all sin, and an actual will to engage in every duty, a respect to all God's Comandments, Psal. 119.6. in the degree of our obedience to which, we notwithstanding may oftentimes fail.  
2. The causes from which it proceeds.  
First, A right sense of sin, as to the guilt, defilement and dominion of it. It's being offensive and odious to God, Jer. 44.4. as well as hurtful to ourselves, in the danger to which it exposeth us, the blot it leaves upon us, and the tyranny it exerciseth over us.  
Secondly, An apprehension and belief of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus to them that do repent. This is always the principle from which Evangelical repentance proceeds. Tho the terrors of the Law may help to drive Men from sin, yet there must be Gospel attractives to draw them to God, either in a way of faith or repentance. Who will dare to trust him from whom he expects no mercy, or care for serving him from whom he looks for no acceptance? Hence it is that God's mercy is used as the grand motive to persuade Men to repentance, Matth. 3.2. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; and Isa. 55.7.  
From these proceed both that Godly sorrow for sin, and that hatred of it which always accompanies Gospel repentance, and in a good measure promotes it. Paul seems to place Godly sorrow among the causes of repentance, 2 Cor. 7.10.  
II. If we consider repentance in the habit, I need say no more but that it is that grace of the Holy Spirit which he infuseth into the Soul, as the immediate standing principle of actual repentance, and whereby it is both enabled, and disposed to it.  
Now this repentance being a grace of God's Spirit, and yet inherent in Man as to the habit, and exercised by him as to its acts, or, which is the same, being God's work, and yet Man's duty; we are to consider what is God's part in it, and what is Mans.  
First, God's work is,  
1. To infuse the grace or principle, repentance in the habit, which constantly is ascribed to God in Scripture, Acts 11.18. Granred repentance, 2 Tim. 2.23. If God will give them repentance.  
2. To actuate and enliven that Principle when infused (as he doth other Graces, Phil. 2.13.) not merely in a moral way, by suggesting such Reasons and Arguments as may excite and move the Will to the exercise of Repentance, but by the powerful and efficacious Influence of his Grace drawing out the habit into that exercise, or causing the Soul to act suitably to this Divine Principle infused into it.  
Secondly, Man's Duty is,  
1. To seek and labour after Repentance in the use of all means, by which God is wont to work it in the hearts of Men, such as diligent attendance on the Word (Repentance no less than Faith comes by hearing, Rom. 10.17.) and what external means of Grace are appointed in it: Intention of the Mind in that attendance on the means, men's applying the Truths delivered to themselves, comparing their Cases with it, examining themselves by it, considering their ways, etc. which are but the actings of their reasonable Faculties, and as much in their power as other moral Actions are, and need not the Supernatural Influence of Divine Grace, but only those common assistances God affords to Man in the ordinary actions of a rational Life; and in a word, these are but such kind of workings as show them to be Men, not to be Saints, Isa. 46.8. To these means, in the use of which God is wont to work repentance, I refer Prayer for it, which though by an unregenerate Person, it cannot be performed graciously, and unto acceptance; yet we may say it may be thus far performed successfully, as that those Prayers may be heard, and answered in relation to the Grace they seek, and in the Elect of God they are heard, tho' not with respect to the Persons, (which being graceless, faithless, cannot be accepted of God) yet with respect to his own thoughts of Love towards them, and his eternal purpose of conferring that Grace upon them.  
2. To excite and stir up in himself the Grace of Repentance, when God hath wrought it in him, for the putting forth Acts agreeable to the Principle he hath received, and to which by that Principle he is both empowered and inclined; unto the production of which Acts he is no more to question the concurrence of God's Special Grace, than his common concurrence to the ordinary actings of his Reason and Will; it being God's usual method to work with his Creatures according to their Natures; and those Principles of Acting he hath put into them. Though God quickens Grace as well as works it, yet Man is to use those means for the quickening it in himself, which God hath appointed, and with which he is wont to work.  
2. The reasons of this Concession, or which prove that a Deathbed Repentance may be sincere.  
1. It appears by the the instance of this Thief, that a late Repentance, and as late as one upon a Dying Bed, hath been sincere, and therefore the like may be again: He did truly repent, and therefore it is possible others may. And that his Repentance was sincere, we have sufficient Proof, not only from Christ's gracious acceptation of it, manifested by the peremptory promise he gave him of admitting him into his Kingdom, To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. But by the other Graces we here find him exercising in concurrence with his repentance.  
I. Faith, which is the Principle of Evangelical Repentance, and which never fails to work it, where it is itself sincere. He owns Christ as a King, when he mentions his Kingdom, and prays him to remember him when he comes into it. This likewise implies his belief of, and confidence in the Grace and Love, as well as Power of Christ, when he commits his departing Soul into his hands, expecting his Salvation from him. And indeed his Faith was not only sincere, but strong and vigorous. God had put as much of the Spirit of Faith into a poor Novice in Religion at the very first, as he doth into many an old Disciple at the last. It is a good argument of a strong Faith, when it bears up against great discouragements, as we see in Abraham's Faith, Rom. 4.19, 20. and that of the Woman of Canaan, Matth. 15. from v. 22. to 28. Two great discouragements the Thief had, which yet could not hinder his Faith.  
1. The heinousness of his Sins, aggravated by long impenitence and perseverance in them to the last hour, in a manner, of his Life. Well might he fear that God was so provoked by the continual rebellion of his wicked Life, as totally to reject him now at his Death.  
2. The low and despicable condition he saw Christ in, condemned as well as himself, and hanging upon a Cross as well as himself, slighted and mocked at by so many he might look on as better and wiser than himself, no less than the Governors of the Church, v. 33. The Rulers derided him. This might have made him think there was little hope of help from him. What was there in a crucified dying Man, that, to an eye of reason, could make him look like a Saviour? Mere Nature would as soon have looked for Life in Death itself, nay Heaven in Hell, as eternal Salvation in one, who not only had formerly been so mean, but now seemed so miserable.  
II. Several other Graces we find in him, as the fruits, at least the concomitants of his Repentance.  
1. A free, ingenuous, and open confession of his Sins in the face of the World, and thereby giving glory to God, v. 41. We indeed justly, etc. Nor can it be said that his Confession was extorted from him by the Torments he suffered, when we see his Companion impenitent under the like.  
2. He owns the Justice that had brought him to that end: We receive the due reward of our deeds. He neither murmurs against God, nor quarrels with Men.  
3. He sharply taxeth the impiety and profaneness of his fellow Thief in reviling Christ, as well as his still continuing obstinate and impenitent, v. 40. Dost not thou fear God, etc. and hereby he shows his indignation against Sin, when he so heinously resents it, not only in himself, but in another. Like David he beholds a transgressor, and is grieved, Ps. 119.158.  
4. He doth what he can to bring his Companion to repentance: Dost not thou fear God? The Reproof implies an Exhortation, as well as Instruction. Now the communicativeness of Grace is a good argument of the sincerity of it. Had he had none himself, he would not have been so much concerned for the others want of it.  
5. He makes a public profession of his faith in Christ, and owns him to the very teeth of his Enemies, and that too when Peter had denied him, the other Disciples forsaken him, and those that had rallied after their rout, and were now come to be the Spectators of the most doleful Object had ever been presented before their eyes, were so far from making any such public confession of him, that their Faith was ready to expire with him, ch. 24.21.  
II. Repentance being God's gift, and God being a Sovereign Agent, he may give it where, and when he pleaseth; as to whom he will; to one and not to another; so at what time he will; to one sooner, to another later. He may give it to one early in the morning of his days, to another late, and when his Sun is Setting. And if the great Master of the Vineyard shall call some into it, not only at the sixth or ninth hour, but even at the last minute of the eleventh hour, what is that to any? who shall call him to an account for it?  
3. God, being not only a Sovereign Agent, but an Almighty one, can by his Power, and that in an instant, remove all hindrances on the Creatures part, and whatever might obstruct his work; and so with one turn of an Omnipotent hand, bring about the heart of the most obdurate Sinner, work repentance in the most unlikely Subject, and where there is most within to make head against him, and resist his Grace, suppose the most obstinate and rooted habits of sin. Grace is an infused and supernatural habit, and the power that works it a supernatural and creating Power; and we are not to confine God in his working Grace, to those methods whereby men acquire natural or moral habits. In these, I grant, there may need time to unlearn, and extirpate those vicious habits they have so long been contracting, and to acquire new ones by a long series of, and accustoming themselves to better actions. Custom in Men may be strong, and like another Nature, and they may not be able presently to overcome it, nor on the sudden to bring themselves to a readiness and easiness in doing those things, which though their reason approves, yet their boisterous appetites, (strengthened too by custom) hurry them against. But let the habit of sin be never so deeply radicated in the Soul, and the Heart of Man never so averse to holy actions, yet God can soon make a change; soon remove the sinful disposition, and enable and incline the Soul to what it was most averse and impotent. He can even in a moment overcome that love of sin, and hatred of holiness which is either natural to a Man, or contracted by him, and both abate, lessen, weaken the power of sin in the Soul, whereby it was wont to resist the workings of his Spirit, and restrain and suspend any actual resistance it might make. Let the mind of a Man be as dark as darkness itself, yet he that caused light to shine out of darkness can enlighten that mind when he pleases, 2 Cor. 4.6. Let the Soul be never so dead in sin, and destitute of all Spiritual Life, yet he that quickens the dead, and calls things that are not as though they were, Rom. 4.17. can quicken it, and breathe the Breath of Spiritual Life into it; and whatever there be in the Soul to oppose him in his working, yet the same power can at once quell the opposition, and produce the Grace.  
4. God having infused the habit can as easily enliven it, and draw it out into act, in those that are capable of exercising grace wrought in them, as I suppose dying sinners to be, at least when they are capable of exercising their rational faculties. For there is less to make opposition against God than in the former case, the prevailing power of sin being broken; and something in the Soul to take God's part in the work, viz. grace now begun, and some habitual promptness and disposedness of the heart to spiritual good, and compliance with the will of God. It doth not require more power to awaken a vital principle, though dormant, than to infuse it where there was none before.  
5. It may be for God's honour sometimes to give Repentance to dying sinners; the honour of his Sovereignty, and free Grace, in showing that he hath mercy on whom he will, Rom. 3.18. and that the deepest guilt even of an old hardened sinner cannot hinder the outgoings of his grace and mercy: and the honour of his power when it prevails over the most settled habits of corruption. Should God work only upon lesser sinners, and who are not so confirmed in evil, Man might be apt to think that he could not do it, and that men's lusts might be too hard for his power, and so reflect on his Omnipotence; or to think he could not find in his heart to do it, and so reflect upon his Mercy.  
II. By way of Position or Assertion, It is a very dangerous thing to run the hazard of a deathbed Repentance, or defer Repentance till the approach of death; that is, to neglect the doing a Man's own part in order to the obtaining this grace (as was above premised) viz. the seeking it of God, and using all those means by which he ordinarily works it. The danger of this neglect may appear by the following considerations.  
1. That no Man knows the time of his death, any more than the manner of it, or means by which it shall be brought about. Our breath is in God's hands, Dan. 5.23. No Man hath a lease of his earthly Tabernacle, but is Tenant at will to his great Landlord. Who knows when he shall die, or how? Whether a natural death or a violent one? To how many thousand unforeseen accidents are Men subject? Not only Swords and Axes may dispatch them, but God can commission Infects and Vermin to be the executioners of his justice upon them. 
Hatto Archbishop of Mentz.  A great Prelate may be eaten up of Mice, and a potent Prince devoured by Worms, Acts 12.23. And who doth not carry the principles of his own dissolution perpetually within him? Death lies in ambush in every vain, in every member, and none know when it may assault them. It doth not always warn before it strikes. If some Diseases are Cronical, others are Acute and less lingering, and some are as quick as lightning; kill in an instant. Men may be well in one moment, and dead in the next. God shoots his arrows at them, they are suddenly wounded, Psal. 64.7. How many are taken away not only in the midst of their days, but in the midst of their sins? The lusting Israelites with the flesh between their teeth, Numb. 11.33. Julian (if Historians speak truth) with blasphemy in his mouth; and how many frequently with the Wine in their heads? In such cases what place, what time for repentance, for seeking it, for using means to attain it, when they have not room for so much as a thought of it?  
2. Suppose Men have time and warning given them; Death knocks at the door before it enters, and besieges them before it storms them: they lie by the brink of the grave before they fall into it: yet, they may want the Means of grace by which God ordinarily works, when he brings Men to Repentance. Public Ordinances in such a case they cannot have, and private ones they may not have. They may have none with them that have the tongue of the Learned, to speak a word in season to them, Isa. 50.4. they may lack oil, but have none that can tell them where they may buy it. None that understand the nature of Repentance, none that can instruct them in it, or direct them how they may attain it. Friends may be as carnal and ignorant, and unacquainted with the things of God as themselves: and so may Ministers be sometimes. They may seek a vision of the Prophet, but the Law may perish from the Priest, and counsel from the Ancient, Ezek. 7.26. True indeed, God can work repentance in Man or any grace without means, by his immediate power, or by some extraordinary means; but he never promiseth to do it, and therefore it is a bold presuming, and tempting of him to expect he should. What if God once stopped a sinner in the midst of his carrear, when not only running away from the means of Salvation, but bidding defiance to them, and converted him in a miraculous way, by a glorious light shining about him, and the immediate voice of Christ to him, 
Acts 9  shall others hope for the like? Live in sin all their days and look for conversion by miracle at last?  
3. If they have means when they come to die, yet they may not have an heart to use them.  
First, By reason of bodily weakness, failing of natural Spirits, racking and tormenting pains which often afflict Men in such a cas●. These may blunt and dull men's minds, or distract them, and draw away the intention of them from other things, and hold them only to the consideration of their present anguish. How unfit are Men for serious minding even of their Worldly affairs when under bodily indispositions, and how much more than unfit for Spiritual work? When the Soul is wholly taken up with helping the body, (with which it sympathizes) to bear its present burden, it is ill at leisure to think of any thing else. The Israelites hearkened not to Moses (though sent of God to deliver them) for anguish of Spirit and cruel bondage, Exod. 6.9. and is it any wonder if a Man groaning under a distemper, scarce able to bear his pain, or think of any thing but his pain, be in an ill case to look into his Heart, consider his ways, listen to the best council, join with the best prayers, etc. If God's children that have grace in their Hearts, yet in time of sickness may through present weakness find much indisposedness in themselves to the actings of grace, so that they are fain to bring forth their old store, and comfort themselves with their former experiences rather than with the present frame of their Hearts, what wonder is it if they that are altogether graceless be alike indisposed to seek for grace?  
Secondly, By reason of contracted hardness. Men are naturally backward to good, but much more when habituated to evil: for the more inclined they are to evil, the more averse they are to good; and the more accustomed they are to sin, the more inclined they are to it. The practice of sin hardens the Heart, and strengthens the sinning disposition; and still the longer Men continue in sin the stronger such dispositions grow. Hence the Apostles advice to the Hebrews, chap. 3.13. Exhort one another, while it is called to day, lest your Hearts be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, implying that that would follow upon their continuance in sin. We see even in natural things that men's being accustomed to one sort of actions, unfits them for another. When Men have lived in the practice of sin all their days, and their natural disposition to sin is heightened into an habit, it is not strange if they be much more averse to the contrary good, Jer. 13.23. How can you that are accustomed to evil, learn to do well? If one gross sin in a believer may so debilitate and enfeeble those gracious dispositions that were before in him as to unfit him for, and deaden him to spiritual duties, to what a superlative hardness may a thousand and a thousand repeated acts of wilful sin bring the Heart of a carnal Man, and to what, not only averseness to any good, but confirmedness against all?  
4. They cannot work repentance in themselves, not make the means effectual for the enlightening of their minds, the changing, softening, spiritualizing their Hearts, or working a vital principle in them. If they say they can, either they must assume to themselves a Creating power, a power of making themselves new Creatures, or creating this grace in their own Hearts, there being nothing of it in them by nature, and antecedently to their making such a change: Or they must say that there is some seed of grace in them beforehand, some root or stock which being watered and cultivated by outward means, diligence and industry may be made fruitful; so that the working repentance in them is not the infusing a new principle into them, but a correcting of the old one: Conversion, not the giving or creating in them a new nature, but only a freeing the old one from its former impediments, and setting it at liberty to its proper actions. But this is  
1. Contrary to the whole current of Scripture, which affirms Man's will since the fall of Adam to be void of all saving good, and impotent to it till renewed by grace, John 15.5. Without me ye can do nothing, Rom. 5.6. When we were without strength, 2 Cor. 3.5. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves: And prone to evil, Job 15.16. Man drinks iniquity like water, Prov. 2.14. Rejoiceth to do evil, Rom. 6.17. He is a servant of sin, Gen. 6.5. All the imaginations of his Heart are only evil continually, Eph. 2.1. He is dead in trespasses and sins. This is broadly to charge a lie upon the God of truth.  
2. To deprive God of the glory of one of his chiefest works, the new Creation, in which he is said to put forth the same power which he did in creating the World at first, 2 Cor. 4.6. and in raising up Christ from the dead, Eph. 1.19, 20. compared with, chap. 2.1. They are said to be born of the Spirit, John 3.5. And not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of Man, but of God, John 1.15. Whereas they that assert the contrary, take Gods work out of his hands, and grudge him the honour of it.  
3. To go contrary to the common sense of the believing World. Believers generally know, as having found it by experience, that they are naturally impotent to spiritual good. They find much weakness in themselves after grace is wrought in them, and nothing but weakness before God work it. They acknowledge they cannot work any degree of grace in themselves, when some already they have; much less could they work it in themselves when they really had none. And how come others to have more strength than they? Did not they fall in Adam? Or had his Apostasy a less malignant influence upon them than upon others? How come they to have such a reserve of Spiritual strength when the rest of the World hath lost it?  
4. If they can work repentance in themselves why do they not do it sooner? Why do they defer it so long when they cannot deny but one time or other it must be wrought? Is it a fit return to God for the goodness he hath shown them all their days, to live in sin all their days and turn to him when they can live no longer in it? Or will it be an acceptable answer to him, when he calls them to a reckoning, that they had not served sin long enough, nor had their fill of their lusts, or else they would have turned to him sooner?  
5. And how many be there who to encourage themselves in their present impenitency, and the enjoyments of their sinful pleasures, fancy they can turn themselves when they please; yet if God open their eyes, and awaken their Consciences, and they begin in good earnest to set themselves to labour after repentance, they are soon convinced of the hardness and deadness of their Hearts and their utter disabilities to such a work, and are fain, in spite of all their high thoughts, and conceits of themselves to look up to God, and implore his assistance, and depend upon him for the working of that grace in them which they fond imagined they could work in themselves?  
5. God may not give them grace to repent when they come to die. Admit they have time and means, yet God may not give a blessing to the means. Let it be considered,  
First, To how few God ever gives repentance at the last, even of those who have as good means and helps as their weak, and dying condition will admit of. It is one of the saddest parts of a Ministers work to visit dying sinners. How few do they leave any better than they find them? How few give any hopes of a through change wrought in them? How few can they persuade to believe in Christ when they have an hundred times before rejected him? How few can they bring to repentance then, when they never minded it before? Ministers even the best are but Men and not God, flesh and not Spirit; and means, instructions, exhortations, are but means, whose whole efficacy depends on God's co-operation with them; and when he withholds his Blessing, they are altogether ineffectual. When they judge of man's eternal State, though their judgement is not to be rash nor peremptory, yet it should be reasonable; some good grounds they should have for it. But alas! if they keep to Scripture-rules, in how few of them that never repent before, do they find, when dying, so much as a foundation for a charitable judgement of their Spiritual state?  
1. If we set aside those that die in gross ignorance of the things of God, of the very first Principles of Religion, the nature of God, the Offices of Christ, the ends of his Death, the necessity of satisfaction for sin, the nature and use of Faith, the terms of the Covenant, etc. Ignorant indeed of those truths, some knowledge of which is necessary to the very being of saving Grace. How many such do we find? and what hope can we have of the truth of their Repentance, and so of their Salvation? How can their Hearts be holy, when their Minds are so blind? What Heavenly heat can their be in there affections, when there is such an hellish darkness in their understandings? Such may read their doom, Isa. 27.11.  
2. Set aside those that die stupid, without any awakenings of Conscience, any sense or concernedness about their spiritual state, and so die as much like Beasts as they lived.  
3. Those that die despairing, filled with horror, and void of hope; overwhelmed with the sense of sin, the thoughts of approaching vengeance, and a fearful expectation of appearing before the Tribunal of that righteous God, whom they cannot escape, and dare not trust. They have not hearts to pray to him, hope in him, or commit their Souls into his hands when they die, having never loved, nor served, nor regarded him while they lived.  
4. Those that die presuming. Such are the ignorant before mentioned; such are Formalists, Moralists, proud Pharisees, conceited self-justifiers. The Innocency of their Conversation, the Profession they make, or the Duties they perform, are the righteousness by which they expect to be justified. Nay, how many after a Life of sin hope to be saved, merely by the mercy of God, without respect to any righteousness at all, either of Justification, or Sanctification; either imputed to them, or inherent in them; either that whereby they may have a title to glory, or meetness for it? Sure I am, such as these are void of repentance; and when the greatest part of dying Sinners may be reduced to one or other of these sorts, to how few doth God give repentance at the last, of those, who did not before seek it of him?  
Secondly, With how many is the day of Grace past, and the time of God's patience run out? and than we may be sure God will not give them repentance: They have so many times rejected the counsel of God against themselves; Luke 7.30. refused the Offers of Grace, turned a deaf ear to the calls of the Gospel, stiffened their necks, and refused to return, that now they are passed it. God that waited on them so long, will wait no longer. They had a time of acceptation, a day of salvation, 2 Cor. 6.2. but that being over, they are to have no more. God was nigh to them, and might have been found of them, Isa. 55.7. but is now withdrawn from them, and they may seek Christ, and die in their sins, John 8.21. the may seek and not find, call, and God give them no answer, Prov. 1.28.  
Thirdly, God may have judicially hardened their Hearts, when they had sinfully hardened them before. And this seems to be one great cause of that stupidness and insensibleness we so often find in Sinners at the time of death. True, God infuseth no sin into them; yet he may wholly abandon them to the power of the hardness they have contracted, and give them up into the Devil's hands, to delude and blind, to act and manage them according to his pleasure, and their own corrupt inclinations. They may not have so much as an heart to desire to repent, or pray to God for Grace to enable them to to it, all those common assistances of God's Spirit they sometimes had, being wholly withdrawn from them and it.  
1. Partly as a punishment for their former wilful impenitency. It is one of the most dreadful Judgements God ever executes upon any on this side Hell, when he punishes one sin with another, one hardness with another, which yet sometimes he doth, Prov. 81.11, 12. Israel would none of me, etc. so I gave them up, etc.  
2. As a terror to others, and a warning too, that they that hear it may fear, and not dare to live impenitently, lest they should die impenitently; God not being bound to give them the Grace he denies to others, who perhaps were not greater Sinners than themselves.  
Obj. The great encouragement Men have to embolden them in sin, and yet to hope for repentance at last, is the instance of this poor Thief, which they stretch beyond the intention of the Holy Ghost in leaving it upon Record, when they use it as a means to strengthen their presumption, which was designed only to prevent despair. The Thief on the Cross repent at last, saith a Sinner, and why may not I?  
Answ. Why should not the example of the other Thief's impenitency affright them, and drive them to repentance, as well as the example of the good Thief encourage them to sin? It is but setting one against the other; and if they argue, God gave repentance to one, and therefore may give it them: Why may they not as well argue, God denied it to one, and therefore may deny it to them too?  
2. It is but a single instance against thousands on the other side. And though one instance is sufficient to evert the generality of a Rule; and therefore we cannot certainly conclude from Gods not giving repentance to thousands at the hour of Death, that he will give it to none, because we have the example of this Thief to the contrary; yet with what reason can men expect that God should give that to them, which he gave to one, rather than that he should deny that to them, which he hath denied to thousands? If general Rules are to be drawn from particulars, it is much more rational to ground them on a multitude of particulars, than on any single one. The most therefore any Men can infer from this example, is only, that it is not impossible but God may give them repentance.  
3. Some things seem to be singular in the case of this Thief, which are not to be found in the case of others, who therefore cannot reasonably argue from it.  
1. He was one (so far as we can judge) that had never formerly rejected Christ, never saw him before his Sufferings, never heard his Doctrine, never was a Witness of his Miracles which might convince him of the truth of it. He was one that had otherwise employed himself, than in attending on Christ's Ministry, and might more likely have been found robbing on the Road, than worshipping in the Temple; or breaking up Houses, than hearing of Sermons; and therefore though he had sin enough in him for which God might have denied him Repentance, and nothing in him which might move the Lord to give it him; yet it is very probable this was the first of his being brought to the knowledge of a Saviour, and so he was not guilty of the great Gospel-sin of Unbelief, and refusing the offer of Christ and Salvation by him, which doth so often provoke the Lord to leave men to themselves, and deny them his Grace. If it be said, the same was the case of the other Thief; I grant it: But God being a Sovereign Agent, and his gifts most free, he might make use of his Prerogative in dispensing them, and so grant repentance to the one, and deny it to the other, admit their circumstances were every way the same. And why then may he not deny repentance to those now, that are (in some respect) worse than either, in that they have so many times resisted his Spirit, stood out against his Calls, and slighted the offers of his Grace made to them? and where is the Sinner that lives under the means without repentance, but as he hath daily repeated calls from God, so he daily rejects them, and thereby abundantly justifies the Lords refusing him that Grace at the last, which he did before not only never seriously seek, but wilfully reject: I should have more charitable thoughts, and better hopes of the veriest Varlets upon earth, that were never called till the last hour, than of those that are otherwise guilty of much less sin, but have abused and resisted greater Grace.  
2. The instance of this Thief seems particularly designed by God for the honour of his suffering Son. God would have a Witness even upon the Cross; one to adore him when so many despised him: He would have his Son's Death honoured by his giving Life to a poor Wretch even at the point of Death, and make him known to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins, Acts 5.31. by his giving both to such a Sinner, and at such a time.  
3. Another end may be, to render them that Crucified Christ inexcusable, when this Malefactor made so honourable a confession of him, to expose and shame the unbelief and hardness of the Rulers and Pharisees by the faith and repentance of a most flagitious Offender, and therewithal confirm the Word of Christ spoken formerly to them, that the Publicans and Harlots entered into the Kingdom of Heaven before them, Matth. 21.31.  
6. Suppose God do give them repentance at the last, yet they may have very little, it may be no comfort in it.  
I. They may be ready to question the sincerity of it, and then they can have little comfort in it. Admit their condition be safe, yet comfortable it cannot be, so long as the truth of their repentance, from which their comfort should proceed, is so uncertain and questionable. To say nothing of their ignorance of the nature of repentance, and the methods of the Spirit in working it, having never found the like in themselves before, nor been acquainted with what others have felt, many things there are which sometimes may make them call what they find in themselves in question.  
1. The experience they have already had of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and perhaps of others in the like condition. It may be they have known others upon a sick bed look as like Penitents as they now do, who yet upon their recovery from their Diseases, have relapsed into sin, and by returning to their former Lusts, have confuted their Profession, and evidenced their repentance to have been unsound and hypocritical. And this may make them fear lest things may be no better with themselves, and their repentings no more real than their Neighbours. Or it may be they themselves formerly, when under a Sentence of Death, have had strong convictions of sin, been filled with horror of Conscience, and dismal apprehensions of approaching damnation. It may be they have grieved for sin, been vexed at themselves for their old Follies; it may be they have had good desires and purposes, made promises and vows of devoting themselves to the fear of God, and never again returning to their former sinful courses, if it should please the Lord to restore them; and yet no sooner were they raised up again, but they changed their purposes, broke their promises, stifled or wore off their convictions, and grew worse than before; the Devil that went out of them when they were sick, returned into them when well, and seven more with him, Matth. 12.43. etc. And they know not but things might be as bad with them now, if God should restore them, as they have heretofore been; They fear lest their Hearts, which they have found so deceitful, fickle, slippery, should play tricks with them, and dissemble, and pretend what they never mean; and so from the trial they have had of them they dare not trust them, but suspect all their present relenting, mourning, confession, mortification, to be false and counterfeit.  
2. It may be more difficult at such a time to discern the principle from which their repentance proceeds; whether from Faith in Christ, love to God, and hatred of sin, or only from fear of Wrath and Hell; whether they mourn as Children under a Father's hand, or only as slaves under a Master's whip. When they lie upon the brink of the grave, and expect every moment to drop into it; their Souls are dislodging, leaving their bodies, and by and by to appear naked before their Judge; this may affect them, fill them with fear, and fear with sorrow for sin, whereby they have exposed themselves to the danger of damnation; and both together put them upon resolutions against sin, which is usual in such cases. Now though there may be something else at the bottom, yet this lying uppermost, and most obvious to their view, they may fear that it is the only prevailing argument, and great cause of their repentance; which can then be no better than merely legal, as having no better a foundation. Principles are usually latent, and discoverable only by their workings, and that too more easily or difficultly in proportion to the intenseness or weakness of these workings; and in this case the more weak and feeble stir of Faith or Love may be so outdone and overtoped by the vehement and strong motions of fear, that themselves can hardly be perceived, much less the principles they flow from. A dying sinner may feel his fear when he cannot perceive his Faith, and suspect he hath no Faith because he is so full of fear; and consequently question his repentance which cannot be Evangelical without an Evangelical principle.  
3. They are apt to doubt of the truth of their repentance for want of seeing the fruit of it. And indeed in their circumstances, when they have so little time to live, they cannot see much. The fruits of repentance in an holy, humble, mortified conversation, are the best proof of its sincerity, and so most like to bring in the comforts of it. But their repentance being young, green, and unripe, they know not whether ever it might bring forth fruit, and so may easily be induced to suspect the nature of it. How warm soever, for the present, their hearts are, yet they may question the continuance of such a frame if life should continue. As much as at present they are set against sin, yet they know not but if they should again be in a capacity of committing it, they might be again reconciled to it. They have but newly entered upon the ways of God, and know not whether they should like them upon further trial of them; whether as sickness and fear of death have begun to mortify their lusts, so the temptations of life and health might not again restore them. They never yet knew what it is to be Godly in time of health and ease, in the midst of the snares and allurements of the World, and so know not whether that appearance of godliness they now have, be any more than an appearance, which upon the approach of agreeable temptations might easily vanish. Men seldom judge of Trees but by the fruit they bear. A Crabtree may have as fair a blossom as the sweetest Pippin. Here may be fair buds, and leaves, and blossoms, sorrow for sin, resolutions against it, purposes of new obedience; yet they may suspect all for want of seeing the fruit of their repentance in the acts of obedience; a settled course of walking with God, and progress in mortification.  
4. The Devil is most like to be busy with them at such a time. He is a never failing enemy to men's Souls, and shows his enmity to their very death; and as he makes it his business to keep them from repentance, so if he cannot do that, he labours to bereave them of the comfort of it, by making them question the truth of it. As where it is false he is ready to flatter them, and persuade them it is true that he may draw them into presumption; so where it is sincere he labours to terrify them, by persuading them it is hypocritical, that he may run them into despair. Thus he doth with Men while they live, and why may he not do the same when they die? He is like at that time either for ever to have them, or for ever to lose them: his temptations than are his last efforts, and therefore most vigorous; and such they may be, as though, the grace of God preventing, they may not hinder the true repentance of a dying sinner, yet, the wisdom of God permitting, they may cloud and obscure it and render it questionable, and thereby bereave him of the comfort of it.  
II. They may be ready to question God's acceptance of their repentance, and indeed that must needs be, if they question the sincerity of it, when God never accepts any but what is sincere. But besides, they may be ready to fear they have outstood their time, that the day of grace, which is the only time of Gods accepting them, is at an end: Or, that God will not accept of them as his Servants, when they cannot live to do him any service; or not accept of their returning to him now, who have forsaken him so long; not accept of their sorrow for formerly dishonouring him, when they are past time for glorifying him; and in a word, not look upon them as his Children at the last hour, who have been the Devils Children all their days. Now if this be their case, how uncomfortable is a deathbed repentance, admit it be sound, when Men know not that it is sound, but are wholly in the dark as to the sincerity and acceptance of it, and so set in a cloud and fear a storm? They may have even just so much hope as may keep them from despair, not what may cause any rejoicing in them; a secret and almost insensible support, but no enlargement. They do but (as was said of the penitent Thief in the Text) steal into Heaven, and are so saved as that no body in this World knows it, nor they themselves till they find it. And God may purposely conceal it to prevent the folly and presumption of others. If God's Children after many years spent in serious and diligent serving him, yet (for reasons best known to the Divine Wisdom) have sometimes died in the dark; they then that spend their days in sin, and think to repent at last, should remember that the best they can reasonably expect, if God should give them repentance, must be to die between fear and hope, or it may be more full of fear than hope. No comfort they can expect in reflecting upon their forepast life, where they see nothing but sin; and little in the hopes of future glory, when they have not one clear evidence of their title to it.  
To conclude. May not the consideration of a Man's repenting no sooner, abate his comfort in repenting at last? May not, will not that gracious ingenuity God hath now wrought in such a one, make severe reflections upon his long impenitency, and not turning to God till he was past serving him? And then may not the Devil set in and maliciously aggravate it to the sinner's Conscience, and hold the mind so fixed and intent upon the thoughts of repenting no sooner, as to divert it from the contemplation of that grace which hath now wrought repentance in him, and thereby diminish the comfort he might take in it?  
For Information. If it be so dangerous to run the hazard of a deathbed Use I repentance, how great is their folly that do so? They that defer their repentance till they come to die, show themselves fools.  
1. In putting off the greatest work till they have least time for the doing of it, if any at all. A Man would be accounted a fool as to the concernments of this life that should idle away the time of his youth, and vigorous age, and defer seeking for an Estate, and providing for his Family, till he were old and decrepit and past working. And is it not a greater work to provide for Eternity than for time, to drive a Spiritual trade than a Civil one, and get a stock of Grace than of Riches? And than what fools are they that put off such a work to the last, and leave themselves no time for it but that which is most unfit for it, as well as uncertain whether they shall enjoy it? Repentance as to the exercise of it, is not the work of a day, but should be the work of all a Man's days; and what folly is it to thrust that into a little corner of a Man's life, which should be extended through the whole of it? A Christians work is not to be done all at once; it is a walk, a race, a course of holy, gracious actings, and that requires time. Repentance (as it implies our first turning from sin to God) is but the entrance upon or beginning of that course, and how foolish are they that think to run their race in an instant, to begin their course and finish it at once?  
2. It is a reckoning upon time which they cannot command. Men may with Job, chap. 29.2. wish that they were, as in the months past, but they cannot make themselves be so. And so likewise they may wish time back, but cannot bring it back, or stop its motion as it runs, nor have they the least particle of it in their power. How foolish then is it to defer repentance while they have time for it, till they come to a sick bed where they are not secure of any! Alas they can no more add one inch to their time than one cubit to their stature.  
3. It is a promising themselves the doing of that which is not in their own power to do. Though the exercise of repentance, as above was said, is Man's duty, yet it is such a duty as he cannot practise without the grace of repentance wrought in him; (the principle must be ere the act can be) and that grace is the gift of God; and if he do not give it, Man cannot have it; and if he will not give it, who can force him to do it? They that would command God's grace, must command God himself; and they that defer their repentance till they die, must suppose either that they can work it in themselves, which hath already been disproved, or that God will be at their beck to do it for them; which needs no disproving.  
4. It is a thinking to do the work best when they have made it most difficult and painful. Though (as was before said) God can by his power in an instant remove all obstructions, and work repentance in the most obdurate sinner; yet in his ordinary method he works gradually, and in the way of means, men's attendance upon Ordinances, Seeking, and Labouring after repentance, etc. and Men have no reason to expect that God should disuse his wont manner of working to gratify their sloth and loitering. Now it is certain that the longer Men live in sin, the more their hearts will cleave to it, and be hardened in it; and then the more loath they will be to be divorced from it, and the more averse to the use of those means whereby such a separation might be effected. The more sweetness they have tasted in sin, the more bitter will the very thoughts of repentance be: Strong affections to their lusts will make prayers cold and endeavours faint against them. Hence we see God handles old stubborn sinners more roughly, when he reduces them, for the most part, than others upon whom he works more early. Indeed their case requires it. They need more of the Lords terrors, (2 Cor. 5.11.) to drive them off from sin, more Law-thunder to awaken their Consciences, and rouse them out of their security; and more severe means to humble and break them, to embitter sin to them, and make them hearty willing to forsake it. What pangs and tortures, horrors of Conscience, Soul-convulsions do foolish sinners procure to themselves, by their lingering, and delaying, which had they been more quick and speedy in their work might have been prevented, at least very much mitigated?  
Use TWO For Exhortation. Let sinners take heed of deferring their repentance at all, much more of putting it off to the end of their lives. Consider,  
1. Can you have the face to put God off with the worst you can give him? And the least too, of your time, and strength, and service, when he calls for the best, and deserves all? Hath God given you a life of many years, and can you afford him only the service of a few days; it may be hours, it may be minutes; nay, it may be none at all? Is it fair, ingenuous, reasonable to give the Devil your strength, and God your weakness? To give the Devil and your lusts, your health, and God your sickness? To serve sin with your might, and vigour, and God with your distempers, and infirmities? Not to be willing to part with your sins till you are parting with your lives, nor begin your work till your time is ending? and, in a word, to begin then only to serve God, when you can serve yourselves, your Friends, nay your Lusts no longer?  
2. The sooner you set about the work, the more easy you will find it. You will have fewer Sins to repent of, and mourn over, and turn from, less guilt to terrify and dishearten you, less stupor in your Consciences, less hardness in your Hearts, less strength of sin to be wrestled with. The Dominion of sin will not be so confirmed with a long tract of time; nor the cords of your iniquity hold you so fast. Tho it be true, that how soon soever you begin, and set about the work, you cannot of yourselves effect it; God's Grace must do that; yet the sooner you begin, the less sin there will be in you to resist his Grace, and the more hope that God will afford you Grace to overcome that resistance which is made. And though Grace can subdue and conquer the most strong, old, overgrown Lusts, yet still you will be more ready to hope it will do it, when you have not the guilt of a long impenitent Life; and refusing former calls to encourage your unbelief, and check your hopes, and sink your hearts.  
3. You may expect more comfort in it, for the more able you will be to discern its sincerity, as having less cause to doubt of it. To turn to God when you have something to deny for him, some time to spend in his Service, and which might have been spent in the service of sin, looks much more like true repentance, than to turn to him when you are immediately to appear before him. The less force and fear there is in your repentance, the more like it is to be kindly and evangelical; when tears flow, and are not squeezed; you are rather drawn than driven; and your Obedience is freely yielded, rather than extorted. But the further ye apprehend yourselves from Death and Judgement, the less there usually is to force your repentance, and so the less to make it suspicious, and hinder your enjoying the comfort of it. And so the sooner you repent, the more time you will have to prove its sincerity by its fruits, and the more fruit you bring forth meet for repentance, Matth. 3.8. the better satisfied ye will be as to the truth of it, and have the more comfort in it. When you cannot so well judge of it by looking to it immediately in the principle, you may be better able to judge of it by its actings; as though the root of a Tree be hid under ground, yet good fruit will show it to be good.  
4. Consider what you lose by putting repentance off to the last; beside the comfort of your death (as was above intimated) ye lose no less than all the comfort of your Lives; the comfort of all the good you might have done, all the Grace you might have acted, all the glory you might have brought to God. A Christians greatest comfort is the comfort of faith and holiness, the comfort of walking with God, and communion with him in Duties and Ordinances, the comfort of exercising his Graces, and reflecting upon his Graces, of seeing his privileges, his interest in the promises, his title to his inheritance, etc. so that where no Grace is, there no true comfort can be; and where repentance is not, there no other Grace can be; no Faith, for that is always the cause of Evangelical repentance; and no holiness, for that always supposeth Repentance as the beginning of it. There can be no walking in the narrow way, if there be not first an entering in at the straight Gate. Wisdoms ways are ways of pleasantness, Prov. 3.17. but they only experience that pleasantness that walk in that way; and walk in it you cannot, if you do not enter into it, and that must be by repentance, which is your very first stepping into it. Think then what comforts the Saints enjoy in their Lives, what it is that makes them cheerful in their Duties, courageous against their enemies, strong against temptations, patiented in sufferings; what it is makes them go on singing in the ways of the Lord, Psal. 138.1. and glorying in tribulations, Rom. 5.3. and remember that all this comfort you lose, by being so late  you come into the way, wherein alone it is to be found.  
5. Think what others, beside yourselves, lose by your thus deferring your repentance. Every Saint is a public Good; the World is the better for him: But while you go on in sin, and never think of repenting till the last, who is the better for you? nay, who are not losers by you? Angels in Heaven lose the joy they might have had in your Conversion; Ministers lose the comfort of being instrumental in it, your Families lose the Instruction they might have had of you, your Neighbours the provocation they might have had to holiness by your example; the wicked lose the convictions they might have been brought under by the power of holiness appearing in your conversation, Saints the comfort and refreshment they might have had by your Society, Discourse, Experience, and all generally, what good they might have got by your Prayers; and, that which is more than all, doth not God lose the glory you might have given him, had that time, that life and strength been spent in his Service, which you have spent upon your Lusts!  
I need not tell you over again what you hazard; even your never repenting at all; your being forsaken of God, given up to the Devil and your Lusts, and so having your hearts hardened, your minds blinded, your Consciences seared, and your Souls in conclusion damned. If it be not so, no thanks to yourselves. If God be merciful to you (and no body in this World knows whether he will or not) yet you do your part to bereave yourselves of that mercy, and plunge yourselves into the Abyss of eternal misery.  
Obj. If you say, you are fully resolved to repent of your sins, when you come to die, and then ask pardon for them.  
Answ. Do but seriously consider,  
1. The Vanity and Folly of such resolutions. What is more uncertain, more fickle, more variable than man's mind? you resolve upon this to day, and are you sure you shall not break that resolution to morrow? Do you know what will be your minds two or three days hence, if not, how can you know twenty or thirty years beforehand? are you sure you shall never meet with any accident, any temptation that may change your mind? And if you do know your mind, what it will certainly be when you are dying, yet do you know what God's mind will be then, whether he will give you repentance when you set about it, and give you a pardon when you seek it? If you do know it, I pray, how came you by that knowledge? When did God tell you so, and where? In what text of Scripture hath he revealed it? where doth he promise you repentance, and pardon at the last, when you had never seriously sought either all your days?  
2. The wickedness and profaneness of them. You resolve you will repent when you die, and that implies, you will not repent till then, i. e. you do and resolve still to love sin as long as you live, but you intent to leave it when you can live no longer in it: you hate God now, and resolve to hate him till you die, and then you will begin to love him. You will make work for repentance now, and seek for repentance at last; offend God, and provoke him, and make work for pardoning mercy all your days, and then sue to him for it. You will persevere to affront the grace of Christ, and throw his blood back into his face, and then expect to be washed in it from your sins, and saved by it when you go out of the World.  
It is to as little purpose to say, Object. You will then send for the Minister to instruct you, to pray with you, etc.  
For, what if you do? your case may be such, that all the good Men, Ans. good Ministers, good Instructions, good Counsels in the World may not help you, not save you: All may come too late, and signify no more to your Souls than Physicians and Physic, at that time, do to your Bodies. Alas what can Ministers do for you? Can their instructions enlighten your minds when God hath blinded them? Can their counsels soften your hearts, when he hath hardened them? Can the breath of prayer waft your Souls to Heaven, in the last moment of your life, when you have been steering towards Hell all your days? What can your Spiritual Physicians do for the cure of your Souls, when the great Physician of all hath left you as incurable, and will never any more visit you?  
Do not tell me, on the other side, That repentance is God's gift, Object. and you cannot have it till he give it you, and therefore you must tarry till he do. For,  
1. It is as much God's gift at last as at first, Ans. and you can no more have it at your death, if he do not give it you, than you can have it now.  
2. Tho it be God's gift, and you cannot work it in yourselves, yet cannot you seek it of God, desire him to work it in you? And can you not use the means by which he ordinarily works it? And are you not as capable of so doing when you live and are in health, as when you are sick and dying? When you are sick you cannot heal yourselves; health is God's gift as well as grace is, though of another kind. But do you then use to lie still, and say you must wait till God restore you? Or do you not rather send for your Physician, and betake yourselves to the use of means by which God is wont to work it? You cannot get an estate unless God give it you; riches are his gift, Prov. 10.22. Do you therefore sit still and fold your hands in your bosom, and say you must tarry till God give you an estate? Or do you not rather engage in some honest Calling, or Trade, as the ordinary way God is wont to bless to that end? The diligent hand maketh rich, vers. 4. and why do you not do so here too? If you will go on in sin, and say you wait till God give you repentance, you may wait long enough, when every day you continue in sin, so much the farther off from repentance you are, and so much the more you provoke God to deny it you.  
To conclude. Take heed especially of those things which are the ordinary hindrances of a timely repentance.  
I. Wrong notions of repentance.  
1. That it is an easy thing, and so may be done at any time; that it is but sorrowing for sin, and crying God mercy for having offended him. This prevails with too many, that know not wherein the nature of it consists. Remember therefore that it is no easy thing to get a through change wrought in your hearts; to divorce your lusts to which you have been so long wedded, to part with those sins you love best, and engage in those ways of strict holiness, which of all things in the World you hate most. The old Man will fight hard ere he die. The flesh will never yield, and hardly be overcome. And if ever God work repentance to you, he will so work it as to make you work at it too, and labour after it, his grace using and employing your faculties. And what can you ever do either in seeking repentance before the infusion of the grace, or exercising it when infused; but you will find sin opposing you in it, and so creating difficulties in your work?  
2. That it is a sour and an unpleasant thing, made up of sorrow and sadness and unquietness of Spirit. They know no delights but sensual ones, and think if they part with the pleasure of sin, they part with the comfort of their lives. Do not therefore look merely on the dark side of repentance, or what may make it seem uneasy to you: look through it and you will find that which will make it more pleasant. In the very sorrow you fear, if it be right, i. e. godly sorrow, there will be such a mixture of Love, as will make it in a good measure delightful to you. If it seem painful to you to strive against sin, and there be trouble in the combat, yet when you prevail over it you will find comfort in the Victory. You will be more pleased with having denied yourselves, than you could with having gratified yourselves. Our Saviour's promise, Matth. 5.4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted, one would think should reconcile you not only to any seeming trouble in the work of repentance, but to all the greatest difficulties and severities of the most strict and mortified life. If indeed your repentance be merely legal, proceeding from fear of wrath, or Popish, for the expiation of your sins, I grant it may be a sad and unpleasant thing; but if it be a true Protestant repentance, i. e. an Evangelical one, mixed with Love to God, and proceeding from the Faith of Free Grace and remission of sin through the Blood of Christ, it need not be such a scarecrow to you as to make you hazard your Salvation by shifting your duty.  
II. Presumptuous thoughts of God's mercy: that God may be merciful to them, and give them repentance and pardon their sins at the very last. Consider therefore,  
1. As merciful as God is, yet his will sets bounds even to that infinite mercy as to the actings and outgoings of it, and beyond those bounds it will never pass. There is a time, a day, a now of grace, which when it is once over, no mercy will be shown you. Offers of mercy, invitations made to sinners, and the acceptation of them are but for a time; the door is open but for a time, and when that is passed it will be shut, Matth. 25.10. and all your calling and knocking will never prevail with God for the opening of it again. And what then shall you be the better, the nearer repentance, or nearer pardon for all that Ocean of mercy that is in God, if you seek it too late, and when he will not let out one drop of it to you?  
2. God's justice is as great as his mercy: All his Attributes are alike infinite, one doth not overtop the other. And then if you delay and put off repenting to your latter end, why may you not as reasonably fear lest he should in justice punish you for your long impenitency, as in mercy give you repentance?   

Quest. How doth Practical Godliness better rectify the Judgement than doubtful Disputations? SERMON X.  Rom. XIV. 1. Him that is weak in the Faith receive, but not to doubtful Disputations. 
THIS Epistle to the Romans is an Epitome or Body of Divinity, containing Faith and Love in Christ Jesus; from which Rome degenerating hath separated from herself and the Scriptures of Truth, the only grand Charter of all Christianity.  
In the beginning of the Epistle the Apostle discourseth about Original Sin, 〈◊〉 having infected the whole Nature of Man with its guilt and filth, 〈◊〉 Jews and Gentiles all become abominable, fallen short of the glory and image of God, Chap. 3.23. For by one Man Sin entered upon all, Chap. 5.12. and Death by Sin. Whence he inferreth there is no possibility of our Justification by the Works either of the Ceremonial or Moral Law; so that he concludeth a necessity of our being Justified by Faith without the Works of the Law, Chap. 3.28. Through the Redemption of Jesus Christ. But though we are justified freely by his Grace, yet we are not to live freely and licentiously in Sin, because Grace abounds, God forbidden, Chap. 6.1. for holiness is inseparably entailed on our most holy Faith, Judas 20. Then he proceedeth to show the Privileges of the adopted Children of God, that there is no condemnation due to them, Chap. 8.1. For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, hath made them free from the Law of Sin and Death; and that they are heirs of God, vers. 17. which is more than all the World. Till he arriveth at the Head-spring of all Grace, and that is Eternal Election, Chap. 9 without any foresight of Faith or Works. But as in time he chose first the Jews, rejecting them he chose the Gentiles, without any view of Merit or Eligibility in either of them before others; for the Jews were the smallest and meanest of all Nations, Deut. 7.7. and the Gentiles all overrun with Idolatry and Profaneness: Yet this Conversion of the Gentiles was foreknown and therefore forewilled of God from the beginning, Acts 15.18. After these sublimer Doctrines he descends, Chap. 12. to Practical Duties, and he who will understand the eleven first Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, must practise the five last; be acquainted with the mysterious Duties of Love, and then you will better understand the mysteries of Faith.  
Chap. 13.8. He exhorteth them to owe no body any thing but Love; be in no bodies debt, yet own every one Love; a debt always to be paying, and yet always owing; yet still abiding our proper treasure.  
This 14th Chapter is a branch of some particular Duties of Love, and this Verse is the sum of this whole Chapter of Charity; which words are said to have occasioned the Conversion or Confirmation of Alipius, as the foregoing words were of Augustine's: Such is the Authority and Energy of the naked Word of God upon the Consciences of Men, in the day of Christ's Power. And the naked Sword cuts better than when it is sheathed in a gaudy scabbard of the enticing words of Man's wisdom, 1 Cor. 2.4,  
The Apostles were frequently exercised with difficulties, how to compose the differences among Christians; the Jewish Converts were eager to bring their Circumcision, with their observation of times and meats, along with them into Christianity, Gal. 4.10. The Gentiles were not accustomed to these things, and therefore opposed them, yet were as ready to bring a Tangle of their own old Errors with them also, as their Doctrine of Demons, 1 Tim. 4.1. and their worshipping of Angels, Col. 2.18. and probably some of their Heathenish Festivals and Customs: So that both parties were in an error, and neither of them fully understood that liberty Christ had brought to them from these beggarly Elements, Rudiments and Ordinances to which they were in bondage. For if God saw good to free his Church from those Ceremonies which were instituted by himself, he would never allow them to be in a slavish subjection to the Superstitions and Ceremonies of worldly men's inventions, tho' never so Dogmatically and Magisterially imposed. For as Learned Davenant on that Col. 2.18. observes, such injunctions are apt to grow upon Men, forbidding first not to touch or eat such and such meats▪ then not to taste, after not so much as to handle them.  
Now to compose these differences the Apostles met at Jerusalem, Acts 15.20. where they made no positive injunctions for the Christians to practise any Ceremonies or Observations of either party against their Consciences; but limited the exercise of their liberty, which they truly had by the Gospel; but that they should abstain from Fornication, which to explain is too great a digression, Blood, things Strangled, and what was offered to Idols. These they would have them to avoid, that they may not offend those weak Jews who could not suddenly concoct these practices, till Judgement should be brought to Victory over these feeble fancies. And they laid this also as a burden on them for a time, till they could be brought to better understanding; and all this by way of advice from the Apostles, Elders, and the whole Church, vers. 22. their Letter also was read to the whole multitude, vers. 30. So here the Apostle adviseth the Romans, how to do in the like case with these weak ones, Him that is weak receive, etc.  
1. Here is the description of the person who is to be considered, (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) not him that is weak and sick to death, erring in the foundation of Faith; one who doth not hold the Head, Col. 2.19. Who denieth the Lord who bought him; these are destructive Heresies which bring on Men swift damnation, 2 Pet. 2.1. we are not to say to such God speed you, 2 Epistle John 10. their very breath is blasting to men's minds.  
2. Nor is it one who is sick about questions, 1 Tim. 1.4. 2 Tim. 3.23. foolish, endless, unlearned, unedifying questions, which only engender contention: such are idle busybodies, seekers, and disputatious quarrellers about some minute things, which hypocritical and vain minds Trade in, to keep themselves buzzing about the borders of Religion, that they may keep off from the more serious duties, and substantial parts thereof.  
3. But he is one who is weak in the Faith, who though he hath embraced the Doctrine of our Saviour, yet is not of a mature concocted judgement, clear enough about the abolition of Ceremonial observations, things he judgeth aught to be forborn or done. Now let things be never so indifferent in the general, definition or Thesis; yet when they come to be used and exercised in their individual circumstances they will be determinately good, or determinately evil, in all moral agents and actions. And that which in general seemeth indifferent to one is not so to another; these Gentiles could freely eat things strangled, but the Jews could not. Therefore it is a very strong weakness or wilfulness in some who love to turn Straws into Trees, and Feathers into Birds, and not to leave things as Christ hath left them, and as they are in their own nature, but will transpeciate as others transubstantiate by their own breath in their own Opinions; and more fiercely contend for their own Laws than the commands of God, as Saul was more severe on Jonathan for tasting honey, than on himself for rebelling against God's express command. These heats indicate an Hectic Fever to be in the body, preternaturally eating up and preying on the vital heat, Love to God and our Neighbour; the zeal for men's own Chimneys eateth up the House of God.  
II. Here is the injunction of Charity towards weak ones (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) take them to you, receive them into your Houses, use Hospitality towards them, supply their necessities, Rom. 12.13. not magnificent receptions, such as Levi gave our Saviour (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) Luke 5.29. But when they fly for their Religion and Lives, supply their wants though they be not just of your size or Opinion, do not force him to practise what he cannot freely do to buy your Charity; this is a dear purchase and a cruel sale. Generous hospitality is a duty of another fashion, receive them into your Arms, into your bosoms, into your Love and Converse, that you may instruct them and win upon them, receive them into your Society, into your Communion, treat this weak Brother with all humility, condescension, love and kindness; yea, with all the warm grace's Christianity hath endued you with. Let not these least differences cause the greatest distances (as often they do) if he hath so much candour as he will be received, and be not sullen and angry, receive him; and by strength of Love, bear with him, and forbear him, till by Love you soften and overcome him, by heaping coals of fire upon his Head. For if he be weak, yet seriously and sincerely a lover of Christ, and beloved of him, the Lord hath received him, vers. 3. therefore do you also receive him.  
3. The limitation of this exception, not to doubtful Disputations, (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) some would render it discerning of thoughts, and 1 Cor. 12.10. there was such an extraordinary gift, as the discerning of Spirits. So there may be an ordinary prying into men's thoughts, and what is Mark 9.4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is Luke 5.22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Jesus seeing their thoughts, and thoughts are but men's dialoguing and discoursing with themselves, and so the sense it thus, Receive him, but not to the discerning or judging of his Opinion or Thoughts, or that he should be hardened to judge others Thoughts to be altered because they receive him. But receiving is, receiving him into their Society; therefore not receiving him must be not to something which was apt to be in their Society and among them, which was not the discretion of the strong, but their disputes which were not fit for these weak ones. And the word most commonly signifies disputing with others, Acts 19.9. Paul disputed daily in the School of Tyrannus. And Mark 9.34. The Disciples disputed who among them should be greatest. But in Judas 9 both words are met together, Michael contending with the Devil, disputed about the body of Moses.  
Doct. Christians are to receive such as are weak in the Faith, into their Hearts by Love, and not to trouble or heat their Heads with cramping disputes.  
For practical Piety will sooner rectify the judgement of the weak, than fierce argumentations. Lay aside this heat about Ceremonies on all Hands, and attend to Reading and Hearing the Word, and Exhortation; Pray and Praise God together, and Converse in holy Ordinances in Love to each others Souls; let but this fire live upon the Altar of your Hearts and then all other strange fire and heats will die away.  
1. I will show you that weak Christians cannot well judge of arguments.  
2. That the practice of known duties is the way to get more light.  
3. That Christian Love will sooner win others from error than rigid Arguments.  
4. The Inferences from all for Instruction and Direction.  
First then, Disputations and Arguments are not easily judged of by such as are weak in Faith and Knowledge of Christian liberty. Now this is evident from the first Dispute that ever was in the World. For Satan was a Disputer from the beginning, and is still the Father and Author of all ensnaring and contentious Disputations. The first thing he disputed was Gods command. The Prohibition and Threatening was absolute, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Moth tamuth, Gen. 2.17. but the Woman who was first in the Transgression faltreth in the recital of it, with a perhaps we shall die, Gen. 3.3. But by this first dispute with the Serpent, our first Parents, when in uprightness and strength of the image of God newly stamped on them in knowledge and holiness; yet this Father or fomenter of Disputes foiled them; and so all mankind being naturally and federally in them, was drawn into their guilt and filth. So that reason is ever since debased and deposed, and no Man is able to rule himself, much less another; his rule and measures being broken, he hath only some fragments and splinters of the Tree of Knowledge which he darts against God and himself: The holy Lamp and Flame is so extinguished, that now he only compasseth himself about with his own sparks till he lie down in sorrow, Isa. 50.11. Creatures as Creatures are fallible and failable (witness Men and Angels) especially by the impulse of false Arguments. It is God's only Prerogative to be intrinsically Infallible and Immutable. And it is a perfection incommunicable to Men or Angels. But now sinful Man is in a much more dark and doleful state. For,  
1. He cannot form an Idea of any thing, nor frame a true notion of any thing as it is in itself; but he conceives by the Air of Metaphors, Smilitudes and Phantasms; he cannot see into things themselves nor their Essences: He is hardly put to it to tell what dull Matter or Body is, much more what nimble forms, motion, or Spirits are, or what his own Soul is, though so nigh to him and part of himself: He is so in the dark he cannot define what light itself is. If any be so confident as to think he knoweth any thing, our Apostle tells him, He knoweth nothing as he ought to know, 1 Cor. 8.2. He is not sufficient as of himself for one good or true thought, 2 Cor. 3.5. which cuts the top sinew of Pelagianism and the Champions of the power of Nature.  
2. His judgement therefore must needs be dubious or wrong whereby he is to compare things that differ or agree together. If God leave him or give him up to himself, the Prophet is a fool, and the Spiritual Man is mad, Hos. 9.7. so as he will put darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, call good evil and evil good, Isa. 5.20. Conscience, the Souls taster, and common sense is so vitiated and defiled, Tit. 1.15. that he hath no true judgement or discretion, having not his senses exercised to discern between good and evil, Heb. 5.14.  
3. His conclusions therefore must needs be distorted from these premises, and the Errors in the first and second concoction are not corrected and amended by the third; he who cannot make one straight step can never take three together. All the Errors and Fallacies in the World are but the products of his Ratiocinations, viz. I can go to the Tavern or Exchange, I find therefore I can Repent and Believe when I will; whereas these are actions of another Life and Nature, which he was never born to, unless Regenerated by the Spirit of God; To Repent and Believe are God's gift, Acts 5.31. His work in us, John 6.65. and Ephes. 2.8. Though for this very Doctrine many of his ignoranter Disciples went back and walked no more with him, John 6.66. And so Men jog on in their sensuality, presumptuously, as if there was something in the pleasures of sin, which was sweeter and dearer to them than God or Heaven; and when they have no more strength to serve their Lusts, nor any thing else to do but to die, they can in one quarter of an hour make their peace with God, (as one of that herd said to me, who soon after drawing Water out of his own Well, and being Drunk, was by the weight of the Bucket drawn into the Well and drowned). Another saith, I may sin because Grace aboundeth, this is a most disingenuous and unnatural argument; I may hate God and my Saviour, because he hath so loved me; when holy Herbert said, Let me not Love thee, if I love thee not; love being stronger than Death or Hell, in the Hearts of Gods beloved ones. So without holiness none shall see God, therefore we must be justified by our Evangelical Obedience and Righteousness, whereas this is only a concomitant for the cause; for God pronounceth and declareth none to be Righteous, but such as are Righteous; now there is none Righteous, no not one, Rom. 3.10. but in the Righteousness of Christ, who of God is made Wisdom, Righteousness, and Redemption, 
Dau. de Just.  1 Cor. 1.36. In sound Davenant's words, An Alderman sits in the Court not because he is to come in his Gown, but because he is an Alderman by Election, etc. So you must obey the Laws of the Church, if that wedge will drive, if not the Laws of the State, both which are inconsequent if they be not according to the Law of God; the establishing perverseness by a Law, Psal. 94.20. made neither david's nor Christ's sufferings the worse, but their sin the greater who twisted such a Law. So that we need a new Logic from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Eternal Word, as a directory to our Reasonings, as well as the common Logic which teacheth us the regulation of the operations of our minds.  
II. As we are lame in our Feet by our Naturals, so even those who by the light of the Gospel and Grace are brought over to better understanding, yet by virtue of the old crasiness they are not throughly illuminated and refined. The very Apostles themselves, Luke 18.34. were plainly told by our Saviour, that he should suffer Death, and rise again the third day, yet they understood none of these things; these say were hid from them, until he opened their understandings to understand the Scriptures, Luke 24.45. We have all a dark side, and Paul says, We know but in part, 1 Cor. 13.12. we see but one side of the Globe, we cannot view things round about, they are above our Hemisphere. These weak Jews were Zealous for their Ceremonies as being instituted by God, the Gentiles as hot for theirs; let no Man think himself infallible, for these were all out and mistaken. Form, Custom and Education do wonderfully confirm Men in Error: How hardly were People in our first Reformation drawn from their Prayers in Latin to English, yet they understood not Latin? as hardly would they still be weaned from little formalities, though it were to entertain the most real and reasonable service in the World. So great a Tyrant is tough custom over Phlegmatic Souls; so apt are Men to heats for trifles, by which Straw and Stubble they turn the Church into a Brick-kiln.  
These Jews had Divine Right to plead, and the usage and practice of all the seed of the Faithful, enough to stagger a weak Christian; Errors fairly set off may pass for Truths, and if but weakly confuted may hang a doubt in men's minds: so Truths ill guarded may go for Errors; objections not well cleared had better never have been started, for they may puzzle a weak Head and Heart, and make them both ache with fear of mistakes. A Sophistical Disputant will prove there is no Motion, the best way to confute him is in our Saviour's words, rise up and walk, John 5.8. which is a real silent demonstration of it.  
III. Nothing so convulseth men's reason as interest, as Hobbs saith, Though there is no Problem in Mathematics more demonstrable than that all straight Lines drawn from the Centre to the Circumference are equal, yet if this did but cross any Man's interest it would be disputed. Now 1 John 2.16. the Apostle reduceth the whole World to those three Elements, the lust of the Flesh, the lust of the Eye, and the pride of Life; a threefold cord, strong enough to pull any Truth in pieces, as easily as Samson did his Wyths.  
1. The lust of the Flesh, modo hic sit bene, pleasing the Flesh goeth a great deal further than the Monks Bellies, who yet have a lusty share in it; as one of their own said, They had all things so complacent, that they wanted only a Vicar to go to Hell for them when they should die. The Bishop of Rome's Kitchen and Purgatory mutually support one another. Disorders of Life hold up Celibacy in Men in Orders. The lust of Idleness inviteth to stageplays, the nurseries of Vanity and Vice; to Cards and Dice, in defiance of that Canon which pronounceth them unlawful Games. A lusty Dinner makes the Veins so strut, they can leap or fly to Heaven by their , without the necessity of Freegrace, so strong is Flesh and Blood without the Spirit of God. Sure he who hath an Immortal Soul within him, and a Dubious State to himself, as that dreadful Eternity before him, should never be sick of his time that lies upon his Hand, one hour whereof millions of Wolds can't redeem.  
2. Covetousness is a weighty Argument: Thousands are enough to break the Loins of most men's minds, too heavy for the back of the strongest Rationalist in the World; the Scale of Judgement cannot turn while this beam is in the Eye, nor any Argument counterpoise this dead and deadly weight; but Tithe, Mint and Cummin, will outweigh Faith and the Love of God, Luke 11.42. St. Bridget prophesied, 
Fox's Martyr.  The Roman Clergy would ruin the Church by their avarice, for she said, They had already reduced the Ten Commands to two words, da pecuniam.  
3. Pride of Life swells Men till they break all bonds and bounds, like Stum in the Cask makes all the Hoops fly off. The zeal of a party, and having declared for a way, maketh Men they cannot retreat; but will spur on for honour and profit, though the Angel of the Lord oppose them, till they are crushed to the Wall. If Christian Religion be founded in Self-denial, Mortification, and bearing the Cross, they who seek their own glory are not of God, John 7.18. that is either no Gospel, or these certainly are not Disciples of Christ. We had need look to ourselves, for this lust of domination and glory, as Charon saith, Is the very Shirt of the Soul, on from the first, but last put off.  
Secondly, I am to show you that the practice of holy Duties clearly commanded, is the ready way to have our minds enlightened in the knowledge of Principles: Reading the Scriptures, discoursing about Heaven, and about their Souls everlasting welfare; Reproving one another, and admonishing, Rom. 15.14. comforting and supporting the weak and dejected Soul, 1 Thes. 5.14. To exhort one another daily, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, Heb. 3.13. Duties so much out of fashion in these days, that it is not counted good manners or civility to practise them; friendly reproof is esteemed want of good breeding. But are they not strange Christians who are strangers to Scripture Duties?  
1. These Practical Duties performed would give us light, He that doth the Truth cometh to the light, John 3.21. not only out of boldness but discovery of knowledge; Truth is nothing but goodness explained, and goodness is nothing but Truth consolidated. Rudiments of knowledge are prerequisite to practice, but examples clear all things to us. Demonstration by the Compasses maketh the Maxim evident. He that doth best, knoweth best, for he seethe the actions as they are in themselves and circumstances, he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he seethe the bottom by diving into them, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Psal. 119.130. (pethac pethaiim) the very entrance into the command giveth light, the Door is a Window to him that hath a weak sight; even those things Men have formerly ridiculed, practice hath reconciled them to be their Diana and great delight. As the Gnostick in Clem. Alex. who could not taste lewdness till he was in all evil, as 'tis Prov. 5.14. If wicked practices darken the mind (as all the works of darkness do) than holy actions illuminate the Soul.  
2. The exercise of holy Duties advanceth light; every step a Man takes he goeth into a new Horizon, and gets a further prospect into Truth. Motion is promoted by motion, actions breed habits, habits fortify the powers, the new life grows stronger and fuller of Spirit. The yoke of Christ is easier, smother and lighter, by often wearing it; this anoints us with the oil of gladness, and makes the ways of Wisdom pleasantness, Prov. 3.17. Life and light are nearly related, John 1.4. The life was the light of Men, Acts 1.1. These things Jesus first did, then taught, and so he was mighty in Deed and in Word, Luke 24.19. very airing and motion heateth to a flame, this made his light burn, vers. 32. and shine too. Truth incarnate, in action, seems a lively resemblance of God in flesh; the unfolding a doubt to another, hath often expounded and resolved it to the proponent.  
3. If any be in danger of Error, or got into an ill way, keeping up warm Duties, Meditation and Prayer will keep him in, or help him out; communion with the Saints is an admirable antidote against sin or Error. As in a Team of Horses if one lash out of the way; if the other hold their course they will draw the former to the right path, 1 John 2.20. ye have an unction, and ye know all things; when there are Antichrists and great Apostasies, keeping to Duty, like keeping the Road, preserveth us from by-paths. I remember a Snowy night when many wand'ring homeward were frozen to death; A Shepherd feeling himself foiled, by often falling, set down his Crook in one point and beat a path round, and so preserved his life and kept him out of precipices and ditches. And we have a promise of light, if we press to the mark and prize of our high calling, Phil. 3.15. carry the Goal in your Eye and it will direct you a path where there is none upon a plain. Sincerely aim at God's glory, and your Souls salvation, and you shall not miss your way. If in any thing you should miss it, and be otherwise minded, God will reveal even this unto you. Yea, our great Lord and Master assureth us, John 7.17. He that doth the will of God, he shall know the Doctrine, whether it be of God, or I speak of myself. But if Men will make bold with God and Conscience, and act for their own ends and glory, they rob God of his supremacy, and will lose both their way and their end. He that walketh uprightly hath God for his guard and guide, with devout Zachary he is within the Veil, and if he be in a mistake God will reveal it to him: For the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will make them know his Covenant, Psal. 25.14. Go to thy Oracle and pray, and a ray of heavenly light shall direct you, as the Wisemen's Star, to the holy Jesus; their minds are Gods candles, Prov. 20.27. and as Father of Lights, he will light them when they approach him with ardent supplication.  
Thirdly, I am to show that Christian charity and reception will sooner win weak ones to the Truth, than rigid Arguments, for so the Apostle adviseth them who were to deal with people weak in Faith and strongly zealous for Ceremonies, dispute not with them but receive them first.  
1. In regard opposition breeds oppositions; a Man will never believe that he Loves his Soul, who cuts his purse, belies his actions, torments his Body. Passion begets passion, but love only kindles love; when Men do hotly Dispute they jostle for the way, and so one or both must needs leave the path of Truth and Peace. The Saw of contention reciprocated, with its keen teeth eateth up both Truth and Love. For such contentions are rather for Victory than Truth. Now passion doth nothing well, which made one Emperor say over his Alphabet to get the Dominion over his anger; Ahasuerus fanned himself in his Garden, Esth. 7.7. and he in Plutarch would not smite his Servant because he was angry. Passionated persecution makes only Hypocrites become Proselytes; and in their Breasts also lodge such a revenge as will be satisfied one time or another, upon them who have made them offer violence to their Consciences. Religion is a free choice upon judgement, or 'tis not Religion, therefore it gets in by persuasion, not persecution. Yet 'tis strangely true, they who are so tender of their own Wills, that God must not touch them unless by Argument, yet laxate themselves to Club Law with their Brethren, not content with a moral suasion.  
2. Loving converse taketh off those prejudices which hinder men's minds from a true knowledge of others Principles and Practices; which at a distance seem horrid and monstrous Opinions and Practices, when as a little free converse with them breedeth quite other apprehensions. The Papists picture the Protestants as bruits with Tails, as Devils with Horns, to terrify the Vulgar; but knowing Merchants dare trust them: So some Protestants have represented the Puritans as Pestilent and Seditious persons, as Mad and having a Devil, as the Scribes and Pharisees did John Baptist and Christ; but the plain hearted people saw through those pious frauds and tricks, and were astonished at their Doctrine and Life, when they healed Souls and Bodies on the Sabbath day.  
3. Sincere love and converse breedeth a good opinion of persons who differ from us; they can taste humility, meekness and kindness better than the more speculative Principles of Religion. These get into men's affections, and so bore away into their judgements, and cause them to alter their minds. Two Heads, like two Globes, touch but in one point, the whole Bodies at a distance; but two Hearts touch in plano, and fall in with each other in all points. Love openeth the Heart and Ear to cooler consideration and second thoughts. The Spirit of God directed Elijah, 1 Kings 19.12. not in the strong Wind which rend Rocks and Mountains, nor in the Earthquake or Fire, but in the silent whisper or tranquil voice.  
Use of Instruction, How to carry ourselves towards them who are weak in the Faith, in these days, and doubtless it is a sickly season when there are so many feverish heats among us. I will not say, what once a Romanist said to me, That these are the spuria vitulamina, the Bastard frisks of our Reformation in Henry the Eighths' days; But I rather think the violent endeavours after External Uniformity without the Inward, the smothering of the industrious Bees in one Hive, was a great cause of their castling into several Swarms. Threshing the Corn hath driven it out of the Floor, and the grasping so hard the Grains, all into the Hands and Power of some, hath made them creep out through their Fingers. Rigid Impositions, and violent Prosecutions and Exactions of Conformity to things extra Scriptural and Divine Institution, and without any manifest tendency to Edification, have and will make fractions without end. As D. W. said, Till Men be Infallible, and the World Immutable, moderation becometh every Man who is in his senses and considereth himself.  
1. There are some who have all Faith, believe incredibly, as that Katherine Senensis, praying for a new Heart, she had her real Heart cut out of her Body, and after some days had a new Heart form by Christ, put into her. That making a cross on the Body with a Finger driveth the Devil away. That a Priest by these words, this is my Body, transubstantiateth the Bread into the Body of Christ, and so he offereth that Sacrifice to deliver Souls out of Prison; and then by his Dirges conducteth them to Paradise.  
2. Others have no Faith at all, as that Infallible one who said, What vast Wealth hath this Fable of Christ acquired to the Church! So when some had Disputed about the Immortality of the Soul, most gravely determined in a Verse, Et redit in nihilum quod fuit ante nihil.  
That which is nothing must needs come to nothing. And I fear there are more Atheists than Papists, who seem to believe all on the Stage, nothing in their retiring thoughts. We are not bound to receive such into our Bosoms or Communion, lest we sting our own Breasts; out of charity to our Souls we must take heed of receiving such.  
3. But there are others who seem seriously to believe the Doctrine of the Gospel, yet have a weakness in their judgements about little things. These we must receive and instruct them, Rom. 14.17. That the Kingdom of God is not in Meat or Drink, but Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost. Show them all kindness, pity them, pray for them, and let them see, Col. 2.5. Nothing but your order, and the steadfastness of your Faith in Christ.  
1. Stand fast and fixed in the good Word of God, which is settled for ever in Heaven, Psal. 119.89. as the Copy of the Divine Nature and Law. Stand having your Loins girt about with Truth, Ephes. 6.14. and having on the Breastplate of Righteousness. This is the grand and perfect rule of Faith, Worship and Life. Keep within these Trenches and you have an assurance of protection. I know no other method possible to Peace but in an universal resolution to impose nothing upon others but what Christ himself hath imposed, what Scripture commands, Matth. 28.20. Teach Men to observe whatever I have commanded you, and then I am with you to the end of the World. This is a Minister of Christ's Commission, and he cannot look for Christ to be with him, if he go either contrary to, beyond, or not according to his instructions. Let this be first done, and then Men may consider whether any thing further be necessary or convenient. Let us therefore, in the Name of God, beg his holy Spirit, whom Christ hath promised, and that he shall lead us into all Truth, John 16.13. He is the only infallible Interpreter of God's mind, He shall take of mine, says our Saviour, and show it unto you, vers. 14. Then read the Scriptures as Christ himself did, Luke 4.16. his custom was, he went into the Synagogue, on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read, and when the Book of God was delivered to him, he read the 61 of Isaiah, a Prophecy of himself, and so he closed the Book and gave it to the Minister; then he expounded and applied it to the present circumstances, That he came to preach to the poor, heal the broken hearted, give deliverance to the captives, open the Eyes of the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Oh blessed pattern for every Minister of Christ to follow! And sing the Psalms or Hymns, as we read he also did, Matth. 26.30. and the Ancient Christians, as Euscbius and Pliny also saith, Used early to sing Psalms and Praise to Christ, Administer the Sacraments in the very words of Christ: But guard the Door that the grossly ignorant and profane may not come in, 1 Cor. 5.11. If any degenerate so, as first and second admonition reclaim not, shut the Door upon him, Let him be to you as an Heathen or a Publican, for so is the rule of Christ, Matth. 18.17. Every Natural Body, and Civil Body, or Society, hath a power to take in or cast out, such as are for the Benefit or Damage of the Community, to Infranchise or Disfranchise when there is just cause. The Church is Christ's Body, and a Society of visible Saints. Most Epistles to the Churches in Scripture were directed to the Saints at Rome, Rom. 1.7. at Corinth, 1 Epist. 1.2. and so on. Now if out of Custom, carnal Policy, Flattery, or other ill motive, the whole World must come into the Church, and the Church and the World (which lieth in wickedness, 1 John 5.19.) are one thing; then in cometh also the god of this World too, And will Christ have fellowship with Devils? If Swearers, Drunkards, and Unclean persons come in, it may be a Market-house, or House for Merchants, but not the Lords-house, John 2.16. A Drunken Saint, an Unclean Saint, a Swearing Saint, if they be not contradictions, yet they sound very harshly. No sin hath less tentation of gain or pleasure than Swearing and Cursing, and no sin more debaucheth the Conscience, and strips it even to Atheism of all reverence; and for Men to have no more pity on them than to let them cram damnation down their Throats, as soon as they have made the imprecation on themselves is dreadful. I remember an Earwitness told me, he heard Dr. Ham. preach before King Charles the First, at Oxford, when his Affairs were at a low ebb, and he told him, While God-dam-me led the Van, and the Devil confound me brought up the Rear, he would be routed in all his designs. And they are very unlikely to be good Subjects to Princes who are open Rebels to the Laws of God and Men, and their own reason. But let us keep to the Rule, the Principles of Christ's Kingdom are Rock and Steel, not calculated for the soft Meridian's of this World, but can abide and stand in all times the same; they need not load the secular Arm to hold them up. Let us be faithful Executors of our Lords Will, not Lawmakers or Testament-makers, for untempered Mortar will be always falling and fowling them who daub it up. Let us therefore stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; he and his Truth only can make us free from all Errors and mistakes, John 8.36. Let us be of the same mind which was in Christ Jesus, Phil. 2.5. than nothing will be done out of contention or vainglory. But God will make good his own Promise, all his shall have one Heart and one way, Jer. 32.39. than our Lord's Prayer shall be answered, Joh. 17.21. That all his may be one, as he and his Father are One. One in the World, that is impossible; but let them be one in us, in our appointments, and then the World will believe that thou hast sent me; otherwise Divisions will breed such tentations, as if Christianity was no reality. Now what can any Man say against this method? Who are they that make Divisions, but they that make more Duties in Religion and Worship than Christ hath made? They who build upright on the foundations, or they who will jet over and drop upon their Neighbours?  
2. As we should keep to our rule, so practise accordingly; let the one Foot of the Compass keep the Centre, and the other walk the rounds; let us live so as M. Felix says, Non magna loquimur, sed vivimus; We do not talk great things but live them. Exact walking would be as a miracle in this lose age, to confirm the Faith we do profess; Catechise your Children and Servants, as Abraham did, Gen. 18.19. to walk in the way of the Lord; so most excellent Theophilus was Cathechized and instructed in the things of Christ, Luke 1.4. Pray in your Families; daily bread you have twice at least, than you are directed to daily prayer for it. If Nations and Kingdoms have God's wrath poured out upon them that call not on his Name, Psal. 79.6. then surely Families much less can escape. We and our Families need daily Grace, daily Pardon as well as daily Bread; therefore unless we dare die in our Sins we should daily pray; for in God's hands is our breath, and his are all our ways, Dan. 7.23. who then dare breathe a day without compassing him about with Prayer and Praises? And let us adorn our Profession of Godliness with honesty, Tit. 2.10. 1 Tim. 2.2. Labour to think as near to the truth of things and actions as you can, and as they are in themselves, Job 26.3. then speak and declare the thing as it is in your mind, Jos. 14.7. then do as you speak, Psal. 15.3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, simplify yourself, in Epictetus' phrase, from all composition of Frauds, Policies and Hypocrisy; then besure you be just and do as you would have others do to you, the grand scale of Righteousness; if Men would but weigh their Thoughts, Words and Actions by this standard of equity, Matth. 7.12. how would this make Ministers, Lawyers, Physicians, and all others, take as much care of People's Souls, Bodies and Estates as of their own? then would come that golden age wherein they would have, if not so many dirty Fees, yet a cleaner and a greater reward of Peace of Conscience and joy in God. Let us all be humble, meek, and patiented, as our Lord, modest in Apparel, and all civil Conversation, as those that resolve to walk in Christ as they have received him, Col. 2.6. and to wear him as they have put him on, Rom. 13.14. 1 Tim. 2.9. This Primitive simplicity would revive charity, which is frozen to pieces in this cold Age, this being the fulfilling of the Law, Rom. 13.10. All the commands of God must needs be broken, by the very want of it. When all is done live so accurately, Ephes. 5.15. as if you were to be justified by your works; and then as unprofitable Servants cast yourselves wholly on Freegrace in Christ, Luke 17.10. least by the conceit of any merit, when you have anointed our Saviour's feet, you fling the box at his Head, and rob him of his Priestly Office and Crown.  
As for disputing of Controversies, let your discourses be rather in private, than before others, that you argue in Love to the Souls of your Brethren, not for Victory and Triumphing over their infirmities. The Jewish Rabbins say, He deserveth Hell-fire who putteth his Brother to the blush. Therefore in meekness of Wisdom argue with your week Brethren, that Christ was faithful in God's House or Church, Heb. 3.2. in commanding all things necessary for Salvation, and the Worshipping of God in Spirit and Truth; that Paul had declared to the Ephesians all the counsel of God, and kept back nothing that was profitable to them, Acts 20.20, 27. therefore we may safely venture in this bottom; and that those Men who will venture to tender God a Worship which he hath not commanded, they take upon them to be wiser than God, Jesus Christ and his Apostles, and can tell what will please God, better than himself can. If with Jeroboam, 1 Kings 12.33. they will set up a Worship of their own devising, to keep up his Golden Calves; they must have very low thoughts of God, as if he was taken with our voluntary humility, in fancies and postures, rather than the simplicity as it is in Christ, 2 Cor. 11.3. when he hath told us, the words his Father had given him, he had given to his Disciples, John 17.8. all other Traditions may very safely be rejected.  
Yet neither must we altogether abandon all Disputations, our Saviour indeed never called for a Sword but to cut his way to a Miracle, but remit them to the Schools or the Press: Honest Men may wear Swords, and learn to use them, because Robbers ride armed. But let such take heed they dispute not with God, his Providence or Grace. I remember a Disputation publicly in the Schools, where the Respondent in Divinity defended this Question, That the term of a Man's life was movable, he was presently seized with a Fever and died. I say not, that Providence determined the Question. But if all times, much more ours, are in God's hands, Acts 1.7. not our own, Eccles. 8.8. When Ames was invited to be Professor at Franeker, Episcopius then at Leyden, in his Lectures in the Schools, read against Ames, who hearing of it, sent a bold Challenge, That he would come to Leyden, and before the University answer Episcopius 's arguments, and oppose his determinations, if he pleased: I know not why Truth may not be as bold as Error. But Episcopius wisely refused and declined it, knowing that Ames had a Scholastical Head, and close Arguments would rout lose Harangues, his Fist would be too hard for his Palm: Those Doctrines are born up in the World by looseness of manners; they who are so much for , are for Free-life too. Never more of that Doctrine, and never more licentiousness, which argueth some kindred and relation to be betwixt them. But as D. H. hath said of Old, If Arminians be not the most godly, holy, heavenly, every way the best of Men, they are the very worst, since they assert they have so much power to be good. Sir W. T. observes where this Opinion was born, it was looked upon as a midway betwixt Papists and Protestants, the Blue to that Bow-die. But I am sure God's Word says, He works in us to will and to do, Phil. 2.13. and the Tenth Article is expressly against this Doctrine of .  
When  and Wit have got the Ascendant over true Reason and Conscience, Satan will ride Post his last Stage: for they will convert Men into Foxes and Wolves, to deceive and devour each other, yea into Devils to torment and insult over one another's miseries. And whoever above ground will build upon these self-centered Globes, shall find their foundation will soon roll and slide from under them. When the Earth was corrupt then came the Flood of Waters, Gen. 6.13. Christendom is so corrupted from true Christianity, that these Giants in wickedness and violence presage a deluge of Blood. But if when the Son of Man cometh he shall find no Faith on the Earth, than his coming is near. Then come Lord Jesus, and put an end to all violence, fraud and wickedness, and shut up Hell in Hell, Hypocrites and Devils in the same Cloisters, Matth. 24.51. and gather thy Saints together to Worship thee in the beauty of Holiness. Be thou the desire and delight of all Nations, build thy own Jerusalem (for Men can't or will not) and appear in thy glory, Psal. 102.2. shine in it as the perfection of Beauty, Psal. 50.2. make it an habitation of Justice, and a mountain of Holiness, Jer. 31.23. and a City of Truth, that it may be said, Jehovah Shamma, the Lord is there, and hath the third time whipped the Traders out of his Temple, and set it upon everlasting Foundations; all Administrations being according to his own measure, that Golden Rule, and the pattern in the Mount.   

