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THE
WORKS

OF

SYMON PATRICK, D.D.

SOMETIME BISHOP OE ELY.

INCLUDING HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

EDITED BY
THE REV. ALEXANDER TAYLOR, M.A.
MICHEL FELLOW OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.

IN NINE VOLUMES.

VOL. VIII.

OXFORD,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
M.DCCC.LVIlI.

C J

Ml. Vl'J'5
\S5S

CONTENTS OF VOL YIII.

SERMONS.
Sbrm. VII. — A sermon preached at St. Paul's, Covent Garden, on the late
day of fasting and prayer, Nov. 13, 1678, on Jer. xiv. 9. p. 5.
Serm. VIII. — A sermon preached before the king on the second Sunday in
Advent, Dec. 8, 1678, on Romans xv. 4. p. 41.
Sbkm. IX. — A sermon preached on the Fast-day, April 11, 1679, *>" ^ev. ii.
16. p. 71.
Seem. X. — Preached on the late fast, Dec. 12, 1680, afternoon, on Rev. iii. 3.
beginning, p. 100.
Sebm. XI. — Preached before the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen of the city
of London, at Guildhall Chapel, Oct. 31, 1680, on Ephes. vi. 10. p. 135.
Sebm. XII. — Ad Testimonium, a sermon on the king's day, Feb. 6, 168^, at
St. Katharine Coleman's, London, on Psalm Ixxii. the latter part of ver. 15.
P- 159-
Seem. XIII. — Preached on St. Mark's day, 1686, at St. Paul's, Covent
Garden, on Ephes. iv. 14. p. 175.
Sebm. XTV. — One Mediator, a sermon on Johnxvi. 23. p. 201.
Sekm. XV. — One Sacrifice, a sermon on Heb. i. 12. p.[233.
Serm. XVI. — A sermon against Censuring, preached at St. Paul's, Covent
Garden, on the third Sunday in Advent, 1688, on i Cor. iv. 5. p. 265.
Sebm. XVII. — A sermon preached in the chapel of St. James's, before his
highness the prince of Orange, Jan. 20. i68f, on Isaiah xi. 6. p. 289.
Sebm. XVIII. — A sermon preached at St. Paul's, Covent Garden, on the
first Sunday in Lent, 1689, being the second part of the sermon before the
Prince of Orange, on Isaiah xi. 6. p. 313.
Sebm. XIX. — A sermon preached at St. Paul's, Covent Garden, on the day
of thanksgiving, Jan. 31, 16S9, for the great deliverance of the kingdom by
means of his highness the prince of Orange from popery and arbitrary po-wer,
on Psalm Ixxvi. p. 347.
Serm. XX. — A sermon preached before the queen, at Whitehall, March i,
i68f, on Col. iii. 15. p. 375-
Seem. XXI. — A sermon against Murmuring, preached at St. Paul's, Covent
Garden, on the fifth Sunday in Lent, March 17, i68f, on 1 Cor. x. 10. p. 397.
Sebm. XXII. — A sermon preached before the king and queen at Whitehall,
April 16, 1690, being the fast-day, on Proverbs xiv. 34. p. 421.

iv CONTENTS OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME.
Serm. XXIII. — A sermon preached before the lords spiritual and temporal,
in the Abbey Church at Westminster, Nov. 26, 1691, being the thanksgiving-
day for the preservation of their majesties, the success of their forces in reducing
of Ireland, and for the king's safe return, on Deut. iv. 9. p. 445.
Sebm. XXIV. — A sermon preached before the queen at Whitehall, April 8,
1692, being the fast-day appointed by her majesty to implore God's blessing
on their majesties' persons, and the prosperity of their arms both at land and
sea, on Numbers x. 9. p. 467.
Sebm. XXV. — A sermon preached before the right honourable the Lord
Mayor and Court of Aldermen, at St. Bridget's church, on Easter Monday, 1696,
on 2 Tim. ii. 8. p. 495.
Serm. XXVI. — A sermon preached before the lords spiritual and temporal,
in the Abbey Church at Westminster, being the anniversary thanksgi-ving for the
happy deliverance from the gunpo-wder treason, and also for the happy arrival
of his present majesty on this day, for the deliverance of our church and nation,
on Daniel iv. 35. p. 523.

A LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF ELY TO HIS CLERGY, BEFORE
HIS PRIMARY VISITATION, 1692. p. 547.

THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY REPRESENTED TO THE
CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF ELY, p. 557.

THE DIGNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD, DIRECTED
TO HIS CLERGY AT HIS FOURTH TRIENNIAL
VISITATION, p. 601.

AN EXHORTATION SENT TO THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE
OF ELY, BEFORE HIS FIFTH TRIENNIAL VISITATION, 1704,
p. 629.
A SERMON ON THE LATE STORM, ON REV. xvi. 9. LATTER
PART, p. 636.

SERM. VII.

A SERMON

PREACHED AT

ST. PAUL'S, COVENT GARDEN,
ON THE LATE DAT OF
FASTING AND PEATEE,
NOVEMBER 13, 1678.

PATRICK, VOL. vm.

IMPRIMATUR,
Nov. 23, Guil. Jane, R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. »
1678. Sacris Dom,

TO THE
INHABITANTS OF THE PARISH OF ST. PAUL,
COVENT GARDEN.
THIS sermon being printed merely because many of you have
desired it, I hope»you intend it shall not lose its fruit, but be im
printed in your memories and on your heart. It is plain, as becomes
the habit of a mourner ; but what it wants in ornament, it makes up,
I trust, in honest affections, and substantial endeavours to do you
good ; and if it be received into honest and good hearts, may con
duce much to your happiness here and hereafter. I pray God it
may ; and beseech you every day to commit the custody of yourselves
so seriously unto him in well-doing, that you may every one of you be
able to say boldly. The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what
man shall do unto me : nay, you may have that comfortable hope
which St. Paul had, and say with him, 2 Tim. iv. 17,18,/ was delivered
out of the mouth of the lion : and the Lord shall deliver me from every
evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom. Amen.

B 2

A SERMON ON THE LATE FAST,
Nov. 13, 1678 a.

Jekemiah xiv. 9, latter part.
Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called
by thy name ; leave us not.
THE occasion of our solemn meeting at this time is " an
information that hath been given (as we are told in the pro
clamation which called us hither) of an horrible design against
the life of his sacred majesty j" which must needs have drawn
along with it such fatal consequences, had it succeeded, as
would have endangered "the subversion of the protestant
reUgion and government of this realm : which God of his infi
nite mercy hath hitherto prevented, and it is to be hoped will
prevent for the future."
These reasons have moved the parliament to desire, and his
majesty to grant and appoint, that this day be set apart " for
the imploring the mercy and protection of Almighty God to his
majesty's royal person, and in him to all his loyal subjects, and
to pray that God would bring to light more and more all secret
machinations against his majesty and the whole kingdom."
For the obtaining these great blessings, we ought in the
devoutest manner to lift up our hearts and our hands (as this
prophet speaks elsewhere) to God in the heavens; acknow
ledging indeed that we are a very sinful generation, a people
laden with iniquity, who deserve, if he should punish us
according to our provocations, to be utterly abandoned by
him ; but humbly beseeching him of his infinite clemency to
have patience with us and spare us, and not to cut us down
as barren trees that cumber the ground, but to try us at least
a while longer, whether we will bring forth the fruit he justly
expects from us. Which though we have often promised, and
not performed, and thereby made ourselves the more obnoxious
to his heavy displeasure, yet since he hath not taken the for-
* [This fast was appointed in con- Oates respecting the supposed pop-
sequence of the alarm created in the ish plot. The proclamation is dated
public mind by the declarations of Oct. 25. — London Gazette.]

6 A sermon on the late fast. serm. vn.
feitures we have made of his favour, but still continues it to us,
nay, in a wonderful manner defeats the attempts of those who
would subvert our religion, we have encouragement to impor
tune him in such words as these I have now read, and to say,
Though we have been false to thee and to our own vows, yet
thou, 0 Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by
thy name ; leave us not.
Which are part of an humble deprecation of God's dis
pleasure, which the prophet Jeremy makes in the behalf of
.Judah and Jerusalem ; and are the fittest I could think of to
put into your mouths at this time, for the averting of God's
judgments from this poor church and kingdom.
The Jews, for whom the prophet was so importunate in
tliose days, languished under, and were in danger to be de
voured by, a most miserable famine ; which in that country
was wont to come from want of rain, as here, in this part of the
world, from overmuch moisture. Thus the chapter begins (as
the words run in the Hebrew) : The word of the Lord, that
came to Jeremiah concerning the restraints which were upon
the clouds, that is, by the command of the Almighty ; who de
tained their showers, and so brought a dearth upon the land.
This dearth is described in a very dreadful manner from
thence to the 7th verse, but looks nothing so terribly, to my
apprehension, as a famine of the word of God would do ;
which we may fear would have follovred here in these countries,
if God had permitted our enemies to accomplish their designs
against us. For they would have shut up the holy Scriptures
from you, and laid a restraint upon that heavenly doctrine
which hath so many years (to use the words of Moses) dropped
upon you as the rain, and distilled as the dew : as the small
rain upon the tender herb, and as showers upon the grass^.
Our unfruitfulness indeed under such sweet influences of
heaven may bring upon us this sore punishment : for we must
confess, as Jeremy doth in the 7 th verse, that our iniquities
testify against us. They are open and apparent ; they accuse
us heavily, and demand judgment upon us ; they plead for our
condemnation, and the severest executions : for our back-
slidings are many, and we have sinned against God most
grievously. And therefore, unless he will be favourable to us,
* Deut. xxxii. 2.

SERM. VII. A sermon on the late fast. 7
as the prophet there speaks, for his own name's sake, we must
look for nothing but utter destruction.
That is our only hope, as it was theirs. But alas ! such was
the sadness of their case, that they had too much reason to
fear, he who was the hope of Israel (as it follows ver. 8.) and
the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, would not regard them,
nor take any further care of them. For that is the meaning of
those questions ; Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the
land, and as a ivayfaring man who turneth aside to tarry
for a night ? That is, as one that minds not what becomes of
us, no more than a man is concerned for a place where he
intends not to inhabit, but only to pass through in his way to
some other country. Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied,
as a mighty man that cannot save t Or, as some render it, like
one that is weary with his former labours and toils for the
good of his neighbours ; which he finds have been bestowed to
so little purpose, that he hath no encouragement to do any
more to help them. God seemed, that is, to be resolved to
send them no more deliverance, but to abandon them to in
evitable destruction ; or matters were come to such a pass, that
the prophet feared he would soon be so resolved : their be
haviour towards him being so ungrateful, as it gave him just
cause to be like a stranger among them, and to employ his
power no longer for their salvation. Only this they could say,
that he was not yet departed ; upon which the prophet grounds
some hope he might be prevailed withal to stay with them ; —
Tet, 0 Lord, thou art in the midst of us, ^c. This was the
only thing remaining upon which they could build any comfort
able expectations ; and they were not without a great mixture
of fear, that, notwithstanding these addresses to him, he might
forsake them.
How like our condition is to theirs I need not stay to tell
you ; we have too much cause to fear lest God, who is our only
hope, and hath been heretofore our Saviour, should let us reap
the fruit of our own doings, and interpose no further for our
deliverance. He shows us indeed what he is ready to do for
us, if we were disposed to receive his new offers of salvation :
but we have been so little the better for what he hath wrought
for us in a long series of wonders, that it will be no wonder if
he resolve now upon another course, and be, as the prophet

8 A sermon on the late fast. sekm. vn.
here speaks, like a mighty man that cannot save; having
wearied himself with unprofitable care and pains for our
welfare. But we ought not for all this to cast away all hope in him,
since it is apparent, by the unexpected discovery he hath made
of the horrid designs of our enemies against us, that he is still
in the midst of us, nay, is desirous, if we be willing, to save us.
And therefore the fears and sad apprehensions we have should
only keep us from presuming too much, even upon this singular
privilege and encouragement; and excite us to cry the more
passionately and devoutly, 0 Lord, leave us not ; forsake us
not, good Lord, though we are unworthy thou shouldst stay
with us.
In which humble suit that we may prevail with him, I shall
endeavour, •
J . First, to make you sensible what a privilege> what a glory
and security it is, to have Qod in the midst of us : that so
you may be awakened to use your best endeavours to keep him;
with us.
2. And you will be more excited to this, if I briefly show
you in the second place, that this extraordinary presence of
God with the people will not secure them from the severest
punishments if they be disobedient to him ; nor is there any
reason for their presunrption that he is immutably tied to
them. No,
3, It will be apparent tha;t it ought rather to be expected he
should punish them because of his care of them, (expressed by
this phrase,) and that he should quite leave them if they will
not be amended by those punishments, because they are insen
sible of his care.
4. And how great a plague that is, I beheve you will be-
sensible, though I say nothing of it. And therefore,
5. In the last place I shall direct you how to preveat it, by
such prayers to God as may obtain the favour of his conitinued
presence with us. I.
The first of these will need no other illustration but the
explaining of these two phrases in my text : Thou art in the
midst of us, and we are called by thy name. By which we
shall presently discern what a glory and security this was to,

SERM. VII. A semion on the late fast. 9
Israel ; and what, by a parity of reason we may now upon
the same account make our boast of, above many other nations.
The explication of the latter depends upon the former, for
therefore they were called by his name, i.e. owned by him
for his peculiar people, because he was in the midst of them.
This alone then will require my pains to explain it. And there
are six expressions which I have observed in the holy Scrip
tures, that testify the extraordinary presence of God among
that people, (who now were in danger to be deserted by him,)
and abundantly satisfy us in the meaning and propriety of
this speech, that he was in the midst of them.
I . First, they are said to be a people near unto the Lord *>.
He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his
saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him.
Which signifies a particular affection he had for them ; in
clining him to use them in a more familiar manner than he did
any other people upon the face of the earth. For the rest of
the world were treated as strangers, while these had the honour
to approach unto him as his companions and friends. And
therefore, 2. As they are said to be near unto him, so he is said to be
nigh unto them. Which is the reason of the former ; and
justly esteemed by Moses to be a privilege wherein they ex
celled all mankind : What nation is there so great, who hath
God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things
that we call upon him for ? And what nation is there so
great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all
this law which I set before you this day ® .^ The Psalmist,
you read in the place forementioned, speaks of his exalting the
horn of his people, and the praise of his saints ; that is,
making them a nation praised, famed, and renowned through
out the world : and here you find what it was that made them
so great and illustrious, viz. the gracious presence of God
among them, ready to do any thing for them that they de
sired ; as appeared in that admirable form of government and
divine service which he had already established in their nation.
3. God's nearness to them and theirs to him was manifested
in this, that he dwelt among them<^. And I will divell
•> Psalm cxlviii. ult. " Deut. iv. 7. '' Exod. xix. 45, 46.

10 A sermon on the late fast. sebm. vlr.
amongst the children of Israel, and will be their God. And
they shall know that I am the Lord their God that brought
them out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them :
I am the Lord their God. It was a considerable testimony
of their nearness to God, that they had stood before him at
mount Horeb, and received the law from his mouth : which
moved Moses to charge them to preserve a special remem
brance of this, as you may read at large in Deut. iv. i o, 1 1, 12.
But though this was a most memorable, yet it was not the only
nor the greatest (because not the most lasting) token of their
nearness to him. For, lest it should be thought that he was
then only present among them, at that famous time and place ;
he was pleased to declare afterward that he would dwell
among them, and settle his abode with them ; that in all future
successions, and whithersoever they went, they might be
assured of the same divine presence, which appeared to them
at Horeb,
4. In order to which he commanded them to build him an
house, called the sanctuary, or holy place ; that they might
be the more sensible of his constant abode with them : And let
them build me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them ".
Accordingly he there gives directions how it should be built ;
and orders how it should be furnished with a table, and dishes,
and spoons, and candlestick and snuff'ers, and abundance of
other household stuff : whereof no reason can be given but
this, that it might represent in the most familiar manner to the
grossest souls in the nation, that God dwelt, and, as it were,
kept house among them.
5. And that it might be more apparent this was his house,
and that herein he dwelt among them, this house was seated
in the midst of their camp f ; and there was also a glorious
cloud covered it, whereby it was sanctified to be his habitations.
The pillar of the cloud and fire, that is, which had led them
out of Egypt, and was the special token of his presence with
them, he there promises should rest upon this house, and con
secrate it to himself. And accordingly you find that as
soon as Moses had finished this habitation, and set it up, a
cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord filled the taber-
" Exod. XXV. 8. ' Numb. xi. xvii. s Exod. xxiv. 43.

SERM. VII. A sermon on the late fast. 11
nacle : so that Moses was not able to enter into the place, be
cause the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled
it^. On the outside of the house, that is, there was a smoke ;
but within there was a most glorious brightness; which sometime
broke forth in an amazing splendour, as a visible token of his
presence in the midst of them. So you read in many places,
which I cannot stand now to mention, that the glory of the
Lord appeared in the cloud, and stood in the door of the
tabernacle, and appeared to all the congregation ; dazzling
their eyes, and frighting them, when they were in the greatest
tumults and rebellions against Moses and Aaron : for it looked
then like a consuming fire, which they thought would presently
devour them.
Lastly, God's dwelling among them was so clearly demon
strated, he was so nigh to them, and made himself so familiar
with them, that he is said to be seen _/ace to face among them.
So you read Numb. xiv. 14, where the people being in a
mutiny against the only good men amongst them. The glory of
the Lord appeared in the tabernacle, and the Lord threatened
to disinherit them, and had then done execution upon them,
had not Moses interposed for them by this argument, that the
people of Canaan would make an ill construction of it, for
they have heard that thou, 0 Lord, art among this people,
that thou. Lord, art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth
over them, &c. Read also Deut. v. 4, and when you have
considered all this seriously, you will see there was reason to
say that the Lord was in the midst of them ; and in an extra
ordinary manner sensibly present to this people. They were
above all others dear to him, and had the highest marks of his
favour and love. None could more presume of his indulgent
kindness to them, or be more assured of his tender and affec
tionate care, watching over them to preserve them : unless it
be ourselves, who have a greater grace vouchsafed to us, and
more illustrious demonstrations of his powerful presence with
us, to bless, protect, and defend us, than the Israelites, though
so much in his favour, could boast of.
We, whom he hath elected to be his peculiar people, called
to be saints, and sanctified, excel them as much as they did
h Exod. xl. 34, 37.

12 A sermon on the late fast. serm. vii.
other nations. He hath exalted our praise far above theirs
who were heretofore so much renowned ; and hath approached
so nigh to us, and made us so near to himself, that we may
glory in his holy name, and say, in a far more noble sense than
they could, that he hath spoken to us face to face. For no
man hath seen God at any time ; but the only begotten Son
who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
And the Word was made flesh, say the apostles of our religion,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father '. God shone into the very
hearts of these holy men, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 3. And zvhat
they saw and heard they have declared to us, that we might
also have fellowship with them ; and (they protest that) truly
their fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus
Christ^, who is the image of the invisible God, and the
brightness of his gloryK By whom God looks upon us and
speaks to us, through our own flesh ; for he dwells not now,
as he did among them, in a tabernacle made of curtains and
beasts' skins, or in a house of stone ; but hath made our
nature his dwelhng-place. The flesh of man is become the
sanctuary of God, wherein he will dwell for ever ; as our
Lord hath assured us, by sending dovm from his holy place
the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of glory upon us ; whereby all
Christians are built together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit "> .¦ who hath delivered to us his oracles in the
holy gospel, where such things are revealed unto us as the
angels desire to look into ". For the new Jerusalem, of which
we are citizens, came down from God out of heaven, and when
it descended St. John heard a great voice out of heaven,
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God
himself shall be with them, and be their God °.
Nor was all this proper only to those times when Christ
ianity was first planted in the world, but we have still visible
assurances of his gracious presence among us, and of his dear

1 John i. 14, 18. "o Ephes. ii. 22.
i 2 Cor. iv. 6. k I John i. 3. " i Pet. i. 12.
' [Col. i. 15 ; Hebr. i. 3.] " Rev. xxi. 2, 3.

SERM. vn. A sermon on the late fast. 13
love to us ; and that is, in the holy sacrament of our Lord's
body and blood, where he really and indeed makes himself
present to all the faithful, and is in the midst of them. There
he calls unto us and says, See the love I bear to you. Behold
the tokens of my everlasting remembrance of you. Believe it,
I am with you always to the end of the world. I assure you
hereby that my body and blood shall preserve you to eternal
hfe ; Because I live, ye shall live also.
And though you may imagine this to be a privilege common
to all Christians, yet, if the matter be well considered, it will
appear that we have a peculiar claim to this honour of being a
people nigh unto him ; or may, at least, in a double regard
challenge a special interest in his favour above all those who
endeavour wholly to engross and hmit it to themselves.
First, in that we have the blessed sacrament of his body and
blood more entirely and purely administered unto us. Whereby
we are assured he is there present among us, whenas they that
depend upon the intention of their priests can have no cer
tainty of so great a blessing. We have him presented to us
according to his own institution, and therefore cannot reason
ably doubt of receiving there all the fruits of his dying love ;
whereas they that glory most in his favour have an imperfect
representation of him, a lame and defective ministration of that
divine grace which he there communicates to his people.
2. We believe also and are sure that our Lord is so nigh us,
that we may immediately address ourselves to him, and be con
fident of finding access, though we take no saints or angels in
our way to his blessed presence. We need none to intercede
with him for us, like those of the church of Rome who beg the
assistance of this or that saint, (especially of the blessed virgin
his mother,) to introduce them into his favour, and to recom
mend them and their suits to him : which manifestly sup
poses him at a distance, and not to be nigh to such supplicants ;
who depend upon I know not how many men and women,
whom they suppose to be great favourites in the court of
heaven, and whose mediation they must use before they can
approach him.
This one thing alone is sufficient to entitle us to this privilege
of being a people nigh unto the Lord, and having him in the
midst of us, above all those churches of that communion. It is

14 A sermon on the late fast. serm. vn.
no fancy, but a real truth, that we stand in a nearer relation to
him, and may be confident of his favour more than they can
be, who dare not go to him but by the intercession of others,
whom they desire to procure them acceptance with him.
Which very thing also is such an offence to him, that I am
confident it sets them stiU at a greater distance from him.
For it is an imitation of that worship which God abhorred so
much in the heathen world, that he sent his Son on purpose
to destroy it, and to bring them to the acknowledgment of this
truth, that there is but one God, and one Mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
This truth, blessed be God, we have received and hold as it
hath been taught us by his holy apostle St. Paul, i Tim. ii.
4, 5. And by virtue of this, our glory ought to be great in his
salvation, and we should triumph in his praise, saying. What
nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as
the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for ?
We may lawfully look upon ourselves, (and most thankfully
acknowledge it,) as having the Most High in the midst of us
after a peculiar manner, to bless, save, and deliver us ; in one
word, to be our God and singular benefactor. Which as it is
the greatest glory, so it was ever accounted the greatest safety
and security P. For if God be for us, as the apostle speaks,
who can be against us? We need not care, that is, who
opposes us, nor fear what man can do unto us ; but though all
nations should compass us about (as the Psalmist speaksl), we
might say with the same courage and resolution that he doth,
(could we but be assured that God is with us,) In the name
of the Lord will we destroy them. They compass us about ;
yea, they compass us about : but in the name of the Lord will
we destroy them. They compass us about like bees ; but they
shall be quenched as the fire of thorns : for in the name of the
Lord will we destroy them. They may thrust sore at us that
we may fall: but the Lord will help us. The right hand of
the Lord shall be exalted, the right hand of the Lord shall do
valiantly. We shall not die, but live, and declare the works
of the Lord.
This is such a satisfaction that it is a wonder we are not all
more solicitous to secure the divine presence with us, whereby
P Zach. ii. 5. 1 Psalm cxviii. 10, &c.

SERM. VII, A sermon on the late fast. 15
we might live not only safely but confidently, without those
fears and dreadful apprehensions that are apt to possess and
terrify us. Which would all vanish could we but rationally
hope that we abide under the shadow of the Almighty, and
could say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress ; my
God : in him will I trust. Surely he shall hide me from the
counsel of the wicked, and from the insurrection of the workers
of iniquity. There is not a man of us, one would think, but
would put away all other fears and dread this alone, lest God
should not be with us; did we not presume too much of his favour,
and vainly hope for his continued protection, though we be so ne
gligent as to remain utterly insensible of what he hath done for
us, and to take no care to behave ourselves worthily, as becomes
those who have the honour to be so nearly related to him.
II. in.
Let me therefore briefiy awaken you, as I propounded in the
second place, to a due use of God's singular grace to you ; by
representing how far the extraordinary presence of God among
a people will be from exempting them from the severest
punishments, if they prove ungrateful and disobedient to him.
There is so little reason for any presumption of such immunity,
that we may rather justly expect, as I said in the third thing I
propounded to your consideration, (which for brevity's sake I
shall join with this,) that he should punish them sorely, nay,
utterly forsake them, if they will not be reformed by those
punishments. The Israelites are a woeful example of this; who fancied
indeed strongly that God was tied to them so fast by his pro
mises, that they were in no danger to lose him, though they
took no care to keep him with them ; but found their error to
their cost, and paid dearly for it throughout ail generations.
When he first manifested himself to them, at their coming out
of Egypt into the wilderness, you know how many of their
carcases fell there ; till they were all consumed but two men,
who were the only persons that followed God fully. The cloud
which you heard stood over them as a shelter to them while
they were obedient to his word, would defend them no longer
when they rebelled against him, but poured down fiery indig
nation upon them and destroyed them. From that Lord who

16 A sermon on the late fast. serm. vii.
was in the midst of them, from that dweUing-place which they
had built for him out of the house of his glory in which they
trusted, there came forth several sorts of sore judgments and
smote down the choicest of them. For that without all doubt
is the propriety of such phrases as that in Numb. xvi. 46.
Wrath is gone out from the Lord, the plague is begun.
From the glory of the Lord, i. e. which appeared then to all
the congregation at the door of the tabernacle, (ver. 1 9, 42,)
there issued out the tokens of his divine displeasure in a noi
some pestilence ; by which and other such like punishments,
their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in
trouble. For he who had been so kind to them was so
incensed by their repeated rebellions, that he had sworn a little
before. Numb. xiv. 22, 23, that they who had seen his glory
and his miracles should not see the land which he promised
to their fathers : surely, saith he, there shall not any of them
that provoked me see it.
And they that did, when they turned their backs and dealt
deceitfully Hke their fathers, provoking him to anger with their
high places, &c., felt the same severe strokes of his just indig
nation. For when God heard this, saith the Psalmist, he was
wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that he forsook the
tabernacle of Shiloh, (which was the first place where the ark
of his presence fixed after they came to Canaan,) the tent which
he placed among men ; and delivered his strength into capti
vity, and his glory into the enemey's hand^^.
And as he did to Shiloh, so he threatened, for the same
reason, to do to Jerusalem ; where he afterward chose to dwell,
in the famous temple which Solomon built for him. So we
read very often in this prophecy of Jer. vii. 12, &c. : Go now
unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at
the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my
people Israel. And now because ye have done all these works,
saith the Lord, ^c, therefore will I do unto this house, which
is called by my name, wherein ye trust, as I have done to
Shiloh ; and I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast
all your brethren the whole seed of Ephraim. Which he re
peats again, ch. xxvi. 4, 5, 6. And at last fulfilled the curse
which he there threatens in so terrible a manner, that, as
•¦ Psalm Lxxviii. 59, 60, 61.

SERM. VII. A sermon on the late fast. 17
Jeremy relates in his book of Lamentations, all that passed by
clapped their hands, and hissed, and wagged their heads at
Jerusalem. For he cast off his altar, and abhorred his sanc
tuary ; he gave up the walls of her palaces into the enemy's
hands, and made her inhabitants as the offscouring and refuse
in the midst of the people.
But I will not spend the time in relating tilings so well
known; but only remember you how he who appeared to
them face to face, as I have showed, (i. e. in an open and
friendly manner,) told them at that very time when he was so
gracious to them, that if they despised his statutes and refused
to observe his laws, he would set his face against them ^ In
that very face which shone upon them so brightly they could
see nothing but frowns and the saddest tokens of his high dis
pleasure, when they set at nought his counsels, and would not
be ruled by his will, but followed their own foolish lusts and
vain imaginations. Ho turned then to be their enemy, and
was so far from sparing them because they were called by his
name, that he verified to the full those words of Amos iii. 2,
You only have I known of all the families of the earth : there
fore will I punish you for all your iniquities. And there was
very great reason for it ; as I had better show you some other
time, than hinder myself now in that which I mainly intend,
and you, I believe, expect. For you are convinced, I suppose,
that the Lord was in the midst of them, not merely as a bene
factor, but as a lawgiver and their judge: and that if they
offended him by strange worship, and contempt of all the rest
of his precepts, he stood engaged in honour to depart from
such a rebelhous people. By whose example and your own
sad experience you are sufficiently taught, I should think, not
to presume of the continuance of God's gracious presence with
us in this church and kingdom, but rather expect to be aban
doned by him ; if we take not some better course than we have
done to prevent a judgment which we have most justly de
served. IV.
What that course is I know you would gladly be informed ;
and therefore I shall spend the rest of the time in the last
thing I propounded ; to direct you how to pray to God with
» Levit. xxvi. 15, 17.
PATRICK, VOL. VIII. C

18 A sermon on the late fast. sebm. tii.
such prevailing supplications for the continuance of his mercies
to us, that we may feel our hearts revived by a comfortable
hope that he will not leave us. For as yet he is in the midst
of us, and we are called by his name ; and therefore ought not
to despair of this blessing, but only sue unto him the more im
portunately for it, saying. Lord, forsake us not : that is. With
draw not thy divine protection from us ; deliver us not over to
the will of our enemies ; deprive us not of thy holy gospel and
thy blessed sacraments ; nor suffer that hght which hath so
long shone among us to be put out or obscured.
I. For these blessings we must pray, first, with great fer
vency and earnestness of spirit. For cold and listless desires
will do nothing, especially in a case of such great danger.
AVhich should stir us up (as all dangers when we apprehend
them are wont to do) to cry mightily to God ; as the king of
Nineveh ordained, when he heard there was a decree of heaven
gono out against them for their destruction*. Every soul of us
should cry mightily to him in secret, where nobody hears us
but only God ; and in our families (a thing too much slighted)
beseeching him to be a guard to us ; and in the public prayers
(which you should frequent as much as is possible) crying unto
the Lord at all times, as the poor distressed mariners in Jonah
did, and saying. We beseech thee, 0 Lord, we beseech thee, let
us not perish. Nay, in such a dangerous time as this it be
hoves every man, who knows any of his neighbours or fami-
hars to be negligent in this duty, to awake him, as the ship
master did Jonah in the midst of that dreadful storm, saying,
What meanest thou, 0 sleeper ? arise, call upon thy God ; if
so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not ". And
it concerns us all to mind more seriously what we say daily in
the pubhc prayers, when priest and people call upon God in
these words, 0 God, make speed to save us ; 0 Lord, make
haste to help us. For there was never more need of that pas
sionate importunity, which we should use at home too, saying,
0 God, be not far from us .• 0 our God, make haste for our
help. We are p>oor and needy, make haste unto us, O God ;
thou art our help and our deliverer ; 0 Lord, make no tar
rying. 2. And as we ought to pray with great earnestness, so with
' Jonah iii. 8. " Jonah i. 6.

SEBM. vn. A sermon on the late fast. 19
great humility, and deep sense of our own unworthiness to
find acceptance with God, and obtain the favour of him which
we desire. Our souls must he as low before him as our bodies;
and we must sorrowfully acknowledge that we deserve to be
utterly abandoned by him, whom we have most shamefully for
saken, and highly provoked to cast off, and let us perish in our
iniquities. So Jeremiah teaches us in this chapter, v. 20, and
we cannot address ourselves unto him in better words ; We ac
knowledge, 0 Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our
fathers ; for we have sinned against thee. The remembrance of
these ought to be very grievous to us, and the burden of them
intolerable. Which if we feel sensibly, it will dispose us to cry
to God with the greater fervency and frequency ; and to be
seech him the more earnestly to spare us, saying, as Baruch,
a great friend of Jeremiah, teaches us, iii. i , 2, 0 Almighty
Lord, the soul in anguish, the troubled spirit crieth to thee :
hear, 0 Lord, and have mercy, for thou art merciful ; liave
pity upon us, for we have sinned against thee. And if he do
condescend to our request, we shall the more magnify his mercy,
and his clemency will be the more admirable in our eyes ;
when we have been made thoroughly sensible how little we de
served it, nay, how justly we had incurred his severest dis
pleasure. 3. The sense also of our ill deservlngs will help another way
to make our prayers effectual, because it will move us wholly to
depend upon God for our deliverance. That is a third thing
necessary to make our supplications prevalent. We must in
this humble manner apply ourselves to God, and (quitting all
confidence in any thing that we can do, even in our prayers)
desire him to save us merely for his own sake ; there being
nothing in ourselves to move him to any thing but only dis
pleasure against us. This Jeremiah also teaches us in the next
words to those now mentioned, v. 2 1 , Do not abhor us (though
we and our fathers have been great sinners, yet) do not abhor
us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy
glory. Which argument he uses also a little before my text,
ver. 7, 0 Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do
thou it for thy name's sake. A most excellent form for us to
imitate, who may and ought to say, as it there follows, Our
c 2

20 A sermon on the late fast. serm. vii.
backslidings have been many, we have sinned against thee ;
0 thou hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of
trouble, we have provoked thee to resolve that thou wilt save
and deliver us no more; but do it for thy name's sake, do it
for thy truth's sake : disgrace not thy holy religion here esta
blished among us ; though we be wicked, that is pure ; though
we deserve to be deserted, that is worthy of thy defence and
protection. And may we take the boldness to add, (as thy ser
vants heretofore have done,) thou hast many holy devout wor
shippers among us, for whose sake we beseech thee to do it.
O look not upon the sinners of thy people, but on them which
serve thee in truth^. Are their deeds any better who inhabit
Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over
Sion ? weigh thou our wickedness now in the balance, and
theirs also that dwell in the luorld ; and so shall thy name be
found nowhere, as it is in our Israel. Not unto us therefore,
0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory ; for thy
mercy and thy truth sake y. Remember not the iniquities of
our forefathers, but think upon thy power and thy name now
at this time. For thou art the Lord our God, and thee, O
Lord, will we praise ; and for this cause hast thou put thy
fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon thee.
These last are the words of Baruch, iii. 5, 6, who imitates,
you see, his friend Jeremiah, as they all do the Psalmist, with
whose words I shall conclude this particular ; 0 remember not
against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily
prevent us : for lue are brought very low. Help us, 0 God of
our salvation, for the gloty of thy name : and deliver us, and
purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. Wherefore should
they say. Where is now their God ? let him be known among
them in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants
which hath been shed^.
That is the third thing : let us profess our sole dependence
on him, and expectation merely from his goodness and for his
glory ; disclaiming all confidence in ourselves, and (let me add)
in man too ; that is, in all human help and counsels. For
which end let me recommend that form of prayer to you for
^ 2 Esdras iii. 28, 31, 34, and y Psalm cxv. i.
viii. 26. z Psalm Lxxix. 8.

SERM. vn. A sermon on the late fast. 21
perpetual use ; Give us help from trouble : for vain is the
help of man ». I say perpetually,
4. For we must pray to God in this manner with per
severance ; continuing instant in prayer ^, as the apostle
speaks ; praying always with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit, and watching thereunto luith all perseverance'^ :
that is, we must not be discouraged if we obtain not our suits
presently, but pray still with all prayer, secret, private, public ;
and in the Spirit, with earnestness and fervour ; watching
thereunto ; i. e. borrowing some time from our sleep, or our
business, rather than neglect this duty of fervent prayer;
resolving not to be weary, but with all perseverance to cry
mightily to him till he have mercy upon us.
This is our Saviour's doctrine, Luke xviii. i, where he spake
a parable to this end, that men ought always to pray, and
not faint or grow weary. For if, as he shows, an unjust and
impious judge may be moved by importunity to do a poor
widow right, shall we think that God will not avenge his elect,
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with
them ? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily ^. And
this was the course that Jeremy here resolved to take, in
their great distress for want of rain, ver. last of this chapter.
Can any of the vanities of the Gentiles give rain, or the
heaven give showers ? Art not thou he, 0 Lord our God ?
Therefore will we wait upon thee. And so truly must we,
praying in the Psalmist's words ; Behold, as the eyes of
servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes
of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress ; so our eyes wait
upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy iqwn us.
Have mercy upon us, 0 Lord, have mercy upon us : for
we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those
that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud ^.
Let every soul here present put up at least this short peti
tion to God day by day for this church and kingdom, besides
those he makes for himself and family. And, as often as you
can, set apart some time for more solemn importuning of his
mercy towards us.
a Psalm Ix. 11. '' Luke xviii. 7, 8.
b Rom. xii. 12. '= Ephes. vi. 18. ¦= Psalm cxxiii. 2, 3, 4.

22 A sermon on the late fast. serm. vii.
5. And let us be sure to take care of one thing more, with
out which all this labour will be lost, viz. to make all our supph-
cations with hearty resolutions to reform every thing that we
know to be amiss in our hearts and lives.
This was the course to which the king of Nineveh directed
his people by his proclamation, requiring all, (in the place I
mentioned before,) high and low, to fast and put on sackcloth,
and cry mightily unto God : yea, let them turn every one
from his evil way, (saith the royal edict,) and from the violence
that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will repent, and
turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not ? A
heathen prince, you see, had more sense than to hope he should
prevail merely by fasting, humiliation, and earnest cries to
God for mercy ; and therefore it would be a burning shame,
as they speak, if we, who are better instructed, should trust to
these things alone, without a sincere and thorough repentance
and amendment of life.
This was the unpardonable stupidity of the Jews, (whom I
hope you will no longer imitate,) that when they had fasted,
and cried to God, and implored the intercession of the prophet
also, who here beseeches God not to leave them, they imagined
the business was done, and took no further care to bring forth
the fruits that God expects from penitents. For which reason
God bids Jeremiah hold his peace, and say no more in the
behalf of such a naughty generation, as it follows immediately
after my text ; Thus saith the Lord unto this people. Thus
have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet,
therefore the Lord will not accept themf, Sj-c. Read the rest,
and you will see his resolution was this ; that if they intended
no more than they had done, neither their cries nor Jeremy's
should obtain his mercy, though they were never so importu
nate. The main thing was still wanting, which is this I am
pressing upon you, most humble addresses to God with hearts
fully purposed to amend. This and this alone will do the
business, and undoubtedly prevail, though the condition of a
nation seem hopeless. For it is plain Jeremiah doth not cease
to pray for his people, as you may read here, ver. 19, 20, 21
but, notwithstanding the prohibition now mentioned in the i ith
' Jer. xiv. 10, 11, 12.

SERM. vii. A sermon on the late fast. 23
verse, continues to be their intercessor with God. Which is a
sign that he did not understand it as if he were absolutely for
bidden to pray for them, but only in case they remained im
penitent. Let them but forsake their sins, and love no longer
to wander in forbidden paths, and he was confident God would
hear his prayers, and not depart from them.
To this remedy therefore we must fly, as the chiefest of all,
if we would have God's gracious presence still continue among
us ; and not imagine we are safe, because we have kept a
solemn day of fasting and prayer, and resolve, perhaps, to
continue instant in prayer when this day is done. We have been
told often enough there is something more which God requires
of us, and cannot be ignorant that not all prayers, not all im
portunate prayers, but the effectual fervent prayers of a right
eous manS, avail very much. Which makes it the more strange,
that of all things we cannot be persuaded to become truly
righteous and good men, but are averse to nothing so much as
to that which alone can do us any good. It is a sad thing
that we will still spUt upon the same rock, where we see so
many wrecks before us. And our condition, let me tell you,
will be the sadder, because we have no excuse left us if we
will not beware, and in time make use of this effectual remedy,
which hath been so long prescribed us. We are in a far worse
condition than the stupid Jews, if we still neglect so powerful a
means of our deliverance.
For mark, I beseech you, how much Jeremy had to plead
for his countrymen ; which God indeed would not allow for a
sufficient reason to free them from blame : and yet there is no
such thing to be alleged in our behalf. You read how Jeremy
sighed and said, Ah, Lord God ! behold, the prophets say unto
them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine ;
but I will give you assured peace in this place ^'. As much as
to say, This people are to be pitied ; for though they are bad,
alas for them ! they are very bad ; yet this is not so much
their fault, as the fault of their prophets, who have assured
them they are not in such danger as I tell them, and that none
of the judgments I have threatened shall come upon them.
This he thought might at least alleviate their guilt ; that they
s [James v. i6.] ^ Jer, xiv. 13.

24 A sermon on the late fast. serm. vii.
were cheated and abused by their guides, who soothed them
up, and dandled them in their sins.
But God would not admit of this apology ; but declares that
they and their prophets should all perish together. Then the
Lord said unto me, (this was the reply,) The prophets pro
phesy lies in my name : I sent them not, neither have I com
manded them, Src. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning
those prophets which say. Sword and famine shall not be in
the land ; By swwd and by famine shall those prophets be
consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be
cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and
the sivord^, 8fc. For the people ought not to have believed
those that flattered them in their vices ; which natural reason,
without the help of prophecy, teaches us to be pernicious. And
they ought not to have given up themselves so easily to believe
those who brought no sufficient testimonials along with them
to convince serious minds that they were sent by God to them.
It was their love to wickedness which made them so readily
assent to liars ; and resign up their faith to bold deceivers, who
preached only the dreams of their own deceitful hearts.
What a case are we in then if we do not reform, in whose
behalf there is not a syllable of this (though, alas, but a feeble
refuge) that can be pretended to diminish our crimes ? There
is not one of the ministers of God among us that hath preached
peace unto us. No, they have said it over and over again with
one voice, that God is exceeding angry with us, and that he is
not yet reconciled after so many sore judgments as he hath
sent upon us, and that there is no way to atone him but by un
feigned repentance, and that our repentance is but feigned and
insincere without amendment of life. They have cautioned the
nation also against all false prophets, as we may call them,
particularly against the Romish deceivers, who would lull you
asleep, and promise nobody knows what golden days, if we
would but return into the bosom of their church. They have
discovered likewise all the impostures of men's own naughty
hearts, and have alarmed tlie whole kingdom, and bid them
beware of danger, and uprightly shown the way to escape it.
And therefore if God would not spare such a poor, deceived,
hoodwinked, besotted people as the Israelites, who were led
h Jer, xiv. 14, 13, 16.

SERM. vn. A sermon on the late fast. 25
bhndfold into destruction because they loved to be deceived ;
how can we think he will spare us who are faithfully admonished,
and not in the least bolstered up in our wickedness, if when we
see ruin just before our eyes, we will not go out of our way to
avoid it ? You cannot name any one of this church that hath
confidently prophesied of glorious times : nor above one im
pious writer of any note (and he not pretending to the ministry,)
that hath laid down principles to encourage men in wickedness
and irreligion. And therefore, if we will notwithstanding run
on in ,our evil courses, it is a sign we have no heart to any thing
else ; but that this is our inclination, nay, our resolution, and
that we being unreformable must perish, because we have no
mind to be saved in God's way, but to hurry on to destruction
in our own.
Never any nation perhaps perished, if we must be undone,
against so much reason, against such plain warnings, against so
many mercies to invite us to do better, and so many judgments
to deter us from our evil ways ; against so many convincing in
structions, clear and rational arguments, solid confutations, not
only of all lewd and atheistical principles, but of popery and of
all fanatical doctrines. There can be nothing therefore pleaded
in our behalf; but we must be left as the man Avithout a wed
ding garment, perfectly speechless. A sad and most wretched
condition ! Sad, because we shall be extremely miserable ; and
sad, because we shall not be able to say why we were so frantic,
as against so many restraints to cast ourselves into such
miseries. Which I beseech you let every one of us, for our parts, en
deavour to prevent by timely repentance, never to be repented
of, for that is the thing I have shown you still wanting for our
preservation. And I must tell you further, in the last place,
6. That as the case now stands, it is not an ordinary repent
ance and reformation that will serve the turn. We are gone
too far, I doubt, towards ruin, to be delivered without some ex
traordinary endeavours to put a stop to it : and therefore I must
say to you for a conclusion of all, as our Lord Christ doth to the
lukewarm church of Laodicea" : Be zealous therefore, and re
pent. Repentance is not sufficient for the recovery of a church,
when there is great apostasy and defection in faith and in man-
° Rev. iii. 19.