Quest. How is Sin the most formidable Evil? SERMON XI.  Genesis XXXIX. 9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? 
THE Text is the Record of Joseph's innocence and victory, Consecrated in Scripture for the honour and imitation of that excellent Saint in succeeding Ages. He had been tried by sharp afflictions, the conspiring envy of his Brethren, and the cruel effects of it, banishment and servitude, and possessed his Soul in patience: here, he was encountered by a more dangerous temptation in another kind, and preserved his integrity. Adversity excites the Spirit to serious recollection, arms it with resolution to endure the assaults, and stop the entrance of what is afflicting to nature: pleasure by gentle insinuations relaxes the mind to a lose security, softens and melts the Heart, and makes it easily receptive of corrupt impressions.  
Now to represent the Grace of God that preserved Joseph, in its radiance and efficacy, we must consider the several circumstances that increased the difficulty of the double Victory, over the Tempter and himself.  
1. The Tempter, his Mistress, who had devested the native modesty of the blushing Sex, and by her Caresses and blandishments sought to draw him to compliance with her desires. Her superior quality might seem to make her request have the force of a Command over him.  
2. The Solicitation, lie with me. There are no sins to which there is a stronger inclination in our corrupted nature, than to acts of sensuality. The temptation was heightened by the lure of profit ●●d advancement, that he might obtain by her favour, and interest in her Husband, who was an eminent Officer in the Egyptian Court: 
Regeramus ipsae crimen, atque ultro impiam Venerem arguamus: scelere velandum est scelus. Senec. Hippolytus.  and the denial would be extremely provoking, both in respect it seemed to be a Contempt injurious to her Dignity, and was a disappointment of her ardent expectation. Hatred and revenge upon refusal, are equal to the lust of an imperious whorish Woman. We read the effects of it, in this Chapter; for upon his rejecting her desires, rapt up with rage; and to purge herself, she turned his accuser, wounded his reputation, deprived him of his liberty, and exposed his life to extreme peril. Joseph chose rather to lie in the dust than to rise by sin.  
3. The Opportunity was ready, and the object present: 'tis said, there was none of the Men of the House within. She had the advantage of secrecy to fasten the temptation upon him. When a sin may be easily committed, and easily concealed, the restraints of fear and shame are taken off, and every breath of a temptation is strong enough to overthrow the Carnally minded. The purest and noblest Chastity is from a principle of Duty within, not constrained by the apprehension of discovery and severity.  
4. The Continuance of the temptation: she spoke to him day by day. Her Complexion was lust and impudence, and his repeated denials were ineffectual to quench her incensed desires, the black fire that darkened her mind. She caught him by the garment, saying, Lie with me: she was ready to prostitute herself, and ravish him.  
5. The Person tempted, Joseph, in the flower of his age, the season of sensuality, when innumerable by the force and swing of their vicious appetites are impelled to break the holy Law of God.  
6. His Repulse of the temptation was strong and peremptory: How can I do this great wickedness? He felt no sympathy, n● sensual tenderness, but expressed an impossibility of consenting to her guilty desire. We have in Joseph exemplified that property of the Regenerate, He that is born of God cannot sin: by a sacred potent instinct in his breast, he is preserved not only from the consummate acts, but recoils from the first offers to it.  
7. The Reasons are specified of his rejecting her polluting motion. Behold my Master knows not what is with me in the House, and he hath committed all that he hath to my Hands, there is none greater in his House than I, neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his Wife; How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? 'Twas a complicated crime of injustice and uncleanness: a most injurious violation of the strongest ties of duty and gratitude to his Master, and of the sacred marriage Covenant to her Husband, and the foulest blot to their persons: Therefore how can I commit a sin so contrary to natural Conscience, and supernatural grace, and provoke God? Thus I have briefly considered the narrative of joseph's temptation, and that Divine grace preserved him unspotted from that contagious fire, may be resembled to the miraculous preserving the three Hebrew Martyrs unsinged, in the midst of the flaming furnace. The patience of Job, and the Chastity of Joseph are transmitted by the Secretaries of the Holy Ghost in Scripture, to be in perpetual remembrance and admiration.  
From this singular instance of Joseph, who was neither seduced by the allurements of his Mistress, nor terrified by the rage of her despised affection to sin against God: I shall observe two general Points.  
I. That temptations to sin how alluring soever, or terrifying, aught to be rejected with abhorrenc.  
II. That the fear of God is a sure defence and guard against the strongest temptation.  
I will explain and prove the first, and only speak a little of the second in a branch of the Application.  
I. That temptations to sin how alluring soever, or terrifying, are to be rejected with abhorrence.  
There will be Convincing proof of this, by considering two Things.  
1. That sin in its Nature, prescinding from the train of woeful effects, is the greatest Evil.  
2. That Relatively to us, it is the most pernicious destructive Evil.  
1. That sin considered in itself is the greatest Evil. This will be evident by considering the general Nature of it, as directly opposite to God the supreme good. The definition of sin expresses its essential Evil; 'tis the transgression of the Divine Law, and consequently opposes the rights of God's Throne, and obscures the Glory of his Attributes that are exercised in the Moral Government of the World. God as Creator is our King, our Lawgiver and Judge. From his propriety in us arises his just title to Sovereign Power over us: 
Psal. 100  Know ye that the Lord he is God, 'tis he that made us, not we ourselves, we are his people and the Sheep of his pasture. The Creatures of a lower order, are uncapable of distinguishing between Moral Good and Evil, and are determined by the weight of Nature to what is merely sensible, and therefore are uncapable of a Law to regulate their choice. But Man who is endowed with the powers of Understanding and Election, to conceive and choose what is Good, and reject what is Evil, is governed by a Law, the declared will of his Maker: accordingly a Law the rule of his Obedience, was written in his Heart.  
Now sin the transgression of this Law, contains many great Evils?  
1. Sin is a Rebellion against the Sovereign Majesty of God, that gives the life of Authority to the Law. Therefore Divine Precepts are enforced with the most proper and binding motives to obedience, I am the Lord. He that with purpose and pleasure commits sin, implicitly renounces his dependence upon God, as his Maker and Governor, overrules the Law, and arrogates an irresponsible licence to do his own will. This is expressed by those Atheistical designers, who said, 
Psal. i2. 4.  With our Tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us. The Language of Actions that is more natural and convincing than of Words, declares that sinful Men despise the Commands of God, as if they were not his Creatures and Subjects. What a dishonour, what a displeasure is it to the God of glory, that proud dust should fly in his Face, and control his Authority? 
Daniel 7.10. Psal. 103.20.  He has ten thousand times ten thousand Angels that are high in dignity, and excel in strength, waiting in a posture of reverence and observance about his Throne, ready to do his will: How provoking is it for a despicable Worm to contravene his Law, and lift his Hand against him? It will be no excuse to plead the Commands of Men for sin: for as much as God is more glorious than Men, so much more are his Commands to be respected and obeyed than men's. When there is an evident opposition between the Laws of Men and of God, we must disobey our Superiors tho' we displease them, and obey our Supreme Ruler. He that does what is forbidden, or neglects to do what is Commanded by the Divine Law, to please Men, tho' invested with the highest Sovereignty on Earth, is guilty of double wickedness: of impiety in debasing God, and idolatry in deifying Men.  
It is an extreme aggravation of this Evil, in that sin as it is a disclaiming our homage to God, so 'tis in true account a yielding subjection to the Devil. For, sin is in the strictest propriety his work. The original rebellion in Paradise was by his temptation, and all the actual and habitual sins of Men since the fall, are by his efficacious influence. He darkens the carnal mind, 
2 Cor. 4.4.  and sways the polluted will, he excites and inflames the vicious affections, 
Ephes. 2.2.  and imperiously rules in the Children of disobedience. He is therefore styled the Prince and god of this World. And what more contumelious indignity can there be, than the preferring to the glorious Creator of Heaven and Earth, a damned Spirit, the most cursed part of the Creation? It is most reasonable, that the baseness of the Competitour, should be a foil to reinforce the lustre of God's authority: yet Men reject God and comply with the tempter. O prodigious perverseness!  
2. Sin vilifies the ruling Wisdom of God, that prescribed the Law to Men. Although the dominion of God over us be Supreme and Absolute, yet 'tis exercised according to the council of his Will, by the best means, 
1 Tim. 1.17  for the best ends: he is accordingly styled by the Apostle, The eternal King, and only wise God. 'Tis the glorious Prerogative of his Sovereignty and Deity, that he can do no wrong: for he necessarily acts according to the excellencies of his Nature. Particularly, his Wisdom is so relucent in his Laws, that the serious contemplation of it, will ravish the sincere minds of Men into a compliance with them. They are framed with exact congruity to the Nature of God, and his relation to us, and to the faculties of Man before he was corrupted. From hence the Divine Law being the transcript not only of Gods Will but his Wisdom, binds the understanding and will, our leading faculties, to esteem and approve, to consent and choose all his precepts as best. Now sin vilifies the infinite understanding of God with respect both to the precepts of the ●●w, the rule of our duty, and the sanction annexed to confirm its obligation▪ It does constructively tax the precepts as unequal, too rigid ●●d severe a confinement to our wills and actions. Thus the impious Rebels complain. The ways of the Lord are not equal, as injurious to their liberty, and not worthy of observance. What St. James saith, to correct the uncharitable, censorious Humour of some in his time, 
James 4.11.  He that speaks evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law; as an imperfect and rash rule, is aplicable to Sinners in any other kind. As an unskillful Hand by straining too high, breaks the strings of an Instrument, and spoils the Music, so the Strictness and Severity of the Precepts, breaks the harmonious Agreement between the Wills of Men and the Law, and casts an Imputation of Imprudence upon the Lawgiver. This is the implicit Blasphemy in Sin.  
Besides, the Law has Rewards and Punishments to secure our Respects and Obedience to it. The wise God knows the Frame of the reasonable Creature, what are the inward Springs of our Actions, and has accordingly propounded such Motives to our Hope and Fear, the most active Passions, as may engage us to perform our Duty. He promises his favour that is better than life, to the Obedient, and threatens his wrath, that is worse than death to the rebellious. Now Sin makes it evident, that these Motives are not effectual in the Minds of Men: And this reflects upon the Wisdom of the Lawgiver, as if defective in not binding his Subjects firmly to their Duty; for if the Advantage or Pleasure that may be gained by Sin, be greater than the Reward that is promised to Obedience, and the Punishment that is threatened against the Transgression, the Law is unable to restrain from Sin, and the Ends of Government are not obtained. Thus Sinners in venturing upon forbidden things, reproach the Understanding of the Divine Lawgiver.  
3. Sin is a Contrariety to the unspotted Holiness of God. Of all the glorious and benign Constellation of the Divine Attributes that shine in the Law of God, his Holiness has the brightest Lustre. God is Holy in all his Works, but the most venerable and precious Monument of his Holiness is the Law. For the Holiness of God consists in the Correspondence of his Will and Actions with his moral Perfections, Wisdom, Goodness and Justice; and the Law is the perfect Copy of his Nature and Will. The Psalmist who had a purged Eye, saw and admired its Purity and Perfection. 
Psal. 19 Psal. 119.140.  The Commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The word is very pure, therefore thy servant loves it. 'Tis the perspicuous and glorious Rule of our Duty without Blemish or Imperfection. The Commandment is holy, just and good. It enjoins nothing but what is absolutely Good, without the least Tincture of Evil. The Sum of it is set down by the Apostle, to live soberly, that is, to abstain from any thing that may slain the Excellence of an understanding Creature: To live righteously, which respects the State and Situation wherein God has disposed Men for his Glory: It comprehends all the respective Duties to others, to whom we are united by the Bands of Nature, or of civil Society, or of Spiritual Communion: And to live godly, which includes all the internal and outward Duties we own to God, who is the Sovereign of our Spirits, whose Will must be the Rule, and his Glory the End of our Actions. In short, The Law is so formed, that prescinding from the Authority of the Lawgiver, its Holiness and Goodness lays an eternal Obligation on us to obey it. Now Sin is not only by Interpretation, a Reproach to the Wisdom and other Perfections of God, but directly and formally a Contrariety to his infinite Sanctity and Purity; for it consists in a not doing what the Law commands, 
Rom. 11.  or doing what it forbids. 'Tis therefore said, That the carnal mind is Enmity against God: An active, immediate and irreconcilable Contrariety to his holy Nature and Will: From henee there is a reciprocal Hatred between God and Sinners: God is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity, without an infinite Displicence, the Effects of which will fall upon Sinners; and tho' 'tis an Impiety hardly conceivable, 
Rom. 1.  yet the Scripture tells us, that they are haters of God. 'Tis true, God by the transcendent Excellence of his Nature is uncapable of suffering any Evil, and there are few in the present State, arrived to such Malice, as to declare open Enmity and War against God. In the Damned this Hatred is explicit and direct, the Fever is heightened to a Frenzy, the blessed God is the Object of their Curses and eternal Aversation: If their Rage could extend to him, and their Power were equal to their Desires, they would Dethrone the most High. And the Seeds of this are in the Breasts of Sinners here. As the fearful Expectation of irresistible and fiery Vengeance increases, their Aversation increases. They endeavour to raze out the Inscription of God in their Souls, and to extinguish the thoughts and sense of their Inspector and Judge. They wish he were not Allseeing and Almighty, but Blind and Impotent, uncapable to vindicate the Honour of his despised Deity. The Fool hath said in his heart there is no God: The Heart is the Fountain of Desires, and Actions interpret the Thoughts and Affections, from whence the Inference is direct and conclusive, that habitual Sinners, who live without God in the world, have secret Desires; there was no Sovereign being, to observe and require an account of all their Actions. The radical cause of this Hatred is from the Opposition of the sinful polluted Wills of Men, to the Holiness of God; for that attribute excites his Justice, and Power, and Wrath, to punish Sinners. Therefore the Apostle saith, They are enemies to God in their minds through wicked works. The naked representing of this Impiety, that a reasonable Creature should hate the blessed Creator for his most Divine Perfections, cannot but strike with Horror. O the Sinfulness of Sin!  
4. Sin is the Contempt and Abuse of his excellent Goodness. This Argument is as vast as God's innumerable Mercies, whereby he allures and obliges us to Obedience: I shall restrain my Discourse of it, to three things wherein the Divine Goodness is very Conspicuous, and most ungratefully despised by Sinners.  
1. His Creating Goodness. 'Tis clear without the least shadow of Doubt, that nothing can give the first being to itself; for this were to be before it was, which is a direct Contradiction: and 'tis evident that God is the sole Author of our Being's. Our Parents afforded the gross matter of our compounded Nature, but the Variety and Union, the Beauty and Usefulness of the several Parts, which is so Wonderful, that the Body is composed of as many Miracles as Members, was the Design of his Wisdom, and the Work of his Hands. The lively Idea and perfect Exemplar of that regular Fabric, was modelled in the Divine Mind. This affected the Psalmist with Admiration: I am fearfully and wonderfully made, 
Psal. 139.14, 15, 16.  marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knows right well. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. And Job observes, Thy hands have made me and fashioned me round about. 
Job 10.8.  The Soul, our principal Part, is of a celestial Original, inspired from the father of Spirits. The faculties of Understanding and Election, are the indelible Characters of our Dignity above the Brutes, and make us capable to please, and glorify, and enjoy him. This first and fundamental Benefit, upon which all other Favours and Benefits are the Superstructure, was the Effect from an eternal Cause, his most free Decree, that ordained our Birth in the spaces of time. The Fountain was his pure Goodness; there was no necessity determining his Will, he did not want external declarative Glory, being infinitely happy in himself, and there could be no superior Power to constrain him. And that which renders our Maker's Goodness more free and obliging, is the consideration he might have created Millions of Men, and left us in our Native Nothing; and, as I may so speak, lost and buried in perpetual Darkness. Now, what was God's end in Making us? Certainly it was becoming his infinite Understanding, that is, to communicate of his own Divine Fullness, and to be actively glorified by intelligent Creatures. Accordingly 'tis the solemn Acknowledgement of the Representative Church. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power: For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they were created. Who is so void of rational Sentiments, 
Rev. 4.11.  as not to acknowledge 'tis our indispensable Duty, Our reasonable service, to offer up ourselves, an entire living Sacrifice to his glory? What is more natural, according to the Laws of uncorrupt Natures (I might say, and of corrupt Nature, for the Heathens practised it) than that Love should correspond with Love, as the one descends in Benefits, the other should ascend in Thankfulness. As a polished Looking-glass of Steel, strongly reverberates the Beams of the Sun shining upon it, without losing a spark of light, thus the understanding Soul should reflect the Affection of Love upon our blessed Maker, in Reverence, and Praise, and Thankfulness. Now Sin breaks all those Sacred Bands of Grace and Gratitude, that engage us to love and obey God. He is the just Lord of all our Faculties Intellectual and Sensitive, and the Sinner employs them as Weapons of Unrighteousness against him. He preserves us by his powerful gracious Providence, which is a renewed Creation every Moment, and the Goodness he uses to us, the Sinner abuses against him. This is the most unworthy, shameful and monstrous Ingratitude. This makes forgetful and unthankful Men, more brutish than the dull Ox, and the stupid Ass, who serve those that feed them; nay, sinks them below the insensible part of the Creation, that invariably observes the Law and order prescribed by the Creator. Astonishing Degeneracy! Hear O Heavens, give ear, O earth, I have nourished and brought up Childen, and they have rebelled against me, was the Complaint of God himself. The considerate Review of this, will melt us into Tears of Confusion.  
2. 'Twas the unvaluable goodness of God to give his Law to Man, for his rule, both in respect of the matter of the Law, and his end in giving it.  
1. The matter of the Law, this as is forecited from the Apostle, is holy, just, and good. It contains all things that are honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report, whatsoever are virtuous and praiseworthy. In obedience to it the innocence and perfection of the reasonable creature consists. This I do but glance upon, having been considered before.  
2. The end of giving the Law. God was pleased upon Man's creation, by an illustrious revelation to show him his duty, to write his Law in his Heart, that he might not take one step out of the circle of its precepts, and immediately sin and perish. His gracious design was to keep Man in his love; that from the obedience of the reasonable creature, the divine goodness might take its rise to reward him. This unfeigned and excellent goodness, the sinner outrageously despises: for what greater contempt can be expressed against a written Law, than the tearing it in pieces, and trampling it underfoot? And this constructively the sinner does to the Law of God, which contempt extends to the gracious giver of it. 
Rom. 7.10.  Thus the Commandment that was ordained unto Life, by sin was found unto Death.  
3. Sin is an extreme vilifying of God's goodness, in preferring carnal pleasures to his favour, and Communion with him, wherein the life, the felicity, the heaven of the reasonable creature consists. God is infinite in all possible perfections, all-sufficient to make us completely and eternally happy: he disdains to have any competitour and requires to be supreme in our esteem and affections: the reason of this is so evident by Divine and Natural light, that 'tis needless to spend many words about it. 'Tis an observation of St. Austin 
* Omnes Deos colendos esse sapienti. Cur ergo a numero caeterorum ille rejectus est? nihil restat ut dicant, cur hujus Dei sacra recipere noluerint, nisi quia solum se coli voluerit. Aug. de Consens. Evang. c. 17. , That it was a rule amongst the Heathens, that a wise man should worship all their Deities. The Romans were so insatiable in Idolatry, that they sent to foreign Countries to bring the gods of several Nations: an unpolisht Stone, a tame Serpent, that were reputed Deities, they received with great solemnity and reverence. But the true God had no Temple, no Worship in Rome, where there was a Pantheon dedicated to the honour of all the false gods. The reason he gives of it is, that the true God who alone has Divine Excellencies, and Divine Empire, will be worshipped alone, and strictly forbids the assumption of any into his Throne. To adore any besides him is infinitely debasing, and provoking to his dread Majesty. Now sin in its nature is a conversion from God to the creature; and whatever the temptation be, in yielding to it, there is signified, that we choose something before his favour. Sin is founded in bono jucundo, something that is delectable to the carnal Nature: 'tis the universal character of carnal Men, they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. To some riches are the most alluring object. The young Man in the Gospel, when our Saviour commanded him to give his estate to the poor, and he should have treasure in Heaven, went away sorrowful, as if he had been offered to his loss. To others the pleasures that in strict propriety are sensual, are most charming. Love is the weight of the Soul that turns it, not like a dead weight of the Scales, but with election freely to its object: in the carnal balance the present things of the World are of conspicuous moment, and outweigh Spiritual and Eternal blessings. Although the favour of God be eminently all that can be desired, under the notion of riches, or honour, or pleasure, and every atom of our affection is due to him; yet carnal Men think it a cheap purchase to obtain the good things of this World, by sinful means, with the loss of his favour. This their actions declare. Prodigious folly! as if a few sparks struck out of a Flint, that can neither afford light or warmth, were more desirable than the Sun in its brightness. And how contumelious and provoking it is to God, he declares in the most moving expressions; Be astonished, O ye Heavens, 
Jer. 2.12, 13.  at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out broken cisterns that can hold no water. This immediately was charged upon the Jews, who set up Idols of jealousy, and adored them, rather than the glorious Jehovah: and in proportion, 'tis true of all sinners; for every vicious affection prefers some vain object, before his Love, and the enjoyment of his glorious presence, that is the reward of obedience.  
5. The sinner disparages the impartial Justice of God. In the Divine Law there is a connexion between sin and punishment; the evil of doing and the evil of suffering. This is not a mere arbitrary constitution, but founded on the inseparable desert of sin, and the rectitude of God's nature, which unchangably loves holiness, and hates sin. Although the threatening does not lay a strict necessity upon the Lawgiver always to inflict the punishment; yet God having declared his equal Laws as the rule of our duty, and of his judgement, if they should be usually without effect upon offenders, the bands of Government would be dissolved, and consequently the honour of his justice stained both with respect to his nature and office: for as an essential attribute 'tis the correspondence of his will and actions with his moral perfections, and as Sovereign Ruler, he is to preserve equity and order in his Kingdom. Now those who voluntarily break his Law, presume upon impunity. The first rebellious sin was committed upon this presumption: God threatened, if you eat the forbidden fruit you shall die: the Serpent says eat, and you shall not die, and assenting to the temptation Adam fell to disobedience. And ever since Men are fearless to sin upon the same motive. 
Psalm 50.  God chargeth the wicked, Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: not concerned to punish the violation of his sacred Laws. The sinner commits the Divine Attributes to fight against one another, presuming that Mercy will disarm Justice and stop its terrible effects upon impenitent obstinate sinners: From hence they become bold and hardnened in the continuance of their sins. 
Deut. 29.17, 19, 20.  There is a root that beareth gall and wormwood, and when the curse of the Law is declared and denounced against sin, the wicked blesseth himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. This casts such a foul blemish upon the Justice of God, that he threatens the severest vengeance for it. The Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that Man, and all the curses written in this book shall be upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven. 
Psalm 50.  Consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.  
6. The sinner implicitly denies God's omniscience. There is such a turpitude adhering to sin, that it cannot endure the light of the Sun, or the light of Conscience, but seeks to be concealed under a mask of virtue, or a vail of darkness. There are very few on this side Hell, so transformed into the likeness of the Devil, as to be impenetrable by shame. What is said of the Adulterer and Thief, sinners of greater guilt, and deeper die, 
Job.  is true in proportion of every sinner: If a Man sees them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. Now from whence is it that many who if they were surprised in the actings of their sins, by a Child or a stranger, would blush and tremble, yet although the holy God sees all their sins in order to judge them, and will judge in order to punish them, are secure without any fearful or shameful apprehensions of his presence? Did they steadfastly believe that their foul villainies were open to his piercing, pure and severe Eye, they must be struck with terrors, and covered with Confusion. Will he force the Queen before my face, was the speech of the King inflamed with wrath, and the prologue of Death against the fallen favourite. Would Men dare to affront God's authority, and outrageously break his Laws before his face, if they duly considered his omnipresence and observance of them? it were impossible. And infidelity is the radical cause of their inconsideration. It was a false imputation against Job, but justly applied to the wicked, 
J●● 22.13, 14  Thou sayest, How does God know, can he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he sees not. And such are introduced by the Psalmist declaring their inward sentiments; The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.  
Lastly, The sinner slights the power of God. This attribute renders God a dreadful Judge. He has a right to punish, and power to revenge every transgression of his Law. His judicial power is supreme, his executive is irresistible. He can with one stroke dispatch the Body to the Grave, and the Soul to Hell, and make Men as miserable as they are sinful. Yet sinners as boldly provoke him, as if there were no danger. We read of the infatuated Syrians, that they thought that God the Protector of Israel, had only power on the Hills, and not in the Valleys, and renewed the War to their destruction. Thus sinners enter into the lists with God, and range an Army of lusts against the Armies of Heaven, and blindly bold run upon their own destruction. They neither believe his allseeing Eye, nor almighty Hand. They change the glory of the living God into a dead Idol, that has Eyes and sees not, and Hands and handles not, and accordingly his threaten make no impression upon them.  
Thus I have presented a true view of the evil of sin considered in itself: but as Job saith of God, how little a portion of him is known? May be said of the evil of sin, how little of it is known? For in proportion as our apprehensions are defective and below the greatness of God, so are they of the evil of sin that contradicts his Sovereign will and dishonours his excellent perfections.  
2. Sin relatively to us, is the most pernicious and destructive Evil. If we compare it with temporal Evils, it preponderates all that Men are liable to in the present World. Diseases in our Bodies, disasters in our Estates, disgrace in our Reputation, are in just esteem far less evil than the evil of sin: for that corrupts and destroys our more excellent and immortal part: The vile Body is of no account in comparison of the precious Soul. Therefore the Apostle enforces his exhortation, Dear beloved brethren, abstain from fleshly lusts, that war against the Soul. The issue of this War is infinitely more woeful, than of the most cruel against our Bodies and Goods, our Liberties and Lives: for our Estates and Freedom if lost may be recovered; if the present Life be lost for the cause of God, it shall be restored in greater lustre and perfection; but if the Soul be lost, 'tis lost for ever.  
All temporal Evils are consistent with the love of God: Job on the dunghill, roughcast with Ulcers, was most precious in God's sight: Lazarus in the lowest poverty, and wasted with loathsome Sores, was dear to his affections; a guard of Angels was sent to convey his departing Soul to the Divine Presence. But sin separates between God and us, who is the fountain of felicity, and the centre of rest to the Soul.  
Other evils God who is our wise and compassionate Father and Physician, makes use of, as Medicinal preparations for the cure of sin: and certainly the Disease which would be the death of the Soul, is worse than the Remedy, tho' never so bitter and afflicting to sense.  
Sin is an evil of that malignity, that the least degree of it is fatal. If it be conceived in the Soul, tho' not actually finished, 'tis deadly. One sin corrupted in an instant angelical excellencies, and turned the glorious Spirits of Heaven into Devils. 'Tis a poison so strong, that the first taste of it shed a deadly taint and malignity into the veins of all mankind.  
Sin is such an exceeding Evil, that 'tis the severest punishment Divine Justice inflicts on sinners on this side Hell. The giving Men over to the power of their lusts, is the most fearful judgement, not only with respect to the cause, God's unrelenting and unquenchable anger, and the issue, everlasting destruction, but in the quality of the judgement. Nay, did sin appear as odious in our Eyes as it does in Gods, we should account it the worst part of Hell itself, the pollutions of the damned to be an evil exceeding the torments superadded to them.  
Sin is pregnant with all kinds of Evils, the seeds of it are big with Judgements. The evils that are obvious to sense, or that are Spiritual and Inward, Temporal and Eternal Evils, all proceed from sin, often as the Natural cause, and always as the Meritorious. And many times the same punishment is produced by the efficiency of sin, as well as inflicted for its guilt. Thus uncleanness without the miraculous waters of Jealousy rots the Body, and the pleasure of sin is revenged by a loathsome consuming Disease, the natural consequence of it. Thus intemperance and luxury, shorten the lives of Men and accelerate damnation. Fierce desires, and wild rage are fuel for the everlasting fire in Hell. The same evils considered Physically are from the efficiency of sin, considered legally are from the guilt of sin, and the justice of God.  
This being a point of great usefulness, that I may be more instructive, I will consider the evils that are consequential to sin under these two Heads. 1. Such as proceed immediately from it by Emanation. 2. Those evils, and all other as the effects of God's justice and sentence.  
1. The evils that proceed immediately by emanation from it: and tho' some of them are not resented with feeling apprehensions by sinners, yet they are of a fearful nature. Sin has deprived Man of the purity, nobility, and peace of his innocent state.  
1. It has stained and tainted him, with an universal, intimate, and permanent pollution. Man in his first Creation was holy and righteous: a beam of beauty derived from Heaven was shed upon his Soul, in comparison of which sensitive beauty is but as the clearness of Glass, to the lustre of a Diamond. His understanding was light in the Lord, his will and affections were regular and pure, the Divine Image was impressed upon all his faculties, that attracted the love and complacency of God himself. Sin has blotted out all his aimiable excellencies, and superinduced the most foul deformity, the original of which was fetched from Hell. Sinners are the natural Children of Satan, of a near resemblance to him. The Scripture borrows comparisons to represent the defiling quality of sin, from pollutions that are most loathsome to our senses: from pestilential Ulcers, putrifying Sores, filthy Vomit, and defiling Mire. This pollution is universal through the whole Man, Spirit, Soul and Body. It darkens the mind, our supreme faculty, with a cloud of Corruption: it depraves the will, and vitiates the affections. 'Tis a pollution so deep and permanent, that the Deluge that swept away a World of sinners did not wash away their sins: and the fire at the last day, that shall devour the dross of the visible World, and renew the Heavens and the Earth, shall not purge away the sins of the guilty Inhabitants. This pollution hath so defiled and disfigured Man, who was a fair and lovely type, wherein the skill and perfections of the Creator was conspicuous, that it repent God, that he made Man. As an Artificer having formed a surprising piece, either a Statue or Picture, wherein Art almost equalled the life and lustre of Nature; if it be torn or broken, throws it from his sight with sorrow, impatient to see it so rudely defaced: thus God is said to hid his face from sinners, to express his displeasure, as unwilling to behold the Disparagement of his Masterpiece, the excellent Product of his Wisdom and Power.  
2. Sin has degraded Man from his native State and Dignity. Man by his Extraction and Descent was the Son of God, a little lower than the Angels, consecrated and crowned, as a Priest for the Service and Communion with his glorious Maker, and as King over the World. But being in honour, he understood not his dignity, his duty and felicity, and became like the beasts that perish. By his Rebellion against his Creator, he made a Forfeitute of his Dominion, and lost the Obedience of sensible Creatures, and the Service of Insensible; which I only mention, and shall restrain my Consideration, to show how he is become like the Beasts, as an Effect resulting from his Sin. He is devested of his White Robe of Innocence, and his noblest Perfections, Reason and Religion. Sense and Imagination, the leading Faculties in Brutes, are his Rulers: The rational governing Powers of Man, have lost their superior Sway, and the Carnal Passions rove without Reins to forbidden Objects. The lower Appetites are predominant, which is the most ignominious and cruel Servitude wherein humane Liberty can be entangled and fettered. His Understanding and Will, that were capable of taking a flight for the Discovery and Fruition of celestial and eternal things are debased, and limited to sensual perishing things, and derive vilifying Qualities from them. He is earthly minded, his Aims, Contrivances, Desires are fastened to the Earth: the divine Spark within him is covered under Ashes. He is carnally minded, always studying and making provisions for the flesh: This is a viler Debasement, than if the Counsellors of State were employed in the sordid Offices of the Kitchen or Stable. Nay, 'tis a Diminution below the Rank of Beasts, for by nature they are uncapable of directing their Eyes and Desires towards Heaven; but Man is Brutish by his voluntary Sin. To see the Head of a rapacious Wolf, or fierce Tiger, or lustful Horse joined to the Body of a Man, how monstrous would it appear? But 'tis more unnatural and ignominious, for Men, in whom Reason and Religion should govern, to resemble them in the brutish Appetites of Lust and Rage; for there is a nearer Affinity between the Body of a Man and of a Beast, that agree in the common sensible Nature, than between the Immortal Spirit of a Man, and the Beasts that perish. In short, Sin has enslaved Men to Satan an Infernal Fiend: They are taken Captives by him at his pleasure: And which is the lowest Degradation, they are the Servants of Corruption.  
3. Sin has broke the sweet Peace and blessed Concord in the Soul, the Felicity of our innocent State. Peace is the Tranquillity that results from Order and Unity. In Man there was a regular Harmony of all his Faculties; the Affections were Consonant with his Will, his Will with his Understanding, and his Understanding with the Law of God. This was the inward State of his Soul in his Creation; for having a derived being, it was natural and necessary, that he should be appointed to his End, and receive his Rule for the obtaining it, from the Understanding and Will of his Maker. Now whilst there was a Correspondence in his Faculties, and their Operations with his Rule and End, the Will of God, and the Glory of God, the Result of it, as well as the Reward of it, was Spiritual Peace with God, Internal Peace with himself, External Peace with others. Now Sin has dissolved this Unity, violated this sacred Order: And from hence,  
1. Peace with God, that consisted in his Favour and Friendship to us, and our filial dependence upon him, which is the Spring of full and satisfying Joy, is broke. God appears a fearful Enemy against the Sinners; the penal Effects of his Wrath, I shall speak of distinctly under the second general: And that Divine Calm in the Conscience, that Peace joined with the purest Pleasure, that was the refleex of God's Favour on the Soul, is changed into anxious Apprehensions of his just Power to punish us. Gild generates Fear, and Fear Hatred, and both cause a woeful flight from God.  
2. Internal Peace is broke by Sin. Whilst the Passions were subordinate to the Empire of Reason, and in accord among themselves, there was perfect Peace; but Sin has raised an intestine War in Man's Breast. The Law of the Members rebels against the Law of the Mind: for there is no Man so prodigiously Wicked, and spoiled of his primitive Endowments, but still there remains some Principles of Morality in the Mind, 
P●●●●a hae●●●t ●●●io qu●●●●e j●d●●● nem● n●c●●● ab●●●vi●.  so that his Conscience discovers and condemns the Vices he allows and practices, which makes the Sinner uneasy to himself, and mixes Vinegar with his Wine. Besides, since the Passions are disbanded, into what Confusion is Man fallen? How Various how Violent are they, and often repugnant to one another? How often do we change their Habits and Scenes in a day? Sometimes we are vainly Merry, and then as vainly Sad; sometimes Desirous and then Averse, and with respect to ourselves, sometimes Pleased, sometimes Vexed, sometimes Aimable, and sometimes Odious; we are more mutable than the Planet that is the Emblem of Inconstancy. How often do Clouds of Melancholy darken the bright Serenity of the Spirit, and cast a dreadful Gloom over it? How often do Storms of Passion disturb its Tranquillity? The Breast of Man, that was the Temple of Peace, is become a Den of Dragons; every exorbitant Affection tears and torments him. 'Tis true, this is also a penal Effect from Divine Justice: There is no peace saith my God to the Wicked: With which that saying of St. Austin is Consonant, Jussit Domine, & sic est, omnis inordinatus affectus est sibi paena.  
3. Sin has broke our Agreement with one another. Wh●● there was a regular Consent between the superior and lower Faculties in all Men, they were in Unity among themselves, for they were perfectly alike. But the tumultuous and tyrannical Passions have engaged them in mortal Enmity. 'Tis the account St. James gives, From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your Lusts, that war in your Members? Sin kindles and blows the fire of discord, in Families, Cities, Kingdoms: Sin is the fury that brings a smoking fireband from Hell, and sets the World into combustion. Ambition, Avarice, the greedy desires of Rule and Revenge, have made the World a Stage of not feigned, but the most bloody Tragedies. In this Men are not like, but worse than the Beasts: for the fiercest Beasts of Africa or Hyrcania, have a respect for their own likeness: tho' they devour others, yet they spare those of their own kind: but Men are so degenerate as to be most cruel against their Brethren. These are some of the Evils, that proceed from sin as their natural Cause. And from hence 'tis evident, that sin makes Men miserable, were there no Hell of torment to receive them in the next State.  
2. I will consider the Evils consequent to sin, as the penal effects of the sentence against sin: of Divine Justice that decrees it, and Divine Power that inflicts it; and in these the sinner is often an active instrument of his own misery.  
1. The fall of the Angels is the first and most terrible punishment of sin. God spared not the Angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell, reserved in chains of darkness to judgement. How are they fallen? From what height of glory and felicity into bottomless perdition? How are they continually racked and tormented with the remembrance of their lost happiness? If a thousand of the prime Nobility of a Nation were executed in a day, by the sentence of a righteous King, we should conclude their crimes to be atrocious: innumerable Angels dignified with the titles of Dominions and Principalities, were expelled from Heaven, their native seat, and the sanctuary of life, and are dead to all the joyful operations of the intellectual nature, and only alive to everlasting pain.  
One sin of pride or envy, brought this terrible vengeance; from whence we may infer, how provoking sin is to the holy God. We read of King Vzziah that upon his presumption to offer incense, he was struck with a Leprosy, and the Priests thrust him out, and himself hasted to go out of the Temple: a representation of the punishment of the Angels: by presumption they were struck with a Leprosy, and justly expelled from the Celestial Temple, and not being able to sustain the terrors of the Divine Majesty, they fled from his presence. 'Tis said, God cast them down, and they left their own habitation.  
2. Consider the penal effects of sin with respect to Man. They are comprehended in the sentence of death, the first and second death, threatened to deter Adam from transgressing the Law.  
In the first Creation Man while innocent was immortal, for although his B●●y was compounded of jarring Elements, that had a natural tendency to dissolution, yet the Soul was endowed with such virtue, as to embalm the Body alive, and to preserve it from the least degree of putrefaction. But when Man by his voluntary sin was separated from the fountain of life, the Soul lost its derivative life from God, and the active life infused by its union into the Body. It cannot preserve the natural life beyond its limited term. A righteous retaliation. Thus the Apostle tells us, Sin came into the World, and death by sin. Even infants who never committed sin, die having been conceived in sin. And death brought in its retinue evils so numerous and various, that their kinds are more than words to name and distinguish them. Man that is born of a Woman is of few days, and full of trouble: at his birth he enters into a labyrinth of Thorns, this miserable World, and his life is a continual turning in it: he cannot escape being sometimes pricked and torn, and at going out of it, his Soul is rend from the embraces of the Body. 'Tis as possible to tell the number of the waves in a tempestuous Sea, as to recount all the tormenting passions of the Soul, all the Diseases of the Body, which far exceed in number all the unhappy parts wherein they are seated. What an afflicting object would it be, to hear all the mournful lamentations, all the piercing complaints, all the deep groans from the miserable in this present state? What a prospect of Terror, to see Death in its various shapes, by Famine, by Fire, by Sword, and by wasting or painful Diseases, triumphant over all mankind? What a sight of woe, to have all the Graves and Charnel-houses opened, and so many loathsome Carcases, or heaps of dry naked Bones, the trophies of Death exposed to view? Such are the afflicting and destructive effects of sin. For wickedness burns as a fire: it devours the Briars and Thorns.  
Besides other miseries in this life, sometimes the terrors of an accusing Conscience seize upon Men, which of all evils are most heavy and overwhelming. Solomon who understood the frame of humane Nature, tells us, The Spirit of a Man can bear his infirmity: that is, the mind fortified by Principles of moral Counsel and Constancy, can endure the assault of external Evils: but a wounded Spirit who can bear? This is most insupportable when the sting and remorse of the mind is from the sense of guilt: for then God appears an enemy righteous and severe: and who can encounter with offended Omnipotence? Such is the sharpness of his Sword, and the weight of his Hand, that every stroke is deadly inward. Satan the cruel enemy of Souls, exasperates the wound. He discovers and charges sin upon the Conscience, with all its kill aggravations, and conceals the Divine mercy, the only lenitive and healing Balm to the wounded Spirit. What visions of horror, what spectacles of fear, what scenes of sorrow are presented to the distracted mind by the Prince of darkness? And which heigthens the misery, Man is a worse enemy to himself than Satan: he falls upon his own Sword, and destroys himself. Whatever he sees or hears, afflicts him, whatever he thinks torments him. The guilty Conscience turns the Sun into darkness, and the Moon into blood: the precious promises of the Gospel, that assure favour and pardon to returning and relenting sinners, are turned into arguments of despair, by reflecting upon the abuse and provocation of mercy, and that the advocate in God's bosom is become the accuser. Doleful state! Beyond the conception of all, but those who are plunged into it. How often do they run to the grave for sanctuary, and seek for death as a deliverance?  
Yet all these anxieties and terrors are but the beginning of sorrows: for the full and terrible recompenses of sin shall follow the Eternal Judgement, pronounced against the wicked at the last day. 'Tis true the sentence of the Law is passed against the sinner in this present state, and temporal evils are the effects of it, but that sentence is revocable: at death the sentence is ratified by the Judge upon every impenitent sinner; 'tis decicive of his state, and involves him under punishment for ever: But the full execution of judgement shall not be till the public general sentence pronounced by the everlasting Judge, before the whole World. It exceeds the compass of created thoughts to understand fully the direful effects of sin in the Eternal State: For who knows the power of God's wrath? The Scripture represents the punishment in expressions, that may instruct the mind, and terrify the imagination: that may work upon the Principles of Reason and Sense by which Men are naturally and strongly moved.  
1. Sinners shall be excluded from Communion with the blessed God in Heaven, in whose presence is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore. In the clear and transforming vision of his glory, and the intimate and indissolvable union with him by love consists the perfection and satisfaction of the immortal Soul. The felicity resulting from it, is so entire and eternal, as God is great and true, who has so often promised it to his Saints. Now sin separates lost Souls forever from the reviving presence of God. Who can declare the extent and degrees of that evil? For an evil rises in proportion to the good of which it deprives us: it must therefore follow, that Celestial blessedness being transcendent, the exclusion from it is proportionably evil: and as the felicity of the Saints results both from the direct possession of Heaven, and from comparison with the contrary state: so the misery of the damned arises, both from the thoughts of lost happiness, and from the lasting pain that torments them.  
But it may be replied, if this be the utmost evil that is consequent to sin, the threatening of it is not likely to deter but few from pleasing their corrupt appetites: for carnal Men have such gross apprehensions, and vitated affections, that they are careless of Spiritual glory and joy. They cannot taste and see how good the Lord is: nay, the Divine Presence would be a torment to them: for as light is the most pleasant quality in the World to the sound Eye, so 'tis very afflicting and painful to the Eye when corrupted by a suffusion of humours.  
To this a clear answer may be given: in the next state where the wicked shall for ever be without those sensual objects which here deceive and delight them, their apprehensions will be changed; they shall understand what a happiness the fruition of the blessed God is, and what a misery to be uncapable of enjoying him, and expelled from the Celestial Paradise. 
Luke 15.28.  Our Saviour tells the infidel Jews, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves shut out. How will they pine with envy at the sight of that triumphant felicity of which they shall never be partakers? Depart from me, will be as terrible a part of the judgement, as eternal Fire.  
2. God's justice is not satisfied in depriving them of Heaven, but inflicts the most heavy punishment upon Sense and Conscience in the damned: for as the Soul and Body in their state of union in this life, were both guilty, the one as the guide, the other as the instrument of sin, so 'tis equal when reunited they should feel the penal effects of it. The Scripture represents both to our capacity, by the worm that never dies, and the fire that never shall be quenched: and by the destroying of Body and Soul in Hell fire. Sinners shall then be tormented, wherein they were most delighted: they shall be invested with those objects, that will cause the most dolorous perceptions in their sensitive faculties. The lake of Fire and Brimstone, the blackness of darkness, are words of a terrible signification, and intended to awaken sinners to fly from the wrath to come. But no words can fully reveal the terrible ingredients of their misery: the punishment will be in proportion to the glory of God's Majesty that is dishonoured and provoked by sin, and the extent of his power. And as the Soul was the principal, and the Body but an accessary in the works of sin, so its capacious faculties will be far more tormented, than the more limited faculties of the outward senses. The fiery Attributes of God shall be transmitted through the glass of Conscience, and concentered upon damned Spirits: the fire without them is not so tormenting as this fire within them. How will the tormenting passions be inflamed? What rancour, reluctance, and rage against the power above that sentenced them to Hell? What impatience and indignation against themselves for their wilful sins the just cause of it? How will they curse their Creation, and wish their utter extinction as the final remedy of their misery? But all their ardent wishes are in vain: for the guilt of sin will never be expiated, nor God so far reconciled as to annihilate them. As long as there is justice in Heaven, and fire in Hell, as long as God and Eternity shall continue, they must suffer these torments, which the strength and patience of an Angel cannot bear one hour. From hence we may infer, what an inconceivable evil there is in sin, and how hateful it is to the most High, when God who is love, who is styled the Father of mercies, has prepared and does inflict such Plagues for ever for the transgression of his holy Laws: and such is the equity of his judgement, that he never puni●●es offenders above their desert.  
I shall now apply this Doctrine, by reflecting the light of it upon our minds and hearts.  
1. This discovers how perverse and depraved the minds and wills of Men are, to choose sin rather than affliction, and break the Divine Law for the obtaining temporal things. If one with an attentive Eye regards the generality of mankind, what dominion present and sensible things have over them, how securely and habitually they sin in prosecution of their carnal aims, as if the Soul should not survive the Body, as if there were no Tribunal above to examine, no Judge to sentence and punish sinners, if he has not marble bowels, it will excite his compassion or indignation. What comparison is there between the good things of this World, and of the next in degrees or duration? Airy honour, Sensual pleasures, and Worldly riches, are but the thin appearances of happiness, shadows in masquerade, that cannot afford solid content to an immortal Spirit: the blessedness of Heaven replenishes with everlasting satisfaction. What proportion is there between the light and momentary afflictions here, and a vast eternity filled with indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, and desperate sorrow? What stupid Beast, what monster of a Man, would prefer a superficial transient delight, the pleasure of a short dream, before ever-satisfying joys? Or to avoid a slight evil venture upon destruction? Yet this is the true case of sinners: if they can obtain the World with the loss of Heaven, they count it a valuable purchase, if they can compound so, as to escape temporal troubles, though involved under guilt that brings extreme and eternal misery, they think it a saving bargain. Amazing folly! Either they believe or do not, the recompenses in the future state: if they do not, how unaccountable is their impiety? If they do, 'tis more prodigious they do not feel the powers of the World to come so as to regulate their lives and control the strongest temptations to sin against God. A wicked believer is more guilty than a wicked infidel. How could we conceive it possible, were it not visible in their actions, that Men who have judicative faculties to compare and distinguish things, and accordingly be moved with desires or fears, should with ardent affections pursue despicable vanities, and neglect substantial happiness, and be fearful of the shadows of dangers, and intrepid in the midst of the truest dangers! He is a desperate gamester that will venture a Crown at a throw, against some petty advantage: yet this is really done by sinners who hazard the loss of Heaven for this World: they hang by slender strings, a little breath that expires every moment, over bottomless perdition, and are insensible, without any palpitation of Heart, any sign of fear.  
How strong is the delusion and concupiscence of the carnally minded? The lusts of the flesh bribe and corrupt their understandings, or diverts them from serious consideration of their ways and the issues of them. From hence it is they are presently entangled and vanquished by sensual temptations; they are cozened by the colours of good and evil, and Satan easily accomplishes his most pernicious and envious design, to make Men miserable as himself. How just is the reproach of Wisdom▪ How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity, and fools hate knowledge? The light of reason and revelation shines upon them, they have not the excuse of ignorance, but the righteous and heavy condemnation of those who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. 'Tis no mean degree of guilt to extenuate sin, and make an apology for sinners. The wisest of Men, tells us, Fools make a mock of sin: they count it a fond niceness, a silly preciseness to be fearful of offending God. They boast of their deceitful arts and insinuations, whereby they represent sin as a light matter, to corrupt others. But 'tis infinitely better to be defective in the subtlety of the Serpent, than in the innocence of the Dove. A mere natural, who is only capable of sensitive actions, and is distinguished from a Brute by his shape, is not such a forlorn sot, as the sinful fool. What the Prophet Jeremy speaks of one who gets riches unjustly, that he shall leave them, and in the end die a fool, will be verified of the wilful obstinate sinner: in the end he shall by the terrible conviction of his own mind be found guilty of the most woeful folly: and how many have acknowledged in their last hours, when usually Men speak with the most feeling and least affectation, how have they in words of the Psalmist arraigned themselves, So foolish have we been, and like beasts before thee?  
2. From hence we may be instructed of the wonderful patience of God, who bears with a World of sinners, that are obnoxious to his justice, and under his power every day. If we consider the number and aggravations of men's sins, how many have out-told the hairs of their Heads in actual transgressions, how mighty and manifest their sins are, that the Deity and Providence are questioned for the suspending of vengeance, and yet that God notwithstanding all their enormous injuries, and violent provocations is patiented towards sinners, it cannot but fill us with admiration. His Mercy like the cheerful light of the Sun visits us every Morning, with its benign influences; his Justice, like Thunder, rarely strikes the Wicked. He affords not only the supports of life, but many comforts and refreshments to the unthankful and rebellious.  
'Tis not from any defect in his Power that they are not consumed, but from the abundance of his Mercy. He made the World without any strain of his Power, and can as easily destroy it: he has an innumerable company of Angels attending his Commands, and every Angel is an Army in strength, one of them destroyed a hundred and fourscore and five thousand in a Night: he can use the most despicable and weakest Creatures, Frogs, and Lice, and Flies, as instruments of vengeance to subdue the proudest Pharaoh, the most obstinate Rebels.— He sees sin wherever it is, and hates it wherever he sees it, yet his Patience endures th●● crying sins, and his long sufferance expects their repentance. The Lord is not slack, as some Men count slackness, but he is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He spares sinners with such indulgence, in order to their Salvation. 'Tis deservedly one of his Royal Titles, the God of Patience. Our fierce Spirits are apt to take fire and revenge for every injury real, or supposed; but the great God, who is infinitely sensible of all the indignities offered to his Majesty, defers his anger, and loads them with his benefits every day. What is more astonishing than the riches of his Goodness, unless it be the perverse abuse of it by sinners to harden themselves in their impieties? But although his Clemency delays the punishment, the sacredness and constancy of his Justice will not forget it: when patience has had its perfect work, Justice shall have a solemn triumph in the final destruction of impenitent unreformed sinners.  
3. The Consideration of the Evil of Sin, so great in itself, and pernicious to us, heightens our Obligations to the Divine Mercy, in saving us from our sins, and an everlasting Hell the just Punishment of them. Our Loss was unvaluable, our Misery extreme, and without infinite Mercy, we had been under an unremediable necessity of Sinning and Suffering for ever. God saw us in this wretched and desperate State, and his eye affected his heart, in his pity he redeemed and restored us. This is the clearest Testimony of pure Goodness: for God did not want external Glory, who is infinitely Happy in his own Perfections: he could, when Man revolted from his Duty, have created a new World of Innocent Creatures: for infinite Power is not spent nor lessened by finite Productions, but his undeserved and undesired Mercy appeared in our Salvation. The way of accomplishing it, ren●ers Mercy more Illustrious: for to glorify his Justice, and preserve the Honour of his Holiness unblemished, he laid upon his Son, the Iniquity of us all. This was Love that passeth all Understanding: Our Saviour speaks of it with admiration; God so loved the world, and hated Sin, that he gave his only begotten Son to die for it, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  
And how dear are our Engagements to Jesus Christ? The Judge would not release the Guilty without a Ransom, nor the Surety without Satisfaction, and the Son of God most compassionately and willingly gave his precious Blood to obtain our Deliverance. If his Perfections were not most aimable and ravishing, yet that he died for us, should infinitely endear him to us. To those who believe he is precious: to those who have felt their undone Condition, and that by his Merits and Mediation, are restored to the Favour of God, he is eminently precious. Who can break the Constraints of such Love? If there be a spark of reason, or a grain of unfeigned Faith in us, We must judge, that if one died for all, than all were dead, and those that live, should live to his Glory who died for their Salvation.  
Add to this, that in the Sufferings of Christ there is the clearest Demonstration of the Evil of 〈◊〉, and how hateful it is to God, if we consider the Dignity of his Person, the Greatness of his Sufferings, and the innocent recoilings of his humane Nature from such fearful Sufferings. He was the eternal Son of God, the Heir of his Father's Love and Glory, the Lord of Angels; he suffered in his Body the most ignominious and painful Death, being nailed to the Cross in the sight of the World: The Sufferings of his Soul were incomparably more afflicting: For though heavenly Meek he endured the Derision and cruel Violence of his Enemies with a silent Patience, yet in the dark Eclipse of his Father's Countenance, in the desolate state of his Soul, the Lamb of God opened his Mouth in that mournful Complaint, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His innocent Nature did so recoil from those fearful Sufferings, that with repeated ardency of Affection, he deprecated that bitter Cup: Abba Father, all things are possible to thee, let this cup pass from me: He addressed to the Divine Power and Love, the Attributes that relieve the Miserable, yet he drank off the dregs of the Cup of God's Wrath. Now we may from hence conclude, how great an Evil Sin is, that could not be expiated by a meaner Sacrifice, than the offering up the Soul of Christ to atone incensed Justice; and no lower a Price, than the Blood of the Son of God, the most unvaluable Treasure could Ransom Men who were devoted to Destruction.  
4. The consideration of the evil of sin in itself and to us, should excite us with a holy circumspection to keep ourselves from being defiled with it. 'Tis our indispensable duty, our transcendent interest to obey the Divine Law entirely and constantly. The tempter cannot present any motives, that to a rectified mind are sufficient to induce a consent to sin and offend God. Let the scales be even, and put into one all the delights of the senses, all the pleasures and honours of the World, which are the Elements of carnal felicity, how light are they against the enjoyment of the blessed God in glory? Will the gain of this perishing World, compensate the loss of the Soul and Salvation for ever? If there were any possible comparison between empty deluding vanities, and celestial happiness, the choice would be more difficult, and the mistake less culpable, but they vanish into nothing in the comparison; so that to commit the least sin that makes us liable to the forfeiture of Heaven, for the pleasures of sin that are but for a season, is madness in that degree that no words can express. Suppose the tempter inspires his Rage into his Slaves, and tries to constrain us to Sin by Persecution; how unreasonable is it to be dismayed at the Threaten of Men, who must die, and who can only touch the Body, and to despise the terrors of the Lord, who lives for ever and can punish for ever? Methinks we should look upon the perverted raging World, as a swarm of angry Flies, that may disquiet, but cannot hurt us. Socrates, when unrighteously prosecuted to Death, said of his Enemies, with a Courage becoming the Breast of a Christian, They may Kill me, but cannot Hurt me. How should these Considerations raise in us an invincible Resolution and Reluctancy against the Tempter, in all his Approaches and Addresses to us? And that we may so resist him, as to cause his flight from us, let us imitate the excellent Saint, whose Example is set before us.  
1. By possessing the Soul with a lively and solemn Sense of God's Presence, who is the Inspector and Judge of all our Actions. Joseph repelled the Temptation with this powerful Thought, How shall I sin against God? The fear of the Lord is clean, 'tis a watchful Sentinel, that resists Temptations without, and suppresses Corruptions within: 'Tis like the Cherubin placed with a flaming Sword in Paradise, to prevent the Reentry of Adam when guilty and polluted. For this end we must, by frequent and serious Considerations, represent the Divine Being and Glory in our Minds, that there may be a gracious Constitution of Soul; this will be our Preservative from Sin: for although the habitual thoughts of God are not always in act, yet upon a Temptation they are presently excited, and appear in the view of Conscience, and are effectual to make us reject the Tempter with Defiance and Indignation.  
This holy Fear is not a mere judicial Impression, that restrains from Sin, for the dreadful Punishment that follows; for that servile affection, though it may stop a Temptation, and hinder the Eruption of a Lust into the gross act, yet it does not renew the Nature, and make us Holy and Heavenly. There may be a respective dislike of Sin with a direct affection to it. Besides, a mere servile Fear is repugnant to Nature, and will be expelled if possible. Therefore, that we may be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, we must regard him in his endearing Attributes, his Love, his Goodness and Compassion, his rewarding Mercy; and this will produce a filial Fear of Reverence and Caution, lest we should offend so gracious a God. As the natural Life is preserved by grateful Food, not by Aloes and Wormwood which are useful Medicines; so the Spiritual Life is maintained by the comfortable Apprehensions of God, as the Rewarder of our Fidelity in all our Trials.  
2. Strip Sin of its Disguises, wash off its flattering Colours, that you may see its native Ugliness. Joseph's reply to the Tempter, How shall I do this great wickedness? Illusion and Concupiscence are the Inducements to Sin: When a Lust represents the Temptation as very alluring, and hinders the Reflection of the mind, upon the intrinsic and consequential Evil of Sin, 'tis like the putting Poison into the Glass: but when it has so far corrupted the mind, that Sin is esteemed a small Evil, Poison is thrown into the Fountain. If we consider the Majesty of the Lawgiver, there is no Law small, nor Sin small, that is the Transgression of it. Yet the most are secure in an evil course, by conceits that their Sins are small. 'Tis true, there is a vast difference between Sins in their nature and Circumstances: there are insensible Omissions and accusing Acts, but the least is Damnable. Besides, the allowance and number of Sins reputed small, will involve under intolerable Gild. What is lighter than a grain of Sand? you may blow away a hundred with a Breath, and what is heavier than a heap of Sand condensed together? 'Tis our Wisdom and Duty to consider the Evil of Sin in its essential Malignity, which implies no less, than that God was neither wise nor good in making his Law, and that he is not just and powerful to vindicate it: And when tempted to any pleasant Sin, to consider the due Aggravations of it, as Joseph did, which will control the Efficacy of the Temptation. I shall only add, that when a Man has mortified the lusts of the flesh, he has overcome the main part of the infernal Army that Wars against the Soul. Sensual objects do powerfully and pleasantly insinuate into carnal Men, and the affections are very unwillingly restrained from them. To undertake the cure of those, whose Disease is their pleasure, is almost a vain attempt: for they do not judge it an evil to be regarded, and will not accept distasteful remedies.  
3. Fly all tempting occasions of sin. Joseph would not be alone with his Mistress. There is no virtue so confirmed, and in that degree of eminence, but if one be frequently engaged in vicious Society, 'tis in danger of being eclipsed and controlled by the opposite vice. If the Ermines will associate with the Swine, they must lie in the mire: if the Sheep with Wolves, they must learn to by't and devour: if Doves with Vultures, they must learn to live on the prey. Our surest guard is to keep at a distance from all engaging snares. He that from carelessness or confidence ventures into temptations, makes himself an easy prey to the tempter.  
And let us daily pray for the Divine Assistance to keep us from the evil of the World; without which all our resolutions will be as ineffectual as ropes of sand, to bind us to our duty.  
5. The consideration of the evil of sin is a powerful motive to our solemn and speedy Repentance. The remembrance of our original and actual sins, will convince us, that we are born for repentance. There are innumerable silent sins, that are unobserved and do not Alarm the Conscience, and although a true Saint will neither hid any sin, nor suffer sin to hid itself in his breast, yet the most holy Men in the World, have great reason with the Psalmist to say with melting affections, who can understand his errors, O cleanse me from my secret sins, discover them to me by the light of the Word, and cover them in the blood of the Redeemer: There are sins of infirmity and daily incursion, from which none can be perfectly freed in this mortal state: these should excite our watchfulness, and be lamented with true tears: There are crying sins, of a crimson guilt, which are to be confessed with heart-breaking sorrow, confounding shame, and implacable antipathy against them, and to be forsaken for ever. Of these, some are of a deep die in their nature, and some from the circumstances in committing them; some are of a heinous nature, and more directly and expressly renounce our duty, and more immediately obstruct our Communion with God. As a mudwall intercepts the light of the Sun from shining upon us. 2. Some derive a greater guilt from the circumstances in the commission. Such are, 1. Sins against knowledge: for according to the ingrediency of the will in sin, the guilt arises. Now when Conscience interposes between the carnal Heart and the temptation, and represents the evil of sin, and deters from compliance, and yet Men will venture to break the Divine Law, this exceedingly aggravates the offence; for such sins are committed with a fuller consent, atd are justly called rebellion against the light. And the clearer the light is, the more it will increase the disconsolate fearful darkness in Hell.  
2. Sins committed against the Love as well as the Law of God are exceedingly aggravated. To pervert the benefits we receive from God to his dishonour, to turn them into occasions of sin which were designed to endear obedience to us, to sin licentiously and securely in hopes of an easy pardon at last, is intensive of our guilt in a high degree. This is to poison the antidote, and make it deadly. There is a Sacrifice to reconcile offended Justice, but if Men obstinately continue in sin, and abuse the Grace of the Gospel, there is no Sacrifice to appease exasperated Mercy.  
3. Sins committed against solemn promises and engagements to forsake them, have a deeper die: for perfidiousness is joined with this disobedience. The Divine Law strictly binds us to our duty, antecedently to our consent; but when we promise to obey it, we increase our obligations, and by sinning break double chains. In short, any habitual allowed sin, induces a heavy guilt, for it argues a deeper root and foundation of sin in the Heart, a stronger inclination to it, from whence the repeated acts proceed, which are new provocations to the pure Eyes of God. Accordingly in repenting reflections, our sorrow should be most afflicting, our humiliation deeper, our self-condemnation most severe for those sins which have been most dishonourable to God, and defiling to us. Not that we can make any satisfaction for our sins, though we should fill the Air with our sighs, and Heaven with our tears, but it becomes us to have our sorrows enlarged in some proportion to our unworthiness. And this mournful disposition prepares us for the grace of God. The Law does not allow repentance, but exacts entire obedience: 'tis the privilege of the Gospel that repenting sinners are assured of forgiveness: without this qualification 'tis inconsistent with the Majesty, Purity, and Justice of God to extend pardoning Mercy to Sinners: for they will never value, nor humbly and ardently seek for Mercy, till they feel the woeful effects of sin in their Conscience; only the stung Israelite would look to the brazen Serpent: and this is requisite to prevent our relapsing into sin: for the dominion of sin being founded in the love of pleasure, the proper means to extinguish it is by a bitter repentance: the Heart is first broken for sin, and then from it.  
To Conclude, Let us renew our repentance everyday: let not the wounds of our Spirits putrify: let not the Sun go down upon God's wrath: let us always renew the applications of Christ's blood that alone can cleanse us from Sin.   