26 A sermon on the late fast. sbrm. vii-
ners ; but we must join zeal with it, which is a pious warmth in
our affections for all that is good and virtuous, and that will
certainly do the business. We need not fear then the most des
perate enemies, no, not our sins ; but look upon all the judgments
God hath sent upon us, as tokens of his love to us, if they
awaken us to zealous repentance. For so our Saviour there
encourages us to hope in the words foregoing : As many as I
love I rebuke and chasten ; be zealous, therefore and repent.
There would be some hope of us, if we could but see that indif-
ferency, that chilness, nay, deadness which is in too many spirits,
turned into a warm, nay, burning zeal, both in the service of
God, and for his service.
I. Be zealous therefore first in your devotions, of which I
have spoken something already. But let me again beseech you
to stir up yourselves to make your supplications to God with
more inflamed affection, for the king, for the parliament, for
the bishops and pastors of the flock of Christ, for the magis
trates, for one another ; that all and every of these in their
several places may attend their duty and perform it faithfully
and zealously. Instead of finding fault, as the manner is, with
this and the other person whose actions do not please us, let us
fall upon our knees, and with fervent prayers entreat the Divine
Majesty that he will bend their hearts to study to do those
things which are pleasing and acceptable in his sight, and to
do them with all their might, remembering there is no work nor
device in the grave, whither they are going.
We tell God every day in the collect for our sovereign Lord
the king, that we most heartily beseech him, " he may alway
incline to God's will and walk in his way." 0 that there were
indeed such a heart in us, as Moses speaks, and that we would
constantly with more fervour than ever put up that petition for
his majesty : beseeching him also by whom kings reign, to " be
his defender and keeper," and not to suffer any of the sons of
violence to approach to do him hurt !
With the hke ardent zeal should we daily say the following
prayer for the queen, his royal highness, and all the royal
family, that " he would endue them with his holy Spirit, and
enrich them with his heavenly grace." Of which things did
we make a greater conscience, and were not careless and frozen
in our devotions, we might hope to obtain that which we so

SERM. VII. A sermon on the late fast. 27
much desire, a clearer discovery of the snares our enemies have
laid for us.
For which I beseech you to pray with all the ardour that
you are able to raise up in your hearts, that God would bring
to light still more and more the hidden works of darkness. Be
importunate with him who sees into the greatest secrets, to lay
bare to the very bottom all the wicked contrivances that are
against us.
Call upon him likewise with the same fervour, that he would
" endue his ministers with righteousness," and inspire them
with such courage that they may behave themselves like men
who have not received the spirit of fear, but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind".
Pray also that he would raise up the spirits of those who are
assembled in the high court of parhament, to consult for our
good, unto the loftiest pitch of Christian resolution, wisdom, and
integrity. Beseech him to send among them a spirit of might
and power, whereby they may act so resolutely and worthily,
that if any be false they may be daunted, if any be fainthearted
they may be encouraged.
Finally, pray that all the Lord's people may watch and stand
fast in the faith, quit themselves like men, be strong ; and do
all their things in charity, loving one another with a pure
heart fervently V.
II. But we must not content ourselves merely with this zeal
in our devotions, we must be zealous also of good works. Tit. ii.
ult. In order to this, (which is all the time will now give me
leave to mention,) every soul of us must bestir himself to give a
severe check to all vicious affections and actions, and to root
them out of himself and his family, and wheresoever he hath
any power ; looking upon these as the greatest traitors in the
nation. And since true zeal will always begin at home, where
we have most power to reform, let every man search out with
great care, and cast out with great indignation, whatsoever he
finds in himself that is contrary to his religion ; having a holy
jealousy over himself, lest any thing should escape his strictest
examination. For why should we think that God will preserve
our religion, and maintain it against those that seek to destroy
it, if we make no other use of it but only to fillus with vain con-
o [2 Tim. i. 7.] P I Cor. xvi, 13, 14. i Pet. i. 22.

28 A sermon on the late fast. sebm. vii.
fidences of his love and favour while we continue in our im
purities ? If we have any love to it, any value for it, let it have
its due effects upon us, by purging us from those things which
disparage it, that we may be vessels of honour, sanctified and
meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good
ivork'i. And in what work can they that have authority
better employ themselves, than in setting themselves to chas
tise evildoers, to reform all abuses in the places where they
live, to discover all workers of iniquity, and to pursue them,
when they are discovered, with a just indignation, and bring
them to condign punishment ? They are very useless if they
neglect this, and have little love to their Master and his reli
gion ; which had such power over men's hearts heretofore, that
even after they had left their first love, and declined in their
affection to Christianity, they had so much zeal remaining as
not to be able to bear them ivhich were evil. It is our
Saviour's character of the church of Ephesus, Rev. ii. 2, 4,
among whose works (though short of what they did at first,
ver. 5) he reckons this for one, and commends them for trying
them which said they were apostles, and were not, and for
finding them to be liars.
III. Which will lead me to the last thing I am to press upon
you, and that is, to be zealous for the defence of our religion.
Godly zeal, I suppose you all know, is nothing else but the
affection of love to God, raised to the pitch of fervency, which
will not let us endure any hurt or contempt should be offered
to that which he loves, if we can remedy it. Now what doth
he love more than true religion? which the purer it is the
dearer without all doubt it is to him that hates aU iniquity.
And where, I beseech you, can you find any religion which in
this regard may be compared with that which is by law here
estabhshed? which deserves therefore all the zeal you can
express for its preservation, and at this time calls for all the
zeal that it deserves. For it is lost, in all likelihood, without
every man's zeal in his place to save it. We are undone if we
have not a heat, activity, and courage proportionable to theirs
that seek to destroy it.
And is it not a shame that false religion should make men
more busy and active, more bold and undaunted, than true
1 2 Tim. ii. 21.

seem. vii. a sermon on the late fast. 29
reUgion doth those who have so long professed it, and been
instructed in the worth and excellency of it? Or do we expect
to have it preserved without so much ado ? Are we such fools
as to imagine, that if we defend ourselves weakly, faintly, and
timorously, when they assault us not only resolutely, but boldly
and furiously, we shall get the victory ? No, the magistrates
must do all that is in their power to execute his majesty's com
mand for the finding out and expeUing those that oppose it.
And they that are not magistrates must give them their assist
ance, and quicken those that are. Call upon all your acquaint
ance who have any power or interest to be honest and upright,
to preserve their integrity, and not be tempted by any thing in
this world to betray their religion. And tell them it is not
enough to be upright, but they must be diligent and zealous ;
because now is the time for every man to show himself, and to
do all that lawfully he may for the honour and safety of his
rehgion. There are no other bounds that I know of which we
are to set to our zeal for our rehgion, but only this; that we do
nothing contrary to it. Whatsoever it allows, it now requires,
that we may not lose it. We must not suffer our zeal to be
damped by politic considerations, respect to our private interest,
and desire to please men ; but waving all these, take care only
that others be not wronged by it, while we suffer perhaps very
much in our own concerns.
For he knows nothing of the nature of holy zeal who doth
not feel it transport him to act beyond himself, and to make
him quite forget his own private concerns, which he thinks of
no further than as they are included in the public good.
There can be no other meaning of that which the apostles
apply to our Saviour, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up^,
than this, that he regarded not his own particular interest, nor
minded what he was likely to suffer, but all thoughts of it were
swallowed up in his zeal to serve God. Who will not be served
indeed by our private passions and evil affections, but doth
expect that we should not consult with the wisdom of this
world, which is for suffering nothing, but avoiding all that may
hurt and prejudice us, though God may be thereby very much
honoured. And therefore his wisdom (of which we ought to
* John ii. 17.

30 A sermon on the late fast. seem. vii.
take counsel) bids us forget the damage we may suffer, and lay
aside all thoughts of ourselves ; so we may but promote his
glory. When we have any hope of that, we must hearken to
no other advice but that of the apostle. Not slothful in busi
ness ; but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord*. We would be
glad perhaps to follow the other reading of the last part of
that verse, serving the time ; but not in the right sense :
serving the time, by serving the Lord faithfully in our several
stations. This he expects from us, this our rehgion and all good men
expect from us ; that at this time when the zealots of the
Romish church are so outrageously set to destroy us, we should
pluck up our spirits, as the phrase is, and imitate, or rather
excel them ; not in that cut-throat zeal (God forbid) which
made the Jewish nation, as it doth them, so infamous ; but in
a just indignation against such barbarous persons and practices,
and in a zealous resolution always burning in our breasts to
defend our rehgion the best we can against their attempts. I
am bold to speak in this manner without any undue transport,
because I find God himself expressing his zealous affection for
the defence of his church in far higher terms than these. Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great
jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury ^.
Do not you then hsten to any motion which may he made to
you, I will not say to leave your rehgion, but to be remiss and
not so zealous for it. Think what a dishonour it will be to
you, and how it wih endanger it, if when so many bend their
tongues like their bow for lies, you should not be valiant for
the truth : which was the charge that Jeremy brought against
Jerusalem ^, but I hope will never be your guilt ; who nave
such a religion to defend as will not let you be cowards, if you
understand the difference between it and that which opposes it.
Consider it, I beseech you, beforehand, that if anybody should
attack you with arguments to desert it, you maj be steadfast
arid unmovable, in nothing terrified by your adversaries.
when they tell you popery will prevail notwithstanding all oui
endeavours to keep it out. Resolve it shall never prevail over
your souls, whatsoever may become of your bodies ; but as you
t Rom. xii. II. 1 Zach. viii. 2. x Jer, ix. q

SBRM. vn. A sermon on the late fast. 31
now pray solemnly God will not leave us, so you will fortify
yourselves impregnably against all persuasions to leave him by
quitting your rehgion.
Do not so much as stoop to hearken to any such seducement,
but considering, as I said, well beforehand what it is you must
leave, and for what, (if you forsake the communion of this
church,) stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, (in perfect
unity,) striving together for the faith of the gospel. So I may
truly call our religion here established, from which if you
should depart, you leave the old way of serving God for new
inventions. For you forsake a rehgion wherein God is purely
worshipped, for one that joins saints and angels with him. You
forsake a church that prays to God alone through the interces
sion of Christ Jesus, for one that prays to saints in the very
same form of words wherein they pray to him. You leave the
holy Scriptures to follow uncertain traditions ; and part with
your Bibles for legends and fabulous stories. You go away
from prayers and hymns you understand, to a service in an
unknown tongue. Instead of the whole sacrament you must be
content with half, or rather with none at all. For it is certain,
where the blood of Christ is not imparted to you as shed, or
poured out of the body, (as it is not in the Roman church,) it is
not communicated at all, and the people have no fellowship
with Christ in his death, being deprived of his blood which was
shed for the remission of sins.
Instead of sure and certain comfort, you must rely in all holy
offices upon mere uncertainties ; for if the priest's intention be
wanting, (of which none can be sure,) there is no baptism, no
communion, no orders, no priesthood, no church. And conse
quently you leave the worshipping of Christ for a worship
which for any thing you know may be mere idolatry. For in
case there be no transubstantiation, but the bread and wine
still remain after the consecration, they themselves have acknow
ledged it is idolatry to worship them. Now we are sure there
is no transubstantiation, and it is impossible that they should be
sure there is, (even according to their own principles, because
they can never be sure the priest actually intends to do what
Christ commanded ; and then nothing is done ;) and therefore
they can never be sure that they are not idolaters.
If you join with those of Rome, all the ancient councils must

32 A sermon on the late fast. seem. vii.
signify nothing with you, in comparison with one late con
venticle ; which was no better than a conspiracy of a few men
against the church of Christ. You must quit a church which
teaches you to be subject to the king as supreme, for one that
teaches you to be subject in the first place to the pope ; ex
change a church that requires of all its members the strictest
obedience to their governor, for one that at least suffers the
most rebelhous principles to pass for Christian doctrine ; and
the most bloody murders to pass for Christian, if not meri
torious actions. You must leave a church that bids you look
about you, and see that you be in the right, for one that would
put out your eyes, and bids you blindly follow them : a church
that, in St. Paul's words, requires you to prove all things, for
one that requires you to renounce your reason, nay, common
sense, that you may believe the greatest absurdities.
If you leave the established religion, you forsake a church
whose service is performed in a plain and grave, a comely and
decent manner, for one that is burdened with more ceremonies
by far than are contained in all the law of Moses. You depart
from a church which only seeks the good of your souls and
the glory of God in all its ministrations, for one that is ap
parently contrived for enriching the priests, and for the glory
of the pope. You leave a church which teaches you to live
piously, or else gives you no hopes of salvation, for one that in
dulges men to live as they list, and yet not utterly perish at
the last. A church you abandon that is mild and gentle to
those that are deceived, for the sake of one that prosecutes all
those who dissent from it with fire and faggot, massacres and
unheard-of butcheries. Nay, you relinquish a church that is
very charitable in her opinions and censures, for one that damns
all those to the pit of hell, though never so blameless in their
lives and steadfast behevers in the three ancient creeds, if they
be not of their communion.
You leave a rehgion which proclaims that marriage is ho
nourable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers
and adulterers God will judge, for one that strictly forbids
her priests to marry, but connives at their fornication. That
is, you leave a rehgion in which you are taught to have the
greatest regard to the commands of Christ, for one wherein
you may more safely break many of his precepts than one of

sebm. vii. A sermon on the late fast. 33
the laws of the church. To conclude, you leave a reUgion which
is sincere, and void of all deceit and fraud, for one which cheats
men with hallowed trinkets, (such as roses, beads, swords,
agnus Dei, and other waxen ware,) whereby they draw vast
sums of money from the simple, for mere toys and baubles.
They that consider not the case may look upon all this as an
invective, which, in truth, is but a bare narrative : and no more
than is necessary to be said, our enemies themselves being
judges, at such a time as this. For they would look upon us, I
am confident, as a company of despicable wretches, if we should
not dare on such an occasion to speak for our religion. Which
teaches us after the example of St. Paul to be jealous over you
with a godly jealousy : fearing lest by any means, as the ser
pent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in ChristJ. In which
you ought to preserve yourselves, and not admit of the Romish
mixtures, whereby the simple rehgion of Christ is adulterated,
if you have any regard either to your souls, or your bodies, or
your estates, which are all in danger. Be zealous therefore in
your religion, and for your religion. Show that you mean
not to leave it, (for that is, in effect, to leave your reason, that
you may be robbed of your faith,) nor to leave off your most
vigorous endeavours to preserve it.
And truly we have the greatest cause to be thus zealous,
both in our prayers and in our endeavours to fortify ourselves
and one another, to rouse up our courage, to maintain what
God hath so long by many wonderful providences maintained
and preserved : because he doth not seem to have a mind to
leave us, if we will not basely desert him and his cause.
For mark, I beseech you, what encouragement he gives us
to hope, that notwithstanding our vile requitals of all his loving-
kindness we may be delivered, if we will at last take such a
pious course as I have described.
First of all, he hath graciously heard the prayers of his
faithful people, who have often besought him that " he would
bring to nought all the evils which the craft and subtilty of the
devil or man worketh against us." He hath strangely, when
we looked not for it, detected their secret counsels ; and thereby
y 2 Cor. xi. 2, 3.
PATRICKj VOL. VIII. B

34 '" A sermon on the late fast. sbrm. vii.
dehvered our sovereign (whom God long preserve) from the
detestable design which was against his hfe. This was the
Lord's doing alone, and it ought to be marvellous in our eyes;
and excite us to do all we can for our own preservation, seeing
he hath done so much already. For unless the Lord had
been our help, our souls had quickly dwelt in silence ^.
Another encouragement is the happy agi'eement hitherto be
tween the two houses of parliament : who both are industrious to
make further discoveries of those ungodly devices which are m
part come to hght, and to provide the best means they can
think of for our safety.
His majesty's gracious declaration also, that he is " ready to
join with them in all the ways and means that may establish a
firm security of the protestant religion as our own hearts can
wish,'' is a further encouragement.
But the greatest of all is, that God hath done all hitherto for
us himself, for his own name's sake ; notwithstanding our high
provocations. There hath been little of man seen in aU this
business, or in any of our former deliverances, which have been
a succession of miraculous works, for the preservation of this
church and kingdom. We cannot say that it was the prudence,
the diligence, the watchfulness of our counsellors which brought
to light the deeds of darkness, but G^d's infinite mercy alone
who touched the heart of one man to reveal those secrets,
which, for the present, hath dashed their designs in pieces.
As confident as they were, they are fallen short of their aim ;
and the prey is snatched, as it were, out of their very teeth.
They opened their mouth against us, they hissed, and gnashed
their teeth, but have not as yet been able to say. We have
swallowed them up, certainly this is the day that we looked
for : we have found it, we have seen it a. No, blessed be the
Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth : which
we may very well look upon as a token for good, saying with
David, By this I know that thou favourest me, because my
enemy doth not triumph over me ^. When they were in so
fair a way to it, then to be disappointed of their triumph, is a
manifest sign, I think, that God hath a kindness for us : and
may encourage us to say when we see them rave, and hear
^ Psalm .xciv. 17. * Lam. il. 16. b Psalm xh. 11.

SEBM. vn. A sermon on the late fast. 35
them still brag that the day shall be their own, Talk no more
so exceeding proudly, let not arrogance come forth out of your
mouth ; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him
actions are weighed. He will keep the feet of his saints, and
the wicked shall be silent in darkness : for by strength shall
no man prrevail ".
Did we thus religiously depend upon him, and trust in him,
I am very confident he would still defeat our enemies, and not
suffer them, howsoever they may boast, to triumph over us ;
even for this very reason, because they are so insolent and bar
barous. That is a new thing to be considered for our encou
ragement. The savage cruelty and bloodiness of their designs
against those among whom they lived peaceably, and who have
been kind as well as gentle to them, is an argument that God
abhors them as much as we can do ; and that he will confound
them, if we do not provoke him to abhor us and cast us off, for
our ingratitude and gross negligence in that rehgion which hath
been so often most wondrously preserved. We may make the
same complaint to God that David did, and thereby move him
to pity us ; that they are not only our enemies wrongfully,
but have rendered us evil for good, aud hatred for our good
will^ : which is the character of the worst natures in the world.
It would have been easy for us, were we so disposed as we
find them to be, to have destroyed them all long ago : our
numbers and strength being" so vastly greater that nothing
could have restrained us from it, but only this, that our religion
is better. Which may make us hope God will be further mer
ciful to us ; and not let them prevail, who are emboldened by
nothing else to attempt to destroy us, but by this alone, that
we are taught to be so kind to them as not to destroy them.
If David made this an argument why God should defend
him from those that rose up against him, because they were
gathered together, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, 0
Lord, as he speaks Psalm lix. 3 ; we may much more urge
the same motive, with a little alteration of his words, saying,
Deliver us from the workers of iniquity, save us from bloody
men. For lo, they lie in wait for us ; the mighty are gathered
together against us ; not for our transgression, nor for our
sin, 0 Lord, (but quite contrary, because our fear of thee
<= I Sam. ii. 3, 9. * [Psalm Ixix. 4; cix. 5.]
D 2

36 A sermon on the late fast. seem. vn.
forbids us to destroy them.) They run and prepare themselves
without our fault: awake to help us, and behold the danger
wherein we are. Thou therefore, 0 Lord God of hosts, the
God of Israel, awake to visit them: be not mercifid to any
wicked transgressor. Consume them in wrath, consume them
that they may not be : and let them know that God (not they)
rideth here, and unto the ends of the earth.
And it is a singular comfort surely to know, and steadfastly
believe, that as the Psalmist saith elsewhere, (Psalm xcix. i
according to the old translation,) The Lord is King, be the
jyeople never so impatient ; he sitteth between the cherubims,
(i. e. governs the world,) be the earth never so unquiet. Upon
him therefore let us depend, and commend ourselves piously to
his protection, and we need not fear all the power on earth that
they can raise against us. As for their interest in heaven, we
are sure it is very small ; For if the Lord had not been on onr
side, xvhen they rose up against us ; then they had swallowed
us up quick, when they were so wrathfully displeased at us.
They depended, it is like, very much upon their supposed
interest in the saints : whom they ply hard with their prayers,
and it is probable besought their help very earnestly upon this
occasion. For I find they have relied upon them more than
they are willing to confess, in former times : particularly when
the Spaniards invaded us with their armada called invincible.
An image then of the blessed virgin, famous as they pretend
for miracles both on the sea and land, was brought in great
pomp from Del Puig to the great church of the city of Valencia.
And there a solemn litany was sung to her upon the 17th of
July, being Sunday, 1588 ; part of which I shall recite, (out of
Ferdinando Texeda ^,) that you may see how little credit is to
be given to them, when they tell you they only desire the
saints to pray for them.
" We sinners beseech thee to hear us : that thou wouldst
impetrate true repentance for us,
We beseech thee to hear us.

"¦ [A Spanish monk, converted to the Litany addressed to the Virgin
the Church of England. In his Mary among the reasons which in-
book entitled Hispanus conversus, duced him to abandon the Romish
dedicated to Edward lord Conway, communion, — -p. 15. 4to, Lond.
then secretary of state, he recites 1623.]

SERM. VII. A sermon on the late fast. 37
" That thou wouldst take care to preserve the apostolic see,
and all ecclesiastical orders in holy religion,
We beseech thee to hear us.
" That all storms allayed, thou wouldst conduct the catholic
fleet of the catholic king in safety to the desired haven.
We beseech thee to hear us.
" That thou wouldst make the catholic fleet of the catholic
king victorious over savage heretics.
We beseech thee to hear us.
" That thou wouldst smite the obstinate heretics of England
with fear and trembling,
We beseech thee to hear us."
I omit the rest, because this is sufficient to show where their
great strength hes, (as to the other world,) which, as it failed
then, so no doubt it ever will in time to come. For they are
instigated to their bloody attempts by another sort of invisible
powers, who, if God permit, may give them indeed very great
assistance. But the blessed virgin and the saints, if they know
what is doing here, we are well assured will pray against them,
and join with us (without our supplicating their favour) in such
humble requests as these :
0 God, to whom vengeance belongeth; 0 God, to whom
vengeance belongeth, show thyself.
Lift up thyself, thou judge of tlie earth : render a reward
to the proud.
Lord, how long shall tlie wicked, how long shall the wicked
triumph ?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things ? and all
the workers of iniquity boast themselves « ?
And if I put into your mouths a whole Psalm appointed to be
read this morning, (and composed in some such distress as now
presses us,) with such alterations as may make it applicable to
our condition, I am confident I shall neither offend the saints
in heaven nor the saints on earth.
Psalm Ixxxiii.
Keep not thou silence, 0 God : hold not thy peace, and be
not still, 0 God. - Psalm xciv. 1-4.

38 A sermon on the late fast. seem. vii.
For lo, thine enemies make a tumult : and they that hate
thee have lift up tlie head.
They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and
consulted against thy hidden ones.
They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a
church : that their name may be no more in remembrance.
For they have consulted together with one consent : they are
confederate against thee.
We cannot tell their numbers, and their combinations ; hke
those of Edom and Ishmael, &c.
But do thou unto them as unto the armada of which they
boasted : and as unto the gunpowder conspirators, &c.
0 our God, make them like a wheel ; as the stubble before
the wind.
As the fire burneth the wood, and as the flame setteth the
mountains on fire ;
So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid
with thy storm.
Fill their faces with shame ; that they may seek thy name,
0 Lord: (that great happiness we wish them with all our
hearts.) Let them be confounded and troubled for ever ; yea, let
them be put to shame, and perish :
That they may know that thou, whose name alone is JE
HOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE KING,
ON THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT,
DEC. 8, 1678.

A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE KING.

Romans xv. 4. beginning.
Fon' whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning.
The holy scriptures are so full a storehouse of all divine
learning, and we are so frequently exhorted to repair thither
for our constant instruction, that as there is no excuse for those
who would lock them up from the people of God, and not suffer
them to look into them, so they are no less worthy to be con
demned, who will not look into them when they may, nor take
any care to enrich their minds with those heavenly treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, which the royal Psalmist thought more
precious than thousands of gold and silver.
To correct this neghgence, our church now calls upon us to
pray, in the collect for this second week in Advent, that we
" may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest them, that by patience and comfort of his holy Word,
we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of ever
lasting hfe ;" which is infinitely more worth than all our pre
sent possessions in this world.
Now that we may do according to our prayers, mark, I be
seech you, the first words of the epistle for this day, which I
have now read unto you : in which the apostle commends to us
the study of the holy scriptures, from the benefit we may
receive by them ; even by those parts of them which may
seem to you perhaps very barren, or little conducing to the
profit of Christian people. For, first of all, we may learn
something, he tells us, for our Christian instruction, out of
those Scriptures which were written aforetime, in ancient days,
before the advent or coming of our Saviour Christ. And, se
condly, this instruction is to be met withal in every part of

42 A sermon sebm. viii.
these ancient writings ; for he says. Whatsoever things were
written heretofore, in the sacred volumes, were written for our
learning. There is nothing unprofitable, nothing needless and
superfluous in them, but all tends to edification. Nor were
they written (you may further consider, in the third place) for
their benefit alone who lived when they were written ; but /or
our learning also, who hve in the days of Christ. For what
soever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning. For the clearer understanding of all which particulars, you
may be pleased to observe, that these words seem to come in as
an answer to a tacit objection of such as might fancy the scrip
tures of the Old Testament did not appertain to Christians, or
contained nothing of Christ in them. For the apostle had just
before quoted a place out of the Psalms of David, and applied
it to our Saviour ; Who did not please himself; but as it is
written. The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on
me^. And then (to prevent such an exception as I now men
tioned) immediately adds, For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning. As if he had said,
Do not tell me that David speaks there concerning himself : for,
though that be true, he represented also a greater king than
himself; and in such words as those prophesied of the re
proaches and persecutions of Christ by the scribes and Phari
sees, after the same manner that he suffered by Saul and his
servants. This .plain declaration of the apostle about the Scriptures
written aforetime should have sufficiently secured them, one
would have thought, from all contempt, and preserved a due
reverence towards them in the minds of all those who are called
by the name of Christ. But so desirous the malignant spirit is
to have those holy books thrown out of people's hands, that he
hath stirred up several sects, who have not only aspersed them,
but utterly rejected them, as useless and unprofitable, nay,
dangerous and hurtful. In the answer to whose allegations I
shall fully explain my text, and show how every part of those
holy books, which were written before Christ's coming, contain
something for our learning and instruction.
* Psalm Ixix. 9.

sebm. vm. preached before tlie king. 43
And for our clearer proceeding, I think it will be necessary
to observe, that the first blasphemers of the Scriptures of the
Old Testament were they who introduced the doctrine of two
Gods ; one an evil being, the God of the Hebrews ; the other a
good and gracious being, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The ringleader of these, in all probability, was
Simon Magus the Samaritan, who was followed by a rabble of
vile people, such as Basilides, Carpocras, Valentinus, and a num
ber more whose names are not worth the remembering. Who,
though they did not profess his name, yet followed his opinion,
as IrensBus'' speaks. " For whosoever they were," saith he,
" that adulterated the truth, and spoiled the doctrine of the
church, they were all the disciples and successors of this man."
Nobody doubts but the Gnostics were, who " are said, among
the rest of their doctrines, to have had this, of a good God and
an evil God." They are the words of St. Austin^, in the con
clusion of the account he gives us of their heresy : which was
followed no doubt by Marcion, Apelles, and their disciples ;
who openly maintained this, to the great scandal of our religion.
For from hence I suppose it was that Celsus the philosopher
took occasion to charge Christians with this detestable opinion ;
that they held " an execrable God" (©eos Karripaiiivos) " oppo
site to the great God of all." But they cleared themselves so
well of this crimination, in their admirable writings, that they
neither left any colour for it, nor any considerable person that
durst maintain it. Till, not long before the days of St. Austin,
there started up a Persian, whose surname was Manes ; who,
following other ancient heretics, (as St. Austin's words are<i,)
revived this opinion, when it was in a manner dead and buried ;
and from him it was ever after called the heresy of the Mani-
chees. Who held two first co-eternal principles of all things,
diverse from, and adverse to each other : (as he also speaks) as
opposite as hght and darkness ; the one a good, the other an
evil being.
Now the doctrine of these men, concerning the holy scrip
tures, was conformable to their first foul opinion concerning
God, and may be comprehended in these five propositions :
•> Lib. i. c. 30. [ed. Ben. cap. 27. col. 7 B.]
tomvi. p. 106.] "^ Cap. xlvi. de Haeres. [torn, viii.
¦= Cap. vi. de Heres. [-tom, viii. col. 13.]

44 A sermon seem. viii.
First, they said that the writings of the Old Testament were
from the evil principle :
Secondly, that they belonged only to the Jews, not to
Christians. Thirdly, that they were not profitable for the confirmation
of faith, nor
Fourthly, for the teaching good manners, but rather de
structive to them ; and,
Lastly, that they contradicted the New Testament of our
Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus.
The folly of which, if I may have leave briefly to represent,
it will be the clearest explication I can give of these words of
St. Paul, and let you see how much we may learn, even out of
the Scriptures which were written aforetime,
I.
The first of them (viz. that the writings of the Old Testa
ment were from the evil principle, the Law and the Prophets
being dictated by bad angels,) is such a senseless blasphemy,
that I should have wholly omitted it, were it not for the reason
now mentioned; that it gives a fair occasion to show there is
something worth our learning even in such historical passages
of the old Scriptures as seem less instructive. For St. Paul
having plainly declared that the law and the gospel had the
same author, when he saith. The law was our schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ^, proceeds in the next chapter of that
epistle to illustrate this most elegantly from the history of
Abraham, who had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the
other by a freewoman^ : the first of which was born after the
flesh, but the other was by promise. Which things, saith he,
ver. 24, are an allegory ; for these are the two covenants or
testaments ; the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to
bondage, the other from Jerusalem or Sion, which is free, the
mother of us all.
Where we learn these two things. First, that even in such
historical relations as these the apostles read diviner things,
which they saw there he hid and concealed. For that is his
meaning when he saith. These things are an allegory ; aliud
e Gal. iii. 24. ' Gal. iv. 22.

SEBM. VIII. preached before the king. 45
portendentia, (as Tertullian expounds it s,) ' a speech about
another matter, portending something else than at first sight
appears.' For he clearly discerned that under the names and
actions of Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael, God was
pleased to foreshadow what he intended to do in future times,
both at the giving of the law, and when he sent his Son to
preach the gospel. And secondly, we learn, that as those two
wives of very different condition had but one and the same
husband, who was the father of those two children ; so the two
Testaments, the old and the new, which were represented by
those two women, belong to one and the same God ; who
brings forth and breeds up his children under various dispen
sations, but is the father of all those who lived piously under
the Old Testament, as well as of those who live so under the
New. This is the necessary consequence of the apostle's discourse.
If those two wives and their children were an allegory of the two
Testaments, and of those who were born and bred under them,
then as those two children had the same father though different
mothers, so the two Testaments have the same original; though
they be dispensations as different as the bondwoman and the
free. There cannot be a more evident confutation of the false
principles of these men than this observation of the apostle :
who in the beginning of this epistle calls himself an apostle
separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised
afore by his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his
Son Jesus Christ our Lord^ ; and in the entrance of the
Epistle to the Hebrews openly avows that the same God, who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in tliese last days spoken unto us by his
Son. But I shall not trouble you any further in so manifest a
business, having thus far obtained my end ; which was to show
that the historical books are not unuseful, but more serviceable
than many imagine ; not merely because they relate the won
derful providence of God over that people for whose use they
were first written, in blessing them when they were faithful to
him, and punishing them when they revolted from him ; but
B L. V. contra Marcionem, c. 4. [p. 465 B.] ^ Rom. i. i, 2.

46 A sermon seem. vni.
because they contain many secret representations of things
belonging to the person and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ. II.
The next part of their wicked doctrine was, that the Old
Testament did not belong to Christians, but only to the Jews.
This Faustus the Manichee (against whom St. Austin wrote
thirty-three books) endeavoured to persuade by his natural
eloquence and smooth way of speaking, (for which he was
famous',) without any judgment or reason at all. For it is
directly confuted by the words of my text, as if the apostle
intended to anticipate such an objection, and prevent the
entrance of this extravagant conceit into anybody's mind. The
absurdity of which appears also further from hence, that the
promises made in the Old Testament belong to us Christians,
who are therefore concerned in the Testament itself. Which
is a consideration to which St. Paul directs us in the epistle for
this day, a little below my text ; ver. 8. Now I say, that
Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision, sent, that is,
to preach the gospel unto the Jews, for the truth of God ; to
justify, that is, the faithfulness of God who promised to send
him, as it foUows, to confirm the promises made unto the
fathers ; that is, make good those promises he had passed to
them in ancient time, among which this was the chief, that he
would send a person into the world in the fulness of time, in
whom all nations should be blessed. So it follows, ver. 9, lo,
&c. And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy;
as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among
the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith.
Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again. Praise the
Lord, all ye Gentiles; &c. And again, Esaias saith. He
that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the
Gentiles trust. All which places of the old Scriptures are
aUeged to show, that though this was the grand privilege of
the Jews, that God had expressly obliged himseK by promises
to their fathers to send his Son Christ to them, of which pro
mises the Gentiles, i. e. people of other nations, were whoUy
ignorant, and knew not a syhable of this grace; yet God
' See St. Aust. Confessions, 1. v. cap. 3 and 6. [tom. i. coll. 109, 11.]

SEEM. VIII. preached before the king. 47
intended to be so merciful as to make aU the world partakers
of those promises which the Jews alone had recorded in their
.holy books. Which the apostle proves was agreeable to the
books themselves wherein these promises were contained. For
they predicted that the Gentiles also should rejoice in God, and
praise him, and sing unto his name, because Christ the Son of
David should reign over them as well as his ancient people,
and they should place their hope and trust in him. This he
urges from more places of the Old Scriptures (as well of the
law of Moses, as of the Prophets and Psalms, as you will find
if you take the pains to examine them) than he alleges for the
proof of any one thing whatsoever ; for this great reason, that
the Gentiles might be the more confirmed and settled in the
faith of the gospel when they saw it was brought to them not
by the will of man, but by the good pleasure and counsel of
God, long before predicted in the holy Scriptures of truth.
This is a plain demonstration how much we are concerned in
the Scriptures written aforetime ; whose true learning the
same apostle shows in another place is not understood by the
Jews, but only by Christians ; to whom the grace of God is
translated, which is taken away from the other, tUl they also
believe on Christ Jesus. Read 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15, where he
saith, their minds are blinded, and that they have a vail upon
them in the reading of the Old Testament; which vail is done
away in Christ, i. e. when men become Christians. But even
unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their
heart: nevertheless when it (their heart) shall turn to the
Lord (our Saviour Christ), the vail shall be taken away, and
not till then. Which is an evidence that we have more benefit by
the Scriptures written aforetime than the Jews themselves, till
they also turned Christians ; and abundantly confirms that pithy
saying of Tertullian, (which comprehends all that need be said
in this argument,) Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus
Testarnentum in Novo patet ; ' the New Testament hes hid in
the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed and discovered in
the New.' And so I have done with the second cavil of these
men against the Old Testament. III.
The third part of their impious doctrine about this matter

48 A sermon seem. viii.
was, that the Scriptures written aforetime were unprofitable for
the confirmation of our faith. Which is directly against the
whole scope of the apostle in this place, and is confuted in ex
press terms by our blessed Lord himself in several places of the
last chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. Where,
speaking of his passion to two of his disciples, ver. 25, 27, he
upbraided them that they were such fools and slow of heart to
believe what the prophets had spoken: and beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning himself. And not long after,
appearing to all the apostles, and eating with them, he said,
ver. 44, These are the words which I spake unto you while I
was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in
the psalms, concerning me. And then opening their under
standing, that they might understand the Scripture, he said.
Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and
to rise again the third day, Sfc. So abominably false it is
which those heretics were wont to assert, that in the Old Tes
tament there was no testimony concerning Christ. They are
the words of Faustus, as they are reported by St. Austin k, and
may well make us wonder how any men that were called by
his name should arrive at such a boldness as to contradict
Christ himself, who proved all things concerning himself out of
those ancient books.
But this it is to be proud and self-conceited ; to be forward
to teach ', before men have learnt ; to be addicted to a sect, and
to love to contradict ; to be engaged early in a party, and then
to stop one's ears against the means of information ; to be
carried away with a strong antipathy to that which men do not
understand, nor have duly weighed and considered. Against
ah which vices the Scriptures caution us sufficiently, if we mean
to understand them : telhng us plainly" that if we will not
purge ourselves from such ih humours, we shall become vain in
our imaginations, and our foolish hearts wdll be darkened.
Witness the fooHsh exception that these men took to the books
of Moses, because they represented God, according to their
k Lib. xii. contra Faust, c. 1, 2. 1 Vid. S. Austin. Confess. 1. v.
[tom. viii. col. 225 sqq.] c. 5. [tom. i. col. no F.]

SEEM. VIII. preached before the king. 49
imagination, as desirous of the blood and fat of beasts, which
he required to be offered in sacrifice to him. Whereas nothing
is more manifest, than that God himself by the prophets (who
spake, as they acknowledge, by the same Spirit that Moses did)
utterly disclaimed any delight or satisfaction that he took in
mere sacrifices, though never so numerous and costly : nay,
protests that he abominated them, if they were not brought to
his altar with a pious mind, and accompanied with actions of
justice and charity. Which makes it apparent, that it was the
heart of the offerer to which he had regard, and that he looked
upon these but as outward testimonies and significations of a
grateful mind, or of a penitent heart, or of a soul resolved to
devote itself to his service.
I need not add, that they were manifest figures and presig-
nifications of the great sacrifice of Christ Jesus, who hath
purged away our sins by his own blood ; nor take any further
pains to confute these audacious heretics from other places of
holy writ. I will rather take to task a little another sort of
men, no less bold and shameless, who would fain be thought
the greatest enemies to heretics of all men in the world. I
mean them of the Romish religion, who, notwithstanding their
glorious pretences, would be heartily glad if this proposition
could be made good, that the Scriptures written aforetime are
unprofitable for the confirmation of points of faith. For our
writers have so overpowered them with testimonies fetched
from thence, that they are not able to stand before us to defend
the prime article of their present faith ; that article which is
the principal cause of the divisions of Christendom, for whose
sake all other controvei-sies have been craftily kept on foot ; I
mean that of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome <" : which
we utterly confound by beginning at Moses, (to allude to the
words before mentioned,) and so showing through all the
Scriptures written aforetime, that He, and Joshua, and David,
and Solomon, and Asa, and Jehoshaphat, and Hezekias, and
Josias governed the priests and the whole tribe of Levi : " or
dering the time of their waiting and officiating in their courses ;
appointing judges in ecclesiastical causes, and setting presidents
"1 Romae enim subjici, inde pen- ad Tort. p. 8i. [p. 97. ed. 8vo.
dere, haec vestrse religionis summa Oxon. 1851.]
est. — [Launcelot Andrewes] Resp.
PATEICE, VOL. VIII. B

50 A sermon sebm. viii.
over those judges; taking away abuses and corruptions in
rehgion ; commanding the ark to be removed from one place
to another, and calling the people by their proclamations to
come and meet there before the Lord ; requiring the priests to
read the book of the law, and to reduce things to a conformity
with it; renewing the covenant of Moses for reformation of
rehgion; making missions of priests into such parts of the
country as they saw needed their assistance, and (to say no
more) ejecting the high-priest himself, and deposing him from
his office."
Now what say our adversaries to all this ? truly, after many
other poor shifts, they are at last driven thus far to side with
the Manichees as to say, that these things belong not to us :
for that authority which was in kings under the Old Testa
ment is now translated (if you will believe those doctors) unto
the priests under the New. But what man of sense can enter
tain this wild fancy, that kings under the government of Christ
are in a worse condition than they were in under the discipline
of Moses ? Or that Christ should single out kings of all other
men to be injurious to them, and deprive them of their former
rights, when he left everybody else in the very same estate
wherein he found them? Was this our Sa\'iour's business,
(when he came to reign over the Gentiles,) to strip their princes
of their prerogatives, and lessen their power and authority
over their subjects? How detestable would the apostles have
been, if they had broached this doctrine when they went out to
convert the world ! Or shall we be so impious as to think that
St. Paul equivocated, or had some mental reservation, when he
commanded every soul in the Roman church to be subject to
the higher powers ? Mark, I beseech you ; it is upon the
church of Rome that he presses this doctrine (chap, xiii of
this Epistle) more than upon any other church whatsoever : as
if he foresaw there would be an apostasy among them from
this faith. Let every soul be subject : "¦ though thou beest an
apostle, (and the bishop of Rome I hope was never greater
than so,) though an evangehst, though a prophet, or whatsoever
thou beest, thou must be subject :" as St. Chrysostom (whose
words these are) faithfully expounds the apostle's honest
meaning". » [In loc. hom. xxiii. tom. ix. p. 686 B.]