The Case, or Question, which comes to be spoken unto this morning, is; Quest. How may Private Christians be most helpful, to promote the entertainment of the Gospel? SERMON XII.  Colossians iv 5. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without— 
YE have heard the Question; And, (as I conceive) a due attendance unto the words read, may lead us far, toward the Resolution of it. And, for that reason, was this Text chosen. I design not, therefore, to frame a set Discourse upon it, but only to lay it, as a groundwork, to support that which I have to offer, toward the Answering of the Question propounded.  
We have, before us then, a serious Exhortation, [Walk in wisdom, toward them that are without] And therein we may observe,  
1. The Persons, to whom the Apostle doth direct it: And, they are private Christians. This is apparent; (1.) In that, here is no intimation given, that he intended any other. Not one of those Characters are set upon them, whereby the Pastors, or Guides of the Church use to be distinguished from the Community of Believers. (2.) The Duties, which he exhorts them unto, may undoubtedly, and aught to be performed by private Christians: As, To continue instant in prayer, and to watch in the same with thanksgiving, verse 2. To pray, in special, for the Apostle himself, that he might receive Divine Assistance, and be blessed with success, in the Ministry of the Gospel, verse 3, 4. To walk in wisdom, toward them that are without, redeeming the time, verse 5. That their speech be always with grace— ver. 6. With all which, the same persons are charged. Now, to walk in wisdom toward them that are without, is a Duty of a great latitude. And if it comprehend the promoting of their Conversion, and Salvation, (as certainly it doth, having an aptitude, tendency, and efficacy to help it on.) Then must private Christians take themselves to be concerned therein: For, to them is this Exhortation directed. And so we have gained a very considerable point. That we may, from this Text, charge the Duty upon the Consciences of private Christians, in the name, and authority of Jesus Christ. 2. We have an account of the Persons, with respect to whom, in a special manner, private Christians are counselled [to walk wisely.] And they are described by this Periphrasis: [Them that are without] i. e. Such as had not as yet entertained the Gospel, nor professed subjection to it, but still continued in a state of Infidelity. This is clear, from 1 Cor. v. 12, 13. What have I to do, to judge them also, that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. The sum whereof is this: That scandalous Christians are to be corrected by Church-censures, when milder remedies prove ineffectual. But those flagitious persons, who are out of the Pale of the Church, are to be left to the judgement of God, and of the Civil Magistrates. Thus we are advanced one step farther. For we have discovered that those to whom private Christians may be very helpful, may be such, as are without. i e. Heathen, or Infidels, and therefore they must not cast off all care of them.  
3. We are to inquire, what is that special work, and business, in the disposal, and management whereof, private Christians are charged [To walk wisely toward them, that without.] I suppose, none are so weak, as to surmise, that the Apostles intent, and meaning, was, to caution them, to make sure, and advantageous bargains, when they traded with Infidels, who being false and crafty, might be likely to overreach them. This was too low, for the Apostles Spirit. It was something of a more sublime import, and tendency, viz. To admonish, and excite private Christians so to demean themselves in all things, that they might beget, even in the Heathen themselves, a due veneration for the Gospel, and a love, and liking of that holy Religion, which they professed. And, to enforce this his Counsel, the Apostle did set them a fair example, in his own practice, 1 Cor. x 33. Even as I please all men, in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. And hence, we learn further, That private Christians in their negotiations with Heathens, and Infidels should not mind only, the enriching of themselves, but chief, the promoting of the Conversion of those poor miserable Souls to the Faith of Jesus Christ.  
4. In order to the winning over of Infidels to Christ, private Christians ought sedulously, to endeavour to promote the admission of the Gospel among them. For the Gospel is the glorious Chariot, in which Christ is carried about the World. And, that it may be entertained among them, to procure the Preaching of it to them. For that is God's method; and the Apostles way of reasoning, is clear, and strong, Rom. x. 14, 15. How shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a Preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? Here, then are many things wherein private Christians may be very helpful. As in seeking out and procuring those, who may preach the Gospel among them: Encouraging, and supplying those who give up themselves to that blessed work: In disposing those poor creatures, (as much as they may) toward the Reception of the Gospel, and preventing, or removing all impediments that might obstruct their entertainment of it. This shows us, In what private Christians should desire, and endeavour to be Helpful, viz. In promoting the entertainment of the Gospel.  
5. The last thing (the former four being established and admitted) is to inquire, How private Christians may be most helpful herein? The Text gives a general Direction when it enjoins them to walk in wisdom, toward them that are without. And this will administer to us occasion, to lay out this general direction, more distinctly, and particularly. Thus, I hope, the opening of the Text hath reflected some light upon the Question, and all that I have to offer may be gathered up in this Observation:  
Private Christians, walking in wisdom, toward them them that are without, may be exceeding helpfu l, to promote the entertainment of the Gospel among them. This, they may do and more. For they may be helpful to promote their Conversion, and Salvation. To further the entertainment of the Gospel among them, is but the Means: To promote their Conversion, and Salvation is the End. And the Means are for the end. Now, it is expressly affirmed, That a Private Believer may save an Infidel, 1 Cor. seven. 16. For what knowest thou, O Wife, whether thou shalt save thy Husband? Or, how knowest thou, O Man, whether thou shalt save thy Wife? i. e. The believing party may be induced to cohabit with the unbeliever, upon a hopeful prospect, that it is possible to conquer them by love, to attract them to have an esteem for holiness, by an exemplary conversation, and to obtain God's grace for them, by ardent prayers, and so be the Means of saving their Souls. The Apostle Peter exhorts Christian Women, who were yoked with unbelievers, to become eminent for their Modesty, Chastity, Humility and Respectfulness to their Husbands, by the same argument, 1 Pet. three 1, 2. Likewise, ye Wives, be in Subjection to your own Husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may, without the word, be won by the conversation of their Wives: while they behold your chaste conversation, coupled with fear. Christian graces being so exercised, that they may be seen, in their proper lustre, are excellent Orators, and have a mighty power to persuade. It is more to live virtue, than to commend it. Let me have leave to say to women professing godliness, (as the Apostle styles them, 1 Tim: two. 10.) O, live to such an eminent pitch of holiness, that ye may raise an admiration of you, in the judgements of such, as otherwise, would have no great reverence for religion, and give them occasion to say (as it is reported that Libanius an Heathen Philosopher, did) Proh, Quales faeminas habent Christiani! Oh, what excellent women have these Christians!  
The Correspondence between the Text, and the Question, having been (as I think) sufficiently insisted upon; I shall now apply myself, to give a direct, and satisfactory answer, to the Question propounded. And that I may speak to it, the more intelligibly, and profitably, I shall consider,  
1. The Persons mentioned in it; and they are [private Christians.]  
2. Their Duty, and work; and that is [to be helpful, to promote the entertainment of the Gospel.]  
3 The way, that they are to take, and the Means that they are to make use, of, that they may be most helpful, in the carrying on of that blessed work.  
1. The Persons specified. And they are [private Christians.] In which, is intimated, (1.) Their general Character [as Christians] (2.) The restrictive term that is added, to denote their special circumstance, as they are [private Christians] which limits our Inquiries, or calls on us, to speak more specially, at least, of the Duty, and work of private Christians, in the undertaking mentioned in the Question.  
(1.) It is supposed, That Christians only, will be willing, or proper to be made use of, in this holy work. We may conclude, that they who reject the Gospel, and put away Salvation from them, (as those did, who are mentioned, Acts 13.46.) will never (while they continue in that temper, and disposition) promote the entertainment of the Gospel, but will endeavour, to obstruct, and hinder it.  
But all Christians (in the most comprehensive latitude) both stand obliged in point of Duty, and may also, Eventually, be helpful, to promote the spreading of the Gospel, even every one, who nameth the name of Christ, 2 Tim. two. 19 Or, that is called by his name, as, Jer. xiv. 8. Even, those Christians as are such, only by External profession, though they remain destitute, of Internal, and Real Sanctification, may be helpful herein, by their common Gifts, their Interests, their Services, and by contributing their Assistance, and Encouragement, to those, who are engaged in this holy work. And they may be influenced by such Motives, and Inducements, as may excite, and engage them thereunto. Such as these (for aught I know) may be admitted to contribute their help to Build the Temple of the Lord, and are not to be excluded. For, probably, Christ's Aphorism, Mark ix. 40. He that is not against us, is on our part, may be understood of such. But, how far such may be Accepted, or Rewarded, falls not under our present Enquiry. This, I presume, will be admitted by all, That such only as are Christians indeed (as Christ said of Nathanael, John i 47. Behold an Israelite, indeed) are the only Persons, who are rightly principled and will be found sincerely affected to this blessed work, and will be most vigorously Active, in carrying it on. This may suffice touching the Persons, under their general Character, as [Christians.]  
(2.) Their special circumstance, as they are [Private Christians] whereby they are distinguished from such as are invested with public Offices. Such are Christian Rulers, and Magistrates, who are the Ministers of God, who bear the Sword; and such as are called to preach the Gospel, who are Ministers of the Word. I confess, these come not, directly, within the compass of our Question, for that concerns [Private Christians;] neither yet ought they wholly to be excluded out of it: because they are Christians, and therefore are not silently to be passed over. And so I shall say something, yet but little of them. Doubtless, both Christian Magistrates, and Ministers of the Gospel, are as much obliged, in point of Duty, to promote the entertainment of the Gospel, as private Christians; and they may do more, because they have greater Advantages put into their hands; for that is a Rule, laid down by our Saviour himself, Luk. xii. 48. Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.  
(1.) For Christian Rulers, when their Hearts are throughly knit to Christ, in Faith, and Love, and they act upon Gospel-principles, and according to the Rules thereof, what wonderful things may they perform, toward the enlargement of the Kingdom of Christ in the World? If a poor Bondslave, who lies in the lowest rank of men, may, in his Station, serve the Lord Christ, Col. iii. 24. What eminent services may Princes, and Potentates do him, who are placed in the highest rank of men, and dignified with the title of Gods? The zeal of Constantine the Great. for the Christian Religion, is praised by more, than are disposed to imitate it. But when those who have given their Strength, and Power to the Beast, shall hate the Whore, and make her desolate, and devote their Crowns, and Sceptres to the Lamb, we may hope for those blessed days, wherein the light of the Gospel, shall shine forth so gloriously, as to illustrate the whole World. This should excite all Private Christians, to pray hard, that God would put it into the Hearts of Kings, and those who are in Authority, to kiss the Son, by whom they reign.  
(2.) As for the Ministers of the Gospel; all they who understand, and attend unto their Office and Duty, must acknowledge; that they are under the strictest, and most forcible engagements in the World, to lay out themselves entirely, and (to the uttermost of their Capacity) to serve the Lord Jesus, and to help forward the enlargement of his Kingdom. And yet, it is not the Duty, and Work of every ordinary Minister to go up and down the World, to preach the Gospel, for the Conversion of the Heathen, as the Apostles, and Evangelists did. [Rom. xv. 20. Yea, so have I strove to preach the Gospel, where Christ was not named.] Because they are commanded by Christ, to attend upon their proper flocks, Act. xx. 28. 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. But, what Measures they are to take farther, or what Methods, they are to pursue, to promote the spreading of the Gospel, is indeed, a very Christian, and noble enquiry. At the debate whereof, I should most gladly stand, as a silent Learner, and not presume to be a Director. However, I hope, it will be excusable, if I offer one thing to the Consideration of those whose Piety, and Learning may challenge a due esteem in the Hearts of all that fear God. We have had among us, Committees for the Encouragement, and Increase of Trade. And what if there were some to consult, How the Gospel might be propagated? The Papists have at Rome their Congregatio de propagandâ Fide. Their design may be very ill, while they contrive not, How that Faith, which was once delivered to the Saints, may be propagated; but how the Leven of their own Superstition may be diffused, and especially, How the Pope's Kingdom may be enlarged. And yet, to deliberate, How the Gospel of the Grace of God, may be carried into the dark corners of the Earth for the Conversion, and Salvation of them who are ready to perish, and so the Kingdom of Christ get ground in the World, is, I am sure, a most holy, and excellent design; and so I recommend this also to the Prayers of Godly, private Christians.  
These few things being suggested touching those Christians, who bear a Public Character, I, now, shall address myself to all Godly, Private Christians; and I must exhort, and beseech them, with all the fervour I can, to set their hearts sincerely, upon this glorious work, and to bestir themselves in it with all their might. This belongs to every Christian, as such, in what circumstances soever the Providence of God doth dispose of them, whether they be High, or Low; Noble, or Base; Rich, or Poor; Learned, or Unlearned; Male, or Female: None are to be excluded, or exempted.  
But, it is likely, This may seem strange to many Private Christians. That they should be charged, in the Name of Christ, to be helpful, to promote the spreading of the Gospel all the world over. Alas! will one say, (with the Eunuch) I am a dry tree, and no such fruit is to be expected from me. And I (will another say) am but a cipher, and make no Figure in the world (as the Phrase goes) and therefore, I can signify nothing. But, let me beseech all Private Christians, to take heed of shifting off from themselves, any Duty, or Service, that Christ calls them to, or would employ them in. And, To suspend their Determination a little, until I have showed them (as Christ shall enable me) How, and wherein, Private Christians may be helpful, in this Great, and Good work. And then, I hope, they will see, That they may do much more therein, than, possibly, they have, hitherto, apprehended.  
The second thing mentioned, is, Their Duty, and Work. Which is, To be helpful in promoting the Entertainment of the Gospel. And the third thing, is, How, or in what ways, and by what means, they may be most helpful in it. But (for dispatch sake) I shall speak, to both these, Conjunctly.  
Now, That I may proceed herein, the more clearly, and profitably, I think it may be useful, to place Private Christians, according to their several Circumstances, and Capacities (as to the matter now under consideration) in three Ranks, or Orders.  
1. There are many Private Christians, who live very remote from such Places, and People, as have not the Gospel preached unto them: Or, at least, have not, hitherto, entertained it.  
2. There are some Private Christians, who may, Occasionally, go into, or may, Providentially, be cast, into such Places.  
3. There are some Private Christians, who live among such people, in a more fixed, or constant Residence; As, In our Factories abroad; Or, In our Plantations in the Indies, or other Heathen places.  
Now, Tho' it be the Duty of all Private Christians, To promote the entertainment of the Gospel; yet all cannot take the same Measures, nor be Active in the same ways. And therefore, it may be to very good purpose, To let each of them to see, wherein their Proper work doth lie, That they may contribute their assistance, accordingly.  
1. Most of the Private Christians, among us, live very Remote from those People, who have not, as yet, entertained the Gospel. And so, They cannot be helpful unto them, by Personal instruction, or counsel: Neither can they attract them by the Example of their holy conversation. And yet, they may greatly contribute toward the promoting of the entertainment of the Gospel among them. And that they may do, several ways, e. gr.  
1. They may, and aught to pray in Faith. That the Gospel may be sent among them. That it may be Received by them. And be blessed to the Conversion, and Salvation, of all that are ordained to Eternal life, among them. For such Prayers, being according to the Will of God, They may be confident, that he heareth them, 1 Joh. v. 14. And that God requireth, and expecteth such Prayers from them, cannot be unknown to any, who acquaint themselves with the Scriptures. For, (1.) Our Lord Jesus Christ recommendeth this matter to the Prayers of private Christians, Matth. ix. 37, 38. Then, saith he unto his Disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the Labourers are few. Pray ye therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth Labourers into his harvest. Here we may take notice, (1.) That by the Metaphor, or Allegory of an Harvest our Saviour would instruct us, That, as when the Corn is ripe, Men use to employ Reapers, to cut it down, and gather it in: So there are some blessed Seasons, wherein God hath decreed, to send the Gospel among a People, and accordingly prepares, and disposeth them for the Reception of it, and raiseth in them a propensity, and strong affection toward it. Thus it was, when John the Baptist came, and Preached, That the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, Matth. iii. 2. and it follows in verse the 5th, Then went out unto him, Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan. And our Saviour sets a special remark upon that time, Matth. xi. 12. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. When, therefore, ye hear, That the Day of the Gospel, gins to Dawn, in any of the dark corners of the Earth, Then, Lift up a Prayer, That the Grace and Power of the Spirit, may accompany it, and make it successful. (2.) Our Saviour teacheth you to pray, That the Labourers may be increased, proportionably to the work; as when he saith, [The Harvest is plenteous, but the Labourers are few.] Pray then, that God would employ such as are Skilful, and Industrious; such as Paul describes, 2 Tim. two. 15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth; And pray, That God would employ such a number of them, as is sufficient for the work. A Reverend Person among us, hath, for many years, complained, That, in many places, where there is but One to labour in the Ministerial Work, there is enough for three, or four, tho' all of them be very industrious. But it seems that Men either cannot, or will not make better provision. (3.) Private Christians, when they perceive, How the case stands, should be importunate with God, that he would send forth Labourers into his harvest. [Send them] by the Efficacious word of his Power. [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut ejiciat, vel extrudat.] Thrust them out by his Grace working in them, and his Providence ordering of circumstances concerning them. It is no wonder if Flesh and Blood shrink from the employment of carrying the Lord's Message to a barbarous people. Moses would fain have been excused, from going into Egypt, and he multiplied Evasions, and Pretences, till the Lord was angry with him, Exod. iii. 10, 11, 14. and Chap. iv. 1, 10, 13. When the Lord sent Paul to Preach the Gospel among the Gentiles, that he might hearten him, for that difficult, and dangerous work, he promised him Protection, Act. xxvi. 17, 18. Delivering thee from the People— to whom I now send thee: To open their eyes— They stand in need of a mighty presence of God with them, who have just cause to fear, That those people will seek their death, to whom they bring the word of Life, and Salvation. I thought this Scripture so apposite to the matter in hand, and so directive to private Christians, that it may plead my excuse for this enlargement upon it.  
(2.) That Private Christians may be sure to mind it, our Saviour hath put it into the Rule of Prayer, Matth. 6.10. [Thy Kingdom come.] I have read, That it is one of the Jews Maxims, touching Prayer; Ista Oratio, in quâ non est memoria regni Dei, non est Oratio: That Prayer, in which there is no mention made of the Kingdom of God, is no Prayer at all; when we pray [Thy Kingdom come] we beg, That the Gospel, which is the Rod of Christ's Power, and the Sceptre of his Government, may spread all the world over. For where the Gospel is believed, and obeyed, there doth Christ reign over fallen Man, as Mediator.  
(3.) The Saints, under the Old Testament, prayed for the Calling, and Conversion of the Gentiles, under the Gospel-dispensation, Psal. lxvii. 2, 3. That thy way may be known upon Earth, thy saving health among all Nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; Let all the people praise thee.  
(4.) When, by the Preaching of the Gospel, in any place, the people were wrought upon, and brought to Believe in Christ, They were exhorted to pray, That the Word of the Lord might be carried to all other parts of the Gentile-world, 2 Thess. iii. 1. Finally, Brethren, Pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you. And such Prayers are not to be thought to be lost, or put up to God in vain. That Prediction, or Promise [Rom. xuj. 20. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet, shortly] did, doubtless excite many a Prayer; and That Promise was eminently accomplished, and those Prayers which were grounded upon it, and put up to God, in faith, took effect, when the Kingdom of Satan (administered in the Idolatries of the Gentiles) was laid waste, and the Christian Profession was advanced by Constantine the Great. Having now, so inviting an occasion offered to me, give me leave to present a Request to you, and it shall be, in the words of the Apostle, 1 Thess. v. 25. Brethren, Pray for us; for those who labour among you, in the Word, and Doctrine. And, I hope, I may, without vanity, enforce this Request, by the same Apostles Argument, or Motive, Hebr. xiii. 18. Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things, willing to live honestly. Many reflect upon us with disparagement, and we are very sensible of our own many, and great infirmities. But, Help us with your Prayers, That we may Be better, Live better, and Preach better. It is no Paradox, but a well-weighed Truth, That a godly private Christian, upon his knees, in his Closet, may assist the Minister, in his Study, and in the Pulpit. And that I may prevail in my Request, I can assure you, That whatsoever Gifts, or Graces, ye obtain of God, for your Ministers, by your Prayers, they will come as Blessings upon yourselves; like the vapours that rise from the Earth, being concocted in the Middle-Region, fall down upon it again, in fruitful showers, 1 Cor. three 21, 22. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas— If any say, This is a Digression from the Case which I was to speak to, I would entreat them to consider, what is the general scope, and design of it, and they will find, That it comports very well with it. Once, I am sure, That it is as much the Duty, and Concernment of private Christians, to pray for the Success of the Gospel, that it may be blessed to the Conversion, and Salvation of Souls, in England, as that it may be preached, entertained, believed, and obeyed, in the uttermost parts of the Earth. And so, I will return, to prosecute my Discourse with two Remarks.  
(1.) That, From what hath been said, touching the Prayers of private Christians for the spreading of the Gospel, we may be assured, That God hath determined to bestow those Mercies, for which he commands his people, to pray. And more than That, He usually bestows them, in the disposal of his Providence, upon the intervention of his People's Prayers, as may be collected from Ezek. xxxvi. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness,— ver. 27. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my Statutes.— ver. 30. I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the Field.— compared with ver. 37. Thus saith the Lord, I will yet for this, be enquired of, by the house of Israel, to do it for them.  
(2.) That no godly private Christian can object against his Duty, in praying that the Gospel may be carried to all Nations, and be entertained by them, nor allege any excuse, or pretence, why they should be exempted from it. If any hesitate, let me expostulate the matter with their Consciences. Have ye received the Spirit of Christ, as the Spirit of Grace, and Supplication, and can ye not pray? Do ye feel the Love of Christ, warming, stirring, and constraining your hearts, and will ye not pray? ye dearly value the Glory of God, and sincerely desire, That the earth may be full of the Knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the Sea: And can ye refrain from praying, that this may be performed? ye tenderly compassionate the miserable condition of Poor, Perishing Souls, and will ye not afford them so much as your Prayers, that they may be relieved? Are ye not greatly affected with the distinguishing Grace of God, in bringing the Gospel to you, and opening your Hearts to receive it? How, then, Can ye offer up your Praises to God, for so signal a Mercy, without making some reflection on the deplorable state of those who have not, as yet, obtained the like favour, without lifting up a Prayer for them, that they may be made partakers of the same Grace?  
Or will ye reply, That you do pray indeed, That God would visit the heathen World with the Gospel of Salvation: But ye cannot think, that your Prayers will contribute much toward so great, and good a work. Suffer me to debate this also, a little, with you. Why will you reproach the Spirit, and Grace of Prayer, in saying, it can avail little, or nothing, when God himself, saith, Jam. 5.16. The effectual, fervent Prayer of a Righteous man availeth much? Those Prayers, which can mount as high as Heaven, are able also, to reach the ends of the Earth. Why will ye, by your disobedience, (as much as in you lies) make void the Commandments of Christ? Doth not He expressly charge you, To pray to the Lord of the Harvest, that he would send forth Labourers into his Harvest? And, to pray, That his Kingdom may come? And, will ye say, That the Lord Christ, doth enjoin his Servants to do that, which is insignificant, and impertinent? Why will you, by your unbelief, go about to make the Promises of God of none effect? When as, he himself hath assured us, That, He will fulfil the (regular) desires of them that fear him, Psal. cxlv. 18, 19 And that, whatsoever we ask, according to his will, he heareth us, 1 Joh. v. 14. For ever then, beware of entertaining that Temptation, which is form and cherished in the hearts of the ungodly; Who say unto God— What profit should we have, if we pray unto him? Job xxi. 14, 15. I shall close this, when I have added, That were the Prayers of private, godly, Christian's more frequent, intense, and importunate, for the spreading of the Gospel, it would be an hopeful indication, that the Gospel is about, through the blessing of God, to find better entertainment in the World, than it hath done, of later years.  
This may suffice to have been spoken, touching the first way, and means, wherein private Christians, who live remote from those places, where the Gospel is not entertained, may be helpful to promote the spreading of it, that it may be brought to them, viz. by the Prayers, which they put up to God, in Faith, for the propagation of it.  
2. The second way, and means, whereby private Christians, who live remote from those places, whither the Gospel is not yet come, may promote the reception of it, among them, is, By a ready, cheerful, and liberal contribution of supplies, and encouragements to them, who labour in that holy work. And, here, the different Abilities, and Capacities of private Christians are to be considered. They who are rich, may cast in much, into the Lord's Treasury; and, for the proportion, the Apostles Rule, and Measure should be attended unto, 1 Cor. xuj. 2. [Every one, as God hath prospered him.] When the Tabernacle was to be made, every one brought something. They who had gold, silver, and precious stones, offered them; they who could bring but rams-skins, and badgers skins, were accepted. And those good Women, who had nothing to bring, did, yet, spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, and they also were accounted, and recorded among the Contributers. What private Christian is there, who can afford Nothing? They who subsist by the labour of their hands should spare something for works of Piety, and Charity, Eph. v. 28.  
To excite, and encourage you, to comply with this Direction, I shall lay before you▪ several Examples, which will show you, how Practical, and Acceptable a work, this is. (1.) Private Christians were helpful to our Lord Jesus Christ himself, in his preaching of the Gospel, in the days of his flesh, upon Earth. Tho all things were made by him, and he upholds them by the Word of his power, and so the Earth is His, and the fullness thereof, yet, for our sakes▪ he became poor, and was pleased to receive provisions, for his subsistence from some godly women, who ministered to him of their substance, Luk. viij. 1, 2, 3. (2.) The Apostle Paul records it, to the praise of the Philippians, That they were careful of him, and made provision for him, not only, when he laboured among them, and when he was in Bonds for preaching the Gospel, (And I hearty wish, that all private Christians, among us, yea, and such as glory in their profession, would keep pace with them, so far,) but also, when he was employed in the service of the Lord, among such as were, then, strangers to Christ, and the Gospel, Phil. iv. 15, 16. Now ye Philippians, know also, that, in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no Church communicated with me, as concerning Giving, and Receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once, and again, to my necessity. (3. St. John drawing up the fair character of Gaius, a private Christian, placeth this, as a beautiful flower in his garland, That he was hospitable, and liberal to those who for Christ's names sake, went forth (preaching the Gospel) among the Gentiles, taking nothing of them, 2 Ep. John ver. 5.6, 7. Let private Christians take notice, that the name of Gaius, and his Charity, are registered in the sacred Scripture, and if their disposition, and practice, be like to his, theirs also shall be written, in Christ's book of remembrance, Mat. x. 41, 42. He that receiveth (and so he that encourageth) a Prophet, in the name of a Prophet, shall receive a Prophet's reward. (4) Take notice, that it stands as a Blot in the Escutcheon of the Corinthians, that they were altogether for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Gratuitum Evangelium. A Gospel that should cost them nothing. Corinth was the most convenient, and so the most frequented Port, for Trade, in all Greece. The Inhabitants are said, to have been very Wealthy, Proud, and Voluptuous. They had abundance to spend upon Themselves, but could find nothing for Paul, while he resided among them, and preached the Gospel to them. For this, the Apostle makes a very mild, but a very close reflection upon them, enough to make their Consciences to start, if they had any Spiritual life, and sense; and their Faces to blush, if they retained any sparks of Ingenuity in them, 2 Cor. xi. 8, 9 I rob other Churches, taking wages of them, to do you Service; For, when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man, for, that which was lacking to me, the Brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. It is a sad word, but too frequently experienced; That a faithful Minister of Christ may Labour, and yet Live in want, in a wealthy City. And, I think, it cannot be rationally supposed, that such as suffer those to want, who labour among them, will be very forward, with their purses, to assist them who preach the Gospel to Infidels, in the remote parts of the World.  
Upon this Head, give me leave to say a little, as I did upon the former. London doth outshine Corinth in Trade. God grant that it may still flourish in wealth, and yet be preserved from those Vices, which are the usual Attendants of it. May London ever have the Corinthians advantages, and the Philippians spirit. It will be, I hope, to the praise of God, and of many of London's Citizens, to Recollect what hath been done here, to help on, the propagation of the Gospel, in New-England; and I hope also, that the care of that work is not extinct, but will revive, as there may be a necessity, and opportunity for it. When I shown how private Christians might he helpful, to promote the Gospel, by their Prayers, I made a Request to you, that ye would not fail to befriend those who preach it at home, with your prayers, that they may receive grace, and assistance from God, and be blessed with Success. And now, I shall take the liberty, to present another, to you, in the behalf of many, who preach the Gospel among us; your Contributions for Wales, and the Collection made at Pinners-hall, for the encouragement of several poor Ministers, in the Country, hath afforded matter of rejoicing to many: And, I doubt not, have drawn forth many praises, and prayers to God, on your behalf; and let me beseech you, be not weary of well-doing, in this Instance. The Apostle found, that Professors are as likely to faint, and tyre, in works of Charity (especially if they be frequent) as in any Christian duty whatsoever, and therefore, he fixeth his Counsel, and Encouragement there, Gal. vi. 9 And let us not be weary of well doing, for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not. Bear with me, if, in special, I commend to your care, those whom the Providence of God hath disposed of, in good Market-Towns, and Corporations. Possibly, some may think, that such are well enough provided for. But many find, that the Corinthian temper hath not left the World. Even in good Towns, Ministers may Preach, and want. I think, I shall not speak beside the purpose, if I shut up this with, 1 Tim. v. 8. He that provideth not for his own, is worse than an Infidel.  
This may suffice to have been spoken touching the second means, whereby private Christians, (who live remote from such places, as have not entertained the Gospel) may be helpful toward the bringing of it, among them.  
3. The third way, wherein private Christians (who live far from those places, where the Gospel is not entertained) may be helpful, to promote the admission of it, among them, is to use their interest in those, who on several occasions, may go to such places, by importunate persuasions, and pertinent directions, to excite them, to carry a Love, and Zeal for Christ, in their own hearts, and from that principle, to act to the uttermost of their capacity, for the spreading of his Gospel, and the enlargement of his Kingdom. It was (I think) a good design of Hugo Grotius, who (as he tells us) wrote his Book, Of the verity of the Christian Religion, for the use of his Countrymen, who Sail to the uttermost ends of the Earth, to furnish them with proper Arguments, which might leave a due impression thereof, upon the hearts of the poor Heathen. Private Christians may also write to their friends, who live abroad, to endeavour to convince the miserable Captives of Satan, that their Idols are vanities. This course did the Prophet Jeremy take, to excite, and direct the Jews, who were in Babylon, how they should deal with those among whom the providence of God had cast them, Jer. x. 11. Thus shall ye say to them; The Gods who have not made the Heaven, and the Earth, even they shall perish from the Earth, and from under the Heavens. It is observed by learned men, that this verse is written in the Chaldee tongue, though the rest of the book be written in Hebrew, whereby, he doth, as it were, put the words into their mouths, that they might speak to them, in their own language, so as to be understood by them, and by this, he doth instruct us, That it is not sufficient for the worshippers of the true God, to keep themselves from the pollutions of Idols: but they must do more, for they must make Profession of the true God, and his worship. The like course may private Christians take, to promote the conversion of the Ignorant, Earthly, and Profane, at home, with whom they have no personal converse, and that is, To stir up others, who have that advantage, to deal with them, about the everlasting concernments of their Souls. Thus I have spoken something touching the case of such private Christians, as come within the first Circumstance, viz. Such as live remote from the places, where the Gospel is not entertained, and in what ways they may be helpful in order to their reception of it.  
2. I proceed to consider the case of such private Christians, as occasionally, or providentially, are brought among those people, which have not entertained the Gospel; and to show, how they may be helpful, in bringing them into acquaintance with the Doctrine of Salvation. Let none pretend, that because this work doth, specially, belong to the Ministers of Christ, that, thereupon, private Christians, are exempted, or discharged from that which God hath made their Duty. Let none think to excuse themselves, by saying, They are not learned: for they are a Reproach to Christianity, who have not learned the Essentials of their Religion; and the enforcing, and inculcating of these, must lead the way in the Conversion of Infidels. Let none say, They have enough to do, to mind their own business: For, I doubt not, but if they minded the Interest of Christ more, their own would prosper the better. But if they drive on any Design, that is contrary to the Faith, or Precepts of the Gospel, it will be found their Duty, and safety, to extricate themselves out of it, as soon, as they can. If they suggest, that it would be a vain thing for them to expect, or attempt to do any good among Infidels: That will be found to be only the sluggards Plea; There is a Lion in the way, Prov. xxvi. 13. He who hath no heart to an undertaking, will not fail to lay, in his own way, huge Mountains of insuperable difficulties. But, to prevent, or remove all Evasions, it shall be proved, that among private Christians (if we may judge by circumstances, or visible appearance) few or none, (if they really be such as they profess themselves) do labour under such disadvantages, or improbabilities of succeeding in their attempts of recommending Christ, and his Gospel, as many of those were under, whom, yet, the Lord made use of, and eventually blessed, in communicating the knowledge of Himself, to such as were, before, strangers to him. To manifest this, I shall produce four Examples; two out of the holy Scriptures, and two out of Ecclesiastical History. Out of the holy Scriptures, one shall be out of the Old Testament, the other out of the New. Out of the Old Testament, it is surprising and astonishing to observe what a glorious work, the Lord brought about, by the Instrumentality of a little captive Maid, whom the Syrians had brought out of the Land of Israel. Read 2 Kings v. 2, 3. to verse 19 The brief summary whereof is this; The poor, little Girl, waiting on her Lady, dropped a few words, [Would God, my Lord were with the Prophet in Samaria! for he would recover him of his Leprosy.] Another takes up those words, and reports them to Naaman. Many such Discourses are breathed, and expire in the same moment. The more wonderful is the conduct of God's Providence, who worketh all things according to the counsel of his will. I may accommodate to this case, what was spoken upon a very different account, James iii. 5. Behold, how great a matter, a little spark kindled! For, by various steps, the Conversion of Naaman was, at last, accomplished; and, considering his Character, and Interest, we may probably conjecture, that his Example, and Counsel might prevail with others also, to turn from Idols, and to serve the living and true God. We cannot well pass by this strange, and remarkable Instance, without staying so long as to observe, (1.) That this little Girl appears to have been seasoned with the knowledge of the True God, and to have been acted, in what she said, by a principle of Faith. This she shown by her confidence, That God would work a miracle, by his own Prophet, and Servant Elisha; for it was He whom she intended, as the sequel discovers. Samaria was then, like Athens, a City wholly given to Idolatry; therein had Ahab built an Altar, and an House for Baal, and he had four hundred, and fifty Priests to attend his Worship. The Inhabitants may well be supposed to have been, generally, of the Court-Religion, only some few resorted to Elisha, and they, it's likely, in a more private way. We read of the good Woman of Shunem, 2 King. iv. 22, 23. that was one of his Disciples; and this Girl seems to have been of that way. Happy are those young ones, upon whom the Fear of God, makes early impressions. (2.) God opened the way to Naaman's Conversion, by a little Maid. The weaker the Means, the more is God's Power glorified. (3.) A few good words dropped occasionally, may operate very successfully, especially when they are suitable, and seasonable, Prov. xxv. 11. Let private Christians mind this. (4.) A poor, little Maid carried into captivity, opened the way to the Conversion of one of the greatest Personages in the Country. It is very lamentable to hear so frequently of Men, and Women, Boys, and Girls, carried away captives, by Turks, and Tartars. But who can tell, whether God may not, in his own good time, by some or other of them, convey the knowledge of Christ to some perishing Souls? This may suffice touching the Example produced out of the Old Testament.  
The Example out of the New Testament, shall be of those who were driven out of Jerusalem, in the persecution that followed the Martyrdom of Stephen, of whom ye may read, Acts viij. 4. [Therefore they who were scattered abroad, went every where preaching the Word] in the strange countries whither providence led them, and a wonderful blessing went along with them, as ye may see, Acts xi. 19, 20, 21. Now they who were scattered abroad upon the persecution, that arose about Stephen, traveled as far as Phenice.— Which when they were come to Antioch, spoke unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them; And a great multitude believed and turned unto the Lord. These were private Christians, for any thing that appears to the contrary. And, what they did, was no more, than every private Christian Regularly may, and, in duty, aught to do, if the Criticism of the late learned Annotator, be allowed, who saith, That though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do Materially signify the same thing: Yet, perhaps, they differ in the manner. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is a work that lies in common; any Christian may publish the glad tidings of the Gospel, and give a Relation of our Lord Jesus Christ, his Doctrine, Miracles, Sufferings, Resurrection, etc. Which was permitted to be done by Women themselves. But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to proclaim the Gospel, as Heralds, appointed, and authorized thereunto by Jesus Christ. This is proper to the Ministers of the Gospel, and belongs to their Office. Upon this, I shall leave one Remark only, That it were greatly to be wished, that all such as for their adherence to the Gospel, are, by persecution, driven from their Habitations, and Countries, were persons of the same Spirit with those who were scattered abroad from Jerusalem, such as bring the Grace, and word of God with them, whithersoever they come; so would they prove great Blessings to all that receive them. This may suffice to have been spoken of the New-Testament instance.  
To the examples, taken out of the Holy Scriptures, I shall subjoin two also, out of Ecclesiastical History. The one is related by Ruffinus, who gives this account of the Conversion of the Kingdom of the Iberians to the Faith. There was, saith he, a certain poor woman, who had been taken Captive, and lived among them. She was, at first, taken notice of, for her Sobriety, and Modesty: and then, for her spending so much ●ime in Prayer. These raised a great admiration of her in the minds of the Barbarians. At last, they brought to her a sick child, which, upon her prayers, was restored to health. This spread her fame abroad, so that the Queen of the Country was brought to her, and by her prayers recovered. Whereupon the King, and Kingdom were won over to Christ, and the King sent to Constantine the Great, for some to instruct them farther in the Christian Religion. Ruffin. Hist. Eccl. l. 1. c. 10. The holy Conversation, and the ardent Devotions of private Christians are excellent means to recommend the Gospel, and to represent it, as most amiable, and .  
The other is of Frumentius & Aedesius. These being Christians, were left young in one of the Kingdoms, of the Inner India, and were, after some time, for their excellent parts, and unspotted life, honoured, and employed by the Queen of the Country, during the Minority of her Son. In process of time, some Roman Merchants came to traffic among them. Then Frumentius, understanding that there were some Christians among them, invited them to reside with him, and provided a place for them, where they might offer up their prayers to God, after the Christian manner; and himself, having obtained leave of the Queen, went to Athanasius, in Alexandria, requesting him to send some Bishop to that Kingdom to promote the farther entertainment of the Gospel among them, to which they were well inclined, and disposed for the reception of it. Athanasius ordained Frumentius himself, who returned, and by God's blessing, met with wonderful Success, Ruffian. Hist. Eccl. l. 1. c. 9 Socrat. Eccl. Hist. l. 1. c. 15. Sozomen. l. 2. c. 23. If providence shall bring these lines to the view of Christian Travellers, Merchants, and Mariners, who come among the poor Heathen, let the examples laid before them, excite, and encourage them to use their endeavours to bring them to the knowledge of Christ, and the entertainment of the Gospel.  
Thus much touching the case of those private Christians, who occasionally, or providentially may come to, or be brought to those places, where the Gospel is not entertained as yet.  
3. Such private Christians as live, in a more settled way, among the Indians, and other Heathen Nations, and were placed in the third rank, or order, come to have their case to be considered. How they may be most helpful, to promote the entertainment of the Gospel?  
To assist those whose hearts the Lord shall bow over to mind this excellent work, I shall lay before them two Directions. (1.) They must carefully avoid all those things, that have a proper tendency to alienate their minds, and affections from the Gospel, or to exasperate them against it. (2.) They must endeavour to use such means, and to take such courses, as have an aptitude to beget in them an esteem, and veneration for the Gospel, and so dispose them to embrace it.  
1. They who design, and endeavour to win upon others, and to dispose them for the Reception of the Gospel, must carefully avoid all such things, as have an aptitude to alienate them from it. I shall exemplify this Direction in some instances; as,  
1. Private Christians must prevent, or suppress all bitter contentions among themselves. It is sad to observe, That differences among Brethren are usually managed with such mutual accusations, and reproaches, as make the name of Christians despicable, or odious, especially to those, who are prejudiced against them. Contentions and Animosities among Christians break out, on two Occasions. (1.) There may Quarrels arise, about Earthly things. What can Heathens think of them, when they see them to malign, and worry one another, for such things, as their own Philosophy hath taught them, to make little account of? Abraham was very apprehensive of the evil consequences, that might have attended the strife between his, and Lots Herdsmen, probably, about their pasturage, or watering-places, and therefore he would not insist upon such pleas as he might reasonably have alleged on his own side, but stifled the contention, and sought an amicable composure, because he dreaded the scandal which would have been given to the Heathen, by their brabbles. This is suggested, Gen. xiii. 8, 9 The Canaanite, and the Perizzite dwelled in the Land. The Contentions, and wranglings of the Corinthians, about things that appertain to this life, and their going to Law for them, especially the bringing of their suits before Heathen-tribunals, was to cast reproach on the Christian Religion, as the Apostle intimates, 1 Cor. vi. 1, 2. How can Christians, without blushing, and confuting themselves, persuade others, To embrace the Gospel, which teacheth them to set their affections on things above, and not on things on the Earth. To have their hearts crucified toward the world, and yet, for the sake thereof to violate all the precepts, and to despise all the Promises of the Gospel? And (like Dogs, that fight about a bone) to tear out one another's throats, in their rage and fury? we may then conclude, that men, in whom a worldly Spirit is predominant, are very unfit to recommend the Gospel unto others. (2.) The Cross-sentiments which men espouse, and vindicate in things wherein Religion seems to be concerned, have begotten the widest breaches, and the most furious contentions that were ever found among Christians. If we inquire, what spark hath kindled this raging fire? We shall often find, that this Earnest contending is not for that Faith, which was once delivered to the Saints, but a dispute who shall be greatest; or, it may be, about something that is dark, doubtful, or unnecessary: or about some undetermined Mode. Or, possibly, as in some great conflagrations, we see the fire preys upon, and devours all, and yet we know not, who kindled it, or how it began. This is, and must be for a Lamentation. Once, I am sure, the divisions among Christians, and the bitter zeal which manageth their controversies about Religion, is a mighty impediment, and obstruction, that stops the progress of the Gospel. In the writings of the Ancients we find that the Heathen fortified themselves in their infidelity, and resisted the arguments and persuasions of those who recommended the Faith of the Gospel to them, with this Objection; The Christians are not agreed among yourselves, ye are broken into many Sects, and Factions, ye confute, and condemn one another; therefore it is more adviseable for us, to continue as we are, than to leave our present station, before we know, where to fix with any assurance that we are in the Right. All that I am able to do, at present, for the removal of this scandal, is to beseech private Christians, in the bowels of Christ, To value, love, and follow after the things that make for peace, Rom. xiv. 19 For, I fear, the Gospel will hardly get ground in the world, until the Spirit of Love, reigning, and acting the hearts of those that profess it, do open the way for it. In the first planting of it, the Concord of believers, (Acts two. 42.) did greatly contribute to its entertainment. It became a Proverbial speech touching Christians, Ecce quàm se diligunt invicem! Behold, how they love one another. This is a Subject, that cannot be too much insisted upon, nor too zealously enforced. I account them excellent, and happy persons indeed, who have a right to bear that Motto, Beati Pacifici. This may suffice touching the first obstruction, that hinders the entertainment of the Gospel.  
2. It is apparent, that they do not promote, but obstruct the entertainment of the Gospel, who would obtrude on those, whom they persuade to embrace it, such things to be believed, or practised (as a part of their Religion) as are not where to be found in it, much more, if they be directly contrary to it. e. gr. The Gospel doth expressly determine, that God only is to be the Object of religious worship, Mat. iv. 10. How then, can they recommend the Gospel, who tell their Proselytes, that they may admit mere Creatures, to be sharers with God, in that worship which is appropriated to him? The Gospel saith, That there is but one Lord, Mediator between God, and Man, 1 Cor. viij. 6. 1 Tim. two. 5. And yet, there are these, who pretend to win over men to the Gospel, who tell them, they must conjoin Angels, and departed Saints, with Christ in his Office, and Work of Mediator: The Gospel severely chargeth all those who believe it, to fly from Idolatry, 1 Cor. x. 14. 1 Joh. v. 21. which is the enforcement of the second Commandment [Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, etc.] What then, can they whom they are to instruct, think of it, when they see them, in profound devotion, to creep to, fall down before, and worship Images? especially, when, upon that very account, it is notorious, that Jews, and Mahometans, abhor the Gospel upon a supposition, that the worship of Images, is either Taught, or allowed therein. If I may have leave to declare my apprehensions, I must say, That the Gospel propounded in its own Native purity, and simplicity, as our Lord Jesus Christ delivered it, and as they who were divinely inspired, have recorded it, without any Additional supplements, or foreign mixtures, is the most effectual way, that God hath appointed, and promised to bless, for the subduing of the world, to Jesus Christ. And I should beseech those who endeavour the Conversion of Heathens, to press nothing upon them (except the presupposed Light, and Law of Nature, right Reason, and Discipline, to cultivate, civilize, and prepare them) save the naked Truths, Ordinances, and Rules, of the Gospel, in all plainness, and simplicity. So much for the second Obstruction.  
3. To symbolise, or comply with those, whom we would persuade to embrace the Gospel, in their Superstitious Customs, and Observances, is not the way, to promote the entertainment of it, but to obstruct it. Under the name of Customs, I do not comprehend, the using of the same Diet, or wearing the same Stuff, or Fashion in Apparel: for, possibly, the Temperature of the Climate, and other considerations may make them Necessary. Nor, do I mean, merely Political Customs, which are subservient to public order, justice, and tranquillity: But I intent Superstitious customs, and observances, wherein somewhat of Religion, or sanctity is placed. There are some things, which may pass in the rank of indifferent, in their own nature; which, yet, become Superstitious, when men place Religion, or Holiness in them. It is well, known, that Tertullian wrote his Book, De Coronâ militis, to justify the practice of a Christian Soldier, who refused to wear a Crown, or Garland of leaves on his Head, because the Gentiles were wont to go so adorned, in their Solemnities, and Processions, accounting it a Religious Rite. But, in regard that the Jesuits, are reported, to practice, and applaud their Method of Compliance with their Converts (as they call them) in India, or China, and other places; so far as to allow them to retain their Pa-gods, and to worship them, with some Mental reservations, and the right direction of their Intentions; it will be necessary to say something more of this, because I have mentioned it as an Obstruction, that hinders the entertainment of the Gospel. I shall therefore, briefly, set before you, (1.) What we may collect from the Authority of the Scripture; touching the case we are upon. (2.) What have been the Sentiments of some, in after-ages.  
1. What the Scripture hath determined, touching the compliance of the people of God with the superstitious customs of the Heathen, whether it be in way of approbation or allowance of them, or of symbolising, and conforming to them, though under the pretence of taking that course, to gain them over to the true Religion, e. gr. I suppose, that none will deny, That it was the duty of the Jews, to endeavour to proselyte others, to the Faith, and Worship of the true God. Let us, then, observe, what God did prescribe, in order thereunto. Did he allow them, to imitate their Rites, or Customs? No; but quite contrary, He severely chargeth, That, in no wise, they should symbolise with them, lest they should be entangled, or corrupted with their manners, Deut. xii. 30, 31. Learned men have bestowed much study, and diligence, to find out the Reasons of many Injunctions, and Prescriptions, which God appropriated to the Jews. In some of them, they have clearly discovered a Typical use, that they prefigured Christ, or his Church. In others, they find Virtue, and Morality to be instilled. In others, Provision to be made for Health, Decency, etc. But for several of them, they have resolved, that God imposed them on purpose, to set them at a greater distance from Idolaters: and to guard them from those evil impressions, which the Familiarising of their customs, might make upon them, as, they might not wear a garment of linen, and woollen wrought together, Deut. xxii. 11. because (as is said) the Egyptians used such. So, they were forbidden, To round the corners of their head, or, to mar the corners of their beard, Levit. nineteen. 27. because Idolaters, and particularly the Egyptians were so trimmed. It seems also, that other nations, who offered up their hair to their Demons, out of devotion, were polled after some such manner. It is undeniable, as might be argued, from these, and several other reasons. That it was utterly unlawful for the Jews, to symbolise with the heathen; in their Superstitious Rites. Neither is there a greater latitude for Christians under the Gospel. They are, certainly, obliged, to fly as far from Idolatry, as the Jews were. Some, indeed, in the Church of Corinth, took too great a liberty in their compliances with Idolaters, for they went, with their friends, into the Idols Temple, and feasted there with them, on the Remainders of the Sacrifices which had been offered to the Idols. And, it is probable, That they pretended, that, by such a condescension, in a thing indifferent, they designed to engage their friends affections, the better to recommend the Christian Religion to them. But the Apostle doth severely censure such Temporising, 1 Cor. viij. 10, 11. with chap. x. 20, 21. Thus, ye have had a short account of the Scripture Authority, resolving the Case.  
2. Let us, now, hear, what have been the Sentiments of some, in after-ages. They were of opinion, That, to adopt some heathenish observances, into the Christian worship, was not only warrantable, but also commendable, provided, that care should be first taken, to deal with them, as the Jews were to treat those captive heathen-women, whom they intended to marry, and that was, to shave their heads, and pair their nails, Deut. xxi. 11, 12. Thus they converted many Heathenish Rites, into Christian Ceremonies, when they had cleansed, and varnished them, as by changing their Object, End, or Mode. For instance; A learned man of our own, hath proved, That the Invocation of departed Saints, was nothing else, but the old doctrine of Demons revived. (Mr. Joseph Mede's Apostasy of the latter times.) Let not any one surmise, That this is an undue Reflection, or a false Insinuation, seeing a very learned English Prelate hath written, a small Tract, to show, That the Ecclesiastical Government observed by the British, and ancient English Pagans, they being converted unto Christianity, many of the Paganish Ceremonies, and Usages, not contrary to the Scripture, were still retained in their Christian policy. By means whereof, tranquillity, and peace were preserved, and the alteration in the state, less dangerous, or sensible. (Bishop Andrews his learned Discourse, of Ceremonies retained, and used in the Christian Churches.) How far those reasons did influence some, when we departed from Popery, I know not. But I suppose, some things were retained, which seem not to have been desirable upon any other account, than, to make the change less sensible in its self, and less dangerous to the State. As for the Thing itself; For some Centuries before the Reformation, there was so much borrowed from Jews, and Pagans, and lodged in the Church, that, at last, the Christian Religion, became much like to that of the Samaritans, 2 Kings xvii. 24. to verse 35. A compound of the worship of the True God, and of Idols blended together. So that the Church of God groaned for a Reformation. Much was done at first by our Worthies, possibly as much as the Times could then bear. What they could not do, they left to be completed by their Successors. And, what little reason we have now to think to ingratiate ourselves with the Pagan-Christians (as some think they have ground enough to style the Papists.) I would rather ye should hear from a learned Doctor, than from me, who delivers this, among his Documents (as he calls them.) Seeing we are so well assured, that the Papacy is the Kingdom of Antichrist, or that City of Babylon, wherein the people of God, were held captive, we should leave no string, or tassel of our ancient captivity upon us, such, I mean, as whereby they may take hold on us, and pull us back again into our former Bondage: but look upon ourselves as absolutely free from any tie to them, more than in endeavouring their Conversion, and Salvation. Which we knowing so experimentally not to be compassed by needless symbolizing with them, in any thing, I conceive our best policy, is studiously to imitate them in Nothing: But for all indifferent things, to think rather the worse of them, for their using them. As no Person of Honour, would willingly go in the known garb of any lewd, and infamous Persons. Whatsoever we court them in, they do but turn it, to our scorn, and contempt, and are the more hardened in their own wickedness. [Dr. Hen. More, Divine Dialogues, Part two. pag. 398.] How easily soever Pagan Rites were admitted into the Christian Church, I am sure many of them have taken such deep root, that it is very difficult to eradicate, and purge them out. So much for the third Obstruction.  
Fourthly, They who desire to be helpful in promoting the entertainment of the Gospel, must not, unnecessarily provoke, and exasperate those, whom they would win over to it. Moses refused to permit the Israelites, to sacrifice to the Lord, before the faces of the Egyptians, lest they should be enraged thereupon, and stone them, Exod. viij. 25, 26. They must not, indeed, forbear to do that, which, under all due circumstances, God hath made to be their present duty. Yet even, in such cases, they should remember my Text, [Walk in wisdom, toward them that are without.] And learn what that meaneth, I will have Mercy, and not Sacrifice. They must declare against their idolatry, and endeavour to convert them to the true God, as Paul did, Acts xiv. 15. We preach to you, that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God. And his success therein was wonderful, as Demetrius testifies, Act. nineteen. 26. Moreover, ye see, and hear, that not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded, and turned away much people, saying that they be no Gods, which are made with hands. But this must not be done with revile, reproaches, and insultations: but with judgement, tenderness, and meekness, 2 Tim. two. 25, 26. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.] We may conclude then, that it is none of God's way, (from whomsoever men have learned it,) to convert Heathens by robbing them of their Goods, and Estates, and butchering their Persons, which was the method that the Spaniards took to Gospellize the Indians, or to send Dragoons as Missionaries, to torment those, whom they call Heretics, thereby to reduce them to their Catholic Church. That's the fourth Obstruction.  
Fifthly, They must religiously avoid that which is the greatest Obstruction of all. The profligate, and flagitious lives of some that call themselves Christians. If men were prompted, and employed by the Devil himself, they could not take a more effectual course, to make the Gospel to be abhorred, than by living as some Christians do. How can it be expected, That the poor, ignorant Heathen, should have any reverence for the great, and Sacred Name of God, when they hear those, who pretend, that they have a deep veneration for him, to Reproach, and Blaspheme it? They will conclude, That men do but prevaricate, when they tell them, That Christ gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, Tit. two. 14. and yet live so, as if Christ died, only to procure for them a Licence to continue in sin, or to purchase impunity for them that do so. Will they believe those that tell them, Christ was made manifest, to destroy the works of the Devil, and that they act under him as the Captain of their Salvation, while they employ all their time, parts, and power to establish, and defend Satan's Kingdom! Can ye persuade men, That ye believe there is an Hell, and eternal Flames prepared for the ungodly, and impenitent, and that the wicked shall be cast into it, when they observe those that say, They believe this, to run posting, sporting, and laughing unto it? They will never apprehend, That the Heaven, which they are told the Gospel promiseth to the Faithful, and Holy, is any other than a Poetical Elysium, or a Mahometan Paradise, while they perceive that such as call themselves Christians, do prefer the world, and sensual pleasures before it. Can any man convince them, That the Saints are such excellent Creatures, when they see those who call themselves so, to live like Bruits, or Devils? It is a vain attempt to persuade others, To believe, and obey the Gospel, until they who profess it have learned better, what it teacheth them, Tit. two. 11, 12. To deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to live Soberly, Righteously, and Godly, in this present world.  
These are some of the stumbling Blocks, which are to be removed out of the way, before any successful persuasions, Motives, Inducements, or other Means will prevail, to dispose, and incline, those who have not received the Gospel, to embrace it.  
2. But these Obstructions being removed, what ways are to be taken, to help on the Entertainment of the Gospel? To answer that Question, I shall recommend unto you some Few, among many, which, I conceive to be most obvious, practicable, and effectual, e. gr.  
1. Private Christians should endeavour to oblige those whom they would persuade, by Civilities, Kindness, and doing good Offices for them, that they may be assured, that they love them, and seek their real, and eternal good. Our blessed Saviour, who best understood what Attractives were most proper, and powerful to draw men to receive Him, and his Gospel, took this Method, Act. x. 38. He went about Doing good. He did Good to men's Bodies, that he might do good to their Souls. The Miracles which he wrought, were generally, of Beneficence, and Obligations, as, To heal the Sick, To give Sight to the Blind, etc. It's true, He had a superior Aim, and End in working Miracles; which was, To show forth his Glory, to confirm his Doctrine, to strengthen the Faith of his Disciples, etc. Joh. two. 11. and xx. 31. yet secondarily, it was, To testify his Kindness, and Compassion toward those, whom he designed to persuade, to believe on him, Matth. xv. 32.— I have compassion on the multitude— and thereupon, he wrought a Miracle, for their Refreshment, ver. 36, 37, 38. feeding Four thousand Men, beside Women, and Children, with seven Loaves, and a few little Fishes. And, to this we may add the Apostles advice, Gal. vi. 10. As ye have opportunity, let us do good unto all men; even to such as are not of the household of faith; i. e. though they be Infidels. Very pertinent hereto, is that remarkable passage in Eusebius, who acquaints us, That the Christian Religion gained a very high esteem among the Infidels, upon this occasion; when Famine, and Pestilence raged extremely, in the reign of Maximinus, the Christians shown a tender compassion to the Pagans, when they were neglected by those of their own Superstition, for they Buried their Dead: attended, and ministered unto their Sick: and every day, distributed Bread, to those who were ready to perish; and so, by their works, declared themselves to be the true worshippers of God, through Jesus Christ, Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 9 c. 8.  
2 Private Christians must be very just, and punctual, in their Negotiations, and Traffic, with those whom they would persuade, to embrace the Gospel. They must inviolably keep their word, and promise with them, and take no advantage of their want of Skill, or Experience, thereby to overreach, and defraud them. Mr. Terry, that was Chaplain to Sir Thomas Row (as I remember) Ambassador at the Court of the Great Mogul, and hath written of those Countries, hath this passage, which cuts to the quick, That when the Indians offered a Commodity in Sale to a Christian, & he bade very disproportionably to the price demanded, they would usually reply, Do you think that I am a Christian? intimating thereby, That they made no conscience in Buying, and Selling, but thought all gain lawful, which they stuck not to purchase, by Flattery, Lying, and Unrighteousness. If then they should measure the Rules of the Gospel by the Practice of such as Profess it (which is very ordinary) they would despise it, as falling short of their own Philosophy, or Morality, which were greatly refined about Matters of common Right, and Justice.  
3. Private Christians should abound in the exercise of those amiable Graces, the Evidences, and Effects whereof fall under the notice, and observation of Others. Such as are mentioned, Gal. v. 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance. They who are Strangers to the Gospel, understand not the sublime Mysteries of Faith: But they can judge of things, that fall under the perception of Sense, and Reason. They understand not what a man's notions may be in Speculation; But they can tell, when a man is just, sober, humble, courteous, etc. and when those excellent Qualities do show themselves, they may be brought, to inquire into, and to admire those hidden Causes, that produce such rare, and desirable Effects.  
4 Private Christians should labour, to maintain, and discover an even, and undisturbed frame of Spirit, under various revolutions of Providence: neither over-joying their Comforts, nor Over-grieving their Crosses. 1 Cor. seven. 29, 30, 31. But this I say, Brethren, the time is short. It remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none: And they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not: and they that buy, as though they possessed not: And they that use this world, as not abusing it.— What a convincing Argument must this needs be, to one who is acted by no higher a Principle, than Flesh, or Nature, to behold a Christian, to live above the Gaieties of the world, as having more pure, spiritual, and heavenly Enjoyments to entertain his Soul withal? And to observe, That Crosses, and Afflictions, do not abate his Love to God, his Reverence, which he hath for God, or his Joy in him.  
5 Private Christians should make themselves remarkable, and considerable in the faithful discharge of Relative Duties. With these, they are frequently, and earnestly charged; and that upon this particular account, because the Honour, and Interest of the Gospel, is so much concerned in them, 1 Tim. vi. 1. Let as many Servants as are under the yoke, count their own Masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God, and his doctrine be not blasphemed. It is evident, that Heathen-Morality was greatly defective, in the regulating of Domestic Offices; and therefore, the Rules, and Directions given in the Gospel concerning them, must highly advance it, in the esteem, and judgement of all considering persons.  
6 Private Christians should order the whole course of their lives and conversations, so as it becometh the Gospel of Christ, Phil. i. 27. that thereby, they may adorn the Doctrine of God, and our Saviour, in all things, Tit. two. 10. when men see such glorious rays of Holiness sparkling, and shining in the whole tenor of a Christian's conversation, they must needs be convinced, That the Gospel doth furnish them with those Principles of Light, and Grace, that infinitely transcend those obscure, and broken notices of Good, and Evil, that are found in Lapsed, but Unrenewed Nature.  
These Instances, among several others, that might be mentioned, may direct private Christians, How they may be helpful to promote the Entertainment of the Gospel. Which was the Enquiry, at first propounded, to be answered.  
Application. And now, After that all this hath been spoken, It is likely, That some Private Christians, who mean well, may think this whole Discourse very remote from their concernments, and that it tends but little to their Edification, and thereupon infer, That the Subject was ill chosen; and that something more profitable might have been pitched upon. But I would entreat those, who have entertained any such prejudices, before they pass their censure, maturely to consider, what it is, that hath been insisted upon, and then I hope, that they who are sincerely Godly, and Prudent, will not think themselves unconcerned, in that which so nearly relates to the Glory of God; the Sanctifying of his Name, and the enlargement and Prosperity of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such prejudices being removed, There are two things, that I would earnestly recommend to godly private Christians.  
1. Charge your Consciences with this, as a necessary, excellent, honourable, and comfortable Duty, That ye stand obliged, in all ways prescribed by God, according to your circumstances, to be helpful toward the promoting of the entertainment of the Gospel. Look upon your former failings, as sinful, and to be repent of: and, for the future, apply yourselves more vigorously, and cheerfully to this blessed work. To move, and encourage you hereunto,  
1. Excite your Faith to receive, and reallize those many glorious Promises, which are made to Christ, as Mediator, touching the Establishment and Enlargement of his Kingdom in the world; as Psal. two. 8. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth, for thy possession; with abundance more of the same import.  
2. Consider that the Preaching of the Gospel is the ordinary means, whereby subjects are gained to Christ, and brought under his Government, Rom. x. 14, 15, 17. If ye then promote the spreading of the Gospel, ye enlarge the Kingdom of Christ.  
3. Tenderly pity, and compassionate the many Millions of the Sons, and Daughters of Adam, who were hewn out of the same Rock, and digged out of the same hole of the Pit with yourselves, who, as yet, lie in thraldom under Satan, and are Members of his visible Kingdom: It would, doubtless, be very grateful to you, if your assistance might contribute any thing toward their deliverance out of that miserable bondage: and the means to procure it, is to help on, as far as ye may, the bringing of the Gospel among them; for that is God's appointed way to effect it, Luk. iv. 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the , to preach deliverance to the captives— Acts xxvi. 17, 18.— and from the Gentiles, to whom I now send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of Sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified—  
4. Remember, That Grace, when it hath its freedom of exercise, will draw you off, from centring in Self, and raise in you a spirit of freedom, and nobleness to seek the good of others, especially to advance the Glory of God, in the Salvation of Souls. Take heed, that ye be not found in the number of those, of whom the Apostle speaks, Phil. two. 21. For all seek their own, not the things, which are Jesus Christ's.  
5. I hope ye do not desire to be excused, or excluded, from bearing any part, in that honourable and glorious work, of being employed by Christ, (in your Stations, and according to your Capacities) in the affairs of his Kingdom: but that it would grieve you at the very heart, to be laid aside, as a despised, broken Idol; when all this is recollected, and maturely pondered, where is that godly private Christian, that will deliberately say, I am not concerned, to be helpful, in such ways as are proper for me, in promoting the Entertainment of the Gospel?  
Secondly, As for those godly private Christians, whose hearts are sincerely willing to be serviceable to the Lord Jesus Christ, and would exceedingly rejoice to contribute all the assistance, that they are able to afford, for the Conversion, and Salvation of perishing Souls; but complain, That the work in which this Discourse would engage them, lies a great way off, and is out of their reach. But could they be employed about any thing of that nature, within the compass of their sphere of activity, they would most gladly embrace it, and vigorously bestir themselves in it. If that be, really, the Case of any, Then, I say to such, Up, and be doing, and the Lord be with you, to direct, help, and succeed you; for ye will find enough to do at your own doors, and, probably, in your own Houses. Briefly and plainly then, the matter stands thus: There are many, who have entertained the Gospel, as far as a general, ignorant, customary Profession will go: but are so far from admitting the spirit, life, and power of it, into their hearts, that they are not only utter strangers to it, but are full of bitter enmity against it. Will ye be helpful, now, to prevail with them to receive it, with Faith, Love, and Obedience? It will be as acceptable (and, I fear, ye will find it as difficult) a work to bring a wicked, hardhearted Christian, to believe in Christ, to the Salvation of his Soul, as an open Infidel to make profession of the Gospel. Ye will find many as ignorant of the very Essentials of Christianity, as the very Pagans; as froward, perverse, and opposite to all means of Instruction, as Indians; many that love their Lusts, and hold them as fast, as any in the world. The Barbarians are prejudiced against our Religion, because they understand it not, or have had it misrepresented to them: but the more plainly, and truly, it is set forth before profane ones, at home, the more bitterly do they hate it, and discover the greater aversation to it. So ye see, That tho' the Scene of the Question seemed to be laid afar off, yet the purport, and design of it reacheth us at home. And I believe, No godly private Christian will say, that he is not concerned to seek the Conversion and Salvation of the ignorant, sensual, profane, and ungodly ones, among whom they live. If ye ask me then, How may we be helpful thereunto? I answer, That generally, the same Methods are to be made use of, that have already been insisted upon. As, To endeavour, in our several Stations and Capacities, That such may be employed, and encouraged to Preach the Gospel, as are themselves seasoned with the Spirit, and grace of it, and zealously seek the Conversion, and Salvation of Souls. To Pray more fervently for the pouring out of the Spirit, to make the Preaching of the Word successful. To remove all Impediments and Obstructions, as far as we can, out of their way. To assist them with what help we can, by obliging, instructing, and persuading, and walking exemplarily before them. But I shall not proceed farther in this, because it would draw out the Discourse to too great a length: and I think it would be for your Edification, to review over again, what hath been already insisted upon, and then, upon second thoughts, ye may discover more, than fell under your notice, in the first cursory reading. I shall conclude all with Jam. v. 19, 20. Brethren, If any of you do err from the faith, and one convert him, Let him know, that he which converteth the Sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and hid a multitude of sins.   

Quest. How Christ is to be followed as our Example? SERMON XIII.  1 Pet. 2.21. lat. part. Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. 
THE Persons to whom the Apostle wrote this Epistle; are in the beginning of it, styled Strangers. So they were, because dispersed and scattered in several Kingdoms of the Gentiles; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Joh. 3.7.  and they were Pilgrims and Sojourners in the Earth itself; being regenerated and born from above; and minding a better Country; than was to be found here below. The Apostle endeavours to strengthen their Faith, to enliven their Hope, to fix their hearts upon the incorruptible and undefiled Inheritance: and to keep them in the way that leads to it.  
In this Chapter, where my Text lies, He admonishes them to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul: he exhorts them to a conversation, that would glorify God, convince the World, and adorn the Gospel: their Zeal ought to be so great of those works that are good; that they should not think much to suffer for well doing. Bona agere, & mala pati; to do good, and to hold on in so doing, though very ill requited for it; this is high and noble indeed; this is an honour not vouchsafed to the elect Angels; who are not capable of suffering; this is to be a Christian in truth and eminency: and to resemble Christ himself who suffered for us; leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.  
In the words which I have read, you may take notice,  
1. Of one end of Christ in Suffering; and that is, that he might leave us an example. To say that this was the principal end of his passion; to deny his satisfaction, as if it were impossible or needless; is heretical in a very high degree; to deny the Blood of Christ to be the price of our redemption, is to deny the Lord that bought us: And truly the only propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin being rejected; there is no other remaining; but a certain fearful looking for of judgement, and of fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries. And yet though Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree; He is not only our Redeemer, but our Example. He hath bequeathed Blessings never enough to be valued, in his Testament: he has also left us an incomparable Example. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies Example, is either taken from excellent Writing-Masters, who set a fair Copy for their Scholars to write after; or 'tis taken from Painters, who draw a curious Masterpiece, for inferior Artists their Admiration and Imitation.  
2. They were remarkable steps that Christ took when he was here in the days of his flesh: and among them all he did not take one wrong one. He was made of a Woman, made under the Law; and he did not in the least transgress the Law. He came upon this Earth to do his Father's Will; Heb. 10.7. Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God. And never did he any thing that was in any degree contrary to it.  
3. The Steps of Christ are to be followed. Good men in Scripture are our patterns, whose Faith and Patience we are to follow, Heb. 6.12. That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise. The Cloud of witnesses is to be minded, and the bright side of it gives a good light unto our feet: but there is a dark side of the Cloud which may make us cautious: we must take heed of resembling the best of Men in that which is bad, in their falls and infirmities. Abraham is renowned for his faith; yet not to be imitated, in the carnal shifts he made for the saving of his life. Barnabas was to be blamed, for being carried away by Peter's dissimulation. But Christ is such an example; as to walk according to it; and to walk by the strictest rule is all one: for our Lord did whatsoever became him; and exactly fulfilled all righteousness.  
4. Here is a special intimation, (as appears by the context) of a Christian's Duty patiently to bear injuries, and to take up the cross. Though the Gospel be the gladdest tidings, yet Suffering is a word that sounds very harsh to flesh and blood. But the Apostle bids us behold Christ in his Sufferings, and not think m●ch of our afflictions, which were but a drop, compared with His, which were a vast Ocean. The Sufferings of Christ the Head, were unconceivably greater, than those which any of his Members at any time are called to undergo. And indeed when he drank the Cup his Father gave him: he drank out the Curse and bitterness of it; so that it is both blessed and sweetened to the Lambs followers who are to drink after him.  
5. The Sufferings of Christ and his Example, being joined together in the Text: here is a signification, that by his Death he has purchased Grace to assist and enable us to follow his example. Our Lord knows our natural impotency; nay, averseness to follow him, or so much as to look to him. His death is effectual therefore to kill our Sin; and to heal our depraved Nature: his power rests upon us that we may tread the Path in which he is gone before us. I am able to do all things, says the Apostle, through Christ strengthening me.  
I am desired this Morning to speak of Christ as our Example: and to show how Christians are to follow him. This is a Theme that commends itself to you; by its excellency; usefulness; and seasonableness, in such an Age; wherein there is such a sinful, sad, and almost universal degenerating from true and real Christianity. Glorious Head! hadst thou ever on earth a Body more unlike thee than at this day. How few manifestly declare themselves the Epistles of Christ written by the Spirit of the living God Few Professors have his Image, who yet bear his superscription.  
In the handling of this Subject; I shall, 

1. Premise some things by way of Caution.  
2. Show you in what respects Christ is an Example to be followed.  
3. Produce some Arguments to persuade you to the imitation of him.  
4. Close with some Directions how this duty may be done effectually.    
In the first place I am to premise some things by way of Caution.  
1. Think not as long as you remain in this world, to be altogether free from Sin as Christ was. He indeed was from his Conception in the Womb, to his Ascension far above all visible Heavens, altogether immaculate and without blemish. Some have fancied spots in the Sun; but sure I am, in the Sun of righteousness there is none. The Sins of all that are saved were laid upon him: but no Sin was ever found in him, or done by him. The Apostle tells us, that he was holy, harmless and undefiled, Heb. 7.26. You are indeed to imitate Christ in Purity; but perfect Holiness you cannot attain to; while you carry such a body of Death about you, and are in such a world as this. It may comfort you, to consider; after the fall of the first Adam, and the sad consequences of it; how the second Adam stood and conquered, and kept himself unspotted from the world, all the while he conversed in it; But as long as you remain on Earth, some defilement will cleave to you; to admonish you where you are; and to make you long for the heavenly Jerusalem. More and more holy you may; and aught to be; but to be completely holy; is the happiness not of Earth, but Heaven.  
2. Think not that Christ in all his actions is to be imitated. There are Royalties belonging to our Lord Jesus which none must invade. He alone is Judge and Lawgiver in Zion: and that worship is vain which is taught by the Precepts of Men. Christ is all in all, he fills all in all, Eph. 1.23. When the Fathers of the last Lateran Council, told Leo the Tenth, That all Power was given to him in Heaven and Earth: As it was blasphemous flattery in them to give; so it was blasphemous pride and right Antichristian arrogancy in Him to accept the honour. When our Lord was upon Earth; there were several acts of Power which he exerted, as, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, and such like; which Christians now must not think of doing. 
Elegit Apostolos humiliter natos, inhonoratos, illiterated; ut quicquid Magnum essent & facerent; Ipse in eyes esset & faceret. Aug. de C. D. l. 18. c. 49.  I grant that the power of working Miracles was communicated to the Apostles and others; but it was Res unius aetatis, a thing that lasted little longer than One age. These Miracles were necessary when the Gospel was first to be planted in the world; but now they are ceased: and if there were but a general exactness and exemplariness, in Christians lives and practices; this might be majus omni miraculo, a great deal more than Miracles towards the Gospel's Propagation.  
3. Think not that your obedience can be meritorious, as was the obedience of our Lord and Saviour. The Apostle tells us; that by the obedience of One, i e. the second Adam; many are made righteous; and to this obedience is owing, that abundance of grace which believers receive; the gift of righteousness; and also reigning in life eternal, Rom. 5.17.19. The Merit of our Lord Jesus is so every way sufficient; that Believers Merit is as needless; as all things considered, 'tis impossible. It was very Orthodox Humility in Jacob, when he confessed he was less than the least of all mercies. And Nehemiah though he speaks again and again of the good deeds he had done: was certainly very far from the opinion of Merit. As appears, Neh. 13.22. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also; and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.  
4. You must not imagine that your greatest sufferings for the sake of righteousness; are in the least expiatory of sin; as Christ's Sufferings were. Christ was delivered for our offences, and by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified, Heb. 10.14. the offering was but one; the Sacrifice of himself: and it was offered but once: other Sacrifices are unnecessary; 'tis unnecessary that this should be again offered. Our Lord upon the Cross with his last breath, cried out, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, It is finished, Joh. 19.30. q. d. All is done, all is undergone that was needful for my Church's acceptation with God; and the full remission of all their Trespasses. Understand; that no Sufferings, that you can undergo for Christ's sake, are satisfactory for your iniquities: do not by such a thought offer to derogate from Christ's complete satisfaction. We read of some that came out of great tribulation; but did the blood of these Martyrs justify them? no such matter; they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Rev. 7.14.  
In the second place, I am to show you in what respects Christ is an Example to be followed.  
1. Christ is to be followed in his great Self-denial. It had been a great Stoop in the Son of God; if his Deity had been veiled with the Nature of Angels: a greater Stoop, it would have been to be made Flesh; though he had been born of an Empress; and had been as glorious a Temporal Monarch, as the Jews fancied he would be. But this is exceedingly amazing to behold Him, that thought it no robbery to be equal with God, making himself of no reputation, and taking upon him the form of a Servant, Phil. 2.7. He did not abhor a poor Virgin's Womb; nor afterwards to be laid in a Manger. And though he was Lord of all, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich; 2 Cor. 8.9. thus he pleased not himself. Rom. 15.3. neither did he seek himself and his own honour, but the honour and glory of him that sent him. Joh. 7.18.  
How can he be a follower of Christ who is so utterly unlike him in being selfish? Our Lord knew the prevalency of self-love; and how opposite 'tis to the love of God, and care of the Soul: therefore he strictly requires Self-denial. Luk. 9.23. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, seipsum abdicet, as Beza translates it. Self-abdication is called for; a man must have no regard to himself, to his own ends and inclinations; as they are opposite unto, and lead him away from God, and from his Duty. Oh, act as new Creatures, and as those that are not your former selves! seek not your own things. Let nothing be done through vain glory; be ever diffident, and jealous of yourselves. Self is the Enemy that is always present; and most within us, and that has the greatest power to sway us: We are not our own, we are bought with a price; we should glorify the Lord that has bought us, as those that are Debtors, not to ourselves, but of ourselves too Him.  
2. Christ is to be followed in his Patient enduring the world's hatred; and the slights and contradiction of sinners. It was the Fathers and the Sons love to the world, that brought Christ into it: and he came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, Joh. 3.17. Yet what strange kind of usage from the world did he meet with! The world was mad upon Sin, venturous upon Hell and wrath: and with contempt and hatred rejected the only Saviour. His Person they are prejudiced against; his Doctrine they contradict; and his Design they oppose, though their Deliverance and Salvation was designed.  
Christian's should not think it strange; that they meet with hard and unworthy usage from the world. Cain did quickly show his enmity against Abel his Brother, because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous, 1 Joh. 3.12. If the world hate you, says Christ, ye know it hated me before it hated you; if ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you, Joh. 15.18, 19 Now as Christ was unmoved by the world's Malice either from doing his work, or from looking to the joy that was set before him; so should Christians also be. Conquer the world by contempt of its fury; overcome its evil with good: and as Christ made intercession for the transgressors, that cried, Crucify him, crucify him; so do ye love your Enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you, Mat. 5.44.  
3. Christ is to be followed in his resisting and overcoming the Prince of darkness. Satan assaulted the first Adam, and was too hard for him. He was so bold, as to set upon the second Adam; but was foiled by the Captain of our Salvation. If you read the History of Christ's Temptation, Mat. 4. you may perceive that nothing from the tempter fastens upon our Lord Jesus. The subtlety of the old Serpent was in vain; and by the Sword of the Spirit, all his force was repelled.  
Christians are to look upon the Evil one; as an Enemy that Christ has conquered, and this should encourage them in their conflicts with him: they are to despise his offers; they are not to be persuaded by his misapplication of Scripture to any thing that is unjustifiable, and irregular. The Word of God should abide in them; that they may be strong; and overcome the wicked one, 1 Joh. 2.14. The Head always resisted; shall the Members yield to this Destroyer? Let not your hearts be filled with Satan; let not your heads and hands be employed by him; who works in the Children of disobedience.  
4. Christ is to be followed in his contempt of the world's glory, and contentment with a mean and low estate in it. Never was the world so set forth, in such an alluring dress; as when the God of it in a moment of time, showed unto our Lord Jesus all the Kingdoms of the world, and all the glory of them, Luk. 4.5. yet the heavenly Mind of Christ is not taken with the sight; he knew he saw nothing but what was Vanity: and his Kingdom which was not of this world, was a far better thing, than the world's best Kingdom. Instead of pursuing, he flees from a Crown; which the people were ready to force upon his head.  
Ambition and covetousness after worldly grandeur and gain; which make us so unlike to Christ; should be far from us. If the world be the great thing with us; Mammon will have us at command; and Christ will have but little service from us. Why should that be high in the esteem and affection of your hearts, which Christ so little minded? Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, 1 Joh. 2.15. Set your affection on things above, not on things that are on earth, Col. 3.2. If you have the world's riches, let not your minds be high, nor your hearts set upon them; and be rich in good works; if you are in a meaner estate, be satisfied; remember who said, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. The best men in the world; that have done most good in the world, have lest cared for the world; and have been most willing to leave the world; and go to a better.  
5. Christ is to be followed in his living a life so very beneficial; doing good being his perpetual business. The Apostle Peter, who was one of his greatest and most constant attendants, says, that he went about doing good, Act. 10.38. to do thus was meat and drink to him. How great was his Kindness and Compassion to Souls; how much Mercy does he show to the Bodies of Men!  
You that are Christians, be very active in the best sense; the true Members of Christ have the Spirit of the Head in them, whose fruit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth, Eph. 5.9. What have you Faith for, but that it may work by Love? Why are you created in Christ Jesus, but that you may be employed in good works, which God hath before ordained, that you should walk in them? Eph. 2.10. Be sure to do justly; be injurious to none; render unto all their deuce: and do not only consult the deuce of others; but their needs also; and love to be merciful; and let the perishing Souls, as well as the distressed Bodies of others; have a great share in your Compassions. As you have opportunity do good unto all men; and good of as many sorts, as may be; especially to the household of faith, Gal. 6.10. The Apostle speaks with great authority and asseveration, when he presses Christian practice. This is a faithful saying; and these things I will that thou affirm constantly; that they who have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works; these things are good and profitable unto men, Tit. 3.8. A Christian by Profession, who lives wickedly, is not a true Member; but a Monster in the Church; and will not be endured long, but is near to be cut off and destroyed. It's a true Saying, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Death does not destroy the Soul; but 'tis an ill Life that ruins it.  
6. Christ is to be followed in his most profitable and edifying Communication. We read, Psal. 45.2. That grace was poured into his Lips: the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, were the wonder of the hearers, Luk. 4.22. Exact truth always accompanied his Speeches: he never spoke a word that was offensive to God, or injurious to any man. Was he chargeable with guile? or when he was reviled did he revile again? No, no; he gave a better example: he speaks words to awaken Sinners; to search Hypocrites; and how does he comfort the mourners; calling all the weary and heavy laden to come to him for rest? He takes occasion almost from every thing; to discourse of the heavenly kingdom. His parables of the sour, of leaven, of the Merchant man seeking goodly pearls, and such like; plainly show that the most ordinary things may spiritually be improved unto great usefulness.  
All Professors! and especially you of London! set a watch before the door of your lips; and let your words be like the words of Christ Jesus. Your lying and corrupt communication; your slanderous and backbiting words; your passionate and angry speeches and revile; are these like Christ's language? An unbridled tongue, though it utters many a falsehood; yet it speaks one certain truth, that your Religion is but vain, Jam. 1.26. Let Conscience be tender; and purpose with the Psalmist, that your mouths shall not transgress. Let the word of Christ be more in your Hearts; for out of the abundance of the Heart the mouth speaks. Let your speech be always with Grace, Col 4.6. Discourse as those who do believe, you are debtors of edifying words one to another; that idle words are heard by him that is in Heaven; and an account must be given of them in the day of judgement.  
7. Christ is to be followed in his manner of performing holy duties: never was He negligent in an Ordinance. His cries were strong, his tears many, Heb 5.7. and how does he wrestle with his Heavenly Father!  
Christian's should take heed of doing the work of God deceitfully, they should be fervent in Spirit when serving the Lord, Rom. 12.11. Look to your Hearts in all your performances, for God's eye is fixed upon them: and if they are not present and right with him; your duties are but dead duties; and dead duties are really dead works: so far from being acceptable; that they are an abomination. When Christ was here upon the Earth, as he taught in other places, so he went to the Temple, and to the Synagogues; though there was much corruption in the Jewish Church. Christian's should learn so much moderation, as to own what is good even in them in whom there are mixtures of much that is bad, and there should be a cause that will pass for just and sufficient at the great day; before they resolve upon a total separation from their Brethren.  
8. Christ is to be followed in his great humility and meekness, Mat. 11.29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your Souls. Pride overcame the first man; he affected Divinity, and would needs be as God: but behold the Lord Jesus, who is the Eternal God, and he humbled himself and became Man. Humility was the constant attire and ornament of the Man Christ Jesus.  
Though this great Redeemer be the chief of all the ways of God; though more of God is visible in Him than in the whole Creation besides: Though he glorifies his Father more than all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth put together: and though he is exalted far above all Principalities and Powers, and Might and Dominion, no● only in this World, but in that which is to come: Yet our Lord never was in the least .  
Humility is one most remarkable feature in the image of Christ; therefore resemble him in being humble. Be not proud of Habit, Hair, and Ornaments, 1 Pet. 5.5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Etymologists derive the word from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies nodus, a knot. Be clothed, or be knotted with Humility: I wish that other knots were less, and this which is incomparably most becoming; were more in fashion. Let not your Estates puff you up. Riches are not always to men of understanding; and there may be a great deal of Gold in the Purse, where there is no true Wisdom in the Head, no Grace at all in the Heart: Let not your natural parts; your acquired endowments; your spiritual Gifts, though never so excellent; make you to look upon others with contempt; upon yourselves with admiration: you own all Glory to that God from whom you have received all. Let Humility look out at your Eyes; a proud look is one of the seven things which the Lord hates, Prov. 6.16, 17. Let Humility express itself at your Lips; let it attend you in all your addresses to God, and beautify your whole behaviour, and converses with Men. The more humble you are, the more of every other Grace will be imparted to you; the more Rest and Peace you will have within yourselves; and since you will be ready to give him all the Praise; the Lord is ready to put the more honour upon you in making you useful unto others.  
9 Christ is to be followed in his love to God; great care to please him; and fervent zeal for his Name and Glory, Joh. 14.31. The World may know, says Christ, that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me Commandment even so I do. He obeyed that first and great Commandment, and loved the Lord his God, with all his Heart, and Soul, and Mind, and Strength. Christ's love made him do whatever his Father pleased, Joh. 8.29. He that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. Christ's love was stronger than Death; no Waters, no Floods, could drown it; neither could the Baptism of blood quench it. Christ was consumed with Divine and Holy zeal; and he matters not what befall him; so he might but glorify his Father; and finish the work which was given him to do.  
Oh let us bring our cold and careless Hearts hither; to the Consideration of this Great Example; that the frost may melt; care may be awakened; and there may be something in us, that may deserve the name of Warm zeal for God. Let us be importunate in Prayer, and restless, till we feel the constraints of the Love of God forceable; till we find really the greatest delight and pleasure in doing that which pleases him; and, aiming at his Glory; we think not much of labour, difficulty, and hazard; that this our end may be attained.  
10. Christ is to be followed in his Sufferings and Death; and unto this my Text has a more particular reference. Christ's Faith was strong; though he was under a dismal Desertion. The Sun of Righteousness did set in a dark cloud. He submitted to his Father's will; and being confident of a joyful Resurrection, he endured the Cross, and despised the shame.  
When Christians come to die, their Faith should be most lively; as being near finishing; it should by no means fail when there is most need of it. Though he slay me, says Job, yet will I trust in him, Job 13.15. Christian's should submit, when the Lord of time will grant no more time to them; and they should gladly enter upon a holy and blessed Eternity: When the body is about to be sown in corruption; by Faith they should see that its lying there will be to advantage; for it will be raised in Incorruption and Glory, 1 Cor. 15.42, 43. Let Death be more natural, or violent; it is yours in the Covenant; if you are true Believers, 1 Cor. 3.22. Fear not to follow our Lord Jesus through that dark passage into the House not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. And all the while you remain on Earth, study a Conformity to your Lord's death, by crucifying the Flesh, and dying to the World: The more dead you are with Christ in this sense; you will live to the better purpose, and die in the greater Peace.  
In the third place, I am to produce some Arguments to persuade to the imitation of our Lord Jesus.  
1. Consider the greatness of the Person that gives you the Example. Christ has this Name written on his Vesture, and on his Thigh; King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, Rev. 19.16. A Roman Historian commends a Prince who is maximus imperio, 
Velleius Paterculus. l. 2.  exemplo major, greatest in authority, and yet greater by his example. Every thing in Heaven, and Earth, and under the Earth does bow, and is subject to the Lord Jesus, and yet whose obedience ever was so exact as his was? He gives us precepts, and he himself is the great Pattern of performance. Claudian the Poet has a notable passage concerning the examples of Monarches; and what a mighty influence they have: 
— Tunc observantior aequi  
Fit populus; nec ferre vetat, cum viderit ipsum  
Autorein, parere sibi; componitur Orbis  
Regis ad exemplum; nec sic inflectere sensus  
Humanos edicta valent; quàm vita Regentis.   
King's have many observers, who very much Eye them, and their high estate both awes and allures their Subjects to the imitation of them. If they keep within the bounds of their own Laws, their Subjects will be the more unwilling to transgress them. Christ is the universal Sovereign who commands both Heaven and Earth; and has the whole Creation at his beck. He has kept the Laws, he gives his Church; 'tis duty, 'tis interest, 'tis reasonable, 'tis honourable to resemble him in obedience.  
2. Remember the Relation, wherein you that are Saints do stand, unto the Lord Jesus. You are espoused to Him; and should you not consent to be like to him, who has betrothed you unto himself in Lovingkindness, Mercy and Faithfulness for ever? Hos. 2.19, 20. Nay you are members of his body. Therefore you should grow up into Him in all things which is the Head, even Christ, Eph. 4.15. You should discover such a mind as Christ had; you should manifest the same Spirit; and act as he acted when he was here in the World.  
3. Consider, that God did fore-ordain you that are Believers to a conformity to the Lord Jesus; Rom. 8.29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son; that he might be the firstborn among many Brethren. If you would appear with Christ in Glory, you must be now changed into his Image; Holiness, and patiented suffering will make you like him, and is the decreed way unto his Kingdom.  
4. Walking as Christ walked will make it evident that you are indeed in him, 1 Joh. 2.6. He that saith he abideth in him, aught to prove what he saith, and himself so to walk even as he walked: To be in Christ, is to be a new creature. And these new Creatures do all resemble him; for he is form in them. Naming the name of Christ will never demonstrate your Christianity; unless you depart from iniquity, which makes you so unlike unto your Lord.  
But likeness to him, will prove you His in Truth. And an evidence of this; what strong consolation will it afford? If you are in Christ; how safe are you? you are secured from the curse of the Law; the stroke of vindictive Justice; the wrath of the Destroyer, the bondage of Corruption and Sin; the sting of the first Death, and the power of the second. If you are in Christ; His God is your God, his Father your Father, Joh. 20.17. You are loved as He is loved, Joh. 17.23. That the World may know, that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. And v. 26. That the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them. You are joint-heirs with Christ unto the same incorruptible inheritance; how firm and sure is your title! how certain and soon will be your possession! and after possession is taken, you shall not be dispossessed unto Eternity.  
5. Your following the Example of Christ very much honours Him; and credits Christianity, 'tis a sign, that Christ's death, has a mighty virtue in it, when it makes you to die to Sin; and to be unmoved by the biggest offers, that Mammon makes to you. 'Tis an argument that He is truly Christ, when you are truly Christians; that He is indeed alive, when he lives in you, and makes you to live to him▪ and like him; 'Tis a demonstration that our Lord is risen indeed, when you rise with him, and seek those things that are above, Col. 3.1.  
Christ is very much unknown, and being unknown, is undesired and neglected; because so little of him is seen in Christians conversation. How few deserve digito monstrari; to be pointed at, and to have such a Character given them?  
There go the persons who discover such a Spirit; who talk, and walk too after such a manner, that 'tis evident Christ dwells, and speaks, and walks, and works in them!  
Be all of you prevailed with; to honour your Lord Jesus; by showing the world, what he was when here upon Earth; and how powerfully he works in you, though now he is in Heaven. Chrysostom with great reason does call good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, unanswerable Syllogisms, and demonstrations to confute and convince Infidels. The World would flock into the Church; being struck with the Majesty and Glory shining forth in Her; if She were but more like unto her glorious Head. But when they who are called Christians, are so like unto the World; 'tis no wonder if the men of the World continue still as they are.  
6. Christ frequently speaks to you to follow him; and observes whether, and how you do it. His word is plain, that you should learn his Doctrine, and live after his example. And his eyes which are as a flaming fire: are upon Professors ways. His Omniscience should be more firmly believed, and seriously considered by the Church itself, Rev. 2.23. All the Churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the Reins and Hearts; and I will give to every one of you according to your works. I shall here by a Prosopopeia, bring in our Lord Jesus speaking to you; and himself propounding his own Example, that you may hear, and heed, and follow the Lamb of God. To this effect Christ speaks to you:  
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the Earth! Look unto me, and become like me, all you that profess yourselves to be my Members! What Do you see in me, that in any reason should turn away your faces or your hearts from me? Blessed is He whosoever shall not be offended in Me. The Father is well pleased in Me, and so should you; as you value his favour, and would consult your own interest. I never took so much as one step in the ways of misery and destruction; be you sure to avoid them. I always trod in those paths which to you will prove pleasantness and peace; though to satisfy for your deviations, and going astray; I was fain myself to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Consider your Lord and Master; you that call yourselves my disciples. Many look upon you that will not look into my word, and will judge of Me by your practices. Be not so injurious to Me; by misrepresenting Me; as if I allowed those evils which you allow yourselves in. Why should I be wounded in my honour in the house of my Friends? Why should you crucify me afresh: And put me to an open shame?  
When you yield to Satan's temptations, are you like to me? When you are eager after worldly wealth; the applause of men; and flesh-pleasing delights; are you like to me? When you are proud and haughty; bitter, envious and revengeful; do you at all resemble Me? When you seek yourselves, and please yourselves, and matter not how much God is forgotten and displeased; Am I in this your example? O all you upon whom my name is called, content not your selves with an empty name! Be my disciples in truth; and let the same mind that was in me be in you also: be my disciples indeed; live as I did in the World; to honour God, and to do good to man, let it be your business; for I have left you an example, that you should follow my steps.  
7. Fellow Christ's Example, that you may enter into his glory. For, if we be dead with him, says the Apostle, we shall live with him; if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him, 2 Tim. 2.11, 12. Be of good courage, and conflict (but do it in his Strength) with your Spiritual enemies; and you shall be conquerors, nay more than conquerors over them; and hark what Christ promises to them that overcome: Nay to every one of them; Rev. 3.21. To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Conformity to Christ in his Humiliation, will end in a conformity to him in his Exaltation: All in the next world shall resemble in glory; whom grace in this world has made to resemble him, Col. 3.4. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.  
8. One word farther I would speak to myself and my brethren in the Ministry of the Gospel. We are under special obligations to follow Christ's Example. All the flock should be like the great Shepherd; but especially the Vnder-Shepherds should resemble him, that they may be able to say with the Apostle, 1 Cor. 11.1. Be ye followers of us, for we are followers of Christ. How clear should be the light in our Heads! who have special instruction from him, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Col. 2.3. With what authority should we speak, who speak in his Name: Who speak his words and preach his everlasting Gospel: and what we bind on Earth is bound in Heaven! and what we lose on Earth is loosed in heaven!  
How should we have compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out of the way! How faithfully should we warn the secure, to flee from wrath! How earnestly should we entreat sinners to be reconciled! How should we long after Souls in the bowels of Jesus Christ! Phil. 1.8. And since He thought not his blood too dear to redeem them; we should not think much of our Prayers, Tears, Study, Sweat and Labour for their Salvation.  
How self-denying should we be! counting it far greater wisdom to win Souls; than to seek great things for ourselves! How exemplary should we be in Word, in Conversation, in Charity, in Spirit, in Faith, in Purity 
* Memento voci tuae dare vocem virtutis; ut opera tua verbis concinant. Cures prius facere q●àm docere. Sermo quidem vivus & efficax exempl●m est operis, facile faciens suadibile quod dicitur, dum monstrat factib●● quod suadetur Bernard, Epist. 201. Passione ostendit quid pro veritate sustinere; Resurrectione, quid in aeternitate sperare debe●mus, Aug. de C. D. lib. 18. c. 49. : 1 Tim. 4.12. In all things we should show ourselves patterns of good works. That our Sermons being practised by ourselves as well as preached; may be with greater efficacy upon others.  
And since our Lord Jesus after he had preached the Kingdom of God, was himself a Sacrifice; we should not be unwilling to confirm the doctrine we deliver with our blood; nor refuse if called to it to be offered upon the Sacrifice and Service of the Church's Faith, Phil. 2.17 This kind of Spirit made the Apostle like to Christ indeed, Acts 20.24. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, that I may finish my course with joy; and the Ministry I have received of the Lord Jesus Christ, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.  
In the fourth and last place, I am to conclude with some Directions how you may be able to follow the Example of our Lord Jesus.  
1. Let your unlikeness to Christ be matter of your great humiliation. It should be your trouble, that you have been so long learning, and have learned Christ no better: That so much of the old Man remains to be put off; that no more of the new man is put on. Look upon the passions and lusts of the flesh as so many foul blemishes, as so many deforming wrinkles of the Old Adam; the more of these, there is in you; they make you the more unlike to him who is altogether lovely. Be humbled for your sin, and hate it; that's the way to be rid of it. Sin cannot stand before a perfect hatred, but languishes and dies away; whereas love to it is the life and strength of it.  
2. Study more the admirable excellency and fairness of the copy Christ has set you. And how  it is still to be growing up more and more into him in all things. The beauty of Men and Angels is black to Christ's fairness; to be like Him, is to have that which truly deserves the name of excellency; With open face and intentive eyes behold, as in a glass, the glory of your Lord, that you may be changed into the same image; and become glorious yourselves, 2 Cor 3. ult.  
3. Being sensible of your own impotency, live by Faith on the Son of God. Remember 'tis in Him that you have both righteousness and strength, Isa. 45.24. Grace to be like Christ is from him. He strengthens the weak hands; he confirms the feeble knees, that we may work and walk after his Example. If you should attempt to do this in your own might; that attempt would be, not only vain, but an argument of your pride and ignorance. Can the branch bear fruit of itself? 'Tis from the Vine, that sap is communicated to it, to make it fruitful: You must be, and abide in Christ, and ever be deriving life and virtue from Him; that you may bear fruit worthy of Him, Joh. 15.4, 5. Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the Vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me: I am the Vine; ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.  
4 Give up yourselves to the conduct of Christ's own Spirit. How often is it said, He that hath an ear, let him h●ar what the Spirit saith unto the Churches? The Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus; represents his amiableness, and anoints the eyes with eyesalve, that it may be seen. And wherever the Image of Christ is; 'tis this Spirit that has enstamped it upon the Soul. Live in the Spirit, and Walk in the Spirit; so your feet shall not decline from the Steps of Christ; you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh, Gal. 5.16.25. He will cause you to look unto Jesus; and enable you to follow him, without turning aside, or drawing back: Till you come to be where he is, and behold his glory: and then you will be satisfied with his likeness; and be for ever with the Lord.   