SEEM. viii. preached before the king. 51
And so Christian princes long after his time understood
him ; and did not fear both to assume this authority, and to
justify it when they had done so, after the same manner that
we do, by the example of the kings that ruled over the people
of God before the coming of Christ. Witness, to name one for
all, Charles the Great ; a prince as great in ecclesiastical pohcy
as in feats of arms : who, in his preface to his Capitulary °, tells
the clergy of the empire, " that he had sent his deputies to
them, that they by his authority might, together with them,
correct what stood in need of 'amendment ; according to the
example of the godly king Josias, who endeavoured," saith he,
"to restore the kingdom which God had given him to the
service of the true God ; by going about it, by correcting and
admonishing it, as we read in 2 Kings xxiii."
And they had been very much to blame if they had not taken
this pains. For, as the forenamed St. Chrysostom admirably
speaks in a sermon of his, recorded by one of the writers of his
life P : Ov yap oiVms avrois fieXet Trepl TtoXeixov, ws irepl ckkAjj-
a-las' ovx o^roo Trepl voXeas, as irepl eKK\.ri(rias, ' the care apper
taining to kings is not so much about war, as about the church :
not so much about political affairs, as about the church :' with
whose preservation and safety God having been pleased to en
trust them, he expects they should be as angry with those
who would adulterate his worship therein settled, as Moses was
with Aaron when he had made the golden calf. That very
example is sufficient to show the authority which the civil ma
gistrates have in matters of religion ; with which they ought
not to part, no more than they would with their crowns : nor to
suffer their people to be deprived of these holy books wherein
they may read these things, and thereby be so thoroughly pos
sessed with a sense of their high authority, that they may
never be debauched from their duty. But of that more pre
sently. IV.
Let us first hear what the next exception of the Manichees
was against the Scriptures written aforetime ; which they said
° [In Capit. Aquisgran. A. D. p. 265. [ed. Savill. — scil. Serm. post
DCCLXXXIX. — Mansi, Concill. reditum ab exsilio, tom. iii. ed. Ben.
tom. xiii. append. 3. col. I53-] p. 431 C,]
P Georgius Alexandrinus, tom. ult.
E 2

52 A sermon sebm. vm-
were " unprofitable to teach men good manners ; nay, were de
structive and contrary to them." There are two parts, you see,
of this wicked suggestion ; the first of which is so directly con
futed by St. Paul in another place, that one would think these
men never read the New Testament at aU, nor the Old for any
other end than to carp at it, and frame objections against it.
For in 2 Tim. iii. i6, he expressly says that -naa-a ypacjiri, all
Scripture, (speaking of the Old, for not much of the New was
then extant,) given by inspiration of God, is prof table for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in right
eousness. Upon which words you may be pleased to take this
short gloss. All holy learning consists in being wise and in
being good ; in acquiring of both which the Scriptures, being
divinely inspired, give us singular assistance. As for the first
(Christian wisdom), it consists in knowing the truth, and in re
jecting falsehood. Now behold how profitable the Scriptures
are in both regards : for they are profitable for doctrine,
which is teaching the truth ; and for reproof, which is con
futing the falsehood of error. And then for the second (learn
ing to be good), that consists of two parts more, as the pro
phets instruct us : to cease to do evil, and to learn to do well.
To both which ends also the apostle affirms the holy Scripture
is profitable : for correction, that is, when we do amiss ; and
for instruction in righteousness, to make us do better. And
that (I may add) not only by its precepts, but by its examples :
examples which strongly excite and quicken us to our duty ;
and which mightily deter and withhold us from doing wickedly.
I shall only mention some of the latter sort, which are drawn
up to my hand by St. Paul in the next epistle, i Cor. x., where
he sets before that church the example of the ancient Israelites :
with many of whom God was not well pleased, for they were
overthrown in the wilderness, after he had brought them out
of the bondage of Egypt, ver. 5. And lest they should think
themselves unconcerned in such stories, he adds, ver. 6 — 1 1 :
Now these things were our examples, to the intent that we
should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither
be ye idolaters, as were some of them ; as it is written. The
people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Nei
ther let us commit fornication, as some of them committed,
and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let

SEEM. vm. preached before the king. 53
us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and were destroyed
of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also mur
mured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these
things happened unto them for examples; and they are written
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come. So he concludes, after the same manner as he began,
this pathetical discourse ; which we ought to lay to heart, and
apply to ourselves as much as if he had told us in other words
(which are but an explication of these,) " I would not willingly
have you abuse yourselves with false opinions ; and therefore
do not imagine, I beseech you, that these things which were
done so long ago do not belong to you ; or that the sins I have
mentioned are not so deadly now as they were then : because
those dreadful miracles are ceased, and you see no devouring
fire, no earth gaping to swallow you up, no fiery serpents nor
destroying angel smiting multitudes dead in an instant. For
all these things, that is, these punishments, happened unto
them, or were inflicted upon the old Israelites, /or examples (or
for types, as it is in the margin) of that punishment which (not
withstanding God's wonderful grace to us, in dehvering us out
of a worse slavery than that of Egypt) shall fall more heavily
upon us than upon them, if we be disobedient to him. The
reason is, because we are a diviner and more spiritual people,
of whom they were but the types and figures ; and therefore
can less expect to be indulged in such wickedness as they
smarted so sorely for ; but ought to be warned by their sad
examples, and to look upon these things as recorded for our
admonition ; that we may learn, i. e. to beware of such sins as
those now mentioned, which are far more provoking now than
they were in former times.
But to this those Manichees object (as we find in the fore-
mentioned Faustus"^) that there are abundance of evil examples
in the Old Testament ; which, they fancy, justifies the second
part of this proposition. That the old Scriptures teach things
contrary to good manners. For we find in the lives of the
patriarchs and prophets some things not only blameable, but
very wicked ; as the drunkenness of Noah, the incest of Lot,,
the murder and adultery of David, and such like.
To which I have a plain and true answer ; that even from
r August. I. xxii, cap. i. contra Faust, [tom. viii. col. 363.]

54 A sermon seem. viii.
the recording of these things we may learn very much, if we
will read such parts of the holy Scripture, as we ought to do
all the rest, with a piously disposed mind. I shall niention
four things that those examples teach us, if we be inchned to
make a good use of them. i. Something to confirm our faith.
2. Something to guide the course of our hves. 3. Something
to preserve us from sin. And, 4. Something to recover us, in
case we fall into it.
I. First, I say, they may serve very much to confirm our
faith, and to make us less doubt of the truth of the history of
the Bible. Which, it is manifest, was not invented for the
honour and credit of the Jewish nation, because it faithfully
relates even the foulest blemishes of their noble ancestors;
which, if it had been indited by their private spirit, should
have been carefully concealed. The holy books may be com
pared to a pure looking-glass ; which shows not only the beauty,
the lovely features and comely proportions of those persons
that are represented in it, but all their spots and deformities.
They flatter no man's person, but praise all the actions, even
of bad men, which are worthy of commendation ; and repre
hend all that are otherwise, even in the good and virtuous.
And therefore,
II. We may learn something from these examples for the
guidance of our lives, and reforming our manners ; which is,
to follow precepts, not examples. For examples then alone
are imitable, when they are conformable to those rules which
make them good examples. The best of men may err ; and
therefore we are not so much to mind which way they go, as
which way they ought to go. For there is a rule, by which
they are as much bound to walk as we ; from which if they
swerve, we are to leave them, and stick to that. For against a
rule no examples can be a sufficient warrant. They are so far
from having any such authority, that we are to examine whe
ther the rule itself, by which holy men heretofore governed
their actions, was a general rule, or only particular. For if it
was special and personal, there it must rest ; and the example
of those who obeyed it must not carry it any further. If it do,
we act by our own private authority, and apply to ourselves
things that belonged peculiarly to other men ; and so, doing
such things as they did, without such a warrant, involve our-

SEEM. vm. preached before the king. 55
selves in a guilt of which they were innocent. In short, they
that do not hve regularly themselves cannot be a rule to
others. III. But there is still a good use which we may and ought
to make of such irregular examples. From which we may
learn something that will be a preservative from sin, not an in
centive to it ; and that is, deep humility, a pious fear, with due
caution and circumspection, distrust of ourselves and of our
own strength, with earnest apphcations to God for his gracious
assistance, and a lively faith and confidence in him, as our best
security. For if such great, such holy men fell, and fell so
foully, and bruised themselves so sorely, have not we just cause
to be jealous of ourselves, and to live in a godly fear, lest we
also be tempted, and carried away from our steadfastness ? As
we shall be most certainly, unless we be careful and cautious,
watchful and dihgent ; adhering closely to God by a constant
vigorous sense of him preserved in our minds : which we should
learn to awaken and quicken by frequent reflection upon such
lamentable examples of human weakness and frailty.
IV. From which also we may learn, in case we should be so
unhappy as to be surprised, and fall into sin, something that
may help to recover and restore us. Which is, not to despau'
of God's mercy ; but to hope, by unfeigned repentance, and
greater care for the future, we may obtain a pardon, and be
accepted again into his favour, as they were ; some of whose
repentance is as remarkable, in the ancient story, as their sin.
This is the use we ought to make of such parts of the holy
writings : by which if we will encourage ourselves to be
bold to do wickedly, because such pious men fell into sin ; or
to presume of God's mercy, though we continue in it, and do
not rise again by repentance ; or take occasion to despair
of doing better, because of the deplorable weakness of human
nature; we must be accountable to God for such perverse
abuse of his holy word, which contains no such examples
among all those that it propounds to our imitation.
V. There is one thing more remaining, which if they could
have made good, would have been an objection indeed, and
that is, that the Old Testament opposes and contradicts the
New. About this Adimantus a Manichee, the master of Faustus,
wrote a whole book ; but the bstances he alleges are so frivo-

56 A sermon seem, viii-
lous, that they are scarce worth the confuting. I will mention
one, because it may suggest something for our learning, whereby
you may judge of aU the rest. "In the Old Testament we read,
that if any man hurt his neighbour, he was bound to satisfy to
the full for the damage done, by suffering the very same him
self ; Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot
for foot^, 8fc. But our Saviour says in the New Testament,
Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the
other also. And if a man take away thy coat, let him have
thy cloke also*. Are not these things opposite ?" I answer
with St. Austin, who hath made an excellent reply to this cavil,
both in his book against Adimantus" and against Faustus^, to
this effect. " These things discover no contrariety in the two
Testaments, but only the different degrees of their perfection.
For there being two degrees of meekness and forbearance ; the
first, that the grief of the injured person do not provoke him to
seek a revenge beyond the measure of the damage that was
done him ; the second, that the injured person pardon and pass
by the whole wrong, though grievous to him, with a peaceable
and appeased mind : the Old Testament, as less perfect, pre
served carnal men within the bounds of the first degree of
patience, and kept them from extending their revenge too far ;
but the New Testament, as more perfect, advances spiritual
men to the most excellent degree of a plenary remission, with
out any revenge at all."
So that even from such passages as these we learn, you see,
how much we are indebted to God for a greater abundance of
his grace than he bestowed in former times. Which should
raise us, as to a greater degree of gratefullove to him, so to a
more excellent degree of piety and virtue ; to which he intends
to improve us by this new revelation he hath made of his good
will to us in Christ Jesus.
And that is part of the use we may make of what hath been
said. If we may learn so much from those books which were
written aforetime, in the days of old, before the coming of our
Saviour into the world; what may we do from those which
s Exod. xxi. 24, 25. X Lib, xix. cap. 25. [tom. viii.
' Matth. V. 39, 40. coll. 327, 8.]
" Cap. viii. [tom. viii, col. 1 19.]

SEBM. VIII. preached before the king. 57
were written since his appearing, who is the very Wisdom of
God, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father, and hath declared him unto us ? They prescribe us a
more rational service of Almighty God ; and raise us to a
higher pitch of brotherly love ; and teach us greater purity of
body and mind ; and press all these upon us by more perfect
examples, and by more excellent motives ; especially by the
blessed hope of immortal life ; which, if we have any sense of
our own dearest interest, we ought to " embrace and to hold
fast," (as it is in the collect for this day,) being willing to do
and to suffer any thing that God would have us, rather than
lose so great, so incomparable a good : which the more we
think of, the more it attracts us to it, and holds us fast in its
embraces, as a perfect satisfaction to all our desires.
But from that consideration we may take occasion also to
reflect how injurious they are to Christian people, (to whom
God hath been so bountiful,) who forbid them without their
leave to meddle with these holy books, wherein their hope of
immortal life is contained ; nay, make a severe inquisition after
them that dare be so bold as to have in their own language a
copy of the will and testament of their blessed Saviour, (or, if
you please so to call it,) of that deed of grace whereby he hath
conveyed to them the eternal inheritance. St. Peter, indeed,
honours all Christians so much as to call them a chosen gene
ration, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar peopled.
But they who pretend to succeed him use them as if they were
no better than base slaves, nay, vile beasts ; who are not fit to
be entrusted with this liberty, and enjoy the privilege of hear
ing God himself speaking to them in his holy gospel. No,
there is a caution in the law, saith Innocent the Third, that if
a beast touch the mountain it shall be stoned : from thence
concluding that the simple and unlearned should not meddle
with the subtilty of holy writ. And herein we agree with him,
that from all subtilties and curious inquiries everybody ought
to abstain : but we are not satisfied that he, or any man else,
hath authority to compare the people of God to beasts. As
others among them have done in a most scornful manner; when
they prove from hence that the people must not read the Scrip-
y I Pet. ii, 9.

58 A sermon sebm. viii.
tures, because we must not cast that which is holy to dogs,
nor throw pearls before swine. This is very rude language,
but the authors are well known who have spoken thus con
temptuously of the flock of Christ, (whom he calls his sheep,
but they call dogs and swine,) and thereby debased Christians
below the most blockish Jews, who did never so abuse their holy
books as to forfeit the liberty of reading of them ; which they
challenge and use as a right belonging to all at this very day.
What reason can be given for such unworthy treatment of those
whom the apostles so highly esteemed, and spake of with so
much respect, but only this ; that they see there is such a
manifest disagreement between them and the Scriptures, that
their errors would be in danger to be detected by the simplest
people if they should be permitted to come into this light ?
And here let me note that such guides are fallen into a con
trary error to that of the Manichees, of which I have now
treated. They do not say that the books of the Old Testa
ment are superfluous and unnecessary ; but that they, and the
books of the New Testament to boot, are defective and imper
fect : and that their defects must be supplied out of such tra
ditions as they propound to our belief. But among opposite
errors the causes of erring are commonly the same, as the
great philosopher observes ; and is very true in this case. For
though there be several ways the enemy of mankind hath
taken to compass his design of bringing the Scriptures into
disgrace, and setting up the inventions of men instead of them,
or in conjunction with them ; yet the reason still is one and the
same : which is, that the holy Scriptures are not for his turn ;
he cannot deceive men so easily if they keep close to this hold.
Which is a stronghold indeed, and comprehends all that we
need to know, or beheve, or do ; to which nothing need, nothing
ought to be added as necessary to our salvation. According to
that peremptory resolution of St. Austin in his third book
against Petilian's letters (chap, vi.^) : "Whether it be about
Christ, or about his church, or about any other thing whatso
ever that belongs to faith or to our hfe, I will not say we, (who
are by no means to be compared with him that said, licet si nos,
' although we,') but, as he presently adds, " if an angel from
heaven shall declare to you any thing besides that which you
^ [Tom. ix. col. 301 E.]

SEEM. VIII. preached before the king. 59
have received in Scripturis legalibus et evangelicis, ' in the
Scriptures of the law and the gospel,' let him be accursed."
To which let me add this notable sentence of St. Basil the
Great, who comprehends all that I have said in a few words in
his sermon of Faith «: "It is a manifest falling of faith, and
may be justly charged with pride, either to reject any thing
that is written, or to introduce and bring in over and above
any thing that is not written."
This was the ancient catholic doctrine, which it is the in
terest (let me take the boldness to say) as well as the duty of
Christian kings and princes above all other men to assert and main
tain. For by these holy books their authority is as strongly sup
ported, as by the pretended traditions of the Roman church it
is notoriously undermined and subverted. Upon which account
it is a point of their greatest wisdom not only to keep these
books in their people's hands, but to encourage, nay, command
the conscientious reading of them ; that they may there learn
how plainly they are taught, and how religiously they are
bound to fear, honour, and obey their sovereigns, even though
they were pagans ; much more when they are Christians. Of
which liberty if they suffer their people to be deprived, they
shall soon be taught that they owe no further respect to their
princes than it pleases the bishop of Rome to allow them :
who, from the dignity of a particular bishop and pastor of
souls, is raised to be a worldly monarch, above all kings and
emperors ; by sewing several patches and shreds to the ancient
Christian doctrine, under the name of traditions. For nothing
is more apparent in history than this, that as the bishop of
Rome's greatness increased, so traditions were still more and
more multiplied ; which in process of time were more recom
mended than the Scriptures themselves, and more rehgiously
observed. There is another reason also why princes should keep the
holy books open before their subjects' eyes, and suffer no man
to shut them and seal them up ; because it plainly appears by
them that their persons and office are sacred ; not a mere
human institution, but the ordinance of God by whom kings
reign, and by virtue of whose laws they demand obedience.
a Tom. ii. p. 251. [ed. Ben. p. 224 D.]

60 A sermon seem. viii.
The contrary to this is taught by the pope's creatures, and will
soon be obtruded for Christian doctrine if the holy Scriptures
be laid aside. Bellarmine, for instance, in his book against
Barclay^, maintains, that their power proceeds not from God,
but is the institution of man. Conformable to that memorable
maxim of father Binet, in a discourse of his with the famous
Casaubonc about the business of Garnet, (which he calls the
immortal God to witness is true,) that it were better all kings
should perish than the seal of confession so much as once be
violated ; for the authority of kings is by human right, but
confession by divine. Which sounds so horridly in all true
Christian ears, that it is hard to find any thing more contrary
to common reason and to the Holy Scriptures among that
fp.fip6vTriTov t5>v Mavixaloiv cfyvKov, (as Andraeas Caesariensis
calls them'',) that 'crazed stupid tribe of Manichees,' whose
phrensies I have in part represented. But this is not a place to
lay open this mystery of iniquity, whereby kings are almost
dethroned, and manifestly deprived of that which assures their
crowns and their lives, far more than the constant guard of
their bodies, or the most powerful armies they can raise. For
though by those they may strike terror into their subjects'
minds, it is only the sense of God that can frame their hearts
to obedience. Then the fidelity of subjects wiU be firm and
unmovable, when it is incorporated into piety and accounted a
part of religion, a necessary piece of that service which we owe
to God Almighty. For which end the Scriptures must lie open
before the people, that there they may read their duty and
have their souls moulded into a sense of God ; and not merely
receive such impressions as the interests of men shall be pleased
to stamp upon them.
I conclude all with those notable words of St. Chrysostom in
his second Homily upon St. Matthew^; where he justifies what
I have said from the words of St. Paul before mentioned. " It
is a great fault in Christian people that they do not read the
Scriptures ; but to think it is a needless and superfluous thing
to read them, is a far greater crime. This is language of the
^ [Cap. 12. tom. vii. col. 903.J a Cap. iv. in Apocalypsen. [ad
" Epist. ad Frontonem Ducseum, calc. CEcum. tom. ii. p. 680 B.]
p. 209. [p. 140. 4to, Lond. 161 1.] e [Tom. vii. p. 32 A.]

SEEM. vm. preached before the king. 61
devil's invention; for do you not hear what St. Paul says, that
these things were written for our instruction ?"
God grant we may in such wise hear, read, mark, learn
and inwardly digest them, that we may bring forth fruit with
patience, and do our duty so faithfully to Him, to our sovereign,
to one another, and to all men, that in the end we may attain
everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord : to whom with
the Father and the Holy Ghost be given, by us and by all
others, all honour, glory, and praise, both now and for ever
more. Amen.

CHEIST'S COUNSEL TO HIS CHUECH.
IN TWO SERMONS
PEEACHED
AT THE TWO LAST FASTS;
ONE, APEIL XI. MDCLXXIX.
THE OTHEE, DEC. XXII. MDCLXXX.

TO THE EIGHT HONOUEABLE
WILLIAM
EARL OF BEDFORD,
KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER, &c.
My veby good loed and patbon.
My Loed,
BEING desired by some in my parish to print the sermon I
preached on the last fast-day, I found it necessary to prefix to it
the sermon I preached the fast before, because this depends on that;
and have presumed to prefix your lordship's name to both, because
it is by your favour and patronage that I preached either the one
or the other in that place. ,
The matter of them is suitable to the occasion : for in the first I
have chiefly pressed the general remedy of all the evils under which
we labour ; in the second one particular remedy ; and in both ex
posed the wickedness of popery. But I have shown withal, that
all we say against it will not keep it out ; unless we will so duly
prize our own religion as to live according to it. Which being in
the general allowed, even by those who continue to live quite con
trary, I see no reason why anybody should quarrel with what I
have said about one particular duty of our religion ; unless they
think that we have nothing to answer for upon the account of our
contempt of Christ's ministers, and of that order which he hath ap
pointed in his church : which seems to me such a dangerous sin,
that I could not think I discharged a good conscience, if at such a
time and such an occasion I took no notice of it.
Wherein I do not plead our own cause, as some are wont to ob
ject to such discourses, but the cause of Christ and of his religion ;
which now lies a bleeding, and we fear a dying, by the wounds we
give it ourselves through the subtle contrivance of our Rofciish ad
versaries. Whose plots have been many and horrid, but their first
and greatest strength (as appears by the directions given to their
emissaries) lay in this, to bring the whole ministry of the church of
PATBICK, VOL. VIII. F

66 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
England into contempt ; and to divide the people from their esta
blished pastors, into a great many httle bodies, under no govern
ment but what they themselves pleased. And it is apparent that by
the same popish artifices this poisonous conceit is industriously in
fused into the people's mind, that we are looking towards Rome,
if we do but tell them that they ought not to form opinions as they
think good, but guide themselves in their judgment by our di
rection. But I hope the better sort are not ignorant, by this time, of their
devices ; and that though there be some in the ministry who are not
so fit as they should be to direct and guide their flocks, yet they will
consider, that the men who most complain of it are such as will be
guided by none at all ; no, not by those whose ability and honesty
cannot be suspected. And it is a very great truth also, that their
intemperate speeches against the clergy is the thing that hath frighted
the weaker sort of them into such an apprehension of danger from
those men, as hath made them guilty of the follies which have done
great injury to us all.
This, my lord, is the grief of all good men among us who consider
the state we are in, and desire the safety, or have any love for the
(honour of our religion. For we seem now to be in such a condition
as Gregory Nyssen describes in his days ; when things were come
to such a pass, that the people neither understood themselves, from
their own inward sense, what was fit for them, nor would believe
those that rightly informed them. " No," saith he"-, " we are ex
ceeding angry at our teachers, and very hardly bear their admoni
tions : their counsels are a grievance ; and their instruction in good
things we nauseate, as sick men do the medicines which their phy
sicians exhibit to them. If a reproof be given, we take it heavily ;
if we hear a rougher word, we fall into a rage ; if we be thrust out
of the church, we blaspheme. This is not the disposition of learners,
nor the obedience of disciples, but the ambitious contention of sedi
tious and rebellious people. For a scholar who desires to learn any
common art or science ought to be like a little child : much more
ought he to be lilie a sucking infant, who would be instructed in
Christian piety ; because our Lord hath honoured that age, as apt to
receive impressions, with his commendation.
" Now no child rises up against the characters and the lineaments
that his'master makes for him in wax ; nor devises new elements, by
a frantic license innovating about making letters : but exercises his
" Tom. ii. p. 745. Hep! robs axSofi^nvs t^s EiriTi/n^o-fior. [ed. Morell. tom. iii.

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.

67

hand after his master's copy, and both in word and deed imitates
what his director delivers to him, &c. But a Christian doth not
thus, though he hath heard that except ye be converted, and become
like little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven : but
when the priest severely corrects his error, openly contradicts, and
mutters between his teeth, and going round the streets, and the
places of public concourse, rails and reviles, and (as it follows a little
after) sits judging even me, the bishop, in the chair of the scorner."
Now what can the end of such things be but utter confusion ?
which necessarily follows, when the unity that ought to be between
the pastors and people is quite dissolved ; or the people (some upon
one account, some upon another) lose all their respect for them and
love to them for their work's sake.
There hath been much speech, your lordship knows, of a prophecy
(as it is called) of bishop Usher, late primate of Armagh, which hath
very much startled many, and made them fear dreadful things ^ ;

* [The sagacity of tlie great primate
seems to have enabled him to anticipate
impending political events with so great
an amount of accuracy in certain cases,
as popularly to have invested him with
a character ibr inspired vaticination ;
to which, after his decease, his chaplain.
Dr. Bernard, did his best to contribute.
In a sermon preached as early as the
year 1603 he was considered to have
predicted the outbreak in Ireland,
which took place in 1641. (Elrington's
Life of Ussher, p. 22.) Still more im
portance and solemnity came to be at
tached to similar presentiments which
he was currently reported to have let
fall in private in his later days, fore
boding calamities of the direst cha
racter to church and state. Persuaded
as he seems to have been of the speedy
restoration of the monarchy, he may
well have been led to anticipate, from
the young king's education abroad, the
revival of Romanism under foreign in
fluence at court ; together with a more
general reaction of the popular mind in
the same direction, when the nation
should have revolted from the hard and
bitter fruits of the puritanic teaching.
The papists, so ran the prediction, were
destined to regain more than their
former ascendancy, and to inflict the
most savage persecutions upon the pro

testant churches, not of England alone,
but of all Europe.
Considerable alarm seems to have
been created, at the critical time when
war with France seemed imminent, in the
year i678,bythe publication of acurious
little tract of eight pages in qimrto, in
which these prognostications were re
vived in a more definite shape, and
supported by previous instances in
which his prophetic foresight had been
verified. It is entitled, " Strange and remark
able predictions of the holy, learned,
and excellent James Ussher, late lord
archbishop of Armagh, and lord pri
mate of Ireland. Giving an account of
his foretelling,
" I. The Rebellion in Ireland forty
years before it came to pass.
"1. The confusions and miseries of
England in church and state.
" 3. The death of king Charles the
First. " 4. His own poverty and want.
" 5. The divisions in England in
matters of religion.
" Lastly, of a great and terrible per
secution which shall fall upon the re
formed churches by the papists, where
in the then pope should be chiefly con
cerned. " Written by the person who heard
F 2

68

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.

though the certainty of it hath not been so publicly attested as that
which I have been bold to set down in the first of these sermons :
where your lordship will find something that looks like a sad pre-

it from this excellent person's own
mouth, and now published earnestly to
persuade us to that repentance and re
formation which can only prevent our
ruin and destruction.
" And the Lord said, shall I hide
from A hraham the thing which I do?
Gen. xviii. 17.
" Licensed November the i ith. Lon
don, printed for K. G. 1678."
" This holy man," says the anony
mous ear^tness, " turning to me and
fixing his eyes upon me with that serious
and ireful look which he usually had-
when he spake God's word and not his
own, and when the power of God
seemed to be upon him, and to con
strain him to speak, which I couM
easily discern much to difier from the
countenance wherewith he usually spake
to me, he said thus ;
" ' Fool not yourself with such hopes,
for I tell you all you have yet seen
hath been but the beginning of sorrows
to what is yet to come upon the pro
testant churches of Christ; who will
ere long fall under a sharper persecu
tion than ever yet has upon them; and
therefore (said he to me) look you be
not found in the outward court, but a
worshipper in the temple before the
altar : for Christ will measure all those
that profess his name, and call them
selves his people : and the outward
worshippers he will leave out, to be
trodden down by the Gentiles. The
outward court (says he) is the formal
Christian, whose rehgion lies in per
forming the outside duties of Christ
ianity, withoBt having an inward life
and power of faith, and love uniting
them to Christ, and these God will
leave to be trodden down and swept
away by the Gentiles. But the wor
shippers within the temple and before
the altar,, are those who do indeed wor
ship God in spirit and in truth, whose
souls are made his temples, and he is
honoured and adored in the most in
ward thoughts of their hearts, and they
sacrifice their lusts and vile affections.

yea, and their own wills to him 1 and
these God wiH hide in the hoBow of his
hand, and under the shadow of his
wings. And this shall be one great dif
ference between this last and all the
other preceding persecutions; for in the
former, the most eminent and spiritual
ministers and Christians did generally
suffer most, and were most violently
fallen upon : but in this last persecution
these sliall be preserved by God as a
seed to partake of that glory which
shall immediately follow and come upon
the chm-ch, as soon as ever this storm
shall be over; for as it shall be the
sharpest, so it shall be the shortest per
secution of them all; and shall only
take away the gross hypocrites and
formal professors, but the true spiritual
believers shall be preserved till the ca
lamity be overpast.'
" I then asked him by what means or
instruments this great trial should be
brought in. He answered, ' By the pa
pists.' I repEed that it seemed to me
very improbable they should be able to
do it, since they were now httle coun
tenanced, and but few in these nations,
and that the hearts of the people were
more set against them than ever since
the Reformation. He answered again,
' that it should be by the hands of
papists, and in the way of a sudden
massacre; and that the then pope
should be the chief instrument of it.' "
The same writer furnishes particulars
of similar declarations made by the
archbishop to his only daughter lady
Tyrrel, and to lady Bysse, the wife of
the lord chief baron of Ireland.
Appended to this tract was " Bishop
Ussh^s second prophesie, wherein is
contained divers prophetick sayings for
the years 1680, 1681, 1682, 1683, 1684,
which were by him predicted for the
said years :" in which he is stated, in a
letter ascribed to lady Tyrrel, to have
predicted among other events the burn
ing of the city of London. — See Dr.
Elrington's life of Ussher, p. 295 —
298.1

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 69
diction, which an excellent divine and holy man of this church pub
lished long ago, in a book of his upon the Creed. Which I wish
were diligently heeded and laid to heart ; because it directs to the
way whereby the threatening may be avoided ; pointing to the very
sin that deserves the judgment he denounces. Which if it be
slighted, when we are told of it, it will be one of the worst signs
that can be his prognostication will prove true and be fulfilled.
But they who are appointed to stand on the watch-tower, and
give notice of danger, have delivered their own souls, when they
have faithfully declared the mind of Christ in this matter. Which
was the greatest motive I had both to preach and to print these
sermons ; which I am sure will be acceptable to your lordship, not
only because you have a due respect to God's ministers, but because
I present them as a token of my gratitude, and of the honour I have
for your lordship, being. My lord.
Your most humble servant, S. PATRICK.

A SERMON PREACHED ON THE FAST-DAY,
Apeil IT, 1679a.

Revelation ii. 1 6.

Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and I will
fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
WHAT our Saviour had said unto the Jews before his
death, (in the second lesson for this morning prayer b,) Except
ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish; he saith here (in effect)
after his ascension to heaven, unto the Gentile Christians,
Repent, or else I will come quickly, and will fight against
them with the sword of my mouth.
This is a lesson for all nations, and for all ages ; in which
the church of England is as much concerned now as the
church of Pergamus was then. Though this letter was not
particularly directed unto us, no more than to the rest of the
Christian world; yet the next words tell us that our Lord
expects everybody should take notice of it, consider it, and take
warning by it, as much as if it had been addressed to them by
name : He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what tlie
Spirit saith unto the churches ". We all herein read our own
doom, and ought to understand the words as if our Lord had
enlarged them, in such a general admonition as he gives in
another case about watching "^ : And what I say unto the
church of Pergamus, I say unto all. Repent.
Repent, or else I will come quickly, and will fight against
them with the sword of my mouth.
a [The fasts, on which this and and his confederates.]
the following sermon were preached, '' Lulie xiii. 3, 5 .
were occasioned by the imaginary <= Rev. ii. 17.
popish plot, denounced by Oates ^ Mark xiii. ult.

72 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
In which words you may easily discern an exhortation to a
most necessary duty, which is, to repent; and a commination
in case the exhortation be not obeyed, which is, a denunciation
of war against such obstinate offenders, who provoke him to
sharpen against them the sword of his mouth.
The exhortation is so frequently pressed, and as frequently
explained, that I cannot think it fit to spend the time in telling
you what it is to repent. For you all know well enough, that
it is such a godly sorrow for what we have done amiss as makes
us not only afflict ourselves for our sins, but utterly renounce
and forsake them.
If you know your baptismal vow (as who is there that can
be unacquainted with it, unless he affect a stupid and brutish
ignorance ?), it is easy to understand that nothing less than this
can pass with God for repentance.
If we had never broken that vow, there would have been no
need of repentance, which is the repairing of that breach, and
the making it up again. And how shall we make all whole,
but only by observing that vow better which we have violated
and broken ? No man of sense can think there is any other
way of being reconciled to God after we have offended him, but
only by becoming more dutiful to him ; performing, that is,
those engagements which we always had to him, and from
which we can never be absolved ; because, beside our natural
obligation, we have tied and bound ourselves by a solemn and
most sacred vow to be his faithful servants. When we do not
keep this vow we sin, and bring a heavy guilt upon ourselves.
From which sin and guilt if we would be freed, we must
repent ; that is, keep our vow better, forsaking the devil and
all his works ; heartily believing God's holy word ; and obe
diently keeping his commandments. If we be truly sorrowful
and afflicted that we have not done thus, in which repentance
begins ; we must resolve and seriously endeavour to make this
our business hereafter; in which repentance ends and is
completed. I shall say no more in so plain a business, which hath been
urged upon you a thousand times ; not by one alone, but by
all God's ministers that ever you heard preach about it. And
what theme is there more common, that comes oftener into the
pulpits ? I wish the perpetual sound of it, without due regard,

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April J I, i6jg. 73
have not made it become so ineffectual, that now men turn a
deaf ear to such discourses as beaten and threadbare subjects,
to which they need not give any attendance. But if any man
have an ear still open, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches here in this book. Let him hear, at least, what a
desperate course he runs, if he continue to neglect a duty
which is so well known, that he thinks he need not hear of it
any more. For our Saviour threatens such as would not
repent, that he would come unto them quickly, and fight
against them with the sword of his mouth.
The first motive, you know, to a change, is commonly an
apprehension of the danger of that course wherein a man is at
present engaged. This is apt to put a stop unto him in his
way, and bring him to a stand. The very first sight of it, when
it smites his soul, is wont to repress the violence and heat
wherewith he pursues his sinful desires. A new scene of
thoughts begin to appear in his mind; and he is led to consider
with himself, " Whither am I going? What mischief is this
which threatens me ? Whither will this course carry me ? And
what will be the end of these things?" And if the danger be
very great and pressing, and his apprehension of it also be
great and proportionable to the danger, this strikes the greater
fear and dread into his soul. And fear of what will ensue dis
poses him to a change and alteration of his course of life, that
he may escape those miseries which he sees he is drawing upon
himself. Especially if he be persuaded (as you have often
heard) that no terrors or affrightments, no entreaties or
prayers, no cries or tears, no sadness or affliction of spirit, no
outward humiliation or abasements, no purposes, no promises
will prevail for his deliverance from that danger, without an
effectual reformation and forsaking those wicked ways that
necessarily lead to death and destruction.
And it is no hard matter, one would think, for men to con
vince themselves of this truth. For suppose you were in a
journey, and you should be told of, nay, should see a great pit
or precipice, to which, and no whither else, that road did
directly lead, would you think of any other means to avoid it
but only by turning into another path ? Though you should
quiver and tremble like a leaf when it is shaken with the wind,
though you should conceive the greatest horror, and offer never

74 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
so many prayers and vows, nay, though you turned your faces
about and looked the contrary way; yet if still you should
proceed and go forward in that road, you would most certainly
hurl yourselves (though you turned your backs of it and were
loath to see it) into inevitable ruin. This is exactly the case of
every sinner ; who, besides that his way is uneasy and rugged,
putting him to a great deal of pain, and costing him many a
fall, hath the pit of hell, a bottomless pit of destruction, which
burns with fire and brimstone, set evidently before his eyes ;
nay, is manifestly destroying his body, his estate, his reputa
tion ; and, which is more, is linked in a wicked society with
those, that by their riot and luxury, profaneness and irrehgion,
neglect of all things but their sottish pleasures, are bringing
the country wherein they live to utter ruin ; putting, as I may
say, an ancient kingdom and famous church into most lament
able confusion, in the midst of which they are all like to perish.
It is a foolish thing for any of them to imagine they can avoid
it, because perhaps they sometimes dread it, and shiver at the
thoughts of it ; because they cry to heaven, when they see the
danger, to deliver them from it ; or, at every step suppose, fall
down on their faces and humble themselves, beseeching God to
rescue them from this ruin : nay, put on sackcloth, (though
alas ! who is there now that is so rehgious ?) and roll them
selves in dust and ashes. If when they get up again they still
go on and will not forsake their evil way, heaven itself cannot
preserve them from destruction, having appointed that fearful
end for such obstinate, refractory sinners; who will not be
saved unless he make the fire not to burn, and the sea not to
drown ; that is, alter the very nature of things for the sake of
those that deserve so ill of him.
Hoping therefore that every one of you being convinced of
this, the representation of the danger of impenitency wiU, at
least, move you to design and begin a change of your lives, I
shall treat of that at this time, which is the second part of my
text: wherein our blessed Lord threatens that unless the
church of Pergamus repented, he would come quickly to her,
and fi,ght against them with the sword of his mouth.
Which words contain in them these four considerations to
stir us up to repentance :
I. First, that if men do not amend their lives, especially

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April n, iSjg. 75
after many warnings, clear convictions, and a change wrought
in their minds and judgments, it turns the greatest kindness of
God into anger and displeasure.
II. That it wearies the very patience and long-suffering of
God : to which we are more indebted than we imagine, and
should it forsake us, our condition is left very woful.
HI. To such persons the most gracious God becomes an enemy.
IV. And accordingly they must expect nothing but the exe
cution of all his threatenings against them.
How all these arise out of the words, will appear in the
handhng of them. I.
First, I say that not to amend after God hath often called
and persuaded us to it, nay, convinced us of the necessity of
it, turns his greatest kindness into anger and displeasure. If
there be no change wrought in your lives, you shall find a sad
change in his proceedings, and the methods of his providence
towards you. This I gather from that phrase, I will come unto
thee. Come unto thee ! What better news can there be than this,
(would one think,) if he read no further ? What more welcome
guest can we have than God himself, who is wont in these
terms to express his tender love and kindness toward sinners ?
This is the thing that we pray for and entreat, that the Lord
would be pleased to be so gracious as to come to our souls.
And it is very true ; this is the first signification of the phrase,
which declares his grace and favour, whereby he is moved to
begin a kind treaty with us : suing unto us and beseeching us
that he may have our affections ; and that we will not dispose
of them to any one else but him, that loves us with so much
tenderness. But then behold what obstinate impenitency doth ! It puts
a stop to these proceedings, and turns the course of divine pro
vidence another way. It changes all this love and good will
into anger, displeasure, and jealousy. His coming now signi
fies quite another thing ; his appearing is dreadful ; his pre
sence is frightful and astonishing : for he comes on another
business, not to bless, but to curse ; not to bestow favours, but
to punish and execute vengeance.
There is a double coming of God our Saviour ; one with

76 A sermon preached on sebm. ix.
offers and tenders of mercy, the other with a rod in his hand
to chastise our contempt and abuse of the mercy offered.
They that will not receive him in the former way shall be
forced to receive him in the latter. Though they may refuse
and reject his grace, they shall not be able to defend themselves
from the effects of his heavy displeasure.
The very name of our blessed Saviour, if you observe it, was
'O 'Epx6iJ.evos, He thai cometh°. And what did he come for ?
He himself tells you what his first business was, John x. lo,
/ am come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly. But when (as he complains) men
would not come unto him that they might have life, John v.
40, when he came unto his own, and his own received him
not ^ ; then you hear of another sadder coming of his. Revel.
i. 7, Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see
him, (even they that shut their eyes before, and in their blind
rage pierced him, and wounded him to death as a malefactor,)
and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
His coming at the first is to invite us to come unto him,
Matt. xi. 38, where you may read how he expects that all
those souls which groan under their sins, and complain of the
heavy load of them, all those who sigh that they have com
mitted them, should be weary of them and throw off the bur
den, take another course, and come to submit themselves to
the yoke of his holy laws. But if they will not be persuaded
to this, all their entreaties will never persuade him to save
them. His heart will be turned against them, and he would
have us mark how much he is displeased at them, what a change
and wonderful alteration there is in his design upon them.
For, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his holy
ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which
they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him «.
And thus the word visit in Scripture is differently used :
sometimes for God's bringing his blessings to these to whom he
is said to come, and sometimes for his laying his stripes on the
back of those fools that were insensible of his love. I need
not name the places, some of which I alleged the last day of
" Matt. xi. 3. d John i. 11. e jyjg 14, 15.

seem. IX. the fast-day, April 11, iS^g. 77
fasting and prayer : and I make mention of all this only to
this purpose, that you may see what the effect of impenitency
is. If you will not change, God will. Not himself indeed, for
he was always thus resolved, but his dealings with you ; which
you shall not find so favourable to you as they have been. He
will not always wait to be so gracious as he is at present, for
he is not insensible of all the affronts that impudent sinners
put upon him. He will take another course, since they will
not ; and meet them, as you shall hear presently, after another
manner than he was wont to do : making them know what it
is to abuse the goodness of their gracious God.
You would have him indeed to change his laws for your
sakes ; nay, to change himself, and go back with his word ; to
love those sins which he cannot but hate," and pardon that
which he hath told you he will punish : a change which is im
possible to be made. But another change every man that goes
on still in his trespasses shall find to his cost ; a change which
he would by no means suffer, but which God hath purposed
and decreed, and will not repent ; which is, that he will not
always strive with men in so much love, but make himself
known to them in another way, in tokens of his anger and
wrath. And that now would lead me to the second thing : only
before we leave this, let us a little seriously consider it. Have
you so much reason to love your sins, that rather than change
your lives, you care not though God turn his loving-kindness
into displeasure ? After your sins have turned the world upside
down, and made it such a confused and uncomfortable place as
we now find it, do you not care though they reach up unto
heaven, and make still a greater alteration there, to our utter
destruction ? Is it of no concernment in what manner God
comes to visit you ? Is it all one whether he clothe himself with
wrath and put on vengeance, or come as a friend, and make
affectionate addresses to your souls ? Would you have him that
used to knock at the door of your hearts, desiring to come in,
and entertain you with festival joys, break in upon you with a
dreadful violence, and fill you with the terrors of the Lord,
with an amazed conscience, with benumbing fears, with ghastly
apprehensions of the wrath to come, with the beginnings of hell
fire ; and that not to turn, but to torment you ?

78 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
Or can you be content that he should come against this
sinful nation, to break down what he hath built up, and to
pluck up that which he hath planted, as Jeremiah speaks of
his country f ? Or would it be as welcome a sound as any other
to hear such a cry as that in the prophet Joel, The day of the
Lord cometh, it is nigh at hand ; a day of darkness and
gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness^? wherein
he will come to lash us with the severest scourge of all other,
for the abuse of the light of his glorious gospel, for the despisal
of his messengers, and our slighting all his benefits, and con
tinuing incorrigible under his judgments.
0 do not presume that you shall never see such a dismal
time, because he hath not yet made you so miserable. Do not
put away far from you this evil day ; nor imagine you shall
always hear nothing but his kind invitations and his loving
entreaties, his good motions and his gracious promises. If you
will not be persuaded by them to turn unto him, he will turn
away from you and set himself against you ; he will not always
strive in vain with you, but resolve at last (though much against
his first design) to abandon such stiffnecked sinners, and pro
nounce such a sentence on them as that in the prophet. Ah, I
will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine
enemies ^. And that is the next consideration.
II.
A continued course of sin doth in conclusion weary the
patience and tire the longsuffering of onr most merciful and
indulgent Lord and Master. For he says here in my text, /
will come unto thee quickly. There is a time when he will
bear no longer, but bring the controversj' to a speedy issue, in
the ruin and destruction of those that oppose him.
Now though there are many signs mentioned in Scripture of
an approaching ruin, yet I shall name but two. The first is,
when men have been not only often rebuked for their sins, but
convinced of their guilt and danger, and have had their hearts
set against them, and yet will not amend. For which we have
the known maxim of the wise man. He that being often re
proved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and
f Jer. xiv. 4. e Joel ii. i. h Isaiah i. 24.

seem. IX. the fast-day, April 1 1, 1679. 79
that without remedy^. This is a mortal mark upon that
person : a token of a plague of the heart so incurable, that
nothing is to be expected but a sudden death ; which will
seize on such men, if not presently, yet on a sudden as to
them ; in a moment when they look not for it, but think them
selves in peace and safety. Thus it was in the days of Noah ;
and thus it was at our Saviour's coming to destroy his cruci-
fiers ; and thus we see it ofttimes with our eyes, or hear of it
with our ears, that the confident and the merry sinner is in an
instant cut off, and goes down into the pit.
But secondly, the condition of impenitent persons is never
more dangerous, than when they remain unreformed after
many punishments have been inflicted on them by divers strokes
of the rod of God. Which seems to be supposed in those
words of our Saviour, in his letter to the last of these churches,
As many as I love I rebuke and chasten : be zealous there
fore, and repent '. As if he had said. When I would do good
to men's souls, as long as I have any hope of them, I correct
and afflict them, that I may reduce them to obedience. It
concerns you therefore highly to stir up yourselves to repent
in good earnest of those sins for which you have smarted much
already ; for there are no means to be used after these, but
you must perish if they do not prevail upon your hearts. And
this reason the prophet Isaiah gives of the utter desolation
which was coming upon Israel. For the people turneth not unto
him that smiteth them, neither do tJtey seek the Lord of hosts.
Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail,
branch and rush, in one day ™. To which many places might
be added out of the prophet Jeremiah ; but one shall suffice.
Therefore thou shalt speak these words unto them ; but they
will not hearken to thee : thou shalt also call upon them ; but
they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them.
This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their
God, nor receiveth correction : truth is perished, and is cut
off from their mouth ". That is to say, it is to no purpose to
speak to them any more. Thou mayest preach and bestow thy
labour upon them ; but there will be no fruit of it. And there
fore all that I have further to command thee is to pronounce
" Prov. xxix. I. 1 Rev. iii. 19. m igaiah ix. 13, 14.
n Jer. vii. 27, 28.