The Case Proposed. Quest. How may a lukewarm Temper be effectually cured? I add, in ourselves, and in one another. The Resolution given. SERMON XIV.  Heb. x. 24, 25. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
And let us consider one another to provoke to love, and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is: but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day (to be) approaching.  
THE inspired Author of this profound, sublime, nervous Epistle (whether St. Luke, or Barnabas, or Clement, or Apollo's, or the Apostle Paul, as I most think, I here dispute not) is evidently walking in the searches of the great Excellency of Christianity, as it was brought unto us by, and took its denomination from, and serves the purposes, and speaks the Eminence, Unction, and Prerogatives and Designs of Christ the Son of God. And this discourse he here directeth to the Hebrews, by whom we may understand those Christian Jews that were in Syria, Judea, and principally at Jerusalem; for those that were dispersed through the Provinces of the Roman Empire, were commonly called Greeks. And those indeed who were Converted to the Christian Faith were terribly persecuted by the Jews their Brethren, and assaulted by Seducers to work them back again to their deserted Judaisme; and much ado they had to stand their ground. Whereupon this Author (mindful of what his Lord had said in Mat. xxiv. 9-13.) attempts to show the Eminencies of their State, and that Judaisme was every way transcended by Christianity. The Author of it was a greater and better Person than Moses, Aaron or Melchizedeck. The Doctrines were more mysterious and sublime. The Laws more spiritual, and most accurately suited to the completing and perpetuating of the Divine Life and Nature in them; and to the advancing them unto all Conformities to God, imitations of him, and intimacies with him: The Promises were more glorious, rich and full; and all the Constitutions, Furniture, Services, Ministry and Advantages of the Gospel Polity and Temple, carried more glorious signatures of God upon them; and were more eminently attested, patronised and succeeded by God, than ever Judaisme was, or than it could pretend unto. Why therefore should it be deserted, or coldly owned, or improved negligently or defectively?  
This Author having therefore gained his point, and throughly proved the dignity of the Christian state and calling, beyond all possibility of grounded Cavils or competition; He next proceeds to show these Hebrews the genuine and just improvement of what he had demonstrated, Heb. x. 19-39 xi, xii, xiii. 1-19.  
The Casuistical consideration of the Text, best serves the stated purpose of this hour. And that I may be evidently pertinent, clear, succinct, and profitable, let me now lay the Case and Text together, and consider them in their relative aspects each toward the other.  
1. Lukewarmness is the remissness or defectiveness of heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a middle thing betwixt cold and heat. When there is not heat enough in subjecto capaci, to serve the purposes, that such a thing under such circumstances should subserve. Now God and Christ expect a fervent Spirit, burning and flaming Love; and in the Text, Love is here represented as needing Provocation. Heart-warmth is nothing else but love suiting and accommodating itself to worthy objects, according to their apprehended dignity, usefulness, or concerns. Love is the endearing to ourselves of apprehended Excellence or Goodness, and our letting out ourselves, or the issue forth of our pleased wills in correspondent motions towards, reposes in, obsequiousness to, and engagements for, what we admire and affect; for worth or excellence discerned, makes us accommodate ourselves unto the pleasure and concerns thereof▪ according to its nature, place, and posture towards us, and our affairs therewith. When therefore this Affection, Principle or Grace (or Passion, if Love may properly be called so) is grown too weak to fix the will, and to influence the life so as to please its God, and turns indifferent, and unconcerned and variable as the winds and weather change; this languor of the Heart and Will, and its easiness and proneness to be drawn off from God and things Divine, we call Lukewarmness; which is nothing else, indeed, but the sluggishness and dulness of the heart and will to such a degree, as that it is not duly affected with, nor startled at, nor concerned intimately about what is truly excellent, and of great consequence and importance to us. And hence our Author phrases it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in that Love may and aught to be smart and keen, heating and urging all the powers of the Soul to excite all their vigours and to perform all their Functions with strength and pleasure. Consider well, Cant. viij. 6, 7. two Cor. v. 14. i Thess. two 8. Heart unaffectedness, unconcernedness and inactivity, let Souls and their concerns, God's interest, and the Matters of Christ's Kingdom, go and be as they will, Phil. two. 20, 21. This is the malady to be cured.  
2. It is not so much a single instance of lukewarmness, as a temper that the case speaks of. Nor doth the Text intent an intermittent Fever in the heart; 'tis not a transient Paroxysm, by fits and starts for hearts to burn; but 'tis a stated frame that must be changed and fixed. The Malady is a lukewarm temper, a frame and constitution of the inward man, too weakly bend and biased towards God and heavenly things, to make them statedly its predominant ambition, business and delight, Act. xi. 23. two Cor. v. 9 A frame of Soul that sits too lose towards God to do, to bear, to be, to hope, to wait much for him in the stormy and dark day.  
3. It is the effectual cure hereof that the case aims at; and in this Paroxysm of Love and of Good Works the cure consists. Hence, Labour of love, Heb. vi. 10. i Thess. i. 3. Love abounding more and more, in knowledge and in all judgement, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere, and without offence, until the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the Glory and Praise of God, Phil. i. 9— 11. when Love is fervent, fixed, and genuinely fruitful, then is this lukewarm temper cured indeed. Hence, zealous of good works. See Tit. two. 11.— 14.  
4. How this Cure of such a temper may be effectually wrought, is the next thing to be enquired into; and the great import of the case before us; and a great cluster of apt and pertinent Expedients doth the Text here entertain us with Such as, 1. Determining and designing to enterprise the thing; here called Provocation to love and to good works, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · This is the great concern to be espoused, and the great scope of our intentions, resolutions, and endeavours. Love, and good works, are the great Cure of this Distemper, to which we must direct our thoughts, words, deeds, provokingly. Col iv. 5▪ 6 Such a Distemper must not be ordinarily expected to be cured by accident; nor are their Labours likely to be prosperous, who do not cordially design this Cure. 2 The mutual Considerations of Persons. Consider one another to a Provocation. So the Greek. We must take into serious, deep and frequent thoughts, the quality, capacity, spirits, courses and concerns of one another, and see wherein they are defective, or exemplary and proficient in these things; as also how to qualify ourselves, and how to manage our spirits, speeches and behaviour, to the procurement of this end; and how to provoke ourselves to Love, and to Good Works, by what we see in others, and hear from them or concerning them, Phil. iv. 8, 9 Rom. xv. 14. i Thess. v. 14, 15. for we are all of us obnoxious unto very great decays in Christian Affections and Behaviour (and who is free throughout from guilt herein?) and equally concerned in this healthful exercise and temper. 3. Actual Endeavours upon consideration to fix the temper and behaviour right; for thoughts and purposes are vain things till they be put in execution. Such as Mutual Exhortation, attending on assembling of ourselves together, and our growthful progress in these things, under the reinforcements and frequent representations of the approaching day. Hence then consider we, 1. The Text. 2. The Case.  
First, The Text.  
And here we have, 1. The Objects to be considered; one another. 2. The Duty here required as conversant about these Objects, Consider. 3. The End, Provocation to love and to good works. 4. The means and manner of performing it to purpose, and with good Success, not forsaking the Assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. 5. The great inducement hereunto, so much the more as ye see the day approaching. Improving the thoughts, belief and expectations of this approaching solemn day, and consequently, our concerns therein as the most awful motive and quickening encouragement of our Preparatory State and Work.  
And here I must premise, that the case here proposed to our present thoughts may and must be resolved into two. 1. How a lukewarm temper may be cured by us in ourselves: 2. How to be cured in each other. Now seeing we are all related to the same God, and under the same circumstances as to our capacity of pleasing or displeasing God, of deserting or adhering to our Christian State and work; and all of us, as Christians, under the same powerful and manifold obligations to be found Right and Faithful in this day. And as all of us are determined to solemn Judgement, and an Eternal State, according to the temper of our Spirits, and tenor of our Lives, as found to be when that day comes. What can we say to one another, to provoke each other to love and to good works, that will not equally concern ourselves? Whatever then we consider in each other, is as considerable in ourselves. Whatever we design hereby to provoke others regularly to, is to be equally designed, and enterprised, and promoted upon ourselves. Whatever we speak to others, or plead with others, hath the same Errand to, and ought deservedly to be as cogent and prevailing with ourselves. We are all concerned in the helpfulness of present Assemblies, and in the process and results of the last general Assembly; and what we propose or press by way of Counsel, Request, Encouragement, etc. must be as spoken to ourselves. Taking it then for granted and concluded, and needless to be proved and demonstrated, 1. That lukewarmness is an heart-distemper. 2. And that the formal Nature of it lies in the remissness of due Affections unto their proper worthy objects: and so in too mean resentments, and distasting of whatever is contrary thereunto. 3. That the Cure of this Distemper formally consists in the due fervour of provoked Love, invigorating and producing its congenial Operations, and Effects (here called Good Works, which are but answerableness of Practice and Behaviour to this Principle, or Grace.) 4. And that all these means and courses which genuinely and statedly relate hereto as divinely instituted by him, whose Blessing is entailed hereon, to make them prosperous and successful hereunto, are the most likely means to work this Cure. 5. And that the purport of my Text amounts to this, and is itself of Divine Inspiration; and so of God's appointment for this End. Taking, I say, these things for granted, for brevity's sake, I shall dispatch the Text and Case together, in the close Consideration of these three General Heads or Topics of Discourse.  
1. The things to be provoked to, Love and Good Works; for herein the Cure consists.  
2. The things that are most likely, and prepared to provoke hereto; and so the Remedy or Means will be directed to.  
3. The Course and Method of improving these most regularly; and so the skilful, faithful management thereof will be considered.  
1. The things to be provoked to.  
Love and Good works.] Fervour and Vigour in the heart, to and for its proper Objects, productive of their right Effects, are the Soul's Health indeed; the very esse formale of this Cure in hand; for Knowledge ministers to Faith in its Production and Proficiency, and in all its Exercises and Designs. Hence, established in the Faith, as ye have been taught, Col. two. 7. and 1 Joh. v. 9— 14. for we must know whom to believe, in what, and why; The credibility of a Witness, the trustiness of a Promiser and Undertaker, the valuableness and certainty of things Promised, and the way of acquisition and attaining what is promised, if Promises be attended with, and ordered to depend upon any thing commanded by the Promiser to be done by us; these must be duly known ere Faith can fasten on them. Faith is no blind, no inconsiderate, no rash, no groundless act; I know whom I have believed, two Tim. i 12. And 'tis the evidence of things not seen, Hebr. xi▪ 1. And Faith works by love, or it is inwrought (and beco●●●●ergetical) by Love; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Gal. v. 6. Building your s● 〈…〉 your most holy Faith, keep yourselves in the love of God, Judas ●●. 21. Faith's proper work and great design upon the Heart or Will 〈◊〉 t● kindle, feed and keep this holy flame of Love within, and to direct and keep it to its due Expressions and Employments. Thus Truths, and Hearts, are brought together, and fixed in their reciprocal Endearments, two Tim. i 13. And then God, and the Image, Interest, Saints and things of God; are like the King upon his Throne with all his lovely train about him. And then this Faith makes Christ upon the Heart, and dwelling there, like Manoahs' Angel, working wondrously in these flames of love; for now no faculty, sense, or member can be idle, languid or indifferent amidst such glorious and lovely Objects, when urged and provoked by such powerful and busy Principles, as Faith and Love to be employed for God, Truths, Duty, Souls, and Glory. Let us then consider it in its, 1. Objects. 2. Actings. And 3. Effects.  
I. The Objects of this Love, towards which it is to move, for which it is to act, wherewith it must converse, and wherein at last it is to rest, and to repose itself for ever; and these are the Name, the Things, the Children of God, the good of Men; or rather God as in himself, the essential source and abyss of perfection, bliss and glory. Of through, and to whom all things are; who is God blessed for evermore. Here study well these following Texts as shadowing forth that only holy One; of whom comparatively the Universe, (how vast in its Expansions, how gloriously rich in Furniture and Treasures, how variously replenished with Inhabitants and how accurately framed and governed, who knows?) is but as one small hint. See I say, Exod. xv. 11. xxxiv. 6.7. i Chron. xxix. 10,— 13. Job xi. 7,— 9 Isa. vi. 3 i Tim. i 17. and vi. 15, 16. i Joh. i 5. To name no more, save only One that pertinently tells us, That God is love, i Joh. iv. 16. Here, Love and Goodness are essentially in their incomprehensible and immense perfection; from hence are all the Communications of derived goodness, and all the issue forth thereof, that all the Creatures can any way receive; and of this boundless Ocean are they all swallowed up Eternally at last. 2. God in the sallying forth of his communicative and endearing Name; and in all those Mirrors and Testimonies of himself, which he affords us, Rom. i. 20. Act. xvii. 24.— 29. i Tim. iii. 16. Heb. i. 3. Eph. iv. 6.— 24. O what a Mirror of Divine perfection is the vast fabric of the Universe! How far doth it extend itself! How richly hath its Maker furnished it with glorious Luminaries! vast in their bulk, beautiful in their orderly Situations, constant and regular in their courses, and highly useful, and as liberal in their dispensings of those influences, which serve more glorious, and various purposes than any man can reach at present; or perhaps in all the proficiencies of Eternity, if such things may with modesty be supposed to be there. O wonderful Power in its Production! Wonderful Wisdom in its harmonious contrivance, and compagination, and as great goodness in those stores and Magazines, which are so generously provided for, and accommodated to all the capacities and necessities, and concerns of the whole frame, and of every part thereof. Is not God's glorious Name here legible, and his kind Heart and Hand, as fully, and even sensibly discernible herein? We are hereby both rendered and constrained to be his Witnesses that he is God, and the best Object of our Love. Here therefore must our Love both look and fix: Should I here speak of God-Redeemer, in all the glorious appearances, performances and dispensations of his Indwelling Deity in our Nature: Or of what the Spirit is and doth; of all the Scenes and Systems of common and special Providence; of all the Constitutions and Administrations of the upper and lower World, and of the Church Militant and Triumphant. Or should I show you Man in his natural State, as the workmanship of the God of Nature: Or in his Christian State, as in his Renovation by the God of Grace: Or in his Glorified State at last, as the Eternal Temple of the Spirit of Grace. Should I show you the Angelical State, or all the excellencies of the end, and of the orderly Means and Instruments which relate thereto; the Name, Seed, Things of God. You would see with whom and what, Love hath to do. But to sum up all; 1. God is the Object of this Love, as considered in his essential Perfections, Trinity of Persons. 2. In his Creation of the Universe of Being's. 3. In his Relations consequent upon Creation, and avouchedly assumed by him. 4. In those various Signatures and Explications of his Name, that are upon the whole, and every part of his Creation; according to the various Habitudes and States thereof. 5. And in his relative deportments towards them, and Communications to them, as they are capable of receiving them. 2. Jesus Christ in all his Mediatorial Excellencies, Dignities and Prerogatives, in his Relations, Offices, Unction, Performances and Acquests both for himself, as one exalted now to his Father's right hand: And for us, as our exalted and engaged Head in all his Sympathies and Endearments. 3. The Holy Ghost, as God our Sanctifier in all those Counsels, Quickning, Comforts, which he provideth for us, offereth to us, and succeedeth in us and upon us. And 4. Those that are near and dear to God, according to the various measures of their Unction, Stations, and Serviceableness unto God; and here comes in the main design both of my Text, and Case, viz. That we Christians, be so considered each by other, as that Christian Excellencies be observed to mutual Inflammations of Endearments where they are; that Christian Principles and Affections may be awakened, invigorated and advanced, where they are dormant, idle or decayed, and that accordingly those Gospel means and helps be valued duly and pertinently applied and improved, which may reduce us to, and keep us in the fervours and vigours of our Christian love, that so the love of our espousals may fix and centre in the God of Love, and have its orderly and kindly Circulations and Diffusions through the whole Body, and every thing abhorred, resisted, and rejected, that shall or would attempt a rape thereon. For towards these glorious and lovely Objects, there should be no indifference, nor cold affections, nor the least possibility of a divorce therefrom, that we by any Diligence, Providence, or Resolution can prevent. Whatever as to Things and Persons, is really and evidently of God and for him, be it in us, with us, or about us, must not sit loosely on our Hearts, for it is the Christian Religion, as it imprinciples Souls for God, and Christ, and forms them after God, and Christ, and keeps them faithful and proficient in their practical devotedness to the Divine design upon us, that fits us for, and keeps us in the State and Spirit of endearment unto God, two Pet. i 2.— 11. and that must imprinciple, and actuate our reciprocal affections and endearments each towards other. See i Cor. seven. 19 and Gal. vi. 15. and v. 6. two Cor. v. 16.— 18. Parties and Persons, no nor ecentrical Opinions, nor Magisterial Impositions of dividing terms of Concord, in pretence and show, nor multitudes of Proselytes to our novel darling self-conceited Notions; such things as these cannot commend us unto God: why should they then be thought lukewarm, whose fervours draw not forth themselves upon such pitiful, mean, unworthy things? Rom. xiv. 17.— 19 The Kingdom of God, and Christ must be endeared to us, with all the Subjects of that Kingdom, in all their universally holding Principles, and Interests. And the great fervours, vigours and effects of Love must be directed to, and settled upon these objects, proportionably to their excellencies and postures towards us, and our concerns with them, and Relations to them. This for the Objects.  
2. The formal nature of this Love; and here I shall premise, that it is best understood and known by its own exercised, and experienced vigour. Sensation helps us to the clearest, and most lively apprehensions, the most accurate Definitions and Descriptions, that can be given us by the most sagacious and exact Persons can never tell you to such degrees of satisfaction in your information; what Health or Sickness, Hunger or Thirst, Pain or Ease, Light or Darkness, Sweetness or Bitterness, etc. are, as one hours' experience of your own will do. Men that are born blind, have not by all the advantages of reading to them, or discoursing with them, such clear discerning of light, as a little opening of their own Eyes will help them to; Beauty and Melody are and must be seen and heard before they can be duly understood; but as far as I am able, I shall adventure to describe it thus.  
Love is the Pleasure of the Heart or Will in the discerned and valued excellency of its object. So as delightfully to make it accommodate itself unto the Nature, Pleasure, and concerns thereof. Or it is the endearment of apprehended excellence, so as to sweeten all our contemplations, and esteem thereof; our motions towards it, our reposes in it, our sufferings and adventures for it, and our reposes and abode therein. Here we may briefly note these things. 1. When its Object doth evidently transcend our reach and pitch in excellence, than the formal Act of Love is a delightful Admiration of Perfection. Infinite Wisdom, Power and Goodness cast us upon the heights and depths of wonder and astonishment, and entertain us with the highest satisfactions in our severest, and most awful Contemplations thereof; these ravishing views or thoughts of the incomprehensible source and abyss of Perfection, which is Essential Goodness, and the very height thereof, (for what is Goodness, but the height of Excellency?) affect us with the most reverend sense thereof. 2. Where excellency appears as capable of being shadowed forth by imitations and resemblances, and challenges our Conformities thereunto, the formal act of Love is a pleased attempering of itself unto its much valued and endeared object; joyfully loving and endeavouring a correspondency and agreement with all the communicable excellencies and allurements of such a valuable and admired pattern and exemplar; thus love is an ambitious imitation of admired worth, pleasing itself in all it's gradual approaches to its Object, in its attainments of what most resembles him, whose mirrors we so much long and please ourselves to be: Thus our Christian love (our Love to God, and unto Christ his Image) in its nature, its operations, and attainments is but the impress of Divine Perfections upon ourselves, with all the solaces, which arise in and from our thus transformed selves. 3. When excellency appears upon the Theatre, showing its lustre in exquisite performances and Productions, bearing the Signatures of that Name, whose works they are, (as the Invisible things of God are known, by the things that are made, even his Eternal Power and Godhead, Rom. i. 20.) Then the formal Act of Love is Pleasure in our notices and observations of the eminencies of the cause appearing in the effects thereof, and in our delightful searches thereinto. 4. When excellency appears upon the Throne of Government, the formal Act of Love is our delightful acquiescence and satisfaction in, and our cheerful comporting with all the Laws and Interests of such Government: Thus I delight to do thy will, O God, Psal. xl. 8. And this is love that we keep his Commandments, i Joh. v. 3. And this is my meat, to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work, Joh. iv. 34. Authority owned, Laws obeyed, disposals rested in, and all with cheerfulness. And then, 5. When Goodness appears communicative, designing and dispensing kindnesses, directed and designed to the benefit, and welfare of the Recipients of its Communications. The formal Act of Love in the thus befriended Persons, is their thankful acceptances, cheerful acknowledgements, and faithful improvement, of what they thus receive in the service, according to the Pleasure and Order, and to the praise of him that gives them; and as these favours are of several sorts and sizes; Such as our beings, and their receptiveness of Divine kindnesses; and the kindness shown us to make us good, to do us good, and to capacitate us to do good to others, and to receive further good from God, according to our different capacities, stations, relations, opportunities and advantages, conditions, and other circumstances; so hath our Love it's diversified actings, expressions and effects, according to it's various objects, considered in their own proper Excellencies, their several Relations to us, their postures towards us, and their concerns with us, and ours with them, which I here cannot mention, much less enlarge upon, even as they and we are related and concerned with the essential source of all communicative Excellence or Goodness, and therefore I leave it to the deeper thoughts and further searches of better Heads and Hearts than mine. 6. When Excellence espouses evidently some great Interests and Designs, such as the recovery of lost Souls, the reparation of declined Holiness, the shaming and abandoning of all Sin, the utter extirpation of Satan's Interest and Kingdom, the erecting of his Gospel, House and Kingdom, the Exaltation of his Son, and the Edification of his Children in Christian Knowledge, Holiness and Comfort; and in all things fit to make them acceptable to himself, and approved of men; and to make them regular and easy in themselves. When God designs and prosecutes the spreading of the Gospel, the Sanctification of his Name in and before the eyes of all, and the completing the Divine Life, and Nature in his own: What then can be the formal Act of Love, hereto in us, but the endearment and espousal of these things to us, as matters of the highest consequence and importance to the World, the Church and us, and as things more valuable and delightful to us, in our contemplations and pursuits thereof, than all our personal Interests and Pleasures in this World? 7. When Excellence communicates itself discernibly to others, than Love rejoices in this Gift and Grace to them. 8. When Excellence appears communicable to others, and that through one another as appointed means and instruments for this end, than Love is so far thankful, and it covets, erterprises, designs and prosecutes the thing, and so it grieves or joyfully Triumphs, as it discerns the matter to succeed or to be defeated or delayed; and it forms, and cherishes, and exerts it Sympathies accordingly. 9 When Excellence is rivalled, confronted, and opposed, than Love turns Jealous and Enraged; and puts on fortitude, and resolution to stand by its darling Object and concerns, in all the Agonies of Contention for them, which they need; and notwithstanding all the hazards, cost and difficulties which attend them. And 10. It accounts, and uses all as Friends or Enemies, as they appear against or for its Object.  
3. The Genuine Practice and Productions of this love. Here they are called Good Works; a correspondent practice with this Divine and Active, and diffusive Principle. All Instances and Effects of this delightful conversation with God and man, according to the Rules and Principles of Christianity, must savour of, illustrate and subserve this Principle and Grace. Thus Love God, and keep his Commandments; think and speak of him, address yourselves in your Devotions to him, serve him, and walk before him, trust him and depend upon him; all that you are, and have, design and do, let it be suited to, and worthy of that Glorious and fearful Name, the Lord Your God; whose eminent and perfect Name you love so well, Hebr. xii. 28. i Thess. two. 10-12. Rom. xii. 1, 2. Mat. v. 16. Joh. xv. 8. i Pet. iv. 11. away with such mean Things and Actions, such flat Devotions, and such tantum non offensive Conversations, and such lean and stingy Offerings to God or actings for him, as must put Charity upon the Rack to observers of you, for to conclude or think you love him, Mal. i. 13, 14. two Pet. three 11. i Cor. xv. 58. nothing below that cluster in Phil. iv. 8. and that in Tit. two. 10-14. can escape its Mene Tekel in this balance of the Sanctuary; rich in Good Works, i Tim. vi. 18. and rich towards God, Luk. xii. 21. and fruitful in every good work, Col. i. 10. actings continually towards God and for him, facing the Eyes and Consciences of all Observers with such illustrious and large Characters and Signatures of this Divine Principle of Love, as to convince even the most critical Observers of you, and to extort Confessions from them, that none could act and live as you do, did they not love God dearly, and most entirely and constantly live to him, and upon him, as their all, i Pet. two. 12. and iv. 16▪ Hebr. xi. 13-16. for I take not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here, to import what may be barely Good; but something generous and fit to strike the Beholder's Eye and Conscience with some astonishing Convictions, that what you do for God looks too majestically great to come from any ordinary Principle, yea, from any thing below your God enthroned in your best affections. Love is the very Soul of Godliness, the very Heart of the new Man; a Principle so impetuous and charming, as that it scorns where it is Regent, to be confined to, or signalised by any thing mean or base; Such objects and concerns in its most intimate and close embraces, and in its stated prospect, and yet act sparingly, sordidly, or sneakingly for God Love burns and blushes at the thought. And Heaven itself ere long will irritate, exert and show the Purity and generous Vigours of this Grace, in such a stated and inviolable series of great and generous actions, so full of God, and every way so fully for him, and so worthy of him, as that the life of God in glory shall evidence the force and excellence of that spring and principle whence it proceeds; and yet even here, even in this its Infant and Imperfect State, it groans and labours to have God's Will done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Well, in a word, such must your Actions and your Conversations be, as that (whatever you are conversant about or with, the temper of your Spirits, and the fervours and vigours of your love to God, his Image, Interest, Son, Spirit, Gospel, and all that do profess and own respects hereto) every step you take, and every thing you do aught to be great and exemplary, and impregnated with what may speak the greatness, largeness, cheerfulness and energies of your inflamed, exalted, and invigorated Souls, through love to God, Christ, Souls and Christianity. O to be exemplary in all Conversation! to live each other into awakened Considerations of Spiritual concerns, to dart forth all those glorious rays of Christian Wisdom, of which we are told in Jam. iii. 17, 18. to make men feel, as well as see, the force and flames of Christian Love; to charm Exasperated Passions down by all the sweetnesses of true Wisdom, Patience, Meekness, Gentleness, and every way endearing Conversation with them; to have the Law of Kindness always in your Mouths, the notices of true Friendliness in your Looks, the gifts and proofs of generous Charity in your Hands, in constant readiness to minister to the Necessities of the Saints, as God shall prosper your Endeavours in your lawful and regularly managed Occupations and Employments; to have your Deal and Commerces each with other accurately and severely just, and yet sufficiently securing the credit and concerns of Christianity. And in a word, to be blameless and harmless as the Sons of God without rebuke— shining as lights, and holding forth the Word of Life to Universal Satisfaction and Advantage, wherever groundless prejudice and partiality do not prevail and govern: and to fill up every relation, step, and station with the fruits of Goodness, Righteousness and truth: these are the good and generous Works of Love, whereto we are to be provoked; For thus we do not love in word and tongue, but indeed and truth, i Joh. iii. 28.  
4. The Intenseness of the principle and vigour of the practice, called here (as the designed effect of the prescribed means) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Provocation; the warmth and vigour wherewith Love and Good Works are as it were to be inspired; Zealously affected in a good thing, Gal. iv. 18. zealous of good works, Tit. two. 14. the Motive so effectually Cogent as to fix and fortify the Principle; and the Principle so powerful as to go thorough with its great enterprise and concern. Principles are the Springs of Action; and Love importeth intimacy; it is a Principle rooted in the heart, and it lays its beloved objects deep therein; warmth it is essential to it; and where it is perfect or considerably grown, it is serious and fervent: It is a commanding thing, and affects Regency over all the Actions, Faculties and Passions; it is peremptory in its Precepts, fixed in the Purposes and Concerns which it espouses; it is powerful in its Influences, pressing in its Claims, diffusive of itself through all that is performed by us; Impatient of Resistances, Denials or Delays, and moved to Jealousies, Indignation and vigorous Contentions, when any Injury, Affront or Rape, is threatened, attempted or pursued, that any way is prejudicial to its object, and its concerns therewith; it claims and pleads, it urges and provokes to diligence, and to all eager prosecutions of what it aims at, and endears unto itself; and it entirely reconciles the whole Man to all the cost and difficulties of its Divine pursuits. 'Tis never well but in its motions towards, its actings for, its conversation with, and its reposes in its Pearl of Price: and hence its actions are invigorated; it gives no faint blows in its holy War, it runs not in its Race, it deals not triflingly in its Merchandise for God and Heaven; it is all mettle, fortitude, patience, action, desire and delight in every thing relating to its grand Affair and Scope; and it makes all its actions and performances to bear their Testimony to its own fortitude and fervours, and this is the Paroxysm of Love and Good Works.  
2. The things provoking hereto.  
And here behold a Troop, as it was said of Gad, Gen. xxx. 11. How do inducements and incentments spring up in manifold and mighty clusters? What can we mention or fix our thoughts upon, that may not kindle and increase this flame of Love, and its Eruptions in Good Works? The things which we might pertinently and copiously insist upon, might be reduced to these Heads.  
1. The Objects of this Central Grace or Principle: 1. Things in Heaven; as God, Christ, the Spirit, Angels, the Spirits of Just Men there made perfect; the glorious Furniture, Laws and Orders; the Visions, Services, Ministrations and Fruitions of that State; all the Perfections Prerogatives and Employments of that blessed World above; with all the accomplishments and accommodations which relate immediately thereto, and all the Satisfactions and Advantages that result therefrom. 2. Things from Heaven; God manifest in the flesh, i Tim. iii. 16. the Spirit, Works, and Word of God, the great Provisions and Engagements of Divine Providence for us, all that we are, or have, or meet with, express of God's merciful regards to us, and his compassionate concernedness for our universal welfare. 3. Things for Heaven; The Spirit of Grace, the Word of Grace, all the Ministers and means of Grace, with all the Discipline and Encouragements which Providence sensibly affords us: the Good and Evil things of time, as ordered by God to fit us for, and help us to the Glory which we look for. The very Sons of men themselves considered in the relations which they bear to God, and their expressiveness of his indearing Name, and all those marks and notices which they bear and give us in the frame, capacity and management of humane Nature, of God's incomprehensible Wisdom, Power, Goodness, etc. O who can think hereon, and yet be unprovoked to Love and to Good Works, when as God is so eminently and endearingly discernible in all? for God by all this courts our love. And should I speak of the Sons of God and Heirs of Glory, that Divine Workmanship which is in them, and upon them; the Impressions, Reflections and Refractions of the Divine Nature and Life; their capacity of growing up to all the fullness of God, and to be eternally the beautiful and delightsome Temple of the Holy Ghost; all their relations to the Holy Trinity, with all their obligations to him, their interest in him, their business with him and for him, and all their imitations and resemblances of him in their actual and possible motions and advances towards him, and their Great Expectations from him. Should I insist upon their membership, with all the duties and advantages, and pleasures which arise there from; and pertinently illustrate and apply (as I could easily and quickly do) what doth so copiously occur, in Eph. iv. 4.— 6. as the Central articles and holding bonds of Union and Endearments; would you and I consider all these things, and all the loveliness that would then be communicable or observable, could our love want its provocation!  
2. The formal nature of this love; 'tis fit to be a provocation to itself, i Joh. iv. 16-21. 7-12. This is the beauty, health, strength, pleasure, safety and renown of humane nature; love is the aim and scope Knowledge, the end of faith, the Spirit of hope, the life of practice and devotion and the bond of perfectness, and the true transformation of the Soul into the image of its God. No pleasing thoughts of God, Christ, Heaven or heavenly things, no cheerful motions towards eternity, no foretastes of the highest bliss, no warrantable claims thereto, nor confident expectations of unseen realities. No true and lasting bonds of friendliness in service and affections, without this Spirit and state of love; this only faces God in his own beautiful and delightful image; this only turns the notions of divinity into substantial realities; and so exalts the man above the pageantries of mere formal, outside service and devotions; and the truth is, all that we say and do for God, or with him, and all our expectations from him are but the tricks and forgeries of deceitful and deceived fools, and the most provoking Profanation of the tremendous, holy name of God, and an abuse of holy things.  
3. The services which love must do and the fruits it must produce to God, to Christ▪ unto the Spirit, unto ourselves and others. God himself must be reverenced, addressed unto, served and entertained like himself, and walked with in all required and fit imitations of himself. And all these cannot be without just valuing of and complacency in his eminent perfections, near relations and the admirable constitutions and administrations of his Kingdom. Christ must be duly thought on, hearty entertained, gratefully acknowledged, and cheerfully obeyed, submitted and improved unto the great and gracious purposes of his appearances, performances and Kingdom, and minded most delightfully in all the Grandeurs of his Grace and Throne; the Holy Spirit must possess his Temple to his full Satisfaction, and have the pure incense of his graces in their fragrant, liberal and continual ascents; (Praying in the Holy Ghost, Judas 20.) And be feasted with the growthful and constant productions of his graces, both in their blossoms and full fruits; and we must be continually sowing to him, if we hope to reap eternal life of him, in Gal. vi. 8. We must possess ourselves in God, and for him, in our full devotedness and resignations of our entire selves to him▪ pleasing ourselves in this, that we are not by far so much, and so delightfully our own as his, and that we cannot love ourselves so well as when we find God infinitely dearer to us than we are to ourselves. And as for others, much must we cheerfully do, and bear, and be, to bring poor Renegadoes back again to God, to testify our great respects unto, and pleasure in the grace of God in our fellow Christians, to accommodate ourselves to their edification & concerns; and to make our best advantage of every thing discernible in them: Helping ourselves and them in spirit, speech and practice. And can these things be brought to pass, or ourselves reconciled & suited to all our Christian duties and interests without provoked love? And for the solemnities, transactions and results of the approaching day, what is that day to those who have no love, or very great declensions of it? For all that come with Christ from Heaven, come in the flames of love to God, to godliness and Godly Ones: and a Cold Heart, will no way be endured there. And as to fellow Christians the Duties and Counsels of the Text, consideration, adhering to the Assembling of ourselves together, mutual exhortations in the encouraging and quickening Prospect of this day, can these things be without love?  
III. The management of these provoking things.  
And here let us follow the method of the Text itself. Where we have these Topics to insist upon. 1. Persons must be considered each other, and ourselves. 2. We are not to desert the Assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. 3. We must exhort each other. And so what one proposes the other must Consider, Entertain Accommodate and Improve, to the great ends and benefit of the exhortation given. 4. And the actuated knowledge of the approaching day must quicken us to and in the more serious and intense performance of these duties: Exhorting by so much the more, by how much the more as ye see the day approaching. Let me but touch a little upon these things.  
1. Let us consider one another for this provoking work, or in order to this Provocation. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The word here in the Text imports strict observation of, and great solicitousness of thoughts about each other, as to great matters for their Good. So that we have, 1. The Objects; each other. 2. The Act or Duty towards them; Let us Consider. 3. The end and scope; To a provocation unto love and to Good works.  
1. The Objects. One another. 1. As to the great and Stated ends of our Creation and Redemption. Such as the Divine nature, and Life, and Joy. God's image in us, service from us, and the delightful blissful (and that) eternal presence with us, in the glorious discoveries and Communications of himself to us in heaven. And as we are recovered & redeemed by Jesus Christ; So our loyalty, gratitude and fruitfulness to him, in all acknowledgements and improvements of his kind Conduct, Government, Providence and Grace, unto the Father's Glory through him. As we are related to the Holy Ghost it is our correspondent Temper and Practice with, Improvement of, and our fit returns unto, the Offered, Accepted and Professed relations of the Spirit and his Communications to us, his Operations in us and his Effects upon our Spirits, that he might thereby suit us to the Concerns & Privileges of our Christian state, and that we might be built up, furnished and possessed as the Eternal Temple of the living God. Linked and laid together; and so, related and obliged to each other, dependant each on other, and consequently useful and delightful, in being hearty and practically faithful each to other unto the Edification of the whole in love; that so God (three in One) may be eternally and evidently All to Universal Satisfaction. For we were made and bought, and are committed to the care of Christ and of the Spirit; and we are accordingly entrusted with Gospel helps and means, that we might hereby be the Mirrors of Divine Communicable excellencies and perfections, the Monuments of prosperous and rich Grace, and Instruments of special Service. For these ends God Created and Redeemed us, and in respect hereto are we to be considered each by other. 2. As to our capacity of serving and reaching such Great Ends and Purposes. The powers of our Souls, the members of our Bodies, and all our natural accommodations for these Ends. For we are men, and so have faculties and powers naturally capable of, and form to a propenseness and appetite to the Supreme Good, and thereupon receptive of all the attractive influences of the first cause; and were it not for our moral depravations, and Corruptions, and alienations of heart herefrom which we have sinfully contracted, espoused and indulged; considering Divine Discoveries, Assistances and Encouragements, procured for us, and dispensed to us by Jesus Christ; what hinders our return to God and unto those reciprocations of Endearments betwixt him and us, to which by our rational Frame and Constitution we are so admirably suited? Are we not capable of discerning what may excite, inflame, preserve and regulate our love, and of the fixing and managing it accordingly? We are capable of judgement, choice and motion, and reposes, right objects being set before us in their apt illustrations and addresses. So that we cannot speak to bruits and stones as we may do to men. For nothing but sinful ignorance, prejudice, negligence and malignity, or sad delusions and mistakes, through inconsiderateness, and unreasonable avocations and diversions, can prevent the return of our first love; and all these things may be redressed by our judicious, well advised and warm discourses about these things duly attended to, impartially considered, and prudently and pertinently applied unto ourselves. Thus mistakes may be Rectified, known Truths and Notions actuated, Hearts affected, Lives reform, and Love restored to its regular Fervours and Productions of Good works. He that is capable of knowing what he is to do, and why, and of doing and being what most concerns and best becomes him, deserves to be accordingly considered by us. 3. As to our obligations and advantages, as we are Creatures, Subjects, Favourites. As we are redeemed to God by Christ, so our obligations to the returns of Gratitude should be considered by us, two Cor. v. 14, 15. We are Christ's, and Gods by him, and so he must be glorified in the whole man, i Cor. vi. 20. And all the vast advantages of our Gospel day, as they are talents and encouraging advantages put into our hands, must be considered by us too, and ourselves and one another as Stewards entrusted and accountable, two Pet. i 3, 4. i 4.11. So that we must regard each other as under ties and bonds to God and Christ, and as greatly helped and furnished to be provoked thus, if well considered, and managed accordingly. 4. As to our Spirits and behaviour according to our Christian Claims and Helps, Relations, Obligations and Professions. Whether we foot it right or not, Gal. two. 14. Whether professors value their Souls to their just worth or not, in keeping them intent upon their great concern, & whether their furniture, discipline, temper and behaviour bear evidently their fit and full proportion hereunto. How Gospel transforming and reforming work goes on with them. Whether the Christian name and interest, the Gospel and its Patron be credited and promoted, or disgraced and hindered by us; and whether our proficiency and improvements be answerable indeed to our advantages, obligations and professions. 5. Wherein our helps and hopefulness, or our dangers mainly lie; their Gifts, and Graces, and Encouragements and Advantages, on the one hand: Their Constitutions, Customs, Callings, Company, Temptations and secular Concerns, and Hindrances on the other hand are all to be considered.  
2. The Act or Duty towards these Objects. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Let us Consider. 1. bend your minds to observation of one another, that ye may understand how matters are with one another; concern yourselves about the right knowledge of the principles, tempers, actions, circumstances and concerns of persons, so far as your duty towards them calls you to it. For this injunction doth not countenance what we find elsewhere forbidden, two Thes. iii. 11, 12. i Tim. v. 13. i Pet. iv. 15. So far as you may do or get Good, prevent redress or allay evil, under such circumstances, relations and advantages as may notify that God then calls you to it, and so encourages your expectations and endeavours of doing Good, or preventing the sin and mischief which God would have prevented by you; So far may others be inspected, enquired after, and observed by you. But when it is and evidently appears to be to no purpose, to ill purposes, or to needless purpose, you must not do it. 2. And then seriously pause upon▪ and duly weigh, what you discern by your enquiry or your more immediate observation, and do not partially, passionately, rashly, and censoriously, form and fix your measures▪ Give what you hear or see concerning one another, your second, serious and Impartial thoughts, that so matters of fact being duly and truly stated, measures of prudence may be advisedly and safely taken up and fixed upon. So that when persons, matters of fact, your Christian rules and work, and way of managing this great concern, are duly laid in the balance of the Sanctuary and all this fixed in its just reference to this weighty end, you may proceed accordingly in the Sincerity, Tenderness and Wisdom of the right Christian Spirit. And then 3. Be well advised about the most taking way of managing what you thus instruct yourselves about; the humour of the person, your ways & seasons of addressing your discourses to him, & the preserving or managing of your interest in him, or at least your own abilities to prove what you accuse him of, to demonstrate what arguments you advance and use, and to enforce the motives that you would press him with. And study yourselves into a just measure of your own abilities, a thorough Mastery and Command of your own Passions, and good and clear discerning of and insight into the fittest seasons and occasions. And well observe as far as may be men's Tempers, Interests, Ends, and Intimates, that you may hereby, charm them, win and govern them. And if you would know men throughly, mind them strictly in their Trusts, their Passions, Interests, Companions, Surprises and Necessities, and let each other have serious thoughts herein. 4. And overlook no good in others to lessen it, despise it, disgrace it, or neglect it, but think distinctly upon all you see.  
3. The End and Scope of all must be this provocation to love and to Good works, Eph. iv. 29, 15, 16. i Thes. v. 11. the tongue of the wise, useth knowledge aright, Prov. xv. 2. Therefore the mind and heart must be intent upon right ends, Rom. xiv. 19 Not to let others know the reaches of our thoughts, the furniture of our minds, the nimbleness of our Tongues, the neatness of our words or the briskness of our parts or fancies, nor to spy faults, or weaknesses, for our discursive entertainments: As the manner of some is. Much less to make them proselytes to our opinions, parties or persuasions in lower matters, or votaries to our particular interests, or humours, Phil. i. 27. two. 19-21. I wish Professors, Ministers and others, would read these Texts, and well consider them. We must inspect, observe and well consider one another; that where we observe warm hearts, and fruitful lives, we might by our Commendations provoke them unto perseverance and proficiency therein; that where we discern a mixture of things Commendable, and blame-worthy, what is divine may not be overlooked, because of what is culpable, nor what is faulty, imitated and Commended, because of what is there praiseworthy. And that where we find our brethren overtaken with their infirmities and defects, they may be dealt with in the Spirit of meekness, and so recovered from their declensions and defects: And so return to their first love. And that we ourselves may be provoked to and by their excellencies, and grow more effectually careful to avoid all that did assuage their holy Warmth and Vigour. He that considers others, to glory over their defections and neglects, to aggravate their slips and falls, more to expose their persons to rage and scorn, doth what the Devil would advise him to, were he consulted with. The truths of God and Soul concerns are fixed things, and fervent hearts, and fruitful lives, are the Souls grand affair. And he that minds his brother in the neglect hereof, hath a corrupted and cold heart to purpose. To make each other all light about the things of God and Christ, all fervour in our love thereto, and all regular and cheerful vigour in the pursuit thereof, is what we must design, and direct our personal considerations to.  
II. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is: Here note, 1. The thing not here to be deserted is, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Our assembling. 2. The thing relating hereunto forbidden, is our forsaking it. 3. The tempting instance hereof, proposed by way of warning to us, is, that the manner of some is thus to do.  
1. The thing not to be forsaken, imports either, 1. Our own Conventions for public Worship; in the general, our open meeting together, as an Organised Congregation: Or Assembly wherein Pastors and their Flocks assemble statedly to speak to God, and to hear from him, and Sacramentally to eat and drink before him; and so to recognize and represent our Christian state with all solemnity in open view together. Or, 2. Doing this without dividing distances and separations each from other, under the notion of Jew and Gentile, or of persons differing each from other about difficult or trifling things. 3. Or our gathering others unto the Church of Christ, by our orderly and alluring Carriage, in this and other points of Christianity; and so the additions, which hereafter God will make hereto. Or 4. The great Assembly of the completed, and Triumphant Church of Christ in the great day of his Appearance and Kingdom, two Thes. two. 1. The only place that I remember in the New Testament, besides my Text, that this Noun occurs: And in that place the Word (as here it is) being a decompound, it fitly may be rendered an after Synagogue, or gathering, and how far thus rendering it in the Text is countenanced by the last clause; [that day] I here determine not.  
But I will here consider it in the first sense, wave or lightly touch upon the other two, and transfer the last to the Consideration of the last clause of the Text; where it will be freer from Exceptions than here perhaps it would be.  
2. The thing here given in charge concerning it, is. That we forsake it not. 1. In Thought, as judging it to be no Help or Duty. 2. In Heart, as not attempered, and reconciled to the solemnity, seriousness▪ and great concerns thereof. 3. In Presence, as abandoning or neglecting our personal presence and attendance there.  
3. The Snare, that we are warned of here, is, Our being influenced into a deserting such Assemblies, by the practical declensions and neglects of others. Others do so, they use to do it; it is evidently their Custom and Practice, 'tis possible for you to do the same, and to be drawn thereto by their Example: But their Example cannot justify this practice, and therefore should not influence you hereinto, and this Caution may prevent it, and therefore should accordingly be considered and improved by you; as being of such manifest and mighty consequence to your Love and Practice, both as to the warmth and strength thereof.  
4. The usefulness of the worshipping Assemblies of Saints, and Christians, to this great and needful provocation must quicken us unto, and keep us in these Courts of God, Psal. xcii 13.— 15. Exod. xx. 24. There God commands the blessing, even Life for evermore, Psal. cxxxiii. 3. There you have the openings of the Gospel Teasury; there are these golden Candlesticks, which bear the burning, shining Tapers, whose light and heat diffuse themselves through all within their reach, who are receptive of them: The Gifts and Graces the Affections and Experiences of Gospel Ministers are in their Communicative Exercises; there God the Father sets and keeps his Heart and Eye; there the Lord Redeemer walks by, and amongst his Commissionated Officers and Representatives, dispensing warmth and vigour through their Ministry to Hearts presented to him at his Altar: There doth the Holy Spirit fill Heads with Knowledge, Hearts with Grace, and all our Faculties and Christian Principles with Vigour. There Mysteries are unfolded, Precepts explained and enforced, Promises fulfilled, in Soul improvements; Incense is offered up in golden Censers, and foederal concernments are solemnly transacted and confirmed in open Court. And there through the Angel of the Covenant his moving upon the Waters of the Sanctuary, are Soul distempers and Consumptions healed: And there you are informed, acquainted with, and confirmed in, what may instruct you in, and encourage you unto this Provocation to Love and to good works: And there Prayer gets fuel, and gives vent to Love, drawing forth all the Energies of Souls and Thoughts towards God. And thus fervent Prayers, and love quickening returns thereto, are like the Angels of God ascending and descending from and upon the Heart; while the deserters hereof grow cold thereto, and starve their Love and practical Godliness thereby. All there is known, obtained and exercised. There you may fill your Heads with Knowledge, your Hearts with Grace, your Mouths with Arguments, your Lives with Fruitfulness, your Consciences with Consolations; and your whole selves with those experiences of Divine regards to Soul concerns, which may inflame your Hearts with Love to God and Christ, to Holiness and Heaven, and fit you both to kindle and increase this holy flame both in yourselves and in each other. And indeed, what greater advantages can be derived into our Souls, to make our Altars burn than what our Christian Assemblies duly managed will entertain us with? What understanding do the Inspirations of the Almighty here afford? Such curious Explications of the Name and Counsels of your God? Such large and full accounts of all the endearing Grace of Christ? Such Critical dissections and anatomizing of the state of Souls? Such over-sh●dowings of the Spirit of God? Such clear and full descriptions and accounts of the Divine Life and Nature in all their Strength and Glory? How are desires invigorated and twisted to make them more effectual to ourselves and others! This Sanctuary Love is like the best wine, going down sweetly, and causing the Lips even of those that are asleep to speak! Keep then to these Assemblies, that you may duly know whom, what, how and why to Love: and how to suit yourselves in spirit, speech and practice towards God, yourselves, and towards each other unto this generous and noble Principle. Thus will you grow exceedingly, both in the knowledge and savour of what is most considerable, and most deservingly affecting, both as to Things and Persons; for Christianity is contrived for Love and Godliness in all its Doctrines, Laws and Ordinances, and in assemblies you have the Explications, and Enforcements of those Truths; which will complete the Man of God, as to his Principles, Disposition and Behaviour. Here you may know your most holy Faith as to its matter, evidences, and designs upon you; and it's improvableness by you to it's determined and declared ends and services; That Faith which is to illuminate your Eyes; to exercise your thoughts, to fix your holy purposes, to form and cherish expectations, to raise desires, to embolden prayer, to fire your affections, and regulate them as to their Objects, Ends, and Measures, and Expressions: And when you there attend, you are in the way of Blessings. How oft, and evidently, are Divine Truths, there sensibly sharpened and succeeded by the God of Truth? Rom. i 16. Paul and Barnabas so spoke, as that a Multitude believed of Jews and Gentiles, Act. xiv. 1. And thither must you and I resort, and there attend for Doctrine, Exhortation, and Instruction, in Righteousness. The Priest's Lips must preserve Knowledge, how to speak of God, with him and for him; there Gospel luminaries are to diffuse their Light; and there must we receive it, and know what is considerable, eligible, practicable, and encouraging to love, and to good Works. Why then should we forsake that?  
3. But let us exhort, [each other;] ●or consideration and attendance on Assemblies are for our own and others good; for personal and mutual quickenings, to Love to good works. I know that, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is sometimes used more largely, for any pleading of and pressing home a thing pursuant to its import and design, whether by Counsel, Comfort, or sometimes it imports Consolation or Encouragement. This is too well seen, and known to need its Scriptural Instances and Quotations. That which is here intended, I offer in this Paraphrase. Draw forth all the Spirit and Strength, of what you know, and have advisedly considered as to yourselves and others; of what you have seen and heard in your Assembling of yourselves together, concerning your obligations to attend them, their fitness to advantage you, and all the benefit derived or deriveable therefrom: Draw forth the vigour of all your received Discoveries, Directions, Assistances and Inducements to do, and be what is required and expected from you, professed by you, and of eternal Consequence and Concernment to you. Plead this throughly with yourselves and one another, that so your Christian love be not extinguished or abated, but wrought and kept up to its genuine and just pitch of fervour and effectual Operations and Eruptions in Good works. Drive home upon yourselves (by deep and serious thoughts, and pertinent applications of them to yourselves, and warm debates about them with yourselves) the things which God hath manifested and proposed to you as credible, acceptable and practically Improveable. He that expects this flame upon his heart must be a thoughtful man, severely contemplative and solicitous about the things of the Kingdom of God, and the Name and Interest, and Servants of the Lord Redeemer. How can that man be warm and active, or zealous of Good works, whose knowledge is not actuated by self-awakening Meditations; and whose furniture, Principles and Spirit are commonly neglected by himself? What! are divine Truths Laws, Promises and Institutions only to be with us, or in us, as empty Speculations, or thin Notions? Have Divine Revelations and Endearings no Errand to our Hearts and Consciences, and no business there, and no practical Vigours to be exerted thence? That thoughtless Idle Souls should be lukewarm is no such wonder or strange thing. The contrary would be stranger even to a miracle. And being thus awakened and prepared yourselves, drive all things home upon each other, and plead the cause of every Duty, Truth and Motive throughly, in free and frequent conversation each with other, Mal. iii. 16. Luke xxiv. 32. i Thes. v. 11-15. Rom. xv. 13-16. Col. iii. 16. two Thes. iv. 18. Christian conference well managed makes and speaks warm hearts, and leads, and helps to better lives. Men that rarely, transiently or triflingly think upon or talk about the things of God must needs be cold within, and when such pray that God should warm them, can they expect returns to prayer when neither hearts nor pains are after them? And here: How many heart warning Topics of discourse and edifying conference might I now entertain you with? but let the text speak for itself, and though it here offer but one, yet is that one impregnated with many. 1. It is the day; 2. 'Tis an approaching day; and 3. They saw it thus approaching. 4. The sight ought (because so fit) to quicken them to growthful care and diligence in this heart-warning course and work. Whence,  
4. Preserve, and practically answer and improve a quick, deep, constant sense of the approaching day, i Thes. v. 1-11. two Pet. three 1.— 14. and Judas 20, 21. Col. iii. 2-5. Luke xxi. 34-36. xii. 35-40. Perhaps the Reader will not lose his time and labour in perusing and pausing upon these cited Texts: Nor find them impertinent nor inexpedient as to the case in hand. See also, two Pet. i 5-13. How copiously and closely might all these passages be insisted on, did not the Press stay for me, and the stated confines of a short discourse restrain me, and the fruits and labours of abler heads, and better pens, and hearts urge me severely because deservedly, to give place thereto? Well, Sirs, Consider the Approaching day, and represent it to your thoughtful and concerned selves in all its Grandeurs, and Solemnities of Process, and Results; and try then if it do not warm your hearts, and urge you pungently, and severely to Good works. As to the persons here most Immediately concerned, these Christian Hebrews; There was a day of reckoning with their malignant Enemies by Providential Controversies and Rebukes, which also was a day▪ of great Redemption and Establishment to the persecuted faithful Christians. There was to be a day of great Conversion and divine Attestations to the Christian Faith, and to its Proselytes, and what was more congenial herewith than this endeavoured provocation to love and to good works? And they that are provoked hereto are also fittest for a day of trial. But I shall here consider it as the great day of Christ's appearance and his Kingdom, two Tim. iv. 1.8. i 18. That day of God, of Christ, of Judgement and Perdition of  Men. That day of Revelation of God and Christ in their Majestic glory, that day of searches, sentence, and full execution and adjustments in all the accuracies of governing wisdom, holiness and grace. Who can contemplate this, and yet be Cold and Barren? Then, in the glorious splendours, solemnities, and proceed of that day shall it be evident who, and whose Son Christ is. What cost and care he hath been at to bring men to this warm and active course and temper, and what an estimate he and his Father set hereon, by what they then dispense and testify by way of recompense of reward thereto. Christ in his threefold glory, Luke ix. 26. God sending him forth and appearing in him, by him, and for him, as his own dear Son, the Son of such a King, i Tim. vi. 3-16. Father and Son making so vast a difference amongst the Sons of men by everlasting punishments and rewards as they are differently found as to Christian love and practice, Rom. two. 6-10. two Cor. v. 9-11. Mat. xxv. 34-46. And all that vast Assembly and Convention, applauding God's proceed and joyfully Congratulating the great endeavours and rewards of our provoked and Successful love. Are not these warming thoughts?  
Secondly, The Case.  
And of this I have given you this textual resolution. You have seen, 1. The Seat of this distemper, of a Lukewarm Frame or Temper, that it is in the heart or will. 2. The formal nature of it. 'Tis a defect or chillness of practical love and zeal, to and for God, and their concerns with us, and ours with them. The things which claim and merit the highest place in, and that should engage, and exercise our best affections, and most active zeal, are, 1. God's glory in the Church and World. 2. The life and growth, and the vivid Exercises, Profession and Effects of Godliness in ourselves, Tit. two. 11.— 14. Rom. xiv. 17— 19 Judas 20, 21. two Pet. i 3.— 11. For we must begin at home and set our all in order there. 3. The Power, Peace, and Progress of the Gospel in the World, Phil. i. 3.— 11. two. 19.21. That it may have its free course and be glorified. 4. The Harmony and Prosperity of the Church of Christ wherever this Gospel is accepted and professed. 5. The Case and Circumstances of particular professors as they variously are, and are evidently considerable, as to their Growth, Trials, Duties, Dangers, Decays, Wants, or Weaknesses, etc. 6. And the Sons of men as Strangers, Enemies, Persecutors, or any ways Endeavouring to supplant the Gospel interest, or to obstruct it or discourage it. And these it considered as reducible or incorrigible. Now heartlessness, Neutrality or Sluggishness of our affectionate concernedness about these things is what we call Lukewarmness. 3. The Cure hereof doth formally consist in our Inflamed love, Exercised and Expressed unto the life by constant activity congenial with this principle. The practical accommodating of all the regency & vigours of this principle of love to the concerns of Christian godliness; and of those that are concerned therewith, pursuant to the growth and prosperousness thereof. When we so value these concerns, & have such Sympathising with, and such genuine adherence to, resolutions and activity for, and satisfaction in the prosperousness of the things of God, and Christ, and Souls, and Christian Churches, as that nothing can stand before us, nor be regarded or dreaded by us, that rivals or opposes them; then are we indeed effectually cured. Here our thoughts naturally fix; and work, here our hearts cleave and flame; and hereunto our vigours, time, interest and treasures, are most entirely and cheerfully devoted. Where is there then the least remainder of a Lukewarm Temper; When we are wrought up to this Frame and pitch? 4. The way and means of working this great cure, are, 1. Persons considered. 2. Assemblies attended on. 3. What there, and thence, and otherwise is, or may be derived, improved by Mutual Exhortation. 4. And all this under the powerful influences of, and in fit and full proportion to a quick and constant apprehensiveness and apprehension of the approaching day.  
Now seeing the Text is Hortatory, Directive and Encouraging hereto; and hath as such been treated on accordingly, I will wave all further application, and only give you the Directions and Prescriptions for the curing of a lukewarm temper.  
1. Love-quenching and abating principles Interests and Practices are to be exploded and avoided. If once you entertain hard thoughts of God, as if he were morose and captious, a barren Wilderness, or Land of darkness; and only careful to ruin and distress his creatures upon the mere accounts of Sovereignty, and the Prerogative of Dominion, though a poor penitent lie prostrate at his feet for mercy, in tears and shame and self abhorrence: or in a readiness to do so, were there but any hopes of merciful acceptance: If you shall represent him to yourselves, as if he were so tenacious of revengeful purposes and of advantages put into his hands for the full executions of such deserved revenges, through former crimes provoking thereunto; Alas how can you think upon him, or address yourselves to him with hope and pleasure! We find grace represented to us as God's Image in his creatures. we find that holiness in creatures makes them the sweetest of all persons in their dispositions and deportments, and readiest to be charitable and abundant in benign, and alluring, and obliging remissions, constructions and dispensations. Such are most backward to make rigid interpretations and constructions of men's miscarriages and neglects, when they arise from rather infirmity than malignity; and from ignorance and surprise, than from contrivance or perverse resolution. They hate above all men, every thing that savours of stinginess and of a sordid Spirit, and they like not to retain revengeful purposes to ruin or disturb those criminals who seriously and pathetically implore their pardon, and beg admission to their now much valued favour. And doth grace make such persons better than their maker; and is that God's Image in them which hath nothing in God correspondent herewith? Or can we think that the Image can exceed its Grand Exemplar? Such black and dismal thoughts of God can never kindle love in us to him. Did I not know and think that God is love, how could I seek to him in hope, and love him? For my part, I verily believe God sent his Son into the world, to convince us of his love and goodness, and to invite us to himself, under the power of this alluring principle of Truth, That God loves us dearly, and that he will reject no sinner whose heart is touched with such love to him, as makes it restless and uneasy in itself, till it obtain his pardon, image, fellowship and presence. See Heb. xi. 6. And as for Jesus Christ, the liveliest Image, and the truest and most glorious Mirror of the Invisible God, that ever any Eye beheld, or can behold. How sweet, indulgent, humble, gracious, and endearing, was he unto all? and how ready to receive all that come to God through him? O! do not then mistake his grace, design, or temper. Love cannot live and do its work, where Christ is not duly represented in his lovely Excellencies.  
And yet on the other hand, represent not God below himself, as fond in his respects, partial in his deal, slack and easy in his proceed, apt to favour us, tho' neglected by us; as one ready to indulge us in our sins, and to connive and wink at our miscarriages; or one that we may trifle with, and fond think that we can at any time procure his favour, and extinguish or evade his anger and displeasure, by some trifling applications to him, or flattering Eulogies of his name upon the knee, or a copious, verbose declaiming against our sins and selves in our stated or occasional addressing of ourselves to him, when pangs of Death, horrors of Conscience, or the tastes and expectations of his Wrath make us uneasy to ourselves: as if by compliments, and petty observances of God in lower matters, we could turn and toss a ductile nature into any aspect, shape or posture that may serve our private turns, and please our arrogant and presumptuous humours; and court God to strip himself of all the glories of his Name and Throne, and prostitute his Interest and Honour, Laws and Majesty unto the fond conceits of fools and sinners: for this is blasphemy and presumption to the height, both fit and sure to be punished by the Judge. Can God be Love, or lovely in the eyes of sober and discerning men, were he thus facile, so as to be infuenced by the conceits and humours of sinners in their dotages? He that would not signify one thought of mercy to our revolted Parents, before he had represented himself most awful in his Judiciary Process, and that so guarded both his Laws and Throne with awful Majesty and Sanctions; and that exacted so severe a satisfaction from his Son; he surely neither will, nor can debase himself, and tempt his creatures by unfit relaxations of his Laws and Courses to think him despicable, even by such unfit deportments of himself towards them. That fool which takes Gods mercies and indulgencies to be at his commands, so as to sin and pray; and that makes such easy pardons and redresses, the continual encouragements of sinful practices and hopes; that fool, I say again, that is of this persuasion and deportment, is no way likely to be cured of his lukewarm temper, Deut. xxix. 19, 20. For so easy pardons and redresses would evidently and effectually mortify the Spirit, and defeat the glorious designs of Divine Government amongst men. See Heb. xii. 25-28, 29. x. 26-31. Rom. two. 6-10. Gal. vi. 7-9. i Sam. two. 2, 3-29, 30 two Chron. xv. 2.  
And if you take your Christianity to be a state of drudgery and disconsolateness; if you degenerate into worldliness, luxury or voluptuousness, (as in John two. 15-17. James iv. 4.) If you grow so tender of yourselves as to be swayed more by what affects the outward than the inward man: If you give way to partiality, to jealousies, heats and ferments, to a censorious, jealous and detracting Spirit; or to the Spirit of domination and division; or if you form your principles, interests and actions according to the measures and concerns of this vain transient world, and of the animal life: This malady will prove incurable.  
2. Heart-warming objects are to be contemplated. Such as the glories of God's name: The Grandeurs of his Majesty and Throne, the Accuracies of his Government in all its Constitutions and administrations. The Stores and Treasures of his Goodness with all their provident and yet generous distributions, unto all his creatures: the riches of his grace in his kindness to us by Jesus Christ, the exhibition of his Son and all the amiable excellencies and endearing aspects and addresses made to us by him: the life that is in Christ, the grace and promises that are given us by him, so great and precious: all the fellowship and intimacies that we are hereby called and admitted to: Gospel Treasures and Provisions to bring and keep our God and us together in order to all the Solaces and Satisfactions of Steady, Full, Eternal Friendship: the eminent importance of his Gospel, Interest and Kingdom in and to the world, the Church and us; the loveliness and vigours of his Interest and Image in us, as form fixed and actuated, and possessed by his eternal Spirit, to his eternal praise by Jesus Christ: the solid pleasures, peace and usefulness of regular zeal for God, Christ, Christianity and all that are near and dear to God, with all the comforts and renown which this well fixed and ordered zeal prepares us for. All that we are saved from, by, to, through the effectual cure of this disease. All the solemnities of Christ's approaching day; and our great concerns therein. All the good that is in, that attends upon, and that issues from the prosperous Successes of the Gospel, the holiness and and peace of the Church, and the health, the usefulness, the possession, the Conflicts and Conquests of a well cured Soul, and all the Honours, Ease and Blessings that attend our glorious Gospel. All this, and much more deserves deep thoughts, and all the fervours and acknowledgements and Services of love. And the plain truth is this: We are both constituted of, and surrounded with enflaming objects of this love. And the great object and attractive shines even most gloriously in all. Nature in all its Harmonies, Stores and Beauties; Providence in all its illustrations of its excellencies and exactness, suiting itself in all the Articles thereof to every thing and being and concern in Heaven and Earth. The sacred Scriptures every way entertaining us with what may exercise and enrich the mind of man, heal and compose his Conscience, enthroning it as God's vicegerent to inspect the principles, designs and practices, and State of men, to make and keep them orderly, safe and easy, and so to affect the heart and life, as that we may be lovely in the sight of God, the blessings of our Stations in our generations and a most comfortable entertainment to ourselves. Our very selves are most provoking objects unto love. So many faculties in our Souls! So many passions and affections to be ordered and exercised aright! So many senses for reception! So many Organs and Instruments for the commodious promoting and securing of our own Good! So many Objects, Employments and Acquests to be engaged vigorously about and orderly conversant with all continually! And God in all this eminently beaming forth those perfections which are so fit and worthy to take endearingly with us! How inexcusable is cold heartedness whenas it may so easily be cured by serious Contemplations of these objects! Light and Colours, and beautiful proportions to the eye: Words and Melodies to the Ears: Food to the taste, and all the objects, exercises and entertainments of every sense, afford our very minds and hearts their delicacies to feed on, and urge us to love God and Man.  
And let me add this also, the beauties and delightfulness of holiness and practical Religion as exemplified in holy persons, those excellent ones in whom is my delight. saith David, Psal. xuj. 3. O to observe them in all their curious imitations and resemblances of their God, in the Wisdom of their Conduct, the fervours of their Spirits, the steadiness of their purposes, the evenness of their tempers, the usefulness and blamelessness of their lives, the loftiness of their aims, the placed gravity of their Looks, the savour and obligingness of their Speeches, the generous largeness of their Hearts, the openness of their Hands, the impartiality of their Thoughts, the tenderness of their Bowels, and all the sweetnesses of their Deportments towards all. Such things are really, where Christian Godliness obtains indeed. Tho mere pretenders, or real Christians in their decays and swoons, may represent Religion under its eclipses to its great disadvantage and reproach. When therefore we contemplate all these excellencies, (and many more not mentioned) will not our Hearts take fire and burn with love of Complacency, where these things are visible; and with the Love of benevolence, and beneficence to that degree, towards those that are receptive of, but want them, which shall enrage Desires, and Prayers, and quicken us to diligent endeavours after what by such may be attained unto, were they but closely and warmly followed by us, and brought to the diligent pursuits thereof. Thus you see, deep thoughts about lovely Objects will get up love, and cure lukewarmness in us to the purpose. Let this then be done.  
3. Heart-awakening and Love-quickning Truths are to be duly and intimately considered. And this is indeed in part, to truthifie in Love, if I may make an English Word to express the valour of the Greek Word, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Eph. iv. 15. The existence and excellence of the great Jehovah, the Trine-Vne Holy one, the care which he hath taken, and the expensive cost he hath been at to cure this Malady by the  means and helps. The critical Inspections of his Eye into the Heart of Man, and his making this the test and balance of the Sanctuary, to try us by, counting and judging us more or less fit for Mercies, and Judgements, Heaven, or Hell, Service or to be thrown aside as refuse, as our Hearts stand affected. No exact soundness in our Spirits, no safety in our State, no real ease and cheerfulness in our Souls, no evidence of our acceptance with our God, no Duty well performed towards God or Man, no Sins subdued, no Trial bravely managed and resulted, no Talents used fully to the Master's Satisfaction and Advantage; nothing professed, performed, endured or obtained without this Love. And according to its Ebbs and Flows, its Inflammations and Abatements, so doth it far and go with all our Christianity and Concerns. The Truth is, all the concerns of Souls and Persons, in Life, Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell, are hereupon depending. These Articles of Truth considered well, will make us serious, fervent, resolute and industrious in the things of God.  
4. Heart-warming Duties are to be performed throughly, in Public, Private, and in Secret, Eccl. ix. 10. Rom. xii. 11, 12. Pray hard, read frequently and seriously, hear diligently and impartially; meditate closely and concernedly upon all you read or hear relating to the great concern. Be much in Christian conference, in the due Spirit, and to the genuine design and purposes thereof; be much in Praise, Thanks, Self-observation, Government and Discipline: Look up to Heaven for help, and improve faithfully what you thence obtain. And I do take the Supreme, Essentially, Infinite Good, to be dishonoured and degraded by us in our Thoughts and Walk; if any Creature Interests or Excellencies do ultimately terminate our Affections and Intentions. For my part, I take converses, Employments, Ingenious Recreations, and even sensitive Entertainments to be most delicious and grateful; when they occasion or provoke me to those Observations of God in all, which carry up my thoughts through, and from them to him, with Thanks and holy Wonder. And when these thoughts do as it were return again from Heaven, to set us more delightfully and strenuously to our needful work on Earth; for Heaven and for the most generous and true services, to the great benefit of the Church and World: O what a Sea of Pleasures and Advantages, do Love and good Works cast us then into, and keep us in! How often have the delicate composures of grave and sprightly Music well managed by the sweet and skilful Voice or touch, provoked and urged my Soul to admire the chief good, and the Eternal source of all communicated and communicable ingenuity and expertness in that, and in all sorts of Arts and Sciences! The delicate composure of the ear to render it receptive of melodious sounds, the usefulness of the Air for the conveyance of them to the prepared Ear: The pregnancies of humane Souls and Fancies for the endlessness of various compositions! The command that the Soul hath over the Animal Spirits, to order and command the Voice or Fingers, the rules of harmony, and the particular gracefulness, of relishes, and flourishings, and humouring of some particular Notes and Touches. And the different tempers that God hath made, whereto the varieties of sounds have their as various degrees and ways of gratefulness; these things with all the Mysteries of sounds and numbers. O what is their cry? How lovely is the Eternal God, that gives us such Abilities and Entertainments! How lovely are the Souls of Men, that are receptive of such things! How lovely are those Labours and Designs, that are with Wisdom, Diligence and Faithfulness, directed to the Cultivation, and Salvations of such Souls! O how beautiful and lovely are the feet of those, and how deserving of our Prayers, and universal helpfulness are they themselves, who lay out all their Time and Strength, to get each other, and as many as they can, in readiness to bear their parts, and take their share in the Melodies and Entertainments of that Triumphant state of Love and Holiness in the Heavenly Glory▪ The cry of all is, Love, Love. These are things and objects, that require and deserve our Love in its most urgent vehemencies, to promote their Interests; this noble flame is desecrated and profaned by us, and used to it's own prejudice and reproach, when it is not directed to, and diligently conversant about Objects and Services truly worthy of itself, Gal. iv. 18. I should have thought my Thoughts and Heart not only Faeculant, but in a sort profane; had I applied my Studies, or this Sacred Directory in my Text, to the promoting of fervour, noise and stir about things much below, or repugnant to the weightier things, and matters of Christ's Gospel Kingdom, Judgement, Mercy and Love. Mat. xxiii. 23. The love of God, saith Luk xi. 42. woe worth, that Papal zeal and diligence, that is for the promotion of an universal Visible Headship; wherein they pretend that all the Church Militant must be united; into whose Arbitrary and bold dictates it must resolve its Faith, according to whose Edicts it must form all its practices, and to the supports whereof in all it's secular Grandeurs, Pageantries, and usurped Prerogatives, it must devote and sacrifice it's all. Is He lukewarm in God's account, that will not Anathematise, traduce, distress, destroy, Souls, Persons, Families, Churches, Kingdoms, and the choicest and most useful Persons; who will not absolutely devote himself hereto, and show his zeal in desolating flames and slaughters? Such Zeal, we know by whom it was called Madness, Act. xxvi. 9— 11. Phil. iii. 6. woe worth Malignant and Censorious zeal, that overlooks much excellence in others, and that envies or despises all deserving Services, Gifts and Graces, if not seated in, and performed by themselves. woe worth dividing zeal, that intimately espouses particular opinions, modes, forms and humours, and then makes these the main, or the only terms of Peace and Concord; that lays out all its Time, Strength, Interest and Fervours, to gain Proselytes and Votaries hereto; and to defend their own Fictions, and quarrel with, and keep at sinful distances from Persons better (perhaps) than themselves, because their Schibboleth is not pronounced by them. woe worth partial zeal, that measures things, and Persons, by their discords and agreements, with our own Interests, Parties or Persuasions. Every thing is Idolatry, Superstition, and rigorously to be dealt withal, that falls not even with our sentiments and ways. woe worth self-conceited zeal, that lays its quarrels upon this cause and bottom, that others will not reverence and yield to us, as wiser and better than themselves. And woe worth all zeal, that lays the Christian Interest, Peace and Welfare on Covenants, Subscriptions, or any terms too mean and narrow to sustain them. I shall never value, vindicate, practice, nor endure that zeal which bears not all those Characters of God, mentioned in Jam. iii. 17, 18.  

Postscript.  
ANd now Reader, let me bespeak thy Candour. I am very sensible of very great inaccuracies and defects in this Resolution of so great a Case: It became my work under unusual disadvantages, not fit to be mentioned here. I have exposed my first draught to an observant Generation. the Truths contained therein are Gods, and the Directions offered, are for the substance of them according to the Doctrine of the Scripture of Truth. May they but prosper to the c●re of lukewarm hearts, I can the better spare the praise of men, and bear their Censures and Contempt. It is the desire, endeavour, and design of my poor Soul to think as meanly of myself as other's can. I have no time (and through the infirmity of my Right hand, writing is the most tedious part of my work) to correct my first Copy, which entertains me in the perusal thereof, with many superfluous expressions to be retrenched, many inaccuracies of Phrase and Method to be rectified; many defects to be made up, as to that matter which the full Resolution of the Case requires: Many hints and heads which might more copiously have been insisted on; yea and some passages in the Text itself, I find upon review might have been more fully and nervously improved to the exacter Resolution of the Case. Much more I could have said, and much more than that, can a Multitude of my Brethren speak, were they to undertake the Subject; and handle it, according to the Grace and Wisdom, which God hath more copiously given unto them, than unto me: Tho I will leave this Testimony to his Great and Gracious Name upon record, that he hath ever helped me, and had done more for me had I not unworthily obstructed the Current of his kindnesses to me: My Books and helps are nothing to me without him, it is ignorance of ourselves, and of God that makes us proud; but our sensible approaches to Eternity and to himself will make us sneak, and lay us in the dust before him, we being hereby made to see how little we know can signify, obtain, or do without him.  
Some may perhaps Object my mistake, and misapplication of this Text, in that men, our fellow Christians are the object of this Love and Service here to be provoked unto. And I deny it not, but it is God's Image, Interest and Service, in and by them, in reference to the pleasing of his will, so good, so acceptable, and so perfect, Rom. xii. 1, 2. that is the great inducement to this love. And as these things are discernible in them, communicable to them, and followed or neglected by them, so are they related to, and all of us concerned in this Love and good Works, either as Agents or Objects, or both▪ and of this Love and Service is God the Original Dirigent, and ultimate End.    

Quest. What is the duty of Magistrates from the highest to the lowest, for the suppressing of profaneness. SERMON XV.  Rom. 13.3. For Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. 
REligion, if right, doth excel all other things in the world upon the account of its universal usefulness, and the powerful influences it hath upon them that are true to it, for the promoting of their present, future, and everlasting happiness. Of all other the Christian Religion, which we own and profess, is the best and most worthy of our engaging in and  cleaving to, being pure and undefiled before God and the Father, as the Apostle James speaks, Chap. 1.27. v. Unspeakably profitable it is and advantageous to the Kingdoms that receive it, and to the Persons who are sincere in it, and studious of conforming themselves to its holy Precepts and Rules. The sacred Scriptures drawn up and left by men divinely inspired and infallibly assisted, from which alone we fetch it, (not from Fathers or Councils, whatever esteem and Veneration we have for them,) do commend themselves unto the judgements and consciences of men, who have not shaken hands with reason, and fetch so great a compass as to contain and reveal, either in particular or general directions, all that which is necessary for us to believe or do in order to our full satisfaction and endless felicity in the next world, and our present safety, peace and comfort in this foolish and troublesome one. David tells us, Psal. 119.96. The Commandment is exceeding broad. It is long for its duration, being aeternae veritatis, of everlasting truth, not any thing shall be diminished or cut off from it, not any thing shall be changed or altered in it, and it is broad for its usefulness, extending to and spreading itself over all the occasions of men, for it hath comforts Sovereign and proper in all distresses though never so pinching, together with directions adapted to and fitted for all conditions and affairs, though never so difficult and abstruse.  
The blessed Word of God will teach you how to order and demean yourselves in your personal capacities, and in your relative too; how to walk alone, and how to draw in the Yoke. It presents us with the best Ethics, Economics, and Politics in the World: Aristotle's and Machiavels are fooleries if compared with it. This precious word being well attended to and obeyed, will make comfortable Families, flourishing Kingdoms and States. Oh that all those unto whom the Lord hath in his goodness vouchsafed these Oracles would be so wise as to make them their delight and Counsellors. Sure I am we should then be blessed with better Husbands and Wives, better Parents and Children, better Masters and Servants, better Friends and Neighbours, better Ministers and people, better Magistrates and Subjects. The beauty of the Lord our God would be upon us, and that would make our faces shine.  
Of the last mentioned Relation, viz. That between Magistrates and Subjects, the holy Apostle Paul treats at the beginning of this Chapter, and so on to the 8th verse. In the first verse he issueth out his precept, from which it appears that Christ is no enemy to Caesar, and the principles of Christian Religion not inconsistent with those of Loyalty. The best Christians will be found (at long run to be sure) the best Subjects. None so true to their Prince as those that are most faithful to their God, for what saith our Apostle? Let every Soul be Subject to the higher powers. Every one, Man, Woman, and Child, that is capable of understanding what subjection means, and of expressing it. Be he of what rank and in what station he will, high or low, noble or base, rich or poor, of the Clergy (by the Pope's leave) or of the Laity, as some love to speak, let him be Subject, not overtop, not exalt himself over that which is called God, but be subject to the higher powers. Who are they? the Civil Magistrates. Antichrist hath put in his claim here, but he is justly nonsuited by Protestants. It is the Civil Magistrate, whose interest and right our Apostle here asserts and pleads: Kings, as he speaks in another Epistle, and all that are in Authority. These we are to pray for, to these we ought to be Subject, to these we must pay tribute, these we must honour, support and assist, these we are bound to obey, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake, and that in all things in which obedience to them doth not carry in the bowels of it disobedience unto God, whom the greatest and highest of them are infinitely below. This precept he backs and binds upon Christians with sundry arguments drawn,  
1. From the Institution. Of Magistracy of what kind soever the Government be, whether Monarchical, or Aristocratical, etc. Still Government is of divine Institution. It is God's Ordinance and Appointment. There is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. It is not of the Devil, who is an enemy to order, and delights in confusion, nor is it only by the will of man, whatsoever they may and do contribute toward it, nor is it  of those who possess the Throne and sway the Sceptre; but it is of God who in his infinite wisdom and goodness to mankind, hath determined and ordered it should be so, who according to the pleasure of his will, without giving account of his matters, putteth down one, and setteth up another, and who hath infused such an instinct and principle into men living together in a Community as powerfully and effectually leads to the electing of one or more, and setting him or them over them, arming and intrusting them with power and authority, for the administration of justice and public affairs, that by them common safety and good may be both secured and promoted, and from them as from the head, vital and comfortable influences may be conveyed to the whole politic body, yea to the meanest and lowest of its members who grind at the Mill and handle the Diffaff.  
2. From the sin of those who refuse this required Subjection, and oppose and resist the Magistrate, v. 2. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. He doth herein run counter and Cross to the alwise God, and his declared will. He doth as it were, set his Wisdom and Will against Gods. Bellum cum Deo suscipit, whatever he fancies to himself, he undertakes and wages War with God. This man sinneth against God as well as against man, is a Rebel against the Majesty of Heaven as well as his Prince upon earth refusing the obedience he owes to his Ordinance and Command.  
3. From the evil and fatal consequence or effect of Rebellion and Resistance, of which in the same verse, they that resist shall receive unto themselves damnation. They commit such a crime as shall most certainly and severely be revenged, they had better never have done it, for punishment will surely follow it, and it may be with a quick and speedy pace, either from the hand of the Magistrate, to whom the Sword is committed, with which he is to animadvert upon all disobedience, or by the hand of God who will plead the cause and vindicate the honour of his Lieutenants and Vicegerents; so that such Delinquents are never safe, but in danger of a Temporal punishment here, as Korah and his accomplices experienced, and so did that unnatural wretch Absalon; or an eternal one in Hell in case hearty repentance do not by an happy interposal prevent it.  
4. From the end of the Office, and the business incumbent upon persons called to it, which is singularly good and greatly necessary, being designed for and tending to the preventing of vice, and promoting of virtue, and this is the argument used in my Text, for Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Princes, Magistrates, they into whose hand the Sceptre is put, or the Sword of Justice, whether they be Supreme or Subordinate, whatsoever place they hold in the Political Body. These are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a terror, a scare a fright, they ought not to be, it doth not become them to be; It is no part of their Office and place to be: And so long as they act conscientiously, wisely, so long as they observe the rules given them, and carry in their several Stations as they should, they will not be a terror 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to good works or to them that do them, whom they ought to defend by their power, and encourage with their smiles; but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to those which are evil. It is the latter part of these words which falls under my present consideration; My work is to take a view of Magistrates, & to discourse about them as they ought to be terrors unto evil works, all of them so far as they come to their knowledge and fall under their cognizance. The Question, which I am desired to speak unto being this:  
Quest. What is the duty of Magistrates from the highest to the lowest, for the suppressing of profaneness?  
In the handling hereof I shall observe this method.  
First, Inquire what is meant by profaneness.  
Secondly, What is intended by the suppression of profaneness.  
Thirdly, Prove it to be the duty of all Magistrates to employ their Authority and power for that great and excellent end.  
Fourthly, Propound and offer sundry means which they may and should make use of in order thereunto.  
Lastly, Shut up our whole discourse with application; and the great God assist in the work, and bless that which shall be done. Amen.  
Our first enquiry than will be, what are we to understand by profaneness. In answer whereunto we will consider the word, which in Latin is prophanus, and as some learned Critics observe, is as much as procul à Fano, far from the Temple or holy place, far from God; that which is far from the mind and will of God, that which God doth not approve, will have nothing to do with, which speaks those that love and practise it a company of persons at a distance from God. The word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Now saith Aretius, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth pure, such a purity as is in the stars of Heaven, or a serene Sky, and the syllable Be doth change the signification and import of the word, and accordingly we do well understand by it that which is unclean, impure, polluted, filthy. So that profaneness is uncleanness, of which there are two sorts.  
First, A Ceremonial uncleanness. Thus we read of defiled hands and common meats. Of the former, Mark 7.2. There came together unto him certain of the Pharisees and Scribes, and when they saw some of his Disciples, eat Bread with defiled (that is to say, with unwashen hands) they found fault. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with common hands, impure ones. That was counted by them a profane action, which polluted the person that did it, and so you read of common meats, Acts 10.13, 14. Peter saw Heaven opened, and a certain Vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet, wherein were all manner of fourfooted Beasts of the Earth, and Wild Beasts, and Creeping things, and Fouls of the Air; and there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, Kill and Eat; but Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. There common is opposed to holy; it was a thing not fit for that holy people whom God had called out from the rest of the world & made his own peculiar. That was common, unclean or profane, which was lawful to the Gentiles, but prohibited the Jews by the Ceremonial Law; as to instance Swine's flesh. That Law is now abolished; with this sort of uncleanness we at present have nothing to do, as not being intended in the question.  
Secondly, There is a moral uncleanness, and that is it here meant. That is said to be profane, which is impure, polluted, foul, loathsome and defiling; and so it may be, and, as we find in Scripture, it is applied both to persons and to things.  
First, To persons. Thus in Ezek. 21.25. when the Lord by the Prophet spoke to Zedekiah, it was in this language: Thou profane, wicked Prince of Israel. His profaneness did arise from, or rather consist in his wickedness, for he had grievously polluted himself with Idolatry and Perjury, with cursed persecutions and the blood of the Innocents'. He was both a stranger and enemy to all piety, and purity, he ingulph'd himself in wickedness, and laboured with all his might to draw others of his Subjects, both noble and base into the same practices, and to Plunge them as deep as himself. Esau hath the same brand set upon him, Heb. 12.16. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his Birthright. A profane person, qui nihil habet sacri, who hath in him nothing Sacred, nothing of holiness, who violates, neglects, tramples under foot holy things; who so pleaseth himself in filthiness as to wallow in it; in whom the love of the world is so predominant, & to pleasures, riches and honours he is so addicted, that he prefers them before the grace of God, and the Kingdom of Christ in himself and in the world. Such an one as valued carnal things above spiritual, earthly above heavenly and a small fleshly enjoyment above so great and advantageous a privilege as the Primogeniture.  
Secondly, Profaneness is attributed to things. Thus in 1 Tim. 4.7. Refuse profane and old Wives Fables, by which we are, according to learned men, to understand, either the absurd Jewish stories, or some superstitious persons forbidding to marry, and the use of sundry sorts of meats; or those idle and foolish Doctrines which place the worship of God in such low and pitiful things as external sapless Rites, and Ceremonies, Forms, Modes and Gestures. But further those things are plainly and notoriously profane which are sinful and wicked. Debauchery is profaneness in Grain; a wicked life is a profane life. To Lie, and Swear, and Curse, and Whore are acts of profaneness; for people to drive on their worldly Trades, to buy and sell, in Houses, Shops, or Streets upon the Sabbath-day are acts of profaneness. This is a profaning of that day which God hath separated from the rest of the days, and sanctified and set apart for holy use, his own worship and service, and the good of Souls. In short, all that which is contrary to the Divine Law, those excellent and blessed Rules which God hath been pleased in his Word to give out unto us, for the right management of ourselves, and ordering of our Lives and Conversations in the World; all that, I say, is profaneness, whether it be Impiety or Immorality.  
Our second work is to inquire what we are to understand by the suppressing of profaneness.  
To this I answer in general; the suppressing of it doth signify the keeping of it under. If profaneness be not carefully looked to, but let alone, it will quickly grow to an head, and soon overspread and over-top all. It must therefore be kept down, and if through the negligence of some, and the impudence of others it be got to an height, it must be knocked down. Such tough humours in the body Politic need and call for strong Purges, and Civil Magistrates, who are the State-Physicians cannot be better employed than about such works as that. More particularly, I shall mention two things, which the suppression of profaneness doth carry in it.  
A prevention of 

1. The acts of profaneness.  
2. The growth of it.    
First, There must be a prevention of the Acts of profaneness. Profane principles in the heart of a man, lying still, and as it were, dormant, not breaking forth, are out of the reach of others; Neither the Magistrates Sword, be it never so long, nor the Minister's Word, if alone and unaccompanied with the Divine Spirit, can reach it, or prevail against it. That is the mighty and glorious work of the great Jehovah, who alone knoweth the Heart and searcheth it, and can change, altar and mend it. None but he that made the heart at first, can mould it anew: None but he can cast Salt into that Spring, none but he can graft such holy principles as to make a corrupt tree good. But wicked and profane practices in the lives, of men as are the wretched products, fruits and issues of base and cursed principles, may be curbed, restrained and prevented: So that though the wickedness of the wicked will not departed from him, yet it shall not be committed with that frequency and boldness, and openness as it hath been, and to this very day is. With shame and sorrow be it spoken. In the Heb: 12.15. Look diligently, lest any man fail of the Grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you. You may understand it both of unsound doctrine & abominable practices, but I am now only to deal with the latter. Sin, lust, corruption in the heart is a root of bitterness, yielding that which is bitter to God; his Soul hates and abhors it: And it is bitter to man in the sad direful consequences and effects of it, which when the foolish self-humouring sinner comes to taste he will certainly find worse than Gall. Sin is his dainties, he rolls it as a delicious morsel under his tongue, but it will prove the poison of Asps within him. Now it nearly concerns every one to endeavour the pulling up of this root in his own heart, let him set both his hands to the work, let him lay the axe to it, and call God in to his assistance. It is ten thousand▪ thousand times more  to have in you that root of the matter which holy Job spoke of, than to have this root of bitterness in you. But than it ought to be the care of all, specially Governors, both in Families, Churches, Kingdoms and Nations, they should look diligently to it, that this root do not pullulare, spring up; if at any time it gins to peep and show its head, oppose it with might and main, trample upon it with the foot of just indignation, never suffer it to shoot up, bud and bring forth. Though men will not be so good as they should, do not give them leave to be as bad as they would: It is not in your power to dry up the fountain, but it is a part of your duty to damn up the streams; and though you cannot eradicate men's vicious habits yet you must restrain their outward acts, 1 Timothy 1.20. Of whom are Hymeneus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. A strange way of cure, to prevent sin by giving men up to the Devil, yet such as God prescribed and prospered. After the same manner, let flagitious Persons be delivered up to punishment, that so though they will not, virtutis amore, for the love of virtue, yet formidine poenae, for fear of punishment they may learn to bridle themselves, and not to do any more so wickedly as they have done. One great end of punishment being the reclaiming and amending the offender if he be not past hope.  
Secondly, There must be a suppression of the growth and spreading of profaneness. I shall hereafter show you a little more fully, how that sin is like some unhappy weeds, that if once they get into a ground, and be not timely dealt with, will in a little while run far and near, and overspread the whole, they do not need any encouragement, it is enough for them to be let alone. Of all Weeds this wickedness is the worst and most diffusive of itself; a profane wretch is like one that hath the plague, he is indeed a pest, or common plague in the place where he is, his very breath and touch, his discourses, and actions are infectious, he goeth up and down tainting those with whom he doth converse, who are not of healthful constitutions of Souls, and well antidoted with the fear and awe of God. And this was one reason that the Apostle Paul gives in the forementioned, Heb. 12. why he would have such special care taken to prevent the springing up of any root of bitterness, lest thereby many be defiled, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, polluted, bespattered, made as filthy and nasty as the beasts themselves. If such a root of bitterness be suffered to spring up, many will be troubled at it, and many will be defiled by it. It is the design and delight of wicked men to make others as bad as themselves, and to draw both Acquaintance and Strangers to cast in their lot among them, and to walk hand in-hand with them in their crooked ways that lead down to the Chambers of Death. Oh that the Saints and People of God were as desirous and industrious for the promoting of true Piety, as the Emissaries of Hell are for the propagating of profaneness! Oh that they would be as diligent to persuade men and women into the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel, as these are to make devilish Proselytes! In a Word, that they would take as much care and pains for the carrying others along with them to Heaven, as these are to allure and hurry others to Hell. But to our shame be it spoken, we are too dull, heavy and unactive, we are greatly outdone by them; we are not a quarter so zealous for the rescuing of poor Sinners out of the clutches of the destroyer, as they are for the bringing them under his power.  
But sure I am, it is the Duty of all, specially the concernment of those, who are by God invested with Power, to reckon it, and accordingly to mind it as a very considerable part of their work, to look to it, that this noisome Plague be stayed. And to that purpose, I desire them to consider what was the Resolution of David the man after Gods own Heart, Psalm 101.8. I will early destroy all the wicked of the Land; it should be one of the first things he did, to destroy them, not corporally by taking away their Lives, but civilly by a due and strict Discipline, and so cut off all evil doers from the City of the Lord. Where this is not attended to, sad and doleful experience hath made it evident to the World, that Hell will immediately break lose, the Floodgates of Wickedness will be all drawn up, and an inundation of the blackest villainies will follow and drown a Land, Judg. 17.6. In those days there was no King in Israel. None that could Effectually hinder Idolatry or any thing else, none that had a sufficient coercive Power, for the Judges did deal with the People rather by Counsel and Persuasion than by Commands and Punishments; and then saith the Text, Every man did that which was right in his own Eyes, and you need not doubt but a great deal of that was wrong and odious in God's Eyes.  
But Magistrates by their Diligence in their places, acting up to their trust, and a due Execution of Justice may secure our Banks, and set up a standard against wickedness even then when it cometh in upon us swelling and roaring like a Flood. God in Deut. 13.6. etc. made this Law, That if any one should offer to tempt another to Idolatry, though the Person doing it were his Brother, the Son of his Mother, or his Son or his Daughter, or the Wife of his Bosom, or a Friend, that was as his own Soul, let him be never so near, and never so dear, yet if He should say, Let us go and serve other Gods, His Friend and most intimate Relation being thus tempted, should surely kill him, his hand should be first upon him, and afterward the hand of all the people, and they should stone him with stones till he died. And now observe what was the end and design hereof. You have it set down in verse 11. All Israel shall hear and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you. This will be in terrorem, it will scare and fright the wretches, such an Act of Justice will ring and grow famous, it will be talked of both in Town and Country, and wheresoever the report comes it will strike an awe upon men, so that they shall not add to do the like.  
The third thing which, according to the Method I propounded, I have to do, is to make it plain and evident, that it is the indispensible duty of Magistrates from the highest to the lowest, to mind the Suppression of profaneness as their business. For when I do in this case speak of Magistrates, we are to understand it in the utmost extent, of Kings and all that are in Authority. All of them, one and other, who have the Sword of Justice put into their hands, must not drouze and loiter, nor suffer that Sword to lie rusting in the Scabbard, but are obliged to draw it, and run it to the very hilts into the Bowels of profaneness. This I shall endeavour to prove unto you by sundry particulars. Though I have looked upon a Sermon of this Nature as more fit for another Auditory, than this which consists of private Persons; only my thoughts have been, that what in the preaching did not reach some men's ears, may in the Print come to their view, and if there were, as peradventure there were, any inferior Officers present, they might consider what was delivered, and carry it home with them, and be thereby excited to their Duty, and do much towards the filling up of their places. But we proceed.  
First, Magistrates are Gods Vicegerents, his Representatives, they stand in his place. As God teacheth by Ministers, so he rules by Magistrates, not that he needs either the one or the other, but it pleaseth him to make use of both. He that at first, as the great Creator of the World, instamped upon man that Image of his which consists in Knowledge, Righteousness, and true Holiness, hath since the fall, as the wise Governor of the World, impressed upon Princes and Rulers that Image of his which consists in Honour, Authority and Power. This is plain from the Names and Titles given them. They are called his Ministers, Rom. 13.4. He is the Minister of God unto thee. A Minister of Gods choosing, a Minister of Gods appointing and advancing; it was God that seated him in the Throne, that committed to him the Trust, that gave him his Office, and put the Power in his hand. And saith Paul, He is a Minister of God for good. That is, according to Pareus, 1. For natural good to preserve men's Lives, Liberties and Properties. 2. For moral good, to keep men from vice and flagitious self-ruining courses. 3. For civil good, to hold up Societies, and to promote Righteousness and Honesty. 4. For spiritual good, to establish and uphold the true Religion, and pure worship of God. So that they are appointed for a great deal of good, all which you may comfortably expect, and with some good confidence Promise to yourselves, whensoever you see good men in the place of Magistracy. Brambles will rend and tear, fire will go out of them to devour, but the fruit of the Vine is cheering, and with delight we may sit under its comfortable shadow.  
Yea they are not only called the Ministers of God, but because they are in so great place, and set about so good work, God hath been pleased to put upon them his own Name, as we find in sundry places of Scripture, Exod. 22.28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods, nor curse the Ruler of thy People. Where the latter Expression, the Ruler of thy People, Is Exegetical and Explanative of the former, the Gods; and accordingly the Chaldee Translation renders it, the Judges. So again, Psalm 82.1. God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty, and judgeth among the Gods. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. By which some indeed understand the Angels, as 1 Sam. 28.13. When the Witch had raised up the Devil, a fallen Angel, in the shape of Samuel, she said to Saul, I saw Gods ascending out of the Earth. And so Psalm 86.8. Among the Gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord. Though the holy Angels are noble Creatures, excellent in Wisdom, and mighty in Strength, yet among that innumerable company not one can be found like God. But others better understand hereby, Princes, Judges, and civil Magistrates. And not only David a good man, a King, called them by this Name, but Jehovah himself hath given it them, he hath vouchsafed to honour them with this Name, Psalm 82.6. I have said, Ye are Gods, and all of you are the Children of the most High. You are my Commissioners, you do Locum tenere, hold my place with my leave, and by my appointment. Your Throne is the Throne of God, and your Tribunal the Tribunal of God. I have given you an inviolable Authority, take heed how you use it. I have made it your work to do Justice, and to distribute Rewards and Punishments, see that you do it. Now what shall we infer from hence? Certainly thus much; That Magistrates being God's Vicegerents, they ought to Act like him, and according to his will. Having their Commission from him, they should study it and conform to it; bearing his Name, they should be expressive of his Nature. Being clothed with his Power, they ought to employ it for his Honour, and the promoting of his Interest, and against his Enemies, of whom Sin is the worst; for men are said to be Enemies in their Minds through wicked works. Are they Children of the most High? And as such admitted to a part of his judiciary Power? Then it becomes them to be followers of him as dear Children, and as well as they can to imitate him in the discharge of that trust which they have received from him, Who is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with him; the foolish shall not stand in his sight, for he hateth all the workers of Iniquity, Psalm 5.4, 5. But let us pursue this a little further.  
Secondly, We have seen what is the place of Magistrates, it is very high and honourable, but not supreme, there is one in Heaven that is higher than they, great men in Authority, are still, as the good Centurion said, under Authority. Their place is a Vicegerency. Now let us, but specially let them consider and remember what is the work and business of their place. For that they ought to do, endeavouring to stand complete in all the Will of God, as Men, as christians, and as Magistrates, or Men in Office. It will by no means be found enough for men to hold such or such a place in Church or State, but it ought to be their desire and endeavour to fill up the place they hold. Which if mwn would seriously think upon, there would not be that seeking of and hunting after places as there generally is. Places than would rather seek men than men Places. And as Persons in Authority and Power do, and will, and justly may expect and require that honour, revenue and salary which doth of right belong to them upon the account of their place: The Prince will not part with his Crown, Sceptre and Throne so long as He can hold them: Nor the Lord Mayor with his Sword and Mace, no nor the Constable with his Staff which is the badge of his Office: So they and all others ought to fill up, as I said, their places with the performance of that Duty which is inseparably annexed to them. A man had a great deal better never have been advanced to a place of trust, than to be careless, negligent, and remiss in it. He that so advanced is not a public good is no better than a common nuisance. Honos and Onus, go together, Honour and Burden; and He doth not deserve to meddle with the Honour, who is not willing to take up the Burden. Well, these places carry great work along with them, and that work must be done.  
Now if the Question be, What is that work to the doing whereof Magistrates are by their places obliged? I answer, To appear for God, and to act for God. As God is the Author of their Power, so his Interest and Honour ought to be the matter of their designs, and the end of their Government. This that good King Jehoshaphat did full well understand, accordingly when he had set Judges in the Land, through all the fenced Cities of Judah, City by City, he spoke thus unto them, 2 Chron. 19.6. Take heed what ye do, for ye rule not for men, but for the Lord, who is with you in the Judgement. An excellent speech it was, a charge fit to be given to Judges, when to go their Circuits. Judges, yea and others too as well as they, had need be very Cautious and Wary men, exceeding prudent and circumspect, it concerns them to ponder and weigh actions, how they carry, what Laws they make, how they execute them, what Judgements they give, and what Sentences they pass. But what is the reason hereof? Because they Judge not for men, but for the Lord, and so they rule not for men, but the Lord; and when they meet in Parliament they should consult not for men, but for the Lord. Though indeed they do manage all most prudently for men, when they act most faithfully for the Lord. And it is certain, it is not Officers own advancement and inrichment, not their own Honour and Grandeur at which they should levelly and direct their Actions, none of these is the end of Government, or of their being called to any part or share of it, but the Honour of God, and his Glory as Supreme, and the good of men as subordinate. And let not that be forgotten which Jehoshaphat added, The Lord is with you in the Judgement. When you do well, and act according to the Law of Righteousness, God is with you to own you, to justify you, to stand by you, to comfort and encourage you, to protect and defend you, to reward and bless you, as Persons that have been faithful. And you may be sure, He is at all times with you, in the Throne, and in the Senate, and upon the Bench, and elsewhere, curiously to observe, and take notice of that which you do, for by him actions are weighed. Magistrates and Officers of all sorts have many eyes upon them, more see them than they themselves see. There are upon them the eyes of good men and bad, of Friends and Foes, of Subjects and Strangers: And they have upon them one eye more than, as I fear, some of them think of so much as they should, and that is the Eye of the great and most Holy God. He sees what is done upon the Throne, and at the Council-board, what in the Parliament houses, and what in the Courts of Judicature, what Bills are drawn, and what do obtain the Royal Assent, what Laws are enacted, and how they are executed.  
Now that the Punishment of Vice and Suppression of profaneness is a special part of the work and duty of their place, is evident from this, Rom. 13.4. He is the Minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil. Let the man be what and who he will, let him be clothed with what circumstances he will, let him make what Figure he will, if he will do evil he must suffer for the evil that he doth. If men will take a lawless Liberty, the Ruler must take vengeance, if they will do the evil of Sin, He must see to it that they suffer the evil of Punishment. This is the work of his Office, He is the Minister of God for this purpose, being ultor irae divinae, and having a vial of wrath put into his hand by the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth, which he is to open and pour out upon the Children of disobedience, who are, for their being such, meritoriously filii irae, the Children of wrath.  
Thirdly, Profaneness is of that cursed Nature and Tendency, that it is not to be tolerated, being contrary to the Light and Law of Nature, and therefore hath been condemned and punished among Heathen Nations, specially such of them as have been civilised, and made any improvement of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, common Notions, and Principles that had been impressed upon their Souls, and took any care to demean and carry themselves according to the ducture and guidance of them. How much more contrary is it to the greater and more excellent Light of Scripture and Gospel-revelation, which God hath caused to so eminent a degree to shine among us, and which doth so expressly and abundantly condemn, and denounce the Wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men? Who can sufficiently tell how odious it is to Persons who are moralised, and yet more to all them who have been savingly englightned, and had their blindness cured by some of Christ's eyesalve? And by consequence how greatly ought it to be abhorred, and totally abandoned in all those Places, Countries and Nations, unto whom God hath sent the magnalia legis, the great things of his Law, and also the precious things of the Everlasting Gospel; what Agreement is there, what Concord between Light and Darkness, between Righteousness and Unrighteousness, or what Communion hath Christ with Belial? Without all peradventure this is a Work of Darkness, and that is not a fit employment for them that dwell in a Land of Light. In Ephes. 4.18, 19 The giving of themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness, is spoken of by the Apostle, as the work of those who have their understandings darkened, and are alienated from the Life of God, through the Ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their Hearts; and altogether indecorous and unbecoming them who have learned Christ, and been trained up in the Gospel-School. Shall then such things be winked at, allowed, or countenanced in a Valley of Vision? No, no, say I, for as these are the sins, so they are the ignominy and shame both of those that do them, and of those that suffer them. As Gospel Truths and Ordinances and the ordering of a Conversation aright in suitableness to them, are (as the dying Wife of Phineas said of the Ark) the Glory of Israel, so Immorality is its disgrace. Both these we are assured of by Solomon in one verse, Prov. 14.34. Righteousness exalteth a Nation, but Sin is a reproach to any People. The common opinion of men is, that the Exaltation of a Nation is from the prudence of its Prince, the wisdom of its Counselors, the valour of its Commanders and Soldiers, the success of its Armies, victory over its Enemies, Foreign, Domestic, flourishing of Trade, abundance of Riches, the stateliness of its Palaces, and such like; and it will easily be yielded, that every one of these doth make its Contribution; but know that Righteousness alone doth more toward it, than all them put together. This, this was it that made the faithful City, Princess of the Provinces, and the Land of Canaan in Israel's Possession (so long as Israel walked with God) a Land of desire, an heritage of Glory, Jer. 3.19. Plato, a great and excellent Heathen could say, Nemo rectè honorat animam suam, nisi qui vitiis fugatis justitiam colit. None truly Honours his own Soul, but he that bidding defiance to vice, Loves and embraceth Virtue. The same may as truly be said of a Nation. Righteousness, Religion is its Glory and Defence. But,  
Sin is a reproach to any People. Mark that, any People. Let a People be never so low, abject, contemptible, Sin will make them lower yet. And let a people be never so great, famous and renowned, Sin will be a blot in their Escutcheon. It is a reproach to an Heathen People, to Turks, Pagans Indians, but much more so to a Christian People, to a people that profess themselves Protestant's and reform, that call themselves the People of God. O England! what cause then hast thou to blush? How great is thy shame, O London! who hast had so many of Christ's Ambassadors sent unto thee with the Counsels of his Will, so many bright Stars of the first magnitude shining in thine Orb, such Plenty and abundance of means and spiritual Mercies afforded to thee, as no Nation hath had more, if any so much? Thou hast been exalted indeed, and lifted up to Heaven (like Capernaum) by these precious and inestimable enjoyments, and yet, I fear it may be said, no place hath acted at an higher rate of contrariety and desperate Opposition to the Gospel, no place hath expressed a greater Enmity to Reformation and the Power of Godliness, no place hath so superabounded with profaneness; in no place hath profaneness been more impudent and daring than in thee. Thy lewdness is in thy Skirts. Oh how great is thy reproach! Now it is unquestionably the Duty of all among us to endeavour the Honour of the Nation, and to roll away this its reproach. And if there be any Magistrates, higher or lower, that will not hearty set both their hands to that work, let them know and think of it again and again, that; that very thing will be to their reproach. Yea, fall out as much to their reproach, as it was to the Honour of the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, to have such a Testimony given of him by the faithful and true Witness who holdeth the seven Stars in his Right hand, Rev. 2.2. That he could not bear them that were evil, i. e. Not with any Patience, but reproved them, and did what belonged to his Office, either reducing them from their extravagancies, and bringing them to Repentance and amendment of Life, or otherwise if incurable cutting them off from the Body, and casting them out of Communion.  
Fourthly, Let men neglect or be remiss about the suppression of profaneness, and they will soon see the increase of it, for ill weeds will grow apace, shoot and spread incredibly. Men do not need to bestow time and pains, and care to house them in Winter, and water them in Summer, for by a bare connivance and permission they will flourish and abound. It is indeed a piece of great difficulty, and requires skill and labour to make that take and thrive which is good and excellent; such is the nature of the soil since the fall; the Sin of man brought upon the very ground the curse of God, so that Thorns and Thistles it will send up by wholesale, but if a man will eat bread; he must do it in the sweat of his brows. So here the Heart of Man is so miserably corrupt and depraved, that there is scarce any thing good that will prosper in it. That goodness which sometimes seems to be in some, as to instance in Ephraim, is like the Morning Cloud, and early Dew that passeth away. That which is lasting and abiding in Persons regenerate is for its continuance beholden to the mighty Power and special influences of the Divine Spirit.  
We see it often and often, the experience of too many years, of some Generations doth sadly prove how difficult a thing it is to bring about a Reformation▪ which, one would think, should commend it self to the Consciences of men that understand any thing of the mind and Will of God, nay to do any thing toward it, or to reconcile most Persons to the Naming thereof, to persuade them to break off from unwarrantable Customs, to put off old Rags which are rotten and defiling, and to throw away those things which have neither Marrow in them nor Flesh upon them, but are mere Bones of Contention, and to prevail with them to make a further remove from Rome, and advance toward Zion; I mean a Gospel-worship and Gospel-order. How difficult a thing is it to bring the debauched Person to a sober Life, or the sapless empty Formalist to the power of Godliness, and a real, hearty, through closure with the Lord Jesus Christ and his Laws?  
But as for Sin and Wickedness, it needs not any endeavours to promote it in the World, and commend it to the practice of men, it needs no encouragement, not because it is so good, but because men are so bad. The Devil himself may sit still and let his Servants alone, they will be sure to follow his work hard without having his Eye upon them. He might forbear and give over his Temptations, for they can and will go, yea run alone in those downhill ways of Folly: Their connate Principles of Enmity to God and Rebellion against him, will of themselves break out into hostile Actions, as naturally as Hay stackt or laid up when Green or Moist will fire of its self, and proceed to rage's more and more. Sin is like to a fire in a Town or City, which, if it be not extinguished, or at least kept down and stopped in its furious Career, will march from House to House, and step from one side of the Street to the other, and never desist so long as there is any combustible matter for it to fasten upon, and so till it set all on a flame, and bury the whole in its own Ruin and Ashes. Let but a profane wretch alone, and I dare confidently say, you shall not find him long alone. He will, like a decoy, soon gather Company to him, and multiply them too, Eccl. 9.18. One Sinner destroyeth much good. And so, being of his Father the Devil, and doing the works of his Father, let him enjoy his Name, call him, Abaddon, Apollyon, a Destroyer. He will call himself, an hundred to one else, a good Subject, a good Churchman, but he is a Destroyer, that is his right Name. If you would know how he doth destroy much good, I answer in these two things; 1. He doth it impiae vitae meritis, By the demerits and high provocations of his impious, ungodly Life. He draweth Iniquity with the Cords of Vanity, and so Judgement as with Cart ropes. He is as a Jonah in the Ship, which raiseth the Storms that threaten us, and as an Achan in the Camp that arms and succeeds the Enemies that come out against us. To whom do we own the Plague that hath consumed our Inhabitants, and the Fires that have devoured our Houses, Towns and Cities but to him and his Fraternity? Ahab spoke very unhandsomely to one of the Lords Prophets when he said, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? But Elijah answered him truly and bravely, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy Father's house, in that ye have forsaken the Commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim, 1 Kings 18.17, 18. It is the Idolaters, Superstitious, and Profane that troubled Israel, and that trouble England, and will trouble the whole world, for they provoke God to trouble us, and to distribute sorrows in his anger. 2. They destroy much good impiis consiliis & exemplis. By their wicked Counsels and Examples, while they allure, entice and persuade, and by their practices draw others into the same courses, the same excess of riot. These are like Samsons Foxes with firebrands fastened to their tails, that spoil the harvest we hoped for as the joyful reward of our Labours. How comes our youth to be tainted as they are? Who fills the eyes of Parents with tears, and their hearts with sorrow, who travailed in birth for them that Christ might be form in them, but now mourn and weep bitterly over them as lost, because vi●ious and extravagant? Whence is it that our hopes as to the succeeding generation are so exceedingly enfeebled, but by means of many among us so notorious for profaneness who make it both their work and sport to render others as bad as themselves? And if timely care be not taken to prevent it, we can rationally expect nothing else but the leaving this pleasant Land, the Land of our Nativity to be possessed by Sons of Belial, who will make it mourn and groan, and sick to the spewing of them out. I desire you to lay this to your hearts, if you have any bowels of mercy and compassion. A little spark is to be narrowly watched, where there is so much tinder ready to catch.  
Fifthly, Let this be seriously considered, if Magistrates Superior and Inferior do not put forth their power and endeavours for the suppressing of profaneness, they will pull down upon their own heads the guilt of all that profaneness which is committed. And this I dare say, there is no man that liveth in the World, no not the best and most holy, but he hath sins enough of his own, too too many, more than he is able to bear or to answer for. His own follies and miscarriages, if bound upon him will be found sufficient to break his back, and sink him into the bottomless pit of misery. So David tells us; and he spoke no more than what his own sense and feeling did suggest and dictate to him, Psal. 38.4. Mine iniquities are gone over my head, as a burden; they, (i. e.) His own iniquities, his own head, heart and life sins, are too heavy for me. And as it was with him so it is with every one; and therefore no man hath need to add to the load by heaping upon himself the guilt of other men's sins too. Though it must be confessed, that notwithstanding all which the wisest and most circumspect person can do, notwithstanding all the care he can take, he will hardly be found altogether innocent as to this. Holy Austin, one of the best of the Fathers, saw sufficient, yea abundant reason for the putting up this humble Petition, Lord, deliver me from my other men's sins, and it may be feared that no small number of great men who have been yea and are in place of power and authority, will, when the allseeing God comes to search them, be found deeply culpable and dreadfully chargeable upon this account, and therefore others that do at this day possess the same or like places, are very nearly concerned to look to themselves. Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum. Happy the man whom other men's sins and dangers, falls and hurts make to beware.  
That hath gone for currant as a certain truth, qui non prohibet cum potest jubet. He that doth not forbid and prevent the commission of sin when it is in the power of his hand to do it, doth interpretatiuè, Command the doing of it. He allows it who winks at it, he doth encourage it who stops it not. He doth so in the account of God who is a righteous Judge. He had as good command it as stand by and see it done, and say nothing. And if men will in this or any other way contract guilt, they may expect to taste the bitter Effects of it. If Rulers will spare offenders, let not them think that God will spare them. Ahab in a foolish kindness and pity let Benhadad go, whom God had appointed to utter destruction. Now observe what a thundering Message the Prophet brought him thereupon, 1 Kings 20.42. Thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. So that this kindness of Ahab to Benhadad was desperate cruelty to himself and Israel. And the case of Eli is very pertinent to this purpose, and most worthy of observation. He was not only Priest, but Judge armed with both Parental and Magistratical power; His Sons did not write after that Copy which he had set them, but were Sons of Belial, wicked and profane to a Prodigy, for they Sacrilegiously rob God, and filthily abused the women that were assembled at the door of the Tabernacle, and by these means made the offering of the Lord to stink, turned it to an abomination. For this Eli their Father reproved them, but it was with very soft and silken words, Why do ye such things? For I hear of your evil do by all this people; nay my Sons, for it is no good report that I hear, ye make the Lords people to transgress. And here was all he did, but, Oh, how angry was God hereupon! It made his fury come up into his face. Though Eli was a good man, a Priest, one that God had caused to draw near to him, though he had reproved his Sons, and given them good advice, yet this was not enough, it would not serve his turn, God was greatly provoked because he did proceed no further; and see how dreadfully he threatened him, 1 Sam. 2.31. etc. I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy Father's house, that there shall not be an old man in it, thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, the man of thine that I shall not cut off from my altar shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart. And the dream is doubled, the resolution of God is fixed; this one threatening that carrieth sorrow and anguish enough in the bowels of it is followed with another, 1 Samuel 3.11. I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. I will perform against Eli all that I have sworn concerning his house, when I begin I will also make an end. God would go thorough with the work, and not only be diligent in the beginning of it, but likewise constant in the performance, and complete in the finishing of it. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever. Such a punishment shall be inflicted, such a burden laid upon him as shall never be taken off, for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his Sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. Set a mark upon these last words, in which indeed the accent and emphasis lies, there was the provocation, that was it that exposed him to the divine displeasure, and brought him under so severe a judgement. His Sons made themselves vile, they defiled, debased and dishonoured themselves, by their sins and abominable practices they had rendered themselves odious and loathsome in the eyes of God, and in the eyes of the people. Eli was not ignorant of this, but was told of it, it raised a great cry, many complaints thereof were brought to him, but he RESTRAINED THEM NOT. He did not curb them. He was too mild, and tender, and gentle, he carried the matter as one that was not zealous for his God, but afraid to offend them, and unwilling to grieve them. He did not affright and ferret them out of their profaneness, they still continued what they were, and held on their former course, and yet he did not draw the Sword of justice, he did not inflict upon them grievous punishments, though they persevered in the Commission of grievous sins, he forgot to act up to the Authority of a Father, an Highpriest, a Judge, and therefore God will severely punish him. Eli's Sons run deep in Score, and because, he thus let them alone, God would make Eli himself to pay the reckoning. Consider of this and tremble, you indulgent, fond Parents, that hear and see your children's Lying, Swearing, Looseness and Debaucheries, but let them alone, & you timorous Slothful Magistrates, that will not make profane persons smart, know and be assured that yourselves shall. You let them go, but Vengeance will hold you. But I proceed, for though Rulers own concerns should awaken and rouse them up, yet that is not all; therefore,  
Sixthly, If Rulers will not take due, that is, utmost care to suppress profaneness in a Nation where their power lieth, they take a direct course to pull down the wrath of God upon that whole Nation as well as upon themselves. Solomon hath these passages, Prov. 9.12. If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thyself, but if thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it. But we cannot say, if a Magistrate will not discharge his duty, but suffer wickedness to pass without control, he alone shall bear it; no, no, the burden may light, and lie heavy upon more shoulders than his own. His remissness and neglect may turn to the smart of the Land, and people over whom he is set; the not shutting the floodgates of sin which let in a deluge of wickedness below, is no other than the opening of the Windows of Heaven above for the letting down Showers and Storms of wrath that shall drown and swallow up all. For want of this, as you heard under the last particular, God did not only with great severity judge the house of Eli, but also threatened to do a thing in Israel, or unto Israel, as some read it, at which both the ears of every one that heard it should tingle, 1 Sam. 3.11. If any inquire what that terrible thing was, I answer, it was no less than the delivering of the Army of Israel into the hands of the accursed Philistines, so that three thousand of them fell in battle before those their Enemies, and which was yet worse, the Ark of God was taken, before which they worshipped, and which was the special and delightful Symbol of the Divine presence with them. When the Sword of Magistracy lieth still and dormant in the midst of crying abominations, than God thinks it fit and high time to awake himself to the Judgement which he commanded and man neglected, and to draw his own, and how doth he then lay about him, what blows doth he give, what stupendous work doth he make! When one Jonah (that had been disobedient to his God, and being sent by him upon a Message to Nineveh, took him to his heels and run another way, when he I say) was in the Ship, and lay in peace, and at ease, the whole was in danger, nor did the storm cease, though the Heathen Mariners called every one to his God, till the guilty Criminal received his deserved punishment in being cast into the Sea. That is a notable saying of Solomon, Prov. 29.4. The King by Judgement stablisheth the Land. When it shakes and totters he shores it up, he settles and confirms it again, and makes all sure. But he that receiveth gifts overthrows it. These do blind the eyes of men in place, and bind or tie their hands, so that they shall not do the things they should. And he that receives them, that will take bribes to stop the course of Justice, doth overthrow the Land, he turns it upside down, he destroyeth the very foundations of it, and when he hath once done that, where is the wise man that can tell me, what he will do himself; I can expect no other but his own being buried in its ruins, yea probably, he shall go first, and not live long enough to be a mourner at its Funeral. Whereas on the other side,  
Seventhly, Magistrates by a vigorous suppression of profaneness may most happily both prevent the coming of those Judgements which are impending over a Nation, and remove those which are incumbent and heavy upon it. They may stay the hand of revenging justice, when it is lifted up, as abraham's was, and ready to give the fatal stroke, and also they may take off the hand of God when it lies heavy upon a people, and presseth them sore, or, to use David's expression▪ they may remove the stroke away from it, and hold his hand when it is about repeating of the blow. I shall speak to both these under this head. They may prevent a Judgement, and dispel that Cloud which threatens a storm. Hence it was that when the people had most grievously offended and provoked God by making a Golden Calf, and then worshipping it after the manner of Egypt, Moses said unto the Sons of Levi who had gathered themselves together unto him as Persons resolved to be on the Lord's side, Exod. 32.27. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, put every man his Sword by his side, and go in and out from Gate to Gate throughout the Camp, and slay every man his Brother, and every man his Companion, and every man his Neighbour. And the Children of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the People that day about three thousand men. Observe his temper; He was the meekest Man in the Earth, of a most sweet and loving Disposition, knowing how to bear and forbear, but now he was all on a flame, the Lamb was turned into a Lion, He was nearly and greatly concerned for the Name and Honour of his God, and He accordingly set upon the doing of Justice, and therefore made many a Sacrifice; and when that was done he said unto the People upon the Morrow, ver. 30. Ye have sinned a great Sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord, peradventure I shall make an Atonement for your Sin. Now that I have done the Duty of my place, now that I have vindicated the Honour of God, now that there hath been this due Execution of Justice, Now I will go up unto the Lord, and I will go up in hope, now I have a peradventure to encourage me to think, that I shall make an Atonement for you. And let us not pass over in silence, that which you have in ver. 29. of the same Chapter. Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord, even every Man upon his Son, and upon his Brother, that he may bestow upon you a Blessing this day. The shedding of Blood, of the Blood of Man, the Blood of an Israelite by the hand of Justice, in a cause deserving Death, did not defile them, but consecrate them. Acts of Justice are as acceptable to God as Sacrifice, the Blood of Sinners as the fat of Rams, and abundantly more; and saith Moses, upon your doing this, the Lord may bestow a Blessing▪ upon you. Levi therefore by using a Sword of Injustice and Cruelty against the Shechemites, lost the Blessing. When their Father Jacob called all his Sons together, speaking of Simeon and Levi, Gen. 49.5. He speaks of their instruments of Cruelty, calls to mind their Sin, cursed their Anger and Wrath, divided them in Jacob, scattered them in Israel, but not a word of Blessing. That they had lost. Now, saith Moses, do you quit yourselves in this great piece of Justice, and you may get a Blessing, and so they did, for God chose the Tribe of Levi, for himself above all the Tribes of Israel, and appointed and employed them about his Sanctuary and Service, Numb. 3.6, etc. Bring the Tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the Priest, that they may Minister unto him. And ver. 41. Thou shalt take the Levites for me, I am the Lord, instead of all the firstborn among the Children of Israel.  
And as this is the way to prevent Judgements when upon their way, so to remove them when they are already come. For the proof hereof you have a famous instance, in Numb. 25. The Case was this: The People did double their Transgression, in committing Idolatry and Whoredom at once. It is indeed no cause of wonder to see Spiritual and Corporal Uncleanness going together in Company. This kindled the Wrath of God against them, which risen to that height that it broke out into a Plague. The Plague did not stop the Sin; wicked men will harden themselves against God, and run upon the mouth of the Cannon, on the bosses of his Buckler. Notwithstanding the Judgement Zimri, one of the Children of Israel, a Prince too that should have set a better Example, impudently and daringly brought a Midianitish Woman in the sight of Moses, and of all the Congregation of Israel, while they were weeping before the door of the Tabernacle. While the Congregation was drowned in Tears these two Wretches burned in Lust. Phinehas was an eye-witness of it, and his Heart was hot within him, upon the sight thereof he took a Javelin in his hand, entered their Tent, and ran both of them thorough. With this remarkable Act of Justice and holy revenge God was exceedingly pleased. As appeared by the happy consequences, which were two, healing Mercy upon Israel, with a Blessing upon himself and his Posterity. You may read what God himself said upon this occasion, Numb. 25.10, 11, 12. The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Phinehas the Son of Eleazar, the Son of Aaron the Priest hath turned away my wrath from the Children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the Children of Israel in my Jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold I give unto him my Covenant of Peace, and he shall have it, and his Seed after him, even the Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the Children of Israel. Do you stem the Tide of profaneness, and in so doing you will stop the Bottles of Divine Wrath. And then hereupon it followeth,  
Eighthly, The Suppression of profaneness is an excellent way for the making Rulers an eminent and choice Blessing unto the People; over whom the Providence of God hath set them. By this means they will indeed prove, as our holy Apostle speaks in the verse immediately following our Text, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ministers of God to them for good. For it is a great deal of good that is ministered and conveyed by them, golden Oil that is communicated by and through these golden Pipes; the whole Land is the better for them, every Mother's Child hath reason to rise up and call them blessed. Briefly thus.  
By this means they confirm and establish it. They are strong supporters, while others are wicked and cursed underminers, Psalms 75.2, 3. When I shall receive the Congregation, i. e. The Government of it, when I shall be once seated upon the Throne, I will judge uprightly, or Righteousness, a vein of Righteousness shall run through every one of my Actions, they shall be done according to the Rule of Equity. The Earth and all the Inhabitants of it are dissolved. The Reins are now let lose, there is a visible, apparent disorder both in Church and State, all things are for the present in Confusion, and therefore running apace to Ruin and Dissolution. I bear up the Pillars thereof. Some do look upon Religion and Righteousness as the Jachin and Boaz, those great and mighty Pillars which uphold a Nation, and Magistrates are the Persons appointed to bear up those Pillars; if those be the Pillars, these are the Basis upon which they stand, and these bear up them by judging uprightly. In this way it is they bear up the Fabric, and keep it from crumbling into pieces, and falling to nothing.  
And further, as by this means they bring unto a Nation, the Blessing of Stability, so they also yield that other lovely and very  Blessing of Peace. So that all good men shall sit under their own Vines and Figtrees, without others making them afraid, they shall have a quiet and comfortable enjoyment of themselves, and the good things which God hath graciously vouchsafed to them. Unto this, I say, Magistrates both supreme and subordinate, the higher and inferior Officers in a Kingdom do very much contribute by the Diligent and Faithful discharge of the Work and Duty of their several places. This is evident from that, Psalm 72.3. The Mountains shall bring Peace to the People, and the little hills by Righteousness. That Word Peace is very comprehensive, carrying in it not only a freedom from War, Commotions, Quarrels and Disturbances, but Prosperity too and Happiness, Plenty and Abundance of all good things, so that there shall be no complaining in our Streets. This is to be brought to a People, and sure when it is they will bid it welcome; but who shall bring it? The Mountains and little Hills. i e. The Metaphorical Ones, the Magistrates, the King and all that are in Authority under him, but it will come only in a way of Righteousness: God's Peace always keeps God's Way. This you learn from that of the Prophet, Psalm 85.10. Righteousness and Peace kiss each other. They meet and embrace, and so go hand in hand; Righteousness in the Throne, in the Senate, and Courts of Judicature is accompanied with Peace in the City, yea and all the Country over.  
Lastly, A Conscientious care for the Suppression of profaneness in a Land, is the way to engage the great and Holy God on the behalf, and for the good of those Rulers in whom that care is found. And this Argument will, I am sure, signify much with all those, with whom God signifieth any thing. As the place of Rulers is high, so the work of their place is hard: It carrieth a great deal of difficulty and of danger along with it: As wicked men are very filthy, so the Psalmist tells us, they are always grievous. They are like the raging Sea which is continually casting up Mire and Dirt, specially when there is a Storm upon it. Let there be endeavours used to put a stop to them in their sinful course, by a vigorous Execution of Righteous Laws, their Hearts do presently swell against those that restrain and punish them, and they break out into a rage, whereupon they often study to avenge the quarrel of their sordid and impetuous Lusts upon those Worthies, who would promote the cleanness of their Lives. and the welfare of their Souls.  
Upon this account it is no more than necessary for the Omnipotent God to stand at their right hand, for the encouragement of their Hearts and the preservation of their Persons. Now see Psalms 7.10. My defence is of God, who saveth the upright in Heart. When men are upright in their Hearts and also in their Way they may be confident. Solomon saith, The Righteous is as bold as a Lion. And well he may, for though he may be faced and environed by many dangers from men, yet his defence is of God. And that may well be reckoned enough to secure him from sinkings and discomposures of mind. What is the matter, though poisoned Arrows and fiery Darts fly thick? So long as God is a man's shield, He will quench them all.  
And as God will defend them, so he will put a Glory upon them, and maintain their Glory, 1 Sam. 3.30. Them that Honour me I will Honour. He is resolved upon it. Those Persons that Honour him by the Holiness of their walking. Those Professors that Honour him by owning him and his Truths and ways in times of furious Opposition and Persecution, and those Rulers that Honour him by a faithful Execution of Justice, punishing those that dishonour him, them God will Honour, and He will make them great and honourable in the eyes of others. Their Government shall be highly commended, their Persons shall be greatly esteemed, and their Memory shall be blessed, whereas in the same place He tell us, they that despise him shall be lightly esteemed, not only by himself but by all.  
Yea and God will see to it, that things shall go well with them, as he said, when speaking to Jehojachin that wicked Son of famous Josiah, Jer. 22.15. Did not thy Father eat and drink, and do Judgement and Justice, and then it was well with him? He began to Reign betimes, when he was very young. But he began and went on well, He was a Religious, Gracious and Righteous Prince, in his days Religion was in its Beauty, and the Righteous did flourish, and it was well with him, good for him, he tasted the sweetness of it, and reaped the advantage. He did eat and drink, not to gluttony and drunkenness, as is the fashion of too many, but he did Reign in Peace and Plenty. God furnished his Table and filled his Cup. The Lord blest him, so that there was nothing wanting to the Comfort of his Life, or the supporting of his Royal State. He was not negligent in his duty, nor God sparing of his Mercy and Kindness to him. Thus I have given many Reasons why Magistrates should be careful to suppress profaneness.  
I proceed to the last thing propounded, viz. To show what means ought to be used in order hereunto. In general I would say this, those that go about it, will certainly find that a little matter will not do. Wickedness is so natural to fallen man, and his Heart is so set in him to do evil, and oftentimes Sin is grown to such a prodigious height in a Land, and so exceedingly overspread the face of it, and those who take pleasure in committing it are arrived at that pitch of resolution and daring boldness, that it is no easy thing to give an effectual check. As the doing of it will be greatly acceptable to God, and issue in the everlasting Honour of Rulers, so to set upon it and go thorough with it, doth necessarily require height of courage, fixedness of Resolution, strength of Zeal▪ utmost industry and constant care. And when they set Heart and Hand to it, they will find both Heart and Hands full. But for the answering of this Question, I shall humbly propound and offer to the serious Consideration and due Practice of all those that are in Authority, from our Dread and Dear Sovereigns the King and Queen who sit upon the Throne, to the petty Constables and Head-burroughs who walk up and down the Streets, these following particulars, which I desire may be minded and done by all according to their several places, and those various parts of Power and Government with which they are entrusted.  
First, It will be highly conducing hereunto, if they all would in their own Persons and Conversations make it their business to set good Examples. For that old saying doth carry a great deal of Truth in it, Regis ad exemplum totus componitur Orbis. The manners of the People are much squared by and conformed to those of the Prince. The experiences of most, if not all Ages and Countries, do afford abundant proofs of this. Though you need go no further than the sacred History of the Kings of Israel and Judah. We see it to be thus in smaller Societies, Children will not question the doing of that which they have known done by their Parents before them, and usually Servants will conclude that lawful which they have seen practised by their Masters; and so the generality of Subjects will not stick at what they observe in the Life and Carriage of their Sovereign, so that it be not too high for them, and out of their reach, as perhaps some have found in these Cities to their cost and ruin. All examples have certainly in them a very attractive Power (exempla cogunt) specially those that are bad. The worst have the strongest influence, because they meet in others that see or hear of them with a wretched principle of Corruption that likes and approves of them, a vile Nature which delights (sequi deteriorem partem) to follow the worst part But of all bad Examples those that are set by great Persons are the most prevalent; and therefore it becomes them to walk circumspectly, and be very curious.  
The Lord Jesus was without controversy the greatest Person that ever the World had, for he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God, which thought was no error or mistake, and St. John in Rev. 1.5. calls him the Prince of the Kings of the Earth. Now his whole Life was no other than the setting of a most exact and excellent Copy, for the Children of Men to write after, more particularly all those that are called by his Name, and profess themselves to be in the number of his Disciples. And surely the great men of the Earth, chief those that are and would be counted Christians, are obliged as in other his imitable Actions, so in this to resemble him; that they may be able without any stinging Reflection to say to others in a lower Sphere, Do as you see me do, and live as you see I live. Why will you profane the Name of God by your Oaths and Curses, or the Day of God by your Pastimes and Sports, or abuse the Mercies and good Creatures of God to Gluttony and Drunkenness? do you see any such thing in me? It was a brave and noble Resolution that holy David took up betimes when he was ready to ascend the Royal Throne, or newly seated in it, Psalm 101.2. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way, I will walk within mine House with a perfect Heart. Observe how extensive his care was, reaching both to his Heart and Way. To his Heart, as one that had to do with God, who searched it: And to his Way, as one that had to do with Men who observed it. He would do this, that, if it were possible, He might allure and draw others to walk in the same way of Wisdom and Holiness as Himself had chosen; but however he would do this, that none of them might have his pattern to justify and embolden any of them in their ways of wickedness. Of all Persons, Parents in a Family, Ministers in the Church, and Magistrates in a Kingdom ought to be very careful and curious, they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, take heed to their way, and foot it right. For those that do not, prove public pests and mischiefs, going up and down to the infecting of many.  
Secondly, As such should make it their business to Live profaneness down, so it will be an excellent thing for them to Frown it down. Let them not bestow their smiles upon those that Practise it, for those smiles are misplaced. Prince's will do well not to admit them into their Courts, nor to make them the objects of their special Favour. We find the Lord speaking thus, Hos. 7.1. When I would have healed Israel, the Iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the Sin of Samaria. I find some Expositors do by Ephraim there understand the Court, for certain after the revolt of the ten Tribes from the House of David in the days of Rehoboam, Samaria was the Metropolis or Capital City of the Kingdom of Israel. This being so, we may by warrant of that Text lay down this position: If there be Iniquity in Ephraim, no man hath any reason to wonder that he finds Wickedness in Samaria. Sins in the Court will diffuse themselves, and not be kept out of the City, no nor the Country neither. Therefore holy David did not only resolve to take special care of himself, though it was his Wisdom to begin there, that was beginning at the right end, but he did not shut up his care within so narrow bounds: He did not limit it to himself, but would look about him, and have an Eye upon his Domestics, all those that should live with him, Psal. 101.3. A froward Heart shall departed from me, I will not know a wicked Person. Assoon as I have discovered such an one, and found him to be of an evil Temper and Life, He shall away, he must departed from me if he be a worker of iniquity. I will cast him and turn him out of doors, my Palace shall be no place for such vermin. I will not know him. He shall be none of my acquaintance or retinue. And indeed there is very good reason, why they should be out of credit at Court who are a discredit to the God they own, and the Religion they profess. Marks of special favour are at all times and in all places very unhappily bestowed upon such as do by their Lewdness and Debauchery deserve the blackest brands of infamy. And whatever other abilities and accomplishments they may have, I think it is very hard and hazardous to trust them who do not fear God. None are before the throne of God in Heaven but holy Angels, and the Saints who have washed their Robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Rev. 7.14. Evil shall not dwell with him, nor shall the workers of iniquity stand in his sight. And then will things be well indeed, when none but such are suffered to stand before the Thrones of earthly Princes his Substitutes and Vicegerents. The way of profaneness would not be so beaten a road as it hath been, but have far fewer Travellers, when all shall see that it doth not lead to preferment. To be severe against the wicked is a convincing argument of a Prince's wisdom, Prov. 20.26. A wise King scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the Wheel over them. And in this way he doth provide for his own security, Prov. 25.5. Take away the wicked from before the King, and his Throne shall be established in righteousness. When Cardinal Julian was commended to Sigismond, he answered, Tamen Romanus est. Let such or such a man be commended for never so much, if it may be said, Tamen profanus est, that should be enough for a bar in his way.  
Thirdly, Another excellent way for the suppressing of profaneness is an opposition made to it by severe Laws; yea to every sin that falls within the cognizance of the Civil Magistrate, & runs upon the point of his Sword. And by those Laws let punishment be provided for it according to its nature and demerit. For all sins are not equal in themselves, and therefore there ought to be a diversity in the punishment. Let Rulers thunder most terribly against those abominations that have the loudest cry in the Ears of Heaven; make the strongest fence against that sin, which above all others threatens the Land with an inundation, and be sure to spend the most angry and formidable frowns upon the boldest and most daring outrages. Let Laws, Kingdoms and Commonwealths be sure to look those sins out of Countenance, which are of all other most impudent, and look men in the face without a blush, and walk up and down in our Streets at noonday. This to do is one part of the work belonging to our King and Parliament, with whom alone is lodged the Legislative power, whose meetings are to be for the public good, with which they are entrusted, and for the promoting whereof they were chosen and sent. And as they will answer for it to the Holy; Righteous, and Eternal God, who is a Consuming Fire, they are strictly obliged, and that at their peril, to take care that those Laws which they make be not grievous, but righteous, have not a malignant, but benign influence, and that by them every man's Property may be secured, that Religion which is warranted by Scripture, and so pure and undefiled before God and the Father be not Discouraged, Punished, and first driven into corners, and then ferreted out of them, but countenanced and promoted; and that all that, whatsoever it be, that is contrary to Godliness and sound Doctrine, as well as that which disturbs the public peace, and creates uncivil disorders may be kept down, and as far as is possible, banished out of a Land. We read, Psalm. 94.20. of a throne of iniquity that frameth mischief by a Law. If there never had been such Thrones in the World, there would not have been that mention made of them in the Scripture. But such there have been: That of Jeroboam was one, who would not suffer the people according to the divine Command to go up to Jerusalem to worship God, who had there placed his name, but spread for them that went, nets upon Mi●pah● and set snares upon Mount Tabor, and such Thrones there have been since, too many of them. Well, Saith the Psalmist, shall they have fellowship with thee? No, no, God keeps his distance from them, those that we call stinking dunghills are not offensive to God as Thrones of iniquity are, which shall neither be approved by him nor secured. Stay a while, Christians, and in patience possess your Souls, for the World shall see that in due time he will overturn them all. That, yea that throne shall have fellowship with God, which doth punish mischief by a Law.  
We have had for some considerable time a great deal of discourse about Penal Laws, and men have been much divided in their sentiments and apprehensions concerning them; for my part, I think that Nation is extremely deficient which is altogether without them, the Hedge of it is taken away, the Wall of it is broken, and it will easily be trodden down. But I hearty wish and pray that all Penal Laws may be framed according to the mind of the Supreme Lawgiver; Let the axe be whetted as sharp as it should be, so that its edge be once turned and always kept the right way. Spare neither odious Idolatry, nor unsociable Popery, nor damnable Heresy, nor destructive profaneness, but under your shadow let Religion, Truth and the Power of godliness live, and a Scriptural Reformation grow and be carried on towards its perfection.  
Fourthly, Let righteous and good Laws, that are made, have their free course, and the Sword of Justice be drawn, and not suffered to lie rusting in the Scabbard, as it will certainly do when put into the hand of a careless Gallio, or of persons that allow themselves in the Commission of those sins which the Law condemns, or in the hand of those that have not something of courage and a greatness of Spirit▪ Justice at all times is not to be expected from a wicked and debauched, Person or a Coward. A fearful Magistrate or Civil Officer in a City, Town or Country is as bad and as great an absurdity as a timorous and white-livered Soldier in the Field; for as the one will fly before a Bullet, so will the other fall before a frown, and so while his heart fails him, the hand of justice grows feeble. His fear will sometimes keep him from doing of that which is right, and at other times it will put him upon the doing of that which is wrong. This was the cause of pilate's miscarriage▪ and made way for the unjust condemnation and Crucifixion of the best and holiest, the greatest and most glorious person in the World, our dear Lord Jesus. The Jews indeed were madly set for his death, but pilate's wife sent him this message, Have thou nothing to do with that just man. He himself said that he found no fault in him, which he thrice repeated, and when he saw the Jews were resolved, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude: (if that would have done) saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just Man. But when the people cried out, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's Friend, he was afraid, and delivered him up to sufferings. But I am guilty of digressing. That which we were speaking of is the execution of righteous Laws. For to what purpose are they made? Surely not only to be read, or talked of, and lie by, or be set up as mere scare-crows in Trees to keep Birds from Cherries, but to be made use of as occasion requires. There must be not only speaking against sin, but striking at it, else it will not down. In Rom. 13.4. The Apostle tells us that Rulers bear not the Sword in vain. By the Sword, he means that of Authority and Power, good Laws, together with all the means and instruments of punishment, and they are not to bear this Sword in vain. It must be brandished, wielded and sheathed in the bowels of sin. What are the best Laws but a Company of dead things, unless Magistrates put life into them by a vigorous Execution? And it is very sad at any time when there is cause given of saying there is a Law against profaning of the Lords day, a Law against Swearing, a Law against Drunkenness and Whoredom, but where is the man that doth put these Laws in Execution? There are many wretches that break the Laws, but where are those that will make them feel the Penalty? This is the honour of a City and the comfort of a People, when it may be said, here is a good Law against such a vice, and such a vice, and here is a good Mayor, a good Justice of Peace, a good Constable that will execute it. Good Laws without good Magistrates and Officers will never make a people happy.  
But further, As there must be an execution of righteous Laws, so an impartiality in that execution. Judgement should run down as Water, and righteousness as a mighty stream, Amos 5.24. In a constant current, without interruption bearing down all before it, all private and little considerations that would break it off. As to those Justice ought to be blind, not seeing nor taking notice of them. And Laws ought not to be cobwebs that catch the little flies, and let the great ones make their way through. The greater the person is that offends, the greater and more heinous upon that very account, is the offence which he commits. His greatness is an aggravation, and renders his sin of a much deeper dye. The nearer the offender is to the Magistrate, the greater is the Magistrate's honour in punishing him. It was the honour of Levi and as such it is set and left upon record, Deut. 33.9. That he said unto his Father and to his Mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his Brethren, nor knew his own Children, for they have observed thy word, and kept thy Covenant. This refers to that Execution which had been by them done upon those who had worshipped the Golden Calf. And as this is a great honour to the Magistrate, so will it strike a great terror upon bystanders. Whereas that Officer who is known to pardon a Malefactor upon this or that or the other by-respect, will not himself know how to punish it in another. The very remembrance of that remissness and neglect would make his hand tremble when he draws his Warrant or makes his Mittimus, Psal. 106.3. Blessed are they that keep Judgement, and he that doth righteousness at all times. Non abreptus affectibus, periculis, spe lucri, etc. Not biased, nor diverted by affections, fear of danger, hope of gain, or any thing of like nature. Fiat justitia, ruat coelum. Let who will be displeased, and what will follow, justice ought to be done. For want of this, profaneness and all manner of abominations will greatly increase and abound, according to that in Eccl. 8.11. Because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. They grow audacious and desperate, they are resolved upon their way, they go on with a full sail to the Commission of sin. And if the mere deferring of judgement will produce so bad an effect, what will not the total neglect of it, or partiality in it do?  
Fifthly, An excellent way therefore for the attainment of this excellent end, the suppression of profaneness, is the putting of the Sword of Justice into the hands of good and faithful men. I do not go about to make parties in the Nation: God forbidden! it is contrary to my principles, there hath been too much of it in the Nation, and in the world, and oh that there may be no more. Oh that God would in the greatness of his goodness heal all our breaches and compose all our unbrotherly differences, and grant that we may all serve him in the beauties of holiness with one shoulder and one consent. Oh that I might see it done. In the mean time I am verily persuaded, that among every one of the different parties in the Land, who hold the head, and are sound in the vitals of Christianity, the main Fundamental points of our Religion, there are to be found persons fearing God. And if I may have leave humbly to speak my thoughts, I count it a great pity that any of them should be laid aside as Vessels in which there is no pleasure, as persons altogether useless and unfit to be trusted and employed, merely because they descent from others of their Brethren in those things which are acknowledged to be indifferent, but cannot be by them complied with, lest they should sin against God, and wound their own Consciences, so long as they are sound in the faith, set for the glory of God, and for the honour of the King, and for the public good. Why, Oh! Why may not such men be owned and encouraged, and employed in those things of which they are capable? Are they fit for nothing because there is something that they cannot do? I know and all men must yield it, that there have been and will be as well as are, diversity of Judgements, and by consequence of practice. No man hath his Judgement, Faith and Reason at his Command, and it is as possible to make all men of a Stature as of a mind. But I must and do humbly submit this to our Superiors, withal leaving particular persons to their several Sentiments, and to walk accordingly to that light which they have received, and begging of God the hastening of that day prophesied of in Zech. 14.9. Wherein the Lord shall be King over all the Earth; and wherein there shall be one Lord, and his name one. una fides, & una Deum colendiratio. One Faith and one Worship.  
This I take for certain, That ungodliness is very unlikely to be suppressed in a Nation, when the ungodly and wicked men of that Nation are the men entrusted with and employed about the supression thereof. It is not probable that a Swearing and Cursing Magistrate will punish another for his Oaths, or a Drunken Magistrate will inflict the Legal penalty upon another for the like brutishness. Or an unclean Officer make another smart for his Whoredom. While he is going about it an hundred to one there will be a bitter Reflection, the man will find a sting within himself, his own Conscience, if it be not feared or in a profound sleep, cannot forbear flying in his face, and ask him in his ear this pinching question, How canst thou punish that in this person which thou knowest to be thine own practice, Rom. 2.22, 23. Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the Law, through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God? Upon this account it was that holy David resolved, his eye should be upon the faithful of the Land, Psal. 101.6. He would express his special favour upon those that were of known integrity, that would faithfully mind and perform the duty of their place, and be true to their God and to their trust, and saith he, He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me, viz. in governing the Nation, and in seeing to it, that good orders be kept. And I look upon that as a good saying of one, Melior est Respublica & tutior, etc. That Commonwealth or Kingdom is safer and in a much better condition, in which there is a bad Prince, than that which hath in it bad Magistrates, Officers and Ministers of State.  
Sixthly, In order to the effectual suppression of profaneness it cannot but be owned as absolutely necessary, to watch diligently and deal severely with the Nurseries of it. For as our Lord Jesus, who is the King of Zion & Saints, hath his Schools & Nurseries for the instructing & training up of persons in sound knowledge & true holiness. Such are the assemblies and congregrations of his people, Isa. 2.3. Come ye, and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the Mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways. So Satan, the Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience, hath his Nurseries, which he fills with cursed Temptations, and his Instruments with Venomous examples, in order to the alluring of men to flagitious courses, and rendering them expert, ready and complete Artists in sin. And do not all men see how our youths are tainted and corrupted there, and how many of those that once were hopeful and thought to be plants of righteousness have been there blasted, and turned into the degenerate plants of a strange Vine, bringing forth the Grapes of Sodom and the Clusters of Gommorrah? All that read these lines may easily understand my meaning, what houses they are at which I now point. And I would ask, Are Stews and Brothel-houses fit to be suffered among us? I have not at all wondered, when I have read and heard, how many of them are allowed in Rome, that Mother of Harlots, who holds in her hand a Cup of fornication; we must expect the great Whore will not fall out with the little Ones, specially when they are profitable to her. Bonus odor lucri ex re qualibet. In her Nostrils the money smells well, come it from whence it will. But it is an arrant shame that any of them should be found in a Land of Light, in a Nation of Protestants, in a City of righteousness, in a place where that Religion is professed and established▪ that condemns all such filthy practices. And as for Alehouses and Victualling houses, though some of them, possibly▪ are useful, yea and necessary, yet is there need of such multitudes, in which so many sit many hours together fuddling, and drinking away their money, their wits, their health and their Souls, while their poor Wives sit at home mourning, and their Children crying, and perhaps all of them wanting and ready to starve? I am sure, none ought to have Licenses for the keeping such houses who will suffer them to be places of licentiousness, and not be careful to observe good hours and orders.  
Seventhly▪ Let all inferior Officers be very careful and diligent in their places. For their places are not dormitories, places to idle and sleep in, but to watch and work in. Churchwardens, Constables and others have a very considerable power, and without doubt they have it not for nothing. And as it is given them for good ends, so for those ends they ought to employ it. That power is in vain which is not reduced into Act. The Staff which you Constables carry up and down with you is for something more than a bare and empty sign, and to tell people what you are, and though you do frequently leave your Staff at home, yet I pray, be sure to carry your eyes and ears along with you to the farthest bounds of your jurisdiction. What a great deal of good may be done, and what abundance of wickedness may be prevented by one active person. And I think I am not mistaken when I reckon upon a curious inquisition as one part of the work of your Office. Surely it is not for you to sit still at home till you are alarmed and called forth by riots and uproars in the Streets, or have men come with their complaints rapping at your doors, but you should take your walks, and make enquiry after evil-doers, find out their nests, and haunts; See what Companies meet in public houses, for entertainment, and what they do, how they behave themselves when they are together, and be sure to dissolve their wicked Clubs, and debauched meetings and carry the Persons whom you find so transgressing before those Superior Magistrates whom you know most hearty and active in their places. For, verily, when there are good and excellent Laws in a Land for the regulating of things, and correcting that which is amiss, and yet sin grows because of a Maladministration, much, very much of the guilt will be chargeable upon and lie at the doors of inferior Officers, more than they will be able to answer for.  
Eighthly, Let those Officers which are faithful in their places have their due and full encouragement, and not be snibbed, and browbeaten and taken up short, and treated with abusive Language and frowns as they have been in the late times, when practices of Religion were hated and punished as the worst of Crimes, and a Company of wretched Informers that neither had a drachm of honesty, nor were worth a Groat, were hugged and entertained with welcome and applause, besides their part in the fines which they gaped for as the wages of their unrighteousness. Honest, vigilant and active Officers who are in the discharge of their duty, and proceed no farther than the Law empowers them, aught to be commended, they that do well deserve to hear well, and not be counted or called busy fellows so long as they are employed about their own business. Yea and they ought to be assisted too. Where the Constable's Staff will not do the work, let the Justice of Peace draw his Sword. And when they have brought the matter as far as they can, let them that have higher power set their hands to it and carry it on further. It cannot but be a great discouragement to honest men, when they have found out and seized upon Ranting, Roaring Debauchees, and brought them notwithstanding their Cursing and Storming, their heats and huffs, before their Superior, and then he shall receive them with one Compliment, and after the speaking a few words of course dismiss them with another. Such men as these may be assaulted by a Temptation to grow cold and remiss, but I do advise and desire them not to yield to that Temptation, for still this may be their comfort, that they have not been wanting unto their duty, and the other must and shall answer for his neglect, possibly to the higher powers below, or if not to them, yet for certain at last to that God who is higher than the highest, and sits in the Throne judging right, and from whom every one shall receive according as his work hath been.  
Ninthly, An Orthodox and Godly Ministry is a very choice and excellent means for the suppression of profaneness. Surely this ill-favoured Monster, though grown up to a gigantic Stature and bigness, is most like to fall, when it is opposed and set upon by the Magistrate who bears the Sword of Civil power, and by the Minister too who bears and draws against it the Sword of the Spirit, which hath been by God committed to him, and those other weapons with which he is furnished out of the divine armoury, and which, according to that of the Apostle, 2 Cor. 10.6. He hath or aught to have in a readiness for the revenging of all disobedience. And therefore I hearty wish, that as a learned (and so much the better by how much the more learned) Ministry may be kept up in the Land, both in Cities and Countries, and in order to that, sufficient liberal provision made for them; So such and only such may be employed in that high and sacred Function, as in the Judgement of rational Charity may be looked upon as being indeed the Ministers of Christ. And the two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Marks or Characters by which such may be known, are the preaching of Christ and his Doctrine, their living of Christ and according to his Rules, and their doing of both these will conduce and contribute very much to this great end. This will be singularly promoted by their preaching of Christ, not Ceremonies, but Christ, not imposed forms of prayer, but the power of Godliness, not only Morality but true Piety, not the Cross in Baptism, but crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts, not bowing to the name of Jesus, but to the Authority and Government and Law of Jesus, not a white Garment, but the linen of Saints, righteousness and holiness. I do not at all deny but Civility and Morality are duties, very Goodly Pearls, necessary and becoming. Oh that there were more of them to be found among us! It is beyond all question that they who would be Saints must not be beasts: I cannot think any fit matter for a visible Church, who are Devils incarnate. Nor do I deny but that many useful Say, good Precepts and Rules may be fetched from Heathen Authors, Plato, Seneca, Tully, Plutarch, etc. But we need not borrow Jewels of Egyptians, blessed be God, nor go down to the Philistines for the sharpening of our Mattocks. It is the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God to Salvation. There is no need of quoting a Philosopher when we have a Paul. What examples can we produce and propound so exact and curious as is that of Christ, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth? He spoke so▪ as never man spoke, and he walked so as never man walked. What arguments can we find more convincing than those of the Scripture which are mighty for casting down the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Imaginations, Conceits, Reasonings of a carnal, vain and proud mind? What motives more persuasive and alluring than those of the Gospel, which are indeed the cords of a man? What Thunderclaps can be thought of more terrible, or what Terrors more amazing and affrighting than the Terrors of the Lord? What Promises more inviting and encouraging than those he hath given us, which are exceeding great and precious? Where, if any one can, let him tell us where we shall see Sin so clearly and fully in its deformity and ugliness, in order to a real and thorough aversation from it, or Religion, Godliness and a Conversation ordered aright, more in its loveliness and enamouring beauty, in order to our setting our Hearts upon it, than we do, or at least, may see it in the Gospel? When all is said and done that can be, it is the Grace of God, Tit. 2.14. The Doctrine, the Gospel of Grace, which bringeth Salvation, and hath appeared to all men. Jews and Gentiles, men of all sorts and ranks, it is that, yea it is that which teacheth us, and all th●t sit under it, to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present World. Oh therefore that this precious and everlasting Gospel of God our Saviour may be the main object of Ministers study, and the Principal Theme upon which they insist in their several Congregations, therein imitating the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who told the Corinthians, He determined to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  
But this is not all. Ministers ought not only to preach Christ, but likewise to live him. What good are those pretended Ministers like to do, in whatever Place, Country or Nation they are to be found, who are scandalous and profane? Grant that some of them preach well, I would fain know whether that be enough, either to save themselves or those that hear them. What such men seem to build up by their Doctrine, they pull down by their Practice. Let any rational man judge, whether they are like to convince and persuade others, who do lead self-contradicting lives. How can they prevail with others to be sober, who will sit and quaff, and be drunk themselves? With what face can they persuade others to possess their vessels in Sanctification and Honour, who are unclean and filthy themselves? In short, how are they like to lead others in the way everlasting, who do themselves turn aside to crooked paths with the workers of Iniquity? Oh that therefore care might be taken by all those who are invested with Power, and have the oversight of such things as these, that those and none but those may be set as spiritual Guides and Leaders over the several Flocks and Congregations in the Land, as may without blushing say to their hearers, Walk so as ye have us for an Example, and be ye Followers of us even as we are of Christ.  
Tenthly and Lastly, In order to the effectual Suppression of profaneness, I would and do hearty commend to all those that are in Authority over us diligent, yea and utmost care for the strict observation of the first day of the Week, which is in Rev. 1.10. Called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Lords Day, and aught to be kept as the Christian Sabbath to the end of time. A day sanctified and set apart for the solemn public and private worship of God both in Churches, Families and Retirements, and for a sweet, close, and intimate Communion with him, while we are delivered and taken off from those secular affairs, that upon the other days of the Week do necessarily engage us, and cannot but divert us. A day not to be spent in any thing, no not any, the most minute part of it, but the duties of Religion and works of Godliness, except those works of Necessity and Mercy, which God out of his Goodness and Pity to man doth allow; for he will have Mercy rather than Sacrifice, so that when Acts of Mercy are of absolute Necessity, Sacrifice shall give place to it. This is a day which God hath seen fit to usher in with a Memento in the fourth Commandment, Remember that thou keep Holy the Sabbath day. As if the Lord should have said, I know your frailty, that you have slippery and treacherous memories, and possibly may, yea certainly will forget some, nay many other things, in which you are concerned, but let this be fastened as a nail in a sure place, be sure to think of this, to be mindful of this. I charge and command you to remember it. Remember the Sabbath day before it comes, so as to rejoice in the thoughts of it, to long for it, and to prepare for it, that upon the day of Praise you may have on your Garments of Praise, Souls in a right frame, and remember to sanctify and keep it Holy when it is come.  
We find the Sabbath was given unto Israel for a sign between God and them. So you have it in Ezek. 20.12. I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. By this they were distinguished from all other Nations. These were a plain and evident proof that they were the Lords People, and that Jehovah was their God. This did loudly proclaim Gods choosing and calling them out from the rest of the World, and gracious setting them apart for himself, as his peculiar Portion and Inheritance. And indeed, where there is no care of sanctifying the Sabbath by Nations, Families or Persons, it is a plain case, it amounts to a demonstration that they are unsanctified Nations, Families and Persons. It is an evident sign of a people estranged and alienated from the Life of God, of a wicked people that savour not the things of God, but only those things that be of men; of a People that have not the fear of God before their Eyes, that are not carried out in desires of honouring him and lifting up his Name, or of enjoying Communion with him in the World. To profane Sabbaths is a very great and notorious piece of profaneness. Sins wilfully and out of choice committed upon a Sabbath are Sins in grain, Scarlet and Crimson-sins. To mind worldly Affairs, to sit brooding upon worldly Thoughts, to follow the Trades and Callings of the World, to open Shops, and buy and sell upon a Sabbath-day are God-provoking Sins, acts of profaneness. These are lawful upon other days, in which God hath given you leave, nay more, he hath made it your Duty to labour and do all that you have to do of this Nature, but they are very sinful upon the Sabbath.  
Let me propound Nehemiah to the Consideration of Magistrates and Inferior Officers, and his care and activity in this point, as an example richly worth their Imitation. Take the account of him as it is drawn up by himself, in Neh. 13.15, etc. He saw some treading Winepresses upon the Sabbath-day, and bringing in Sheaves, and lading Asses, as also Wine, Grapes and Figs, all manner of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem upon the Sabbath-day; the men of Tyre also dwelled there who brought Fish and all manner of wares, and sold on the Sabbath to the Children of Judah and in Jerusalem. This was exceeding evil, and one would wonder it should be found among a people but a little before come back to their own Country out of a sore and tedious Captivity. Yet thus it was. But let us see what good Nehemiah that excellent Governor did hereupon, and how he bestirred himself. He testified against them in the day whereon they sold Victuals, and he contended with the Elders of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath-day? Did not your Fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon them? And yet ye bring more evil upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. And after this, He shut the Gates, and set his Servants to watch, and would not suffer the Merchants and Sellers of wares to lodge about the Walls, but threatened to lay hold upon them, and did not desist nor give over till He had prevented their coming any more upon the Sabbath-day. Oh that there were many such Nehemiahs in the World among Christian Nations! Shall I gather up what this Scripture affords and show you what is to be learned from it? Briefly thus. 1. Trading upon the Sabbath-day is a violation and profaning of it. 2. It is such a profaning of it as is highly displeasing unto God, and will bring down his wrath upon a People that are guilty. 3. It is the proper work of the Civil Magistrate, not unbecoming the Supreme to punish and prevent it. 4. In order thereunto He will find it necessary to be very vigilant and active. 5. It is not enough to begin well and do something, but there must be a going on till there be a thorough Reformation. And let not any say, such care as this would be Judaizing, and the Gospel brings along with it a greater Liberty, for though we have a blessed Liberty yet not a sinful one. We are delivered from the Ceremonial Law, which was an heavy and oppressing yoke, but not from the Observation and Obedience to the Moral Law as it is, and still it is, and to the end of the World it will be a Rule of Life. And Gods abounding in his goodness to us, whose lines are cast in New Testament-times is a very bad argument for an abating in our care of Sanctifying his Name and his Day.  
Time, my beloved, hath been when England, as well as our Neighbour Nation of Scotland, was famous for the sanctifying of the Sabbath, and truly for these many years it hath been, and to this day it is as infamous for the breaking of it, and upon that account and by that means it hath lost much of its Pristine Glory. Do you not see, I am sure with grief of Heart I do, how vile and wretched Persons set forth their wares to sale upon that Holy Day in our Fields and Streets? Do you not see how the Victualling and Alehouses are frequented and filled upon that day? Do you not see, or at least hear of Plays and Pastimes upon that day? As if the Book of Sports were revived, and allowed. How many among us do make that their Gaming day, and their Fuddling day, which God hath made his Holy Day? What! Oh, What is the matter? Where doth the fault lie? We have something of Law against this, blessed be God, and what, have we no Officers to put the Law that is into Execution? I earnestly beseech all those who are concerned, as they fear God, and as they have any Affection, Good will, and kindness for the Land of their Nativity, that they would put on strength, and appear vigorously on this behalf. For if you will tolerate the profanation of the Sabbath, you can rationally Promise to yourselves no other but a tremendous overflowing of wickedness all the Week after; it will be so through the Corruption of man, and the most righteous Judgement of God, with whom it is far from unusual to punish Sin with Sin. Do but read Histories, and if you have minded things, consult your own Observations, and you will find that according to a people's Holy care, or Vile neglect of keeping Holy the Sabbath-day, Religion doth flourish, or Wickedness abounds and grows rank and rampant among them. Having finished the Doctrinal part, I proceed to the Application, and therein direct my speech to all sorts of Persons among us, and oh that it may be acceptable to them, and come upon their Souls with Power, that so there may be some stop put to these crying Abominations, and the wickedness of the Wicked among us may come to an end, and they may come over, upon this call from God, to a temperate, sober and Religious Life, or if not so, yet at least their wickedness may not make such prodigious advances, nor rise up to that height as it hath done for so many years, to the dishonour and provoking of God, the grief of all good men, and almost the ruin of the Nation; and the pleasing of none but a cursed Company of the Antichristian brood, who made it their design and business to introduce Popery at the door of Debauchery. Which indeed was the most likely way, for when Persons and a People have cast off the fear of God and run cross to the Principles of that Religion which they profess, and by leading flagitious lives, offered violence to their Consciences, they are in a frame ready for the basest impressions, and to follow that Devil who shall first tempt them; and however it comes to pass through the all-ordering and overruling Providence of a wise God, who, when he pleaseth, and as he pleaseth, chains the Sea, and restrains the lusts of men, so that though they go thus far they shall go no farther, I shall not at all wonder to see a Practical Atheist become a Doctrinal Papist, that so his Religion it's self may spread his wing over his profaneness. But I come to the  