80 A sermmi preached on seem. ix.
this judgment upon them; that they are a people who will not
be moved to their duty, either by my word or by my cor
rection ; and therefore I give them over, as having no hope
they will ever be reclaimed. Cut off thy hair, 0 Jerusalem,
(in token of mournings that is,) and cast it away, and take up
a lamentation on high places ; for the Lord hath rejected and
forsaken the generation of his wrath. So it follows there,
ver. 29, to the terror of future generations, who should read
this doleful sentence upon those who had once been very dear
to God, but were now, by reason of their obstinate wickedness,
become good for nothing but to be made examples to all poste
rity of his sorest displeasure.
And now, my brethren, what do you think when you bring
these things nearer home? Are neither of these signs and
tokens of speedy vengeance to be found upon the sinners of
this nation ? Or rather, do we not see both these marks of our
Lord's coming quickly to reckon with us for our abuse of his
long patience and forbearance of us ? Have you not been
often reproved, and felt the light of God pierce into your very
hearts ? Hath he not made you see the evil of your ways,
and so powerfully bowed and inclined your wills towards him
as to make you resolve to become better men ? Hath he not
also humbled this nation by his mighty hand, and sent more
plagues than one to call us to repentance ? First, he made us
sigh and groan under the miseries of a war ; and then under
those of a sore pestilence, which quickly, and, as in a moment,
smote down thousands of us, and laid them in their graves.
After which a dreadful fire quickly followed, which was at
tended with that most disgraceful attempt which our enemies
made upon our ships, the bulwarks of this land : and with
many calamities since of another sort, which have almost dis
solved the bonds of society, and destroyed that mutual con
fidence which ought to be between our prince and his people,
and endangered our rehgion and liberties, and brought us
into such a condition, that we scarce know which way to extri
cate ourselves out of those perplexities in which our sins have
entangled us.
What should every one of us then do, who still survive the
war, the plague, and all the rest of God's judgments, but speed
our repentance and amendment of life ? You may think, per-

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April ii, 1679. 81
haps, that the danger is now over, after so many punishments ;
but, in truth, there is greater danger than ever, if you still go
on to provoke the Lord to jealousy. For what should he do
with a people but cast them off, who will not be turned, no,
not by such a mighty hand and outstretched arm, from their
wicked courses ? What our Saviour saith concerning those whom
Pilate slew, together with their sacrifices, and on whom the
tower in Siloam fell. Suppose ye that those Galileans were sin
ners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things ;
or those eighteen the greatest sinners in Jerusalem, because
the tower fell on them and killed them°, &c.; the same may I
say to you with a small alteration : Think you that those men
who were slain in the late wars were sinners above all the
people of England, because they were cut off, and left you
alive ? / tell you, Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall also
perish. Or those eighty or ninety thousand that fell by the
plague, think you that they were sinners above all men that
dwell in London and Westminster ? / tell you. Nay : but, ex
cept ye repent, ye shall also perish. The time will come when
you shall also be called to an account for your impenitency, if
you still go on in it : and who knows how near that time may
be ? In all likelihood it will come the more speedily if we take
no warning, neither by God's word nor by his rod. Therefore
I beseech you quickly, before it be too late, to hearken to that
voice which saith, Return, return, O ye backsliding children.
If ever you mean to return, return now unto me, saith the
Lord : and if you will put away your abominations out of my
sight, then shall you be settled in peace and prosperity.
Consider that parable which St. Luke there adds, and read a
description of your own condition, vers. 6, 7, 8. You are a
people planted as in a garden of God ; whose gospel is not
only come to you, but hath stayed long with you. He hath
taken great care of you, and hath dressed and pruned you,
that you might bring forth the fruit which the knowledge of
Christ ought to produce. Many showers of his grace have
fallen upon you, and you have long felt the warm beams of the
Sun of righteousness to make you fruitful. And therefore
think also with yourselves, that he hath come many years
seeking fruit, and expecting to see some good grow out of all
° Luke xiii. i, 2, 3.
PATEICK, VOL. vm. G

82 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
this care and cost of his love. But alas ! what hath he found
when he came to visit you ? May he not complain as he doth
there, / have come these three years (or rather, one three
year after another, many times told over) seeking fruit, and
find none ? Is it not a wonder then that he hath not pro
nounced the sentence upon us which there follows. Cut them
down, why cumber they the ground ? Is it not the greater
wonder, seeing so many others have had this heavy doom
passed upon them ? O admire at the patient and long-suffering
kindness of God, which hath interposed on your behalf, and
moved him to let you alone both that year and this year also.
First, in that year, I mean that fatal year of cutting down, and
casting out of the vineyard ; when so many thousands perished
in the late dreadful mortality. And now I may add in this
year also, this remarkable year ; when the axe was in a man
ner laid to the root of the tree : our enemies, I mean, had laid
a deep design strongly grounded and closely carried on, to cut
us off and destroy both root and branch ; and, for any thing
we know, in one day. For that there now is, and hath been for
divers years last past, a horrid and treasonable plot and conspi
racy contrived and carried on by those of the popish rehgion, for
the murdering of his majesty's sacred person, and for subvert
ing the protestant religion, and the ancient and established
government of this kingdom, is become now, in effect, the
sense of the whole nation : the lords and commons in parha
ment assembled having declared in a resolve of theirs, nemine
contradicente, (upon March 25 last past,) that they are fully
satisfied, by the proofs they have heard, of the truth of it.
And considering their industrious endeavours to conceal it, even
now that it is discovered, (whereas in reason they should be
the most zealous of all other men, were they innocent, to have
it thoroughly examined,) their strong confederacies and stead
fast combinations, their many oaths of secresy, and obstinate
resolution to stick to the design and to each other ; it is a
wonder that it hath not been effected, and that sudden destruc
tion hath not come upon us, as pain upon a woman in travail. 1
But let us not content ourselves merely with admiration of
his amazing providence over us, which hath prolonged a while
(we know not for how long or short a time) the season of
grace unto us ; let us not presume to abuse this patience, (for

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April 11, I Syg. 83
so we are to esteem it, not a perfect deliverance,) nor be so
foolish as to imagine that it will last always : but think with
ourselves rather, that the Lord of the vineyard may, it is pos
sible, have resolved, after this year, or in some short space,
after this new husbandry of his, and such extraordinary pains
and care to save us, that we shall be cut down indeed, if we
will not bring forth fruit worthy of the gospel. And therefore,
looking upon this as the day wherein you may know and im
prove the things belonging to your peace, be zealous, as our
Lord exhorts, and repent ; be quick and speedy, active and
diligent in this weighty business, now in this your day, lest
you never have such an opportunity again, but miserably perish
in your sins.
Consider, I beseech you, do you not pray to God continually
(if you have any sense of religion) that he would quickly dissi*
pate all our fears, by laying more and more open, and then
utterly defeating all the wicked contrivances of our enemies
against us ? Do you not think that he stays very long before
he bring to light the very bottom of the plot, and make their
treasons so visible to all the world that none may be able to
gainsay it ? Do you not think there is reason to tremble (when
you seriously reflect upon it), to see in what a lamentable,
unsettled, and naked condition we are ; in danger to be over
run with foreign enemies, should they make an attempt upon us?
Are you not all therefore ready to say, Lord, make haste to
help us; make no tarrying, 0 our God? 0 my beloved, say the
same to yourselves, for there is the stop. Labour and prevail
with your own souls that they would make haste, that they
would make no tarrying, but instantly turn to God in works
meet for repentance, that so both his present judgments may
be removed, and worse prevented.
I know nothing that can hinder the entertainment of this
reasonable motion, unless it be this, that men see there is not
always such a speedy course taken with sinners, and therefore
they presume God will still bear with them. For they them
selves have lived and sinned many years, and have escaped
many dangers ; and though they have been affrighted some
times with such sermons as this, yet they were worse scared
than hurt. Still all things are as they were, they are very
well and prosperous, they have all that their hearts desire :
G 2

84 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
and therefore their hearts grow hard, and they suppose they
are in no sudden danger.
In answer to this I shall say nothing but what is contained
in the third consideration here in my text, which is,
III.
That all impenitent persons, as they oppose God, so they
have God for their enemy ; and he will set himself in opposition
to them. For he tells this church, that if they will not repent
he will fight against them : which denotes that he would
become their adversary, and look upon them as rebels, nay, as
irreconcilable enemies, who will never submit to his divine
government, which is concerned therefore to destroy them. So
that these impenitent wretches, who go on resolvedly in their
sins notwithstanding all that he can do to reclaim them, gain
but little by the patience and lenity of God towards them, and
it is but a small comfort that he doth not presently strike
them ; seeing it is certain, as the Psalmist expresses it, that he
is bending his bow, whetting his sword, and preparing, for
them the instruments of death.
Of this I need not say much, nor will the time permit it. It
is sufficient to know that sometimes the deferring of execution
is a piece of hostility, and makes the blow heavier when it
comes. They are but treasuring and heaping up to themselves
wrath against the day of wrath, (as the apostle speaks P,) who
will not be led by the goodness of God, no, nor his judgments,
to repentance ; but proceed to add sin to sin, till a most ter
rible vengeance break out upon them. Which may be deferred
perhaps from time to time, but with no other design than a
great prince hath, who is so powerful that he can have the
better of his enemies when he will, and therefore forbears to
fall upon them, not because he means to spare them, but only
because he waits for an opportunity when he may do the more
terrible execution, and take the severest revenge on those
whom he intends to ruin. What do sinful men mean then to
provoke the Lord to jealousy ? Are they stronger than he ?
Will you not fear him because he doth not instantly smite ?
Shall your hearts be set in you to do evil, because judgment is
not always speedily executed against an evil work ? Will you
p Rom. ii. 4, 5.

SERM. IX. the fast-day, April 11, i6yg. 85
dare to offend him as if he could not, or presume upon him as
if he would not punish ? Let me tell you, he is the more to be
feared and dreaded, if you understood yourselves, for this for
bearance. He delays to strike, not because he cannot, but
because he can when he pleases ; not because he will not, but
because he will do it at such a time when it will most serve the
wisdom of his providence. We are ignorant of all the reasons
why God doth not do vrith all as he doth with some. We
know not for what causes they are, that he doth not come so
quickly to reckon with one wicked man as with another. It is
enough to affright us out of our wicked ways, to know that he
looks upon such persons as his enemies, and that he will take
the fittest season to come and wound the head of his enemies,
the scalp of him that goeth on still in his trespasses. For
that is the last consideration. " IV.
That such persons as will not repent, being so often ad
monished, so patiently borne withal, so lovingly chastised and
corrected, must expect nothing but the execution of all our
Lord's threatenings against obstinate sinners. So he saith, /
will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. For the
understanding of which phrase you must look back to the first
chapter of this book, ver. i6, where Christ is represented as
having a sharp sword, and that two-edged, going out of his
mouth. The mouth is not the proper place for a sword to be
in, which uses to be girded to the thigh, or, when it is un
sheathed, to be taken into the hand. By this phrase therefore
is described the gracious method of our Lord Christ, who
threatens before he strikes. His sword at first is only in his
mouth ; that is, he declares his vengeance which he will take
against the rebellious, and makes proclamation that he will
come and destroy them if they do not repent. But if these
threatenings and denunciations of vengeance do not prevail, if
notwithstanding all his declarations they contemn his authority,
and will not stand in awe of him as their Lord and their Judge;
he will proceed to do as he hath said, and fight against them,
as he tells us here in my text, with this sword, which before he
threatened should come upon them to cut them off. Now no
man fights with a sword but it is in his hand ; and therefore

86 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
these words can signify nothing less than that the punishments
he had threatened and solemnly denounced should fall upon
hardened sinners ; and that he would execute what he had
resolved, and make good his word, if they took no heed to the
warnings he had given them.
Know then, all ye that go on fearlessly in your evil ways,
notwithstanding all that we can say from God unto you, that
you shall not always hear the mere thunder of terrible words,
the sound and noise of wrath and damnation hereafter, of blood
and war, of plagues and tumults, and subversions of churches
and kingdoms here, (that is, the sword will not always be in
his mouth,) but you shall feel in the conclusion the strokes of
his heavy displeasure ; and he will make you know by dismal
effects, that his words are not light and vain which vanish into
air, but they remain in everlasting force, and shall all be
fulfilled. Now this sword being two-edged, which cuts on both sides,
his fighting with it may denote the execution of his threaten
ings both upon the bodies and upon the souls of his enemies ;
whom he punishes ofttimes in their outward as well as in their
spiritual estate. I.
For the first of these, those words are very terrible, which
you meet withal in our Saviour's letter to the next church, ver.
21, 22, 23, of this chapter, I gave her space to repent of her
fornication; but she repented not. Behold, I will cast her
into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great
tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill
her children with death; and all her churches shall know
that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts : and I
will give unto every one of you according to your works.
Which if we apply to ourselves, we cannot deny but that we
have been already in great tribulation : and what further
punishments the righteous Lord hath reserved for us, except
we repent, we are not able certainly to tell ; but this is sure,
that it is not hkely there should be any peace to such a wicked
people. Our sins are so crying, that they will not suffer us to
be quiet, but give us further disturbance, till they have utterly
confounded us, unless we will part with these troublers of our
Israel, and become more obedient Christians. There have

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April 11, iS^g. 87
been innumerable sermons preached and books printed to de
monstrate this truth, that all those sins which are now so rife
among us, sloth and neghgence, luxury and excess, whoredom
and adultery, perfidiousness and dishonesty, infidehty or indif
ference in rehgion, contempt of all government civil and spiritual,
&c., naturally tend unto (and can end in nothing else but) the
subversion of those famihes, and that kingdom and church
wherein they reign ; besides that the divine justice is concerned
to punish them, and will be avenged, as the prophet speaks, of
such a nation as this. And who is there that doth not see
there are instruments of divine justice ready at hand, bloody
instruments that offer themselves to be employed, and are pre
pared to do the execution, if our repentance do not move him,
by some miraculous providence, to prevent it ? The papists I
mean, the sworn enemies of our peace and settlement ; who, as
they want no will, so have behaved themselves as if they
thought they did not want power to destroy us. Men of as
wicked principles as the father of mischief can invent ; of no
faith, no justice, no charity, no moderation ; (if they be spirited
by them who now rule in that church ;) but inflamed with a
false zeal for God and religion, which will let them stick at no
cruelty, no butchery, no treachery or treasonable attempt to
compass their desired end. We may say of them, as David
doth of his enemies Psalm v. 9, There is no faithfulness in
their mouth ; their inward part is very wickedness ; their
throat is an open sepulchre, though they flatter with their
tongue. And xxxviii. 19, Our enemies are lively and strong :
they that hate us wrongfully are many in number. So many,
and so industrious and desperately bent to seek our ruin,
that if the Lord had not been on our side, they had swallowed
us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us. And
we may be sure it is not quenched, but rather more incensed
by this disappointment ; so that we had need, with serious re
pentance, earnestly beseech him, in the words of David else
where ; Arise, 0 Lord, disappoint them, and cast them down :
deliver my soul from the wicked, which is a sword ofthinei.
Which words teach us that the wicked are one kind of
sword, which my text may speak of, wherewith the Lord fights
against impenitent sinners ; whom he punishes very often by
1 Psalm xvii. 13.

88 A sermon pleached on seem. ix.
other sinners hke themselves. And there is no sort of punish
ment that doth such dreadful execution as the fierceness of
man, if the Lord do not restrain it. We have reason there
fore to cry, in the words of Jeremiah, (which we may apply to
this business,) 0 sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere
thou be quiet f put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be
still^. Let us see no more wars, no more bloodshed, no more
sheathing our swords in one another's bowels. But then we
must add, as it there follows. How can it be quiet, if the Lord
have given it a charge agahist us, and if here he hath ap
pointed it ? If he resolve this way to punish us, there is no
way to escape it (but by repentance) ; and we cannot imagine
how sore a punishment it may prove ; for the tender mercies
of the wicked (saith Solomon, Prov. xii. lo) are cruel. Which
was never more verified of any sort of wicked men, than of
those Jesuited zealots, who are now enraged against us, and
hate us, as David speaks, Psalm xxv. 19, with cruel hatred.
We cannot tell yet how they intended to have treated us
now, but we know what they intended, and what they did in
former times. Particularly in the year 1588, when Don Pedro
de Valdez, a great commander in the Spanish invasion, con
fessed to the lords of the council, (who examined him after he
was taken, what meant those whips of cord and wire wherewith
their ships were stored,) that they intended, if they had pre
vailed, to have whipt us heretics to death. This he answered
in a bold manner ; and being further asked what they would
have done with our young children, replied as boldly, " All
above seven years old should have gone the same way with
their fathers ; the rest should have lived ; only we would have
branded them in the forehead with the letter L, signifying
Lutheran, and reserved them for perpetual bondage." This
the relator (Dr. Sharp) takes God to witness he received from
two of the greatest lords of the council after his examination,
with a commandment to publish it to the queen's army which
lay at Tilbury in his next sermon.
It may be objected indeed that this was only an insolent
rant of one of those huffing foreigners, who intended, as he
professed, not only to subdue our nation, but to root it wholly
out : and there cannot be, you may fancy, any so barbarous
¦^ Jer. xlvii. 6.

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April 11, iftjg. 89
among ourselves that design such a total destruction of us they
call heretics. To which I have nothing to say but this, that
the ordinary discourse of papists here in former times hath
been as bloody and cruel as can be imagined ; and we have
little reason to think they have less venom now that they have
more power by the increase of their numbers. For I find these
words in an exposition upon 2 Thess. ii., printed fifty years
ago 3, by a famous preacher in the city of London, " Know we
not their common threatenings ? what they whisper among the
common people, what they will do when their day doth come ?
(Christ grant that their day may never come.) When it shall
come, do they not whisper that they will no more hew down
the branches, but tear up the very roots of the reformation,
rooting out every professor thereof?" Which agrees too plainly
with what we read in a late traitor's letters, concerning their
hopes now to extirpate that pestilent heresy (as they miscall
our holy rehgion) which hath spread itself through these north
ern parts of the world. Nor have their practices been unsuit
able, as the Irish rebelUon alone sufficiently testifies ; wherein
three hundred thousand souls were sent to the other world, as
not fit to hve in this, for no other cause but their religion :
and it is manifest they then intended to have left none remain
ing in that country but themselves, if they could have satisfied
their bloodthirsty desires.
Which things I remember for no other end but to awaken
you to a serious repentance of those sins which have brought
us near the brink of the like destruction, lest the Lord dehver
us at last into the hands of these tormentors. Whose tyranny
is so unsupportable, that should they prevail, the posterity of
them who now wish for that woful day would sadly repent of it
in future times, and curse the memory of those who brought
them into such slavery. Let them but read the complaints
and hearken to the groans of their forefathers under the
s John Squire, Serm. v. p. 138. sometime fellow of Jesus coUedge
[" A plaine exposition upon the in Cambridge." — 4to, Lond. 1630.
first part of the second chapter of John Squire was the son of Dr.
saint Paul his second epistle to the Adam Squire, who married a daugh-
Thessalonians ; wherein it is plainly ter of bishop Aylmer, and caused
proved that the pope is the Anti- the bishop much trouble by his dis-
christ. Being lectures in saint solute conduct. — Strype's Life of
Paul's, by John Squire, priest, and Aylmer, pp. 122, 123.]
vicar of saint Leonard's, Shordich,

90 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
Roman bondage, before the reformation of rehgion, and they
may be convinced of their folly, or madness rather, in desiring
and endeavouring to return unto it. All the world sighed for
dehverance from it, particularly France and Germany and
Poland, as we find in the pubhc acts of those countries ; who
said of the bishop of Rome's tyranny, as St. Peter did of the
burden of Jewish ceremonies, that it was a yoke which neither
they nor their fathers were able to bear. And " among all
the authentic records" (to use the words of him that set out the
Review of the Council of Trent* in our language) " which
there are of the pope's usurpation, there are not to be found
more woful tragedies of his tyranny, than such as were acted
upon our stage. No higher trophies erected to his ambition
than here in England. No more rare examples of devout,
abused patience, than among us. Till extreme necessity made
us despair into courage and fortitude ; when the avarice and
exactions of Rome having left us nothing else, at last robbed
us of our patience.'' All our histories are full of proofs of this ;
which may ease me of the labour of relating any of them ; nor
is this a place so proper for it. II.
Let me pass rather to the second thing, and turn towards
you the other edge of the sword which my text speaks of:
which is the executing his threatenings against the souls of
the impenitent, and sending upon them spiritual judgments.
Which, if we have any sense and feeling, we must think are
the most grievous of all other : and here I might represent to
you what a dismal thing it would be if you should have your
eyes put out once more, and be buried again in the darkness of
ignorance and popish superstition ; being robbed of your rea
son, and made to beheve the grossest absurdities ; and, having
no liberty left to examine any thing, be forced to follow blindly
whithersoever your bhnd guides will lead you. For this is the
least you can expect, if our inveterate enemies prevail over us.
Suppose they should be so kind as not to kill us, nor torment
us, nor so much as imprison us ; yet they wih undoubtedly ex
ercise the greatest severity against our rehgion, and endeavour
t [Preface by Gerard Langbaine, vision du concile de Trente',— fol.
provost of Queen's coUege, Oxford, Oxon. 1638.]
to his translation of Ranchin's ' Re-

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April ii, 1679. 91
to destroy that, though they should spare us. The holy Scrip
tures must be imprisoned ; your understandings and spirits
enthralled ; the worship of God profaned and corrupted ; the
idolatry of the mass erected ; the very doctrine of repentance
poisoned ; and all other ways of serving God, but according to
their superstition, absolutely prohibited.
We may suffer ourselves to be abused, if we please, with fair
words and plausible speeches, wherewith they deceive the hearts
of the simple ; but whatsoever they say and petition for them
selves, when they are under hatches, they are resolved when
they have power to give no toleration to any religion but their
own. This Ribadeneira (the famous writer of the hfe of Ig
natius, the founder of the Jesuits) labours to prove at large in
his book of a Christian Prince ^ : " That it is impossible for
catholics to unite with heretics in a firm bond of society, and
to agree to hve together in a peaceable, quiet body of a com
monwealth." (Which is worthy our notice and remembrance, and
so are his reasons.) " For how can one carry a serpent in his
bosom," saith he, " and not be ulcerated by his bitings ? or
touch pitch, and not be defiled ? &c. Or are there more innate
and imbred enmities between the wolves and the lambs than
there ought to be between catholics and heretics ? No," saith
he, " the council of Toledo determines that no king hereafter
should reign, but before he ascended the throne he should
swear, among other things, that he would permit no man who
was not a catholic to live in his kingdom," &c. And if this be
not sufficient to show what these fathers would be at, (who
now are the ruling men in that church,) I might cite others
who make it equally dangerous to have two religions in a king
dom, and to have a wife and a whore in one and the same
family. Sometimes indeed they confess the iniquity of the times (as
they speak) may be such, that a prince of their rehgion may
be forced to tolerate ours, and solemnly do it by compact and
agreement. But then they say again that he, being compelled
unwillingly to fall into a guilt, must not wilhngly fall into ano-
1 [Princeps Christianus, adver- nunc Latine a P. Joanne Orano,
jBus Nieolaum Machiavellum, cete- utroque societatis Jesu theologo
rosque hujus temporis politicos, a editus. — vid. lib. i. cap. 23. pp. 131
Petro Ribadeneira, nuper Hispanice, — 8.

92 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
ther, by confirming what he hath done, when he hath power to
break the agreement. And they have devised several ways
to free such a prince from his obligation, when he thinks fit to
null what in words he seemed to estabhsh : but I shall not
trouble you with them ; nor should I have said any thing at all
of this, had it not seemed to me necessary to inform you that
whatsoever they may seem to give you with one hand, they
have devices artificially and cunningly to take away with the
other. Whereby they justify what father Deza said in a ser
mon of his in praise of their founder Ignatius : who was the
mighty angel, he told them, that St. John saw in Rev. x. i,
who came down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a
rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, &c.:
and inquiring why he was represented as clothed with a cloud,
makes this answer, that "it signifies that he hides and conceals
his generous and subhme counsels and designs : and represents
also the government of our society, which manifest their effects,
but hide their rules and their modes or manner of acting."
" As of old," saith he, " a cloud covered the tabernacle of the
Lord, and the glory of the Lord entered into it ; so God, who
hath built this tabernacle on earth, (he means the society of
the Jesuits,) hath with the same wisdom ordained, for the pre
serving the honour of so holy a thing, ut ejus gubernandi ratio
adeo secreta esset, ' that the reason and manner of its govern
ment should be so secret,' that no man should be able to know
it." Which I think you see verified to the fuU at this day. We
feel the effects of their counsels, but we see not the secret
springs by which they move. They are covered with a cloud
indeed, and cast a mist before people's eyes by a number of
cunning distinctions, crafty evasions, and secret reservations ;
wherein they instruct their proselytes that they may be able to
do the most villanous things, and yet not be seen, but he con
cealed from the eyes of the world, even when they are caught,
and many evidences are produced of their wickedness. 0 my
soul, will every one here be apt to say (with good old Jacob),
come not thou into their secret : unto their assembly, my honour,
be not thou united"^. But it is not enough to pray against
their artifices ; we must take a more effectual course, by true
^ Gen. xlix. 6.

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April 11, i6'jg. 93
repentance, to engage the wisdom of heaven on our side to
defeat their most crafty and subtle contrivances. Else we may
be cozened and gulled out of our religion, if by outward force
they cannot prevail against us, and return in time to our old
blind devotion: according to the observation of St. Stephen,
that when the Israelites would not obey Moses, then in their
hearts they turned back again into Egypt ; and then God
turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven.
But suppose none of these things should befall us, but we
should keep our religion ; what shall we be the better for it if
we do not repent ? Nay, how much the worse shall we grow by
the abuse of his abundant grace, and so many remarkable
deliverances from our enemies which we have received ? There
are other spiritual evils that he hath threatened to inflict upon
the impenitent, and are the sorest wounds, the sharpest punish
ments that he can give with this sword of his mouth. They
are such as these, the withdrawing of his grace, the taking
away his holy Spirit, and consequently ceasing to move their
hearts unto repentance ; denying them the helps they have
had, and putting no such stops to them in their evil courses as
sometimes they have found : but removing those things which
might excite and stir them up to amendment ; and, on the con
trary, permitting such as may confirm them in their contumacy,
whereby they become hardened and sealed up unto condemna
tion, to be punished with everlasting destruction, when the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty
angels, to take vengeance on all those that know not God, and
obey not the gospel of Christ.
These are sad and dismal things, which should stir up every
one of our drowsy hearts to mark and observe and lay hold
upon every good motion of God's good Spirit in our hearts
unto repentance, lest it depart away from us, and by degrees
leave us insensible, utterly insensible of the things belonging to
our peace. Which, one would think, should be so dear to us,
(though we look no further than this present world,) that we
should readily consent to any thing that wiU procure it, and
set ourselves against that which obstructs it, and will finally
undo us. And that we all confess is our heinous sins ; for all
the power of the devil and of men, though never so violently
bent against us, cannot destroy us, unless we continue still in

94 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
the plot, as I may call it, wherein we are engaged too deeply
against ourselves, by our wilful persisting in profaneness, filthi-
ness, contempt of rehgion, and of that authority which supports
it, and such like sins : which have brought us into that low,
that weak and contemptible condition, in which our enemies
could never have hoped to have seen us, unless they had first
debauched us.
That hath been their great craft, as it was Balaam's; to
whose devices my text hath a particular respect. He saw
clearly there was no way to prevail against Israel, but by
engaging them in idolatry and irreligion ; and that there was
no way to engage them in that, but by enticing them to forni
cation. So the Samaritans excellently gloss upon his story I-'
who introduce Balaam telling the princes of Midian, that the
holy angels surrounded Israel, and the King of heaven and
earth was with them ; so that neither magic nor any thing
else could prevail against them, unless they admitted some infi
delity, or committed some grievous sin. Then, said he, the
Creator will be angry with them, so that they shall perish, and
not one of them remain. For the accomplishment of which, he
advised them to send the most beautiful women in their
country among them, every one of them with the idol which
she worshipped in her hands ; and that she should offer herself
to be theirs, if they would eat of her meat, drink of her drink,
and worship her God. This was eating things offered to idols,
mentioned before my text ; whereby many of them perished,
and the rest were saved, who severely punished these enor
mities, and thereby showed their hatred and detestation of the
wickedness of their brethren.
After which pattern Christ expected the church of Pergamus
should be severe against all those among them who were se
duced from the Christian purity in doctrine and in manners
by the like artifice of the devil's agents. Whereby he knew he
should put them out of Christ's favour ; and if they continued
in those wicked courses, quite unchurch them, and bring them
again under his vassalage. This is the repentance which Christ
here calls for in my text ; and which he requires of all governors,
ti Apud Hotting. Smegma Orientale, [de usu Unguarum orientalium,]
p. 444. [4to, Held. 1658.]

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, Ap-il 1 1, 1679. 95
and those in authority, civil or spiritual ; that they should not
be slack in punishing sin, and suppressing all false doctrine, and
especially those lewd opinions which lead men to all manner of
looseness and wickedness.
For, if you observe it, the church of Pergamus had been
steadfast in the faith in the time of persecution ; and when An-
tipas his faithful martyr suffered, were a commendable people
in many things (as we likewise in this church, at least our fore
fathers, may be commended for this, that in the days of fire
and fagot, many chose to die rather than to change their
rehgion.) But there were a few things which Christ had
against them. First, because they had those among thfem who
held the doctrine of Balaam, &c. ; and secondly, those who
held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans : who were another sort
of filthy people, giving themselves over unto promiscuous lusts
of uncleanness. When he saith, they had such among them,
he means, they connived at them, and did not eject them ; for
it was not their fault that those men held such opinions, but
that they suffered them without the censure of the church. And
then immediately he adds. Repent, or else I will come against
thee quickly, 8fc. As much as to say. You must suffer these
men no longer among you (-that was their repentance at that
time); or if you do, I will not endure it, but will come and
punish you for this indifference in rehgion.
Now I leave you all to judge, whether the factors of the evil
one have not taken this very course to unchurch us ; and we
by our neghgence be not in the way to unchurch ourselves.
They have infused poisonous principles into men's minds, and
taught them, for instance, to decry marriage as a foolish slavery,
to think fornication an innocent thing, and so to give up them
selves to commit all uncleanness with greediness : that so, for
getting all respect to our religion, they may in the issue make
them Romanists, and proselyte them to their idolatrous ser
vices ; that is, make them ten times more the children of the
devil than they were before. And what other way is there to
be saved from the destruction which these and other vices will
bring upon us, but (that which we are not wilhng to take) for
every man to repent of his own wickedness and turn to God ;
and then for those who have authority to set themselves with
all their might to punish and to root out such wickednesses, with

96 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
ah the principles that lead unto them, together with the
abettors and supporters of them ?
And here it may be fit to observe, that a. few things, if very
destructive to religion, may provoke the divine severity against
a church. For they were no more that Christ charges this
church of Pergamus withal ; and yet, if they did not amend,
he threatens to come and fight against them with the sword
of his mouth: what will become of us then, whom he hath so
many things to charge withal, if we go on stiU to provoke him
with them to jealousy ? I doubt we cannot clear ourselves from
such filthinesses as are here mentioned, nor from foul doctrines
leading to them, which too many have entertained ; nor from
coldness and indifference in rehgion, if not plain infidehty ; nor
from a disposition of heart in some to turn back to Rome, the
spiritual Egypt, again ; nor from conniving at the defection
which so many have made from Christ's true religion here
estabhshed, and not endeavouring to suppress all those that
seek to destroy it. And, which is still more, we are foully
guilty of slighting that authority which should call men to an
account for all their wickedness ; and not only reprove and
rebuke, but censure and chastise, and exercise Christ's discipline
upon notorious offenders. This is a thing not only laughed at
and despised, but hated and scorned; nay, the ministers of
Christ themselves are but hghtly esteemed. For which, if
there were nothing else, we may be sure Christ will reckon
with us.
Reckon with us, did I say ? He hath done it in part already,
and yet we are not cured of this malignant humour ; which
makes me fear the saddest part of the reckoning is still behind.
Take the prognostication in the words of a great doctor of this
church"^: who thus denounced God's judgments against this
nation, a good while before the late wars, upon this very
account, that he saw the people running headlong into this
great sin ; which is marvellously increased since that time.
" Questionless," saith he, " this open, malapert, scoffing dis
obedience to all ecclesiastical power, now openly professed by
the meanest, and countenanced by many great ones of the
laity, is the sin which (to all that know God's judgments, or
have been observant to look into the days of our visitation) cries
- Dr. Jackson on the Creed, book ii. chap. 9. [Works, vol. i. p. 407.]

seem. IX. the fast-day, April 11, iS^g. 97
loudest in the Almighty's ears (more loud by much than the
prayers of friars, monks, and Jesuits do) for God's vengeance
upon this land ; for vengeance to be executed by no other than
our sworn, inveterate, malicious enemies ; by no other griev
ances than by the doubled grievances of the long-enraged
Romanists' iron yoke ; which is now prepared for us, ten times
more heavy and irksome than that was which our forefathers
have borne."
I pray God this do not prove a true prediction. If it do, we
cannot say but we were forewarned, and that God's watchmen
discharged themselves, and told us beforehand of the danger.
Which we had better prevent, by becoming more obedient to
their godly admonitions, by submitting to their just censures,
by esteeming them very highly for their work's sake, and
giving them all due encouragement to do their duties sincerely.
And though some be negligent and idle, or ignorant, let not
either the baseness or the lewdness of any of their persons
tempt you to despise their office ; for that is the reason (in that
doctor's opinion) why God sends no better men in many places.
" God knows," saith he, " for whose sake it is ; but we may all
fear it is especially for the infidelity and disloyalty of this
people towards him, and for their disobedience to his mes
sengers, that he sends them such idle, foolish and lewd pastors
as they have in many places.
" Because the laity of this land are so prone and headstrong
to cast off Christ's yoke, and to deny due obedience to his
faithful ministers, he therefore sets such watchmen over them
in many places, as they shall have no lust to obey in any thing
that they shall propose to them, but harden their hearts in
infidehty and disobedience." Which I have shown you already
is one of the most fearful judgments that God can inflict upon
us, and which we ought to dread more than the " enraged
Romanists' iron yoke, which," he saith, " is prepared for us."
It hath been preparing many years ; and it seems now to
have been very near to be clapped, when we thought not of it,
upon our necks. It is a miracle of God's mercy that it was
not : but let not that make us too confident that it shaU never
be laid upon us, nor fancy it is quite broken in pieces, because
we are slipped from under it at present. For if our shameful
disobedience to the gospel, and contempt of its ministers still
PATEICK, VOL. VIL H

98 A sermon preached on seem. ix.
continue, (notwithstandmg that they are acknowledged to be
much better now in most places than when that doctor wrote,)
I fear we do but feed ourselves with vain hopes of an absolute
dehverance. Or suppose he will not let them be the instruments
of that punishment which our sins deserve, (because they of that
church are so exceeding wicked, so void, that is, of all faith,
truth and honesty, so perfidious, malicious and cruel, and all
under a colour and pretence of rehgion, which warrants all
these things, and makes them the more abominable,) yet assure
yourselves he will find some other way to execute the judgments
he hath threatened to the impenitent. There is some likehhood
he will take them in their own craftiness : but let not the hope
of that tempt you to be secure ; for he will destroy us too in
our impudent disobedience and hardness of heart, which will
not be moved by any thing to come to repentance; no, not
when we ourselves acknowledge that we expect mercy and
deliverance from him upon no other terms. For so we con
stantly pray in the collect for deliverance from our enemies :
where we first acknowledge, that to him " it justly belongs to
punish sinners, and to be merciful to them that truly repent : "
and then desire him to " deliver us from the hand of our ene
mies ; to abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound
their devices." Unless we repent, we here confess that we
have no reason to expect his salvation ; but rather such punish
ments as he justly inflicts upon such sinners as wiU notwith
standing go on still in those trespasses, whereby they see they
are in danger to perish inevitably.
Let me once more therefore beseech you, as you love your
souls, as you love your religion, your lives, your liberties, and
all that is dear to you, examine and search, and try yourselves
by the infalhble test of God's most holy word ; lay your hearts
to that rule while you have it, and resolve, by God's gracious
assistance, to bring them to a sincere conformity with it.
Especially let all good men (whatsoever the rest are pleased
to do) apply their endeavours to purify themselves more per
fectly, to walk more circumspectly, to shine as hghts in the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation ; and to cry
mightily unto God for his sparing mercy. It is possible they
may be saved, though he punish others. Nay, by their impor
tunate cries unto him, and solicitous prayers, day and night.

SEEM. IX. the fast-day, April n, iS^g. 99
for this poor church and kingdom, they may obtain some
respite of his judgments, and prevail for the puttmg them off
till a further time, if they cannot quite avert them.
Ahab's humiliation, you know, procured this favour : and
therefore if all, both king and people, did this day imitate him,
so far as with great sorrow and affliction of spirit to acknow
ledge their offences, earnestly beg pardon, cry for mercy with
strong and constant importunity, and reform some notorious
sins, (though not all of which we are guilty,) it might prove a
prolonging of our tranquilhty. Nay, it is possible, as I said,
that though others continue still insensible and neghgent, yet
if all good people would make it their business every day to
grow better, and to pray to God incessantly, that he would at
least forbear us, and have patience with us, expecting still
longer, if we will bring forth fruit worthy of his gospel ; it
is likely they might obtain this mercy of enjoying truth and
peace in our days.
Let me speak to you therefore in the words of a pious and
learned man before the late wars.
" All ye that fear God, and tremble under the expectation of
his wrath, give him no rest, stand up in the breach, make a
strong assault, as I may say, upon heaven with your prayers ;
give not over till you have received a gracious answer ; till the
sins of our nation be pardoned, his imminent judgments averted,
his ancient favours recovered ; till he have rebuked Satan, and
trodden him under our feet ; till he have frustrated the bloody
hopes and desires of the enemies of his truth ; till he build up
the breaches, raise the ruins, and bind up the wounds of his
Sion : saying with Daniel, 0 Lord God, we have sinned and
committed iniquity, Sfc, yet compassion and forgiveness is
with thee, 0 Lord : and therefore we beseech thee hear the
prayers of thy servants, and their supplications ; and cause
thy face to shine upon this church, for thy name's sake. 0
Lord, hear ; 0 Lord, forgive ; 0 Lord consider, and do it ;
defer not, for thy own sake, O our God : for thy name is
called upon us, and we are thy people."

H 2

A SERMON
PREACHED ON THE LATE FAST,
Dbcembee 22, 1680. Afternoon.

Rev. in. beginning of the third verse.
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard,
and holdfast, and repent.
THE sad and calamitous condition of this once most happy
church and kingdom is so great and so visible that it can be
no longer dissembled ; but we must confess with the prophet
Isaiah, (in the first lesson for this Morning Prayer, i. 5,) that
the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint, &c. Which
hath moved his majesty (by the desire of his parliament) to
cause it to be proclaimed to all his people, that we may be
awakened to look about us, and see how we may prevent the
dreadful judgments which are now impending over us.
That which hath occasioned this deplorable state of things,
is (as we are told in the proclamation which called us hither,)
" the impious and horrid conspiracies of a popish party ; who
have not only plotted and intended the destruction of our
sovereign, the subversion of the government and rehgion esta
blished among us ; but still obstinately prosecute their inten
tions, notwithstanding God's most wonderful discovery of their
wickedness." And one of the ways whereby they carry on this design being (as
we are there also informed) " by fomenting divisions " among
ourselves ; these are no less to be bewailed by us than any
other thing whatsoever, both as a calamity, and as one of
those sins, those most " grievous and many sins," which must
be acknowledged to be the main cause of aU our dangers.

S3EM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 21, \6%Q. 101
And they are so great that in human reason they can by no other
means be remedied than by the special hand of Heaven. Which
we come therefore here to implore, in a " particular blessing
upon the consultations and endeavours of the great council of
the kingdom, and in defeating the wicked counsels and devices
of our enemies, and uniting the hearts of all his majesty's loyal
protestant subjects."
But these great blessings we cannot reasonably hope to ob
tain, no, not by our fasting, and humiliation, and prayers, un
less we endeavour a true reconcihation with God, by being
unfeignedly penitent, and resolving to forsake those sins which
we ourselves confess have brought us into such distresses and
perplexities as nothing else can remedy.
Now in order unto this, as 1 excited you on the last day of
solemn fasting and prayer to a serious and speedy repentance,
by such arguments as I found in those words of our Saviour
to another of the seven churches of Asia, ii. i6. : Repent, or
else I will come unto thee quickly, and fight against thee with
the sword of my mouth : so at this time I shall direct you a
little in the way and method of repentance, and point at some
things of which you are to repent ; from these words which I
have read out of our Saviour's letter to the church of Sardis,
with whom we of this church have too manifest a resemblance.
For, as our blessed Lord complains, ver. i, we have a name
that we live, i. e. are good Christians : but alas ! in deed and
truth are dead ; for we produce not the fruits of Christian
virtue. There is a great deal of bustle and stir about religion,
for which we seem to be mightily concerned : but the inward
hfe and power of it is generally wanting, which we do not
love to be troubled withal. Nay, we can scarce say so much
of our people as God doth of Judah in the first lesson for
Evening Prayer, They seek me daily, and delight to know my
ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the
ordinances of their God^, &c., (which, alas! we have most
openly deserted,) though this was far short, we find in that
chapter, of making them an acceptable nation to him, At the
best we must confess we are fahen asleep and grown very
slothful, as our Saviour here supposes them of Sardis to have
been, ver. 2 : and there is so great and universal a decay of
* Isaiah Iviii. 2.