Application.  
Use 1. Let me not by any be counted too bold, and going out of my place, while I turn me to the great men of the Nation, and speak to them as Persons not too high for the Counsels, Commands and Exhortations of the Word of God, I mean, the King as Supreme, Nobles, Gentlemen, and all under him to whom any part of the Government in this Nation is committed; and these, all these from the highest to the lowest I do with all due Humility, as knowing my distance from many of them, yet with utmost earnestness, I do beseech that they would awake unto Righteousness, and see to it that they be found faithful in their place and to their trust, filling up every one the Province which God hath set them in, and trading every one with their Talents, whether more or fewer, five or two; nay let not him that hath but one hide it in a Napkin, and bury it in sloth, but be abounding in this work of the Lord, that through your care and industry Justice may run down among us like a Flood, and Judgement like a mighty Water, for the washing away that loathsome filth which is in our Streets.  
All that know you, may it please your most excellent Majesty, know, that you have a great deal of important and weighty work continually before you, which must necessarily fill your Royal Head with Thoughts, and your Heart with Cares, that keeps your eyes waking while others sleep without Interruption or Disturbance. There is abundant reason for us all to pity your burdens, and to pray that you may be counselled by the God of Wisdom, and supported by the God of Power, and have the Arms of your Hands made strong by the Everlasting Arms of the God of Jacob, but no reason for any Protestant among us to envy your Honour and other Prae-eminences, which are just, though too small recompenses for the hazards you have run, and the Kindness you have shown, and the Thoughts, Cares, and Pains you have taken for the saving of a People looked upon as being within a very few steps of Ruin. None knows the weight of a Crown but he that wears it. While it glisters it sits heavy; yet, Great Sir, among those other Affairs which do incessantly engage you, let the promoting of Morality and Piety, the beating down of Ungodliness and Profaneness put in for and obtain a principal share, for they do deserve it.  
And oh that other Magistrates would contribute what in them is to the promoting of the true Religion, the Power of Godliness and a Scriptural Reformation, together with an hearty and vigorous Suppression of Profaneness, remembering that it is the great and Holy God who hath by the hand of his Providence put into your hand the Sword of Justice, which ought not to rust there, you must not bear it in vain, but draw it when, and use it as need requires. And if the making of good Laws, and denouncing of Judgements in the penalties contained in them be not sufficient to curb vice, and to keep men within compass, lift up yourselves as those that know it is your part, As the Ministers of God to execute wrath upon them that do evil. If menaces will not do, there must be a proceeding to Execution, and if shaking the Rod over the Head doth not reach the end▪ there must be a laying of it upon the back, only be sure that it is indeed upon the back of them that do evil. And unto such it doth concern you to be a terror, for that is the Will of God as my Text tells you. It must and will be readily granted that a pleasant and smiling aspect is very grateful, because lovely, and an affable, obliging carriage doth exceedingly become and adorn great Ones, but sometimes it is needful for them to  themselves with terror, that they might make the most stouthearted Sinners to tremble. Magistrates should not be like Jupiter's blocks for Vermin to skip upon and play with. An undue and foolish lenity will render them contemptible, and the wicked more audacious, so as to lift up their horn on high, and declare their Sin as Sodom. When Justice and Mercy are mingled with a judicious and skilful hand, they will constitute a Government of a most excellent temper.  
Use 2. I shall also be free to speak a few words to my Reverend Fathers and Brethren in the Ministry, of what Judgement and Persuasion soever they are, about those things which have been and are matters of difference and controversy among us. You would, all of you be received, honoured and attended unto as the Ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ. My request unto you is that you would approve yourselves and convince all that you are such, by your preaching Christ up and Sin down, all manner of Sin, all sorts of Filthiness, both of the Flesh and of the Spirit. Spare none, neither small nor great. Be sure that what offends you doth offend God as well as you, and then bend your Bow and levelly your Arrows at it: But as for the overgrown profaneness of the Age, which you cannot but know doth so greatly abound in the midst of us, set yourselves with all your might, not only to lop off its luxuriant branches, but, if possible to pull it up by the very roots. Do not, in the bowels of love I beseech you, do not rend and tore one another, do not waste and spend your precious and swiftly flying time, your heat and strength about those things which your Consciences tell you are Adiaphorous, or Indifferent, and some of you have by Word of Mouth and in your writings owned and acknowledged to be so; and a zealous contending for them and stiff upholding of them will break the Peace both of Church and State, as it hath done ever since the beginning of the Reformation, but will never afford you solid Comfort and a well-grounded Peace, when you come to lie upon a Deathbed, and the King of Terrors with his grim and ghastly countenance shall look you in the face. But labour with might and main against that root of bitterness, profaneness, which, if you know any thing as you ought to know, you cannot but know is of a damnable Nature, and will, if not prevented and hearty repent of, cast and sink particular Persons into the bottomless pit of Eternal Perdition, and also bring ruin upon an whole Nation, so that though Noah, Samuel and Job should stand before God and plead for them, yet his mind could not be toward them.  
Do not you admit to the Table of your Lord filthy Swine that wallow in the Mire of all profaneness. Swearers, Drunkards, and others of that black guard do not look like guests meet for such a Solemnity, not like such as the Holy Jesus will bid welcome. Do not you seal to them an Interest in all the Blessings of that Covenant which they wickedly violate, nor in the saving benefits of that most precious Blood, which was indeed shed for Sinners, but is by them trampled under foot as if it were an unholy thing, and had purchased for them a lawless Liberty or Licence to be Unholy. Do not you receive them to a distinguishing Ordinance, who run with the herd, and are not by their lives and actions distinguished from the worst and vilest. Remember that old saying, and very good one, Sancta Sanctis, Holy things for holy Persons. And consider what our Lord said to the Prophet, Jer. 15.19. If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. He will have his Servants sever the good and the bad, giving his Promises and Seals to the former, denying them to the latter. He will have his Stewards to be faithful, feasting his Children with the dainties of his House, but not throwing them away to Dogs, and those that do so He will own. Thus do ye, and by so doing you will come forth to the help of the civil Magistrate against those mighty abominations which Domineer and Reign among us. Considering the place you are in, and that solemn work you have engaged in, one would expect that all of you should be holy, not only by Dedication, but by a real inward Sanctification, at least of unblameable Conversations, free from scandal, being without offence though not before God, yet before men. A profane wicked Minister is a gross Solecism, and deserves to be counted a monster, and to be driven from among men as Nabuchadnezzar was when brutified, Dan. 4.25.  
But while you do shine with the bright beams of Holiness, and walk according to the blessed Rules of the everlasting Gospel, which you ought to preach, you may boldly and comfortably without any severe gripes within & without any reproaches cast upon you from without bend your utmost force against those extravagants who walk contrary to them. Therefore, my Brethren, let us all study the Gospel we preach, and live it as well as know it, for knowledge will not be saving until it influence Heart and Life, and be reduced into practice: Let us I say think with ourselves, and repeat the thought often and often, what manner of Persons we ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness, and then may we lift up our voices like Trumpets, and decry all the wickedness we know to be acted. Herein will you do singularly good service both to the great God in Heaven, and to our King and Magistrates upon Earth, and to the whole Land. We read that in the fight with Amalek, while Israel was in the valley, Moses was in the mount with the Rod of God in his hand, which he lifted up. And when his hands were weary, and ready to flag, Aaron and Hur were by to sustain and uphold them. Aaron was the Priest of the Lord, and Hur was a Prince of the Tribe of Judah. Let this example teach all their duty, and excite and quicken them to the performance of it. When the hand of Moses, the Supreme Magistrate I mean, is lifted up with the rod of God against the Sins of the times, let both Aaron and Hur, Magistrates and Ministers come in cheerfully and strenuously to his assistance. For it is a thousand pities that the Magistrate should work alone, when set about so great and good a work as this. Do you back him, and afford unto him all the Assistance that you can.  
Use 3. I shall now in the last place direct my discourse unto those who are placed in a lower Sphere, for the present, not put into any Office, nor clothed with any thing of Magistratical Power and Authority, but altogether in a private capacity. I would have you to consider what you have to do. For there is a Duty incumbent upon every one. Though you are not to reach out your hands to works or acts of Office neither in the State nor in the Church, yet you are not to lay aside nor neglect any part of that work which belongs to you as members of both. And as there is not the least and meanest Person in a Kingdom but may do a great deal of mischief, so there is not the meanest but if he have an Heart may do some good. Solomon tells us, Eccl. 9.14, 15. of a little City that had but few men, and was besieged by a great King. And there was found in it a Poor man, who by his Wisdom delivered the City. And in 2 Sam. 20. When Sheba risen up in Rebellion against David, and being pursued went to Abel, Joab with his Host, cast up a bank against it, and battered the wall, but a Woman saved it from ruin. Every one may be instrumental for good. Since it is, then, the Duty of Magistrates from the highest to the lowest to act what they can toward the suppression of profaneness, there are these two things unto which I would exhort you who are in private stations.  
First, Set an high value and esteem upon every one of those Magistrates whom you know or hear to be herein true to their trust, and careful to perform their duty. You may be sure of this that they will find discouragement enough & opposition from the ranting crew. The wicked themselves, at whose lusts they strike, will hate them with an implacable hatred, and curse them, and drink to their confusion, and with longing desire to be rid of them, and do whatever they can in order thereunto. I do not wonder to hear of the plottings and combinations both of Atheists and Papists in such a case. There is nothing that they hate more than Reformation and Religion, nothing they will be more impatient under than a restraint laid upon their lusts. Therefore those that are pious and sober, that fear God, and are friends to the Nation should be exceeding dear over them, and prise them at an high rate, and love them with their hearts, and honour them, and willingly pay Tribute, and bless God for them. We are less than the least of mercies and aught to own them, much more greater Mercies. A good Servant in a Family is a blessing to it. Laban confessed it to Jacob, Gen. 30.27. I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. How great a Blessing then is a good King upon the Throne, a good Lord-Mayor in the Chair, good Justices upon the Bench! Certainly these are Blessings with all thankfulness to be owned, they are mercies, among temporal ones, of the first Magnitude, they do make an happy Nation and an happy People, unless that People will be so vile and froward as to stand in the way of their own happiness. Those that are Protestants in their Hearts, who while they verbally profess that Religion are sincere in that Profession, cannot but with delight look upon it as a choice and singular Mercy for our gracious God (in a day wherein there were great search & sinkings of heart) to set over us our King and Queen, a Protestant King and Queen, whose hearts, we persuade ourselves, are set for the Maintenance of the true Reformed Religion, and we hope for the pulling down whatsoever is contrary and bids defiance thereunto in its Principles and Precepts. Love them for this, let them be our dear as well as our dread Sovereigns. and let us be sure to be subject to them, not only for wrath, but likewise for Conscience sake, yea, and out of choice. And let us pray for them, and plead for them, and strive both together and apart with God for them, and bring down upon them from Heaven all the Blessings we can. This was done by the Jewish Church, Psal. 20. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob defend thee, send thee help from the Sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy  offerings, Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsels, and hear thee from his Holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Thus they did bless their King in his Exploits, and thus let us bless our King in his. Yea, let the blessing of Joseph come upon him, Gen. 49.25, 26. Let the Almighty bless him with the blessings of Heaven above, and blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the Breasts and of the Womb, let his blessings prevail above the blessings of all his Progenitors, unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, let them be upon his head, and the head of his dearest Consort. For I hope, time will make it further evident that He is a singular Instrument raised up by God for the effecting of great and glorious things in the world, and for the Church of Christ, which hath been in so many Places for so many Years afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted. Yea, that he is designed for an Avenger to execute wrath upon him and them, who have been the Plague of the Christian World, and have made it their work and delight to destroy the Earth, and their design to erect to themselves a Monument of Glory out of the Ruins of Kingdoms, and the Protestant Religion.  
Secondly, Let me desire you to facilitate the work of Magistrates, and make it as easy to them as you can. You that are Masters of Families, having Children and Servants under you, and understand your work, and desire to go through with it, find, that you have enough to do in your narrow and little spheres, your small Cock-boats call for much care and pains. We that are Pastors of Churches, have a great deal more, even so much as makes our Heads and Hearts to ache, and we cry out with holy Paul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, who is sufficient for these things? People do little think those many thoughts which gracious and faithful Ministers have both day and night, the multitude of those cares which they take the burdens which often lie upon their Spirits, and the many bitter sighs and groans which upon various accounts they do utter in their private recesses when they are alone with God. But yet, what is this, all this, to that load which lieth upon the shoulders of our Sovereign, who sits as Pilot at the Helm of so great a Ship, and upon whom cometh daily, not only the care of Three Kingdoms, but, as doubtless I may safely add, of the whole Protestant Interest, which hath been so desperately struck at; yea, and of all the Churches who have felt the fury of Oppressors, that have put yokes of iron upon their necks. And not only the King, whose Place is highest, and Province hardest; but others also who are employed by and under him, do find they have enough to do. The Lord Mayor, the Justices of Peace, the Petty Constables, Beadle's, Watchmen have enough to do. How many avocations have they from their own Callings and particular Affairs, which for their own and Families good must be attended to, and how many Troubles and Vexations have they in the management of their Places? I would therefore prevail with you to pity them and to help them, and to take off from their burden all that you can. This will be an argument of your being acted by a Spirit truly Christian, and it doth very well become all good Subjects.  
When Jethro, the Father-in-Law of Moses, came to the Camp of Israel in the Wilderness, and saw all that Moses did to the People, He spoke thus to him, Exod. 18.8. Thou wilt surely wear away, etc. for the thing is too heavy for thee, thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. So I say, Our King will wear away, He is but a Man, His Strength is not the strength of Stones, nor is his Flesh of Brass. He is made of flesh and blood as well as others, and is subject to the same infirmities, decays and strokes that others are, and truly his life deserves to be exceeding precious in our eyes, He is the breath of our Nostrils, and our Life and Peace, our Comfort and Happiness is very much bound up in him. And therefore we have, and I hope we shall more and more see that we have a great deal of reason to contribute all that we can to the lengthening out of his days, and making his life comfortable. But the weight of Government is too heavy for him, I mean, as good old Jethro did, He is not able to perform it himself alone. To deal with England's enraged Enemies abroad, and with England's daring Sins at home is too much for him alone; nay, may I not go farther? It is too much for his Privy Council and Parliament too; yea, and for all inferior Magistrates and Officers too. Take them altogether, and it is too much for them alone.  
I do therefore earnestly beseech you all to put your helping hand to the work, and yield them all the assistance that you can. We have, as my Experience and constant Observation tells me, a Spirit of discontent and complaining very busy and active, though indeed often times not without too much cause: And the Lord grant, those who are now our Rulers may have such a Spirit of Wisdom and Government plentifully poured out from Heaven upon them that they may never give good Men any, that those who have an Interest in God, and will certainly be heard at the Throne of Grace, may never be constrained to go with their just Complaints. But how many are there that do without cause fill their mouths with Complaints, and call those faults which are not, and throw dirt in the faces of Persons in place? But I will ask this one question, what do these Complainers do in order to the amending of that which is amiss? Our Streets would be clearer than they are, if every one would sweep before his own Door. And Reformation would happily become Universal, if every one would be a Self-Reformer. And oh that you would be so! Oh that others would be so! Oh that all would say what Elihu doth in Job tell us is meet to be said unto God, What I know not, teach thou me, and if I have done iniquity I will do so no more. I shall yet divide this my Exhortation into two branches.  
First, I shall speak unto those who are Governors of Families, and have Children and Servants under their inspection, apply to your Duty there. Would you gladly see all things well abroad, as far as you can, every one of you take care that they be so at home. You that are Parents, must know and consider that that God who gave you Children, hath committed to you the care and charge of their Souls. And you that have Apprentices, ought likewise to know and consider, that the Souls as well as the Bodies of your Apprentices are committed to your care by their Parents or Friends, and are your charge likewise. And the same is true as to your other menial Servants, so long as they shall continue under your Roof as such: and accordingly you are under a strict Obligation for looking after them. That is not a thing which you may do or leave undone, as you please; but you are bound to it. You ought to be their keepers, for you are responsible for them. And if through your neglect and carelessness any of them do eternally miscarry, they will die in their Sins, but their blood will be required at your hands.  
Whereas your holy care as to them will be very pleasing & acceptable unto God, as is clear from his former deal in this very case. He took this so kindly at the hand of Abraham, that upon the account thereof he would reveal unto him his purpose, Gen. 18.17. The Lord said, Shall I hid from Abraham the thing which I do? Shall I not communicate my Secrets to Abraham; shall I do such a Work as I am now resolved upon, and not let Abraham know it? But why did the Lord ask such a question? why might he not hid that, or any thing else from him or another, if he pleased, being Agens liberrimum, a most free Agent, and giving no account of his Matters? But what was the reason of this his so great condescension? Or, what was Abraham, that God's Cabinet-Council should be as to any one particular unlocked and opened unto him? God himself gives two reasons of it, one in the 18th Verse, Seeing Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty Nation, and all the Nations in the Earth shall be blessed in him. I have promised him great Mercies and Blessings, such as I have not promised to any man besides in the whole world, and shall I after that conceal this from him which is a great deal less? but the other reason to which I now refer you, followeth in the 19th Verse, for I know him, that he will command his Children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord. I know him, I am sure he is my Friend, He loves me dearly, His heart is set for my honour and interest, He will commend me and my way to all that are under his charge, and He will lay his Command upon them to love, fear and serve me, and keep my way. God will manifest himself unto, and set a special mark of favour upon those that are studious of promoting and posteritizing Religion and the Worship of God in their Families. These are Men and Women according to his Heart.  
Will you then study & hearty apply to your Duty to this purpose? will you teach your Children and Servants the good knowledge and fear of the Lord? Labour to instil betimes into them right Principles, and be dropping as they are capable of receiving. Will you be provoking and spurring them on to their Duty by your warm Counsels and Exhortations? will you lay your strict Commands upon them to do it as they would have your love and avoid your displeasure. Allure them by your own example, that is a strong silken Cord which draws sweetly. The way to have them write well, is for you to set them good Copies. Oh let them not see Irreligion in you, and Profaneness in you, for an hundred to one but if they do, that will do them more mischief than all your Precepts and Counsels will do them good. Are you in good earnest when you tell them you would have them good? then take care that you be good yourselves. Be sure to set up and keep up in your Families the Worship of God. There were indeed Saints in Nero's House, and an Ahijah in Jeroboam's, in whom there was some good thing toward the Lord God of Hosts, who can make Flowers grow in Dunghills and Wildernesses, as well as Springs of Water in Deserts, but these are Rarities, there is no great reason to expect them, such soils do not usually afford them. Therefore do you worship God, and Pray with your Family's Morning and Evening, a Duty I fear too much neglected by some who know better; follow you the pattern of good Joshua in that excellent resolution, that He and his house would serve the Lord, not He alone, nor they alone, but all in a Conjunction. Company is comfortable and desirable in that which is good. Keep a watchful eye upon them, do not trust them with themselves, for the Scripture tells you that Childhood and Youth are Vanity, and that Folly is bound up in the hearts of young ones; there is an whole pack of folly in them, and if you do not look to them, they will both add to the pack and open it. They bring into the world with them a great deal of corruption, and that is just like Tinder and Touchwood, that will quickly catch and be fired by those sparks of Temptation which fly up and down thick in the World. Give unto them all the encouragement that is fit for them. Children should have ingenuous and liberal Education, and Servants not be used like slaves, not dispirited and discouraged, chid and beaten into Mopes. Command mingled with kindness and love will be found to do best and go furthest; but never let lose the Reins of Government, hold them straight, for where too much liberty is given, a great deal more will be taken, by which means, if there be not care taken to prevent it, that liberty will soon degenerate into licentiousness, for it borders upon it already. I beseech you therefore, Fathers and Masters, Mothers and Mistresses, study you to be good in your places: And since you are to govern other, be sure rightly to govern yourselves. National Reformation will easily follow when Family-Reformation leads the way.  
Secondly, I shall direct my Exhortation to particular persons, every one of you to whom I now speak, and every one of those to whom this discourse shall come, from the highest to the lowest, of what rank and quality soever they are, and in what place and station soever the hand of Divine Providence hath set them. It is not so much matter what you are for greatness, as what you are for goodness; not so much in what Orb you are fixed (if we may speak of such a thing as a fixation in a tumbling and rolling world) as with what beams you shine. I beseech you all, one and other to look to yourselves, and be very circumspect and careful of yourselves, what you are, what you do, and how you carry in the world. Every man is charged with himself; though not only with himself, yet with himself; every man is to give an account of himself to God. None of you are so high as to be unaccountable. It is your unquestionable Duty to keep your hearts with all diligence, and to ponder the Path of your feet. You ought to be considerate men, and curious and exact, and to weigh things propounded to you before you close with them, and actions before you do them.  
Will you be persuaded to apply to this Duty? will you do it? will you walk circumspectly, accurately, not as Fools, but as Wise, not as Beasts but as Men, not as Heathen-men, but as Christians, as those that have been under Gospel Divine teachings? will you endeavour to lead such a conversation as becomes those who do really believe there is a God, another Life and State after this, a Resurrection from the Dead, a Judgement, an Heaven and an Hell, unspeakable Glory and Happiness for them that obey the Gospel, and conform themselves to the Law and Rule of the new Creature, an everlasting shame, contempt and torment for those that are workers of iniquity. Know such a life hath admirable delights to sweeten it in the way, and inconceivable rewards to Crown it in the end. I earnestly beseech you to propound such serious and weighty Questions as these to yourselves, when you do either feel the stir and motions of Sin, or are assaulted by temptations to it from without. Doth such an action become me? whether will it contribute to or detract from my honour, interest or comfort? Is a life of Debauchery and Profaneness worthy of a man that hath an immortal Soul, and do expect when I die and leave this World to launch into the Ocean of Eternity? would I have my Lord, when he cometh, find me so doing? Is not this that I am now enticed and inclined to contrary to the Law and end of my Creation, to the Gospel-Law, and to the dictates of right reason? will this be for my advantage either now or hereafter? if this be the Seed I sow, what will be the Harvest that I shall reap? will Sin ever pay me for the cost I am at upon it, and for the pains that I take about it? the Scripture tells us the wages it gives its Servants are Death, and what Wise Man will do hard Work for no better Wages? Suppose that it doth afford present pleasure that tickles a vain carnal mind, will that pleasure last? Is there not a Sting to follow that honey, will it not be bitterness in the latter end? Certainly it will issue in shame and sorrow. And who will choose to walk in that way, though it be a Carpet one, that will go down to and lodge the Traveller at last in the Chambers of Death, and the Bed of Flames?  
As for those of you who have hitherto been vain and lose and wicked, and God knows there are too many of you, do not stop your Ears to the Voice of the Charmers, do not, oh, do not hate to be reform. It is better for you to break off your Sins by a timely and speedy repentance, than to go on, because none of you can tell but the very next step that you take you may tumble into Hell, since every step in Sins way takes hold of it. What Daniel therefore said to that proud and haughty Monarch Nabuchadnezzar, Daniel 4.27. I will say to you, Let my counsel be acceptable to you, break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of your tranquillity; or, as you have it in the Margin of your Bibles, an healing of your error. If every one would mend one, how soon should we see a lovely face and excellent beauty upon the whole! nay, if the generality or major part of the Inhabitants of England and London would be prevailed with to come over to a Sober and Religious Life, if Princes, Nobles and Gentlemen will be exemplary therein, Sin and Debauchery would learn to abate something of its Impudence, and grow more modest than it is. In stead of walking up and down with a brazen face at Noonday in our Streets, as it hath done, it would seek Corners, and hid itself under the covert of darkness, as in the Apostles times, when they that were drunk were drunk in the night, 1 Thess. 5.7. Now that I might promote in all Persons, according to their several Spheres and Capacities, a conscientious care and endeavour to suppress Profaneness, I shall close this Discourse with these few following Directions.  
First, Pray for some of Christ's Eye salve, that your Eyes being thereby opened, you may see the ugliness and deformity of Profaneness. Do not give credit to that report which Sin makes of itself, no, nor to theirs neither who are its sworn Slaves and Vassals. For what true Information can you expect to receive from them, who are under the power of strong delusions, who are self-deceived and have their minds blinded by the God of this World, and run away with a lie in their right hand? But do you sit down and take the Word of God for your guide and counsellor, and from thence your measures, and seriously consider, what beauty can there be in that which hath defaced the whole creation, that was at first a most exquisite and curious piece, and every thing in it very good? What excellency can there be after the most diligent enquiry found in that, which is in itself contrary to the best and Supreme good, and makes every thing else so that is so? What desirableness can there be in that from whence have come all those stings with which man is tormented, and all the poisons by which he is endangered?  
Oh! That you could look upon it with such an eye as the infinitely wise and holy God doth, and then I am sure you would see it to be out of measure sinful, and so hate it with a perfect hatred, and flee from it more than from the Devil, for it made him what he is, and is worse than He, who had it not been for sin, would still have continued a glorious Angel. Oh that you would take a view of it as it is represented to you in the Glass of Scripture precepts, which do expressly forbid it, and in the glass of Scripture-threatening which are most dreadfully thundered out against it, and in the Glass of those many tremendous and amazing Judgements which have been executed up and down in the world, by which God hath revealed his wrath from Heaven against all the ungodliness, unrighteousness and wickedness of men, sparing neither People nor Princes, but hanging up some of both sorts, as it were in Chains, that they might be for the admonition and warning of them that do survive. Once more, look upon it in the Glass of our Saviour's blood, which had never been shed, no not a drop of it, had it not been for sin, but that caused the shedding of it all, even his Heart, Life Blood. And it was absolutely necessary, according to the divine determination in order to man's Salvation, that it should be so, for without the shedding of blood there would have been no remission, Heb. 9.22. Had not the blood of Jesus, God-man been shed, and made Satisfaction, as a propitiatory Sacrifice to Divine justice infinitely provoked by the Sin of man, the offence and displeasure caused by sin would have to all everlasting remained without any hope or, as far as we know, any possibility of a Reconciliation. The least sin is such an anomy or transgression of the divine Law, such an affront to the Divine Majesty, gives such a blow at the Sovereignty and Government of God, and carrieth in it so much of malignity and provocation that there needs no more than it to sink the guilty person into the bottomless pit of endless misery; I leave it then to you to consider, what there is in that profaneness, and numberless number of God-daring abominations which are to be found in the midst of us. In short, this is that which I propound and desire of you, judge of sin by its utter contrariety to the great holy and ever blessed God, and by the sufferings of Christ who was his people's surety, and died a Sacrifice, the iniquities of them all being laid upon him, and by the fatal consequences of sin upon men and Devils, yea upon the whole world, upon the face whereof it hath thrown dirt and deformity, and in the bowels whereof it hath caused Afflictive, Painful Agonies and Convulsions.  
Secondly, Be sure that all of you get your hearts filled and awed with the true fear of God. In which you ought and are commanded to be all the day, Prov. 23.17. Lie down at night in it, awake and rise in the morning in it, and so walk up and down in all Places and Companies, and about all your businesses and affairs. No persons in the world are so audaciously and impudently vile as those who have their hearts hardened from this fear. That passage is very observable which you find in Psal. 36.1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, there is no fear of God before his Eyes. Sin hath a voice, it cries aloud in the Ears of God, and it speaks loud to men, to the hearts of good men. It speaks that which grieves and saddens them, it speaks that which informs them. So here. The transgression of the wicked, his visible and open transgression, the life he leads, which is flagitious, the course he takes which is Lewd, the Villainies he commits, these speak within my heart, saith David, they speak to my mind and understanding; but what do they say? Enough, so much as amounts to a plain and full evidence, so much as is to me a sufficient and firm foundation to build this conclusion upon, that there is no fear of God before his Eyes. Either he doth not believe that there is a God, or else he believes that he is not a terrible God, a Consuming Fire, and Everlasting Burn, but such an one as himself, Psal. 50.21. A God not to be trembled before, but to be trifled and played with. One that did not mind what is done here below, or that hath pleasure in wickedness, as he hath himself.  
What was the reason that Abraham, though a good man, eminently good and strong in faith, yet, was not willing to have it publicly known that Sarah was his Wife when he sojourned in Gerar? You have the account thereof given in Gen. 20.12. I thought surely, the fear of God is not in this place. Here is not the worship of God, therefore here is not the fear of God; but what did he gather from thence? What if there be not the fear of God? Then there is the fear of nothing they will stick at nothing, they will have their will, they will stay me for my Wife's sake. This is indeed a sweet Place, a lovely and pleasant Country, it wants for no earthly accommodations, but, as I Conjecture, and that not without reason, the best and principal thing is wanting, here is none of the fear of God, and where there is not that curb to restrain men, they will certainly run wild, and their impetuous lusts will hurry them into the vilest and most monstrous practices, Vbi non est timor Dei, ibi regnant omnia vitia. All vices reign and rage in those places where the fear of God hath not a commanding power. Whereas on the other side, no persons do hate and oppose sin so much as those who do fear God most, for this is that which doth teach men, and that effectually, to departed from evil. Former Governors did so and so, but said good Nehemiah, so did not I, because of the fear of God. There was none like Job in all earth, and it is said of him by the Lord himself that he feared God and eschewed evil. He avoided and resisted it. This fear will set the heart of a man against sin, and constrain him to lift up his hand against it, or his voice at least, when there is not any power in his hand. Wheresoever there is the fear of God as the greatest and best good, there will inseparably accompany it the fear of sin as the basest and worst of evils, and that person will be sure to make an universal opposition to it wheresoever it is to be found, both in himself and in others, at home and abroad, in enemies and in Friends too, yea in them most. As a man that hath a natural antipathy to a Viper cannot endure it lying in his bosom, nor lurking in his Chamber, no, nor creeping in the highway.  
Thirdly, Pray that your Souls may be filled and fixed with an holy zeal for God. A zeal for his name, and honour, for his Law and Interest. Cold, Lukewarm and basely indifferent persons will never be famous and renowned upon the account of any vigorous appearings for God or against sin. A sordid Spirit of indifferency (greatly unworthy of every one that is honoured with the Christian name) doth evermore carry along with it a Spirit of Slothfulness and Inactivity, let the matter be never so important, the concern never so great. In Acts 18. you read that the blind and hardened Jews with one accord made insurrection against Paul, and the Greeks took Sosthenes the Apostles Friend and Companion, and beat him before the Judgement Seat, but Gallio appeared neither against the one nor the other. He cared for none of those things. He thought, what were those things to him? I believe this wretched Spirit influenceth, and acts many, a great many among us. God is greatly dishonoured, his name is taken in vain, his precious Sabbaths are openly and wickedly profaned, Religion suffers in its honour and interest, the Nation is endangered and exposed to the dismal effects of divine indignation, young ones are corrupted, perverted, and drawn aside to their destruction, and wrath is pulling down apace; and who can tell how soon a holy, jealous, provoked God may unstop his vials, and distribute sorrows in his anger? But what is all this to them so long as they can follow their callings, and enjoy themselves, and gratify their proud, vain, wanton humours, and go fine and far well, and lay up money, and live in quiet, and mirth and plenty? But let me be believed by you whilst I tell you, that if there were in you a zeal for the honour and interest of God, you would judge and conclude that this is something to you, and this concerns you, and accordingly it would go to your very hearts, and be as a Sword in your bones, as it was in the holy Prophet's, which extorted from him that passionate exclamation; Is it not enough for you to weary men, but you will weary my God also? It was this holy zeal that put Eleazar upon that Heroic act of taking such speedy revenge as he did upon Zimri and Cosbi. God himself took notice of it, and imputed it to his zeal, and was highly pleased with it, and mentioned it twice, Numb. 25.11. He was zealous for my sake among them. And again, v. 13. He was zealous for his God. His heart did burn within him, he was all in a flame, and could not with any patience endure to see his God so unworthily dealt with and dishonoured. While I am writing of this I am informed of that excellent precept against the profaning of the Lords day, sent out by the Right Honourable, Sir Thomas Pilkington, our present Lord Mayor, which being of a more than ordinary strain I look not upon as a matter of custom, but an effect of his zeal, and let it be for his honour to succeeding generations, and an embalming of his name, and let God himself remember it for good to him both in time and to eternity. One thing more.  
Lastly, Frequently & seriously call to mind that account which you are at the last and great day to give of yourselves, and your power, and all your actions to a better, greater and higher than any of you, even to God himself. He will, for certain, he will call you all to a strict account, therefore awe and quicken your Souls with the thoughts of it. It is but a little, very little time that the youngest and strongest of you have to spend in the World; Death will certainly come and summon you hence. And when it comes it will not stay for you, till you have mended faults, and supplied defects, possibly it will not allow you time enough to say, Lord have mercy upon me. And then your places will know you no more, and your power will know you no more, and your comforts and enjoyments will know you no more. You that now sit upon thrones and in Parliament-houses and Courts of Judicature must then stand before the divine Tribunal upon an equal level with the meanest of the people, & everyone of you give an account of himself to God, & of his trust & power, & how he did carry himself, and manage and improve his power. And therefore if you have any kindness for yourselves, make it appear by your care so to live now, so to act and rule, as that you may give up a good account with boldness and comfort, and hear the Judge say, Well done, good and faithful Servants, you have been faithful in your little, you have done your duty, and filled up your places, now enter into the joy of your Lord. I shall conclude this Sermon with that of the Apostle, 2 Cor. 5.10, 11. We must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil; knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men, so to live in the World, so to order their Conversations, so to trade with those talents of interest and estates, of parts and power for the present, that then they may be found faultless and presented with exceeding joy.    

Quest. How may we inquire after News not as Athenians but as Christians; for the better management of our Prayers and Praises for the Church of God? SERMON XVI.  ACTS 17.21. For all the Athenians, and strangers that were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. 
IN the Text chosen for me to speak of, and for you to hear, I do observe, and would have you also consider, we meet with a Concourse of people who pretended to be the Virtuosos of that Age; and for aught I do discern, may as well deserve the Character, as they do in our Age who spend their time in enquiring into useless Novelties.  
If our Learned Men equal the Learning of these Athenians. If Students from Foreign parts flock to us to perfect their course of Studies, as to Athens? If Merchants in equal Numbers, but with unequal Riches, attend the Custom-houses, and fill the Exchanges with us as with them? If there were some Travellers who came only to see, and talk, who were the (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) Strangers there? If each sort had business of greater Importance to mind than to spend their time in hearing what others could tell, or telling what others would be pleased with hearing; which was the Folly, and Distemper of those Athenians and Strangers; the same is the Epidemical Folly and Disease of our Age, and of all sorts of the Beaux-Esprits, refineder Spirits with us. The Cure of this Disease is the design of this Discourse in this Case: How may we Inquire after News, not as Athenians but as Christians; for the better management of our Prayers and Praises for the Church of God?  
He that Inquires to satisfy his Curiosity, or his sinful Prejudices, or malicious Wishes, and to boast and triumph in the Sorrows of the Church of God; and He that Inquires not at all, nor concerneth himself with these Works of God, do both highly offend.  
The one rejoice in the Destruction of Zion, as 'tis Obad. 12. v. The other is at Ease in Zion, Amos 6.1. and are not grieved at the Affliction of Joseph, Amos 6.6. and each do provoke the displeasure of the Lord against themselves. Amos pronounceth a Woe against the one, Chap. 6.1. and an utter Extirpation is threatened against the other, Obad. 18. v. Such careless ones as neither fear the Evil, nor hope for the Good of Zion; neither pray for its Deliverance, nor do praise God for his Salvation to Zion, greatly Sin and are likely to be deeply Punished, Isa. 32.9, 10, 11, 12. That we may Escape both, the Case warns us Not to Inquire Athenian-like, but to Inquire as becomes Christians, and suitably Pray for a Distressed, or Praise God for a Delivered Church.  
In stating this unusual Case, it will I think be best to draw it out into some previous Propositions, which shall make way for the clearer Resolution of it.  
1. The Casuist doth grant that in some Cases we may Inquire what is the News that is abroad. Whosoever asketh Direction how to do an Action is first persuaded of the lawfulness of the thing he would do. How shall I come before God? implieth that I may, yea ought to come before him, Mich. 7.6. So here the Casuist is of opinion we may Inquire, but is solicitous lest you should with the most inquire amiss, and therefore would direct you the best way of doing what is lawful to be done. If there were a doubt, the Case should be first, May it be done? not, How is it to be done?  
2. News which spreads abroad in the World is of very different Nature.  
1. Some Trifling Reports, below the gravity and prudence of a Man to receive from a Reporter, or to communicate to any Hearer.  
2. Others of a very particular, private, personal Concern; and among such as are of mean and abject state, which as they rise among them so 'tis fit they should die amongst them; or if reported are of no more concern to a Judge or Magistrate or the Public, than a Counter-scuffle of Boys in their Sports to a General and his Army.  
3. There are other News of a Public Nature, and which concern the State or Church; which import some threatening danger, or some smiling Providence; the approaches of somewhat more than ordinary for the Good of Mankind or the Church of Christ. Such was the News of Joseph, that he was alive, Lord of Egypt, and that he had sent to fetch Jacob and his Family (the Church of God in that day) to preserve a Seed alive. Such was the News of Cyrus' coming to the Throne, favouring the Jews, and issuing out the Edict of their Return, which made the Jews (Dreamers like) think 'twas too Good to be true. Or when sad News alarms the World, as when Rumours of Wars come one upon another, and threaten the World with an universal Deluge of Blood.  
In such Cases, 'tis yet considerable,  
How certain, or how dubious the reports are which we hear.  
How near at hand, or how far off the Effects are which attend the Good or bad News we hear.  
How likely 'tis the evil may be diverted, less●●● or removed, or whether inevitable and growing great.  
How probable, or sure the hoped Good accompanying the Providences of God in such Cases is, etc.  
Of such like News this Case speaketh; Tidings which do import great Good or great Evil to the Church of God, call upon every Member of the Church to Inquire into.  
3. In such Cases the Persons are of very different Capacity, who (as they ought) do Inquire, and according to the different Capacity each is in, so each aught to Inquire what may be done by himself to prevent, lessen, or remove afflicting Evils, or what may be done to hasten, increase, and secure hoped or enjoyed Good; this by such persons ought to be seasonably and effectually done.  
The Divine Providence doth advance some to places of the highest Power, and Authority; and entrusteth them with advantages of being Shields of the Earth, Nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to his Church, 
Psal. 47.9. Isa. 49.22. Obad. 21. v.  Saviour's upon mount Zion. They that are Defenders of the Faith, They should Inquire what Tidings for or against the Church, that they may know what they are to do in repelling Violence and Injustice, or in promoting the Welfare and Safety of the Public. The Enquiry such make, is, and aught to be much more Exact, Constant, and Solicitous; these should not only receive Intelligence, but seek it; maintain such as from abroad are fit to give account what is framing against the Public Good of the Civil State, or against the Good of the Church of God: Neither of which will be long in Safety, Peace, or Prosper if those who are Watchmen, 
Ezek. 34.2.  and like Shepherds should neglect to Inquire what ravening Beasts usually haunt the adjoining Woods, or Wildernesses. Now because it would be too tedious to mention the several ranks of Men concerned to Inquire into News of a Public Nature, as Counsellors and Lawgivers, Judges and inferior Magistrates, Martial and Fighting-men, who are to turn the Battle in the Gate.  
Ministers of the Word, and Spiritual Guides of the Church, yea and all the Members of the Church, are to Inquire into what God is doing for or against his Church, as they have in their present Station opportunity to do; as Nehemiah did, who Enquired of them that came from Jerusalem, what Condition that City and People of God were in.  
They who have any ability and power in their hand to do good, to help the Church of God, or any part of it under distress; proportionably every one of them are to awaken their Inquiries after the state of the Church, and set themselves with diligence to relieve it: And since we may, (as 'tis our duty) Praise God for his Mercy showed to the Church, and pray for Mercy when wanted, we should know by Enquiry what is our Duty herein. So then by this we may see 'tis the particular Office of some to Inquire, and aught to be the Care of all in their places to know, what the Church needs, and they ought to do for it.  
But none may Inquire like the Athenians. Into which we must Inquire now, and pray the Liberty of making discovery of this, by what helps we can meet with, both from Human and Sacred Testimony, what they were, 
Incepit regnum Atheniensium A. M. 2496. ante C. N. 1553. Hottom. Lexic. univers. ad voc. Athenae.  etc.  
1. These Athenians began to be a people about the year of the World 2496. about 1558 An. before Christ's Birth; and when this was written it was the 51st. year of Christ. It was at that time a City 1609 years old under various changes, and grew up to great Trade for Merchants, and as great Learning, for it was through a long course of years the University of the World. And a place that wand'ring Wits delighted to visit. Now among such Capriccios, so many curious, and inquisitive Humours, succeeding one another, and inventing New things, and glorying in the invention; no wonder that their Inquiries were Vain, or Ridiculous, or Mischievous to others. If sad threatening News were reported, they enquired into it; they betook themselves to their Antiquity, their Power, Wisdom, and their Idols, etc. So did Niniveh of old, so did a City more Ancient than Nineveh, Nah. 2.8, 9, 10. etc. If Tidings affrighted Rome, the Palladium, the duration of the City, Roma aeternum duratura, and such like are enquired after as the security they trust in. Jerusalem, though better taught yet became so brutish as to Inquire after vain and helpless Refuges against bad News: The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, Jer. 7.4. or else they contenm the Rod, and him that useth it. Can the Ancient City, the Glory of the World be destroyed? Or shall the Course of its Prosperity after many hundred years be changed into Misery? This were Athenian like to inquire into the Effects of New Causes. If new Judgements threaten us for our old Sins, and we hear that they approach, a Christian Enquiry should be, How we may prevent the Execution by a speedy return unto God.  
2. Secondly, The temper the Athenians are represented to us in, will help us to guess what Inquiries they would make upon New Emergencies. And our own Reason will tell us that all such Inquiries unbeseem a Christian. Let us view the Athenians in their temper, as Plutarch, Varro, Polybius, Aristophanes and Aristotle, etc. give it us.  
1. Very Suspicious and Jealous. Now whatever other Abilities a man may have to make right Inquiries of New Occurrences, this one Vice or Distemper is enough to disturb all; Jealousy will take amiss all that is Good, and suspect 'tis Evil; it will aggravate evil and make it worse than it is: No right judgement is made, or if a man of such temper stumble upon the right nature, tendency, and importance of unusual things reported, yet he cannot fix, or be constant in it.  
2. The Athenians were naturally prone to Anger, soon took Fire upon what they heard, or saw, and thought to be worthy of their Anger, and this was a perpetual Anger. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Now Jealousy like a dark Cloud darkens our thoughts and Judgement; Anger like the Lightning that breaks out of that Cloud, is of more destructive Fire, than of directing Light, and too quick and impetuous to allow us time of thinking aright, or Enquiring aright: if the News then displease this Passion, the man cannot judge aright till he hath mastered his Anger, and can debate the whole calmly with himself. Where this double Rage prevailed, none could inquire into new Occurrences in right manner, nor be an Example for us to imitate.  
3. They were close Dissemblers, very Deceitful. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subdoli, fallaces perfidi. Plato. Plutarch. Zech. Bogan. Archaiol. Attic.  Like Wounds healed outwardly but festering; in whose Mind, seemingly healed of their Anger and Disgusts, there is undiscerned Enmity, and Resolutions to Revenge. Italianated men can smile when they intent to cut your throat. Affable to Enemies, and disguise their Hatred in their Commendations of you to your Face; Salute with Mortal Embraces, and clasp you with the Arms they unexpectedly will imbrue in your Blood. Now what Enquiry will such tempered Men entertain you with, upon any News they meet with? They Inquire into particulars which may facilitate their revenges, that may satisfy their malice, and endanger an innocent, which an honest  reporter never dreamt of. Like Joab enquiring the News at Court, How Abner was entertained, how long since, and which way he went, what Company with him, etc. Which Inquiries an honest heart would never have mistrusted came from a bloody Heart, if Joab's bloody hand had not at last appeared.  
4. They were generally a People of an unblushing Countenance; seldom dashed out of Countenance, or discovered by a change of it. Men of a great Confidence, which in our plainer Dialect we should be apt to call Impudence; that dare ask any question, and attempt to pry into Closets and Cabinet Counsels; that fear no rebuke for any saucy Carriage, or for any false lies they spread; that could either disguise, lessen or deny any good news they heard, or could add to, and increase the bad; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. A●i●●p●. Nubibus. i e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Scholar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Budae. in verb.  could perversely Discourse and Comment on all Occurrences. It was grown up into a Proverb and so used by the Ingenious Poet when he would express a shameless and bold fellow ready to contrive and execute any Mischief. Such a tempered People were the Jews, Jer. 6.15. Who rightly interpreted nothing the Prophet told them, who Enquired indeed what News, but never enquired with an Humbled, Repenting, Reforming Mind.  
5. They were very great Lovers of Praise, Proud, and Contemners of others; They accounted all other people unjust intruders into other Men's Proprieties. They boasted themselves to be the only Nation against which no Lease of Ejectment might be sealed. All other were Barbarians to them, as if they only were the Men of Wisdom, Humanity, and Arts, and all others were Fools, ill-natured and as ill bred. The rank smell of this you have in the Philosopher, who gave thanks to the Gods that he was a Man, not a Woman; a Grecian, not a Barbarian; and among Grecians that he was a Philosopher, i. e. bred at Athens and born there: Of such proud ones we may say (as David said of them of his time) God is not in all their thoughts, as for his Enemies he puffeth at them, Psal. 10.4, 5, 6. All new Occurrences of Providence are slighted or perverted by these Men. They cannot inquire aright into the Works of God nor into the Works of Men. All with such men is turned into an advancing of their own Praise and disdain of others. In the Athenians answer to Gelon, offering them Assistance against Xerxes provided he might command either by Sea or Land; a modest proposal for a King to make; who offered 200 Ships, 
Athenienies non assentientur— ut pote qui semper aliis Graecis navali apparatu ante celluerunt. Pezelii Me●lifie. Histor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  28000 Armed Men, and Provision for his own and all the Grecian Soldiers during the Wars. But the Athenians will not yield, who were ever esteemed best at Sea, and for this praised by Homer. Thus the Pride of these self-conceited ones lost the benefit of a good offer, and turned away the News of such help from themselves, assailed with an Army, reckoned up to be 2641610, besides Victuallers, Eunuches, and lose Women that followed the Camp.  
6. They were such as were full of Enmity, and very prone to speak contemptuously one of another; scurrilous and abusive Discoursers of Persons or Things. 
Bellandi, Capidiores quam sat esset.  Hence many quarrels within themselves, and Wars with their Neighbours. These Athenians took a liberty in this abusive way of speaking against any, but more particularly against the Chief, the Optimates or Nobles among them, and took this Liberty at the Eleusinian Feasts kept in Honour to Ceres, 
Plutarch in Scyllo. Hesychies.  when with a Veil cast over their faces these lewd Scoffers did bespatter all that passed by them, and reproached them with all they had by chance or enquiry heard of their Betters.  

Vid. Sigon. de Republ. Atoeni. l. 1. c. 1.  7. They were unruly and terrible to their Governors, which may easily find credit with you if you consult the various changes of Governments among them. And Aristotle when he mentions some of their Rights as extorted, forced from their Kings, sufficiently intimates this fierceness of the People and their Terribleness to the Rulers, but when Kings were turned into Rulers for ten years, 
referendis rati●nibus o● noxium. Pa●a●. rerum Attic.  and made accountable, and this Decennial Rule after Seventy years dwindled into an Annual Rule, the People grew more unruly in their deportment, and more terrible in their Discontents; and in their Rage many times punished their best Governors with the Ostracism, 
— Non impro●itatis castipatio sed vulgaribus animis ins●●ae invidi●e plucatio Er●sm. C●●●●.  that is, with Ten years' Banishment; which Exile was not a punishment for Crimes, but an appeasing of the Envy of the Common-people. When the Athenian Discontents employed them in discovering News of the Government, and Governors, you will not need to be told how they Enquired, or why; to be sure so as neither you or I may Inquire.  
8. They were (as is observed) Malicious Observers of the deportment of the Strangers who sojourned among them. So that Strangers were never secure in their Persons, Name or Affairs. Quicksighted Malice prying into the Temper, Designs and Actions of Students, Merchants and Travellers Sojourning among them, either did  all to others, or received all misrepresented by others; and if Malice attained its Ends herein, it ended either in the Ruin, or great danger of the Innocent, who were as far from Fear, as they were far from giving Cause of Fear to any. To sum up all in brief, since we are from good Testimony assured that the Athenians were Suspicious, Angry, Dissemblers, boldly Impudent, Lovers of their own Praise, and as much Vilifyers of others, Quarrelsome and Contentious, Unruly, Terrible to their Governors, and disingenuous to the height of Malice against Strangers sojourning with them, (tho' some were better among them) we may not fetch our Copy from such Persons, nor Inquire as the most of such kind of men would Inquire. Such cannot but offend in the Matter, Rules, Ends and Manner of Enquiring after New Things.  
Hitherto we have consulted Men in their Reports of the Athenian temper: Let us now see what the Text and Context will afford us, for these will be a most sure Rule, by which we may know how News-Mongers there did pump one another: These enquired,  
1. With strong prejudices against Truth, and with as inveterate Opinion and Inclination to their own Errors: so here Citizens and Philosophers entertain the Gods of Asia, Europe, and Africa hold this Polytheism, and will not see into the Truth the Apostle preached, one God, and their own Altar fully owned by its Inscription, To the unknown God: In this they might have seen St. Paul's Orthodoxy, and their own Error in a matter of great concern to all Mankind.  
2. With curiosity more to know what other men believe and do in Religion, than serious purpose to know what they themselves should believe, and do. Had these Athenians enquired with sober and considerate Resolutions to receive Truth, it might have been an happy opportunity of conversion from dumb Idols, to the Living and True God. These Inquiries came with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ver. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; What would this Babbler have? And, May we know? Here's not one word of Enquiry that they might be saved. Their foolish Hearts were darkened, while they inquire after Knowledge; as Rom. 1.21.  
3. They inquire with Pride and Contempt of the Persons of whom they inquire, so did these Philosophers, before they throughly considered what the Apostle preached, and how he confirmed his Assertions; they do censure him as an empty Fellow, who talked much, nimbly, and smoothly, but that was all with them, as if there were no weight in his Arguments, nor any thing of moment in his Doctrines: They despise him, and give him, ver. 18. the most contemptible name of a Babbler.  
4. With unreasonable partiality, they confess their own Ignorance. There is a God unknown to them, to whom they had erected an Altar, and offered Sacrifices: Now here comes a Man of a sober Deportment, of quick and ready Parts, clear Judgement, and a close Disputer, who offers to instruct them, and tell them who this unknown God is, and how he ought to be Worshipped; but Bruits as they were, they'll rather be Ignorant still, than learn by the Apostle: And though a patiented, and attentive hearing of the Apostle would have filled Athens with greater and better News than ever was brought to their Ears; yet they who made it their business to hear all News, make it their Sin and Folly to refuse this News.  
5. With Resolutions not to be persuaded, though they were silenced, or convinced: This appeareth partly from their contempt of his Person, before they heard his Doctrine, and the reasons of it; partly from their obstinate adhering to Idols, and Worship of them, though the Apostle had by clearest reason discovered the absurdity thereof in his Excellent Discourse of the Nature of God, and his Worship, etc.  
And partly by the effect his Reasoning had upon Dionysius the Areopagyte, who believed, ver. 34. Now Dionysius was of the number of those whose Fame was great at Athens for Wisdom, Integrity, and Justice: For want of these Qualities, these Philosophhers reject the Apostle, and the new Doctrine which he preached.  
6. These Athenians did with Tumult and Violence make their Enquiry after the new things St. Paul preached. So the word in the Original seems to signify, and is so used, Luke 23.26. Simon of Cyrene compelled to bear the Cross of Christ, and when the Captain of the Castle took Paul out of the Jews hands, Acts 21.30, and 33. in which places the same word is used. They apprehended him: 
Non sint manuum injectione tanquam in reum. Lorin. in Loc.  Or, laid hands on him, as on a guilty Person. They inquire not as became Learners, or sober Disputers. But,  
7. They hurry him before the Areopagites Court, to answer it with his Life, for either denying the Athenians Gods, or endeavouring to bring it new Gods without the approbation of the Areopagites, 
Quia ingerit nova Daemonia. Lorin. in loc.  both which were Capital by the Law, and had endangered many Heads, cost some their Life; as Socrates condemned to Death by this Court, in which Two Hundred Eighty and One Votes concurred in the Sentence against him.  
All these particulars last mentioned are evident in this Context from the 17 ver. to the 32 ver. and I leave it you to judge, whether this way of Enquiry becometh a Christian. Many Christians begin their Enquiry into new things with Prejudices, carry them on in Curiosity, Pride and Partiality, and close them with obstinate adhering to old Errors, and refusing Truth new discovered; and in the tumultuousness of a Rabble bring the Publishers of Truth and Godliness into apparent Danger of their Lives? This the whole progress of the Athenian dispute with the Apostle, If you remember these things, you will know what you ought not to do, and I have hopes you will forbear doing that which you know too evil in a Heathen, and more evil in a Christian, and would be most evil in us who have seen bloody Effects of News raised, abetted, witnessed, and sworn by profligate, perjured Persons, not before Areopagites, but before Judges; raised to take away the Life of Innocents', and to condemn such, whose Love, and Care, whose Power and Resolution qualified them to be Patriots to their Country and the Church.  
8. The Athenians spent too much time in telling and hearing News of any sort, whether important or a trifle, certain or doubtful, So be, its News, 'tis that pleaseth them: They ever have leisure to hear it, nothing cometh more acceptably to them: This Disease hath descended from Age to Age, and been most pernicious to the Great, Rich, Voluptuous, and Proud Ports, Cities and Academies of the World: A Disease the Wisest and most Serious have complained of, but the vain and foolish would not be sensible of, or cured. The waste of time never to be recalled, Neglect of our necessary Affairs, loss in Trades and Employments, spreading of false Stories of others, provoking displeasure against others and ourselves on such occasions, endangering ourselves and others by engaging in Parties and Quarrels, increasing Discontents amongst those we should endeavour to unite, giving occasions to Enemies, and false Accusers to lay to our charge things we know not, falling under suspicion of Plotters and Conspirators against the Public Weal.  
All these and much more might be Arguments against an Immoderate attendance on public places of News amongst us, where Wise Men come and stay whilst their necessary business calls and requires; and Prating Fools continue till they fall. Pest of the Nation, and bane of Tradesmen, common Nuisances, and public Mischiefs in the Opinion of some Wise and Good Men: But when the places are blamed, they that come there too often, and stay there too long, are in the fault, and should (I think) be punished. I could wish there were a Redress of all the Inconveniences and Vices that spring up in Coffeehouses; but I believe that every Man who frequents them, must mend his own faults herein, and not expect Directions from a Pulpit, how often or seldom, how long or short a time, what business with Friends and Chapmen to wait for, or meet there: Go not thither but on business thou canst best do there, stay but till it is done, and though many complain of the Coffeehouses, they cannot condemn thee.  
But I pass on, to tell you how (in these places which seem to be Athenae Redevivae; and the Company we meet there like Athenian News-Mongers, all enquiring what is Newest) you may as Christians ought, inquire what News of Church-Affairs, that you may the better manage your Prayers for the Church in trouble, or praise God for good wrought for it, which is the Second Part, and Positive Part of the Case before us.  
First, Then a Christian ought to make Enquiry into News that concerns the Church, according to the Advantage and Capacity he hath more fully to know both the Good and Welfare of the People of God, or to know the Sorrows and Dangers that lie upon the Church: Some lie under an Incapacity of knowing much of the Affairs of their own Country, and the Church in it, who never heard any thing, so much as the Name of some of the Churches of Christ, nor are they any way likely to know much of them; yet these aught to inquire what they can, that their Prayers and Praises for the Church may be suitable to what they know of the Church. Jerusalem must not be forgotten, she must be prayed for.  
Such who know few but their Christian Relations, or Neighbours, may know the Sorrows, Dangers, Wants of these, and aught to pray for them, as they are Members of the Church, and consider the like State other Christians are in, and must be prayed for, etc. We are to mourn with those that mourn, and rejoice with those that rejoice: That we may the better do this, we should inquire the most we can into the present State of the Church. But more especially,  
1. Christian Kings, Princes, and Supreme Magistrates, as Nursing Fathers, Defenders, and Promoters of Christ's Kingdom and People, aught to Inquire, and maintain Intelligences; whereby they may understand what is the State of all the Churches of God, with which they and their Subjects hold a Commerce, that so either Public Prayers or Praises may be made for the Church. Moses hath given us Example of this kind, Acts 7.23, 24. who did deliberately conclude with himself, that he would visit his Brethren, the Children of Israel; and with his own Eyes survey their Condition, that he might suitably address himself to help them, supposing they would know God would deliver Israel by Moses. Some few we meet in History, who have concerned themselves for the Church of Christ abroad, without their own Dominions now and then. A Constantine appears to defend the Church, and to mind a Licinius to forbear persecuting the Church: Or, an Elizabeth to support a Neighbour-Church: Or, a Gustavus Adolphus to rescue oppressed Churches: Or, such as we have in our day seen raised to be a Father and a Mother to his People in this Kingdom: It was well for us that God awakened them to Inquire what State the Church was in here, and how it might be rescued.  
Secondly, Nobles and Counsellors about Christian Princes and Kings, who have opportunity to know public Concerns of Churches abroad above other Men, aught to Inquire more particularly and fully, That they may the better advise Inferior ones to pray for the Church, or praise God as the Seasons require; and that they may employ their Interest at home with their own King, or abroad in Foreign Courts for the good of the Church: Which way soever Mordecai first scented Haman's Plot, He acquitted himself in this point, gave not over the Enquiry, till he had done his best to rescue the Jews. Much of the same temper was Nehemiah, who at Court in fullness of Honour, Riches, and Ease, could not forget Jerusalem; 
Neh. 1.2, 3.  nor let slip an opportunity of acquainting himself with the Condition of the Jews there, and addresseth himself to rebuild and repair it. Had not King James I. and his Nobles about him enquired into the Plot, the Church and Kingdom had been ruined, though the Lord Mounteagle discovered what he knew of it.  
Thirdly, Ambassadors in the Courts of Princes that are Enemies to the Truth and Church, and ready to extirpate both, have advantage of Enquiring what Dangers threaten the Churches under such Prince's Dominions, and in such case, they are fittest to acquaint the Prince who sent them that loves the Church, and is foster Father to it; that by his Mediation, and Interest, the Design of Enemy-Princes, and Persecutors may be stopped; and endangered Subjects and Christians may be secured. The French Tyrant had been at his Dragooning Conversions some years sooner (as I have heard) if on the News of his Design (communicated by Ambassador to his Master, a Neighbouring Conqueror,) express Orders had not been sent to the Ambassador to require present and peremptory Orders to recall the Marching Troops. So much the safety of the Church may sometimes depend upon the Vigilance and Zeal of such Public Ministers of State: Wise Ambassadors of our Neighbours I doubt not informed their Masters and our Friends what dangerous Plots were laid against us and them, and all the Churches of Christ: So that now the Snare is broken, and we are escaped, Psal. 124.7. For the one many prayed, for the other more gave praise to God.  
F●urthly, Chief Commanders in Martial Affairs who are Christians, are concerned to inquire what State the Church is in among those on whom they are commanded to make War; sometimes Multitude of Christians may be within the Quarters, under the Power of the Enemy; sometimes Christians of an eminent Character, and highly valued by all that know the Truth, and love it, may be threatened to be destroyed by the Enemy: In such case a plain, brave, and peremptory Message, that the Enemy's Violence shall be retaliated, may save many Lives: So many Christians have been preserved from Turkish Fury, many Protestants from Popish Rage, both in days past and of late. So Jeremiah's case was weighed by the Chief Captain of the Assyrian Army.  
Fifthly, Merchants, who travel into far remote parts for their Trade, and Gentlemen who travel for their pleasure, and to satisfy themselves by an ocular survey of countries', and Cities (of which they often heard Reports scarce to be believed on hear-say:) These have some greater advantages to see and hear the low and sinking State, or the rising and flourishing Condition of those Churches which are planted in such countries'; and as Christians they are bound to observe, inform themselves, and tell others how 'tis with the Churches that Prayers and Praises may be offered unto God for them: But this is very little minded by Merchants when abroad, and less minded by them, when returned home with Wealth (greater than ever they hoped.) Though Religion decay, and Churches lessen in Number, Knowledge, Faith and Holiness; yet who of them out of their abundance settle a tribute of Thankfulness to God, making Provision for the sending and maintaining Preachers and Schoolmasters among them? Would the enriched Merchants remember their Duty to God, and what Thanks they own to the People who were kind to them in Travels and Trading, there would be some settlements made to encourage such as are fit and willing to employ themselves in promoting the Welfare of the Churches, but Poverty and Low Condition in the World forbids them to do it on their own Estate, and no due provision is made by others to support them in such a work. Some few of this travelling disposition (though poor) do go abroad Tutors to some young raw Gentlemen, who being so unexperienced, and imprudent among Strangers, and ever endangering themselves, if the Tutor be absent; he can do little but attend them in every place, and spend his time in viewing things that please young fancies, and profit none but those that are Doorkeepers, or Officers about the places: One short Tour of a Learned Man (now a great Prelate among us) gives us assurance that Travels might give us good Intelligence of the State of the Church, were there due care taken in this, 
Dr. Burnet, Bishop of Sarem  by Persons who could bear the Expenses of Prudent, Experienced, and Diligent Persons, Lovers of the Truth and Church, as well as Lovers of Knowledge, we might in a short time have a good account of the true state of all, or most of the Churches of Christ, and our Praises would be more seasonable and suitable.  
Sixthly, There are the whole Tribe of Levi, Ecclesiastical Persons, who live upon the Emoluments of the Church; These above others should concern themselves for the Church. These are to manage Public Prayers and Praises for the Church; these are to be Examples to others, to kindle the Affections of their people to pray and praise as occasions require. They are or should be able to take account of the Church-Affairs written and published to the World in several Languages: They should be diligent Readers of such Books: They more than others should understand the Times and Seasons of the Prophecies; and how the Wilderness State ends, or the State of Return out of the Wilderness gins; especially, under such Revolutions as we now are, as whither the Witnesses are rising, or whether any Vials, or how many are poured forth; whether we are to encourage the People of God to hope for a speedy Deliverance, or to advise them to expect and prepare for sorer and longer Troubles: These and such like Inquiries the Learned Clergy are much more fit to make then the Laity, and I think they are bound to it more than others: But in a more particular manner, those of the Clergy who have preferments which will bear the Charges of,  
1. All sorts of Books that concern this.  
2. All sorts of Ammanuenses and Helps to read and give account to them.  
3. All sorts of Intelligencies and Correspondencies with Bishops and Pastors of the Churches abroad.  
4. Entertaining and Conversing with all Exiles, Refugees, and Travellers that come from Foreign Churches.  
5. Sending (if need be) particular Messengers to know the Truth or falsehood of what is reported to them. Rich Archbishops, Bishops, and Deans might and ought to do thus or more for the Church of Christ. I do not know how much of this Work is set on foot, or whether none. I can hardly think among so many and Learned Men, as have Great and Rich Preferments in the Church of England, 'tis wholly omitted: They do, I believe, receive Intelligences from abroad; and if these be as true as those that some of them have sent abroad concerning the State of God's Church here in England, no wonder they all grow worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived, as the Apostle said of some other Men, 2 Tim. 3.13. In giving all Intelligences to others, let us keep; and in receiving all from them, let us desire them to keep to the Apostles Direction: Inform 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, speaking the Truth in Love. It is an inexcusable Crime to be malicious Slanderers one of another: And since the Doctrine of the Church of England in points of Faith and good Manners, the Renunciation of Popery as fully as is required, are both subscribed, and Allegiance to the Government assured by Oath or Subscription, let none such be any more misrepresented as of no Principles in Religion, Friends to Popery, and Enemies to Monarchy and Government. Ingenuity and Truth is much wanting both in Words and Writings of Men, that should describe their Brethren to Foreigners; instead of which, they decipher a Monster of their own making, and set it up to be abhorred by all that see or hear it. A Famous Professor of Divinity in a University and City (with which the whole Dissenting Party are often upbraided) knew not our State or Cause for many years; who when he was informed aright, wondered extremely at our ill usage at home, and worse representation abroad. I am I confess tempted to suspect very great partiality and falsehood in Ecclesiastical Historians, both Ancient and Modern; who have wrote with the Prejudice, Enmity, and Partiality of sworn Vassals to a Party.  
Were there a College of judicious, impartial, diligent, and able Historians employed and encouraged to search out the truth of all misreported parties and tell the world their best, as well as their worst hath been told by others, it would (I think) be an Ecclesiastical History far more  than any I yet have seen. Quis dabit Thuanum Ecclesiasticum! After so long a Discourse on the first Direction, Inquire as fully as your capacity and opportunity can enable you.  
II. If you would Inquire as Christians ought, to affect your hearts in order to pray or praise God for the Church, Let your Thoughts be much upon the Importance of what is reported to you. Weigh well what influence the New things are likely to have on the good or evil, to the comfort or the discomfort of the Church-Catholick, or any particular Churches near to or far from you. Nehemiah no doubt weighed the importance of the News brought to him from Jerusalem; and it was thought reasonable that Israel in Egypt on the first appearance of Moses, should have considered what Importance it was to see such a Man as Moses was, how likely he might be to bring them out. When the Edict for Israel's return out of Captivity was first spread as good News to the Jews, none of them resented it aright who considered only his personal advantage by it. They prayed and praised God aright who looked into the Import of it to the whole Church.  
The News of the death of Ahaz, and Succession of Hezekiah is not enquired after till the certainty of the Reformation of Religion, and the great change for the better in the Church is looked into.  
Julian's death was great and good news to the Church, and called for praise to God; but those that considered not the influence it would have upon the Church for good if God raised up a Christian Successor, must needs fall very far short in their prayer and praise. When the News of the death of Edward the Sixth afflicted the hearts of God's children in England, and they mourned and prayed as apprehensive of the consequences of the death of a pious Prince, a Zealous Reformer, a Hearty Lover of Truth and professor of it; whilst he lay sick these considerations quickkened them of that Age to beg his life. So when the sickness of Queen Mary was the News on the Stage, and her death would be the safety of the Church; no wise Protestant enquired after the News without a thought how much it would benefit the Church to lose her.  
III. Who Inquires as a Christian in order to manage Prayer and Praise, should I think Inquire of those who can, and will inform him the best, most truly and sincerely of any News he knoweth. There ever have been, and now are persons who abuse the world with false Reports: to amuse the more simple-hearted, they dare coin Lies, and cry out Woe! woe! or Peace! Peace! very unagreeably to the nature and aspect of Affairs. If you have a Friend who dares not wittingly spread a Lie, nor deny a Truth, and knows much of public Occurrences; thou mayest rely somewhat on his word, thou mayest with greater confidence pray for the Church in deep Distress, and Praise God for bringing it out of its Distress. When we know the Church needs our Prayers, it is most agreeable to God that we do pray. If when we praise God for the Church, in any particular, if afterwards it appear we were deceived by false Reports the Enemy scoffs at us, we should to the best of our knowledge pray and praise suitably to the real state of the Church. It was a common practice in our late Civil Wars upon a fight that both Parties kept Thanksgiving Days, when 'twas not possible both should have the Victory; this was highly Scandalous, and each upbraided others with Hypocrisy Let us as much as in us lieth prevent such a reproof; what we cannot be Eye-witness of but must take on Hear-say, let us endeavour to be truly informed, that both prayer and praises may be grounded on the Truth of things as they proceed from Truth of Heart. Tragical Stories of Catholics prosecuted in England when Garnet and some few others were executed for their unparallelled Hellish Powder-Plot and Treason, set many a deceived Papist into Tears and Prayers, who had they known the Truth of things would have praised God for preserving their King and Country, condemned the Traitors and owned the Hand of God in the Discovery of the Plot and punishment of Plotters. On the other side, when bloody Men imbrued their Hands in blood of many Thousand Innocents' in the Parisian Massacre, and the Irish Rebellion, destroyed Innocent Protestants, by Hundreds of Thousands, it is palliated with false Rumours to lessen the Horror of the Fact, the Barbarous Cruelty of the Actors; as if a few turbulent persons had been prevented, and fallen by the hands of Self-Defenders. Which had it been a Truth, who could have found in their hearts to pray for such? But with respect to all such bloody usage of the Innocent Church in all Ages past, and in this of ours we will pray with the Psalmist, Let God be known by the avenging the blood of his Saints, Psal. 70.10.  
IU. Who Inquires as a Christian, must Inquire with a Compassionate Affection to the suffering Churches of Christ; or feeling their Wounds as living Members feel the griefs and wounds of the Body in what part soever, preparing to help the whole and bear his own part; as one who prefers Jerusalem above his chief ●oy, and can hearty rejoice in her prosperity; as one whose heart is wounded with the same sword that woundeth Jerusalem, and therefore bitterly bemoaneth, and hearty prayeth for the bleeding Church. Give us an Nehemiah, who chap. 1. ver. 4. sat down, and wept when he heard sad tidings, great distress, and long desolations of Jerusalem. When you Inquire with Jeremiah's wish, Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, Jer. 9.1. To weep for the slain of the daughter of my people. Such an heart doth as naturally pour out itself in prayers, as it doth into tears, and doth as naturally rejoice with the rejoicing Church, as it either wept or prayed before. When Christ foresaw and foretold the doleful state that Jerusalem should fall into, he wept over her, and so must every Christian weep over desolate and disconsolate Jerus●lem when he hears her Sorrows, and prays for her Relief. Among Natural Relations few there are who are not affected with grief for the Sorrows, and troubles of a Brother, there should not be one among Spiritual Relations, but should with hearty grief entertain the News of Sorrows and distress upon the Church, and give God no rest till he make her a quiet Habitation, till he turn her Mourning into Joy, till he take away the garments of her Widowhood, and clothe her with the garments of his Salvation. When we hear the sad Tidings with such a Heart as Josiah heard the Threats of the Law read in his presence; 2 Chron. 34.27. ver. than we are like to do as he did to seek the Lord, to return to him and make a Covenant with him to serve him that he may turn away his displeasure and spare his people, Josiah heard the news, with a tender heart, a melting heart, and sent to Inquire of the Lord, that he might know what was to be done by him and his People, to prevent, or defer, or lessen, the threatened Evil.  
V When you Inquire into the present News that concerns the Church, that you may the better pray for the Church, or praise God on behalf of the Church, Inquire into the sins of the Church with an humble, mourning, and repenting Heart: So did Josiah in reading the Law, and comparing Judah's former behaviour, how that people had sinned against the Law of God, and by this he discovered what Sins.  
1. Brought them into the danger of Captivity and utter Desolation.  
2. Which were likely to increase their danger or continue it.  
3. Were likely to lessen the deliverance expected and prayed for.  
4. Which God hath long born with, and at last pardoned that he might deliver a sinful and unworthy people, though his own. This will in all probability bring the Enquirers on their knees, to confess their own and their father's Sins; to be throughly apprehensive what need of earnest prayers that the Lord would purge, pardon, deliver, and fully save his Churches. This will make them admire the Lords long-suffering, justify his Righteous Judgements, and give him praise due to him for leaving us a remnant that at last shall see his full Salvation.  
VI Would you as Christians Inquire into the News of the present times, the better to manage prayer and praises for the Church? Inquire then what are the effects of either Good and Welcome, or of Sad and Mournful News upon such as are nearest concerned in both. Do Judgements awaken and frighten Sinners in Zion from their Sins? Do the punishments of their Sins work them to deep Humiliation, to public Repenting and Reforming? Do they return to the Lord that smiteth them? Or are they as sinful, secure, and as fearless as ever? What effect have God's Mercies upon his Churches; Do his Mercies prevail with them not to Conform to the present evil world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Doth prosperity make them now (as it did between 47. 
Rom. 12.1, 2.  and 60, make professors) worldly proud quarrelsome, unjust, persecuting one another, irreconcilably divided one from another, enraged one against another with that mad, unreasonable fury as to venture the ruining of the whole Church to satisfy the revenges of a Party? When I think on these and such like sad miscarriages I can see little cause given by the Church to Rejoice, but much to Mourn. Here's need of prayer, little matter of Thanksgiving in the deportment of the Church. Indeed we ever ought to praise the Lord for his Mercies to his people, but we still want that proper subject of praise to God which a Reformed, United, Holy, and Heavenly Church would be to us. When unexpected and stupendious revolutions make the generality of Christians to leave their sins and return to God, and live more suitable to their Heavenly Calling, and love one another as Christ commandeth: Then we have abundant cause to bless and praise our God and continue our prayers for a people near to a full Salvation.  
VII. Would you as Christians better manage your Prayers and Praises for the Church on any New Occurrences? Then Inquire what is the Temper and Deportment of the Church's Enemies. Are the Enemies of the Church,  
1. Atheistical and Blasphemous, as he was who spakes as contemptuously of the Lord of Hosts, as of the Idols of the Nations whom his Father had destroyed Are they grown up to Sennacherib's height of Atheism and Blasphemy? Do then as Hezekiah, Isaiah, and the people of Judah did. It is probable the Enemy is near his fall, you near to the Answer of your Prayers, and the Church near to the days of Thanksgiving and praise to God. Read the Story in 2 King. 18.1. and 2 Chron. 32. and Isaiah 36. and 37. chap. Atheism and Blasphemy are the Temper and Deportment of the Antichrist, which we expect shall be destroyed; Rev. 13.1, 5. ver.  
2. Combined and Confederate against the Church? So was Moab, Ammon, and Amalek, Psal. 83.6. to cut off the name of Israel: So did Gog and Magog, Ezek. 38. if that refer to Antiochus Epiphanes, or to any other already past. So will the Gog and Magog mentioned in the Rev. 20. So hath the Antichristian Papal Kingdom done against the Church and its probable such a confederacy may be again made against the Church, of God. Now when rooting out of Israel is the end of the confederacy, the Church is furnished with many prevailing Arguments to use in prayer for the Church.  
3. Confident and proud, promising themselves an assured Success, answerable to their preparations and resolutions. So Sennacherib; as I have done, so I will do etc. and Gog and Magog, I will go to the unwalled Villages, and I will take the spoil, etc. Ezek. 38.11, 12.  
So will the pride and confidence of Babylon the Enemy of the Church; Babylon, that will say, I sit a queen, I shall not be a widow, etc. Rev. 18.7. How seasonably may the Church plead with the Lord to execute his just Threats upon her, and bring her Sorrows on her in a moment?  
4. Cruel and merciless, so was Babylon of old, so is Babylon at this day; this ministered occasion to the captive Jew to pray, and move the God of Mercy to remember their low and sad condition, and rescue them from those cruel hands which delight in Blood. In the temper of those who have for many Ages wasted the Church of Christ, and in these last three or four years have laboured to destroy it in France, most unparallelled cruelty hath been practised upon the members of Christ. How long holy and true? Rev. 11.  
VIII. And lastly, Would you as Christians Inquire, in order to the better management of your prayers and praises? then whatever News of Moment you hear concerning the State of the Churches of Christ, be sure to your best knowledge compare those News with these things that are signs of approaching deliverance, and fuller Salvation from its own sins and self-created troubles, and from the furious rage of Enemies.  
1. Compare the state of the Church and your News of it, with the Divine Providences over the Church in the like Circumstances in times past. Find out some instance parallel to your present case in the Scriptures, and in prayer plead it with God for the like, nay for greater help. The various cases of the Church recorded in Scripture, are glasses in which we may see what troubles we must expect; and God's Providences to his people are exemplaries for us to conform our Hope and Confidence unto. We may read his Deliverances, and in like cases say, This God is our God, as theirs; he will lead us, preserve, and deliver us, as them: Hence it is you do so often find the people of God concluding and expecting Relief, because he did in like case hear prayer, and give his people matter of praise in times past.  
2. Compare the News you hear with the expectations of the Generality of the observant, praying, meditating, Scripture-wise Christians. Consider well what the body of these look for, whether good or evil. A single Man, or a few of them, may easily mistake in their Conjecture; but it is seldom that the whole body of them mis-time their Expectation. Deliverance out of Egypt was expected by the best and wisest, by those who knew the promise to Abraham much about the time that God sent Moses; and therefore 'tis observed of Moses that when he vindicated the injured Hebrew and slew the Egyptian, that he supposed they would have known him to be the person God had sent to deliver them. Near the time of the return from the Babylonish Captivity, many of the Jews expected their Deliverance; some that were very Aged could reckon the number of years by their own Age. And Daniel searched into the nearness of it by Books, Dan. 9.2. and we may now hope some great (perhaps the last and full) deliverance from Antichristianism is near at hand, the generality of God's people do expect, as well as pray for it. Pray ye as they do.  
3. Compare your great News abroad, when Kingdoms and States are shaken, with the Threats that are denounced against the Enemies of the Church. Consult the Word of God in this thing You may discover much of the Approaches of Mercy in deliverance of the Church by the Executions of Threats against the Enemy. When Moses and Aaron began to Execute Judgements upon Egypt, Israel might well conclude their deliverance was near at hand, when the Rivers were turned into blood, Israel might hope their God was coming to avenge their blood. The Jews had good ground to conclude, when the Medes and Persians began the War against Babylon, that their Captivity drew on to an end; and when they read the Man's name who was the great Commander in that Expedition, Cyrus, by name foretold the Deliverer of God's Captives, and builder of the Temple, if then they did not pray earnestly, and praise God hearty, they were inexcusably stupid, and wanting to their own Release. It will much help you in prayer at this day if you will look into the several Menaces pronounced in the Book of the Revelations against Babylon, and observe which of them are in part Executed, which are now Executing; which of the Trumpets we are under, and which of the three woes are now Executing, etc. By this we might conclude the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet near, and the Kingdoms of the World e'er long are like to be the Kingdoms of Christ.  
4. Look to Promises made to the Church for her Deliverance, when you hear of, or Inquire after any great News among the States and Kingdoms of the World, among which the Churches of Christ sojourn, and among which the Saints of God have and still do suffer. It needs not a particular proof that there are many express Promises that the Church shall be delivered, that there is a fixed time for the beginning, progress and full accomplishment of these Promises, that their accomplishments shall be gradual, and such as will clear itself, and though we cannot say when the full accomplishment to a Day or Month or Year, yet by comparing Transactions and Occurrences with Promises, we may without doubt discover somewhat of the Promise made good to the Church for which we ought to praise the Lord, and all the rest of the Promises shall be fulfilled, and for this we should earnestly pray to the Lord.  
5. Compare the great News in the present Revolutions, with the Times God hath been pleased to make known to us in his Word. By this you may discern what Encouragement, and awakening Considerations are given to us to pray and praise our God for what is already done, and for what is doing, and what  long is to be finished. Here is work for learned Men, for Ministers, for Understanding Saints. There are in the Revelations two distinct Numbers mentioned, which were they clearly unfolded would enable us as very wise Christians to receive, seek, and improve the great News that is abroad in the World.  
The first Period is that Rev. 9.15. They, i. e. the four Angels bound at Euphrates, i. e. the Turkish power were prepared for an Hour, and a Day, and a Month, and a Year; i. e. for Three Hundred Ninety Six Years, and a very little more. Now from One Thousand Three Hundred, in which Osman or Ottoman was Elected King of the Turks, they have been the destruction of the Christians, and were to be until Three Hundred Ninety Six Years were expired, i. e. till One Thousand Six Hundred Ninety Six, which will in likelihood end their Empire, and how great Hope of this now? This calls us to pray for their Ruin.  
The second great Period is of the Forty Two Months, i. e. One Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Years; the time the Beast was to persecute the Church, and then the Beast was to perish, i. e. the Papal Kingdom shall be destroyed. Now these One Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Years in likelihood began about Four Hundred Seventy Five or somewhat sooner, and by this Account you may suppose the News you still hear of both Turk and Papacy, will encourage you to hope for a speedy deliverance of the Church from both.  
It will be worth your while to read those Excellent pieces of Mr. Joseph Mede, who wrote his Key of the Revelation above Threescore Years ago in Latin, I cannot say whether it be Translated into English, having always kept myself to the Latin Copy; but 'tis a Thousand pities it should be confined to Latin; a Book fit to be published in all Languages.  
Of Mr. Jurien, Accomplishment of Prophecies, Translated out of French into English.  
Of a Nameless Author newly written in French, and translated into English, Printed lately under the Title of A New System of the Apocalypse, etc.  
I commend to you who would know the Importance of public News, How to pray and praise God; on hearing it, How to wait for Deliverances, to read diligently those Books in which are greater and better News than any Pacquets, than all Gazzetts or Coffeehouses can yet afford to you, when you have read these Books then Long for One Thousand Six Hundred Ninety Six, or One Thousand Seven Hundred; and hope if you live to that day to hear Mahometanism in the Turkish Empire destroyed with that Empire. Wish for One Thousand Seven Hundred Thirty Five, or One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty; and remember I do not pretend to Prophesy, but I do dismiss with a conjecture that between this time and that you'll see great Deliverances to the Churches of Christ, and as great Distresses and Judgements executed on the Anti-christian Kingdom, it may be the total Ruin of that Kingdom which was to last but One Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Years, and I think will have out-lasted that Period before One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty.   