102 A sermon preached on seem. x.
true piety and goodness among us, that we are in apparent
danger to lose the small remainders of it. Something good
there is stih left in this church, as there was in that : but far
from that entire and complete obedience which our Lord expects
from us, as will appear by considering what is to be done by
us for our recovery to a better condition.
And there are three things which our Lord here requires of
them in my text : and are incumbent upon every one of us, as
our necessary duty, if we would be saved from our present
danger. First, to remember what they had received and heard.
Secondly, to hold it fast.
Thirdly, to repent, of their forgetfulness, I suppose, their
looseness and indifferency in their religion.
I shall treat of them all in the order wherein they stand :
and consider them, both with respect to the condition of that
church, to whom they were first dehvered ; and then with re
spect to ours, who have no less need of such admonitions.
I.
The first of them supposes that they had been taught some
doctrine : which they had received and entertained with be
lief; and had heard it also often since inculcated and pressed
(so I understand the words) by those pastors who were set over
them by the apostle, or those who first delivered the truth unto
them. Which was nothing else but the Christian religion, of
which I must not here speak at large ; but only tell you it is
that way of serving God which is prescribed by Christ and his
apostles in the books of the New Testament. Wherein we now
read what they then received by word of mouth from the apo
stles, and understand fully what we must believe and do to be
saved. Now as there is no cause to which God more frequently as
cribes the sins, and particularly the idolatry of the children of
Israel, than their forgetfulness of him, and of his law, and of
what he had done for them ; so this very thing (stupid for
getfulness and neglect of what Christ and his apostles delivered
by signs and wonders and mighty deeds) introduced that
deadness in religion of which our Saviour complains in the
beginning of this chapter ; and he foresaw would bring in all

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, 1680. 103
the corruptions which afterwards foUowed in the church, and
began very early to appear in the Christian world. For there
avoBe false apostles amA false prophets, nay, direct antichrists,
(as this very apostle, St. John, tells us,) men who denied the
only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that brought in
damnable heresies, slighted the authority of the apostles, turned
the grace of God into lasciviousness ; nay, brought back the
old idolatry, as you read in the foregoing chapter of this book,
vers. 14, 20.
And though this church of Sardis is not charged with so
deep a degree of apostasy as those of Pergamus and Thyatira,
yet there was great danger of falhng into it, unless they took
this advice of our Saviour, to remember (better than they had
done) what they had received and heard. Which is the very
same with that which God himself had given of old to the
Israelites, to prevent their defection from him, (in many places
of the book of Deuteronomy",) and which his prophets were
wont to give in after-times as the first step to their recovery
when they had revolted from God their Saviour d. Who
here calls upon his church in like manner to bring to remem
brance, and think again and again, till they had fixed it in their
mind what they had received ; and with what affection also
they had embraced the gospel of God's grace, (for that may
be implied in the particle -n&s, ' how' you have received and
heard,) as the only means to preserve them from lapsing
further into a worse condition, and losing that good which was
still remaining, but ready to die among them. This the apo
stles afterward endeavoured with great care and diligence, and
promised, as we read in St. Peter®, to endeavour that after
their decease they might have those things in remembrance
always which they had been taught : but for want of the like
diligence and watchfulness in the people (who did not take
such heed as they ought to have done to these admonitions,)
the Christian religion in process of time was so adulterated,
that a great part of the church fell into that lamentable apo
stasy which is foretold and described in this book of the
Revelation ; and which we see now fulfilled too plainly in the
church of Rome and those of its communion.
<= Deut. viii. i, 2, t8. '^ Isa. xlvi. 8, 9 ; Mic. vi. ,5.
^ 2 Pet., i. 12, 13, 15.

104 A sermon preached on seem. x.
Which have so far degenerated from the primitive Chris
tianity, (such is the mischief of not reflecting perpetually upon
what was first dehvered and received,) that their religion looks
more hke the old paganism revived in a new shape, than that
good old way of worshipping God, which our Saviour taught
when he came to destroy the works of the devil. And they
were stiU plunging themselves further into such gross super
stitions, as endangered the very being of Christianity, (by mag
nifying the blessed Virgin and St. Francis to such a degree,
that they were regarded more than Christ himself,) that a re
formation became absolutely necessary ; and was generally
desired, as it were easy to show, by men of the greatest note
jn these parts of Christendom for choice learning and piety.
Nay, in that very council which they themselves packed to
hinder the reformation, (that of Trent I mean,) ten several king
doms and states desired, both by their ambassadors and pre
lates, that the cup in the holy communion might be restored to
the people ; from whom it had been sacrilegiously taken, to
the manifest violation of the Christian rehgion, which had in
stituted it in both kinds. And many pressed for divine service
in a known tongue ; the want of which was another palpable
corruption and shameless abuse in the Roman church. Which
many desired might be reformed in other particulars ; but
nothing could be obtained from them who were resolved to
baffle all these pious endeavours. In order to which they
took such a course, that there were more Italian bishops in
that council, who would vote as they were directed (sometime
more by twenty, sometime by an hundred) than there was of
all the world beside. So that, in effect, all these parts of
Christendom would have reformed, had not Italy opposed it ;
and craftily combined by all manner of artifices to hinder
these honest intentions.
Which, blessed be God, prevailed notwithstanding in this
church, and were so zealously and yet so prudently prosecuted,
that we were happily purged, by the singular grace of God to
us, from all those corruptions which had infected the body of
religion, without the loss of any part of that truth which was
anciently and at first received. For when we reformed, we
did not set up a new religion, as they falsely and foohshly ac
cuse us ; but only cast out their novel errors, and reduced all

seem. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, i68o. 105
things to the ancient standard or rule of faith and worship,
which was once delivered to the saints ; that is, to the church
of Christ. As will appear by applying all this to ourselves,
and remembering you, as briefly as I can, what it is that we
received, and have often since heard, to be the true doctrine of
Christianity, as it stands reformed from the corruptions and
abuses of the Roman church.
I. Which is no other than that which the church of Sardis
and all the rest at first received ; the fundamental principle of
our religion being this, that all things necessary to be believed
and done for the obtaining salvation are contained and plainly
enough expressed in the holy Scriptures. A compendium of
which, as to matters of faith, is drawn up in the Apostles' Creed
(as it is explained by the famous council of Nice) which com
prehends all things that are necessary to be believed, in order
to eternal hfe.
2. Yet we acknowledge that it is not sufficient, as you have
often heard, to believe ; but though our sincere profession of
faith, according to what is revealed in the holy Scriptures, and
comprehended in the Creed, do enter us into the state of justi
fication ; yet the fruits of faith in a godly hfe are absolutely
necessary to continue us in it. For that very faith which jus
tifies us doth imply and include in it a purpose, and is accom
panied with a promise of holy obedience : which if it be not
performed, we cannot be accepted with God, nor claim the
promise of eternal life.
This is another principle which we have received.
3. And among the rest of the duties which are required of us
by our faith, the holy Scriptures teach us this as plainly as any
whatsoever ; that Christian people ought to have a great re
gard to their pastors, the guides and conductors of their souls
in the way to heaven ; whose spiritual authority over them is
to be reverenced, though not as infallible, yet as most valuable ;
not to be followed bhndfold, but fit to be consulted on all occa
sions, and most to be rehed on in dubious cases.
There is no principle of the reformation more undoubted
than this, that a pilot is not more necessary in a ship, or a
shepherd to watch over the flock, than such spiritual shepherds
and guides are to teach, direct and govern Christ's church ;
and that among other means and helps which Christian people

106 A sermon preached on seem. x.
should use to understand the Scriptures, the direction of their
guides is the chief. To whom it belongs, as to receive men
into the church by baptism, so, after they are thus born again,
to breed them up in their religion, as their spiritual parents, to
expound and interpret to them the holy writings ; and out of
them to instruct the ignorant, convince gainsayers, correct the
people's mistakes, reprove their sins, stir them up to all the duties
of a holy life, satisfy the scrupulous, censure the contumacious,
absolve the penitent, and administer comfort to dejected spirits.
The people indeed ought to examine whether the things
they deliver out of the Scripture be so or no (as the Berceans
did and are commended for it, Acts xvii.) and conscientiously
to discern between truth and falsehood, between the right faith
and rule of life propounded to them by their pastors, and the
poisoned doctrine of heretics and deceivers : but they must not
judge alone, without their direction and guidance ; nor hastily
conclude their teachers to be in the wrong ; nor rashly dissent
from them and refuse to follow their direction ; but rather sus
pect themselves, and inquire further when they think they
ought not to assent to them ; and in the issue, if the things
they deliver be not plainly against the holy Scriptures, to sus
pect their own judgments, rather than contradict those whom
God, without all doubt, hath appointed to be their instructors
and guides.
By which principle we have quite shut out the Roman
tyranny on one hand, who would lead the people blindfold,
whereas we endeavour to make them see and require them to
open their eyes and show them that we do not mislead them ; and
avoided also on the other hand the wild frantic liberty of those
who will not be led at all, but go alone and guide themselves
by their own private judgment. As by the other principle also
(of sticking to the Scriptures in all things necessary to salvation)
we have cut off all the fond traditions of the Roman church, (which
they have equalled with the Scriptures.) and yet have retained
many things of ancient observation which were not absolutely
necessary, but not sinful, for peace and decency sake. Because
we would not seem to have undertaken the work of reformation
out of any desire of novelty, but merely to discharge our duty
to God in avoiding all things contrary to his word, and doing
all according to it ; which made our reformers, for the preser-

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, 1680. 107
vation, as much as was possible, of peace and unity, (which the
holy Scriptures so much commend and enjoin,) to take great
care not to depart any further from any practice of the church,
than it had departed from Christ the founder of it, and from
the holy Scriptures whereby it ought to have governed
itself. Thus I have, in as few words as I could, told you what it is
that we have received. From whence we may learn both how
happy we should have been had we always stuck to it and
never deviated from it ; (so happy, that we should neither have
had the divisions that are among us, nor any thing else which
we come this day to bewail ;) and also how foully the Roman
church hath prevaricated and departed from the simplicity of
the Christian religion. First, by adding many other articles of
faith to those which were at first received ; and secondly, by
forbidding the people to look into the holy Scriptures which
contain the foundation and rule of Christian belief.
Let me touch a little upon these two, leaving the consider
ation of our own condition till afterward.
First, I say, it is apparent they have highly offended God
and abused his people, by making a new creed, and that con
trary to a known decree of the third general council, (that at
Ephesus^,) which they pretend to reverence. For it ordained
that it should not be lawful for any person to bring forth, write
or compose, any other faith, than that which was defined by
the holy fathers gathered together in the Holy Ghost at the
city of Nice ; and that whosoever should dare to compose or
offer another faith, or propound it to such as were desirous to
be converted to the knowledge of the truth, either from among
the gentiles or the Jews, or from any heretics, they should, if
they were bishops or clergymen, be deposed from their office ;
if laymen, be anathematized. And yet they of Rome have not
feared to violate this decree by making a new faith, not in
words merely, but in sense ; about the adoration of images, of
saints, of the eucharist, and concerning the authority of the
pope, the doctrine of purgatory, and the rest of the articles of
the new creed, presumptuously made by the council of Trent.
Some of which are of such dangerous practice, that learned
men among themselves (Gerson, Espencasus, and others) have
* [Act. vi. Mansi, tom. iv. col. 1361.],'

108 A sermon preached on seem. x.
confessed it among the vulgar to be no less than idololatrical ;
and others doubt not to add that it is no better among the
learned. And others again are so far from being articles of
faith, that, for ought we can find in the Scriptures, (or true
antiquity,) they are not so much as probable opinions. For
instance, the authority of the pope and the monarchy, (as now
they fear not to caU it,) which he pretends to over the whole
church, is founded merely in pride and ambition; and as it
was acquired, so it hath been supported and enlarged, (and is
still maintained,) by rebellion, treason, murdering of princes,
wars, dispensing with perjuries and incestuous marriages, spoils
and robberies of churches and kingdoms, worldly craft and
policy, force and falsehood, forgery, lying, dissimulation and
gross hypocrisy ; as may easily be made good in every par
ticular, to the satisfaction of all those who have not their eyes
blinded by the god of this world. Who by such villanies hath
mightily disgraced Christianity, which for many ages was wholly
unacquainted with any such faith.
And there are also common opinions that pass among them
uncontradicted, as strongly believed as any article of faith;
which, notwithstanding their seeming zeal for good works,
utterly overthrow any necessity of them. For it is the avowed
doctrine of the greatest teachers in that church, that though a
man live and die without the practice of any Christian virtue,
and with the habit of many damnable sins unmortified, yet if he
have sorrow for sin, and join confession with it, and receive ab
solution in the last moment of his life, he shall certainly be
saved. And accordingly we see that if the lewdest persons among
us will but be reconciled to the Roman church on their death
bed, they abuse them with the hope of salvation, telling them
there is no salvation in our church, though they were never so
good, but in theirs there is, though they are never so bad.
Which is a clear demonstration that all their discourse about
good works is a mere show, and that faith alone among them
is thought sufficient to do the business, and that jt is their
priests, not ours, who teach men to rely upon a naked faith, *
and presume to be saved by it.
The cause of all which is their neglect of the rule of faith,
the holy Scriptures, which are so much against them that they
dare not trust the people with them.

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22,16^0. 109
Secondly, that is the second thing I noted as a manifest decla
ration of the corruption of the Roman church, that they will by
no means consent the people should look into those books which
contain the doctrine at first received ; but upon the severest pe
nalties forbid (without a special license obtained) their perusal of
them, as if these were the most suspected or dangerous of all
other books, or as if it were reason the people should believe
the church, without knowing what the church ought to beheve.
There is not a more evident token of their guilt than this.
For that it is done on purpose to keep the people in ignorance,
not to preserve them within the bounds of sobriety, (which may
be done by other means,) is apparent from hence ; that even
those select portions of Scripture which they have chosen to be
read in the church publicly, they will not let the people hear in
a language which they understand. For which no reason can
be alleged but that now mentioned ; they are loath the people
should be acquainted with any thing that may enlighten their
eyes to see the errors of that church. For Latin prayers indeed,
wherein they speak to God, they have this excuse, that God
understands all languages ; but for Latin chapters of the Bible,
wherein God speaks to men, there is nothing to be said ; the
end of speaking to others being that we may be understood.
Why then should God be as a barbarian to his people, speaking
to them in an unknown tongue ? And why should those things
which in other cases would be held ridiculous and contrary to
common sense, be esteemed good and convenient in religion?
Without all doubt such things as these are the sport of the
devil, who hereby hath exposed Christianity to scorn, and both
kept the people from being instructed by God their Saviour,
and dehvered them up to be most grossly abused by evil men.
For this mischief is not single, but hath bred and brought
forth another, they having set up the device of entertaining
the people with images, which they call the books of the igno
rant, (and are the means of keeping them in ignorance.)
instead of the holy Scriptures, which are able to make men
wise to salvation.
For all which the holy and reverend name of the church
and its infalhbihty is used for a colour. By which they mean
only the Roman church ; which being but a particular church,
not the universal, is become judge in her own cause; and

110 A set^mon preached on seem. x.
maintains she does well, nay, cannot err, because she says she
cannot do otherwise. There is no man who will take the
hberty to consider, that can think this the way of salvation.
No, it is the manifest method of perishing without remedy, for
any thing that the people of that church can know. For they
being taught simply to beheve in the church of Rome, and to
depend wholly upon its authority, without any other inquiry,
can never be satisfied whether this church wherein they beheve
teaches the true and pure doctrine of Christ Jesus, the Lord
and spouse of the church. For they are deprived of ah means
to find this out, being forbidden to look into the holy Scrip
tures, where Christ hath delivered his mind unto us. Ah the
faith therefore of the poor people of the Roman church is no
other than a human faith, being grounded wholly on the
authority of men ; and of all human testimony they rely upon
the most uncertain, viz. that which they give of themselves.
For they believe their church to be good merely because she
says so; that is, make her judge in her own case, which is like
to produce the most partial judgment of all other.
But it is time to leave the consideration of their faults in this
thing ; and, as the duty of this day requires, to reflect
seriously and impartially upon our own. Which we shah the
better do when I have a little opened the second general part
of my text, wherein we shall see how happy we of this church
might have been, if we had held fast that which we have
received. II.
For that follows, you see, in the charge given to the church
of Sardis, Remember what thou hast received and heard, and
holdfast; or keep to it, observe it and take care to do accord
ingly ; for that is the end of calling things to mind, that we
may not depart from them, if they be of consequence to our
happiness. Such was the doctrine at first delivered by Christ and his
apostles, and (to apply it whohy to ourselves) such is that
which we have received, being the very same, as you have
heard, with that at first dehvered. Which we ought therefore
to keep most sacredly, and to stick to it steadfastly, never in
the least warping from it, nor turning aside either to the right
hand or to the left from the principles and rules of a religion

SEEM. X. thefast-day, Dec. 22, i6?,6. Ill
which is so well grounded, that it stands upon the undoubted
word of God our Saviour.
For, as I have shown you, the rehgion which we have
received and heard is no other than what the holy Scriptures
(which all acknowledge to be the word of truth) teach us to
believe and practise.
And is a rehgion so sincere that it teaches the people to
read the holy Scriptures, because it is not afraid they should
therein read its condemnation; and for that end propounds the
Scriptures to them in their own language, because it is not in
the least ashamed of any thing it bids them believe, nor
unwilling to be laid to that rule of righteousness, and examined
by it.
A rehgion also which in reading the holy Scriptures bids
the people content themselves with that which they find there
clearly and eiridently dehvered, (for that it assures them is suf
ficient for their salvation ;) leaving things obscure for the
exercise of the learned, and things not drawn from thence, but
from uncertain traditions, or private inspiration, to superstitious
and fantastical persons.
A rehgion which doth not make faith consist in ignorance,
but in knowledge : and yet to keep this knowledge within the
bounds of sobriety, directs and enjoins all private persons to
take heed to the pubhc ministry of the church, and all public
ministers to study the Scriptures diligently, and "to teach
nothing to be religiously held and believed, (as one of our
ancient canons is'',) but what is agreeable to the doctrine of the
Old and New Testament, and which the cathohc fathers and
the ancient bishops have collected out of that very doctrine."
It is a religion also which doth not teach us to rely upon
faith alone, but presses the necessity of good works far more
than the Roman church doth, whatsoever they falsely pretend ;
only it teaches that God rewards all the good we do out of his
own free mercy, without any desert.
And therefore, instead of framing and fashioning wood and
stone into the images of men, and setting them up for the
people to worship, it exhorts men by all means possible to
study to frame themselves after the image of God in righteous-
•> 1571. Tit. Concionatores. [Compare the author's Discourse about
Tradition, vol. vi. p. 488.]

112 A sermon preached on seem. x.
ness and true holiness, and to conform themselves to those
excellent patterns of virtue which the saints have left us for
imitation. Instead also of worshipping the sacrament, it teaches us to
worship the Lord Jesus Christ in the holy and reverend use of
the sacrament ; not using it to make Jesus Christ, but to honour
him ; not to make his body descend from heaven to us, but to
lift up our hearts to him in heaven ; not to turn the bread and
wine into the natural body and blood of Christ, but into the
spiritual nourishment of our souls. For it doth not think that
Christ and the devil both entered into Judas together, or that
our Saviour did eat himself, or hath ordered matters so that
he may be carried away by a mouse, and eaten by his greatest
enemies. It teaches none of these or any such like absurd and incre
dible things, nor doth it intrench upon any man's civil rights.
But though it bid men reverence and obey their spiritual
pastors, yet doth not place any of them above kings, nor
exempt them from their jurisdiction, much less ascribe a power
to them of deposing them from their thrones, giving away their
kingdoms, and exposing them to be murdered, (which the
proud bishop of Rome challenges,) but humbly and meekly
declares, as St. Paul doth, that every soul (even the greatest
apostle as St. Chrysostom interprets him) must be subject to
the higher powers^.
What shall I say more ? It is a religion which acknowledges
no other supreme head of the church but Jesus Christ, no other
rule of faith but his word, no propitiatory sacrifice but his
death, no purgatory but his blood, nor any merits but his obe
dience to God in all things.
A religion therefore which hath little of outward pomp and
show, but much of inward substance, life, and power ; which
ordaineth few ceremonies, but ministers abundant instructions
and consolations : which attributeth little to distinction of
meats, but prescribes fasting and abstinence from all meats
whatsoever, and that for an exercise of humility and other
Christian virtues, without any opinion of merit or satisfaction.

<= [Ktfv anoaroKos ^s, Kav tiayye- — In Rom. xiii. i. hom. xxiii. tom.
XioT^r, Kai/ npo^jirjTTis, k&u otrTiirovv. x. p. 6i6 B.]

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, 1680. 113
And it may be added, that it is a religion to which the very
papists themselves are indebted several ways for their ease
from many burdens. For it is our religion which hath quite
spoiled the trade that was driven by indulgences ; which was
so shamelessly exercised before the Reformation, that sellers of
pardons went, like pedlars, from house to house, and for half a
crown offered to let any man have a remission of all iiis sins,
and the delivery of a soul out of purgatory. Which was the
thing that first stirred up the just indignation of Luther, to
whose honest zeal they are beholden for dehverance from that
imposture. They are not abused neither, as formerly, with
new lying miracles and apparitions ; which are seldom pre
tended now, (thanks be to our religion for it,) in comparison
with the many illusions of this kind in former times. They are
free also from being perpetually pillaged by divers grievous
exactions, which their forefathers in this kingdom (I could
show you) complained of as insupportable. Nor do their people
run with offerings from one image to another so fast as they
did before our rehgion let them see their follies : to say no
thing of their crusadoes and other things, which it is not easy
for the pope himself now to gull them withal. Which is to be
put entirely upon the account of our religion, which hath
opened many of their eyes to see more errors among them
than they are willing to confess.
Have we not reason then to holdfast such a religion as this ;
so as neither to part with it, nor to depart from it ? If truth
had the same power over the will that it hath over the under
standing, we could never suffer ourselves to be guilty of either.
Nay, the papists themselves would condeum their own madness
for endeavouring to disturb this religion, and to bring back
that authority hither which made such fools of them.
But alas ! it is too notorious how little hold our rehgion hath
taken on our hearts. There being so many who have revolted,
if not openly, yet in their hearts and affections, (we have too
much reason to fear,) unto the Romish delusion. And others
(I am afraid the most) who have retained what they received
only in part; but let go a great deal of it, to the open disgrace,
manifest damage, and almost undoing of our religion.
Which is the thing I must now admonish you of, in the last
part of my discourse upon these words ; wherein our Saviour
PATEICK, VOL. vm. I

114 A sermon preached on seem. x.
calls upon the church of Sardis to repent, of their not holding
fast (that is) what they had received. And so must I now
call upon you with all earnestness; it being the particular
business of this day, and the only thing that can save us from
perishing in the pit which is digged for us by our Romish
adversaries, who have been long plotting (and now have almost
effected) our destruction. Yet I shah not expatiate through
the whole doctrine of repentance, but confine myself only to
such things as relate to what hath been already spoken.
IH.
You are not now to learn what it is to repent ; but only what
it is you should repent of ; that is, be heartily sorry for, and
amend. And this also is soon known, if, in obedience to this admoni
tion, you will but reflect upon what you have received and
heard, and then consider what conformity your practice holds
therewith. And here let me deal as plainly with you as be
comes my office, and the solemn business of this day, and the
present distress of this church and kingdom, which should
awaken all men of sense to examine themselves upon these
three heads.
First, what esteem is remaining among us of the holy Scrip
tures ; in which are contained, as you have heard, all our
religion. Secondly, what fruits our faith hath brought forth ; which
the holy Scriptures tell us God expects from us, and are so
necessary, that we cannot be saved without them.
Thirdly, more particularly, what the behaviour of the people
of this church hath been, and is, towards the pastors and guides
of their souls, with whom God hath principally entrusted his
holy oracles.
If all the members of this church would thoroughly examine
themselves upon these heads, they would find, I fear, too much
matter for repentance. I.
For the first of these, I shah omit the disrespect (to use no
harder word) of one whole sect of men to the holy Scriptures,
(which they have in a manner laid aside, and only accommo
dated the phrases of it to that which they caU the light within

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, 1680. 115
them,) and touch upon such things only as arc common to all
parties among us. In which,
I. We cannot but fear (and with grief of heart it ought to
be spoken and considered) there are great numbers who have
no value for the holy Scriptures at all ; but have quite forsaken
even Christianity itself, which is therein delivered; some the
very behef of it, and others the profession. This is one of the
fearful sins of this age, which cries for vengeance against us,
and hath encouraged this plot to bring in popery (that is,
idolatry and tyranny) among us. Which durst never have
shown their heads here again, if they had not been emboldened
by our irreligion. And though now we seem to be stirred up
to oppose them, yet no rehgion will be found an unequal match
for some rehgion, which though a very bad one, is better than
none at all.
a. And secondly, it cannot be denied that abundance of
those who still, blessed be God, believe the holy Scriptures,
yet have lost that high esteem and affection which our pious
ancestors had for them. Or if they have any, it doth not
appear by their dihgent reading of them, which many have
laid aside. Time was, when they were read and studied with
great care and fervent desire, in the beginning of the Reforma
tion; when every body that could read had them in their
hands ; and some had a great deal of them by heart, as the
Jews now generally have the principal things in the Old Tes
tament. But alas ! this ardour soon remitted ; and now is in
a manner extinct.
Musculus, I remember, complains heavily of it, in his preface
to the book of Genesis, many years ago ; and we are not grown
better, but much worse, I fear, since his days. " And what
other cause," saith he, " can we give for it but this, that the
greatest part of those who seemed to have given up themselves
to the truth of God, busied themselves in the Scriptures, not
that they might be better by framing their lives according to
that rule, but that they might be able to dispute, and to carp
at the old errors and superstitions ? And so some ran into all
manner of wickedness ; others licked up their old vomit ; others
leaving the manifest truth turned to new sects which sprang
up ; and others became neutral, and fell into perfect indiffer
ence ; whereby they were disposed to receive any rehgion
I 2

116 A sermon pi'eached on seem. x.
which the great men of this world should be pleased to set up
by their authority."
Which sad complaint, with much more that there fohows, I
wish we had no cause to renew in this church ; and had not
lost our first love to our Saviour, and to his holy word. Which
being disgraced by the means forementioned, better people
have been infected with such a negligence, that few read the
holy Scriptures as they were wont heretofore to do ; but live as
if they behoved the papists say true, that the reading of the
Scriptures is the cause of all the mischiefs that are befallen us.
Nay, the public reading of them in the church is not so reve
rently regarded as formerly it was, and as it ought to be. For
there are those that never mind what is read ; but look upon
that as a vacant time to gaze about them, or to whisper and
discourse what they please one with another. In times past,
good people were wont to bring their Bibles along with them
hither ; but that now is worn out of use, or so little practised,
that it looks as if they were as much ashamed of it, as to appear
in an old fashion, which is held ridiculous.
Let such things therefore be amended, I beseech you, if you
mean to save your religion from being destroyed by our Romish
adversaries, whom we have highly gratified by these things,
and invited to plot our ruin. Let all men among us become
serious believers, and show that they are, by reverencing and
reading the holy Scriptures, by frequenting the holy assembhes,
and there duly attending to them ; by growing truly more
knowing in the ground and foundation of our religion, and
taking such care to be acquainted with the Scriptures that
this may not be our condemnation, that they lay open before
us, and were put into our hands in a language we could under
stand, and yet we despised them, or would not mind them.
II.
The mischief of which is apparent, for if we proceed to ex
amine ourselves upon the second head we shall find a most
lamentable account either of our ignorance, or negligence, or
wilful disobedience. For who doth not see that the fruits of
faith are so much wanting that we are in danger to perish,
merely because there is so little integrity, so little common
honesty remaining among us, but so much falseness, lewdness.

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, i6?,o. 117
filthiness and sottish debauchery, as have made men so beyond
measure dull and stupid, that it hath given our adversaries hope
they were disposed to receive any religion. Nay, they who
are better inchned have been too careless in the divine service,
too frozen in their devotion, and not sohcitous enough in the
mortifying their unruly affections and passions, in bridling
their tongues, and adding to their faith ah those graces about
which St. Peter requires us to give all diligence^. And yet
the grace of the gospel teaches us so plainly how to walk and
to please God, that it is a wonder every body does not look
upon a holy life as the most necessary part of Christianity.
For nothing is there so earnestly pressed as this, which is most
lacking among us : who live (as it foUows there in St. Peter,
ver. 9,) like blind men, or, (which is all one,) that cannot see
afar off, (nothing at a distance, but merely that which is held
before their eyes,) having forgotten that they were purged
from their old sins ; do not reflect, that is, upon what was done
at their baptism, but (as if they were not able to look so far
back,) waUow in their filthiness which then they solemnly
renounced. But this is too large a subject for a particular discourse, and
therefore I must leave it to your own private examination and
search, whether you have not rehed too much (contrary to
what you have received, and heard, and professed,) upon a
naked faith, and the merits of our Saviour, without that care
which he requires to make your faith work by love to God and
to your neighbours. And here there are as many sins to be re
pented of as there are Christian duties to be practised, if we
have been neghgent in any of them. And if we will not amend,
but still continue to be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ, with what reason do we expect that
he should be pleased with an idle faith which doth us no good ?
and not rather look for that doom which was pronounced upon
the empty fig tree, Gut it down, why cumbereth it the
ground ? III.
For the preventing of which dreadful sentence I ii^ust caU you
to repentance for one most dangerous sin, contrary to our faith
and Christian profession, which I fear too many will find them-
d 2 Pet. i. 5, &e.

118 A sermon p)reachtd on seem. x.
selves guilty of if they will but be at the pains to examine the
state of their souls upon the third head, viz., the demeanour of
the people towards their spiritual pastors and guides in the
way of salvation. Towards whom there are a great many pious
persons, it must be thankfully acknowledged, who stih preserve
in their hearts and behaviour that due regard which religion
and reason require. But it must, on the other hand, be be
wailed, that there are vast numbers among all sorts of men,
who do not only slight them, but have shaken off the yoke of
obedience to them, which is the thing above all others that hath
made the papists so audacious, and will certainly, if it be not
amended, bring in popery at last among us.
Be not offended, I beseech you, if in a time when plain dealing
is so necessary, and in a matter of such great consequence, (as
I apprehend it,) I be so bold as to tell you, that there are those
who oppose themselves so senselessly as well as arrogantly to
all spiritual authority, that this doctrine of obedience to it they
call Popery ; which is a foul reproach to the Reformation, an
apostasy from its principles, and a casting off the direction of
the holy Scriptures, which require such obedience as we preach.
For we do not bid men follow any guides, but such as take
God for their guide ; that is, guide themselves and the people
by the word of God. If we did go about to hide that from the
people's eyes and hinder them from reading it, it would be an
evident sign that we knew ourselves to be reproved by the
Scriptures, and that instead of submitting to that rule we would
make our own authority to be the supreme rule, which is the
crime of the Roman church. But there is no colour for any
such charge to be laid against us, who exhort, who press the
people to be diligent in reading the holy Scriptures ; only we
desire them, as the Scriptures themselves do, that they would
take along with them the assistance and direction of those whom
Christ hath appointed to guide their judgment.
Without which direction, men may easily see, if they please
to read them, what a high crime it is to despise, and much.
more to revile and rail at their authority. And yet some have
proceeded thus far in their opposition to them, nay, deny they
have any authority at all.
The woful effects of which we see, as in other things, so in
the divisions that are among us, which have opened a gap for

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 23, 1680. 119
popery, and we all fear whl bring it in. But we will not see as
we ought to do, thp,t all those divisions have sprung from this
other cause, and still are maintained and widened by the general
contempt of those whose guidance ought to be rehgiously ob
served ; which if we will not regard as God commands us, we
shall inevitably run ourselves out of our religion. For our di
visions (which this day we come to lament), we all confess, will
do the business if they be not cured. And of all the ways of
cure which are now thought of, we seem resolved to wave the
principal, if not the only way of God's own prescribing. The
method of which I shall faithfully and plainly lay before you,
that thereby you may judge what is like to become of us if
it be neglected.
We all grant, I beheve, that the right means to avoid or to
remedy contentions and divisions in the church are as clearly
set down in the holy Scriptures as any rule of life whatsoever.
For otherwise they would be extremely defective in that thing
which is most necessary for the preservation of the religion
which they teach.
I . Now if you search the holy Scriptures with never so httle
diligence, you cannot but observe there is a duty frequently
inculcated of reverence and obedience to Christ's ministers ;
which if the people will not pay, (according to the evident
meaning of such places as I shall mention anon,) it is impos
sible that the society of the church should be kept in unity,
but must necessarily break in pieces, and be dissolved.
2. We must add indeed that the ministers of Christ ought
also to take special care to be such wise and faithful stewards
in Christ's household, that the people may be inclined with the
greater forwardness to obey their directions. For which end
their duty is no less plainly and amply set down in the holy
Scriptures ; and such extraordinary caution is given by St. Paul
about the admission of persons into holy orders, that were his
directions sincerely fohowed, and did the people, as he enjoins,
adhere unto them in hearty love and esteem of them for their
work's sake ; there would be a marvellous increase of Christian
knowledge and goodness, without that strife and contention
which now blasts them both.
3. But if princes do not make such good choice as they
ought of spiritual governors, or if those spiritual governors by

] 20 A sermon preached on seem. x.
their negligence ordain worse inferior ministers ; yet the au
thority of ordering or reforming things doth not by devolution
come to the people, nor will this justify their disobedience to
them. But their Christian duty is as manifest in this case as
in any other ; which lies in these two things : first, they ought
to fall the more earnestly to their prayers, both for their king
and for all in authority under him, especially their spiritual
pastors. The Scripture enjoins both, and the gross neglect of
both is one cause things are no better among us. What other
moaning is there of those words of the apostle ®, I will that sup-
p>lications, 8fc., be made for all men : for kings, and for all
in authority ; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in
all godliness and honesty ? And why doth the same apostle
frequently desire the church would be helping by prayers for
him, (who needed them less than we do,) but to teach all
Christians how earnestly they should recommend those to
God's guidance who are to guide them ? Read 2 Cor. i. 1 1 ;
Ephes. vi. 19, and other places.
And if they find that their prayers are ineffectual, there
being no amendment in those that should take care of them ;
their duty (secondly) is to examine seriously, and lay to heart
the cause why they cannot prevail : and a little consideration
will teach them that, in all likelihood, it proceeds from their
own sins, who deserve no better governors and pastors. For,
(as the prophet speaks in the next chapter to the second lesson
for evening prayer^,) The Lord's hand is not shortened, that
he cannot save ; neither his ear heavy, that he cannot hear :
but your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear. And for what sins do you think it is more probable that
God is angry with us in this nation, and will not hear the
prayers of this people, than their disesteem of Christ's ministers
(even of the best of them), their contempt of their office, their
proncness to disobedience, nay, their scurrility and scoffing at
all spiritual authority, and such like sins expressly forbidden in
God's holy word ? With which this church, alas ! abounds a great
deal more than with supphcations and prayers to God for them.
All are more forward to find fault (if not to rail and revile)
than to beseech God of his infinite mercy to give them pastors
« I Tim. ii. i, 2. f Isaiah lix. 1,2.

seem. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, 1680. 121
after his own heart ; or to examine their own consciences how
they have provoked God by their unprofitableness, at least,
under the best means of grace that he hath bestowed upon
them. 4. But let us suppose further that the governors and pastors
of the church are not only negligent, but exceed the bounds of
their authority, as it seems to the people, by enjoining things
which they take to be unlawful : yet this will not warrant their
contempt of their authority, and their casting off all obedience to
them. But two things are to be considered ; whether they be
certain the commands of their governors are unlawful, or they
only fear they are. In the first case indeed they ought not to be
obeyed in such things ; but by the people's care to obey in all
others, which they judge to be lawful, they ought to demon
strate that it is only respect to God which makes them not
comply in things which seem to them to be apparently unlawful.
And so unity in most things being preserved, they will be the
easier brought to see their errors on one side or other. But
in the other case, when they are not certain the things com
manded are unlawful, (which is the common cause of all our
divisions,) but only suspect them to be so ; it seems to be rea
son that the people should not disobey a certain command of God
(which requires them to submit to their governors,) when they
are not certain there is a cause for their refusal. The most
that can be allowed them is humbly to desire those laws may
be altered, or if the rulers of the church (who are the proper
judges of such matters) cannot think it safe to make such
alterations as are desired, then barely to suspend their obe
dience in what they fear is unlawful till they can be better
satisfied ; but fearing withal it may prove a sin not to obey, to
use all means for satisfaction : not absolutely denying obedience,
(much less reviling their injunctions, or making violent opposi
tions to them ; which commonly ends in wresting all authority
out of their pastors' hands,) but merely not doing for the pre
sent what is enjoined ; modestly entreating their forbearance in
such matters, or, if it cannot be obtained, peaceably and patiently
submitting to their censures. Which, sure, would not be
heavy upon such humble, modest, and truly conscientious
Christians, (if they should, God would judge such governors
for their unreasonable severity,) but there would rather be

122 A sennon preached on seem. x.
ways found out to make up the difference without taking their
pastors' power from them, and governing themselves as they
please. For God, I am confident, would enlighten the one or
the other, to see either their error in enjoining, or in not
obeying. 5. And this that I have said is the least that can be meant in
such places of Scripture as these : We beseech you, brethren, to
know (that is, to love) them which labour among you, and are
over you in the Lord, and admonish you ; and to esteem them
highly in love for their work's sake : and to be at peace
among yourselves s. (Which they could not fail to be, as long
as they kept close to their spiritual instructors and governors.)
And Heb. xui. 17, Obey them that have the rule over you, and
submit yourselves : for they watch for your souls, &c. And
I Pet. V. 5, Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the
elders. Where, first, observe the name given to the pastors of the
church, viz. elders : which imports an office and authority in
the language of all nations : and herein St. Peter implies so
high an authoiity in the rulers of the church, that the apostle
supposes more danger of its growing too imperious, than of its
being slighted and disobeyed. For he requires the elders to
feed, (that is, govern, as well as teach,) tlie flock of God : not
as lords of God's lieritage, but being ensamples to theflockK
Which caution against domineering and lording it (as we speak)
had been idle, if the power of the pastors, and the obedience
due and paid then to it, had not been so great that it might
easily grow extravagant ; such was the reverence they had to
their persons, and deference to their judgments, and submission
to their authority.
For the word submit, you may observe further, is the very
same whereby he expresses (in the second chapter, ver. 13) the
obedience he would have them give to kings and those in au
thority under them. And therefore cannot signify less, than
that their directions ought to be followed, and the flock ruled
by their orders, in all things where God hath not ordered
otherways ; and that they should be afraid to offend them by
disobedience, and much more by shaking off subjection to
them, and denying their authority.
e I Thess. v. 12, 13. h 1 p^t. y_ 2, 3.

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22,16^0. 123
6. Which includes in it a power of ordaining and consti
tuting the manner of performing the service of God according
to his word : which requires that all things be done decently
and in order K The things themselves to be done (which that
place speaks of) are many of them specified in that very
chapter, and the rest in other parts of the holy Scripture ; but
the decent manner, form, and order how they shall be done is
no where particularly defined there. And therefore, though
by virtue of this precept nobody hath power to form new
articles of faith, new objects of worship, new sacraments, &c.,
(wherein the church of Rome hath abused her power,) yet the
substance of religion being thus prescribed in his word, the
order, disposition, form and manner of doing the duties of
rehgion is left hereby to be determined by the wisdom of the
governors of the church, according to the general rules of the
holy Scripture. Which they cannot indeed enact into laws
binding by civil penalties ; yet no Christian magistrate (to
whom that power belongs) ever denied them a directive power
in making rules for the government of the church, or at any
time made them without them, but always took their advice in
such matters. For who so well able to tell as they what is
most consonant to the Scriptures, profitable for their flock, and
agreeable to what hath been practised in the church of God ?
Which always taught, (and it is as undoubted a principle of the
Reformation as any other,) that where the holy Scriptures have
not given particular directions for the decent performance of
the duties they call for, (as it was impossible they should for all
cases, times and countries,) there the ministers of Christ, whom
the holy Scriptures appoint to be the governors of his church,
are to draw up orders and rules agreeable to the general rule,
which the people ought to observe.
And it is very reasonable to interpret the place of the apostle
before mentioned in this manner. Let all things be done, first,
fvaxwov<os, decently or honestly ; after a comely beseeming
fashion; with such rites as will procure veneration to holy
things, at least secure the service of God from contempt, and
promote devotion in the people : and the way to have things
done with such gravity as this word imports, is next to da
them Kara rd^iv, according to order, or by the deliberate
h I Cor. xiv. 40.

1 24 A sermon preached on seem. x.
appointment of those who have authority to ordain such rites
as will become holy actions. An example of which we have
in that very chapter, ver. 32, where even such as had extraor
dinary spiritual gifts are required to submit to this order. For
the spirits of the prophets, he saith, are subject to the prophets :
that is, there was such a subordination in that order of men,
that when one was prophesying, he was to cease if a superior
prophet commanded him silence.
Which, among other places of Scripture, might silence those
who question the authority of the present governors of our
church, because of their superiority over other ministers. Or
it might be sufficient to make them modest in this thing, to say
only this, that Christ sure did not leave his church without a
government, (which had been to leave no church,) and that it
is incredible the whole church, pastors and people, should agree
to change his government (without any contradiction that we
can find) into this which we have, if this be not it which he
left. And that I think hath been as little (nay less) ques
tioned as any point of Christianity ; which must needs weigh
much with all considerate minds.
7. Who likewise cannot but grant that things being thus
ordered and appointed by the authority of Christ's ministers,
those constitutions, in all reason, ought to be obeyed by those
who are subject to them, and not left at liberty whether the
people will observe them or no.
This is most judiciously handled by Mr. Calvin in the tenth
chapter of the fourth book of his Institutions, which is well
worth the reading by every body ; particularly from the twenty-
seventh section to the end. Where he bids those who gainsay
this, and make opposition to it, consider " how they will approve
their moroseness to God. For us it is sufficient that we have
no such custom of contending, neither the churches of God."
8. If we be really desirous then to make peace and restore
unity in the church, (which is now so necessary that we are
undone without it,) this is the first thing wherein we ought all
to unite, in repenting of the breach which hath been made
among us, by shghting our guides, by casting off the govern
ment of the rulers of the church, and despising, nay revihng,
their orders.
I know how difficult it is to persuade men to this, because

SEEM. X. thefast-day, Dec. 22, i6%o. 125
they throw the guilt off from themselves, and so confidently lay
it all upon their governors, that it is now generally taken for
granted, without any doubt, they are in fault ; not the people
who ought to submit to them. But a very little humihty and
modesty (not to say common sense) might teach us to make
the favourable presumption on the side of authority, and dis
pose the people to think it is more hkely that they are mistaken
than their guides ; who ought indeed to have nothing so much
in their thoughts, as how to do service to Christ, honour to his
religion, good to souls by promoting sincere piety ; and, if they
have been neghgent in this, deeply to humble themselves
before God, and study to be ensamples to the flock of serious
repentance : but if they fail in this, I am sure the people can
never give a good account of their throwing off the yoke of
obedience to them, spurning at their authority, and separating
from communion with them. The mischievous effects of which,
if nothing else, one would think should be sufficient to move
them to repentance.
That is, first, to be heartily sorry for the breach they have
made, and reflect upon it as the original of all our miseries. And
then beseech God most earnestly to forgive it ; especially that
open jesting, nay scoffing, (which hath been so rife among us,)
at all spiritual authority. Which, in the next place, let every
one of us seriously acknowledge and resolve to reverence, so as
to be advised by them ; and take great heed to their counsels
and resolutions, to weigh them considerately, and not lightly
and hastily to depart from them, much less rise up in oppo
sition to them ; but when you are forced by God's command
(as you think) to decline obedience in any particular injunction,
to be the more careful in observing the rest, against which you
have no exception, and still to reverence their persons and
their authority, when you cannot observe their commands, to
speak well of them, and peaceably to dissent from them ; re
membering that if they be liable to mistake, you are much
more : and therefore ought not to be wise in your own con
ceit, but to think soberly of yourselves, as you ought to
think. g. This is the way of peace which we have received from
Christ and his apostles, (and I might add all succeeding pastors
in the church,) of which I thought good to remember you, and

126 A sermon preached on seem. x.
to cah you to repentance for departing from it, and to exhort
all people to return into it ; as the only means of our preserva
tion, and of making the preaching of the gospel (if God pleases
to continue it) effectual for our reformation and amendment, in
all other things that are amiss among us. For as no kingdom
can stand without rehgion, so no rehgion can stand long (no,
not this excellent rehgion which we have received, and I have
briefly described) without a due esteem of and regard to its
ministers. In obedience to whom, even they who cannot
comply with all public orders, wih find more true comfort and
more favour also with God and men, than in any other way
whatsoever. But here is the mischief, that it is the common error of man
kind to seek that far off which (as the Lord told his people) is
near at hand, within them, even in their heart and in their
mouth, if they would be but doers of his word and not hearers
only. They hunt up and down for remedies of their distrac
tions, but will not mind the obvious cure which is laid before
them by God himself in his holy Scriptures. Where it shines
clearly enough, if men's passions did not echpse it from them :
which are now so great and violent, that it is a singular hap
piness if any person in this turbulent age can see the divine
truth himself, in points of greatest moment. But to cause
others to see it, is a matter of such difficulty that there is small
hope of it : whilst they suffer their foul affections and passions
(like a steam from a great many dunghills) to overcast the
face of heaven, whence light should come into their souls ; and
evaporate that inward filth which is lodged in their hearts in
abusive language, as it were on purpose to choke the good Spirit
of God which breathes in others' mouths, whose breasts God
hath inspired with his grace.
1 o. But this must not discourage God's ministers, nor hinder
them from asserting their authority ; which is to rule the
people, and not to be ruled by them. To which course if we
will not submit, (when God himself so plainly directs to it,) all
the ways which human policy can invent will prove ineffectual,
and never make a lasting union and peace among us ; if they
make any at aU. But after men's ill affections (which they
will not root out) have been laid asleep and suppressed for a
time, they will awake and break out again with the greater

SEEM. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, 16^0. 127
violence, and make worse disorders : thl, with the contempt of
the ministers of religion, our rehgion itself be brought into
such contempt, that, as a punishment for our disobedience to
just authority, we fall under the tyranny of those who will use
no moderation.
That is the heavy judgment (I told you in my last fast
sermon) threatened before the late wars, by a great and holy
divine of this church, (some of whose words I have used now
and then in this discourse,) for this sin of disobedience unto
and contempt of all ecclesiastical authority. And whether this
sin be not increased and grown more audacious since that time
(and consequently our danger greater), I leave you to consider
and judge. Only let me tell you, that they who stand divided
from us complain of it as well as we, finding to their shame and
grief, (as an eminent man among them expresses it',) that "we
are endangered by divisions, principally because the self-con
ceited part of the religious people will not be ruled by their
pastors, but must have their way, and will needs be rulers of
the church and them." The effect of which he tells them is
this : " You have made more papists than ever you or we are
like to recover. It is you that tempt them to use fire and fagot,
that will not be ruled nor kept in concord by the wisest and
holiest and most self-denying ministers upon earth."
Which is an ingenuous confession of the guilt and the danger
we have all run ourselves into by this sin ; and that though all
the blame is now laid at the door of the rulers of this church,
yet it is so unjust a charge, that were they in all points such
as those that accuse them, there would be no end of our trou
bles and confusions ; unless the people, even they that think
themselves most religious, will grow less conceited, and submit
to be ruled by their proper governors. It hath been said
indeed, that they do follow such guides as they think fit to lead
them; but here is one that contradicts it, and complains of
their unruliness. And besides, I must add, that such guides
ought not to be followed as wUl not submit to be governed by
their superiors : there being nothing, as I said before, so little
> Mr. Baxter, Sacril. desert, p. vindicated, with counsel to the non-
103, ^c. [" Sacrilegious desertion conformists," &c. — (against F. Ful-
of the holy ministry rebuked, and wood's " Toleration not to be;
tolerated preaching of the Gospel abused,") 8vo. Lond. 1672.]

128 A sermon preached on seem. x.
disputed in the Christian religion a& the authority which the
bishops exercise over the presbyters in the church. And if
they whl not so much as give us leave to tell them of this
without incurring their censure, nor patiently bear with those
reproofs which we think necessary, it is impossible they should
repent of this sin ; and then our destruction is unavoidable.
This part of my discourse indeed may seem unnecessary in
an audience where I hope all of you are better affected ; but it
hath its use even among such as hold fast what they have
received and heard concerning this duty : who should endea
vour by their brotherly reproofs and prudent admonitions, to
stop the progress of this disease in those whom they find
infected with it. Desire them to consider things calmly, and
to study this part of their Christian duty. Pray them not to
be so passionately bent against the means of their safety ; and
that they would at least hear what Christ's ministers can say
for themselves and the authority he hath left them. Tell
them, it is impossible any wound should be healed while the
inflammation continues : and that as when a house is on fire they
that speak and give the best advice cannot be heard, by reason
of the noise and cries of those who are gathered about it ; so
we shall never understand one another as long as we are
clamorous, nay, have our minds violently inflamed with rancour
and hatred, even against those that would cure us of it. The
study of God's truth requires a quiet and peaceable spirit,
which deliberates and weighs things without carping at per
sons ; and doth not presently conclude we plead our own pri
vate interest, when we plead the cause of Christ's ministers.
Who do not merely bear testimony to themselves, as they of
the church of Rome do, but appeal to the holy Scriptures,
where these things are as plainly delivered as any part of
Christian religion.
God of his infinite mercy touch every heart in this nation
with a sense of them, that we may not shut our eyes against
the things that belong to our peace, nor while we endeavour an
union make the most dangerous rent that ever was : but all so
truly repent of this sin, that it may be a happy step to the
reforming all other that have sprung from this. Then we
need not fear any evil that the devil or man can plot against
us ; but while we walk in that godly order which Christ hath

seem. X. the fast-day, Dec. 22, i6^o. 129
appointed, (the people being ruled by their guides, and their
guides ruled by God,) may triumphantly say, (as it is in one of
the Psalms appointed for this day, xlvi.) We will not fear
though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be
carried into the midst of the sea, (though tumults and hurli-
burlies should arise, we will not be afraid, for) God is in the
midst of this church, she shall not be moved : God shall help
her, and that right early. Amen.

PATBICK, VOL. VIII.

A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR
AND THE
ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF LONDON,
AT GUILDHALL CHAPEL, OCTOBER 31, 1680.
BEING THE XXI. SUNDAY AFTEE TEINITT.

K .:

WARD, MAYOR.
Cur. prima tent, die Jovis quarto die Novemb. annoque regis
Caroli Secundi Angl., &c. xxxii.
This Court doth desire Master Dean of Peterburgh to print
his Sermon preached at the Guildhall Chappel on Sunday
morning last.
WAGSTAFFE.

TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE
SIR PATIENCE WARD,
LORD IVLAYOR OF THE CITY OF LONDON.
Right Honourable,
It is so hard on some occasions to be a thoroughly good Christian,
and much more to be such a magistrate, that some have given over
the endeavour of it out of a persuasion that it is impossible. Which,
as it proceeds from great ignorance of the Christian religion, so would
be a great disparagement to it, if our blessed Saviour and his apostles
had not taken special care not only to breed in us a quite contrary
opinion, but also to raise our minds to the highest degree of con
fidence, that we shall be able by the divine assistance to surmount
the greatest difficulties.
This I have endeavoured, in as plain a manner as I could devise,
to press in this sermon ; which, by the desire of that honourable court
where your lordship resides, I now humbly present to your and the
public view. Which will do the more good, I hope, not only because
your lordship judged it very seasonable at your entrance upon your
office, but because I was directed to this subject, not so much by my
own prudence as by a kind of divine providence, which I have oft
observed on the like occasions.
For having in the common course of my sermons this year, at my
own parish, preached upon some part of the epistle for the day, I
found there was no need to go out of my way to meet with a fitting
argument upon that Sunday when I was appointed to preach to your
lordship. And therefore I sought no further, but applied myself to
prosecute the first words which occurred there, and that not with
such matter as human invention might have furnished me withal,
but such as the apostle himself suggested in the rest of the epistle
for that day.
And indeed they are matters of great and weighty importance,
which, though there be many of them, I have both comprehended in

I.j'4 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
a little room, and also made them not hard to be remembered }
because I have considered them as relating all to one and the same
end, and as having not only the same scope, but such a dependence
also one upon another that they cannot well be separated. I am
sure where they are all united there the divine blessing will be, for
they are the complete armoui' of God, that heavenly defence which
will certainly secure us in our station, if we will but make use of it
with a mind to be and to do whatsoever Christ would have us.
The first step toward which is rightly to understand our duty, as
should have been pressed more largely, if I had had room enough,
from those words. Be girt about with truth. In which if we be
defective, we shall miscarry, do what we can ; and the more zealous
we are, the more we shall be out of the way. But it is not likely
we shall be defective in any material part of Christian knowledge, if
to our serious study of a right understanding and judgment in all
things we add (according to the last advice in this discourse) most
earnest prayer to God for his direction, guidance, and assistance ;
and can appeal to him in such words as those of David, (which are
full of sincere affection,) that we are heartily resolved to do whatso
ever we know to be our duty ; and that there is nothing we long for
so much in this world as to know it entirely. Give me under
standing, and I shall keep thy law ; yea, I shall observe it with my
whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments ; for
therein do I delights
Which that your lordship may always do, and thereby acquit
yourself in your difficult charge to the general satisfaction of all good
men, is the hearty prayer of. My Lord,
Your most humble servant,
S. PATRICK.
a Psalm cxix. 34, 35.

A SERMON
PKBAOHED BEFORE
THE RIGHT HONOUEABLE
THE LORD MAYOR AND ALDERMEN
OP THE CITY OP LONDON.

Ephes. vi. 16.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in
the power of his might.
I HAVE chosen, you see, for your present instruction, right
honourable and well-beloved, the beginning of the epistle for
this day. In the first word of which the apostle signifies that
he was drawing to a conclusion of this letter to the Christian
church at Ephesus. Finally, my brethren, I have nothing
more to add but this ; ah that remains is to exhort you to be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
He had made his most earnest prayer to God in the middle
of this epistle, iii. 14, &c., that he would grant them, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his
Spirit in the inner man ; that so they might be able to per
form all their Christian duty, which follows in the ensuing
part of the epistle, till you come to my text : in which he puts
them in mind that it was not sufficient to receive strength from
heaven in their inner man, but they must also be strong, or
strengthen themselves, not indeed in themselves, but in the Lord,
in that heavenly strength which our blessed Saviour gives us,
and in the power of his might, wherewith he will always assist
our weakness.

136 A sermon preached seem, xl
There hes the security of Christians, from whom our Saviour
expects a faithful obedience, both in their single and in their
relative capacity, either as men or women, or as husbands or
wives, as parents or children, as masters or servants, (all whose
duties the apostle had just before most punctually set down,)
because he requires no impossible thing, but such an obedience
as he strengthens us with might by his Spirit to perform, if we
will but be careful and diligent to strengthen ourselves in him,
and in the power of his might.
In which words we cannot but observe these two things :
First, a Christian duty incumbent upon them, which was to
be strong, or to strengthen themselves ; for it is an exhortation
of the apostle to the Ephesians, whom he charges with this as
the very upshot of his foregoing discourse.
Secondly, the ability they had to perform this duty, which is
in or by the Lord ; for there he teUs them their strength lies in
him, and in the power of his might, that is, in his mighty in
superable power.
The first of which supposes that they would need a great
deal of courage and resolution (for that is to be strong in the
apostle's language,) to be able to do their duty in all relations,
in all times, and in all conditions and circumstances of life.
The second supposes that their own natural courage or mere
philosophical resolution, caX\.QA fortitude, would not be sufficient
to carry them through all difficulties ; but upon some occasions
their spirit would quail unless they were supported by a diviner
sort of virtue, which he calls being strong in the Lord. By
the Lord meaning our blessed Saviour, who bred in his disci
ples' souls a new kind of valour, which men were not acquainted
withal before, or of which we read nothing in the books of mere
philosophers. For as they do say little or nothing of that
trust and confidence which all good men ought to repose in
God, and of a vigorous apphcation of their mind to him for
strength and resolution to be truly virtuous, so they could say
nothing of such devout addresses to our Lord for it.
Who sending his apostles into the world to propagate his
rehgion, which was sure to meet with mighty opposition, fur
nished them with a suitable courage, which they endeavoured
to infuse into all others, who by entertaining their doctrine might
have need of the hke virtue ; which is this here in my text, of a

SEEM. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 31, 1680. 137
quite different sort from those now named : for it arises not
from natural heat, or from the mere soundness of our natural
principles of reason, and the honest resolution which we have
firmly built thereupon ; but from a far higher original, the
mighty invincible power of the Lord Jesus, which was always
in their eye, and on which they steadfastly relied. As there
was very great need, having other kind of enemies to grapple
withal than mere natural men thought of, not merely with
flesh and blood, (as it follows after my text,) that is, with
human powers and their savage malice and cruelty, but with
the devil and his angels, who did all they could to dishearten
them and hinder their spreading of this religion ; for which end
they instigated both the Jewish rulers and heathen kings and
princes to persecute them with the greatest rage, and the most
diabolical fury.
And the very same powers of hell we have reason to think
are now at work to confound us and our religion ; the reform
ation of which was little less wonderful in one regard, than
the first publication of the gospel. For it flew like lightning,
and on a sudden ah these northern countries purged them
selves from the Romish pollutions with a marvellous consent,
as swiftly, and in as short a space of time, as the gospel, at its
first preaching, ran among the Gentiles, and excited them to
free themselves from pagan idolatries. And immediately the
devil set his agents at work to disgrace and spoil the reformation
by sects and heresies, and to deter men from embracing it by
the most dreadful punishments, just as when the gospel broke
out, he laboured to uphold his authority by the hke arts and
instruments of deceit and cruelty.
And now the powers of darkness seem to be making their
very last attempt in these countries to overthrow that which
was so happily, and by such an extraordinary hand of God es
tabhshed. And who knows but their fury may proceed to such
violence, as without an extraordinary courage we shall not be
able to standfast in the faith, to quit ourselves like men, and
to be strong, as the apostle exhorts in the i Cor. xvi. 13.
We had best therefore fortify ourselves beforehand with a
good stock of this divine virtue, which we shah have great use
of upon other occasions, (though by the merciful providence of
God that trial of it should be prevented, for which we humbly

138 A sermon preached seem. xl.
pray and hope,) to enable us to do, as weh as to suffer, ah
things that would hinder our doing the will of God. I am not
able to say to which of these my text most relates ; whether to
the words foregoing, or to those that fohow. But which way
soever we take them, there wih be httle or no difference ; and
it wih be best to refer them to both ; because the power of
Christ is as necessary for us, to enable us to discharge those
Christian duties before mentioned, as to withstand those trials
which he tehs the Ephesians, in the verses foUowing, would
discourage and dishearten them in their obedience.
Now to the end that we may be furnished with a sufficient
strength for both, I shall do these two things ;
First, shew you wherein this duty consists, of being strong,
or strengthening ourselves in the Lord, and in his mighty
power. Secondly, what our work is, or what we have to do, that we
may be endued with this mighty virtue.
I.
For the first of these ; by the Lord being meant, as I said,
our blessed Saviour ; who, laying down his life for us, is raised
again, and made the Lord of all; (ah power in heaven and in
earth being given to him, as he himself told his apostles, and
afterward was proved by sensible effects ;) to be strong in him
consists in these three things :
I . First, to be possessed with a lively faith of the power and
glory which our Lord now hath at God's right hand.
2. Secondly, to keep this faith alive in our hearts, that it
may make us on all occasions repair to him ; representing him
always as actually present to us, by the power of his might, to
aid and succour us.
3. Thirdly, in this faith to be steadfastly resolved to stick to
him, and not to stir from the duty he enjoins us ; notwithstand
ing any thing that may oppose us, to discourage, nay endanger,
us in the doing of it.
Of these we have such frequent occasion to treat, at some time
or other, that it may be sufficient now only to repeat them.
I. We must represent the majesty and power, wherein our
Lord reigns at God's right hand, so strongly to our souls, that
they be possessed with a pregnant and lively sense of it, and be

SEEM. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 31, 1680. 139
disposed thereby to depend upon him continually, as an almighty
Saviour. 2. And then this faith, when it is settled in our hearts, we
must actuate and excite ; that it may make us look upon him
as present with us, at ah times, by his almighty power, to aid
and assist us, to support and comfort us, as well as able at last
eternally to reward us.
3. And lastly, this faith must settle in us a firm resolution
and purpose to adhere to his service, and resist ah temptations
to the contrary ; till by his power we overcome them, and re
main faithful to the very death, expecting from him the crown
of life.
This he expects from us, and this we must charge ourselves
withal, and be faithful to it and steadfast in it. For if we doubt
not of his power, why should we not depend upon it, and, by
the force of it do that for which he communicates it unto us ?
Hath he not made us many precious promises, that by them
we may be partakers of a divine nature ? Hath he not said
he will be with us, and give his Holy Spirit to them that ask
it ; and never leave us nor forsake us, but be our helper and
deliverer ? Hath he not bid us not fear them that can do no
more but kill the body ; but fear him that can throw both
soul and body into hell ? and repeated it again, that we should
fear this great Lord ; fear to offend him ; fear to lose his
favour, and the glorious hope he hath set before us ? Hath he
not bid us lay hold on this hope; and holdfast our confidence
and the rejoicing of our hope unto the end? Hath he not bid
us trust to this, that stronger is he that is in us than he that
is in the world ; than the devil, and all his partakers and in
struments ? who have no power to hurt us, unless he consent
to it ; and in that case, the thing we account a hurt shall work
together for our good.
We are not Christians, if we beheve not this. And what is
there more to be believed, but that he hath power to make
good his word ? And how can we question that, when we re
member that he is the Lord? whose power is no less large
than his desire : so that he cannot be inchned by his good will
to design or to promise any kindness to his servants, which he
hath not equal ability actually to perform.
He doth not merely wish us weh ; nor can he be suspected

140 A sermon preached seem. xi.
ever to find any impotency in himself, whereby he should be
disabled from expressing the love which we think he bears us.
And therefore he cannot be more forward, either to conceive
good intentions towards us, or to make us promises of the good
he intends, than he is ready and able to do, to the fuh, what he
purposes and what he promises.
The consideration of which power of his is the great support
of our faith, when we read any of his exceeding great and
precious promises in the holy Scriptures ; and should make us
heartily depend upon them, and with a settled resolution go
about our duty, in an unshaken confidence of their perform
ance. To this power of God it was that Abraham, the father of the
faithful, had respect, when God promised to give him an heir,
though an impossible thing in nature. He staggered not at
the promise through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God; being fully persuaded, that what he had pro
mised he was able also to perform^. The object of his faith
was the promise of God ; who, as he had never deceived him,
so he knew could not be worse than his word. But that which
preserved him from staggering at such a promise as this was
his laying hold on the power of God, which made him strong
in faith. And the glory he gave to God, was his conceiving so
highly and magnificently of his power, as nothing to doubt of
what he had said, nor in the least to imagine the thmg he
promised was beyond it, but to rest fully persuaded, that he
was no less able to perform than he was wilhng to promise it.
The like strong faith we ought to have in the power of our
Lord Christ ; from whose majesty we shall extremely derogate,
if we think there is any thing too hard for him to do. But to
think he cannot do what he hath promised to do for us, is to
blemish him with such a weakness, that there cannot be a
greater disparagement to him. For though it be no discredit
to one of us, not to be able to do everything that another man
can do ; yet to put our friends in hope and expectation, by
promises of what we know is without the reach of our abihties,
is such a dishonour, that it reflects scorn and contempt in the
face of those who are guilty of it. And therefore if it could be
conceived (which we ought not in the least to admit) that our
* Rom. iv. 20, 21.

SEEM. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 31, 1680. 141
blessed Lord hath any weakness or defect of power in him, yet
so great a defect as this, to promise things which he cannot
make good to those that believe them and depend upon them,
must need be far removed from him. And we being sure that
the same goodness and love which moved him to make those
promises of grace and strength to us, will move him to employ
his power to communicate them, we ought to trust to this, and
with an assured faith depend upon his powerful goodness ; and
in that faith steadfastly and courageously perform most constant
obedience to him, who, we are sure, cannot fail us.
II.
But that we may not deceive ourselves with a false depend-
ance on him, nor vainly trust to his almighty power for our
aid, let us always remember (which will bring me to the second
thing I propounded) that it is such a faith in him, and depend-
ance on him, as makes us use all the means which he hath
appointed, in conjunction with our trust in his might, for our
preservation. Else it is not a right faith in the power of his
might, nor will derive the communications of it into our souls :
for he that bids us confide in that, requires us also to do many
other things ; in the exercise of which, he tells us, we may be
confident his power will give us the better. And if we believe
as we ought, we shall take his word as much for the one as for
the other.
According to which doctrine, the apostle (who could best
explain his own mind) immediately adds this injunction, in the
words after my text, Put on the whole armour of God, that ye
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. It was
not enough, it seems, barely to confide in the invincible strength
of the Lord Jesus ; but they must put their own hand to the
work, and prepare themselves for the encounter, and vahantly,
when occasion was, enter into it and sustain it. For opposition
we must expect, as the apostle shows, verse 1 2, and great oppo
sition, from very powerful, very subtle, very industrious, and
likewise invisible enemies. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked
ness in high places. Who, among other ways they have to
trouble us, stir up the spirits of evil men to give us ah the dis-

142 A sermon preached seem. xi.
turbance, and do us all the mischief that is in their power ; and
stir them up to so high a degree of rage, that they persecute
us many times with such inhuman malice and cruelty, as flesh
and blood could not invent, were it not acted by a diabolical
fury. This mighty and frightful opposition we are apt to make an
argument why we cannot hold out, but should despair of being
able to do our duty. But the apostle, quite contrary, makes it
an argument why we should be strong, and resolved, and
watchful, and ready armed against all temptations, and able to
stand, because we have to do with such potent and crafty
enemies, who are so much above us in high places ; from whence
they can more easily assault us.
This he repeats again verse 13, Wherefore take unto you the
whole armour of God ; that is, because you have so many, so
great and dangerous enemies to conflict withal, take unto you
(to put it on, that is) that divine armour which God himself
furnishes you withal, and let no part of it be wanting, but be
entirely at all times covered with it ; that so you may be able
to withstand, or to resist with constancy and patience, in the
evil day, or the time when you must endure many calamities
for Christ's sake ; and having done all to stand ; that is,
having completed your resistance, by an unyielding resolution
to consent to nothing against your duty, you may remain as
conquerors over all those enemies that assaulted you.
Stand therefore, verse 14: he repeats it a third time, the
more to imprint their duty in their mind, and to excite and
encourage them unto it. He would not have them doubt of
getting the better ; but be confident they should be able to
withstand all manner of opposition, provided they put on
entirely that complete armour which he was about to recom
mend to them from God himself. Without that, their confidence
even in Christ, and his mighty power, would not keep them in
safety ; but they were to trust in him, employing those weapons
which he had given them for their defence and security.
Let me therefore briefly explain them, that you may see
what you have to do, if you would be strong in the Lord and
in tlie power of his might. In which it is impossible that any
body should be able to direct you so well as the apostle him
self: and therefore I shall seek for no other means of attaining

seem. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 31, 1680. 143
this divine strength, but those which he hath set down in the
remaining part of the epistle for this day-
I. And first, you must take care to have your loins girt
about with truth, verse 14; that is, with a true understanding
of all things that concern our duty, safety and happiness.
Which we can receive from no place so certainly and so
amply as from the revelation our Lord hath made of the mind
of God to us in his gospel, which is called the word of truth :
teaching us both what is true and false, and what is good and
evil, so fully, that we want no necessary information, direction,
or encouragement in our Christian warfare. Only we must
make it our business thoroughly to understand the mind of
God, and to let it sit close to our hearts : for that is to have it
girt about us.
This will make us ready against all assaults, and they will
find us better prepared to receive them : we shall be the more
at liberty, and have nothing interpose to entangle our mind,
and hinder us from doing our duty. For that was the end of
a soldier's girding up his clothes about his loins ; that he
might be the more nimble and expedite in action, when he was
not encumbered by his garments hanging loosely about his
heels. Such wih the clear knowledge of things, especially of
the truth as it is in Jesus, render our minds. Which will find
themselves fit for any service, and able to perform it with ease
and freedom, when they are dehvered by this illumination
from all vain opinions about those things which we call good
and evil in this world ; from all false principles, from causeless
doubts and scruples, from confusion of thoughts and uncer
tainty of mind, which weaken and discourage the hearts of men
in any encounter with their spiritual enemies. Whose great
advantage lies in our ignorance and fohy, mistakes and false
persuasions, which this divine light shining in us wih chase
away ; and let us see through all the thin pretences whereby
we are tempted to commit any sin, or to neglect our duty ; and
make the vanity of them so transparent, that we shall never be
cheated by them any more.
For truth is great, and wih prevail ; not indeed unless it be
seated and rooted in our minds ; but if it have taken fast hold
there, it hath the Lord on its side; whose mighty power
resides there where his sacred truth doth ; which being

144 A sermon preached seem. xi.
the sense of his own mind, is something of himself residing
in us.
There would not, for instance, be so many deserters and
revolters from their rehgion, so many cowardly and timorous
spirits who wih do nothing for it, so many cold and indifferent
persons who care not what becomes of it ; if we understood
the truth of it better, and its principles did not hang loose in
our minds ; but we had a hvely sense of its excehency, purity,
simplicity, and divine original. Which would preserve us also
from doing any thing unbecoming our religion, while we make
profession of it, and pretend to admire it and love it, and to
endeavour to preserve it. For who could act contrary to its
principles whose heart were affected deeply with this single
truth, that he who knows his Master's will and doth it not
shall be beaten with many stripes ? It will go exceeding hard
with that man, and he will lie under the severest lashes of his
own conscience, as well as under the heavy displeasure of his
Lord and Master ; who taught him the way of God in truth.
if he would have taken care, and set his heart to walk in it.
Which leads me to the next.
II. Unto this clear knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ,
we must add the breastplate of righteousness. Which is
nothing else but integrity of heart, and loyal affection to our
blessed Lord and Master Christ ; a sincere and unfeigned love
to the business of Christianity, which we understand to be the
will of God.
For a breastplate, you know, is the defence of the region of
the heart; and righteousness I take here to be as much as
uprightness and sincerity in what we pretend : and therefore
both put together signify the unfeigned bent of our will, the
cordial consent of our heart and affection, to all that we know
to be the mind of Christ : aiming at nothing in the world but
to keep a good conscience ; and thereby to preserve the love
of God, and at last to obtain favour with him in the day of the
Lord. Which, besides that it is most highly esteemed by our
blessed Saviour above all knowledge and wisdom in the world,
and may certainly depend upon his power for the maintenance
of that which is so dear unto him, hath many singular advan
tages in it to make us successful in our Christian warfare.

SEEM. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 22, 1680. 145
For a constant sense of our fidelity to our Lord naturally
gives us a stronger confidence that he will be faithful unto us.
This makes us also as bold and fearless as lions, when we
have nothing within to dismay us ; but all the reason in the
world to be secure and confident that we shall still attain our
end ; which is, to approve ourselves to our Lord and Master
whatsoever befalls us.
And on the other side, nothing more daunts all opposers, or
strikes such a terror into our enemies ; who are in dread of
those alone who fear nothing but to lose their integrity.
If this be the sole thing we resolve to preserve, and upon no
terms part withal, we shall have this advantage also by it ; that
we shall the more clearly discern what is the surest way to
safety in dangerous times, if it may be had together with inno
cence. Whereas they that bend every way, and sail with
every wind, where they think their worldly interest lies, are
always blinded so much by that, as never to see the rocks
upon which they run, and are split at last.
Now the surest mark of this integrity is an equal uniform
zeal for all manner of goodness and virtue, diffusing itself, like
the spirituous blood from the heart, through the whole body of
our Christian duty ; though never so cross to our natural in
clination or worldly interest.
And (as this is the surest mark of it, so) the surest way to
preserve it is to give daily proofs of it to ourselves, upon all
such occasions as continually present themselves: which will
wonderfully encourage and animate us to go on, when we meet
at any time with more dangerous opposition. This will make
us undaunted, in case any hard service be put upon us, when
we are not conscious to ourselves of any hypocrisy or base de
sign, or unworthy behaviour, in lesser trials of our Christian
resolution, in the daily common course of our life : or if at any
time we have prevaricated, our repentance for it hath been so
sincere, that in those instances especially wherein we did not
keep our faith with God we since have approved ourselves
better unto him, and given testimony of our renewed settled
purposes by no means to displease him.
This wih arm us against the most terrible impressions that
can be made upon us by the enemy of mankind ; against the
sorest sufferings of w^hich the apostle here particularly speaks ;
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. L

146 A sermon preached seem. xi.
even against death itself, the last and greatest enemy we have
to conflict withal, in whatsoever shape it shall approach us.
To be conscious then to ourselves of no enormous crime, or
to call to mind how solicitously we have made our peace with
God, and what full satisfaction we have given for any injury
done to our neighbour ; to have nothing then to aghast us,
nothing to fill us with pale fears ; no guilt unrepented of to
stare us in the face and threaten us ; will be as good a
breastplate as if we were environed with a wall of brass.
' Take a man that is just and upright, unmovable from his
honest purpose, that hath settled a firm love to goodness in his
soul ; and neither the rage of the people, nor the countenance
of stern tyrants, commanding him wicked things, will shake his
sohd mind ; but though the world should be supposed to crack
and break in pieces, and fall about his ears, the ruin of it will
oppress a fearless person.'
Thus an ancient poet ^ could boast, inspired only with a na
tural sense which he had of the courage and strength that
true integrity and sincere love to virtue gives the heart of him
in Avhom it dwells. He hath inward peace and tranquilhty
(as an upright Christian feels more hvely than any other man
can do) which makes him less regard all outward accidents.
Whereas, if a man's heart correspond not with what he knows
to be the truth, what contentment can he have to suffer any
thing for that which doth him no good ? Who can doubt but
the covetous man whl rather forsake the truth than his riches,
which he takes to be infinitely more precious? and an am
bitious man rather quit it than his preferment ; and an intem
perate man abandon it than forego his pleasure? For they
have corrupted his soul, and thereby made it weak and feeble ;
and deprived it of that breastplate, which a man that entirely
loves the truth and follows it is armed withal.
In one word, if we have not sincerely practised that which
we understand to be our duty, or if we have done it lamely
and by halves, this wih give us the most grievous wound
when we reflect upon it, and so gall our consciences, that we
shah find it to be the sharpest enemy we have in a day of trial.
III. But the apostle further advises them, if they would be
strong in the Lord, to have their feet shod with the prepara-
^ [Horat. lib. iii. carm. 3.]

seem. XL before the lord mayor, Oct. 22, 1680. 147
tion of the gospel of peace ". In which advice he supposes
that they who behoved the truth and heartily loved it would
be desirous to propagate their behef, and persuade others to
entertain it. For ah men are naturally inclined to endeavour
to make others of their opinion ; and the more necessary they
apprehend any thing to be, with the greater earnestness they
press to have it generally received.
But he would have them be sure not to forfeit the reputation
of true wisdom, nor to lose then- integrity, (which he had spoken
of before,) by being turbulent in this business ; but dispose
themselves to go (for that is the end of putting on shoes) and
endeavour to spread the gospel, or Christianity, among their
neighbours after a peaceable manner.
Which are two counsels that contribute much to the securing
our Christian resolution. For he that designs sincerely to
promote religion in others will not easily forsake it himself.
And the more good any man doth, the more he is like to re
ceive from the hand of the Lord. But we shall do little good,
unless we do it in a peaceable manner ; with the spirit of meek
ness, and love, and quietness ; without which a man can neither
be thoroughly religious himself, nor make others so. For
nothing more takes us all off from the business of true religion
than contentions and quarrels, though they be about religion.
Therefore we must follow peace, as well as that purity without
which no man shall see the Lord : and be readily prepared
rather to suffer any thing than to make a bustle and a stir
about that which teaches us all to study to be quiet, and is very
much dishonoured and endangered too by our unnatural and
unseasonable contentions.
For soldiers, to whose warfare the apostle here alludes, are
never safe but when they all agree, and are in unity one with
another, as well as with their chief commander ; whose great
lesson is this in the Christian discipline, Be at peace among
yourselves. By Christian love, charity, and friendly com
munion, we shall be much stronger against all assaults, whether
from the devil, the flesh, or the world, than if we fight single
against them, or, which is worse, be divided, and at last, per
haps, fight on ewith another. For, to omit other reasons, we
shall invite more of the divine power into our hearts when we
a Eph. vi. 15. L 2

148 A sermon preached seem. xi.
live in unity, and peace, and brotherly accord, wherein he de
lights ; but shall weaken ourselves extremely, and he open and
exposed to the common adversary, (both to the devil and all
his instruments,) when, like quarrelsome soldiers, we fah out
and are at feuds one with another. For where envying and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work ^. The devil
gets in at this breach above ah others, and tempts men to the
most dangerous sins, and most spiritual wickednesses. Which
prove not only the ruin of particular souls, but of whole so
cieties and churches : and therefore the causes of such divisions
ought most carefully to be avoided, if we would stand fast
like men, and be strong in the evil day.
This is a point to be now most diligently studied, because it
is of great necessity to this church and at this time ; when we
had need be all prepared to maintain, at least, the truth which we
profess, but cannot, in all hkelihood, secure, unless we strengthen
ourselves by being knit together most heartily and firmly in such
brotherly affection, that, though there be too many dissenters,
God knows, who cannot or will not conform to the pubhc laws,
yet the peace be preserved, and not the least thing done to
disturb the settlement of this church. Which, whatsoever de
fects any man may think it hath, is so well constituted, that,
as there is little hope to see a better, so if it be disturbed, we
shall find, to our cost, that we have changed for one infinitely
worse ; though it be one of our own making and devising.
Let us consider that if the apostles and others thought them
selves obliged to propagate the truth itself in a peaceable man
ner, even the most necessary and essential truths of the gospel
of Christ, which they preached without any disturbance to the
public government ; much more ought we to be very careful
not to unsettle a Christian church well established, nor to make
a rupture in it about those things which are now controverted.
Which might be better handled, and to more advantage and
hope of convincing one another, if we did live in unity, and in
the same communion, notwithstanding our differences, than
when we separate and divide one from another ; for then we
begin to look upon each other as enemies, and are not so apt
to be moved by those arguments which might be very effectual
if we continued knit together in the same society.
=> Jam. iii. i6.

seem. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 32, 1680. 149
But if this cannot be, yet whatsoever different persuasions
we have about rites and ceremonies, and such hke things, I am
sure it is every man's interest to be thus far a peaceable dis
senter, as to comply with the pubhc order so far as he is able
with a safe conscience ; and where he cannot comply, to be
quiet ; not to make a stir by contradiction and opposition, but
merely to omit what he cannot do, not reviling the public
establishment, nor endeavour to bring it into contempt, and
to overthrow it.
For whosoever spends his zeal that way, and takes himself
for a man of spirit, doth but abuse himself and the gospel, in
giving the name of courage to hardness of heart, and calling
that resolution which is mere insensibility of God's holy laws
about humility, meekness, patience, peaceableness, long-suffering,
and such hke virtues. Which great things did we lay to heart,
we should be more quiet, and not make a quarrel about the
small matters which now divide us ; but rather bear with what
is well settled, and not impious, than go about to mend it by
fierce oppositions. Which commonly produce bitter strife and
contention, and that is followed by worse disorders ; which
the apostles to avoid connived at many things among the
Jewish Christians, which they by no means approved of, but
desired to see reformed.
And after men have done ah they can, if they be not able to
endure some things peaceably which they do not hke, they must
seek for another kind of world than this, and for more perfect
creatures than men.
There will be defects in all human constitutions, there wih
be variety of apprehensions even in those things which God
himself hath declared ; after never so many changes we shall
be as far from settlement as ever, if we will not be quiet tih all
things be according to our mind. And therefore I take it to
be much better (as a wise man resolved many years ago,) to
be driven on shore by a storm, though in a crazy vessel, than
in a stronger to be still upon a tempestuous sea in the power of
the winds, and in danger of shipwrecks.
As for us who have consented to be governed by the laws of
this church, and have submitted to its orders, there needs not
many words, sure, to persuade us to lay aside ah our enmities,
though never so small, at such a time as this, together with all

150 A sermon preached seem, xl
jealousies, suspicions and.evil surmises, much more ah evil speak
ings, and whatsoever is contrary to that love which ought to be
between us. We ought not, now especially, to be so much as
cold towards one another because of any differences that may
happen to be in our opinions, (or which we fancy to be between
us,) but embrace each other with a fervent charity, as those
who are hnked together by the same common faith, and en
gaged in the same common cause, and must stand or fall together.
But in the prosecution of this weighty point I have been
transported so far that I have left but httle time for the re
maining, which I must therefore pass over the more briefly.
IV. The next is the shield of faith, v. i6, which the apostle
saith we must above all things guard ourselves withal. That
is, we must continually represent to our minds by a strong and
lively faith the great rewards which Christ hath promised to
his valiant followers. These we must ever carry before our
eyes as a soldier did his shield, that by an actual present sense
of them we may beat off all assaults either from pleasure or
from pain, which are made upon us to move us from our duty.
For either of them may be understood by the fiery darts of the
wicked, which the apostle here speaks of; the motions to inor
dinate pleasure being sometimes no less hot and violent than the
grief and pain which we feel by sore persecutions, which are
more peculiarly called in the holy Scriptures by the name of the
fiery trial. As those work very fiercely upon fear, so do plea
sures upon desire, and by this faith we shall be able to vanquish
both. Witness the confessors and martyrs, who, having first
overcome themselves, could not be moved from their steadfast
ness when they saw a real fire before them, into which they were
threatened to be thrown if they did not recant the profession
of Christianity. This shield of faith was their security, they
being fully persuaded that Christ our Lord, who is greater
than all kings, having aU power in heaven and earth, would
raise them from the dead to an immortal and more glorious
hfe, if they did not, to gain or save the best thing in this
world, break any of his sacred laws.
For this faith was so potent that it wrought in them a lively
hope, which is the next thing.
V. Aiul take the helmet of salvation, vei-se 17, which in
Thess. V. 8 is called the hope of salvatio7i. This he compares

seem. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 22, 1680. 151
to a helmet, (which you know is the armour of the head,) be
cause the blessed hope of immortal glory hereafter, and of
God's special favour, love and protection here, makes a man
erect himself and lift up his head, as we say, with confidence
and boldness in the midst of the greatest terrors and dangers,
knowing they shah not hurt him, but rather bring salvation to
him. With this hope therefore we must fih our hearts, which
is the fruit of faith, when faith works by love, and makes us
faithful unto God. Then we may have a lively hope in him,
and this hope wih make us not only strong and so full of courage,
that we shaU not quail or be cast down by any dreadful appear
ance of dangers, but enable us to rejoice in hope of the glory
of God.
VI. To which he adds the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God, or the holy Scriptures. For they are the
treasury of those sacred promises which are the great support
of our souls, the repository or magazine (as I may call them)
wherein are laid up those truths (spoken of in the beginning)
which we must oppose to all the temptations which either as
sault our faith and hope, or would seduce us from our obedience.
And therefore our business must be to study the holy Scrip
tures dihgently till we be well skilled in them, and have learnt
to wield this weapon aright, and thereby cut in sunder all ob
jections, as our blessed Saviour did when the devil tempted him in
the wilderness ; and by no means suffer anybody to wrest this
sword out of our hand ; for if they do, they have so effectually
disarmed us, that we may in time yield to any thing. They
may make us believe what they please, having our faith in their
keeping ; and likewise do what they please, persuading us the
best service we can do to God is to be the greatest enemies,
disturbers and destroyers of mankind.
VII. Lastly, all these will be the more effectual, if by ardent
prayer (as the apostle advises, verse 18,) we cah in the assist
ance oihea,Yen,praying alway with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints. For as it is not enough to be thus
armed and appointed for the combat unless God be present
with us, (which we ought to beheve he will, as I told you at
first, because he hath said he will,) so it is not sufficient to rely
upon his word and steadfastly believe it, but he expects to

1 52 ^4 sermon preached seem. XL
be solicited for his aid by our earnest prayers and suppli
cations. This he hath commanded, as much as for the other we have
his promise. And our very prayers make us strong by giving
us a more lively sense of God, (if they be not cold and careless,)
and a more vigorous apprehension of his love, and of our hea
venly country, to which they lift up our minds. And besides,
they derive more strength from him, when we faithfully im
portune him that he would enable us to discharge all the duties
of good Christians in every condition. And they entitle us also
to his powerful protection, v.-hen we commend ourselves entirely
to his providence, and trust all we have with him. Which like
wise mightily raises our spirits, and gives us a higher degree of
strength, confidence, and courage ; when we think we have
made him our friend by thus intrusting him, and relying wholly
upon him to malce us happy in what way he himself pleases.
And if all Christians made a conscience also to pray one for
another, it might still be of greater force, and avail more
toward our salvation. For so the apostle would have us make
suppilication for all saints, that is. Christians ; that they also
may be endued with the power of Christ, and get the victory
over their spiritual enemies.
And these prayers would be still more prevalent, did we all
persevere, as he says, in our supplications ; and pray always,
at all times of prayer, and that in the Spirit; very ardently,
and with such fervent desires for spiritual aid from heaven, as
we feel for those things we most need for this mortal life. And
this also with so great care and solicitude, that we watch for
opportunities of prayer; and, when great dangers press us,
take some time from our sleep, or other occasion, for this hea
venly converse with God our Saviour.
This is a thing wherein we are too defective, and so find
ourselves faint and weak in the performance of the rest of the
duties of Christian life ; because we languish in our devotion,
especially in our common prayer, when we meet together to
pray, not only for ourselves, but for one another ; for the king
particulai-ly, the royal family, the great council of the kingdom,
the clergy, and all people, of whatsoever order or condition
they be. Whom if we did commend to God with greater
earnestness and true fervour of affection, we should find, I am

seem. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 22, 1 680. 153
confident, as happy effects of our prayer as we ourselves desire.
We should either, for instance, prevail with God to "turn
from us all those evils which we most righteously have de
served,^' or to enable us so " to put our fuU trust and confidence
in his mercy," as, notwithstanding any troubles, " to serve him
evermore in holiness and pureness of hving, to his honour and
glory." To sum up all that hath been said, the apostle in this dis
course compares Christians unto soldiers ; who being to conflict
with their enemies, took care, as not to want weapons them
selves, so not to leave any part of their bodies uncovered and
exposed to the weapons of their adversaries. The middle of
their body they girt about with a belt, upon their breast they
wore a breastplate, upon their head a helmet, greaves (as they
are called in the story of Goliath) upon their legs, a shield they
carried in their left hand, and a sword in their right ; and
being thus appointed, they called upon their gods for help and
succour. Such a complete armour must we Christians put on,
if we will conflict successfully with our spiritual enemies ; who
are of little force to do us any harm, if they always find us
armed with truth in our mind, with integrity in our heart, with
purity and peaceableness in our affections, with faith in God's
promises, and hope of his salvation, (working both in mind and
heart and affections,) with the word of God often in our hand,
and with devout prayers and supphcations in our mouth, (pro
ceeding from our very heart and most intimate desires,) whereby
we constantly implore, both for ourselves and our feUow
Christians, the gracious assistance of him who is the Captain
of our salvation, and by these means got the victory, and
won the crown which he now wears at God's right hand.
And be you well assured, that in this way, by being trained
up in Christian knowledge, and sincere love to what you know
to be your duty, by faith, by hope, by reading and meditating
in the holy Scriptures, by ardent prayer to the Almighty,
(especially in sincere fellowship and communion one with
another,) you shall prevail hkewise, and get the better of
every thing that opposes your sincere resolution to do and
suffer the whole wih of Christ Jesus.
In him therefore encourage yourselves, and receive this
word of exhortation which the apostle here gives us, Be strong

154 A sermon preached seem. xi.
in the Lord, and in the pmver of his might. Fortify your
selves with a firm belief that he is able to send you rehef, and
that he will not fail to succour you from above, if you resolutely
endeavour to do your duty in the way that he hath prescribed
you. The words seem to me to be the very same with those of the
Lord to Joshua, (when he was to enter into Canaan and subdue
that country,) which are repeated thrice within the compass of
a few verses. Be strong and of a good courage^; and
verse 7, Only be thou strong and very courageous ; and again
verse 9, Have not I commanded thee ? Be strong and of a
good courage : neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy
God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. From which words
you may take the truest interpretation of my text, and look
upon Joshua and the Israelites as a hvely picture of the state
of us Christians. The Lord promised to be with him whither
soever he went, and bade him nothing doubt but by his strength
he should vanquish all the Canaanites. But for all this he and
the Israehtes were to go up armed against them, and both to
fight according to such directions as he gave them, and to
keep themselves from every polluted thing which he forbad
them ; and not depend merely on the arm of the Almighty to
give them the victory. Even so must we strengthen ourselves
in our blessed Lord, and the power of his might ; and think
we hear him say to us, Have not I commanded you ? Be strong
therefore, and of a good courage : be not dismayed, I the Lord
am with you whithersoever you go, and whatsoever you do ; and
by me you shall overcome all difficulties. But we must not so
trust to this power of his as to be remiss and negligent our
selves ; no, he whl strengthen and empower us, if we put on
the whole armour of God, and fight against our own passions
and evU desires, the world's temptations and the devh's sug
gestions : continuahy opposing to them faith and hope, and the
word of God, and prayer, and an honest resolution not to yield
by any means to their importunities ; but to be the more
excited by their sohcitations to use our most earnest en
deavours to vanquish them. Then, as David saith to his son
Solomon, (persuading him to enter upon a great work,) so
may I say to every one of you : Be strong and of a good
<^ Joshua i. 6.

seem. XI. before the lord mayor, Oct. 22, 1680. 155
courage, and do it : fear not, neither be dismayed : for the
Lord God will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee, until thou hast finished all the work for tlie service of the
house of the Lord ^.
It is for God and for his glory, that we fight resolutely
against the devil, the world, and the flesh ; and therefore why
should we doubt of his aid, when by the victory he will be
honoured as weh as ourselves ? We not only may, but ought to
ask it, and to expect it with an humble confidence in his al
mighty goodness, who hath told us he wiU deny us nothing
which we beg in the name of the Lord Jesus. And what can
we beg of him more acceptable to him, as weU as necessary for
us, than this ; that we may be able (in our place and station,
and in every condition) to do him all faithful service ? And
when will his name, think you, be more prevalent, and obtain
greater salvation for us, than when (according to his own par
ticular order and last desire) we make mention of it, and com
memorate his love in the communion of his body and blood ?
There we may offer up our prayers and meditations in the
most acceptable and prevailing manner. There also we may
excite our faith, and quicken our hope, and inflame our charity,
and knit ourselves one to another in brotherly love, and en
gage to him our fidelity ; and by all these means receive a
greater increase of strength and courage to do and to endure
whatsoever he would have us.
And therefore let me admonish you of this, for a conclusion
of this discourse, (in which I have delivered, or rather the
apostle taught us, many important truths, but none perhaps of
greater moment than this,) that when the apostle advises us
here to pray with all prayer and supplication, this way of
praying and supplicating, by making a commemoration of
Christ's death and passion in the holy Eucharist, where we re
present to God how he offered himself a sacrifice for us, is cer
tainly included. This is one sort of prayer, and the chiefest
among Christian people ; nay, the most proper to them of aU
other. From whence we may safely conclude, that they who neglect
this he more open to temptations than other men. They have
not put on the whole armour of God, but want a principal part
ti I Chron. xxviii. 20.