Quest. Wherein may we more hopefully attempt the Conversion of Younger People, than of others? SERMON XVII.  
OMnipotence can suffer no Difficulty, and that which is Immense, can admit no Limits. Unto the Divine Power, all things are as perfectly Easy, as they are certainly Possible. And the Heavenly Grace is fruitful equally, of all things consistent with its spotless Purity. God Creator did strain no harder to make this great World, than to make the smallest Atom of it: And God Redeemer saveth Mary magdalen's, as well as Virgin Mary: Very Samson we are sure, is in Heaven; Heb. 11.32.  
But, In respect of Things themselves, and of their Appearances unto us, all Effects be not of equal Facility, nor all Events to be alike hoped for. Much easier is the bending of a Green Twig, than of an Old Oak: More hopeful the cure of a Green Wound, than of an Old putrified Sore. There is more to be done to Convert a Man of Belial, than a Child of Belial; and to Convert an Old Man, than any other Man: And we may justly expect better Success, when we call unto God the Boys and Girls playing in the Streets, than when we call Old Men and Women that can scarcely walk in them.  
This I am desired to show: And I shall endeavour it in the best way, unto the best end; to wit, the promoting of Early Piety. I have fair and full occasion given me, if I can take it, from the Text which I therefore commend to your Observation.  ECCLES. 12.1. Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth: Or, as some read it, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy Choice. 
THE Words are a Stricture of an Excellent Sermon. It was preached (as mine is to be) unto Childhood and Youth. It gins at the Ninth Verse of the former Chapter, and ends at the Eighth Verse of this. The Spirit of God preached it by the Wisest of Men, and not the least of Kings. And hath thereby taught a pair of Truths, that I must wish better learned.  
I. The God of Heaven takes great care of our Children; and sends the Holy Ghost unto Young Schoolboys, as well as Old Church-Members.  
We have him here in his Sacred Oracles, preaching unto Boys and Girls. Yea, and Blessed Bishop Usher was neither the first or the last that was Converted by him at Ten years of Age; or earlier.  
II. The greatest Doctors need not think scorn in Christ's School to be Ushers; and to teach Children the A B C of Religion.  
Solomon thought not himself undervalved by it. And he that will look on it as a Work below him, he ought to prove, that a greater than Solomon is he. Immortal Luther preferred his Catechism above all his Works. But I return  
This Sermon forepraised, consists of Two Parts.  
(1.) A Dehortation from sinful Passions and Pleasures: Which is edged with a most emphatic Irony, or Derision Pressed with a Threat of God's damnatory Judgement. And shut up with a cooling consideration of both the feathery Lightness, and the winged Transitoriness of Youthful Enjoyments, Eccles. 11.9, 10.  
(2.) An Exhortation unto the Choice and Prosecution of saving Religion. This is in my Text: Wherein it is guarded with an admirable Prolepsis, preventive of all shifts and procrastinations. And in the next Words and Verses, is reinforced with numerous Arguments: Arguments, as many as Old Age hath Maladies, and as Unprepared Death hath Terrors. And these all clothed with Language, hardly to be matched in all the Sacred Writings. But I must confine me to my Text, Wherein are obvious, 

1. The Duty commanded to be done.  
2. The Parties commanded to do it.  
3. The Time wherein they are commanded to do it.    
The Duty is Conversion unto God. Inchoative and Progressive Conversing. Entrance into, Continuance and Progress in, the State of Holiness. The State of Reconciliation unto, and Communion with God. With God the Father, Son, and Spirit; all jointly as One God; and each distinctly as Three Persons. Learned Men do judge this latter to be here designed, by the Plural Number of the Hebrew Word. All Interpreters acknowledge, that the required Remembrance imports no less than the foresaid Conversion: And it will be evident, if these things be considered Words of Knowledge, Affection, and Practice, do ever connote one the other. Because the Faculties of our Souls, be like the Links of a Chain; so united, that they go all together: Draw one, all come. Wherefore when the Holy Ghost summons all, he useth to name but one of them. He never commands us to Know, Remember, Love, or Serve God, but he commands us to do them all. Now to do all these, is to Convert unto God: And to do less, is not to Remember our Creator as he doth require. Besides, The Connexion of End and Means is indispensable. Where any Means are required, it is certain the End of these Means is also required. And it is very plain that the mere Historical Remembrance of God, is but a Mean; Conversion foresaid, is the end of it: That End, without which, the Remembrance of God, could only make us the more like unto the Devil: Who indeed doth never Forget, but doth still Hate his Creator. And no mind can bear the thought of Gods requiring such a Remembrance. It must therefore be one, efficacious unto its End, that is here meant: Nor is it unworthy of our Notice, That the word [Creator] here is big with Argument: And such as carries Obligation unto the very utmost of the foresaid Conversion: For it speaks God's Interest in us. Were we made by him? Then were we also made for him, and are his; and not our own. It expresseth also his speciality of Interest in us; being (as we are elsewhere told,) he made us in his own Image: If so, he made us unquestionably for his especial Service. It no less setteth forth his Preservation of us too; for who but he who made us, should have Power or Will to maintain us? Briefly, it manifests his Power to destroy us; and his very good Reason so to do, if we do less, after our Apostasy and his Provision for our Recovery, than thus Convert unto him.  
The Parties here Commanded to Convert, are the same as are nominated, Eccl. 11.9. Possessors of Childhood and Youth. Learned Mercer saith all in a word; 
Totam aetatem storeatem compliciitur.  By Childhood and Youth the Holy Ghost intends the whole flourishing Age of Life. The same Hebrew word signifying Youth and Choice, we take them all to be comprehended, who are yet in the best and most desirable forepart of their days. All, from them, whose Morning doth but yet dawn, to those whose Clock hath struck Twelve, and with whom its Noon. The little Creatures, whose Twilight doth but just serve them to read the first Principles of Religion. The bigger Children, whose Sun is risen higher; and who can see, and are set to learn secular Arts and Trades; and are capable of learning farther the Art of Living unto God. The Youth eminently so called, whose Day is come on, and their Light, Heat, and Activity much exceed Childhood. Nor exclude I them, whose Sun is at highest; and who are (as Men will speak) in their Prime; upon whom the Afternoon gins to draw apace, though they yet retain Morning Vigour; and preserve the Name of Young. The Original words of Age, are of so large signification. And, as, on the other hand, all the Periods of breaking, declining Old Age must be judged to come under the name of Evil Days: No reason appears, why all the periods of the contrary Age should not be put under the name of Youthful, or Choice Days. All young Gamesters are here called to God. Children, from their playing for Pins: Boys from their playing for Pence. Young Men from their playing for Money and Land: All from their several Games of equal folly. The Games, in which invaluable Souls be lost; and the best that is got, is but Yellow Dust. These Spritful, Sportive People are all, called to play wiser parts; and lay out their various degrees of Strength, for the good that in weak Old Age, (in the last and worst Childhood,) they will be as unable, as now they are unwilling to seek.  
The Time, wherein these Tribes are, all of them, commanded to Convert, is the present. Remember hath its Now expressly added. Forbidding, both your Delay until the Afternoon of your Life-day; and your Delay unto any other Day, Hour, or Minute of your Forenoon: Requiring that God's Tribute be paid as the King's Tax is, upon sight: And that not the least distance of time be admitted, between your discerning, and your doing your Duty.  
The Doctrine thus offers now itself:  
Present Conversion, is the Duty of Youths and Children; even the very Youngest that are come to Understanding. Or thus,  
It is not for Young Men and Maidens, for Schoolboys and Girls, or very Children in Hanging-sleeves, to put off their Conversion to God so much as a Minute of an Hour.  
This I shall competently demonstrate, if I make good these two Assertions, viz.  
1. That these Young Folk are really bound to Convert presently.  
2. That they are singularly engaged and encouraged by God so to do; and are advantaged more for it than Older People are; and than they themselves can be when they are Older.  
And this I essay by these following very Intelligible and Invincible Reasons. Hear them as for your Lives, O you Young ones, to whom I direct them? If you hear aright, you live; and Joy will be in Heaven by and by for your new Birth. If not, we despised Preachers shall shortly hear you accursing your closed Ears: Exclaiming much like unto Joseph's Brethren, Gen. 42.21. We are verily guilty concerning our Ministers; in that we saw the anguish of their Souls, when they besought us to convert presently, and we would not hear; therefore is distress, (and it may be remediless Damnation) come upon us. However in Duty unto all, and in hope of gaining some, in God's fear I tell you:  
R. 1 You are Commanded as truly as the Oldest People Living, to turn unto God presently: Therefore 'tis your Duty. The King of Babylon would have Young Men stand before him: So would the King of Heaven. He calls you, the Youngest of you: And as expressly, and frequently, and more frequently, than he calls Old People: For he calls you conjunctly with them, in most, or all Texts in the Bible; and he calls you apart here, and in other Portions of Scripture by yourselves: Ezek. 33.11. Turn ye, turn ye: 'Tis not turn ye, O ye Old decrepit Folk: But Turn ye Indefinitely, that is, Universally, O ye of all Ages that hear the Word. Psal. 148.12, 13. Young Men and Maidens, and (as Old Men,) Children, are called to Praise the lord [Nagnarim] little Children; the word indeed is put for Joseph in Egypt, Gen. 41.12. and gideon's Son, Judg. 8.20. But (as the Etymology carries it) 'tis most frequently used, to signify Newborn Children, just shaken out of the Womb: And is very often put to signify Children, just able to speak, and run up and down, 2 Kings 2.23.  
You the Children of Believing Parents, have an Holiness of Covenant-Relation before you are born, 1 Cor. 7.14. You have an Holiness of Solemn Dedication by and by after you are born, in Holy Baptism; Col. 2.11, 12. And, God requires your Parents and Ministers to be dealing with you as soon as you come to Understanding, for Holiness of Inhesion and Qualification. He saith there is a way of Holiness, in which every (Nagnar) little Child should go, and commands us to Catechise and Train you up in it, Prov. 22.6. Ephes. 6.4. Nor doth he allow you to delay the little that you can do for your Souls, any more than he allows the Oldest People to delay any thing, that is in their Power to do. Now, now, is his Word unto all Sinners, 2 Cor. 6.2. And Now, now, is his Word unto you. His Command for Duty, and for Hast of Duty, equally binds Children of tender Years, and people of Fourscore. Remember it Young People; if you be not commanded to come unto God, and to abide with him, there is no Sinner in the World commanded to Convert, nor any Saint in the Church commanded to Persevere.  
Need I tell you what an Authority his is, who doth so command? And how infinitely obliging? 'Tis such an one as cannot be told you by Man or Angel. Should God command you to cut off your Right hands, or to run into the Fire, it would be infinitely your Duty and Interest presently to do it For so Supreme and Absolute is his Authority, that he cannot Command beyond his Right. And 'tis an Authority so constantly governed by Infinite Goodness▪ that he cannot command us against our Interest: So that it is as perfectly impossible for us, to Obey him, and not benefit ourselves; as to disobey him, and not hurt ourselves. In a word: Can you see this Sovereign Commander, but as Moses saw him, Exod. 34 Or, as Isaiah, Isa. 6. or, as Job, Job. 42. Or, as St. Paul, Act. 9 Or, as St. John, Rev. 1. It would be no Question with you, Whether he were to be obeyed or no? Or to be obeyed presently, or no. You would then think no Obedience great enough; no Hast swift enough; no Grief for Converting no sooner, heavy enough. O how late did I love thee, St. Austin exclaimed. Twenty years was I a bondslave to the Devil, cried Mr. Jo. Machin; who was Converted in his Twentieth year. Remember not the sins of my Youth, saith the Man, who knew God's Heart better than to imagine that Youth was Lawless, Psal. 25. But,  
R. 2. You are threatened just as Old People be, if you turn not unto God presently. Therefore 'tis your Duty. Sirs, as you are not Lawless, so neither are you less under the Menaces and Threats of the Lawgiver than other Folk be: Psal. 9.17. The Wicked shall be turned into Hell. 'Tis not said, Old Sinners shall into the place of Devils: No, 'tis unlimitedly the Wicked, all of them. Wicked Parents, and wicked Children; wicked Masters, and wicked Scholars, or Apprentices: Every thing wicked, every Minute that you delay your Conversion, that Threat stands ready charged against your Breasts. And who knows but God will shoot it off this very moment, if you Convert not this very moment? Rom. 1.18. The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Sin. 'Tis not said against all Old Folks Sin. No, but without any restriction, against all people's Sin. And alas! for you; did you never with your own Eyes see God's Wrath cut off Young Sinners? Did you never hear that in the Flood of Old, Children and Young People were drowned with the Old? And in Sodom the Young and Old Folk burned together. And that Bears tore in pieces Two and Forty little Bodies, for mocking an Holy Prophet, 2 King. 23, 24. The Spirit of Christ in the Old Testament saith expressly, that for all your (unrepented) follies ●od will bring you Young ones into Judgement of Condemnation, Eccles. 11.9. And in the New Testament he doth not tell you, that except an Old Body be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. No, but that, except a Man, any Man be born again, he cannot. Now in Scripture Language, whatever is born of a Woman, is a Man, though he be but a Span long. Vengeance must be taken on all that know not God, and obey not the Gospel; all such must be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the Glory of his Power: Nor hath Childhood or Youth any exemption; 2 Thes. 1.8, 9  
Come read ye then the terrible handwriting of God against you; so shall your malapert Countenances fall; your Marble Heart's break; the Joints of your Loins be loosed; your Knees smite one against another; and your doubt be fully resolved, whether present Conversion be your Duty or not. The Threat of a fiery Furnace made by Nabuchadnezzar, made all the Country, save Three Children of God, to bow to an Idol.  
What would God's Threat of such a Furnace as Hell is, do, if it were but duly considered? A Furnace of worse Fire; Fire of Extremity and Eternity. A Threat of it by a Mightier Power, and more unchangeable Resolution. Were these in your Eye, you would have much to do to hold your backs turned on God. Your Conversion must be hastened, or your Unregeneracy embittered. You must be grievously tormented till changed. You would soon, for your ease, crave Annihilation; or a contrary posture to that your Souls now stand in toward God. You are fain to wink hard, and make yourselves blind, to be so bold as to put off your Conversion. Divine Threats would boar through your Hearts, if your Lusts did not first boar out your Eyes.  
Rises now any thought within you, that God is very hard thus to press upon you? And to deny you the pleasures of Sin, for such a moment as is your Childhood, and Youth itself? Besides what will follow to shame it, I tell you here right. I have heard of a Devout Soul, that used to thank God for Hell. The thoughts of it had done him so much good. So much good Service against Sin; 'twas to him a Wall of Fire against Sin; a worse Evil than Hell, the worst thing in Hell. No sooner shall your Eyes be opened, to see what Sin is; and what need you have of being by Fear driven from Sin; and what need of God's Threats to make you fear it; but you shall straightway think God infinitely kind in the earliness of his Calls, and in the terribleness of his Threats. I, and your Hearts shall tell you, that the worst, and all that God threatens, 
Omnis peccator citra condignum plectitur. Sch.  is vastly less than a minute's delay of Conversion doth deserve from him.  
R. 3. You have the Promises of as good things, as the Oldest People have, if you do Convert presently: Therefore 'tis your Duty. The very Command of God, without a Threat, would have made it your Duty. And so would his Threats, if no one Promise had been superadded. But what think you that all do make it? Consider ye here, God promises you Spiritual, Temporal, and Eternal Blessings: And the very same that he promises to Converts of the fullest Age. And also with as well confirmed Promises; as well confirmed by his Oath, and by outward visible Signs and Seals; or Holy Sacraments, as the Church hath long called them. A Consideration, enough to make the least Intelligent Babies sing Hosannas! With Reverence to the Father of Mercies, I will say it; He hath no better or grea●er Blessings to give, than he doth this Morning offer to bestow, on all that will Convert this Morning. And on the very lest of you all: Neither will he think Eternity too long for your Reward, if you will not think your Life-time too long for his Service. A single Minute's aversion from it, deserveth Hell: But, such is his Grace through our Redeemer, that in the very Minute of your sincere Conversion, he gives you a Title to Heaven. Young People; whatever is done by Old Adders, pray do not you stop your Ears. I would fain have this day to be your Coronation-day; so it will be, if it be your Conversion-day. In Scripture dialect you are Kings and Queens, the first Minute that ye be Converts: Yea, and more Glorious ones, than any Unsanctified Heads that bear those Names. If the greatest Earthly Kings and Queens, knew the Vanity of their Thrones, they would gladly part with them for one Evidence of Interest at the Heavenly one. But, wots it: If any Convert upon the Earthly Globe, did but know his Interest in Heaven, he must presently live by Miracle, or die for Joy. So weighty is the Crown of Grace itself: So overwhelming a Glory, unto us in the Body. You are ready to think, this is too good to be true. But hear ye then the most sure word of Prophecy. Act. 2.39. The selfsame Promise is to Fathers and Children. The Covenant of Grace is but one for both. Of the same Promises to them, as of the same Demands from them. And ask ye, what in this Covenant is Promised? I tell you, 2 Cor. 6.16. God promises to be the God of every Convert, 1 Cor. 3.21. That all things (desirable) shall be theirs. Luke 15.31. It is his own Word; and as large an one as Infinite Bounty itself can speak, All that I have is thine. Pardoning Grace and Purifying is promised, Heb. 8.10, 12. An Inheritance Incorruptible, reserved in Heaven, is promised, 1 Pet. 1.4. The Necessaries of the Life that now is, are promised, enough to bear your Charge to Heaven. 1 Tim. 4.8. An entail of Blessing on your dearest ones, is promised Exod. 20.6. Rom. 11.28.  
The Promises of all these are by God confirmed unto you in your Baptism. You have them Signed and Sealed by God's hand before you know your right hand from your left. So very early God encourages you to Hope in him, and Convert unto him. By Signed, Sealed Promise, David, says, God did make him to hope when he was on his Mother's Breasts: And was his God from his Mother's Belly. I can understand him not otherwise, Psal. 22.9, 10. God forestalled the World and Devil; bound David so to him before they could come at him to entice him away. Laid in that superabundant ground of Hope and Engagement unto all Duty, beforehand, that as soon as he came to Capacity of Understanding, he should not want for Attractives of his Affection to Convert and Cleave to God. And no otherwise doth God deal with you. You that know what your Baptism means, do know so much. Now, no sooner do you Understand, Consent unto, and Profess the Imports of your Baptism, but God calls you to his Holy Table. There to confirm again and again with great frequency, all the foresaid Promises. O ye height, length, breadth and depth of the Divine Munificence and Kindness! The Blessing of Abraham, and every jota of it, comes on every sincere Convert, Gal. 3.13, 14.  
Speak Sirs; is God so ill a Master, that no offer can persuade you to return unto him? Or, What is there more than God has offered, that you desire? Or what further Confirmation and Ratification of his Promises than he gives, do you crave? Or, (which is that I listen after;) will you now straightway turn unto him? And here right, take on the Spiritual Robe, the Ring, and the Shoes! And make Joy in Heaven and in this Congregation! I do hope, the Sun shall not go down, before some of you are reconciled to God.  
I have heard of a sinful Boy that offered to Convert presently, if a Friend of his could make it out to him, that he should far the better for it in his Body and things of this Life. Which being done, he did Convert, and lived and died an eminent Saint. I am ware there is much of that Boys Spirit in all young People. And it likes me to try whether I may so draw you with the Considerations that drew him. Hear then what I say to evince, that Conversion is a very Friend unto good Health, Estate, Mirth, and Name; that the state of Grace, is, in respect of these like the City Triocala; one of Water-springs sweetest, Vineyards choicest, and Rocks most impregnable. That when you once enter into Covenant with God, your wants will be of nothing but things worse than nothing; and wherever you are lodged, the worst of your Wounds will be but Flea bites: Or however ye are wounded, ye can never be hurt.  
Health, is the Salt and sweetest Sauce of Life. 'Tis Sin, (Peoples own, or their Ancestors, or both) that ordinarily is the working cause, as well as deserving cause of sickness. The Spirit, and Grace, and Service of God, every way make for Health. Particularly, Temperance and good Conscience are the most benign of all things unto your Blood and Spirits: And Converting Grace is not itself without them. Go ask Physicians, they will tell you; Luxury and Lechery do make them an hundred Patients, for every one that is made them by Fasting and Prayer. No Precept of Christ is for any Duty, (Fasting itself,) unto Sickness; if his precepts were observed, they would prevent more, than ever his Miracles healed. If a good Man be at any time so weak, as to hate his own Flesh; he is not led to it by God's Spirit. He ought indeed to beat it down, and keep it in subjection to God's Law; and from the Usurpation of sinful Lusts. But withal, 'tis those Lusts he is to mortify, and not his Body. A Convert's Body, is the Holy Ghost's Temple. And if so, be sure God will be kind unto it, and his Servants ought to be duly careful of it.  
An Estate, is a very useful Hedge about you; to keep off those many Proud, that will be trampling upon all that is Poor. And nothing raises or keeps up this Hedge, like the Grace of God. For it spirits you with Diligence which gets Riches; with Humility, which hates superfluity, and saveth what is got; with Charity, which puts out all to Use; and unto that Lord who never pays less than an hundred Fold in this Life itself. Sin is this Hedge-breaker. Rags are mostly Sins Livery. When 'tis otherwise; and Sin makes you a Hedge, it will be full of Snakes and Snares. In the fullness of sinful sufficience, you will be in straits. And 'tis odds, but the Straits will be long, and the Fullness a very little while. On the other hand, when a Converts Duty to God makes him poor, it makes him rather a Martyr than a Beggar. For he thereby testifies God's Truth; and through the Truth of God to his Covenant, he abounds in the middle of his wants. For God doth but prune his Vines; he burns up none but Thorns. By Poverty he may undo Sinners, but he still enricheth Saints. Do but Convert, you can never want what is truly good for you, while God has it. The first Minute that a great Estate gins to be good for you, you shall have it. And if you never have a Great one, you shall still have a Good one. Whereas Unconverts can have but one of these two; a vexing Adversity, or (what is worse,) a slaying Prosperity. One made of thick Clay, and deeper Cares.  
Mirth and Comfort are the Honey and Sweetness of your Being's. Now Conversion makes exchange, but no Robbery of these. There is in Africa an Honey lusciously sweet, but the Bees gather it from poisonous Weeds, and it affects with madness and Frenzy all that eat of it. He were no Thief that should take that sort of Honey from you, and give the most wholesome to you. Conversion deals not otherwise by you. Only what it gives, is more sweet as more wholesome. And the quantity greater, as well as the quality better. For, observe ye, God forbids not any one Kind or Degree of pleasures, but what is injurious. And what your very Nature, Reason, and Interest do forbidden you. I deny it not; Converts have Valleys of Troubles; but then they have doors of Hope. They are in Wildernesses; but God prepares them Tables therein. Driest Rocks yield them Water; and in darkest Dungeons they have shining Lights: They receive here their Evil things, and have their Hell upon Earth; but then 'tis a Heaven upon Earth, to think this is all the Hell they shall ever endure. And as for the Ways he commandeth Converts to walk in, they are all of Pleasantness. Mysteriously, yet most certainly, Godly sorrow is made a sweet thing. Every Week almost have I People crying for more of it, than I think God allows them. O Youth, scies cum fies; when thou art a Convert, thou shalt feel what I tell thee: No such Manna falls in Calabria; none falls from Heaven, like that which feasteth the Camps of sincere Converts. The Convert state hath of the Joy as well as of the Purity of Heaven; Unthought of Delights: Such as don't Dye in the Enjoyment. No, but be stronger than Death, as well as sweeter than Life. Such as none of the Busybodies of this World ever found in the Mills of their Business, or the Circles of their pleasure. Gilboa's Mountains had not Rain or Dew. Unconvert Youths, have not Joy or Peace. Madness is theirs; Mirth they know not. The three Hebrew Martyrs were merrier in the fiery Furnace, than their Persecutor was in his Palace.  
Good Name and Honour be your precious Ointments. The things that make you cheerful in yourselves, grateful and useful unto others. True, I would rather my own Heart should commend me than all the World's Mouth beside. Next to Gods own praise of us, the praise of a well informed Conscience, is the most desirable. Nevertheless men's good esteem, good men's especially, is useful to the foresaid purposes. And your Conversion is requisite thereto. For 'tis the King of Heaven is the true Fountain of Honour; and he maketh Converts, and no others, Vessels of Honour. Honour, both below and above! Hypocrites know this; and therefore for the praise of men they make an outside Conversion to God. Converts do know this; and therefore by all the Reproaches of Men will not be beaten off from the way of God. Plato could say, a wicked man was the Earth's vilest Dunghill; and a Religious one, its most sacred Temple. Under the Law, we know that God would have those that touched a dead Man, to be held unclean seven times as long as those that touched a dead Beast. So teaching, how debased and defiled a thing an ill man is, more than a brute Creature. What need words? who be those that you see earthly Potentates advance to Honours, but their true, zealous, and active Friends? Turn you truly, zealously, actively to the King immortal; he shall forthwith love you more than any of his Angels can love him! And that love itself shall be a crown of Honour enough to make all the Devils in Hell envy you; many of the world's Hypocrites wish themselves in your state; and all the Saints of God with holy Angels to prise you beyond expression, and without Flattery. Every convert, whether he consider it or no, hath a name greater than of Earls and Dukes. God writeth them that give up their names unto him, Princes in all Lands and Kings and Priests unto him for ever. Psal 45. Rev. 1. Indeed the world counts them and tramples on them as dirt: but God calls them and will make them up as Jewels. See 1 Cor. 4.13. with Mat. 3.17. The world's Dusts, be God's Diamonds. If then the best things of both worlds can oblige, you see yourselves obliged to Turn presently unto God.  
R. 4. You are convinced by your own Consciences, as truly as other people be, that you ought presently to turn unto God. Therefore 'tis Duty Young people; God's Commands, Threats, and Promises do oblige, whether you learn, and know, and mind them, or not. Your Negligence and Unbelief cannot make them of no effect; though to yourselves, they may easily make them of very ill effect. But when the kindness of God brings them unto your Knowledge and Thoughts; when he sets Conscience which is his Viceroy, and Deputy in your Souls, to the work; and makes it in your very Heart and Reins to Command his Commands, to Promise his Promises, and to Threaten his Threats: what think you then? Believe it, than he accounts your Engagement to be heighthened with your Advantage. And he stands up for the Honour and Reverence of Conscience; the Honour of which he takes for your utmost Honour of himself, and Contempt of which he takes for your utmost Contempt of him. And, if now it appear that his Vicegerent, Conscience, hath been contemned; and you have sinned against the Edicts and Commands thereof; your sin then is exceeding sinful in his Eyes. Then have you broken many, yea all his Bonds; and must be beaten with many, yea the worst of his stripes. The Conscience then which you would not have to be your Ruler, shall be your Tormentor. Sooner or later, it shall.  
What plead you therefore? Which of you all can look me in the Face, and say that your Consciences are convinced of no such thing? And therefore whatever Witnesses I do bring, your Consciences are none, unto the Truth of my Doctrine. You are Men, and not Brutes. You are English people too. You live where the Gospel shines. And I must tell you, I nothing doubt but the Holy Ghost beams in Light very early into English Children. Light, convincing them of the Necessity of Conversion, and of the Malignity of Procrastination. I would be understood especially of the Children of Religious Parents; and such as are carried to hear Ministers, that do understand and preach Christianity, and not scoff at all Regeneration beside Baptismal; and do not dispense Stones for Bread, and Serpents for Fish. But do give Babes sincere Milk; designing to Edify, not to Amuse them.  
All such as are like to Hear or Read my Labours, I would ask these Questions. 1. Think you not, that your Minds, Wills, and practic Powers, were given to you to Know, Love, and Serve your God? 2. That you are bound from your first Capacity, to exercise them thereunto? 3. That in order to your so Exercising them, 'tis incumbent on you, to go learn the Gospel-Covenant; and Accept it's gracious offers; and Rely on its Promises; and Purpose, Promise and Vow, by the Grace of Jesus Christ, from this time for ever to be the Lords? 4. That Haste hereto is your Duty, and Delay is Sin, very manifold Sin? 5. That present Conversion, will be unto the present Pardon and Mortification of all Sin; but the Delay of it, will keep every sin Unpardoned; Mortify no sin, but give a growing strength unto all? 6. That present Conversion is most Honour to God, benefit unto yourselves, joy to your pious Friends, etc. I am so far from suspecting the more grown of you, that I have satisfactory grounds to believe, that most of five six and seven years old, do, in their hearts, believe all. Yea, and have their Consciences ofttimes telling them these things, as Parents and Ministers are inculking of them. As St. Austin said of Seneca, I dare say of most of you, youngest ones. You make much of what you think nothing worth; and declaim against that which you do above all prefer in your heart.  
However can you choose but see, that you all who are convinced, are all extraordinarily obliged to convert presently? 'Tis infinitely the Duty of all; but yours it would be, if possible, more than infinitely. No man must tell me Regeneration is a great Mystery, above children's reach; and therefore, for all my Confidence, I do mistake them. Well I know, Regeneration is a Mystery, of the greatest; but I deny, that the Necessity of it is a Mystery. That is of the plainest principles. And I utterly deny, that so young Children as I have named, are uncapable of Understanding as much of Conversion, as God will accept of from them. Know it, O little ones; Give God your All, he will not reject it as little; give him your Best, he will accept it as little good as is in it.  
But oh greater and lesser of you, hear and fear! Hell gapes for all delaying Unconverts. And, of any, is likest to swallow up those, whose delays are against Convictions. Peter Martyr says, St. Paul dealt more severely with the Galatians than the Romans for the same fault. Because the Galatians had been fore-instructed, and sinned against more Light. In all the Bible, though it be an History of more than Four Thousand Years, we read of but one that converted just before his Death. And we do believe that he also did convert at his first convincing-call. Rarely do any savingly Convert, who do not upon their first convictions Convert. St. Austin's stifled Convictions cost him dear. You that will make so bold with Conscience as Spira did, should expect to roar for it here as he did; or hereafter to far worse than many hope him to do. They are considerable Divines, who are not hopeless of his Salvation.  
R. 5. You die and go to Judgement, as ordinarily in your young days, as others in their older. Therefore 'tis your Duty to convert presently. Come stand forth the liveliest Spark of you all, and tell us if you can, that no body was ever known to die at your Years. Or, if there did, your Life is no such Vapour, your Flesh no such grass as theirs. You know our Weekly Bills of Mortality would shame you. And the great multitudes of Graves of all sorts every where. You do know your own vanity in putting far from your Minds, the fatal day that cannot be thrust off one Minute from your Persons.  
It is an undeniable Truth; the day of Life and of Grace be not always of a Length. And that if they were, that could be no warrant for delaying the work of your Salvation. But one would think your Life's uncertainty itself, if considered, should be of weight enough to press you unto haste. And make your wilful delay as impossible unto you, as 'tis Impious. For, you are not Papists. And if you were; Prayers for you after death, you could not think regularly to obtain. They do not hold it lawful to pray for any after their death, that do not Repent and Convert in their Life. If you die unconverted, your Fathers and Mothers are taught to consent to your being damned. And the best Friends you have, be forbid to pray for your being took out of Hell, or your being cooled in it. You do not imagine, I hope, that a cold drying, God be merciful to you, just before death, is a saving Conversion. If it were, we might say Heaven is the receptacle of the most and worst of men And a great part of the Scripture is took up in requiring our needless Labour. But, we are well sure of the contrary. Though you ought to be told also; that if it were really so, yet were your delay still a prodigious Folly. Being of your ability to utter those words at your death, you are as uncertain, as of any thing. And you have little reason to think, that your present Obstinacy shall not then be punished with (at least) Impotency. Oh Death, of Judgement! come look you in the Faces of these secure young Folks! Show yourselves unto them; ask them, whether upon sight of you, they can think two or three broken words preparation enough for your Terrors? And that it can be time enough to think of peace with God, when Pain will not let men be able to think three thoughts together of him. I knew an excellent Person that used to Exclaim, O Lord, Pain will not let one think upon thee.  
R. 6. You, as much as elder people, are absurd in your promises to Convert hereafter. Therefore it is your Duty to Convert presently. It is no easy thing to ascend to the height of Atheism; in which alone you can dare say, There is no God; or, None that you are bound penitently to convert unto: or, You will not, whatever follows, ever Turn to him. Wherefore, you must be dumb or find somewhat else to say. Very many I suspect to Harbour in them a dumb Devil; and to say little to themselves about matters between God and their Souls. But many there are, in whom Conscience will not be so easily muzzled. But will have somewhat said, or else give no quiet. For want of all things beside, this is said, Hereafter I will convert.  
But who has bewitched hearers of the Gospel? Neither Law nor Gospel itself, knows any way to Heaven by a delayed Conversion. The Law requires continuing, the Gospel requires Beginning and Persevering; neither admit of Delaying. Gal. 3.10. Cursed be every one, (young and old) that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. Did you not only Intent, but Begin; and that this present minute; not only to wish but to do; not only some but all things of the Law? The Law for all this, would damn you without Mercy, for having ever ceased to do all. Glory be to God in the highest, for the blessed Gospel! And what says that? Why, Act. 16.31. Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved. Thou art a sinner; a sinner grievous against Law, Gospel, and Conscience. But what then? Believe now on the Lord Jesus; Turn to God by him dutifully, God will draw nigh to thee graciously: But neither there or any where is it said, If thou art not minded to believe presently, do but promise hereafter to do it, thou shalt be saved. And for your lives, young People, consider (after Law, and Gospel) but Example and Precedents. When Christ called his Disciples, all followed him presently. When the Three Thousand were preached to, and were convinced, they were converted presently. So the Jailor, Act. 16. converted straightway.  
But look we a little into these your words, you will convert hereafter. Fall they not into these two parts? 1. We will not Convert now. 2. We will hereafter.  
First, You will not Convert now. That is, You will abide Rebels to God, Devils to yourself, Vassals to the Devil, Idolisers of this vain World, etc. This you will do; though you know it , Unsafe, Unprofitable; Ungrateful, and all that is worst. And though you would think it hard, if God should hold you in such a state, against your Wills. Or suffer Satan to keep you in it by force. This you will do, though you know if God should now use you like yourselves, (that is, like unreconcilable Enemies, even against his very entreaties;) you must be sent quick to Hell. Though you know too, that every sin you commit, makes Conversion harder, if ever it be made; and Hell hotter for you, if it be not made. This ye will do; of Choice you will. And because you will; without any Reasons that you dare to produce, or let mortal Men hear you speak.  
Secondly, You will Convert hereafter. Thy Power, Foolish Creature, thy Power! Where is thy Power, thy Will, or thy Reason! Thy Power Man! Canst thou live as long as thou wilt? Or, canst thou keep what ability God has now given thee for Conversion, and make it more when thou wilt? Canst thou save thyself from Distraction? Delusions of Satan, etc. Art thou able thyself to supply thyself with necessaries Natural and Supernatural, now and hereafter? Well: if thou couldst, say plainly what is thy Will? 'Tis a Will, not moved by God's Threats or Promises to Fear or Love him. If it were so, thou wouldst Convert now. And if it be not so, what is thy Purpose, for all thy fair Promise? Dost intent hereafter to turn unto a God neither Feared nor Loved? Surely thou dost not. Thinkest thou that thou shalt hereafter Fear and Love him? I ask what should make thee so think? He will for ever be the same God that now he is. Lay to thy Heart, what I tell thee, If God be not just now worthy of Fear and Love, than he never was or will be so; for he Changes not. In a word: What if thou hadst both power to Convert when thou wouldst, and hadst a real will to Convert hereafter to God; where is the Reason, for staying without and against God all the while? Thou art Servant, he is Lord; thou the Child, he the Father. When Servants run away and will not return to their Masters: and very Children run away, and will not come back to their Fathers! No, though the Masters and Fathers call and send and promise; and do not need them, while they all the while need their Masters and Fathers. All people conclude there is a cause of this: and a fault must lie somewhere in one of the Parties. Either the Father's Unnatural, and the Master Cruel; or else the Child is a Viper, and the Servant a Monster. Speak, Man, and say now: where is the fault, what is the cause that thou canst not yet be prevailed with to return to thy Lord and Father? Thou must charge Him or thyself with most black and bloody faults. If thou layest it on God, thou makest him worse than the Devil; and proclaimest Satan the better Master and Father of the two. If thou takest the blame on thyself; I ask thee, how thou canst endure to see, hear, or think of thyself? A Creature hating its God, that is all Love and all Loveliness! No words, I think: no words of mine I am sure, can express how Blasphemous, or how Self-condemned they are, all, that put off Conversion to another time.  
Alas, here is Life and all in the case. Conversion, is the Life of thy Soul, Man. 'Tis Dying, till it Convert. 'Tis in Hell, till thou Convert. And is this a fit word, I will then Convert hereafter? Thy darling Child drops into the Fire, and thou promisest to come help it out to morrow. A very Kind creature thou wilt be thought, and as Wise an one. Upon every account I may say of these Promises of Turning hereafter, as was said of Judas, It had been better they had never been born. And they be Judasses' indeed; for though they Flatter and Kiss, they Betray and Kill poor Souls.  
R. 7. You, as plainly as elder people do dare God to damn you, all the while you delay your Conversion. Therefore 'tis your duty to convert presently. I have heard of a Man much accustomed to cursing in his health, that could not utter any word but a curse in his sickness. Can not pronounce Yes or No; but as oft as he spoke, in several months' time, he bid God to damn him. A most frightful thing, you will say! And yet, young people, I take you to be in very like condition, all that delay your Conversion.  
For the Language of Practice is, with God and Men, as significant as any! if not more. If you practically bid God damn you, you are of the same spirit with them who verbally bid him so do. And, if I know any thing, Delayers do bid him in deeds, as certainly as any sinners do in their words. I appeal to your very own thoughts in the case;  
You are corrupted with sin and condemned for it. The grace of God calls you to come take your Pardon and your Cure. But tells you, Now is your Time. Promises you no Breath of Life, but what's in your Nostrils; nor any offer of Cure or Pardon, after the first. In every Precept, requires present coming. Your Delaying, therefore, is running the Venture. And that adventuring is plain saying, Lord, if now, just now, be the time, I shall not take hold of it. Though I Burn, I will not yet Turn. Thou dost not promise to stay longer for me; but, if thou wilt not, Damn and do thy worst with me. I would rather thou wouldst change thy Word. Blot [now in the days of thy Youth] out of the Bible: Writ [Remember thy Creator when thou art old and bedridden.] But, if this thou wilt not do, I will live under thy Threatening Wrath. And let its Vials fall on me, if they must; I am set against present Conversion for thy Peace.  
Let me add but this, Sirs! There is but one way possible to Hell; which is by Sin. For nothing else can incense God against You. He cannot be in the least displeased for aught beside. But, sin is that which he cannot but Hate and Punish. Now to go on wilfully, delightfully, and resolutely in sin, is in effect as if you should kneel down on your knees, and beg, and pray, with tears in your eyes, that you may never be saved. But may be assured of a place in the lowest Hell. The former, is interpretatively the latter. O madness beyond compare! though not Admired, because so much Practised.  
R. 8. You, as well as Elder people, do hate and rob God, and imitate and obey Satan, till you do Convert. Therefore 'tis your duty presently to Convert. Young people, it may be you know not what you do; but knowingly or ignorantly, these things you do do, till you Convert. You hate God; Interpretatively, you hate him. By your actions, no other can be judged of you. If you desired to express hatred of him, you could not take a more direct way for it, then that you are in. For you walk contrary unto him. Comparatively, you hate him. If you have any love to him, sure it's nothing, and less than nothing, in comparison of that which you bear unto your idolised things and persons. Yea, Absolutely you hate him, as an holy and just Ruler and Judge. In his Government you hate him; and wish you could dethrone him. Deny it, if you dare. In his Children and Friends you hate him. Their Company is an Eyesore and Burden unto you; his Image on them you cannot bear. If it were otherwise, you could not but Convert unto him. You Rob him, yea, and all his. You rob him of a Child, Christ of a Member, the Holy Ghost of a Temple, the Heavenly Host of a Joy, the Church of a Star, the World of a Pillar. And in the mean time, what do you? Why Satan in the God of every unconvert Creature. Him in your Spiritual impurities, you Imitate; in your bodily, you Obey; in both, you Serve and Gratify. Horrid Servitude! Unendurable by Souls and jod less senseless than Plants, or less wild than Brutes!  
R. 9 You, as elder People, do outsin Satan himself till you do Convert. Therefore it must needs be your Duty to Convert presently. Sirs, muse on it. 'Tis Sin, and the highest, to slight the richest offers of Divine Grace. You that Convert not, do slight such offers as be the kindest God ever made to men. And such as he never did offer unto fallen Angels. Ye do not believe, that the Devils and damned ghosts in Hell would slight them so, if God should make the same offer unto them. I mean, provided they were not under irrevocable damnatory Sentence, and also final Obduration, and implacable Malice; the which you are not under. You would then think, that, if the Gospel were preached unto them, they would not say as you do virtually say, every day of the week: sc. Lord we cannot hearken at present to thy proposals. We will, at some more convenient season. Or, if thou wilt not wait that leisure of ours, then will we go without thy offered Kindness. No, I suppose you would think, that they would rather answer thus, which you have not yet done. Lord, our astonished Minds never heard so ravishing News. Our inflamed Hearts cannot contain their Praise or Thanks. We are not able to utter fast enough our Acceptation of thy Offers, or our Consent unto thy Demands. We would celebrate the Grace of both; but who can express things Infinite? The Eloquence of Heaven is exceeded by its King's Mercy; etc.  
Sirs; I must have you Convert presently, or must have leave to say, You are of your Father the Devil, and the works of your Father you will do; and worse, if worse can be. But though I thus speak, I would by no means have you think any good to be in the Devil. Only I would have you know, there is much more evil in yourselves, than you are ware of. And that you can never know your Sin too much, if you do not know your Saviour too little. Wherhfore I add,  
R. 10. You, Young People, do sin beyond the measure of all Old ones that Convert not, if you put off your Conversion. Therefore it is your Duty, and you are singularly obliged to Convert presently.  
This Reason gives me opportunity, to slide into the very heart of the case propounded unto me. I do consider with whom I have to do, and shall thus plainly and even rudely make my way.  
The measure of their sins is far greatest, who do then sin, when the Lions in the way of their Duty, be fewest, and their Helps be most, and their Encouragements greatest. But,  
Young People, not Converting unto God, have this to be said concerning their sin: That it is committed then, when fewest Lions, be in the way of their Duty, when their Helps to it be the most of any men's, and their Encouragements greatest. Therefore,  
The Sin of Young People not Converting is far greatest. And so far from being to be extenuated and thought less of than Old Peoples, that it ought to be held, of the two the greater.  
I shall suppose my Work here requisite to be only this, viz to show that Young People have ordinarily fewer Discouragements from going about to Convert, than Old ones have. And have most Helps than they; and greater Encouragements than Old People now have; and then they themselves can have when they become Old. I say, Ordinarily. For which Service, I advance these Seven Considerations. Directing them unto yourselves, my Young Folk.  
C. 1. Your God is not so angry with you, as he is with Older People, and will be with you, if you Convert not before you are Older. He is indeed angry with you; for Sin Original and Actual. Go roll you in the Dust before him. Yet, know for your Comfort, he is less angry, as I have said. For, these two Assertions are most true. Sc. (1.) Every day continued in refusal of Subjection to his Authority, and every wilful refusal of Obedience unto his Gospel Precepts, do increase the Fire of God's Indignation. (2.) Every last day of Vnsubjection, and every last Act of Disobedience, do increase that Fire of God's Indignation more than the former. As for the first, though it be Self-evident, and granted of all Men, let me add this. A Command, supposes Authority in the Commander, and Subjection in the Commanded. Obedience unto a Command supposes Acknowledgement of Authority in him that gives, and Subjection in him that receive it. God is Sovereign, we are Subjects. He first publishes his Authority, and requires our Subjection: Then enacts Laws, and requires our Obedience. Our Orderly Duty is, to submit us first to his Authority, and own him for our God and King; and then to perform his Commands, for expressing that Submission. The Sin of the World that incenses God, is denial of this Submission to him, and of this Expression of it. Of this Denial, the first rise and beginning kindles his Wrath; but the continuance, against his means of reducing us unto Subjection and Obedience, doth more than continue it. Even greatly increase it. Nor is it wonder, being that the sinful Denial, continued under such constant means aforesaid, daily increaseth. And accordingly, barren Trees have it counted to them, how many years they have cumbered the ground. But then, as to the second particular: Therefore doth every last days Unsubmission and Disobedience more exasperated than the former, because they are against more Means used, and Patience exercised, than the former. And they are as it were a Justifying, and an Approving of all former Sin also. A virtual Acting over of all again.  
There can therefore be no doubt but the degree of God's Displeasure is less against you, than against those who have many more years Disowned and Disobeyed him. And you have less reason to fear the making of your Peace with him, if you go seek it, than they have. And more ground of hope to get it made now, than you can have hereafter if you delay. For you to say, I will not seek my Peace till I am Older, is as if a Condemned Man should say, I will not go try to get my Pardon, till the King is a hundred-fold more angry with me than yet he is. Matchless Frenzy!  
C. 2. Your Enemy Satan, has not so much Power over you, as he hath over Older People; and will have over you, if you Convert not before you are Older. Sirs, Satan is an Enemy that you must Conquer, or be Destroyed by. His Power to Deceive, is very great. It was so from the beginning; and shown in Paradise to be so, when he slew all Mankind in their first Parents. Besides, it is now much greater. In more than Five Thousand Years, he has learned much. And being now an Old, he is a more Subtle Serpent. But it is not his Natural and Acquired Power, without that which is Judicial, that is the matter of our just Fear. The Lion in Chains scareth no Child: 'Tis the Lion let lose that frightens the Town, and doth the Mischief. All Satan's Power, is no Power as to us, if God doth not judiciously let him lose on us. God, as he is more or less angry with Men, holds up Satan in a longer or shorter Chain. Being less Angry with you, Young People; he suffers him not to fall upon you with such strength of Fraud or Force, as upon Old Transgressor's. So much reach at you God doth allow him, as maketh needful your Watching and Prayer, and Wariness of his Devices. But God allows him so very much less at you, than at others, that he may be repelled more easily by you, than others: And you have less reason to doubt of Victory when you fight against him, than others have. And may be certain, that if you abide Unconvert in your sins, and go on to incense God more against you, you shall then have a much more powerful Enemy of him than now you have. Now,  
Would any General of an Army delay to Fight with his Enemy, till he himself were Weaker, and his Enemies stronger? O do not any of you say practically, I will not yet fight for my Translation out of the Kingdom of Darkness; I will have the Prince of Darkness get an Hundred times more forces against me, and more advantageous ground, before I will encounter him How kind to Satan, are Delaying Children?  
C. 3. Your Hearts, which are your Rulers under God, be not yet so bad within you, as Old Peoples be; and as they will themselves be sure to be if you now Convert not. Your Hearts, the Lord show it you, are they that do most under God, for your Conquering, or your being Conquered by Sin, Death, and Hell. These Hearts of yours be blind and foolish, proud and perverse enough; they be sufficiently Unteachable, Untractable, Unfaithful. The Lord humble you deeply in the deepest sense of it. But still, they be not near so bad as Old Sinners Hearts be. Believe it, there is a sense, in which Nicodemus his words be smart: How can a Man be born when he is Old? God has in his Offence, departed farther from Old Men than you. Satan in his long stay in them, has hammered them into a greater hardness than he has yet brought you into. Actual Sins, have put more strength into their Habitual, than into Yours. And they have more Millstones about the neck of their Souls, than yet are about yours. Insomuch, that you have as much the better of them, as those who have in War a less unqualified Commanded, have of them whose Leader is most blind, most Lame, and most Lunatic itself. Your Work is more easy, and your Encouragement to expect Victory is more ample, than Old Sinners. And both such, as they will not continue unto you, unless you now Convert unto God.  
Which if you do not, you do like Soldiers that should say, We will have no Battle with our Enemy as yet: The Leader, whose Conduct and Action are our Life or Death, will shortly be Stone-blind, and under the Dead Palsy. And we will stay till he be so, before we employ him. O plotted Self-Destruction! O Chosen Ruin! If this Consideration go for nothing with you, ye are Blind against Sunshine, and Deaf unto Thunder.  
C. 4. Your Bodies, the Instruments of your Souls Action, be not yet so sorry as Old Peoples be; and as yours will be most certainly, if you Convert not presently. Sirs, An Unsanctified Body is a Souls Unknown Enemy.  
A Trojan Horse, a Pandora's Box, a Forge of Mischiefs. Your Young ones are such, that (almost proverbially) the Blood of Youth is Satan's Tinder and Match. 'Tis seen, you have warm Bosom for all Snakes. Legions of Devils are a less formidable Army, than your own five Senses unhallowed. Beware of the Flesh. But withal, know ye, an Unruly Horse is more desirable than a Dead one: He may be Bridled, and made serviceable. 'Tis better with you, than Old Folk; if you will but well use, that whereof they want the use. Health, and Strength in general; reading Eyes, and hearing Ears, and walking Feet in particular. Old Age is itself, say some, a Disease; a very Hospital of all. Many, are deprived of the means of Grace by Blindness and Deafness. Most, do use them with much pain and great disadvantage. None have so few Clogs about them as you. So that great is your advantage for working out your Salvation. Your Labour is less to read or hear an Hundred Sermons, than theirs to hear or read one. And to go Twenty Miles for Advice, than theirs to go Twenty Steps. Being that Sin, and so Death, came in at the Eye and Ear; and it is God's Will to drive them out at the same; and to transmit the Wisdom that saves our Souls, through those Bodily Senses; these are not inconsiderable things.  
O that you had heard, but what I have done, of poor Old Creatures Outcries! Cursing the Courses and Companies that devoured their strength. Wailing with sighs and tears, their disability to Read; difficulty of hearing; and utterly lost faculty of Remembering. The Memory ought to cut my Heart; may the Notice sway yours! If you will yet put off your Conversion, this is the Language which that Delay utters; I have a work given me to do that is for my Life Eternal. I have yet Eyes, and Ears, and Hands and Feet. I have Ease, and Strength. But these all have Wings, and will shortly fly and be gone as others be. When gone, I cannot work, or, if I do, it must be in the Fire as it were. Nevertheless, I will not set to my Work till my Sun and Moon and Stars be darkened. I will not stir one Foot for Heaven, till my other Foot is in the Grave. If my Peace be ever made with God, it shall be even at the Graves brink. When I am just come to the Mouth of Hell, and can scarce open my own Mouth to deprecate it, I will bestow a wish for Heaven, if that may possess me of it. Senseless Creature, that wantest nothing of a Bruit, but Hair, and two Feet more!  
C. 5. The World, another back friend of yours, hath not yet lain so many Loads on your backs, as upon Old Peoples; and as it will lay on yours, if you live longer, and live under its Power and Vnsubjected and Vnconvert unto God. This I speak to you especially of the Younger sort, Children, and next to Children. I hope you have heard what an Enemy the World and the things of it do make, to Conversion and Sanctification. Read the Texts in the Margin. Read Ecclesiastes; 
1 Jo. 2.15, 16. Jam. 4.4. Matth. 6.24.  a whole Book of Sacred Scripture took up in warning us against this said Enemy. More or less Woe is to every Dweller in it, because of the Avocations, the Distractions and Interruptions of this Old Adam's World. But here also you have the better, ordinarily of Old People. For themselves, or (their more Beloved Selves,) their Children, they are swallowed up of Designs, Bargains, etc. Gains and Losses make their Souls a Sea of tempestuous Cares, knowing little calm or quietness. You are yet free, comparatively; and Unladen. You may Contemplate and Act for next World, without the weights of this depressing you. And go to Jesus Christ, without Farms, and Oxen, and Wives haling you back. Haling you, as they do hale away multitudes before your Eyes; and as they will ere long be haling yourselves.  
If now ye will not come unto him, that ye may have Life; if you will not now begin running your Race toward the Redeemer, what do you do? Truly just as a Man, that is to run for his Life; but cannot be persuaded to stir a foot, till he has gotten many more Sheets of Lead upon his back, and many more Fetters upon his feet. Rise Sinner, rise? If not, these Words shall be thy Souls Eternal Loads.  
R. 6. The Providence of God dareth you more Physicians and kinder ones, than it doth lend Old Diseased Sinners; and than it will lend you, if you live much longer. Especially, if you live Vnconvert. True it is, God's Love and Mercy unto all, is wonderful. God sends abundance of Helpers unto all poor sinful Creatures. Every Baptised Professor, is obliged to be his Brother's Keeper. All Believers, are bound to be Charitative Ministers unto each other, Ministers of Reproof, Counsel, Comfort. In Christ's Body, no Member should be all for himself; or for less than the good of all. But a double Portion of Spiritual help, is ordinarily vouchsafed unto you Young People. Of Soul-Physicians, you have more than two for Old People's one. They have Ministers; so have you, or may have if you please. They have Religious Friends, so have you I hope. But than you have Parents which they have not: You have Masters and Tutors, which they have not. And be it considered, the Aged People have few or none that will deal so boldly with them, as almost all deal with you. Ministers and Friends, do mostly either fear to offend, or despair and think impossible to benefit old Sinners, with any Counsels. They think it the same thing to give Advice to an Old Body, and Physic to a dead one. And if they give any, 'tis as cold as Elie's rebukes. But both come more courageously upon you. They less fear your Displeasure, and more hope your Reformation. And therefore with more frequency and acrimony deal with you. Besides, your Parent's Love, and your Masters and Tutor's Interest, and the Comfort and Credit of both, do engage them to follow you close. And to do more than Ministers and Friends are ordinarily capable of doing, for the Conversion of your Souls. Upon all hands, 'tis best with you. You have the help of most Physicians, in number; and of all the number, you have most of their help. Incomparably more than Old Folk have; and than you must look to have in your evil days approaching.  
But you will still delay, will you not? I doubt many will. And will, as 'twere in so many words, show us this is their mind. Sick they think themselves; Sinners, they confess it, they are. A store of Spiritual Physicians now they have, they own it; But of these Physicians and Helpers, some will by and by die; others decay; and none be so helpful hereafter as now. Nevertheless, Live Soul or Dye, they will not till hereafter engage in any serious care of their Spiritual Cure and Recovery. They will stay till they have Helpers fewer in Number, more I'll in their Affection and Care, and less capable of taking pains for their Salvation. Sad Infatuation! A wondrous Will to get out of Probability, unto bare Possibility of Life; if so much!  
C. 7. You have special Encouragements to Convert now, from all general Observation and Experience; such as Old People are past, and you will e'er long be passed. I must remember my bounds; and therefore will name but three. One would think they should be enough to move any thing not twice dead. And to pull out your Folly, unless it be extraordinarily bound up in you. Young People,  
1. God Regenerates the most of his chosen in Early Years. If that Early Risers were mostly the Men that grew Rich, and lived long in the World, who of you would not leave lying late in Bed? Truly, They that rise in the Morning of their Days, and turn unto God, be mostly the Men that ever overcome the Devil. They that continue in the Bed of their security late, are in danger of having their Bed in Hell for ever. A Young Saint, and an Old Devil, is a Proverb, which was certainly hatched in Hell. God and Men, break Colts when they are Young.  
2. God doth Regenerate most easily, those Souls whom he turneth early. Know it, Sirs; Pain is necessary, thank Sin for it. Had not Sin entered, never had we known Pain, Grief, Fear, or Shame. But now there is a very natural necessity for it. Sin is a painful, grievous, fearful, shameful thing: Nor can I see, how the Honour of God's Justice could possibly have excused Repentance Spiritually, as well as Naturally, we are born in Sorrow. Both sorts of Children cry before they laugh. All New Creatures, be first Mourners. But, all are not in the same degree so. Nor are all equally long sowing in Tears, before they do reap in Joy. Some Sinners are Lanced more deeply than others; and God keeps open the Wounds of some of his Children longer than others; as he pleaseth. But ordinarily we see young Timothy's be not struck down like saul's: Or if they be, they be not kept so many days in frightful darkness.  
And is this a small thing? Think of it, and say, If my Body had a Sore, of easy and speedy cure if the Chirurgeon were applied quickly unto; I should not suffer a little matter to hold me from him. My Soul, and Body, is all Spiritual Wounds. God alone can heal them. Those he doth heal easiest and soon they be of first Comers, most commonly. Tardy and late Comers are healed rarely, and so as by Fire when they be. What should all me? Why should I not presently arise and go to my Father? Why should I buy dearly God's hardest blows.  
3. God doth honour Singularly, and Reward with Grace extraordinary his Early Converts. If any, they be those that have two Heavens; Great Service, and Sweet Assurance on Earth, and greater degrees of Glory also than others above. Most Divines think so. Late Converts too much imitate the Indians; that eat the Honey themselves, and offer but the Wax unto their Deities. They give God but the Bran of their Life when Satan has had the Flower, as some have expressed themselves. None so much honour God, and none are so honoured by him, as those who give Honour to him, and accept it from him in your early days. Infer you then, my Young Folk?  
You must Convert presently, or delay with Loss: Even with certain danger of Hell, and certain loss of much of Heaven. And may I not now suppose the Objections of your minds against my Doctrine, in good measure removed? O that the Oppositions of your Wills were but as much overpowred! I conclude that your own Hearts do tell you by this time, (unless they be unpenetrable as the Leviathan's Skin,) 
Conversion is your Duty and Wisdom;  
Conversion this very Minute made, is so;  
Conversion now made, is most Easy, most Hopeful, most Honourable;  
Conversion therefore is, of all People, most unexcusably neglected, and most encouragedly attempted by you.   
Yet before I make Application, I would prevent or remove a pestilent Exception.  
Too many may be ready to say, I talk as if Conversion were a Man's own Work: yea, every Child's itself. And so Grace and Glory were ve y cheap things. Not the Peculiarities of the Elect; but every Bodies that will but lift up their hands, and take them!  
I humbly desire to speak agreeably unto the Holy Scripture. Thence I learn Conversion to be both God's Work, and ours, and our children's too. Isa. 27.12. Thou hast wrought all our Works. 'Tis God's Work, and he promises it, Jer. 31. 'Tis ours, and he commands it, Ezek. 33.11. 'Tis his, we say, as to its Rise; he gives to Will and to Do: 'Tis Ours as to the Act itself, we do it; and move, by him moved. The Holy Word, is the Ministration of the Holy Spirit. Gospel Light, is accompanied always with some Spiritual Strength, and Ability to turn toward God. It is true that only special Light and Strength from the Spirit, avails to through and effectual Conversion. But the lesser and common, are Talents given to profit with, and may be put to use. And when they are so, (though God be not bound to give the special,) yet the goodness of his Nature and the Usage of his Grace make it expectable. Especially considered conjunctly with the general Promise of it unto some Seekers. All I add is this: Act you up to the Light and Power you have received, not daring to dream that Conversion is not the Duty of Children because 'tis the Work of God. And let not Satan make you think God a Tyrant in's Laws, or a Niggard of his Aids; until you have diligently used all his Means prescribed, and implored his Blessing requisite, and failed of his Grace when you have done.  
We are indeed certified from the Divine Oracles that God has his Segullahs. His peculiar chosen ones. We ascribe to himself and no other, the Grace that makes us to differ. But 'tis also made as certain, that God is not wanting to the happiness of any Souls. Unblemished goodness governs his absolute Sovereignty itself. His Decrees be as firm, as though no man had a Liberty of Will: Yet we are all at our Choice as truly as if there were no fore-determining Decree. Vult Deus nos libere velle. God suffers Men to make a free Choice. And gives all Men that which they do supremely and finally choose. He gives not to his Elect either Grace or Glory, without their Knowledge, and against their Consent: And he doth not utterly desert or destroy others, till they harden their Hearts, and choose Darkness rather than Life. Till they hate their Saviour, and Love Death. Prov. 8. ult. The culpable cause of men's Damnation, is certainly stark wilful Unconversion. The outcries of every Sinner in Hell, are of his own Will. I offer Grace and Glory but at Christ's own Rates, to my best Understanding.  
I am bold to call Young People thus to think. How justifiable would God be in their Destruction, if in their Childhood he had took them up to Heaven, and down to Hell. Had shown them both, and offered them their choice. Advising them to choose Heaven and Conversion the way to it. Assuring them, that Hell and Unconversion should never be theirs against their Wills. And they should never here or hereafter be able to cry out, O Lord, fain would I have Grace, rather than all the World. I cry, pray, wait, do all, and the utmost I can, and yet thou wilt not give me my Longing! Grace and Heaven are my Choice, but thou deniest them to me. The Truth is, and one day will appear: God doth all this in effect. In his Word he sets Heaven and hell before you, shows you what they are. Bids you choose whether you please. Advises you to choose the best. Points out the ways that lead unto both. Assures you that the worst home and way unto it shall never be yours against your Wills. And if you long for the best home and way, you shall not lose your Longing. In a word; assures you that his Arbitrary Will shall never be your Ruin, if your own sinful Obstinate Will be not. Charging you of all Enemies to beware of yourselves, and of all in yourselves to beware of your Wills.  
These your Wills are inaccessible and unmoveable, but through your Minds. Unto which I therefore proceed to commend some of the Truths, which result from our preceding Discourse. Young People, you are those to whom I continue speaking; and whose regards I call for unto these Ten Inferences. Even present regards, now while Time has Opportunity, and you have Ability. Delay never knew Weal; and hast unto God never knew Woe. Never did the Youngest Saint lament his being one so soon. But every true Convert, all his days lamenteth his Converting so late. And, if they have any trouble in Heaven, 'tis this, that they did not come sooner into the way of Heaven. If nothing can make you know what Delays Poison is, but the Draughts of it; and what the Swords be, but the Stabs of them; you must take your way, and God will take his. And, Ministers and Parents must be for God's Glory in your Damnation, if you will not be for it in your Conversion. But come, I have an Hope, and very Confidence I shall prevail with some of you. Yea, all: Save such as say in their hearts, God is not; God cares not; God cannot destroy Vnconverts. Yea, and I would hope to prevail with such too, if I could make them but look upon the Frame of the World, look into the Holy Bible, and look what's become of the most daring Atheists of former Ages. This would loosen the Cords of Death and Hell; and make even such Spirits less furious downward, and more tractable upward. However I declare it, I cast the Net, in a sweet hope of a good Draught. I do not believe my Prayers and Pains will be all lost this time. Some of you will so suck the Pipes, of Knowledge now, that they will draw the Breasts of Mercy for ever. Some will drink in these following Truths, and drink therein their Souls Everlasting Health.  
Inference 1. Your Vnconvert State is a miserable One. 'Tis not requisite to one's being a Miserable Creature, that one should be an Old one. Young ones that Forget, or Unconversively remember God, are truly miserable as the Devil: Yea, and are much liker to the Devil, than wicked Old People. For Satan is not a cold, dull, feeble, decrepit, unactive Enemy of God. No, he is as Youthful Sinners be, spriteful, quick, strong, full of activity, and unwearied: A Young Sinner is the Devils most lively Picture. You see in my Text, your State is one that God judges an ill one, and calls you out of it, and charges you to make all possible speed out of. Many wish themselves in a State of God's Wrath, when they say, Oh that I were in but so good a Condition as this or that Child! They know less than many Catechised little Children, who know not this: Such is an Vnconvert State, that Christ himself cannot save a Soul in it. The Lord maketh you all to feel, the words that I can make you but hear. My Father in all his Letters to me used to write, O Child, better never born, than not New Born.  
Infer. 2. Your Miserable State, is one Alterable. Would God call you out of your damning forgetfulness, if there were no return possible? Would he call you to a saving Remembrance, if there were a fixed gulf, and unpassable between you and Blessedness? 'Tis sin and madness for the worst of Sinners to say they are Reprobates. No Man alive can know himself to be so. And the worst Man Living must make himself still worse, by concluding so. Young People, your Unconversion hitherto, has kept you unreconciled to God but hitherto. You are not now Unreconcilable, if now ye be not Obstinate and Vnperswadable. I praise him, who when Satan tempted him to despair of Salvation, thus answered: For shame Satan, say not there's no hope of me; thou mightest be saved thyself if thou couldst Repent!  
Infer. 3. God is willing your miserable State should be altered, and that speedily too. Would he otherwise call you, and so call you, as you have heard? Or, can you tell what should make him unwilling? True, he needs you not: But you need him, and he delights in Mercy, if you will believe him. Forget not this, of God and his Son. God swears by his Life, he desires not a Sinners Death. Consequently, he must desire their Conversion. And as for his Son, your Blessed Redeemer; as he shed his Blood to save Sinners, so he sheds Tears over them when they refuse his Salvation. 'Tis Satan, not God, that is the Herod desirous to slay you, Children! And be confident of this; if he now moves you to Duty, he surely means you Mercy.  
Infer. 4. You yourselves can do more towards your Conversion, and perfective Alteration, than all the World can do. This is hence gathered; from God's setting his Ministers, and your Parents, and Friends all, upon yourselves. He bids us not go to any others, and tell them they must go new form your hearts. No, but charges us to apply unto you, and call on you to make you new Hearts, and new Spirits, and Convert unto him, and Remember him to right purpose. 'Tis therefore certainly most in the power of your own hand, next to Gods. God has committed you more to your own keeping, than unto any mere Creatures. And given you more power over yourselves, than any other Creature hath. Wherefore, neither can best Angels benefit you, or worst Devils injure you, as you can benefit or injure yourselves. And it less concerns you daily to inquire, what all the World has done for you, or against you: Then what you yourselves have done for or against yourselves. Would you know what is the just extent of this Power; what it is you can do, and what it is you cannot do toward your Conversion? Others have answered more largely; I say this briefly, Try and you shall know. Do all the good you can, and you shall know what good you can do. To lie idle, and do nothing, because you know not how much you can do, were a folly, like Ezekiel's Infant wallowing in its own Blood.  
Infer. 5. Your Tempter's from present Conversion, are Hells black Legion. I infer it thus. It is only Hell that opposeth Heaven. Devils, that fight against the Command of God. Black Devils, that withstand his express Commands. But 'tis his Command, and most express one, that you now presently do Convert. Wherefore as oft as any man dissuades you from it, tell him, you find by his Lip, he has a Cloven Foot. And you see Satan is grown idle and impudent, and leaves off the trouble of transforming himself into an Angel of Light! Tempting Company, is the openest Mouth of Hell in all this World!  
Infer. 6. Your way unto Salvation, is one and the selfsame with other folks. If not, why should it be prescribed in the selfsame words, that the way of all others is prescribed in. Sc. Remembering God. Deut. 8.18. Jer. 51.50. There be many about you, that will show you young people a shorter cut to Heaven. And there is much within you, that will catch at it greedily enough. But the Lord give you to receive your sight; you will then as easily believe there is one God for you, and another for old people, as that there is one Religion for you, and another for them. Verily there is but one narrow Gate for the Entrance, and one straight Way for the Progress of both of you. Blessed are both that find it, Miserable both that miss it! I know not how he himself shall be saved, that prompts young people that they may be so, without Understanding, Owning, and Living sincerely according unto their Baptismal Engagement! May the weight of Mat. 5.19. never lie upon my Soul dear unto me?  
Infer. 7. Your greatest Danger, is of delaying to Convert. Why else, are you twice warned thereof in the Text? Why required to Convert in your Youth before you are Old? and just Now, before you are a minute Older. Death stands before Old men's Faces; and one would think they should not venture to put it off. It is somewhat farther out of your sight indeed; but so swiftly it oft comes, that it is of wonder you yourselves should be so daring as to do it. But, alas, both of you are daily seen full of your Delays. Full often in my Pulpit I think, what a number should I Convert this time, but that my old Folk think they may as well Convert next Week; and my young ones think they may Convert next Year; both think they may Convert another time. And what sa●●s my trembling Heart? Plainly thus, Oh Delay, Delay! thou bond of Iniquity, thou bane of Piety, thou bar of Conversion, Satan's great Barge into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, be gone and destroy not this Congregation! Sirs, Remember it; downright denial of Conversion, is nothing near so like to ruin you, as dallying Delay of it. 'Tis Delay, is the Element of Unregeneracy, as Unregeneracy is the Element of Hell.  
Infer. 8. Youthful Vnconverts are the worst of Demoniacs, and break most bonds of God. For, as you have heard, you have special Obligations on you. Though God makes your days choice and good, yet cleave you will unto the worst evil. Though you have on you, the Restraints which old sinners have long ago had took off from them, you sin as they. The Spirit of God that has done striving with many of them, strives still with you. Conscience, that is feared in them, is yet of some sense in you. Parents and other Reprovers that have done long ago with them, are still plying you. And yet, as they, you say unto God, Depart from us, we desire no Communion with thee. With more violence than they, you take the Kingdom of Hell by force? The path to Hell, is harder unto your Feet than theirs.  
Infer. 9 It is your Duty to shame your Vnconvert Fathers and Mothers. For, observe you; you shame them, if you remember, and they forget God. If you come to Christ, and they either come not, or come behind after you. God, Angels and Men, will pronounce you Wise and them Fools. But what then? Would God have you stay for them, and not Convert until they do? By no means. He commands you to Convert just now; and consequently to shame them; if they have not, and do not. By so shaming them, some Children have been the blessed Instruments of Converting their Parents. Of Spiritually Begetting their Natural Fathers. The only way this seems, wherein a Child can requite a Parent. For if a Beggar's Child win a Kingdom and give it his Father, his debt to him is too big to be so paid: But if he Converts him, he pays him in broad Gold, methinks. Parents, think ye of this. And Children, this know ye; 'tis therefore I do not caution you against all sinful ways of shaming your Parents, because well I know, Becoming dutiful to God, you cannot but honour and love your Parents next unto God himself. That which I see of many Parents in City and Country hath extorted this Inference from me.  
Infer. 10. Your Present days are your precious and best. So the Word in the Text, and words following speak plainly. Sirs, your young Days, be but Days; and of Short Continuance, yea and dubious. Some are Old, as we speak, sooner than others. Their Flowers sooner fade, and their Grass more quickly withers. But when ever your Evening falls, you shall wish it again Morning with you. If nothing else will do it, Old Age will convince you of the Excellence of Youth. It was wittily, that by some Time was thus pictured of old: Time to come, had the head of a fawning Dog; Time present, the head of a stirring Lion; Time past, the head of a biting Wolf. So teaching, that though silly Souls fancy still that their best days are t●●ome; yet, if they bestir not well themselves in their present ones, they will be very miserably bitten and torn in their future. I sadly remember sometimes, the Tears, and Words of a very ancient Gentleman to myself and my Schoolfellows, in our Childhood. Children, said he, Your Age is good for every thing that you can desire to get; mine is good for nothing but to spend whatever one has got. A thousand Worlds I would give for a few of your learning, getting days again. Of all things prise your time, and of all time your young, which is your Sowing-time. 'Tis upon Eternity's account, that any thing can be judged Excellent. Nor doth aught make for our blessed Eternity, but vital Piety. And surely, for that, there is no season like to Life's Morning. Poets say, 'tis a friend to the Muses; Divines must proclaim it the Friend of Graces.  
For why? as incongruous as Atheistic Vermin do conceit Youth and Religion, 'tis plain as Noonday Light, that Religion is specially framed for Youth, and Youth for Religion. Let Shame be their Portion who are ready to drop the Italian Proverb upon every Religious young head; Tanto buon— This Puritan Youth is so good, that he is good for nothing. Young people remember the seven Stars in your Firmament; and tell me how fit they are for Religion, and Religion for them?  
Quick Wit and Fruitful Invention. What are these for, but Religion, and what appearance makes Religion without these? Age will make you Lame and Barren, in Mind as in Body.  
Tenacious and Prompt Memory. What is this Treasury for, but Religion? and how Poor must Religion live (if Live) without it. Age will dry your Brains, and make Sieves of your Memories.  
Lively and Stirring Affections. What are these Horses for, but the Chariot of Religion? and how heavily must the wheels move (if move,) without them? Age keeps no such Horses; nor Travel old Souls but upon Crutches, and the pace of Snails.  
Flexibleness and Self-denial. What are these Spiritual Joints for, but Religious bowings? And how little can the most profoundly Religious Soul stoop to its Maker without them? Old Age, has stiff joints, of Soul as well as Body.  
Amatoriousness, and Love of Love. What is this Soul of the Soul for, but Religion? And how is Religion herself, if her Soul has lost itself? Love, is all the Religion that I know of. But Old Age lays your Souls in Frost and Snow.  
Alacrity and Cheerfulness. What is this Godlike quality for, but Religion toward God? and what likeness has Religion to itself without it? For God taketh all things, not cheerfully given, as forced Spoils rather than free Gifts. Now Old Age's Clouds do so return after the Rain, that it admit's little of this Sunshine. Rarely 'tis, that old Sanahs bear Isaac's.  
Vigour and Strength of Body. What is this for, but Religious Service to him, whose the Body is as well as the Soul? And how little can the Soul while 'tis in this Body do without it? But where's the Old Body that can let the Wind blow on it? at least where is the Head of Grey Hairs, that has a Body of Brass for a Soul of Gold? Sirs, in a word; The Truth I beg deepest engravement of upon your Hearts, is this of the Matchless Excellence of your present days. Verily, so fit is Youth, the best of Life, for Religion, the best of Employment; and so Useless, yea Harmful, are the endowments of Youth, without Religion; and so poor and unlovely an aspect has Religion without the use of Youths Endowments; that it is a pity but Youth and Religion should Marry, and Unite. All time, is too good for Satan: but if he must have any, let him not have the best, which is your Youth. But, Cynthius aurem.  
I was minded to wave all particular Exhortation, and remit you unto my Call unto Sinners; in which I have said the things which you do most of all need; and with more Plainess and Brevity, than I have discerned any where else. But second thoughts bid me give you these Directions to improve my Doctrine. And the rather, because they are of experienced Usefulness.  
Direction 1. Choose each of you a Spiritual Guide in the affairs of your Souls. There are Men ordained by God to be Eyes unto the Blind, and Feet to the Lame, and Fathers to all that would be God's Children. Refuse not Eyes and Feet for your Souls; nor live you Orphans, when you may have Fathers. Go unto some one or another of them; tell him, you hear that Christ's Ministers are his Representatives. And, that Christ's Word without his appointed Ministry of it, may not be expected to cleanse a Young Man's way; nor any others. Get a Promise from him, to lend you his best Direction to thorough Conversion. A Youth without a Pastor, is a Child without a Nurse.  
Direct. 2. Use him whom you choose your Guide for your Soul; and follow him as far as he follows Jesus Christ. Hear him ordinarily; a Child's own Parent's Milk is commonly best for it. Writ after him; the Heads of his Sermon, I mean, and his Chief Notes. Incomparable King Edward the Sixth, used to write Sermon Notes. Go often to his House, and always to ask things worth his time and your own. Little rest give him, till Grace has blest his labours to fit you for the Lords Table. Plainly tell him; you shall count small good gotten by the Word, till you are qualified for the Sacrament. And that it is to you a dolorous thing, to have but a Place in God's House, and no Room at his Table. It looks as if you were but a Dog, and not a Child.  
Direct. 3. Look always and adhere closely unto God's Son and Spirit. Without these, the Holy Bible can no more make you wise unto Salvation, than the Fables of Aesop; that Papists dare compare it to. The Word of Life, is a Word of Death to you, without these to make it beneficial. These, without whom you can expect no more Edification from the best Minister, than from a blind Harper. In all things, ye want Jesus Christ for Acceptance; in all, you want the Holy Ghost for Assistance; in all things, and at all times. Without right use of them, no Soul can fetch a Breath of Divine Life, or take a Step of Holy Walk. Nature indeed shows you an Heavenly Father, and ties all of you unto him. But, 'tis only special Revelation, 
Jupiter, q. Juvani Pater.  reveals a Redeeming Son of God, and an Holy Sanctifying Spirit of God. And 'tis much Grace, and that much used too, that can keep you close unto these. Without which, you may be great Socinians, but no Christians.  
Direct. 4. Beware of setting against each other, God's Mercy, Christ's Merits, Holy Faith, and Good Works. We cannot say to either of them, we have no need of thee. All are truly necessary, and unspeakably. But, in the Country I saw it, and in this City I see it; most people do fix on some one of them, and cry it up to the Exclusion of the rest. To the virtual Exclusion. Of so Epidemical and fatal a hindrance of Conversion, beware you.  
The Mercy of God All the Rhetoric of Heaven cannot praise enough: but woe be to you, if you expect the Pardon of the least Sin by it, otherwise than through Christ's Merits.  
The Merits of Christ! These, without question are infinite. But you are undone, if you dream you shall have the saving benefit of them, Living and Dying without Marriage unto him by Faith.  
Holy Faith! Is a Grace most Precious; by God most highly honoured; and, of all, most honouring God; Honouring him in some respects, more than Adam's personal Obedience did before the Fall. But mortally you err, if you look to put off God with it, without Obedience. And slight good Works, as Supererogations.  
Good Works! Are the blessed Fruit of God's indwelling Spirit, and the very end of our Election, Redemption, and Conversion. But what then? they be neither acceptable to God nor profitable to us, but through the Gift of the Mercy, the Purchase of the Merits, and the Means of the Faith aforesaid. If you rest on Works, and imagine them otherwise good, your Eternal Lodging will be among Evil-workers.  
Young people, make your Pastor set you well at rights about these things. And let the Excellency, Connexion, Order, and Necessity of them, be judged worthy of your frequent and serious thoughts.  
Direct. 5. Be very Critical in the Choice of your Company. Be sour and unkind unto none, Affable to all, but pleased with Few; to wit the Best, Which are those that will either best teach you, or best learn from you. Companions of Fools are doomed to destruction. But where ere you are walking with wise Men, you are on your way to Heaven; Prov. 13.20. Souls the most thoughtful of Eternity, are still the most careful of their Company. And it is certain, the Company of your Choice in this World, is both that which you would have, and shall have in the next.  
Direct. 6. Besides the Holy Scriptures, read ye such good Books as shall be commended to you by your Pastors. 'Tis not every good Book, that is for you good. Nor every one that will hereafter be good for you, that is good Now. Your Pastors can judge best which are most suitable.  
I think it Soul-Felony for you to be without the Westminster Assemblies Catechisms. And I should think it as little needful to commend Mr. Baxter's Call, or Mr. Alleyn's, or Mr. How's's (very Jewel) of Yielding unto God; or Mr. F. Fuller's Words to give Wisdom, with his piece of Repentance and Faith; or Mr. Lawson's Magna Charta. England is blest with the best in this World; and I do not light upon any that excel, or equal them in England. You must search farther than I have done, young people, if you find things better worth your most careful reading. Books be dead things; but God makes them oftentimes Lively Preachers. These several last years, many have acknowledged to me, that they have been blessed Stars to lead them unto Christ. Yet do not, for your Lives, ever neglect reading the Scriptures. Take some portion of God's Word, as daily as you eat of his Bread. 'Tis very honourably that I do remember a poor Soul who sometimes burned the Thatch of her House to read her Bible by the Light of it. And no less a Saint than Mr. Richard Fairclough, told me, she died a glorious one. It was Luther's saying, The reading of the Scriptures is the terror of Devils.  
Direct. 7. Examine often the state of your Souls. Scrupulousness itself, is as much more safe, as 'tis less sweet than Audaciousness. But humble and careful Inquisitiveness is (sine naevo Venus;) as unspotted a Virtue, as the state of Grace is adorned with. Humility, one calls, the Violet of Graces; of sweetest scent, though lowest place. And Care, is the commanded Fear of falling short of God's rest, Heb. 4.1. The Exertion of humble Care in heart-searches doth answer many Gospel-precepts. And when it is much and often, it is not the least Evidence of truest grace. For Bankrupts can no more endure much looking into their Count-books, than sore Eyes can bear long beholding of Sunshine. And as impatient be Hypocrites of very much cunning the Scriptures, and their Hearts!  
But I conclude. Young people; Mahomet got the Turkish Empire, by making extraordinary haste. And Alexander Conquered the World, by the same Policy; Never Delaying. Go you and outdo them: Conquer World, Flesh, and Devil; And take by violence the Kingdom of Heaven; by your hasting to Remember, and Convert just now. With great Reason our Law makes it Death to conceal High Treason, so much as four and twenty hours. I am sure God's Law requires you to Confess and Forsake your higher Treason against Christ's Crown, without so much as a Minute's delay. And with much more Reason and Equity.  
I thought I had done. But I am sensible how little I have done. And therefore before I make an end, I must try to set two sorts of People a doing more for poor Unconvert young ones. Two very concerned one's in the case. Two, that my Text hath surely somewhat to do with. I mean Parents, and Ministers. Surely Natural and Ecclesiastical Fathers are all bound to join me in preaching of this portion of Scripture.  
To you Natural Parents, I first Address. Beseeching you, that you go study what you have to do, and do all that you shall know, for your children's early Conversion. I am of the mind, that gallant Language ne'er did Gods Work. And do find it what you call Wild Note, rather than set Music, that I can ever move you by. Wherhfore plainly I tell you, we may thank you for Earth's becoming thus unlike Heaven, and like to Hell. We may thank your Negligence, and worse, for the ruin of more Children than ever Herod slew; or the Liar and Murderer of France himself. We may thank you, that Children be so generally Beasts before they are Young Men; and young Devils before they are Old Men. We may thank you for vitiating the most numerous, the most ductile, and the most hopeful part of the World. For robbing God of his First Fruits in the World.  
I beseech you by God's tender Mercies, repent of your Cruelties. And I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, reform ye straightway; and do as aforesaid. The Light of Nature that guides you to help your Children to go, and to speak, and to do what is necessary for this Life; guides you also to help them for the Divine Life. Nor can you doubt but God's Ordinance in the old Church for the appearanee of the Male-childrens before him thrice in the Year, was to bring them to an early Acquaintance with himself. And, there is still both need and obligation to keep the substance of that precept now under the Gospel. O let it not be said any longer, that your care is more for your children's , than their Souls. For shame, Sirs, for shame, let them not be wicked without your pity, nor Converted without your pains! Think ye daily of both the Advantages and Engagements to do it.  
Your Advantages. You do Love your Children best; do you not: And you are best Beloved by them. You are Nearest unto them; and have most Authority over them. You do know their Capacities, and their Tempers. Who can suit them as you?  
Your Engagements. Their sore Needs do engage you. And so do the sore Evils that (however undesignedly) you have done them. Who brought Adam's Sin upon them and into them, but you? And who dares say, that your own personal Sins have done them no wrong?  
Dying Dr. Harris said, He had made his Peace with God: 
A Minister of the Church of England told me, he had refused to Baptise some of his Parishioners Children, because, as he saw, they would not afterward breed them up to Christianity.  And told his Children, that his Sins should not hurt them therefore, unless they made them their own. Can you say so, if you were now to die? Well; very Nature also engages you. Ay, and Equity binds you. For your Children are God's, more than yours; and sure it is to him, and for him, that you should educate his Children. Truth also engages you. For you promised you would so educate them, when you had them Baptised; did you not?  
The Fear and Love of God, if any be in you, do engage you. And so doth your own Interest also. Yea last, Shame engages you. For 'tis a shame, is it not? To teach Children to honour and serve you, and not to honour and serve their God and yours. I have bid many Children ask you, whether if they were too young to be bound to keep God's Commands, they were not also too young to be bound to keep yours? Listen not to the White Devils that will suggest. If your Children take not to Religion of themselves without your ado, your pains will do but little good. Do Horses or Camels tame themselves? Do Men tame Beasts of the Wilderness, and you not tame the Children of your own Bodies and Families? But all in a Word? Does God set you a work, and promise you Success, and you dream it to no purpose to set about it? Read you Prov. 22.6. & 23.13, 14. & 29.17, & 15.  
As for you, Church-fathers', may I humbly assume to stir up your Minds but in way of Remembrance? You know, if the Lambs be lost, the Lord of the Flock will with great anger ask, Where were the Shepherds all the while? What were they doing? Nor will our highest feeding of the Sheep, compound for the loss of his Lambs. And I doubt it will not suffice to say, Lord, we were the while digging for profound Notions, or Disputing Nice Questions, or studying polite Sermons; for people, whose Peace and whose Praise we could not have cheaper.  
Brethren, for the Lords Sake let us all do somewhat weekly, and set the Parents of our Congregations doing somewhat daily, for young people's Souls. And let both set to it Hopefully, for the Reason's foresaid. The Difficulty and Impossibility, as to our Endeavours, be left but to drive us to Diligence, and Dependence on him to whom nothing is Difficult or Impossible. The more we do look for success, the more it will come. Let not Catechising, that is praised by all, be Unpractised by any. And in Preaching, let none of us make need where we find none, to shoot over young folk's heads; and use a Language, we must needs know they understand not. Love of God and of them would make us willing, rather to be trampled under Scorners feet for our Faithfulness, then to ride over their heads in Figures of Vainglorious impertinence. The which, wise Hearers do no more commend, than weak Hearers do Understand. Neither be it any more grievous to us than it was to St. Austin, to have now and then an Ad vos Juvenes. To call and tell them, Young people this is for you! I would be glad to see wanton Wits have less Sauce, and weak Souls have more Meat in all our Sermons. And to discern that our pains in making Converts, did exceed the Papists in making Proselytes? For it must be owned; 'tis an uncolourable Profaneness, to Baptise Infancy, and not teach Youth; or but slightly. Because otherwise, we shall starve the Nursery; and than what becomes of Jesus Christ's Family?  
The good Lord awaken us all! And set Ministers, Parents, Young people themselves, all, a doing, and well doing. Our Churches then shall be Beautified, and Joyed, and Strengthened with abundance of young Meditating Isaac's; Young Jacobs, seeking the Blessing; Young Solomon's, choosing Wisdom; Young Obadiahs, fearing the Lord; Young John's, lying in Christ's Bosom; Yea, Young Children, crying Hosannah; stilling or shaming at least, and baulking God's Enemies, and ours. Origen's Father Leonides, would sometimes uncover his Breast as he lay asleep; and solemnly Kiss it, blessing God that had given him to be a Father to so Excellent a Child. And so shall many of us have warrant to do. Upon our Houses, Schools, and Churches, it shall be writ and read of all, Jehova Shamma, the Lord is there. Amen and Amen.   