156 A sermon preached before the lord mayor, Sfc. seem. xi.
of it, and that part which is most properly Christian; and
therefore must blame themselves that they are no better men,
but are so frequently overcome, and fall into sin, even against
their resolutions (perhaps) and notwithstanding their prayers,
and their looking up to the Lord Jesus for help. There is a
great thing still wanting ; they do not use all the means that
he hath appointed for the obtaining of his help. There is one
manner of address to him which they either hve in a constant
neglect of, or but seldom apply themselves seriously to its
solemn use. For if they did in good earnest and with all their
hearts do this often in remembrance of him, as he hath re
quired; they would find their Christian resolution mightily
fortified, and their souls endued with much strength, to do ah
the rest of the will of Christ.
Nay, they would at last do their duty, though in itself diffi
cult, cheerfully and triumphantly, saying with St. Paul else
where. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked
ness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us^. To whom,
with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
^ Rom. viii. 35, &c.

AD TESTIMONIUM: A SEHMON ON
THE KING'S DAY,
FEBRUARY 6, 168^.
AT ST. KATHARINE COLEMAN'S, LONDON.

A SERMON
ON THE KING'S DAY^
Psalm Ixxii. the latter part of ver. 15.
Prayer also shall be made for him continually ; and daily
shall he be praised.
These words have in them a double energy both of prayer
and prophecy. They had likewise a double completion both in
Solomon and Christ. In the prayers of all holy men there is
something of prophecy : they utter nothing but the will of God,
so God hears and ratifies their requests. The words likewise of
dying men are esteemed more prophetic than ordinary ; and
these are supposed to be the last words, i. e. as ye have it in
ver. 20, the last prayers of this religious king, made, it seems,
at that time when Solomon by David's appointment (that is, by
God's appointment, for David herein observed the will of God)
was proclaimed king.
The particulars of Solomon's inauguration are at large in
the I Kings i. We find there, that in the latter part of king
David's reign, Adonijah, the son of Haggith, exalted himself,
and put in for the succession ; not that he behoved himself that
he had a title to the^crown, as he afterward confessed, chap. ii.
15, but Joab and Abiathar, and some such troublesome men,
» [King James the Second having and temporal assembled at West-
succeeded to the throne upon the minster, " that the day of thanks-
death of his brother Charles on the giving on the sixth day of February
sixth of February 1683, the service instant, on which the late king
appointed for the accession was an- James the Second came to the
nually performed upon the anniver- throne, shall not be observed in this
sary of that day; until after his ab- kingdom."— London Gazette, Jan.
dication a proclamation was pub- 31 to Feb. 4, 168^.]
fished by order of the lords spiritual

160 A sermon on seem. xii.
had put it in his head ; and that not for young Adonijah's
sake, as Solomon wisely observes in ver. 22, but for their own
ambitious ends. One would have thought that the declaration
of king David to his privy council had been sufficient to blast
all pretences of usurpation''. But these disturbances not only
gave him new occasion of declaring God's will in Solomon's
succession, but of giving express command for his inauguration
before his own death ; he resigned rather than bequeathed his
kingdom to him, and recreated his dying hours with the pubhc
joy and acclamations of the people.
David was well pleased with the compliment that his nobles
made to him, saying, God make the name of Solomon better
than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne^.
These courtiers are said to bless king David, and in such a
sense he took it, for he bowed himself upon the bed, TrpoaeKvvrj-
aev, ' he worshipped' at those auspicious words, he nodded, he
bowed, he worshipped, and then he feh to prayer and pro
phecy. I hope king David was no flatterer or court parasite, when
he filled his mouth with prayer and praise, and expressed so
much pleasure and satisfaction at his son's accession to the
crown. In those days it was no crime to be zealously loyal, to
worship toward the east, and adore the rising sun ; he was not
then esteemed an enemy to David or to the present government
of Israel, that strewed aves and welcomes in the new king's
way, and forgot to think of any thing but the expectation of
new blessings.
David by his own example had discountenanced all intem-
pestive grief at the death of his first child by Solomon's
mother, and that without the comforts of another to succeed in
his affection : and now at his own death he will not suffer them
to be unmannerly in their sorrow, but teaches the people to
forget him and look up towards his son ; and so they did as
heartily as the king could -wish, for they blew the trumpet;
and all the people said, God save king Solomon. And all
the people came up after him, and played upon flutes, and
rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound
of them^. It was as if the whole earth had opened its mouth
and sang for joy too, and ah this so long before king David was
•> I Chron. xxviii. <= i Kings i. 47. cl Ver. 35, 40.

SEEM. XII. the king's day. 161
cold in his grave, that he himself was one to make up the
chorus. They blew the trumpet, and he prayed ; they rejoiced,
and he prophesied ; he prays to God for the prosperity of his
successor, and desires that all his people might pray for it too ;
and that not only for his successor's, but for the people's sake :
and so he begins. He shall judge thy people with righteousness,
and thy poor with judgment, ver. 2.
And indeed this Psalm is not only a prayer to God, but an
admonition to the people ; it is their cause which he pleads,
and therefore they must come in with their endeavours. God
hath [performed his part in giving them a just and righteous
king to succeed David ; and now it is their parts to pray to God
continually for him, to pray that God would continue him
amongst them, that so their happiness might continue for many
years. So likewise they are to offer up praises, they are to
praise the king daily, that is, in effect, to praise God for the
king. This is the people's duty at all times, and this is our present
duty ; it is the most particular business of this day. We come
here to pray for the king ; we come to praise him, and to
praise God for him. It is the subject of the text, and the sub
ject of the day : prayer and praise, the only two principal parts
into which my text can be divided : Prayer also shall be made
for him continually, and daily shall he be praised.
First of prayer ; which is a duty incumbent upon all sub
jects for all princes, pro omnibus imperatoribus, without any
distinction. My method shall be this ;
First, to give you some reasons why this duty should be
performed ; and.
Secondly, I shall offer at some directions in the perform
ing it.
I. The obhgations which men lie under of praying for their
sovereign prince are natural and pohtical, as well as divine.
The laws of nature teach us to look upon kingly government
as a paternal function. " Every prince paramount is father of
his country, so we call them," saith Seneca, " not by way of
flatterye." So we find him making long prayers for Nero f,
even when he was disgraced and exiled by him : nothing
being more natural than for children to pray for the prosperity
e Non adulatione vana adducti,— i De Clem. 14. ' Ad Polyb. 31, 32.
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. M

162 A sermon preached on seem. xii.
of their parents. From our natural parents we derive our
natural life ; so from our political parents our political life. The
king is not only caput et animus reipjublicai, sed etiam spiritus
vitalise, ' the vital spirit, the very life of the kingdom ;' so that
to pray for the king is most correspondent to the first great law
of nature, self-preservation ; for hereby we pray for our own
and the kingdom's safety. So the wise senate of Rome reckoned
when they prayed for their emperor Augustusli. Nor do we
read of any nation or people, though never so barbarous, but
their regard to their prince hath been the same as of chhdren
to their parents ; the reasons being the same. For,
First, it is from the king that we have our origination. For
as amongst the Jews to beget a child was not essentiahy ne
cessary to be the father of him ; some being the legal children of
one man, which was the best and most excellent title, although
the natural children of another : so our Saviour was the legal
Son of Joseph and of David, though by nature the Son of
Mary, who perhaps was of another tribe*. In like manner,
though we have a natural obhgation to those parents which
begot us, yet we were born legahy from the influence of go
vernment ; we were born children from natural parentage, but
sons only from political authority. It is from the laws, i. e.
from the king, the fountain of laws, that we are legitimate ;
without which every man is but filius populi, ' the son of the
people.' So that every rebel seems to bastardize his own
children, in resisting that authority by which they call him
father ; for though the institution of marriage is an ordinance
of God, yet the circumstances of its solemnization are by ma-
gistratual appointment, whereby we are to remember that the
king is our first parent.
II. Secondly, it is from the king we have our daily mainte
nance and support : it is his wisdom and power that protects us
from violence and wrong. Our estates, our hves, our ah is
under his guardianship ; of the truth of which some of you
here present are hving witnesses. You remember the sad time
when there was no king in Israel; but it was worse with you
s I. De Clem. 4. reipublicse et laeta huic prsecari ex-
^ Quod bonum faustumque sit istimamus) &c. — Suet. Aug. c. 58.
tibi domuique tuae, C«sar Augusta, ' Episcopius, Institut. fib. 3. sect.
(sic enim nos perpetuam felicitatem 4. u. 11. [0pp. tom. i, p. 174.]

SEEM. XII. the king's day. 163
than with the old Israelites : for they did every man what
seemed good in his own eyes; whilst they that sequestered
your estates, plundered your goods, and drove you into want
and exile, committed such villanies as even out-dared their own
consciences. It is you can best tell, whether all that you at
present enjoy is not owing unto the king's safety. He is so
much more than a father, that without the preservation of his
royal person, it is not in your power to keep your own children
from starving ; and therefore great reason have we both to
pray for him ourselves, and to teach our children to pray for
him too.
III. Thirdly, it is the king's hfe and preservation that pro
tects our own. The shadow of his wing is a buckler to all his
subjects ; a buckler against all foreign violence, and domestic
bloodthirstiness. So was the regal authority unto the Israel
ites of old, as we have frequent instances in the book of Judges ;
for those judges were all kings in Jeshurun, as well as Moses,
although not anointed no more than he. (Deut. xxxiii. 5.) So
when there was no judge amongst them, it is said, there was no
king in Israel; as that dismal story of the Levite's wife is
prefaced, which one is a sufficient instance of domestic vil-
lany and barbarity. (Judg. xix. i .) So every now and then we
read of invasions, and such public calamities as must needs
happen to a nation without a head : there must needs be much
wrong, either done or suffered, where there are no eyes to see,
or ears to hear ; but hands to pull down, ruin, or feet swift to
shed blood.
And now, sure here is worth and subject enough for a
prayer, that God would protect that person by whom our hves
and fortunes are protected. It is a duty, and a very modest
one too, to pray for kings ; whereas some very wise heathens
made a mistake, and prayed to them : but natm^e, reason and
tradition, are not persuasives strong enough to men of corrupt
practices to bring them over to their duty. Let us see then
how far it is encouraged, or rather commanded, in holy writ,
for the people to pray for their kings; though some men can
not find any such thing as monarchy itself in the Scriptures,
without an opprobrium by way of appendix to it ; for all that
is there said in the behalf of monarchy is not a sufficient balance
to the eighth chap, of the first book of Samuel ; for from thence
M 2

1 64 A sermon preached on seem. xii.
they infer, that God Almighty was angry with the Israehtes for
desiring a monarchical government ; whereas the whole current
of Scripture proves this and no other to he jure divino, even in the
interrregna, which were governed by one only prophet, or seer.
So that from Adam to Saul, and forwards, the whole govern
ment was purely monarchical ; the seventy elders being no
other than justices or counsellors : and therefore God was so
far from being angry at their desiring of a king, i. e. for desir
ing of one, that, as the Jewish rabbin'' tehs us, they were
commanded by God that they should do so, Statuendo statues
super te regem, Deut, xvii. 15. Their crime was in the manner,
the time, and the ends of their asking one : they asked impor
tunately ; rather demanded than asked ; and that for the
idolatrous end of being hke other nations ; therefore God said
to Samuel, Not tliee, but it is me that they reject. They were
better pleased with their viceroy Samuel than with their em
peror God, ver. 1 1 ; and it was but a pretence for them to find
fault with the government, when it was the religion that they
would alter ; and there is no question, that if they had not
had such base purposes in their heads, God would have given
them a king long before, without asking. That blessing was
so long delayed, because God saw they were not capacitated
for receiving it. And when a nation is not capable of govern
ment, we have had the sad experience God gives them up to
anarchy. A people must be ripe for blessings before they can
expect them ; and then they must put them to a good use, if
they desire their continuance. And amongst all the blessings
that God hath promised his church in this world, I take one of
the greatest to be, that kings should be its nursing fathers,
and queens its nursing mothers. I am persuaded that hitherto
it hath been the greatest blessing : and so those Christians
would have told you that lived under the reigns of Constantine,
Theodosius, Arcadius, and those good emperors ; each of which
did more good to Christ's church, in some respects, than ah
their predecessors had done in mischief : they nursed it, and
clothed it with beauty and glory, which before had lain in rags
and nakedness, exposed to contempt and danger, like Moses
among the rushes. But St. Paul did not look so far as Con-
* Menasseh ben Israel, Conciliator, Q. in Deut. vi. [p. 225.]

SEEM. XII. the king's day. 165
stantine the Great, when he exhorts the Christians, in the
3 ch. of the I Ep. to Tim., that prayers and intercessions, and
giving of thanks, be made for kings. He doth not say, I ex
hort you that about three hundred years hence ye shall begin
to pray for kings : no, v-nep jSaaiXeav ', i. e, if we make a critical
search into the word, 'for the emperors ;' for what else can it
signify ? Who were supreme then but emperors ? And St. Peter
expressly names the supreme ; and again it was. Fear God,
honour the emperor^ ; for it is the singular number, jSaaiXia ™ ;
so this cannot be understood of governors as Christians, much
less of the reformed religion, when at that time there was
no such denomination ; but St. Paul and St. Peter meant, that
they should presently pray for the emperor in being, and
the emperors in succession, as such ; for Nero as well as Con
stantine, for Diocletian as well as Charlemagne, for Mahomet
the IVth (had he been emperor of the world) as well as for
James the Ilnd in Great Britain and Ireland. Now since the
Roman empire is broken, this exhortation belongs to us ; be
cause every king in his kingdom is emperor ; and James the
Ilnd (whom God preserve) wears the imperial crown of this
realm. Nothing can bar prayer no more than allegiance ; it is
part of our allegiance, and a most indispensable tribute. He
that defrauds the king of his prayers had better defraud him
of his coin ; saving that such a man's prayers would not do
him so much good. This is God's due, and this is Caesar's due,
our prayers to God, and for the king ; so that with one mite
we may pay both tributes. What remains then, but that we
should bethink ourselves how to pay it ; which leads me to tho
second undertaking, i. e. to give you some directions how
prayers are to be made for him. These are two qualifications
necessary to all prayers, heartiness and sincerity ; the third is
constancy, expressed here in my text by the word continually ;
so we are to pray for our king heartily, sincerely, and con
tinually. First, heartily. We are not to come to church on such days
as this for fashion sake, to avoid singularity,, or a bad reputa
tion : every good man must bring a zealous heart along with
him ; a heart full of affectionate duty and loyalty, with love
and hope in his breast, and joy in his eyes. He must petition
1 'YwepixovTi, I Pet. ii. 13. ™ Ver. 17.

166 A sermon preached on seem. xil.
God for the king as he would petition the king for himself ; with
all the elegancies of entreaty, as if he would petition for a king
dom : and then, sure, he would mix a few vows with his prayers,
something or other to distinguish them from common petitions.
At leastways, we should pray with such an emphasis, as if we
thought ourselves quite undone if God did not hear our prayers :
and so we may weh think ; for if God wih not hear our prayers
for the king, it is a sign he will not hear them at all. Let us
have a care that those prayers be not lukewarm ; for when God
spits them out, he commonly spits them into the cup of indig
nation, that is the cup of anarchy, when the prince and the
priest go off together ; and then comes the kingdom of anti
christ. For the pious and learned Dr. Hammond"" proves every
stubborn subject to be a hmb of antichrist, who exalts himself
above all that is called God. But, secondly, we are to pray
for the king sincerely, i. e. without any mental reserves or
mixed equivocations ; we must pray for the king in that
sense that the church prays for him, in that sense that the pri
mitive church of Christ is wont to pray for their emperors.
Tertullian " gives us a taste of those prayers, by which we may
guess at the rest. First their manner. " We pray," saith he,
" for our kings with our hands stretched forth, because they
are innocent, they were never lifted up against them. 2. With
bare heads, because we are not ashamed ; our consciences do
not fly in our faces, and reproach us with hypocrisy. 3. With
out any human order or prescription, because we pray wilhngly
and from the bottom of our hearts ; a long life, a secure throne,
a safe abode, a potent army, a faithful senate, a conscientious
people, and a peaceable empire." This was a sincere and
honest prayer, such a sort of prayer as we come here to make,
without parsimony and without fraud. Let me then give you
three short and general directions in praying for the king.
First, to pray for him as you would have others pray for you.
Secondly, to pray for him as if you prayed for yourselves,
and Thirdly, let the subject matter of your prayers be as sincere
and liberal as when he prays for you. We may know how that
hath been by the effects. Be sure they are such prayers as
n> Treatise of Resisting the lawful Magistrate. [Works, vol. i. p. 53 sqq.]
n Apologet. [c. 30. p. 27.] ad Scap. c. 2. n. 11. [p. 69.]

SEEM. XII. the king's day. 167
David and Solomon put up : the effects have been the same ;
peace is within our walls, and prosperity within our palaces.
Besides, methinks we are all grown better of late, a new genius
ascends the horizon ; no doubt, but from some new cause, from
our new king's prayers. For thou, 0 God, hast heard his
vows : thou hast given him the heritage of those that fear thy
name°. Then let us ah join in the chorus, Thou wilt prolong
the king's life: and his years as many generations. He shall
abide before God for ever: 0 prepare mercy and truth, which
may preserve him. So will vie sing praise unto thy name for
ever, and daily perform our vows.
Thirdly, we are to pray for him continually. Prayer also
shall be made for him continually ; so that we come here to
day but to learn what we are to do all the year after. This is
but a solemn remonstrance of what we resolve to do all the
days of our life, and reason good if we continue to expect the
blessed effects of such prayers. Not that some men's omission
of prayer (no, nor their curses) can do the king and his loyal
subjects any harm, for God can rain down blessings upon the
fleece, and let the barren ground remain dry ; and so God can
rain down curses upon the ground, and yet Gideon's fleece shall
escape, every lock and hair of it. If some will not continually
pray for the king, yet God will continually bless him for their
sakes that do ; at least if the king prays for the people, God
will return his prayers upon his own head. Thus much for
prayer. The second part is praise. This is a more particular duty,
incumbent only for particular reasons. Prayers for their kings
is the duty of all nations, but praise only belongs to Solomon
and such kings as Solomon was ; and yet there is this duty
incumbent upon all mankind, which is to praise the government
when they cannot praise the person. The character of a king,
in the person of one prince, is as laudable, divine, and sacred,
as in the person of another. They are all of them, as Calvin
tells us, the sons of GodP ; they are so ex officio, and praise is
as just a debt to their office as honour to their persons: indeed
there can be no honour without praise ; praise is the result of
liking and approbation, without which honour is no better than
mockery. But in this place the holy Psalmist doth not speak
° Psalm ki, p In Luc. i. 2i, [Harm. Evang. p. lo.]

168 A sermon preached on seem, xii,
of that praise and honour which is universally due to all
princes, but of that 'extraordinary praise which his successor
king Solomon and all such princes as he may justly claim. So
here we are to consider the character of a prince who is praise
worthy. And here I have a fair opportunity of entering into a pane
gyric upon that glorious prince whose praises we come hither
to celebrate, as well as to offer up our prayers for him : but I
would wilhngly avoid all invidiousness, as well of the malevo
lent for my ambition, as of the censorious for my presumption ;
and yet I fear neither. But because it is so coincident with
my text, and most appropriate to the undoubted sense of it, I
shall give you a short character of that prince for whom it was
first made, that not only our's but all princes of those excellen
cies may come in for their dues.
First, he was a prince of the most celebrated wisdom and
understanding in the world. This was his natural talent ; which
because he had so well improved, God Almighty at his request
added to it : he was matm'e for government, and well quahfied
for empire, so that God sent him to the people with a blessing
in his hand. It is the king's wisdom that is the people's
safety, and therefore when God in Isaiah 1 threatens them to
give them children to be their princes, and babes to rule over
them, the consequences of such a government follow in the next
verse : And the people shall be oppressed every one by
another, and every one by his neighbour^.
Secondly, he was a most industrious prince. He made his
duty his business, and very conscientiously considered the great
charge committed to him ; he was always employed for the
people's good, vigilant and active upon all occasions. We read
indeed, that in all his reign the people had little else to do but
to sit down every man under his vine and under his fig-tree,
from Dan even to Beersheba^, eating and drinking and making
merry. It was well for them, but you will find the good king
otherwise employed ; his greatest pleasure was to see his
people safe, and to be the author of all those pleasures and
comforts that they enjoyed, and which they could not enjoy
but by his pains and care.
Thirdly, he was a king very eminent for justice, which was
n Isaiah iii. 4. f Ver. 5. = i Kings iv. 25.

seem, xii. the king's day. 169
one great effect of his wisdom. It is Solomon's own maxim,
that a prince that wants understanding is a great oppressor ;
but a prince of understanding and wisdom will never do nor
suffer wrong. The lawyers tell us, that the king cannot wrong
his subjects ; and our divinity books tell us, that he ought not
to wrong himself*. The king is as responsible to God for his
own honour as for the people's safety, and that the rather,
because it is God's honour as well as his; but yet he had much
of David's clemency and mercy. I am sure Paterculus would
have thought so if he had hved in his reign ; for he looked
upon it as a thing even incredible, quod humanam excedat
fidem, ' that Caesar, who was but an usurper, should spare those
that were of Pompey's faction ;' and yet we read of some great
persons executed upon that account, even L. Csesar, his kins
man, contrary to due form of law''.
Fourthly, he was a prince of great constancy and resolution.
He met with many difficulties in coming to the crown, and even
at his first accession he was forced to encounter with an unna
tural and dangerous rebellion : it was a difficult juncto, and
required a steady hand of government, Tranquillo quilibet
gubernator est^, ' every one can sail in a calm sea, but storms
and tempests make a proof of the pilot.' It might be said of
him as it was of Cassar, " His mind was greater in adversity
than in prosperity^." David was not afraid to leave him
amongst so many of his enemies. Thou art a wise man, saith
he, and knowest what thou oughtest to doK Be strong only
and of good courage^, that is, strengthen thyself and be reso
lute. It was verbum sapienti : ' he did so.'
Lastly, he was a man of extraordinary piety and devotion ;
in this he showed himself to be the true son of the holy David.
We are not to inquire, whether Solomon served God with
the same circumstances of religion as David his father ; for so
it is said, that Solmnon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes
of David his father'^. It is true, from the particle pi follow
ing, some learned men have inferred, that the outward circum-
* Quia enim Deus vult honorari Pompeii, — Florus, [iv. 2, 90.] Suet.
superiores, vult etiam ut ipsi bono- [Cesar, c. 75.] Dio Cass, [xliii. 12.]
rem suum tueantur. — Pareus Corp. y Adag. Vet. Sen. Ep. 86. [85.]
Doct. p. 3. q. 104. lib. 2. [8vo Han. ^Sal.Orat. adC8es.2.[al.Ep.i.c.i.]
1634.] » I Kings ii. 9. ^ i Chr. xxviii. 20.
^ Afranius, Faustus, Sylla, filia <= 1 Kings iii. 3.

170 A sermon preached on seem. xii.
stances of his worship were not altogether so laudable as his
inward sincerity and devotion 'l ; because, whereas there was but
one legal high place of worship ordained by Moses e, he did
nevertheless, in imitation of the ancient patriarchs, permit their
use in the plural number f. But leaving this dispute to the
more learned, I here only take notice, that as this was not suf
ficient to obstruct God's indulgence and great love towards
him ; so it could be no bar to his people's prayers and praises :
for as Solomon loved the Lord, so the Lord loved him, and
blessed him with immensity of wisdom and justice ; and this
appears from the following passage to be the undoubted re
ward of his exemplary piety. And now, to sum up ah, this
incomparable wisdom, this indefatigable industry, this justice,
resolution, constancy and piety, might well deserve the accla
mation and daily applause of his people ; and if Solomon did
justly deserve his people's praise, behold this day a prince not
inferior to Solomon.
The wisdom of this one year's reign will equal all the his
tory of that eastern prince. And as for all those other quah-
fications which I have mentioned, it is but too plain that I have
strained the character of Solomon to make it bear some pro
portion with that of our king ; and still the faint lines come
short of a resemblance. But if undaunted courage and bravery
in battle, (a virtue that never was experienced in Solomon,)
the voluntary exposing of his person for the good of his
country, the repeated instances of his love and affections to it,
and such other his more peculiar and characteristical virtues,
were to be insisted upon ; it would require such sentences as
Solomon's to declare his worth.
But I come not here to usurp upon fame's province; his
name is already spread as far as Solomon's, and shall continue
as long as his, as long as the world shall endure.
But sure the obligations of his subjects to him are far greater
than any people ever lay under, and ought therefore to be
paid in the most dutiful and solemn manner ; that great tribute
of praise as well as of prayer.
Give me leave likewise herein to offer you some few direc
tions, and so I will conclude. The church directs us to praise
* Deut. xii. 13, 14; 2 Chr. i. 3. e ^1^'! Targ, Jonath,
' Diodat. in i Kings iii. 3.

SEEM, xu. the king's day. 171
God, " not only with our hps but in our hves,"^We may take the
same instruction in praising God's vicegerent. He best praises
the lawgiver who lives most conformable to his laws ; and the
greatest panegyric upon Csesar is, to obey his commands : they
are the only flatterers whose hearts and tongues do not go to
gether ; and it is our duty to praise our prince, and not to
flatter him. Nothing can be grosser than to praise the king's
wisdom, and yet at the same time to prefer our own above it.
My lord the king, saith Mephibosheth, is an angel of God ;
but then he thought so as well as said it ; and therefore re
signed all he had in the world to the king's dispose. All dis
trust and jealousy is inconsistent with praise ; for this must
proceed from love, and love casteth out fear. We have a
prince that of all mankind ought the most to be trusted ; be
cause it is not in our powers to provoke him more to break his
word than we have done. Our provocations have been so great,
that nothing but his sacred word could stand between us and
his anger. But this must not encourage us to use him ill ; for
though the decree for our good is gone out of the king's mouth,
yet it is not ratified by God without good conditions. We have
been grievous dehnquents, and are now but upon good beha
viour, and lives as well as hearts are in God's hand.
Bishop Andrewes terms kings the treasurers of the people s :
if so, we at present have a most inestimable treasure. But then
he bids us remember, that we have these treasures in earthen
vessels ^. Let us have a great care and use it tenderly, that we,
together with our prince, may see our children's children, and
peace upon Israel.
Our blessing is to us but a new comer ; we hardly know yet
what it is that we enjoy. Consider but one particular, that the
English nation for this last year hath been a greater terror abroad
than for some ages before ; at least ways, it is in our power
to be so, only by this, in not being a terror to ourselves. Let
but the English praise and love their king, and all the world
will soon stand in awe of him. Not that he trusts in his own
strength, or in the arm of flesh, but in his God ; in his right
and in his innocence. Witness that one act of his, whereby, in
the assembly now in being, he would not (what others would
perhaps) have excluded his exclusioners. But there is no occa-
e Cone. Lat. [Aug. 6, 1606. 0pp. posthum. p. 55 sqq.] •» 2 Cor. iv. 7.

172 A sermon preached on tlie king's day. seem, xii.
sion to be loud and importunate in our praises ; they wih be
best understood by our being still and quiet. Let us all ^tAo-
Tineia-dai, 'make it our ambition' to be so. It should be our am
bition, because it is our interest ; nay, we see it is to no pur
pose to be otherwise*: it is but a folly to resist so often the
plain and visible hand of Providence ; the injuries and affronts
that are done to majesty still turn to blessings. And, as to our
prince in particular, God hath as plainly and manifestly pro
tected him from all his enemies, as if with our own eyes we
had seen him guarded with a flaming sword, or resting his
head under an angel's wing. God Almighty hath given him so
many and such signal dehverances, that we should be even
faithless if we did not beheve that it can never be in the
power of men or devils to hurt him. So that God will reign,
and the king will reign, be the people never so unquiet.
God hath judged the king, and hath pleaded his cause against
an ungodly nation. Hehath^ delivered him from the deceitful
and unjust man ; the Lord hath rewarded him according to
his righteousness, according to the cleanness of his hands hath
he recompensed hiniK
And now the king wih be sure to live peaceably and quietly
himself. He is resolved to stand fast like a rock in the midst of
his ocean ; neither the raging waves of the sea nor the madness
of the people shall ever remove him from his centre. He is
resolved to deserve praise, and to have it too, if not from his
people, yet from his God™.
To conclude then with the words of this Psalm,
His name shall endure for ever, his name shall be continued
as long as the sum, and men shall be blessed in him.
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doth
wondrous things ; and blessed be his glorious name for ever.
Amen, and Amen.
' I Thess. iv. 7. m "O Ki fu TififjO-ovai, lioiKiara 8c
^ Psalm xliii. i. /ir/TleTa Zeis. — Horn. II. 1. 1. [175.]
' Psalm xviii. 20.

A SERMON
PREACHED ON ST. MARK'S DAY, 1686,

IN THE

PARISH CHURCH OJi' ST. PAUL'S, COVENT GARDEN.

A SERMON
PREACHED ON ST. MARK'S DAY, 1686.

Ephesians iv. 14.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro,
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, Sj'c.
These words, which are a part of the epistle for this day, con
tain a principal reason why God furnished his church with such
variety of gifts, and so many ministers of the gospel of his grace,
as you read of in the foregoing verses.
Where the apostle observes, verse 8, that after our blessed
Lord was raised from the lower parts of the earth and ascended
up into heaven. He gave gifts unto men, and filled all things,
verse 10.
And some (he proceeds to show) were made apostles, who
were the chief ministers of Christ, the witnesses of his resur
rection, the great luminaries of the world, by the laying on of
whose hands the Holy Ghost was given unto others.
And next to them he placed prophets, who were inspired
persons that had an excehent faculty of expounding the old
Scriptures which prophesied of Christ, and foretold the things
that they now preached ; and did also in some cases foretell,
like the prophets in ancient time, what was to come to pass
hereafter in the church of Christ.
After whom followed evangelists, of which rank was St. Mark,
whose memory is this day celebrated. They were men who
accompanied the apostles and went about with them in their
travels, to be sent by them as they were by Christ, either to
preach the gospel where they could not go themselves, or to
confirm and strengthen those in the faith whom they had al
ready converted. Thus St. Mark attended upon St. Peter,
whose disciple he was, as not only Eusebius and St. Hierom,

176 A sermon preached on seem. xiii.
but Irena3us himself, who was more ancient, assure us. He is
thought to be the person mentioned by St. Peter in the latter
end of his first epistle, verse 13, where he cahs him Marcus my
son; and is said by the authors before mentioned to have
written his Gospel at the request of the converts of St. Peter,
from whom, they say, he went to Alexandria, and there founded
a church, of which he himself was the first bishop.
Now after ah these, (apostles, prophets and evangehsts,) last
of all there were pastors and teachers ; who were apostolical
men, settled and fixed in those churches which hadbeen gathered
by the apostles, to be their constant governors and instructors,
when the apostles could no longer stay with them.
All these were endued with divine gifts according to the
measure that Christ pleased to bestow upon them, as you read
ver. 7. And he bestowed these gifts on them for three ends,
which are named, verse 1 2, first, ^or the perfecting of the saints.
That is, to complete those who were already called into the
state of Christianity, to supply their defects, and to make up
what was wanting, which is the meaning of the Greek word
KaTapTL(7p.6s. Secondly, ybr the work of the ministry, that they
might bring others into the church who were not yet made
Christians, which seems to be the proper work of the ministry,
as it stands here distinguished from the former, and from what
follows. Which was, thirdly, for the edifying of the body of
Christ, the building up the whole church together in knowledge
and piety, till they all came into the unity of the faith, and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, and grew to be such per
fect men as not to be carried about any more like children,
with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness whereby they lay in wait to deceive^.
This, in short, is the coherence of my text, in which I shall
observe to you these three things:
I. That this apostohcal church of Ephesus was disturbed
with variety of doctrines, and with controversies in religion.
II. That it was a childish thing to be unsettled by this
variety or contrariety of doctrines.
III. That God did not leave his church without the means
of being settled and steadfast in the true faith of Christ, not-
» Ephes. iv. 10.

SEEM. xiiL St. Mark's day, 16^6. 177
withstanding those blasts of contrary doctrine, and notwithstand
ing the cunning and craft wherewith they were managed.
I.
First, I say, these words suppose that the church to which
the apostle writes was disturbed by variety of doctrine, and by
controversies in matters of rehgion. For when he saith, that
henceforth they should not be tossed to and fro, &c., it suggests
that they had been wavering and unsettled ; apt to be moved
away from the faith of the gospel by the impetuous assaults
that were made upon them by some cunning deceivers.
I call them impetuous, because these doctrines, which were
different from or contrary unto the faith of the gospel, were
pressed with such earnestness, that the apostle compares them
to a blast of wind ; and not barely to a blast, but to a storm or
tempest. Which is the meaning of the word KXyhuivi^ofxivoi,
' tossed to and fro,' as a ship is in a furious storm : for so
KX-ubmv, from whence it is derived, literally imports ; signifying
here that the false teachers who disturbed the church were
very vehement, or rather violent ; making up in confidence
what they wanted in truth.
Such were the Jewish deceivers, whom the apostle (in Phil.
iii. 2.) compares to dogs, who impudently assaulted the faithful,
and endeavoured to rend and tear the church all in pieces.
Such were the philosophical pretenders by whom the Colossians
were in danger to be forcibly carried away from the faith, and
made a prey to a company of thieves and robbers : Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit ».
Which last word, as well as my text, gives you the reason
why I said the church was troubled with the impetuous assaults
of some deceivers. For they added much craft, subtilty, and
juggling to their violence and zealous confidence. Which is
compared here (in the latter part of this verse) to that sleight
of hand wherewith cunning gamesters cogg the die : and is
further illustrated by a second word, importing such subtilty as
we have no one English word to express, and therefore render
it by two, cunning craftiness : and that, thirdly, so artificially
managed, that it was according to a method of deceit, (or an
orderly proceeding in their cheats,) as the last words are in the
" Coloss. ii. 8.
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. N

178 A sermon preached on seem. xiii.
Greek, which we translate. Whereby they lie in wait to de
ceive. I note these things very briefly, only to show what manner
of men they were who troubled the church of Christ in the
apostles' days. They were bold, and they were crafty ; con
fident and cunning ; busy and boisterous ; and withal very subtle
and insinuating. So busy they were, that as a storm of wind
troubles the whole sea upon which it falls, so these men dis
turbed the church of Christ every where throughout the world.
For I think I may safely affirm, that there was not so much as
one church mentioned in the holy writings but was disturbed,
if not in danger to be overturned by these blasts of strange
doctrine ; which, hke a tempest, raged in ah places where the
gospel was preached.
Nobody can be ignorant how the church of Jerusalem (the
very mother church) was troubled by men that pressed a very
dangerous error upon them. For they who taught. Except
men were circumcised after the manner of Moses, they could
not be saved, came from Judaea, as you read Acts xv. i.
In the church of Rome itself there were those who taught
that men must be justified by the works of the law : as ap
pears from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
In the Corinthian church there were those who denied even
the doctrine of the resurrection ; and thereby went about to
subvert the Christian faith.
The churches of Galatia were so infected with Judaical
errors, that they were almost removed from him that called
them unto the grace of Christ into another gospel ^-
The Phihppians, as I said before, had dogs among them,
evil workers, who were of the concision, as the apostle sar-
casticahy calls them'.
The Colossians stood in need of a caution against vcdn phi
losophy, and such false reasonings as under the colour of
humility seduced men unto the worshipping of angels'^. And so
I might lead you through all the rest, tih we come to the
seven famous churches of Asia; unto whom our Lord Christ him
self directed particular letters after he went to heaven. From
which we learn that there were such impudent deceivers among
them as pretended to the gift of prophecy, and yet seduced
I' Gal. i. 6. « Philip, iii. 2. ¦» Coloss, ii. 8, 18.

SEEM. XIII. St. Mark's day, 1686. 179
Christ's servants to idolatry «. In short, there were depths of
Satan, ver. 24, profound mysteries of diabohcal deceit, to
overthrow the faith of Christ.
And if it were thus immediately after our Saviour's ascen
sion to heaven, and while the apostles were alive, who were
fuU of the Holy Ghost ; no wonder that the church was after
wards infested with divers heresies ; as appears by the first
four general councils, wherein they were condemned. Parti
cularly this church of Ephesus, and those in Asia depending on
it ; whom St. Paul forewarns of this, when he took his leave of
them, and told them they should see his face no more, that
after his departure grievous wolves would enter in among
them, not sparing the flock : also of your ownselves shall men
arise, speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them *,
And therefore it ought still to be the less wonder to any of
us if the condition of the church be the same now, at this great
distance from the apostolical times : since men were so bold as
in the very face of the apostles, at least as soon as their backs
were turned on any place, to contradict their doctrine, and
teach another gospel.
From which we may evidently draw these three conclusions :
I. First, there is no cause to forsake that church of which
we are members, or so much as to have the worse opinion of it,
because there are contentions in it about matters of rehgion.
They that have had a principal hand in raising disputes, and
making divisions upon them, are the men that object this to
us, and make it an argument against us. But without any
reason, for when they have said all that they can, we have as
much unity of faith among us as they had in the first churches
planted by the apostles themselves. In which there were se
veral winds of doctrine stirring, and many errors ; which made
as great a disturbance then (if not greater) than hath been made
among us.
Who in the main articles of faith are all of one mind ; and
our differences are in lesser and secondary things, which belong
not to the primitive doctrines of the Christian religion. Which
whosoever opposes, we own him not, but look upon him as in a
faction against the church ; which is not thereby broken, nor
the unity of its faith destroyed. For though some men have
^ Rev. n. 20. f Acts xx. 29, 30.
N 2

180 A sermon preached on seem. xiii.
preached strange doctrines, and drawn disciples after them,
(which is no more than they did in the apostles' days,) yet they
have not prevailed against this church, nor overturned its
faith. But as boisterous waves (to keep to the metaphor in the
text) beating against a rock dissolve into froth, so have these
blasts of contrary doctrine made a vain and fruitless disturbance
among us. Some looser parts of the people have been carried
away, (to their own shame, not ours,) while the main body of
our church, like an unmovable rock, still persists in firm unity :
in as great unity as was anciently in any of the apostolical
churches, and that is abundantly sufficient.
II. Secondly, we may further conclude from what hath been
said, that if we knew where to find an infallible guide and
judge, it would not put an end to controversies, nor hinder
errors from springing up and pestering the church of Christ.
For when there was such an authority, it could not do this
which is desired.
All allow the apostles to have been infalhble ; and yet you
see there were various winds of doctrine, and some of them
very dangerous, in the churches which they planted : whereby
those churches were divided into parties, which by the aposto
hcal authority could not be perfectly united.
St. Paul, for instance, interposes his authority with the
church of Corinth, in his First Epistle, for the making up all
divisions which he heard were among them S. And yet not
withstanding, it appears by his Second Epistle, (xi. 2, 3, 4, 13,
14,) that they still continued; so that their minds were in .
danger to be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
And the epistle of Clemens to that church, not long after,
informs us that these divisions and contentions grew into a kind
of sedition one against another.
More than this, the Author of our faith, Christ Jesus, though
he spake with the highest authority, yet did not by this put an
end to the disputes that were between the Pharisees and Sad-
ducees, and other sects among the Jews. No, it was so far
from having this effect, that the church of the Jews, who were
instructed by this infallible teacher, fell into the most damnable
error ; not only rejecting him, but putting him to death.
Yes, will some say, because they did not own his infahibility.
e I Cor. i. 10, 11, &c.