Quest. What Repentance of National Sins doth God require, as ever we expect National Mercies? SERMON XVIII.  HOSEA 10.12. Sow to yourselves in Righteousness, reap in Mercy: breaks up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come, and rain Righteousness upon you. 
THE Prophet joineth Counsel with Threaten; Amendment is that he calleth them to, as a means to save them. That he might induce them to this, he represents their aggravated Sins, and the dangers to which they were exposed by their Provocations: Yet lest this Call should still be uneffectual through an opinion, that Repentance could avail little to a People so guilty; he addeth, that if they returned to God, their Sins, tho' great, should not prevent Mercy; and the threatened Judgements, though near, might be diverted.  
By this Text God proclaims, not only to particular Persons, but to Nations, how  it is to him to execute his Goodness, and his extreme backwardness to avenge himself on the most provoking Kingdoms; unless they add Impenitency under solemn Warnings unto their Rebellion.  
God seems to address himself to Ephraim, to this purpose; Thou are a very guilty People, yet turn, that I may forgive. Thou art on the very brink of ruin; thy obstinateness is so notorious, that it will not consist with the Rules or Credit of my Government, to spare thee longer. Oh yet be persuaded to render thyself a Subject capable of my kindness. I have long pleaded, and thou seemest even unperswadable: Yet I'll make one further essay; I'll try thee once more. Sow to yourselves in Righteousness.  
First, The words containeth some of the Essentials of Repentance, and suppose the rest. Under a Metaphor from Tillage, God applieth himself in the description of this Duty: q. d. 1. He that will repent must deal with his indisposed Heart: Break up the fallow ground; whatever pain or difficulty attends so barren, or obstinate a frame of Soul, you must strive with yourselves; pluck up those Weeds, strike at the root of your Lusts, which render the Fruits of Righteousness impossible. This sense of that clause is more evident from those words of another Prophet; Break up the fallow ground; 
Jer. 4.3.  sow not among Thorns. 2. When the Heart is thus prepared, we must proceed to proper acts of Reformation. Sow to yourselves in Righteousness. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad justitiam. Isa. 61.3.  Let the Rule of Righteousness be observed in your hearts and ways; be just to God and Men; return to God in sincerity; be and do what may argue you to be Trees of Righteousness. Do thus to yourselves; i e. leave it not to others: Or, you shall reap the advantage of it yourselves, if you repent. 3. You must also seek the Lord; i. e. Worship God, and not Idols, as hath been your way: Fellow after him, who is departed from you; call upon him; crave his Grace to help you; but be not satisfied with faint and short attempts, persist in this work till you find his favour in the blessed effects of it; even, till he come and rain, etc. These heads of Repentance this Text affords.  
Secondly, This Repentance is urged from variety of Arguments, but principally from this; That National Mercies would certainly follow this National Repentance.  

Reap at the face of Mercy, or immediately. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Reap in Mercy. It's promised more strongly, then if it had been said Indicatively; you shall reap in the Future Tense. Being put thus Imperatively, the import of it is this, you have no more to do, but possess your Mercies upon your Repentance: Mercy will of itself grow from that Root. God hath provided all antecedent Causes; he hath ordained the connexion; and it lies on him to make a Repenting People happy. You may be assured of this; for that which was mere Mercy in making the Promise, is become an Act of Righteousness by the Promise. You may now expect it from God as just; in which sense I take that clause, till he come, and rain Righteousness upon you. That which was Mercy in the first part of the Verse, is Righteousness in the last part. I know it's true Doctrine to say, till God bestow on you holy inclinations, and ability to perform; but that's not the most designed Sense. He further argues, 
Ezek. 34.26.  from the plenty of those Blessings which God would afford on their Repentance. Till he come, and rain Righteousness. The returns of God to a Repenting People are in a fullness of Blessing, and there shall be showers of Blessings.  
There's one Motive more, viz. The seasonableness. It's time to seek the Lord. It's high time, and but barely so; you cannot say there is no hope; though you must repent soon or not at all. The consideration of this Paraphrase must lead any one to the case that I am to handle: Can any serious Spirit think it vain to ask? What is that National Repentance, which may give a sinful people hope of Mercy? Which is the same with the Case as it is given me.  
What Repentance of National Sins doth God require, as ever we may expect National Mercies?  
I have led you to it by this Text, that it may not seem a melancholy fancy; a mystery not to be handled, or a needless inquiry.  
It's an awful case. It's not put to satisfy your Curiosity, but to guide your Fears and Hopes. It's not only to direct your Minds to a right judgement of the matter, but to excite your Hearts to that Repentance which may afford us hope in the midst of our dangers and guiltiness. It's the happiness or misery of Nations are concerned in it. It's the only remedy that a sinful Nation can use or turn to. God is peremptory; 
Luke 13.5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, utterly be destroyed.  except you repent you shall all likewise perish.  
My work is, 1. To resolve the case in general. 2. To apply the case resolved to our own Nation. I shall use this method. As to the first: 

1. Show you what is supposed in the case as stated.  
2. Explain the terms; National Sins and Mercies.  
3. State the Case itself.  
4. Propose the difficulties that attend the resolution of it.  
5. Resolve the Case, which the forementioned particulars will much conduce to. I shall as proof to this resolution of the Case;    
1. Evidence that the Repentance expressed in the fifth head, doth ordinarily afford ground of our expectation of National Mercies, notwithstanding National Sins.  
2. That when this Repentance is not in a Nation, we cannot ordinarily expect National Mercies.  
First, These things are supposed in the Case as stated. Where there is Sin, there ought to be Repentance. There are National sins as well as Personal sins, that a Nation as such, becomes guilty by National sins. There are Mercies which attend a people as a Community. Our National Sins have removed National Mercies, or at least prevent and suspend the bestowing of these Mercies. God requires a Repentance for National Sins, and that as a means of National Mercies. There may be a Repentance which may be defective to this end, and from which we cannot groundedly expect such Mercies. That there is a Repentance for National Sins, which if we arrive at, may warrant our expectation of National Mercies. These and such like are supposed as the Case is stated, and therefore I pass them by.  
Secondly, I shall inquire what National Sins are, and what National Mercies are: The rest of the terms in the Case will be handled under other heads.  
Quest. What are National Sins in the Question?  
Answ. Such gross sins as render a Nation guilty, 
Ezek. 14.13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wilfully and repeatedly against God's Covenant.  and expose it to National Judgements, and forfeit National Mercies. When the Land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand. Whatsoever sins God hath threatened to destroy a body of people for, are in the Question.  
The Answer directs us to consider these several parts of it.  
First, These sins are gross in their nature: They are not sins of infirmity, 
Ezek. 7.23.  or sins which ordinary care, labour and watchfulness, could not prevent. They are called bloody crimes. You may find them ennumerated, when God arraigns' Nations in the Testimony of his Prophets, when calling them to Repentance; and when God justifieth the severity of his Judgements against a People. I shall name some of them which defile a Land: 
Hos. 10.4. Jer. 23.10. Psal. 78.50. Isa. 3.15. Ez. 21.23, 24. Isa. 1.21, 23. Luke 10.10.11, 13. 1 Thess. 2.16. Rev. 2.3. Hos. 11.7. Isa. 59.13. etc. Ezek. 35.15. Amos 8.9.  Idolatry, Perjury, Breaking of Covenant, Blood, Uncleanness, Apostasy, Oppression, Profaneness; I need not bring Proof hereof, the Scriptures are full. Yea, among such provocations are reckoned men's refusal of the Gospel, silencing and obstructing the Ministry, malignity against good Men, Divisions and Enmity, Lying, Pride, abuse of Mercies, gross Formality, Hypocrisy, great Decays among Saints, and gross Backslidings.  
Secondly, These sins must be National, such as denominate a Kingdom sinful. We consider them not as the sins of particular Persons, but as they affect a Community, as United among themselves, and distinguished from others, by some special Bonds.  
We will inquire for the clearing of this,  
Quest. How Sins become National?  
Answ. 1. By all, or the generality of a People, being personally Transgressor's, as to those Crimes: The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint, 
Isa. 1.5.  from the sole of the foot, to the crown of the head, there is no soundness. Thus Sodom could not afford Ten innocent persons. The Infection is oft propagated to the whole Body, though begun in a few; as, 
Jer. 23.15.  from the Prophets of Jerusalem, is profaneness gone forth into all the Land: This doth not mean, that every individual is corrupted, but the generality of all sorts: 
Jer. 32.32. Mal. 3.9.  Magistrates, Priests and People were profane; Ye have rob me, even this whole Nation.  
2. When the Governors, Representatives, and influencing Persons, are Transgressor's: 
Hos. 9.15.  I will love them no more, all their Princes are revolters. Israel is become vile by the sins of Jeroboam; wrath against Judah remained, 
2 Kin. 23.26.  because of the provocations that Manassah had provoked God withal. Provoking abominations by the Rulers of a People, and cursed Laws, 
2 Sam. 21.1.  defile a Land and expose it. Saul brings a Famine on Israel by violating the Covenant with the Gibeonites. What Governors do may be said to be done by a Nation: Though I think, when Judgements take their express rise from the sins of Rulers, there is some other guilt among the People, 
Hab. 3.8.  ripening them for Judgement, or a compliance with their Rulers sins.  
3. By the generality of a Nation making itself partaker of other men's sins though it do not actually commit them. Some that do not personally commit the sins, 
1 Sam. 3.13. Zeph. 3.13. Isa. 22.12. Hos. 7.5.  may become guilty of them, by not hindering those sins according to their power; by rejoicing in those iniquities or Pleading for them; by not mourning for them; by contributing to those Enormities. These ways a Land may be guilty, though a few Chief Men act the sin.  
Thirdly, These sins are such as expose to Judgements, and forfeit National Mercies: These are here intended, and reference to both the former heads must be had; but besides the grossness of the sins as to the nature of them, and their extent as National; on both which accounts they become National Provocations.  
The Case requires our observing further.  
1. That more refined Sins may expose one Nation to Judgements, which may not expose another Land. This depends on the variety of advantages some people are under above others. A Nation that hath Gospel helps, and professeth Holiness, and Worshippeth the true God, may be exposed to Judgements by Formality, Backsliding, and more Spiritual Evils than other Lands not so circumstantiated. Sins below gross Immoralities may as truly forfeit their Mercies, as Injustice, Blood, or Idolatry, amongst ignorant Paganish Countries.  
2. The provoking Sins of one and the same Nation may be made up by various kinds of offences, according to the different condition of the offenders.  
Sometimes a Land is polluted by the same sort of Sins propogated through the Body of the People.  
But it is not always so, the offences vary, and the National Gild results from the several offences.  
The sins of Magistrates are of one kind, and the sins of the Subjects another, according to their different Talents and Station.  
The Profane part of a Nation transgress by enormous Crimes, and the Professing part are polluted with more Spiritual wickedness, as Barrenness, Deadness, Censoriousness. 
Am. 64.6. Jer. 23.11. Isa. 56.10, 11. Jer. 28. & 5.31. Mic. 6.11, 12. Mi. 7.4, 6.  The offences of the Gentry and Commonalty may be several. Ministers and People may fill up the measure of iniquity in a different manner.  
Hence you see, that a Nation may be guilty, though some remarkable Villainy may not be Universal: It's enough if the different sorts of Inhabitants grossly offend in their several kinds.  
3. Usually the sins of a Nation do not bring Judgements, or forfeit Mercies, by the simple Commission of them; but as attended with some additional aggravations.  
A Land rarely is destroyed, unless sins are committed after warnings. Utter Destruction comes not before lesser Judgements have been tried, 
Am. 4.  and prove unsuccessful.  
Security and Impenitency is added to Rebellion before God proceeds against a People.  
The Lord's Goodness displays itself in his Calls, and Patience waiteth an Answer, ere he takes the advantage against a Land. 
Isa. 3.9.  Oft besides the grossness of sins, there is boldness and shamefulness; they declare their sin as Sodom.  
I shall not mention antecedent aggravations, as Light, Convictions, Covenant bonds, etc. which add a weight to sin whiles committing.  
You see what National Sins are in the Question, and when they become such as hazard the ruin of a People.  
Quest. What are National Mercies in the Case before us?  
Answ. Such Blessings as truly and considerably affect the good of a Community.  
They must be Blessings in their nature, and National in their extent; they must have an aptitude to the Common Weal, the more they conduce to make a Land happy, the greater the Mercy is. Neither is the gracious design of God to bless a Land thereby, to be disregarded; for sometimes he reins Snares, 
Psal. 78.29, 31.  and gives Quails in judgement.  
These Mercies regard our Souls, or our Bodies, or both: I shall ennumerate some of them: 
* By pardon I mean an exemption from Temp●ral Punishments for those sins.  The pardon of past sins, and help against the like offences; the pretence of God as effective of Spiritual and Temporal good; Gospel Ordinances; a Holy, Judicious, Faithful Ministry; a pure Worship; the Spirits energy in the Gospel, to the Conversion of many Sinners, and real Edification of Saints; whereby the estate of Believers may be flourishing; a Godly Discipline, and Communion of Saints founded on plain Gospel Terms; Love and Peace among Churches, grounded on essential not disputable Notions, and expressed in all the fruits of Christian Love; freedom from Persecution and Malignity; a Godly Magistracy, using its Power to restrain Sin, and promote Godliness; Peace in our Borders; Justice in our Courts; Learning in the Schools; Wisdom and sincere designs for public good among Counselors; Plenty, by a Blessing on ou● Trades and Labours; Health in our Streets; Credit and Influence among Neighbouring Countries; freedom from such Judgements as waste and debate a Land. These and the like, constitute a happy Nation: They are Mercies which National Sins forfeit, and without which the aspect of a Land is mournful. Greater or less degrees of all or any of these are within the Question, as the object of our expectations, and the sorts and degrees are oft proportioned to a Nations Repentance, and determined by it.  
Thirdly, The Case stated and distinguished from what seems like it: It is not what Repentance God requireth of particular persons in order to Eternal Life, nor what Repentance God requireth of a sinful Nation as its duty; nor what's that Repentance without which a Nation shall never enjoy National Mercies; nor what Repentance is that on which every Nation, in all cases, shall partake of National Mercies; nor what shall limit our Prayers, nor yet altogether our Hopes, as to the state of a Land; much less what is that Repentance which will best secure National Mercies? But the Question connects our Repentance and warrantable expectations: The scope of it is; What is the lowest sort or degree of Repentance for National Sins which is requisite to warrant, and ordinarily direct our expectations of National Mercies?  
The Reason why I add ordinarily will appear after; the indefiniteness of the term National Mercies, whether of this kind or of that, to this or that degree, I insist not upon. Supposing that it imports at least so much and many Mercies, as render a Nation tolerably happy, and exempted from what it esteems calamitous.  
Fourthly, The Difficulties of the Case.  
It's not only hard to determine it, as the minimum quod sic in any qualification for Mercy, nor yet as a thing depending on Multitudes, and relating to the Providence of God as to what's future, but there are these other things that make it difficult.  
1. Other Nations are not under such express Rules, with respect to Gods outward deal, as the Jewish Nation was.  
That people was under a Theocracy, God was their King; 
1 Sam. 12.12.  on this account the Lord chargeth them, when they were for a King; 
1 Sam. 8.7.  that they rejected me that I should not reign over them. Idolatry also was High Treason in that State, they were Gods peculiar Nation, and thereby to live in a more immediate dependence on him even in Civil respects, 
Isa. 51.4.  than other People.  
The Rules of their External Privileges (both Church and National) were express in that Covenant of peculiarity, whereinto they were admitted. This Covenant easily determined men's Expectations of God's deal with them. But I think, we cannot always conclude from God's Methods towards them, how he will deal with other Nations, that are not under the same Law.  
2. There have been always great displays of Sovereignty, in God's Dispensation of Judgements, and Mercy, towards Nations. He waits longer on some people than on others, though no more guilty. Sometimes he granteth favour to a Nation, though its Sins be many; and punisheth it when its provocations appear less. 
Josh. 7.1.  The Sins of multitudes are connived at sometimes, and at other times he afflicteth for the Offences of a few; as in the case of Achan.  
He hath diverted Judgements at the Prayer of one Moses; 
Exo. 32.11, 14. Ez. 14.14. Jer. 7.16.  but sometimes though Noah, Daniel, and Job be there they shall deliver no more than themselves. Yea he hath forbid his Servants to pray for a people, as a thing to no purpose. God hath sorely rebuked small Sins in particular Persons, as Moses, Vzzah, etc. to let men see, its Patience in God, not Innocency in Men, that he still destroys not.  
There is exact Wisdom and Righteousness in all this variety, which the light of a higher State will discover; though now by reason of darkness, his ways seem perplexed to us. However this Sovereign unaccountableness must abate our positiveness in judging, what will be the way of God towards a people; though it hinders not the determining our ordinary Expectations.  
3. There are prophetic periods wherein National Mercies shall not be obstructed by impenitence, but Repentance shall follow them. Israel was not remarkably penitent, when the time of Redemption from Egypt was come; yet God keeps his day. 
Ezek. 16.62. Hag. 2.14, 16, 17, 18. Rev. 19 1, 7, 8.  Their Release from Babylon found them in the like unfit posture, yet God is pacified, and brings them to Repentance by their return. This people is unclean, and what they offer is unclean; yet he makes them prosper, and build the Temple, even though they had not turned to him. And it seems to be not much otherwise with the Church, when it sings the Praises of God for the consummating stroke against Antichrist; 
Rev. 19.1, 7, 8.  she is not ready nor clothed with eminent Holiness.  
4. The Desolation of a Land is sometimes absolutely determined.  
When it's thus, a blessing is withheld from means that tend to make a people penitent; and what of Repentance there is, becomes uneffectual to divert the Misery. Manasseh repent, Josiah and the People with some solemnity humble themselves: 
2 King. 23.25, 26, 27.  But notwithstanding this, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his wrath, etc. because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal, etc. When the utmost limits of the time of God's Patience is over, ruin is unavoidable. God bemoaneth a Land in this condition; 
Luk. 19.42. The figure Apostop●si● is twice used in this verse; thou hadst been happy hadst thou known in thy day; thou art now undone because they are hid from thy eyes. Deut. 32.26, 27 Josh. 7.9. Isa. 48.8, 9 Ezek. 36.2, 8.22, 23.  as our Saviour in his Tears over Jerusalem; If thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thy eyes.  
5. God sometimes moderateth and refrains his Judgements, from other Considerations besides Repentance.  
If executing Judgements upon his People, will occasion Blasphemy and reproach to his Name; he oft forbeareth his People though impenitent. I would scatter them into corners, etc. were it not, that I feared the wrath of the Enemy, and they should say, Our hand is high; the Lord hath not done all this. Joshuah and others knew it was a strong Plea, What wilt thou do for thy great Name? Again, when his People have been so obstinate under Judgements, that if he preceded in his Wrath, they must be utterly destroyed; rather than do so, he hath eased his hand. If the sins of his Enemies be full, he conniveth at his Church, whiles he avengeth himself on his Adversaries; especially if his Servants are to be Executioners of his Wrath. Sometimes God hath had respect to some Ancestor, or some particular action of a People, that hath been pleasing to him; and on that account, hath been favourable, though they have been otherwise obnoxious to judgements.  
6. It's not very easy at all times, to judge of National Judgements or Mercies. God may afflict in order to Mercy; he may take away lesser Mercies, to make way for greater Blessings: He oft lays a foundation of lasting good, by delays and astonishing struggles. On the other hand, he may forbear Judgements, and bestow good things; whereby a Nation is ripened for sorer Plagues. He may destroy the Gentry to save the Vulgar, or levelly his stroke against evil Magistrates or Ministers and so shake the State, to make the Body of a People, or his own people (at least) prosperous. Many such ways are with him. Each of these affect a community, and yet the aspect of them are so intricate and clouded, that deep thoughts are needful to determine, when we see the Mercy we expect, or the Judgement which we fear.  
You may perceive that the Case before me, though it seemeth so popular is not so easily decided. But the greatest Difficulty is to adjust the Nature of Repentance, as accommodated to our expectation of National Mercies: Which will fall under the next Head.  
Fifthly, The Case resolved; and somewhat concerning the Rule by which it is resolved.  
The Rule by which we must determine this is hinted in the Case itself, 
The Rule to decide the Case by.  under those Words; what Repentance doth God require? Some Expression of the Divine Will must guide us, we must not judge by Second Causes, or by vain Fancy, as we are too apt to do. Neither too rigid nor yet too compassionate Inclinations must decide the Matter, or lead our Expectations. The Directions of the Sovereign Ruler of Kingdoms must alone take place; what Notices he hath vouchsafed, must be regarded with Reverence; natural Principles, due Inferences from his Essential Perfections; the Nature, Order, Ends, and Methods of his Government well considered; and an Observation of his Deal with ourselves in past times, and also with other countries', do all contribute some light in the Matter before us.  
But our chiefest regard must be to the Scriptures: especially to such parts of them, as urge Repentance on a people with Promises of good, in case of compliance; and Threaten of Ruin upon their Obstinacy. Also such parts should be observed as contain instances of National Repentance, which have been succeeded or accompanied with National Mercies. By this rule we must determine what that Repentance for National Sins is, whereupon we may expect National Mercies. Here we must consider Repentance modified as a means to this proper end, viz. National Mercies: And it's to be considered as to that lowest degree, which will support our expectations of those Mercies.  
Having premised this. I think it may thus be determined.  
1. A Repentance short of that, which is enjoined in order to Eternal Salvation, will suffice to warrant our expectations of National Mercies. Eternal Issues are not determined by the same Rules, as Temporal Blessings. Unregenerate persons may repent, so as to divert present Judgements, and secure Mercies. This is evident in Ahab and Nineveh. 
1 King. 21.29. Jonah 3.   
If it were not so, we could not expect National Mercies before the generality of a Land became true Converts, yea active Converts: For Regenerate Persons that shall possess Heaven, may come short in that Repentance, which secures Blessings to a Nation.  
Saving Repentance is the Grace, we calls sinners to by our Ministry; the more of this prevaileth in a Land, the more sure are the Mercies of that people. Without it, a Nation will soon run into new forfeitures; and bring plagues on itself at last; as Niniveh did. 
Nah. ch. 2. & 3.   
This saving Repentance is a change of Heart, as well as Practice; it strikes at the root, and excludeth the Dominion of all Sin; as well as National Provocations. It hath a mixture of Divine Love reigning in the Heart, as well as Fear: It's excited by a sense of pardoning Mercy through the Blood of Christ, as well as God's Wrathful displeasure: it's an effect of the Spirit indwelling, and not only of its common Operations: it's the fruit of the Divine Life, and not merely of Natural Principles excited by Foreign impressions.  
In these and the like, saving Repentance exceeds that Repentance of a Land, which yet may afford expectations of National Mercies.  
2. The Repentance which yields us ground to expect National Mercies, I shall describe in these following particulars.  
1. It hath several things wherein it partakes of the nature and sincerity of a true Repentance. 2. It must be for National Sins. 3. The Repentance must usually be National. 4. It must be suited to the different condition and circumstances of such as make up a Nation.  
1. It must have so much of the nature and sincerity of a true Repentance as is included in these following heads.  
(1.) Clear Convictions of the guilt and offences of a Nation.  
We must believe those things to be sins, which God chargeth us with, and truly own, that we are chargeable with the faults for which God reproveth us. 
Jer. 3.13.  This God enjoineth; Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God. They cannot be said to Repent, who plead guiltless. This Plea God reproveth Israel for; yet thou sayest because I am innocent, 
Jer. 2.35.  etc. Whiles Men plead for sin as no sin, or acquit themselves when they are Criminals; sins bind on them the wrath of God, and stand in the way of a people's good. But there's hope of a Land, 
Jer. 14. ●0.  when it poureth out its Confessions with them; We acknowledge O Lord our wickedness, and the iniquity of our Fathers, for we have sinned against thee.  
(2.) Shame, fear, and deep humblings of Soul under the sense of the wrath of God, as provoked by our sins. Ahab humbled himself: Turn to me with fasting and with mourning, 
Joel 2.13, 14.  rend your hearts and not your garments, for he is gracious, etc. and repenteth him of the evil; who knows if he will return, 
1 Sam. 7.6.  and leave a Blessing behind him? God will embitter sin to us, or avenge it. Provocations shall prevent Mercy, when they are easy and pleasing; but this remorse must reach to the Heart, though it do not savingly change it. The Heart must tremble at the threatened Wrath: God will have his anger awful to Men, and their abominations shall cause a blush, at least in a sense of what miseries they expose to.  
Therefore while people make a mock of sin, as harmless; while they sport with the wrath kindled thereby, as a scarecrow; God will go on to strip a Kingdom of its Blessings, and load it with Judgements: They were not at all ashamed, 
Jer. 6.15.  neither could they blush; therefore at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down.  
But this Humiliation, Fear and Shame, must be from an affected Soul, not bare Bodily appearances in a day of Humiliation, or hanging down the Head like a bulrush for a day; 
Isa. 58.5.  these the Lord despiseth, for such things he will not turn away his anger.  

Jer. 3.25.  Whereas there is hope, when a people lie down in their shame, and confusion covers them, because they have sinned against the Lord. It bodes well, 
Ezra 9.4.  when men tremble at the words of the God of Israel because of transgression.  
(3.) Such a compliance with God's warnings and rebukes, as to put Men on seeking God's savour, and resolving to forsake the National pollutions.  
There must be supplications, as well as weeping: 
Jer. 3.21.  A voice was heard on the high places weeping and supplications of the Children of Israel, for they have perverted their way. This is God's advice to a Land, and its the constant way of a Repenting people: 
Jon. 3.8.  Thus Niniveh cried mightily to God: Herein the dominion of God is owned, and so far Men acknowledge a dependence upon him: But this must not be only with the Mouth, no, it must be with the Heart as to this act, and occasion. 
Hos. 7.14. Neh. 9.33.  A sleighty cry will not prevail: It's a brand on a people, that they cried not unto me with the heart. With our Prayers there should be a justification of God's Threats and Punishments. How hopeless then is the condition of a people, when that's true of them, we made not our Prayer to God; 
Dan. 9.13. Ez. 18.29, 30.  and as sad, whilst they arraign his ways as unequal.  
But good resolves must attend Prayer; a full purpose under present Convictions, though it may not always prove effectual, through want of a Principle in Sinners, and remains of Corruption in Saints. We are led to this by that place; Take away all iniquity, Ashur shall not save us, 
Hos. 14.2, 3.  what have I to do any more with idols? 
Ezra 10.3. Neh. 9.38. and 10.29.  Expressive hereof was Ezra's and Nehemiah's entering the people into a Covenant with God, against National Sins.  
Now what hopes can there be of a Land, if it neglect the Lord, as if he had nothing to do with them; yea, continues resolute in its sins: Thus did they who said, after our Idols will we go, 
Jer. 44.17.  we will worship the Queen of Heaven, etc. Alas! Such a people may lie down in fear, and look at the Mercies they want, as impossible; yea, consider the Blessings they yet enjoy, as soon to be removed.  
I added, that Prayer and Resolves should be in compliance with God's warnings: God will have a regard to his Threaten, and some tribute of Obedience rendered to him, by them whom he spares.  
Thus Ahab yielded to Elijahs Message, and Niniveh regarded the Threaten of the Lord by Jonah.  
Therefore it's an awful sign, when Nations refuse to hearken, 
Zech. 7.11, 12.  draw away the shoulder, and make their heart as an adamant, lest they should hear the law, and the words of God by the Prophets. When this is the frame and carriage of a people towards God, what effects follow, the following words acquaint you: Therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of Hosts.  
Whether the warnings are sent by the Word in the mouth of his Servants, or by his Wonders, or by lesser Afflictions; the disregard of them makes the bands of a people strong; whereas attentiveness and compliance therewith affords encouragement.  
(4.) There must be a Reformation.  
All the former without this, are too insufficient to be a prognostic of good; the other things tend to this, and must terminate therein, or Repentance wants its aptitude to the designed end: I have sent my Prophets, 
Jer. 35.15.  saying, return ye now every man from the evil of his way, and amend your do, etc. and ye shall dwell in the Land; a gracious offer, but behold the obstacle to their benefit thereby; you have not inclined your ear, nor harkened unto me: In the same manner God leaves it on this issue; Learn to do well, 
Is. 1.17, 18, 19  etc. If you be willing and obedient, yond shall eat the good of the Land, but if ye refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.  
It's no Repentance while gross evils are continued in, if our sins be sins of Commission: 
Zech. 14.19.  It's no Repentance while an express Duty be not complied with, when the offence is a sin of Omission: This shall be the punishment of all Egypt, and of all Nations that come not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles. Let there be never so much mourning, though it rise to the covering the Altar with tears, 
Is. 58.6.7, 8.  it yields but vain hopes, when Men continue unreformed.  
But amendment carrieth with it a happy presage; it restraineth the bitter effects of past provocations, and God in Mercy encourageth it in a people, though on the brink of ruin. We see an instance in Judg. 10. the people having confessed their sin, ver. 10. accepted of their punishment, and called upon God; ver. 15. They put away their strange gods, and served the Lord; then the Soul of God was grieved for their misery, and he delivered them, ver. 16. A parallel you have in Niniveh, the charge given by the King, 
Jon. ●. 8, 9  (which was complied with) was, Let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hand; then they conclude a possibility of escape, according to the tacit reserve in the Prophet's message: Who can tell if God will turn away from his fierce anger, and we perish not.  
2. But yet further. The Repentance in these acts must be for National Sins: If it be for other Sins, and not for the Sins of the Land, it will not warrant our expectations of National Mercies. God will have Men direct their Repentance to that, which his Wrath is kindled for, and which his Testimony is against. It's not enough that you bewail your own personal private sins, but these public faults. People are loathest to own, bewail, and leave these National Offences. Custom fixeth them, they are commonly, reputable, and by the generality of Transgressors thought innocent; they are supported by lnterest and Power; there's danger by Repenting thereof: If you reform as to these, there's oft a loss of Places; Men are subject to shame by leaving faults in fashion, or the reproach of having long offended in those things; and how backward are our proud Hearts to acknowledge we have been in an error.  
But let it be never so hard, the Arrow of God is leveled against these very sins, and even these shall be bewailed and forsaken, or he will proceed to embitter them.  
People may think to commute with God, and amend in other matters; but this is a vain attempt, 
Mic. 6.15, 16.  to their own delusion and ruin: Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap; for the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and ye walk in their counsels, that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: Therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people. This leads me to answer one Objection.  
Object. How may we know which be the National Sins?  
Answ. If the same particular Sins be universal. Consider the carriage of a people in general, and compare it with the Word: National Sins are too gross not to be seen, when the rule of a People's walking is set before us. But if you would know, which are more eminently the National Sins; observe what Sins have the greatest influence in Corrupting the Land; which cleaveth fastest to a people, and most (especially leading persons) are guilty of; which have been longest continued in, and in their Nature and Consequences are most grievous; which seem the Judgements of God most directed against; what sins do the best Ministers and People witness most against. By these Rules you may discern, what are those National Sins, which the Nation agree in the commission of, or connivance at. But if the National Sins be by accumulation of several sorts of sins, according to the different state of people, who constitute that Community: You than must distinguish a Nation into its constituent, or remarkably differing parties; as Magistrates and Subjects, Ministers and People, Rich and Poor, Infidels and Believers, etc. Compare the frame and carriage of each of these, with that which God hath made their peculiar Duty; and adding the former helps, those National Sins will appear, which are made up by complication, though the same individual Crimes are not entertained by the several parties in a Nation.  
3. The Repentance must usually be National: I do not mean that every individual must repent, but the generality; or at least some very considerable number, and those of such Men, that most represent, and influence the Body.  
A small number of private Penitents may save themselves, but seldom secure a Nation. I confess here I must be wary, considering how graciously God is pleased to admit sometimes a few to personate a Body, and give in Blessings for many on their mediation. Phineas his Zeal turns away Wrath from all his people. 
Num. 25.11. Ezek. 22.30.  God seems to conclude the unavoidableness of Israel's woe, from the want of one man to divert it: I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me, for the Land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. This the desolate Church complains of; 
Isa. 64.7.  There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.  
But though Sovereignty admits a very few Penitents to profit many Transgressor's; yet we are not usually to expect this, what ever in extremity we may hope, for want of better grounds; usually a few are called none as to this effect: No man repent him of his wickedness; 
Jer. 8.6. Isa. 66.4. and 59.16.  I called and none did answer; he wondered there was no intercessor.  
There were the Prophets themselves, and some others that Repent, yet so few were as good as none to secure the good, which multitudes concurred to remove. His Call is to the generality to return, and on that he promiseth favour. Hear ye the word of the Lord all ye of Judah; 
Jer. 7.2, 3.  Thus saith the Lord: Amend your ways and your do, and I will cause you to dwell in this place: And the failure by the refusal he affixeth to the body of them, ver. 28. Thou shalt say, This is a Nation, that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord, nor receiveth correction, etc.  
We can hardly look for good to a Land, unless the repenting persons be numerous enough to vindicate the Glory of God, and influence the Land to Reformation: 
Joel 1.14, 15. Jon. 3.5, 6.  The assembly of Penitents must be solemn. How general was the Repentance of Niniveh, from the greatest to the least; from the King and Nobles to the most abject.  
Some farther light may arise from the next head.  
4. The Repentance should be suited to the different Condition and Circumstances of those that make up a Nation. Each must repent of the sins common to all, yea, the gross trespasses of each sort must be bewailed by every sort.  
But yet there is a Repentance peculiar to each, which ought eminently to appear, or at least really to be; and this exerted according to their respective abilities. Magistrates ought to mourn for the sins of the People, and also to repent of their own ill Examples, bad Laws, etc. And they must express their Repentance by exerting that Power which they have above others: They should enact good Laws, restrain and punish Sin, command days of Humiliation, appoint good Ministers, etc. So Ezra did: 
Ezra 10.8, 9 Neh. 13.  The same did Nehemiah. Magistrates do not repent if they do not so, and a Land may perish for their neglect.  
Suppose a Land divideable into Unbelievers and Believers: These Believers must repent of their own sins, as well as the sins of Unbelievers: They must be humbled for their own decays; Contentions, Worldlyness, Barrenness, Vanity, Pride, though less gross than others; as well as for the Idolatry and Profaneness of the Irreligious. The Reason is, that these sins of theirs contribute to the bringing down Judgements, and obstructing of Mercies; as well as the grosser sins of Unbelievers; nay, in some sense more; because they ought to be Witnesses for God in a degenerate Land. Their Examples encourage the grosser Villainies of others; they have more Light and Strength to keep themselves pure; yea, if the number of good Men be considerable in a Land, the lot of a Nation is mostly determined by them, and Gods regards is much more to them than others.  
If you take the Epistles to the seven Churches to be so particular, as most do; you may see how God reproves and threatens them, though small portions of those States, of which they were Members in Civil Respects.  
I think I may say that the Repentance of Believers for their sins, must exceed the Repentance of Unbelievers in some proportion to that Life, Grace and Aids which they have above those Unbelievers; their Humiliation must be deeper, and more ingenuous; their resolves stronger; their return more universal; their Prayers more fervent; their Reformation more extensive, spiritual and vigorous than other men: In this its true as a man is so to his strength. If their Repentance be no greater than others, they may expose a Nation, and prove its ruin  
I might proceed to Gentry and Commonalty, to Ministers and People, but time prevents me, and the same Rules may guide you in these as in the instances before described: I shall only add, that supposing a part of the Land, Persecutors, and the other Persecuted for Truth's sake; these latter must be humbled for the sins of Persecutors, and repent of their own sins; and that according to the advantage which their Afflictions give for their Humiliation and Amendment.  
While men throw repenting work off of themselves to others, as if they could acquit themselves of God's Challenge; are there not also sins among you, are you no way guilty? The Land is like to suffer, and the common condition to be deplorable.  
It's true, if the design of God be to single out any one sort of a Nation to suffer by themselves; the impenitents of that sort may not damage the body of the Nation, further than their struggles with, or their loss of that part may affect the residue.  
As if God resolve to punish Professors of Religion only; their impenitence may affect the whole no further than the distress of such Professors amounts to, except as it is an awful omen; because Judgement seldom gins at God's House, but it reacheth in woeful issues to others afterwards.  
Or, if God hath a Controversy with the Gentry of a Land, their impenitency may not fatally reach the ordinary people, if penitent. For if God resolves to punish ravenous domineering Pastors, or Persecutors; their neglect of Repentance shall not hurt the whole that reputes; nay, it will be their advantage to have them blasted if they remain impenitent, as the Kingdoms plagues: It's much more so as to particular Families; whether the highest or less influencing the corruption of a Commonwealth.  
But where God designs not a distinct respect in his Judgements, the stubbornness of any one sort doth threaten the Nation; their not repenting in a way proper to them, may plunge the whole into a loss of Mercies.  
Thus I have, according to my small light, resolved the Case.  
The decision of the Case proved.  
1. The described Repentance doth ordinarily afford a people National Mercies, notwithstanding National Sins In the resolution of the Case there occurred some Reasons, and many Scriptures, to evidence this; so that I shall need to say little more for proof: There seems to be an express Rule in this matter; 
Jer. 18.7, 8.  At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation, or concerning a Kingdom, to pluck it up, and to pull down, and to destroy it: If that Nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.  
The Repentance which God hath accepted, so as to prolong the welfare of Nations, was of this sort; as you see in Niniveh and other places. 
2 Chron. 12.7.  Should we examine the Repentance of any Land, it hath rarely arrived to a greater height: A defect of the Repentance enjoined in the Covenant of Grace, is obvious in that Repentance which hath yet been effectual as to National Mercies. This Repentance answers the great methods and ends of God's general Government, as to the Temporal Weal of Nations; and provides a Foundation to proceed upon in those methods, whereby his Spiritual Kingdom is advanced, and the Eternal Welfare of Souls is promoted; we may expect God will continue National Mercies to a People who come up to that Repentance which hath preserved other Nations. 
2 Chro. 7.14. And 30.8, 9 Jer. 26.3, 13.  We have great Encouragement to our Hopes from many Texts.  
2. Where this Repentance obtains not, a People cannot justly expect National Mercies. 
Isa. 8.9.   
Let a Nation seem never so safe, its security is vain, and all its supports shall be blasted by Impenitency. 
Jer. 15.7.  What though a People are related to God? I will destroy my people, sigh they return not from their evil ways. May not their privileges, and pledges of God's Presence secure them? No; Trust not in lying words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these; will ye steal, murder, commit Adultery, and swear falsely, and say we are delivered to do all these abominations? Go to Shiloh, and see what I did to it, for the wickedness of my people Israel; and now because you have done all these works, and I spoke unto you, but you heard not: I will do unto this house, 
Jer. 7.4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15.  wherein you trust, as I have done to Shiloh, and I will cast you out of my sight.  
Mock shadows of your Repentance, and weak uneffectual Attempts for it, 
and 14.4.7, 12. & 44.1, 10, 11.  will leave men under disappointments.  
When a People is given up to impenitency, and God withholds a Blessing from the Methods, 
Isa. 6.9, 10, 11.  that tend to their Repentance; there's just cause of Fear, that Judgements are determined against that Land. Hear you indeed, but understand not; make the heart of the people fat, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, understand with their hearts, and convert and be healed. How long Lord? till the cities be laidwaste.  
God is so positive against a land refusing to return, that their Felicity is impossible Wrath came upon Judah for this their trespass, 
2 Chro. 24.18, 19, 20.  yet he sent Prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord, but they would not give ear. Thus saith God, Why transgress you the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper?  
Were it otherwise, God's Name would not be Sanctified, no order in this lower World would be kept. But further,  
Impenitence is not only a Moral Obstacle to good, as it provokes God to withhold it; but it's a Natural Obstacle, the wickedness of men is efficient of Woe to a People, and is in many senses destructive of Mercies, and inconsistent therewith. Many Enormities of a Nation are its Plagues; as bad Laws, wickedness in Magistrates, a corrupt Ministry, Oppression, etc. It's Iniquity is even materially its Ruin.  

APPLICATION.  
Many Inferences are obvious: As, How dreadful an Evil is Sin. How dangerous to a Land are multitudes of Offenders. A Nation is foolish that discountenances Piety, and destroyeth the godly Party, whereby it strikes at its own Refuge. How good and long-suffering is God, that calls the vilest Nations to return, waits long for their Answer, and destroys not till their Repentance be even hopeless. What Enemies to themselves, Neighbours, and Posterity (bound up in their doom) are an impenitent people? What sottish and Atheistical Men are they, that guide their hopes, and fears of a Nations Welfare, by Fancies or second Causes, but without regard to God's Favour or Anger, or the influence that Repentance or Impenitence have upon the ways of God towards a People. What a dismal Prospect is a Wicked Nation, sporting with their Provocations, and Warnings?  
How uncertain a Tenure do most Nations hold their Mercies by?  
But I have not time to insist on these.  
I shall briefly apply the Resolution of the Case to our own Nation. We are a Nation; we have National Sins; Repentance of these Sins is a presage of our future State, as well as others: I know no exemption, or peculiar allowance, we can expect at the hands of the righteous Governor of the World. Oh that our Hearts were under the Power of this awful Truth, that our iniquity may not be our ruin. 
Ezek. 18.30.   
In order to this,  
1. I shall insist on some things in order to our Repentance.  
2. Inquire, Whether we may groundedly expect National Mercies from our present Frame.  
3. Conclude with an Use of Lamentation of our National Impenitency and Dangers.  
In order to our Repentance. I shall  
1. Represent to you the National Sins we ought to Repent of. Hereby you'll know what we should be humbled for, resolve against, and reform. What a Terror ought it be but to mention our Provocations? Oh that a Land of Light should be chargeable with such Enormities, and yet be secure, and hate to be reform!  
Where shall I begin the Charge? We and our Fathers for some Ages, have been guilty of the same sins, yet unrepented of. Against whom shall I levelly the Indictment? Alas! we have all sinned and done wickedly as we could. Magistrates and Subjects, Ministers and People, the Unbelievers and Believers. To what sorts of Sins shall I confine myself to? Woe is us, what Sins did God ever destroy a Land for, that are not National with us.  
But that the sound may not appear uncertain, I account myself bound in Conscience, to be more particular. My subject forceth me, not any uncharitable design. Oh that my own heart were more filled with Zeal for God, and deepest sorrows for the Nations Sin, whiles I am recording what may offend the guilty, though the Charge be too plain to admit a Denial? Let us Inquire:  
Is England altogether innocent as to its Laws? Do not we see that some of the terms of Conformity are far other than our blessed Lord hath instituted? Are they not remote from a tendency to advance real Piety, and exclusive of some things that would much conduce thereto?  
Is not a Diocesan Bishop set up? whose sole Jurisdiction bars all the other Ministers from the Exercise of a great part of their Office, while the Bishop is utterly unable to perform it, through the largeness of his Diocese?  
Is there not more than an Umbrage of Lying and Perjury imposed on all Ministers? when they must Assent, Subscribe and Swear to what is more than suspicious, yea utterly false.  
Are not a heap of Ceremonies and corrupt Usages re-assumed, (though once cast out) to the facilitating of the return of Popery, dividing of Protestants, and the scandal of the weak; who are too apt to place Religion, yea all their Religion, in those Vanities.  
How many severe Laws were made against Dissenters, and severely executed to the ruin of Thousands?  
Was it no provocation to silence Two Thousand Faithful Ministers when their Labours were so necessary, and their places were to be filled up with many young Men, who have proved fatal to serious Religion? The Sacrament is made a Politic Engine, to further the Damnation of unworthy Receivers; that all such may be kept out, whom they suspect any way hazardous to excessive Pomp, and Ecclesiastic Pageantry.  
Can the Land be Innocent, where Atheism is so professed, the most Blasphemous Oaths are fashionable, Perjury, Uncleanness, Drunkenness, Malignity against all credible Holiness; so common and consistent with Reputation. Was it not among us, that the Covenant was burnt by the hands of a Common Hangman, and horrid Murders committed as legal Executions?  
Is not that Christian Nation guilty, where profanation of Sabbaths is so notorious, yea pleaded for as warrantable? Most Families have nothing of God's Worship, the plainest Essentials of Religion by few understood; the Operations of the Spirit turned into Ridicule, and Religion placed in things that bear not a faint resemblance of the very form of it; while Sobriety its self is mere matter of Scoff; and the Fountains of Learning send forth many more fitted to Infect than Reform the Age?  
Is it to be concealed, that Men enter on the Ministry, as Apprentices on a Trade, and use it as a mere means for a Livelihood? How many are Pastors without the people's Consent? And too many preach, while unacquainted with the Gospel as a Law of Faith, and Rule of the Recovery of Apostate Sinners: The Labours of such have no tendency to Convert or Edify their Hearers; yea alas Conversion is judged a Foolish thing to urge. All the most Debauched and Profane are Regenerate, if they were Baptised, and come to Church. Many Souls eternally perish by the influence of this one principle, and the Ministry is diverted from its greatest end.  
Have we not seen the Ministry too much laid out, to serve the late Governments in designs of enslaving the Nations, and ruining the Life of the Protestant Religion? Though amazing was the Providence which almost too late opened some men's Eyes by a close attempt against their own places, and so swayed their Minds, that they contributed to save the Land from that Ruin, which a few more Sermons of Non resistance (if believed by the Nation) had rendered unavoidable. The good Lord continue that impulse, lest our Miseries become greater by the beginnings of our Deliverance.  
I design not this Account of all our public Ministers, blessed be God there are many to whom the Interests of Christ were more valuable, than to allow their Labours to serve any base Design. But this of late was found the way of Church Preferments, wherewith too many complied; and made the Pulpit a Stage for a poor Oration, rather than a place to testify for God, or bring Souls nigher to him.  
Are Believers and serious Christians (whom I confine not to any Sect or Party) free from contributing, to fill up the Measure of our Iniquity? Oh that they were! then should my Soul rejoice in Hope; but it's otherwise: Alas how much have they made the vilest Abominations their own, by not Mourning for them, and by their Carnal Liberty contributing to them: Our Gold is become dross. How unedifying are their Discourses? 
Isa. 1.22.  How unexemplary is their Walking? Each one seeks himself, and none the things of Christ: Circumspectness is laid by as unfashionable, The Virgins all slumber and sleep. How few dare plead the Cause of God, 
Matth. 25.5.  or do express his Image! What heartless Duties, froward Passions, notorious Pride, and neglect of Education of Children? Fast-days are kept without Humiliation; Sacraments and Sermons are become Lifeless; God is sensibly withdrawn, and none bemoan it; Religion is dying, and none uphold it.  
What a Chillness on the love of Saints to each others? What sordid Divisions and Distances? A new Standard of Godliness is erected, viz. a Zeal for Parties, and selfish Interests, under pretence of Christ's Interests: Whiles what is essentially and undoubtedly his, recommends men little. How little do good men relish that Life, Light, and Love, which is purely Divine?  
Can I excuse Dissenters, as such? No: To say nothing of some of them immersed in destructive Errors; alas the more Orthodox have a share in polluting and exposing the Nation. A vain Itch hath seized much of our Ministry; we study to please, rather than profit: We envy one another, run into Extremes, because others come not up to Divine Institutions. We overlook the Mercy of our Ease and Liberty, because we abound not as others do.  
Tremble! Oh my Soul! to think, how many even of them persecute, by Railing, lying Reports, Non-communion, and censuring the state of Souls for Noncompliance with doubtful Notions.  
Too many set up uninstituted Terms of Communion, destroy the Pastoral Office, promote little designs with base Tricks, and grossest Lying, under the covert of Equivocation and Surmizes?  
Were it not that some breath another Spirit, and more suitable to the Divine Nature, and the Gospel of Christ; I should sit down with Horror, and give up the Land for lost. The shadow hath sensibly eaten up the Substance; we have fancied, talked and disputed a Gospel Frame, and practical Holiness almost out of the Land. A dead form is that which most are content with, and carnally plead for, whiles they profess more purity and power than others.  
Are these Evils in the Land or no? Are they Sins? Are they not General? Arise O God and Convince us; embitter them to us. Oh was there ever more need to crave the powerings out of thy Spirit, now its recesses are so manifest. How discernible will be its powerings out, if thou bless us therewith?  
2. I do in the Name of God Call you to this true Repentance for these National Sins.  
We have nothing else left to relieve us, our begun Deliverance will be Abortive, yea more destructive without Repentance. What Nation ever needed Repentance more, whom hath God oftener Called, and more expressly warned?  
He hath long waited to be Gracious, and must he destroy us at last, when weary of Repenting? The Ruins of all our Neighbours cry to us, Repent; or you will be more Miserable than we are: God seems to be on his way to you with the Dregs of the Cup. Our Sins are of the grossest Nature, the longest Continuance, and sorest Aggravations.  

Jer. 8.5.  How oft has God punished this Land for them? and yet we hold them fast. What variety of Judgements hath he essayed our Reformation by, but in Vain? Thou London's Plague and Flames, shall not they Reform thee? Will not former streams of Blood extinguish our Lusts and Divisions? Shall we force God to repeat them? We were lately on the brink of Ruin, and yet the same Malignant, Formal and Irreligious Temper revives.  
God hath by a Train of Miracles respited our woe, and begun our Deliverance; 
Ezra 9.14.  but what are any sort of men amended? Methinks we should have passed our own doom with Ezra. Should we again break thy commandment. etc. Wouldst thou not be angry with us, till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?  
These Abominations are yet more odious by our Profession and Advantages. To be acted by such a Notion, wearing a Christian Name! these Villainies were tolerable among Pagans, in comparison of us, but in a place of Light we have thus Transgressed, in a Land of Uprightness we have been thus Vile. 
Isa. 26.10.   
Oh the Convictions, Struggles, and Helps, we must have trampled on! The many Vows we have broken in all these Transgressions. Yet in the midst of our Rebellion God renews his Call, repent Oh sinful Nation. Let the Cry of Mourners be heard in our Streets! Oh let shame cover our Face, if you have any pity for yourselves or Posterity, truly repent at last.  
View the National Mercies you may enjoy by Repenting, and that you are sure to lose by hardening your Hearts against it. Read them over again where I named them, are they not valuable enough to excite your Reformation? Oh that all would concur in their places to Reform! When will Magistrates restrain Sin, disannul all bad Laws, and state the terms of our Ministry and Communion; so that all may be useful, and not spoil their efficacy by guilt contracted at their admission; nor perpetuate our divisions, the consequences whereof have been so dismal, and are like to be more so. When will Ministers engage in the Reformation of the Land, by faithful Warnings, sharp Reproofs, good Examples, plain and importunate Plead? Will the grossly scandalous Gentry and People, abhor their enormities, and put away their great provocations, whose cry is gone up to the Heavens? Shall England's Mercy be secured by a revival of Strictness of Life, more Love and Power, among Professors? Will you be your Country and Churches plagues? That great good, which Primitive Saints rejoiced in the hope of; or overwhelming Judgements, which Posterity will be astonished at; do depend upon the return we shall make to God's present Call. Mercies of the most Glorious Nature are in the Birth, and shall your, even your impenitence, stifle them?  
Oh return, and if you will return, let it be to the Lord your God. 
Jer. 4.1.  All changes that amount not to this, will avail us nothing. Your Prayers, your Fast-days, are as water spilt on the ground, without Reformation.  
How can I cease till the generality be persuaded to do this, 
Lam. 5.21. Hos. 5.4.  which is so necessary to our Common Weal? Let us all cry, Turn us O Lord, and we shall or will be turned. Frame your do, as men determined to turn unto the Lord. Set hearty to it with all your might, for it's hard work; delay it not a moment. Oh God bow our wills, that the Land may jointly answer; Lo, we come unto thee, 
Jer. 3.22.  for thou art the Lord our God.  
Can you pretend wherein shall we return: Alas, 
Mal. 3.7.  wherein have we not departed from him? All in a manner is out of frame, every thing, every person considerably needs amendment. Let us all Unite in this, and God will bless us with Light and Love for Union in other things. This work needs all our hands; let us make up that wherein others will be defective; all striving to begin and outdo each other. Oh that all emulation and strife were reduced to this, which of us shall first and most Reform?  
3. If the generality will not be persuaded to repent of National Sins, let not particular persons neglect it.  
I am loath to descend so low, yet this is better than none. Who knows how many may be convinced by the Repentance of a few? At least you may preserve yourselves, 
Ez. 9.4, 6.  and view the public Calamity with more composure than other Men, as having done your utmost to prevent them.  
We know not, but God may delay Judgements for the sake of a few remarkable Penitents; though we may not commonly expect it.  
Shall there be so great cause, and none set themselves to it? Hath God none among us that regard his loudest Calls? Can there be so little Love to his Name, and Honour, in England, that even a few will not afflict their Souls; that he is so provoked that a few will not testify against this common Apostasy?  
Poor Nation, that hast none that love thy welfare; that all will lose showers of Mercy for thee, rather than sow in Righteousness.  

Ezek. 22.30.  Oh that some would resolve this day— Let not God say, I fought for a man but I found none. Repent of your Personal Sins, otherwise how can you repent of National Sins. Examine thyself how far thou art infected with the National Provocations: What hast thou contributed thereto? Charge thy Soul therewith: Say the measure is so much the fuller for my sake. Bewail thy share; mourn over the faults of others; thou mayest grieve for what thou canst not reform, but be sure to reform thyself to thy utmost; reform thy Family; yea, set thyself to bring all (thou art in thy place capable) to amendment.  
Do not judge of faults by the common Opinion; let not the Example of others be thy Standard; but set the Divine Rule before thee, and review things thereby. Resolve to stem the Tide, and to judge and act in the face of it. What though the multitude be against thee; what though Bigots rail; what though many Professors, yea, Men of thy own Party condemn thee? All is nothing, whiles God will accept and approve thee: A Man must be singular that will reform himself in a degenerate Age; he must be resolved, that will attempt to reform others.  
2. Let us inquire, whether we may expect National Mercies from our present frame and state. I believe God will not forsake us, but in time he will do us good. But the Enquiry is meant thus; Whether Mercy will be immediately enjoyed; is the wrath of God turned away; and will his progress in a way of Judgements be stopped?  
Can we reasonably conclude, though the Sword hath been furbished, it shall not destroy: Our Warfare is accomplished; the Clouds are past; the bitterness of Death is over. Dare I say, rejoice O Land in the favour of a reconciled God? For good, only good, shall presently be unto thee.  
I shall by way of Objections give you what is matter of Hopes; and in the Answer to those Objections give you the ground of my Fears, and in the end declare my Thoughts.  
Object. 1. Are there not some Testimonies of National Repentance, from whence we may hope Mercy is towards us? As,  
1. Penal Laws against the Worship of God are as good as disannulled, and Persecution is at a stop.  
Answ. 1. I wish the general remains of Malignity, argue not a sorrow for that Liberty.  
2. I find most of them that were guilty of Persecution, instead of repenting of it, do justify it as a just Prosecution; though it was an Usurpation of the Rights of People, as Men, and as Christians.  
3. Are the Sacrament Test, and Act of Uniformity removed?  
2. We had a public Fast-day kept with outward Solemnity.  
Answ. I'll judge of no Man's Heart, yet I cannot but observe,  
1. The most polluting Sins of the Land were not solemnly owned, much less bewailed. Where was a public acknowledgement of the sinful Silencing Two Thousand Ministers, because they durst not profane their Office, and plainly Lie and Perjure themselves. I might name many such other sins; alas, general Confessions avail little.  
2. What public Reformation in Life and Manners appears since that day? What fewer Oaths? Profaneness is no way abated: Men are returned with the Dog to the vomit. Now Fast without amendment are but a mockery with God, and profit not a people.  
3. Men are so far from Repentance, that they cannot endure to be reproved for their sins. They say you irritate, if you mention their offences. They like to hear others accused, but abhor the least hint against their own faults. Tell the imposer on the Church that uninstituted terms of Communion are sinful, and rage is awakened. Persuade the bitter Spirit to be Peaceable, and his Tongue is soon envenomed, and you shall be railed on, as the great disturber.  
Object. 2. But a great part of the Land is innocent of some of the most notorious Crimes; the sober Persons are many, who share not in the Profaneness of the Land: The persecuted and ejected cannot be guilty of the oppressions they were under; and many of the Church of England never agreed thereto.  
Answ. 1. How little do such truly mourn for those sins of other Men? How much more common is it to hear the better sort scoff and laugh at Profaneness, than bewail it? Persecutors are more railed at, than mourned for. By this we become guilty.  
2. Are not there iniquities with the soberer part of the Nation; impenitently continued in to this day? Do we see backslidings healed; how much more Mortified, Heavenly, Circumspect, Charitable or Fruitful, are the hopefullest persons in the Land, by all our Calls? Yea, our Complaints though so general, little tend to alter us. 
Isa. 64.6, 7.  Our Righteousness is as filthy rags, we fade as a leaf.  
Object. 3. But if we consider the Sovereign deal of God with us, may not we expect Mercy, though we see not Repentance? As,  
1. God hath lately wrought a great Deliverance, when we were on the brink of ruin, and that by a series of Miracles, when we were as unworthy as we are now.  
Answ. 1. Such Deliverances are never completed, and seldom long continue, where Repentance doth not immediately follow. Though God may command Deliverance first, yet he annexeth Holiness to it; and where that fails, the beginnings of safety prove a snare, 
Obad. 17. Ezek. 36.23, 25  and do expose to greater distress. When he saved from Babylon, he cleanseth them from iniquity.  
2. Do not we find that Deliverance is at a sensible stop, for want of our amendment? Instruments to save us seem less apt, our Enemies are in better heart, and a much more threatening posture. The hand of God is at a stop: Those hopeful touches on the minds of Men, are much defaced: They that mean well are less spirited and entrusted: They who design ill, are more vigorous and countenanced. What a Change have a few Months made in our hopes, though they were raised by the highest displays of Divine Power and Goodness? It's almost true; 
2 Kin. 19.3. Isa. 26.18, 17. and 33.11.  You shall conceive chaff and bring forth stubble, your breath as fire shall devour you.  
2. May not we hope that God will finish our Salvation for his own honour; and not suffer a work, wherein he hath so immediately appeared, to be imperfect; notwithstanding we reform not?  
Answ. 1. God hath his Honour concerned in giving National Mercies to an impenitent People, as well as in not perfecting a begun Deliverance. He is Sanctified in afflicting a sinful Land; 
Isa. 5.16. Ezek. 28.15. Psal. 74.10, 18.  his Government is exposed in sparing an unperswadable People: Nay, we oftener find him bear the reproach of not Delivering his Afflicted People, than of not punishing a Rebellious People.  
2. God can secure his Honour in both these respects, with great consistency. He may ruin Popery in other places, whiles he exposeth Protestants to it here. He may perfect this begun Deliverance in England as to Papists, that they may not blaspheme; and yet distress Protestants by each other, and so still punish the Land for its impenitency.  
Object. 4. God seems to single out some particular Families for Judgements, who have been most accessary to the sins of our Land. He hath altered the succession, and so it's probable, he may not punish the Nation for the iniquity of the Throne.  
Answ. 1. God may punish a Land for the sins of a former King, though the Government be transferred into another Family. God punished Israel with three years' Famine in David's Reign, 
1 Sam. 21.1.  for Saul and his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.  
2. If others do not take warning by such Judgements, as are leveled against particular persons, and repent; Judgements will extend beyond those persons or Families. Successors by the same neglects and provocations, will expose a Land to miseries; though their title be not derived by descent from former offenders. Yea, if a new Government and People purge not the Land of the Crimes, which had their rise in a former Court; the vengeance will follow to the extent of the infection, and the guilty at least be in danger of misery. David righted the injured Gibeonites, before the Famine ceased.  
3. How little is Profaneness or Irreligion restrained? How faint and few are the attempts for Reforming the Nation, since God hath blessed us with a prognostic of good, in the Change of our Government? Are Men spirited for this, as Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, etc. To be infected by others seems easier than to reform them.  
Object. 5. Are we not under such accomplishment of Prophecies, as may argue a Protestant Kingdom begun to be delivered; shall have its deliverance perfected, notwithstanding its sinful distempers. Is not the Philadelphian state beginning; the Witnesses rising; the Ottoman Empire falling, and Antichrists ruin just reviving and perfecting even to the utmost of the Judgements determined against him?  
Answ. I am well persuaded of all this, and have declared it many years; when the contrary was more probable as to the posture of affairs here, and in the rest of Europe; yet let me tell you,  
1. That in the accomplishment of these Prophecies, the Spirit will be abundantly poured out, in order to the eminent Holiness of such places, as share in these Blessings. All the Promises that refer to these latter days are full of Peace, Purity of Doctrine, and Worship, and true Godliness. With the Song for Antichrists Fall, the Church is made ready, and clean linen which is the righteousness of the Saints, is given to her. 
Rev. 19.2, 7, 8.   
2. Almost at the Entrance of fulfilling these Prophecies, there will be the most shaking, and astonishing Dispensation towards the Churches, as ever befell them, Then is the great Earthquake, 
and 16.18. and 3.10.  such as was not since men were upon the Earth, so mighty an Earthquake, and so great. This is that hour of Temptation, which shall eome upon all the world. These Epistles I take to be Prophetic of the most eminent periods of the Church-state, from Christ's time, to the End of the World; and this Trial is in the beginning of the Philadelphian State. It's true indeed, this will benefit the Church at last, and be fatal to its Enemies and false Members, but it will be terrible to all.  
3. Such an awful Dispensation seems necessary to purge the Church, and lay a good foundation of its real, and lasting Glory. This will be a means to convince false and irreligious Protestants, 
Rev. 3.9.  that said they were Jews, and were not. It will pluck up every plant out of the Church, which God hath not planted. Hereby all Constitutions repugnant to Christ's Interests, will be overthrown. Without such a Paroxysm, how should degenerated Christianity recover itself? How shall the power of reforming the Church be rescued out of the hands of such, who hate its Purity, and Spiritual Welfare?  
Its next to impossible, by any Calmer means to settle Peace in the Church, or awaken Protestants out of that formal Temper, which is the Epidemic Crime of the Sardinian interval. You have it expressed in those Words, Thou hast a name to live, and art dead. 
Rev. 3.1.  Many are really dead as Unregenerate, others dead in opposition to Spiritual Liveliness.  
Thus I have represented to you, what seems most considerable as to the posture of our Land, with respect to National Mercies.  
I shall offer my own thoughts upon the whole.  
I think the Repentance of England for National Sins is short of that, which may give us grounds to expect National Mercies.  
The methods of God indeed seem designed to make us a happy people, but it must be in the proper way, and season. The great things God hath begun to work, the Liberty he hath settled, the disposition in many young ones to return to God, and comply with his Designs: his manifest exposing such, who were likely to obstruct a Reformation, support my Hopes that Blessings are in reserve for this sinful Land; but yet its probable, that some extraordinary Storm will fall upon the Nation, as a means to bring us to amendment, and a Testimony from Heaven against our crying Evils, and shameful Impenitency. By terrible things, God will prepare us for Blessings; and introduce our Happiness, by that which will try our utmost Faith. I can hardly account our Foundations sure, while men justify their Sins, and persist in them. Our very Reformation is impossible, whiles men of most influence have no heart to it, yea hate, and fear it.  
Whenever I see Magistrates engage in reforming us, as their great Duty, and with their whole might:  
When men of power esteem Repentance, to be the truest Interest of the Nation.  
When the Ministry is awakened to cry aloud, and doth impartially represent to the Land all its Sins, and Dangers; not mistaking, or palliating our Offences.  
When the Body of the Land, at least a considerable part of it, do crave and approve of Reformation, and concur with the Means, God shall prepare for it.  
Then and not till then, shall I account our Repentance hopeful, and consequently expect the Blessings to be established, which God seems earnest to bestow.  

Numb. 24.22.  But who shall live when God doth this? What overturnings will effect it, when so many have failed to do us any good? It's something very amazing, which can alter Minds so averse; or remove men unchangeably Obstinate: Yet the Providences of God towards England are like to be terrible in proportion to all this.  
I do not herein limit the Holy One, but humbly propose my thoughts, as to the usual aptitude of Means to their End; not wholly neglecting the indications of present Providences, as to this matter; much less would I overlook Scripture Prophecies.   

USE of LAMENTATION.  
Let us Lament the Impenitency of the Nation, and its forfeiture of Mercies, and hazard of Judgements hereby.  

Jer. 8.6.  What can be Cause of Mourning equal to our Obstinateness? We are guilty of bloody Crimes, and most regard it not: We seem reconciled to our Abominations, as if they were innocent; and are as secure as if God had not threatened to punish a people for them.  
The Land is full of Sin, after all the means which were sent to cleanse us. The Fire hath devoured, yet our Dross remains. The plague hath in its Rage swept away Thousands, yet the provocations of England abate not. How oft hath the Lord cried, Wilt thou not be clean, when shall it once be? 
Jer. 12.27.  But we have held fast our several Iniquities.  
It's but lately, that Popery and Slavery, were coming on us like a Deluge to the amazement of all, that could with any Zeal consider it; but the Nation now seems sorry, that it was at all Convinced; and reputes, that there was the least motion in it towards amendment.  
Oh the ferment! that hastily succeeded our Fears, lest Sobriety or Holiness should obtain. God hath followed his rebukes with undeserved, yea unexpected Mercies; but this Sunshine hath made Weeds to grow, instead of rendering Judgements effectual, to make us Holy.  
What Methods have been untried, but none succeed. Which is the Nation, that ever withstood so many, and various Calls to Repentance? Niniveh is England's Reproach; she repent at the first warning. Sodom would have condemned us, had it been trusted with half our Advantages. Can the Earth show an Instance of perverseness, equal to ours? As if the Gospel had extinguished Natural Conscience, or a Christian Profession did make us more regardless than Pagan's. Every thing seems to harden us, we grow worse by those things that recover others.  
Alas! We have few that bemoan our want of Mourning; are all our Jeremiahs asleep, that none drop a Tear for England's Security? Do all think it needless, or hopeless, to turn unto the Lord, that so few seem to set themselves in earnest about it. How very few symptoms have we, that we are not under a judicial Hardness? Many are convinced they ought to Repent, yea many resolve it, but how Abortive doth all prove? Our Iniquities baffle our Resolves, and Satan triumphs over the vanity of our Purposes. What a hateful prospect doth our Nation afford to God and Angels? We are a wonder to ourselves, when a Drowsy Mind allows us to entertain any serious Considerations.  
Lord what will the End of these things be? Wilt thou always bear, and seem to observe our Provocations, as slightily as we do? Alas! this would make us more miserable, than God's sorest Rebukes: Judgements more awful than any we have yet felt, are become even necessary to our Happiness; but though they be needful, what heart can endure them? What Terror must attend those Dispensations, which will separate the Precious from the Vile, pluck up Constitutions so rooted by Interest, Custom, Malignity and Ignorance: Disable the Irreligious from settling Church or State; and embitter our reigning Sins to careless, scornful and resolute Offenders?  
How dreadful is that storm, that will drive all good Men together; when they are cantoned into so many Parties, embittered by mutual Prejudices, fond of, and valuing themselves by fond Opinions, and distances from others; especially whiles self-conceit and ignorance so prevail?  
How hot is that Fire, which will purge out the Dross among Churches, when it's eaten even into our Hearts? What's that which can awaken drowsy Saints, make the selfish public Spirited, bring the careless to holy Watchfulness; and revive that simplicity, savouriness, and heavenly-mindedness, which is become such a Mystery, and so unfashionable?  
Surely we may expert a complication of Woes, and each filled with unusual degrees of God's avenging Skill and Power.  
What may not we awfully expect? Disappointment by the likeliest men, dissolution of the most conceited Churches, a shaking of the Nations Pillars, a successive change of Instruments, frequent blasts on begun Deliverances, revivals by the most improbable Instruments, many entire overturnings and changes; opposition among the best Friends, very near Approaches of the most dreaded Mischiefs, men's minds struck with tremble, all Carnal Refuge failing us, Reason put to a Nonplus, Probable and Improbable confounded beyond Conjecture, Counsel hid from the Wise, Force and Power baffled, Authority become weak, all Order disturbed, Men at a loss what to wish, or deprecate; uncertain what to Hope or Fear, whom to distrust, or confide in?  
These, and many such things seem obvious, in the Constitution of that day of the Lord, that is like to be upon us. And how many more awful things are in his Treasures, to fill up that Dispensation, of which he hath so long warned the World, as strange, and unusual? We cannot judge of this great Earthquake (which will affect us as well as other Nations) by what hath been; for it is to exceed all that is past.  
Who knows what new sights, strange strokes upon the Spirits of Men, and unheard of Judgements, may be reserved for this Season.  
Can we love our Nation, and be unmoved? Can we hate ourselves so, as not to Lament, that these awful things should find us impenitent; yea, carry in them displeasing rebukes for that impenitency?  
Should not we all wish, that each of our Eyes were Fountains of Tears, to bewail at once, the Obstinateness, and the impending Dangers of the Land of our Nativity. Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me, 
Isa. 22.4, 5.  because of the spoilings of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down of walls, and of crying to the Mountains.   
FINIS.