SEEM. xffl. St. Mark's day, 16^6. 181
True. But can any other teacher, though he could j ustly pretend
to this prerogative, hope to prevail with men, when the Saviour
of the world could not ? Will any man or church expect to be
universally acknowledged, and make an end of all differences,
when the Son of God could not meet with such regard and
acceptance in the world ? Is it possible for any men's infallibility
(could we suppose it) to be better attested than the Lord
Christ's was ? Can the disciples convince men more than their
Master did ? If that be a hopeless thing, then there will be
controversies, even about this infallibility. Which leads to the
third thing.
HI. It appears plainly from hence, that God never intended
all errors should be kept out of the church by an infallible
authority. No, directly contrary ; St. Paul saith. There must
be heresies, that they who are approved may be made mani
fest *" : that is, God thinks it just that men should be per
mitted to follow their own foolish conceits, when they will not
be guided by the plain directions of his holy gospel. By
which means sincere and upright men are discovered ; and all
men are tried whether they will obey the truth, or turn aside
unto unrighteousness.
There must be a trial made of men; and therefore such
order must not be taken as to make it impossible there should
be any heresies. No, God hath left it more than possible there
should ; for there must be heresies, that there may be appro
bation made of believers, whether they will sincerely adhere to
the plain truths of Christian religion, or part with them for
pleasing and gainful errors.
Besides, if God had intended to prevent this, by establishing
an infalhble guide to whom all should resort, he would have
declared this intention the most plainly of all other things.
And have told us also where to find such an authority, and not
have left this to be controverted and disputed, which was in
tended to be the end of controversies.
More especially, if any one particular church was to have
this authority over all other churches, it would have been most
needful that this should have been so clearly taught as to have
put it out of all doubt. For we can see no reason, not so much
•i I Cor. xi. 19.

182 A sermon preached on seem. xin.
as that of convenience, why one church should have it, and all
others want it : but in reason every church should have it, if it
were to be had, that men might not be put to the trouble of
going far for infallible direction.
And as for that church which now pretends to it, there is
the clearest evidence that no church anciently thought it to
have more authority than other churches, who looked upon
themselves as her equals.
I speak of the church of Rome ; whose determinations and
traditions in matters of doctrine were rejected by St. Cyprian,
Firmihanus, and the rest of the African bishops : who write to
the pope (as every one knows who reads St. Cyprian's epistles')
not as their superior, but as their good brother, their colleague,
their fellow priest : rebuking him with much sharpness, taxing
him for pretending vainly to apostolical authority where he
had none ; and for not conforming himself to the rule of truth
and peace dehvered by the apostle ; and in downright terms
affirming, that every bishop in the administration of his church
hath power to act according to his own judgment, and that
none could impose laws upon another.
And as for matters of ceremony, all the bishops of the East
refused to submit to him ; challenging as much authority from
St. John as the Roman bishop did from St. Peter. This is
notorious in the famous question about Easter ; and sufficient
to show the truth of what .^neas Sylvius could not but confess
before he came to be a pope ; that " httle respect was had to
the Roman church before the council of Nice J."
And that council expressly decreed the ancient customs
should be every where observed. By which Antioch and
Alexandria claimed the same authority over the churches sub
ject to their jurisdiction, that the Roman bishop did within his
diocese. And thus it continued for many years after, nor do
the greater part, by far, of the Christian world at this day own
any such authority over them as the bishop of Rome now chal
lenges. Let us not therefore be shaken by this wind of doctrine, no
more than by any other wherewith this church hath been
troubled. For there is no such infalhble authority left in the
i Vid. Epist. Ixxii. Ixxv. edit. Oxon. [pp. 196-217.]
j [Epist. cclxxxviii. p. 802 D.]

SEEM. XIII. St. Mark's day, 1 686. 183
church for the deciding ah controversies, much less can that
church lay the sole claim to that authority there is left in it; or
if it could justly pretend to the highest, it would not be able to
do what a far more miraculous authority could not effect : and
there are other means of unity and peace prescribed by God,
which if men wih not embrace, there must be discords and dis
sensions whereby the integrity or falseness of every man's
heart will be discovered.
What means those are you shall see anon, when I have
spoken a few words of the second observation, which now
fohows. II.
It is a childish thing to be unsettled in religion, because of
this difference or contrariety of doctrine wherewith the church
is at any time troubled. So the apostle might well call it, be
cause there being (as I have lately shown you) a form of
wholesome words left by them in every church which they
planted, a summary of sound doctrine, called the faith once
delivered to the saints ; there could be no reason that any men
who had this deposited with them should be unresolved what
to beheve, and unsettled by the preaching of other doctrine ;
but their instability proceeded merely from the weakness of
their understanding and the strength of their passions.
These two things are remarkable in little chhdren ; as their
understandings are weak, so their passions are strong, and their
desires violent. From whence it comes to pass that they are
not only credulous, but fickle and newfangled, (as we speak,)
dehghting in that to-day which they throw away to-morrow.
These make them rash and hasty, apt to quarrel one with an
other about httle differences, and dispose them to be taken with
empty shows and pageantry, with things that affect the senses
and have a glistering appearance, though void of all inward
goodness and solid worth and usefulness.
In short, while we are children in understanding, we are
naturally injudicious, and consequently inconstant. We do not
judge aright of things that differ, and so are carried uncertainly
to and fro, as the apostle here speaks, from one thing to an
other, and many times from better to worse ; especially when we
meet with confident people who easily impose upon us.
This is a very dangerous estate, and therefore it highly con-

184 A sermon preaclied on seem. xiii.
corns us to get out of it, by growing in knowledge and wisdom,
imitating little chhdren only in our endeavours to be without
guile, but labouring, as the apostle speaks, in understanding to
be men, and to have a thorough knowledge of the truth as it is
in Christ Jesus.
This St. Peter prescribes as a remedy against unsteadfastness,
in the conclusion of his Second Epistle ; Ye therefore, beloved,
seeing ye know these things, beware lest ye also, being carried
away by the error of the wicked, fall from your stedfastness ;
but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Who, it is most certain, hath not left
us in doubt what to beheve, and what to hold and retain with
a firm resolution ; nor exposed us, without any help for it, to
be carried away by the error of the wicked ; but abundantly
provided us with all things necessary for the knowledge of the
truth, and for our improvement therein, unto a state of steadfast
belief. Which is the third thing, III,
We are not left by God without the means of being settled
in the faith, notwithstanding the blasts of contrary doctrine
which may be in the church, and notwithstanding the cunning
and craftiness whereby they may be managed. For it is the
very scope of the apostle in this place, to convince the Ephesians
that God had taken such care and made such provision, that
they might not henceforth be children tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, &c. There was a
remedy then against this lightness and inconstancy, it was pos
sible to discern truth from falsehood, the Christian faith from
the vain doctrines which troubled the church ; and if they did
not continue children, they might continue steadfast in that faith,
and not be moved from it by the violent blasts of contrary
persuasions. God did not think fit, as you have heard, to lay such a re
straint upon men's spirits, that none should be able to contra
dict the truth preached by the apostles ; but permitted false
apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ, for the trial and exercise of the faithful,
whom he furnished with sufficient means to preserve themselves
in a settled constant belief

SEEM. XIII. St. Mark's day, 1686. 185
What those means were I shall briefly lay before you, as I
find them partly here, and partly in other places of the aposto
lical writings ; and shall treat of them with a particular respect
to ourselves, that we may be established in the truth of his
holy gospel.
First, nothing is to be admitted without good proof.
Secondly, in the proof we make of doctrines, the holy Scrip
tures must be the rule whereby we judge.
Thirdly, in the use of this rule we must take direction of our
spiritual guides and governors.
And lastly, we must live in the sincere practice of all other
duties of Christian piety.
First, the first direction is that of this apostle St. Paul to the
Thessalonians ; Prove all things, holdfast that which is good^.
Which is the same with that of St, John ; Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God;
because many false prophets are gone out into the worldK
From whence it is likely Dionysius of Alexandria formed that
precept, which he calls an apostolical voice : TlvecrOe boKiixoi
rpaT:i(Zrai, ' Be ye skilful bankers, able to distinguish between
good and bad silver"".'
Children indeed, having not the faculty of discerning, take all
upon trust ; but it is a shame, if being arrived at the state of
manhood, we do not prove, and try, and examine (as the word
signifies) every thing that is offered to our behef ; which we
ought not to receive merely because confident men would
impose it upon us by their authority. And if it will not abide
a proof, nor stand a trial, we may be certain it is deceitful ware
which they would put off in the dark, and not have brought
into the hght.
Now in this proof we must be very serious ; for nothing can
be examined thoroughly without an attentive mind. Which
we must awaken to ponder and consider every thing in the use
of the best reason we have ; and whatsoever appears upon exa
mination and proof to be agreeable to the faith once delivered
to the saints, that we must hold fast, and not suffer ourselves
to be carried from it by any importunities of contrary affec
tions. For as we must receive nothing without good reason, so
^ I Thess. V. 21. 1 I John iv. i. ™ Euseb. 1. vii. Hist. Eccles. cap. 7.

186 A sermon preached on seem. xiii.
we ought not hghtly to forsake that which we have good reason
to believe.
When I speak of reason, I do not mean bare natural reason
without the guidance of God's grace : for which we must
heartily pray, and he no doubt will readily vouchsafe unto all
those who seriously seek for it, with a desire to be led by it in
the ways of truth and hohness. For having given us his Son,
and by him revealed his mind and will unto us, it is infidelity
to think that he will not guide us by his grace, to understand
his mind and will in all things necessary to our salvation. Far
be such a thought from our hearts ; which ought to rest satis
fied that he will give us his grace to direct us, as freely as he
hath given us his Son Christ to enhghten and instruct us. He
is as little sparing of his grace, as the visible sun is of its
beams ; which shine into the eyes of all those who do not by
wilful winking shut it out, and thereby make themselves, not
the sun, guilty of their blindness.
If we love darkness rather than light, or will not be at the
pains to open our eyes and let it in, but instead thereof give up
ourselves to be led about by others ; as they shall please to con
duct us ; it is but just with God to deprive us of the power of
judging aright, and not to let us see when we would, because
we would not when we might.
He hath given us the use of reason, which if we will bhndly
resign to any pretended authority, what is it but to shut our
eyes when we should open them; or suffer ourselves to be hood
winked, when we should look about us that we be not deceived?
We can give no account of this to God ; who did not give us
this talent that we should give it away to others, but that we
should faithfully employ and improve it ourselves. He
never intended that we should let others judge for us, but
requires us to examine and judge ourselves whether there be
reason to receive that which is propounded to us by others.
This is so great a truth, that they who receive things without
examination, upon mere trust, yet have some reason for what
they do. For no man trusts another, till he hath reason to
think he is an honest man and wih not deceive him. He doth
not take his bare word for it that he will not deceive him, but
hath some ground or other to think he wih be as good as his
word. Insomuch that they who seem least to trust to their

SEBM. XIII. St. Mark's day, i6i6. 187
own reason, do really trust it in the weightiest matter ; when
they trust it to choose one for them whom they may trust.
They of the Roman church, I mean, who would have us give
up our reason to their authority, do not pretend to persuade us
to submit to that authority without some reason for it. And to
be persuaded by reason, as hath been long ago said, that to
their authority we ought to submit our reason, is stUl to follow
reason, and not to quit it, and bhndly resign it. And if we
must follow reason in that, why not in ah things whatsoever ?
Why is it not as good a judge of any thing, as of their author
ity ? What reason can be given for using our reason in. this
single affair, and rehnquishing it ever after? Is it not the same
reason stUl? Was it not given us for our constant safe-conduct?
By what reason then do we trust others to choose our rehgion
for US, without examining whether what they say be true or no,
but taking it barely upon their word ?
How do they know that to be true which they propound to
us ? May not we know it by the same means ? and rely not
merely upon their authority, but upon the same reason that
they do ? For they say what they dehver to us, either with
reason or without. If with reason, we ought to judge whether
it be a good reason or no ; for why should not we judge as well
as they, since God hath intrusted us with a faculty whereby to
judge ?
If without reason, we ought not to follow an authority which
presses things to be believed upon no ground ; but to look upon
those as the most sincere and faithful directors, who would
have us to examine and prove, consider and ponder all things
well, before we receive them ; and who offer to us their assist
ance therein, that we may see with our own eyes what God
himself hath delivered to us in his holy Word. Which brings
me to the next thing.
Secondly, In this proof which we make of every thing pro
pounded to us, the Scriptures ought to be the rule whereby we
judge. We have no other, I have formerly shown you : and they are
abundantly sufficient for us ; and so authentic, that our blessed
Lord himself, and his apostles after him, constantly appealed to
them for the proof of their doctrine. And as they referred all
men to the old Scriptures, saying no other thing but what the

188 A sermon preached on seem, xiii-
prophets and Moses did say should come^ ; so we can send
them no whither else for their information, but to the same
Scriptures and to the New Testament ; according to which if
any men do not speak, they are not to be received. Nay,
St. Austin ventured to imitate St, Paul, and to say™, " Let him
be accursed, whosoever he be, (I will not say we, who are not
worthy to be compared with him that said Though we, but
Though he be an angel from lieaven,) who declares to you any
thing of Christ, or of his church, or of any other matter that
belongs to our faith and life, besides that which ye have
received in the legal and evangelical Scriptures."
Unto which the same St. Paul sends Timothy himself for his
instruction in both his Epistles to him. Where he commands
him to give attendance to reading, viz. of the holy Scriptures :
which he had knmvn from a child, and which were able, he
tells him, to make him wise to salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. They being given by inspiration of God,
that even a man of God (like the ancient prophets) might be
perfected, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works, for
every part of his employment".
Which place I have explained not long ago, and now mention
it again ; because the apostle directs him to these holy writings,
as a means to preserve him in the true Christian belief : But
continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast
been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and
that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures °, &c.
What we have learned out of the holy Scriptures, we have an
assurance of ; we know from whom they come, and are certain
we are taught by God when we read these holy books : but
cannot be assured of any other tradition which is not contained
here, and therefore ought to continue steadfast in our adhe
rence to the Scriptures ; and both to suspect those who would
draw us from this hold, and stick to those guides who bid us
stick to this, and prove all things by it. For it is evident they
have no mind to deceive us, but do, in effect, bid us believe
God and fohow his directions, and rely upon his authority :
who cannot mislead us, and will not suffer us to be misled, if

1 Acts xxvi. 22. n> L_ iii_ contra filer. Petiliaui, cap. 6. [tom. ix.
col. 301 E.] "^ 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16. " Ver. 14.

SEEM. XIII. St. Mark's day, 1 686. 189
we continue in the things which we have learnt out of the
holy Scriptures.
For, taking them to be our rule, we shah neither admit any
thing which is contrary to that rule, nor shall we take any
thing to be an essential part of the Christian faith which is not
there delivered unto us. For it is not consistent with the
notions we have of God's infinite goodness and wisdom to be
lieve he would give us a rule which is defective in necessary
things. No ; he hath abundantly provided here for our in
struction in all such matters : and as we ought to refuse that
which contradicts any part of these holy books, so we ought
not to think it necessary that we should entertain any thing
which they do not teach us.
And teach us plainly and evidently : for in all necessary
things they are very clear and perspicuous ; else they could
not be a rule unto us, but we must seek for some other. The
Apostles' Creed, for instance, (which the ancients called The
immovable rule of faith, A short summary of Christian belief,
beyond which, as they speak, we ought not to seek for faith,)
together with the Nice Creed, and Athanasius's, which expound
the Apostles', " ought thoroughly to be received and believed ;
for that they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy
Scripture." But " whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be
proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should
be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or
necessary to salvation."
This is the doctrine of our church in its sixth and eighth
Articles : unto which let us strictly keep, if we would not be
carried to and fro uncertainly with the blasts of vain doctrines,
which have no " certain warrants " in the holy Scriptures, and
therefore are not be received ; or are contrary to them, and
therefore are to be rejected. Here we must fix, and believe
that here we are safe. For the Scriptures want nothing to
complete us in Christian wisdom, which they do not wrap up
in obscurity, but, as far as is needful, give us a clear under
standing of the doctrines of faith : and make us understand
withal, if we please to consider them, that having laid our
foundation well in a firm belief of those great aud necessary
things, which, out of the Scriptures, are summed up in the
creeds before named ; we need not trouble ourselves about

190 A sermon preached on seem. xiii.
other matters which are not so evident ; but make it our whole
business in this world to raise the solid superstructure of a
holy hfe upon the foundation of faith in Christ.
This is the second thing : the holy Scriptures are the rule
whereby we must prove all things ; from which if we do not
depart, we cannot be led into any dangerous errors. Provided,
Thirdly, that in the use and apphcation of this rule we take
the direction of our spiritual guides and governors.
In some things, as I said, there is difficulty ; and where there
is none, the cunning of deceivers may so perplex things and
entangle our understandings, that we may not know what to
think. In which case, especially, we ought to seek for the
assistance of those that are better able to judge than ourselves.
Which is the very means of stabhity and constancy which the
apostle here recommends in my text. For having shown how
God appoinied several orders of men in the church, not only
apostles, prophets, and evangelists, but also pastors and teachers,
for the perfecting of the saints, &c., he lets them know that
by these means God expected that they should not be hence
forth children, tossed to and fro, and carried away with every
wind of doctrine. For this purpose were pastors and teachers
more particularly settled in the church, that they might be
instruments of settling others. After the apostles, and pro
phets, and evangelists] had revealed the mind and wih of God
to men, pastors and teachers were left in every church, to help
them both to understand what the other great men had re
vealed, and to detect the forgeries of false apostles, who went
about to supplant the Christian doctrine.
These gifts, as the apostle here cahs them, were bestowed
last of all ; being intended to remain after the other ceased.
And accordingly you are blessed with them in this age, as they
were in the beginning ; and they are placed over you for the
same end that they were at first, that you may advise with
them as persons whose business it is to study the holy Scrip
tures, and to guide God's people by them in the way of truth.
For this they are better qualified than any other persons, and
therefore ought to be consulted by the people. Who must not
be so bold as to lean merely to their own understanding, but
listen also unto them : not, indeed, as infallible ; but as men of
the best understanding, both by their office, and by their study.

serm. xin. St. Mark's day, i6M. 191
pains, and experience : whereby they are enabled to discover
the frands and sophistry of deceivers, and to open, better than
any else can do, the true meaning of the holy Scriptures.
Their guidance therefore the apostle to the Hebrews also
commends as a remedy against their instability in religion :
Remember them that have the rule over you, who have spoken
to you tlie word of God, whose faith follow, &c. Be not car
ried about with divers and strange doctrines : for 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 ^-
Where one mark is given them whereby to know what guides
to follow : such as established their hearts in true grace and
goodness, not those that troubled them with unprofitable dis
putes about meats and drink, and such like things ; which
were pressed by Judaical teachers, but made those who ob
served them not one jot the better ; if they did not make them
worse by taking off their hearts from more substantial duties.
And truly there is the same mark of distinction at this day.
Ah men follow some guides or other ; but they alone ought to
be followed, who lead men, not by their own authority, but by
the direction of the holy Scriptures ; whose main study it is to
understand the Scriptures themselves, and then to make others
understand them ; who do not hide those books from the
people, but exhort them to look into them and read them se
riously, and to learn therein, above all things, to be godly and
virtuous, to mortify all evil affections and passions, to purify
themselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and to
perfect holiness in the fear of God.
Such guides you are bound in conscience to advise withal,
and not lightly to forsake their conduct. For if they of the
contrary persuasion follow their guides with an implicit faith,
and a kind of bhnd obedience, being scarce permitted to use
their reason; how can our people answer it to God, if they will
not take heed to those who bid them open their eyes and see,
and examine and prove what they offer to them, by the rule of
the holy Scriptures ; in the use of the most impartial and un
biassed reason, which God hath bestowed upon them, and
wherewith they can assist them ?
It is not easy to apprehend how great a sin they are guilty
1 Heb. xiii. 7, 8, 9.

192 A sermon preached on seem. xiii.
of, who neglect such guidance. And I must take the freedom
to teh you, that to listen to other pretended guides, neglectmg
those of the church of England, under whom ye have been
bred, whose conversation you know, by whom you have been
long instructed, and had sufficient proof of their abilities, is an
inexcusable sin, and an unaccountable folly. For in all reason
you ought to have a greater reverence to the priests of our
church, than to those of any other communion ; who cannot be
presumed to know better than ours do, nor to have more con
cern and care to guide you aright than ours have.
And therefore as none of you, I hope, will be carried away
from the faith of this church by any wind of doctrine whatso
ever ; so you will not, I trust, so much as entertain a doubt of
the truth here believed, without consulting with the pastors
and teachers of it ; who are able to preserve you from falhng,
by God's grace and blessing upon your and their honest en
deavours. You ought to make a great conscience of this : if
you chance to be staggered by any objection, repair to those
whom God hath appointed to settle your minds, and preserve
you upright. Nay, if there were nothing of conscience in it,
yet it is but a due respect to them under whose ministry you
have many years lived, not to forsake them upon any sugges
tions whatsoever, without hearing what they can answer to
them ; nor to think them less able and willing to direct you
than any other persons, or less honest and careful in the direc
tions they give, that neither you nor they may do amiss. Be
sides the weakness and levity, nay the folly and wickedness, it
is a rude contempt of those, (whom you have the greatest rea
son to esteem,) and will be so judged at the dreadful day of our
Lord to hearken to the voice of strangers, and give a perfect
credit to them ; without so much as consulting the judgment of
those with whom you have been long acquainted.
Be not guilty, I beseech you, of such unmanly and unman
nerly behaviour. Do not so much as admit the beginning of a
doubt about your religion, without acquainting some of them
with it, that they may resolve you ; and, as St. Peter speaks
(i Pet. V. 12.), exhort and testify to you that this is the true
grace of God wherein ye stand.
And in which you will always stand, if you observe one
thing more, which in truth is the greatest of all.

SEEM. xiu. St. Mark's day, 16^6. 193
Fourthly, live in the sincere practice of all other duties of
Christian piety. For to do what we know to be the will of
God, is the surest way to be preserved by him both in truth
and in hohness. A godly life is the greatest security against
all impostures. We shall never doubt of the truth of our be
lief, when we feel it hath effected the design of faith, by bring
ing forth the fruit of it, in all manner of virtue and godliness
of living. About which there is no doubt nor question, no dispute nor
controversy ; for all the parts of a holy life are as plainly set
down in the holy Scriptures as that part of it now mentioned,
We beseech you, brethren, know (that is, love) tliem which
labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and ad
monish you ; and esteem them very highly in love for their
work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves^. All the
rest, I say, are as express and clear and evident as this ; whe
ther they be our duties toward God or towards man, (whether
superiors, equals, or inferiors,) or whether they concern the
right government of ourselves, in all temperance, soberness,
chastity, selfdenial, contentedness, and contempt of this present
world. Without which (I mean contempt of this present world) all
the advice that can be giVen will signify little to secure us in
the true religion. If this one thing be wanting, we are liable
to be deceived, and none can help us. We shall turn, like wea
thercocks, by every wind of doctrine, if our interest lie that
way ; and it will not be in the power of any man, by the clearest
and most solid demonstrations to fix and settle us. For the
love of this present world, of riches, honours, and preferments,
dazzles the eyes of men's minds, blinds their judgment, bribes
their affections, corrupts their consciences, and carries them
into the foulest dotages.
Rehgion and the things of the other world cannot be of any
great price in his account, who admires and overvalues the
things of this present hfe. Which will easily persuade him (as
I had occasion to show you lately) when he cannot keep both,
to let go his faith, that he may preserve these. And therefore,
if we will stick fast to our religion, we must not cleave too
8 I Thess. V. II, 12.
PATBICK, VOL. Vlir. O

194 A sermon preached on seem. xm.
close to this present world. We must not frame too high an
opinion in our minds of any thing here, nor set our hearts
and affections on it ; but learn to want as well as to abound, to
be satisfied with a httle ; and, as the apostle speaks, having
food and raiment, therewith to be content ; remembering that
godliness with contentment is great gain^.
Such lessons if we learnt and faithfully practised, (and there
is no man that need be ignorant of them or defective in them, un
less he will,) they would preserve and keep our minds from being
drawn away by plausible and gainful errors. Nay, more than
that, they would put an end to all controversies and disputes,
better than an infalhble judge could do. For when there was
one in the world, there were stih sects and factions, as I have
already shown you : but if we would submit to the power of
the gospel, and of God's holy Spirit, so far as to become obe
dient to the plain commands which he lays upon us ; that is,
to be made truly meek and lowly in heart, humble and peace
able, tender-hearted and charitable, holy and heavenly-minded ;
having no designs for this world, but ah for the other ; not in
tending to serve any earthly ends by our religion, but only to
secure our soul's everlasting salvation ; being sincere lovers of
truth, desirous to know the whole will of God, ready to em
brace it though never so cross to our present interests, con
scientiously resolved to do it, whatsoever we deny or lose on
that account ; this temper of mind would be a far better expe
dient, and more available for the healing of ah divisions, and
for the making peace and unity in the Christian world, than
infalhbhity of judgment would be, could we tell where to
find it.
This is the way of God ; wherein if we will not walk, there
must be heresies, and contention, and strife : nay, there wih be,
as St. James's words are, every evil work ; and no remedy can
be found for it.
Whereas in this way, I will be bold to go a little further and
say, that God hath taken care every particular Christian may
be infallible, as far as is needful for him.
Much discourse and dispute there hath been and is about
infallibility. And some, you know, argue there must be such
f I Tim. vi. 6, 8.

SEEM. XIII. St. Mark's day, 1686. 195
a thing, because of the care which we ah beheve Christ hath of
his church : in which it would be convenient there should be
an infahible judge ; and therefore they conclude there is one.
But if convenience were the measure, and our understanding
the measurers, we might rather conclude that God hath made
every particular Christian infalhble ; because that is far more
convenient than for every Christian to go a great way to one
infallible judge, and then not be able to know certainly where
to find him ; because they that speak of such a judge are not
agreed whether he be a single person, or whether this infalh
bihty do not he in more than in one, nay, whether it be not in
a many ; but there is as great difference about this as any
thing else whatsoever.
All that we can truly resolve therefore in this matter is, that
such is the grace of God, such his care of his church, that he
hath made every truly pious Christian infallible, though not in
all things, yet in the main thing, if he go on to the end in a
course of piety. That is, with respect to his journey's end he
is infallible, though not with respect to every step he takes
thither. He may err in many things, he may sometimes go
wrong ; yet if it be his constant design and watchful endeavour
to govern himself faithfully in all his actions by the rule of
God's word, and to follow all the directions herein, he shall in-
falhbly come to heaven.
Let no men make you believe the contrary, though you do
not believe every thing that they tell you is necessary. For
God hath promised to guide the meek in judgment, and to
teach them his way. His secret is with them that fear him;
and his covenant is to make them know it ^. They shall cer
tainly understand all things needful ; and be preserved from
damnably erring in their judgment. God is faithful, and will
keep them from falhng into the error of the wicked ; because
they feared him greatly, doing his wih sincerely as far as they
knew it, and being ready and desirous to believe and obey it
in all other things, if they could have known them to be
his wih.
Therefore let us neither decline this way, nor distrust it.
Let us look upon this as the way of peace ; and let us think
ourselves safe in it. Let all carnal, let all worldly, let all dia-
" Psalm xxv. 9, 14.
O 2

196 A sermon preached on setrm, xiii.
bolical lusts and passions be mortified, and we shall not fail to
know the truth : nay, all our differences will be at an end, or,
if any remain, they will not be destructive either to charity, or
that blessed unity which all good Christians desire to see in the
church of Christ,
If all wih not take this course, yet they who do shah stand
as unmovable as a rock, though there be never such strong
winds and violent gusts of doctrine abroad, that would blow
them about. For it is only chaff, and straws, and such hke
light or loose things, which are carried about with the wind :
solid and well-built houses stand firm and unshaken. And so
whl all they who are deeply groimded in hohness and humi
lity. They will be steadfast and unmovable, and never be
persuaded to follow any other doctrines than those they have
received in this church, though pressed with never so much
earnestness ; because no doctrines whatsoever can make them
better than they are, and, by the grace of God, intend to be.
And this truly is a plain direction whereby to judge of those
doctrines which trouble the church. Do they tend to make
men at all the better, if they do believe them? Will their
hearts be more purged from all bad affections ? Will they
become more holy, more humble, more meek, more modest,
more dead to this world, more kind, loving and charitable to
all men, by entertaining those doctrines which are superadded
to the Christian faith, into which we were baptized ? Or, on the
contrary, do they not give men's vices greater liberty? Do
they not puff them up, as all windy knowledge doth ? Will
they not dispose us to be more highly conceited of ourselves,
more arrogant, more angry, more impatient of contradiction,
more uncharitable and censorious, more loose in our conversa
tion, more unpeaceable and ungovernable ? If we find these to
be the fruits of such doctrines, we are assured thereby that
they are not the true Christian doctrines, which have the quite
contrary effects, and make men of another spirit.
To conclude, there is one piece of Christian piety wherewith
ah our works must be begun, continued, and ended ; and that
is earnest prayer to God : whom we must constantly beseech
to pom- the grace of his holy Spirit upon us, that we may not
fail to follow all these directions, and that they may be effectual
for our preservation.

SEEM. XIII. St. Mark's day, 1 6M. 197
To him let us address ourselves with all humility and fervent
affection ; imploring his gracious presence with us at all times,
to enhghten our minds, to guide us in judgment according to
his promise, to give us understanding in his holy word, to
bestow upon us a spirit of discerning, that we may clearly
perceive the difference of things, and not take evil for good,
falsehood for truth; but the way of lying may be removed
from us, and he may grant us his law graciously.
But above all things, let us beseech him to give us honest and
good hearts, unbiassed by any carnal or worldly affections.
Let us pray, with David in the Psalm now mentioned, that he
would incline our heart unto his testimonies, and not unto
covetousness : turn away our eyes from beholding vanity, and
quicken us in his way^. For where the love of the world pre
vails, any gainful error may easily find entertainment.
And whensoever we find ourselves begin to be unsettled in
the belief of that which upon the most serious and deliberate
consideration we have judged to be the truth, whensoever the
resolution we took upon that judgment begins to waver and
shake, let us remember that we are under a temptation, and
that every temptation is a deceit, and would put a cheat upon
us, (for every man is tempted, saith St. James, when he is
drawn away by his own lust, and enticed ;) and thereupon let
us apply ourselves to God with the greater dUigence and ear
nestness for his grace to purify our hearts, that we may not be
seduced by any bad affections, but building up ourselves in our
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, we may keep
ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life".
Finally, the church itself hath put a prayer into our mouths
in the collect for this day ; in which let us not cease to make
our humble and hearty requests to him, saying,
" 0 Almighty God, who hast instructed thy holy church with
the heavenly doctrine of thy evangehst St. Mark, give us grace,
that being not like children, carried away with every blast of
vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy
gospel, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
b Psalm cxix. 36, 37. " Jude 20, 21.

ONE MEDIATOE:
A SERMON on
John xvi. 23.

[Now first printed from the original manuscript in the library of
Lambeth Palace.]

IMPRIMATUR Concio cui titulus ONE MEDIATOR.
Sept. 4. 1688. Guil. Needham.

ONE JVIEDIATOR.

John xvi. 23.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the
Father in my name, he will give it you.
These words are part of that comfort which our blessed
Saviour bestowed upon his apostles, when he was about to leave
them and go into the other world, to be our perpetual Advocate
with the Father. They could not endure those doleful words,
(as they sounded in their ears,) that he must go away to him
that sent him, and that within a little while they should not
see him; though he told them withal at the very same time*,
that again after a little while and they should see him, and that
he went to the Father. They knew not what to make of this
saying, as you find^, and therefore he himself explains his
meaning, which he tells them was this, that he must die, (which
was his going away, so that they did not see him.) and after a
httle while rise from the dead (when he began to visit them
again,) and to go to heaven from thence, to send the Holy
Ghost upon them ; by whom he let them see he could do more
for them than he could have done if he had still remained with
them in this world. Let them, for instance, but pray to God
for any thing they desired, and make the request in his name,
and he assures them he would presently answer their petition,
and do the thing they desired. In that day ye shall epar^a-ere,
ask me nothing, (no more questions as you do now.) Verily
verily I say unto you, (believe it as an undoubted truth,) what
soever aiTjjcrere, ye shall ask or request of the Father in my
name, he will give it you. Though you do not see me, nor
» Verse 16. *> Verse 17, 18.

202 One Mediator. seem. xrv.
can speak with me as you do now, (as St. Chrysostom interprets,)
do but mention my name to the Father, and he will presently
resolve all your doubts.
In which words it is obvious to note three things :
First, a duty unto which all Christians are obliged, to ask of
God what we want.
Secondly, a promise to encourage this duty : he will give what
we ask.
Thirdly, the manner wherein we are to ask, if we hope to
obtain our desires, which is in Christ's name.
The duty is that to which our own needs strongly press and
continually urge us. The encouragement is one of the highest
comforts we have in this world, and sometime our only comfort,
to know that when all other hope fails us, we have a good God
to whom we may recommend ourselves and all our concerns,
with a confidence that he will take care of us, and give us all
whatsoever we ask, provided it be agreeable to his wih, as
other places of Scripture explain it. This is matter of great
joy, as our Saviour tells them in the words before my text,
verse 22, and repeats again in the following words, for their
full assurance of faith. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy
may be full''.
It ought to be our serious care therefore to direct our prayers
unto him in such a manner, that they may not fail to meet with
success : which we may hope for to our infinite satisfaction, if we
ask in the name of Christ.
That is the only thing I shall treat of at this present, and
only briefly touch upon the other in the conclusion.
The meaning of which is explained in the ancient and pre
sent conclusion of the church's prayers, wherein we desire to
be heard per et propter Jesum Christum, ' by and for the sake
of Jesus Christ.' The latter of which (for the sake of Jesus
Christ) is to desire to be heard upon the account of his merits,
who offered himself a sacrifice for us, and is therefore in the
highest favour and power with God. And to pray to be heard
by Christ Jesus, is to desire and expect that those blessings
which we pray God to grant for his sake may be conveyed
and imparted to us through or by him, who is our Lord as
well as Saviour ; being a royal high priest, who sits at God's
= John xvi. 24.

SEEM. XIV. One Mediator. 203
right hand to dispense the blessings which he hath purchased
by his sacrifice.
In short, to pray " in his name," is to beseech God for the
sake of his Son, who by his death and passion hath merited
the glorious office of being our only intercessor with him to
grant our desires, and by him to send us the blessings for which
he intercedes. Or, more briefly, it is to desire to be accepted
by his sole recommendation of us, and our prayers to God,
and by his royal authority in the heavens.
And when we mention only one of these sayings 'by or
through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour,' we mean them
both, which are comprehended in that word.
And I say by him alone, and that he is our only intercessor
with God, because it is evident by the scope of my text, (as
wUl appear in the process of this discourse,) that these words
are to be interpreted as if our Lord had said, Ye shall ask the
Father in my name alone, or make use of no other person but
me to intercede with God for you, which shall be the whole
business of this sermon to demonstrate, that we ought not to
pray to God in the name or for the sake, and by the interces
sion, interest and authority of any other, but only of our blessed
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
His name is sufficient, and therefore all other is superfluous,
nay, there is no other name but his, which we can lawfully use,
and therefore ah other are superstitious.
For the proof of which I desire these three things may be
duly weighed :
First, this is most plainly asserted in the holy Scripture,
that there is but one Mediator between God and us, and he our
blessed Lord and Saviour.
Secondly, this is not only asserted, but the contrary notion is
there plainly condemned.
Thirdly, there are most manifest reasons for it, which demon
strate that none are qualified to be our Mediators with God, (or
to present our prayers and make them acceptable,) but he alone.
I.
First, I say, this is plainly asserted in the holy Scripture,
that there is but one Mediator between God and us, Christ
Jesus : who is the only person in whose name we ought to
pray, that is, by whom we ought to make our addresses to

204 One Mediator. seem. xiv.
God, and through whom we expect to be reheved. This I take
to be the sense of the apostle's words in i Tim. h. 5, For there
is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, Christ
Jesus ; as will appear from these four observations, which will
fully demonstrate how pertinent this place is to my present
purpose. I. First, let it be noted that the general hope of the apostle
in this discourse to Timothy is to regulate the prayers of
Christian people in the daily service of the church.
With that he begins this part of his letter, ver. i, 2. / will
therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings and for
all that are in authority, &c. And with the same he ends it,
ver. 8. / will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up
holy hands, without wrath and disputing. There was nothing
about which he would have Timothy to be more sohcitously
concerned than this, that such comprehensive prayers and
thanksgivings were made to God by the church as might reach
the needs of all mankind ; especially of those upon whom the
welfare of all men so much depends, as it doth upon kings,
princes, and governors, for whom to pray and give thanks is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour^.
II. Now that they might be sure to prevail, he directs them
Sbth unto whom they ought to pray, and by whom to address
their prayers unto him ; and that is unto God alone, by the
sole mediation of Jesus Christ. It is manifest as I said before,
the apostle is treating of prayer, and it is as manifest that when
he saith there is one Mediator between God and us, he means
there is but one ; as it is that when he saith there is one God,
he means there is no more but him alone. If the notion of one
God excludes all other gods, then one Mediator excludes all
other mediators. And we may no more use any other mediator
besides Jesus Christ, who redeemed us, than pray to any other
god but him who made us, and appointed (as you shall hear)
his only Son to be the only Mediator for us all.
Thus it is evident the words of the apostle ought to be under
stood : there is one God and no other besides him, and in hke
manner one Mediator, besides whom there is no other. So
that we may as well introduce more gods into our rehgion as
more mediators. d I Tim. ii.3.

seem. xiv. One Mediator. 205
True, say they of the Roman church, there can be no other
mediators of redemption, (whereof the apostle immediately
speaks in the next words, who gave himself a ransom for all,)
but we may apply ourselves to more mediators of intercession.
But this is directly contrary to the intention of St. Paul, who
is here speaking, as I have shown, of praying for all men, and
therefore must have respect to the Mediator who intercedes
with God that our prayers may be accepted ; and expressly
saith that Mediator is but one and no more even for this very
reason, because he is our only Redeemer by his precious blood.
III. Which is the third thing I would have observed, the way
and means whereby he became our Mediator, or the assurance
we have of acceptance through him ; which is by his death and
passion for our sake. He gave himself a ranson for us, tan-
quam signum, saith Aquinas, ' as a sign and token' that he is
our Mediator, or, (as the Commentaries under St, Ambrose's
name explain it,) that our Saviour might bring his mediatorship
to perfection, he suffered himself to die. His death is the
groundwork of all ; the very foundation of his mediatorship in
the heavens, (as you shall hear anon,) his intercession being
nothing else but his representing to God and pleading the
merits of his passion. And therefore none can intercede for us
but he alone, because he alone suffered for us ; none hath any
passion to plead for us, but only he who gave himself a ransom
for us ; by virtue of which he interposes on our behalf.
IV, Ah this will appear still more clearly, if we attend to
the immediate and more particular scope and drift of the
apostle in these words, and that is to encourage our prayers
for all men, (which is the general drift of them,) because he
would have all men to be saved, and to come unto the know
ledge of the truth ; for there is one God, and one Mediator,
&c. As much as to say, You may be satisfied of God's desire
to have ah men saved by embracing Christianity, and therefore
not cease your prayers for them, by these plain reasons :
First, because there is but one God, the Creator of ah men,
both Jews and Gentiles, of believers and unbehevers; as Theo-
doret weh explains it. Should we suppose more gods, we
might thereupon fear that every one of them was partially
affected to his pecuhar creature, and to have no kindness for
the rest, but rather concerned to hinder and divert those good

206 One Mediator. seem. xn'.
things from them which they desired should go only to their
own. But these being assured by no more but one common
Father of us ah, from whom we received our being, we cannot
reasonably entertain any such suspicions of him, but beheve
that he bears the same paternal affection unto all his offspring,
who are alike created by him, and therefore alike the objects
of his love.
2. Yes, might some think with themselves, if we had always
remembered our Creator, we might have had this hope in him ;
but though God be our Father, alike related to us all, yet we
are rebehious children, who have highly offended him, and some
of us to such an height of provocation, that we may justly fear
he will reject both us and ah the suits we make to him. The
apostle therefore adds this further comfort, that we have a
Mediator, and he in great favour with God, who will stand
between us and his offended majesty, to make our peace with
him. 3. Lest anybody should fancy that there may be many
mediators, some of which may have no regard unto us in par
ticular, but only to such persons as they may have a special
kindness for ; he tells us withal, that as there is but one God,
so there is but one Mediator between God and men, (not
between God and the Jews, but between God and men in
general,) who cannot be conceived to have such particular
inclinations as make him mind only certain favourites, but to be
so equahy concerned for all that he will neglect none.
4. For he adds this new comfort, that he is of the same
nature with ourselves ; a man unto whom it belongs to love ah
other men, without exception, as himself. If he had been an
angel, there might have been just doubt made whether he
would mind all men : but being the man Christ Jesus, there can
be no reasonable question whether he wih stand equally
affected unto those who are equally related unto him in the
same human nature, which makes him such a man as all other
men are.
5. But experience tells us that some men are very partial,
and too prone to be carried aside by their particular inclina
tions, without respect to reason. And therefore the apostle
adds still further, that our Mediator is the man Christ Jesus ;
who cannot be partial, being that Man who is God-man, (as I

SEEM. xiv. One Mediator. 207
shah show anon,) " anointed by the Holy Ghost to be the Sa
viour of the world, " as one of our own divines^ excellently
expounds it.
Who, as he took our nature upon him that he might be a
pitiful high priest to intercede with God faithfully for us, so he
took it without the stamp of any individual properties, charac
ters, or reference, (as the forenamed author observes,) to any
one family or kindred, that we might conceive him as an impar
tial and unbiassed solicitor of our affairs with God; a Mediator
between him and us, who is equally affected unto all, for he
had no father according to the flesh, but was formed in his
mother's womb by the immediate power of the Holy Ghost ;
that having neither father, brother, nor sister, no, nor mother
like other men here upon earth, he might be carried by parti
cular inclinations unto none, but stand indifferently affected
unto all ; and look upon every one who doth the will of his
heavenly Father to be his sister, brother, and mother.
And lastly, to make him a completely impartial Mediator, he
gave himself a ransom for all ; God laid on him the iniquities
of us all, and therefore who can doubt but he will plead the
cause of all. What reason hath any man to suspect his accept
ance with God, or question the right he hath of access unto his
majesty by Jesus Christ ? who shed his blood for the redemp
tion of all, and therefore will act for him by virtue of that blood
as well as for other men. For which reason also (as St. Chry
sostom and his followers gloss upon the words^) we ought to
recommend every one of them to God ; for did he die for all,
and will not thou do so much as pray for all ? That is very un
charitable, and therefore do not suspect any such unkindness or
partiality in him as thou oughtest not to be guilty of thyself.
That is, do not think he will not make intercession for all that
come to God by him, when he bids thee pray and give thanks
for all men.
This I take to be the evident scope of these words of St. Paul
to Timothy ; which demonstrate there can be no mediator be
tween God and us, but only our blessed Saviour, because he
alone is qualified (as you shall see more fuhy before I have
done) to be our Mediator, and so quahfied as to put us out of
all fear that he will be our Mediator with God.
e Dr. Jackson, book xi. chap. 46. [vol. xi. p. 366.]
f CEcumenius, Theophylact.

208 One Mediator. seem, xiv.
Therefore all the distinctions about a most perfect mediator
and less perfect, independent and dependent, supreme and sub
ordinate, are ah frivolous and vain. For the apostle's discourse
tends to prove that there is no other mediator whatsoever be
tween God and us, but one alone, Christ Jesus, who is our
only Mediator and Advocate, because he is our only Saviour
and Redeemer, and the only person of whose kindness we can
be assured equally and impartially unto all.
II.
Now as this is here plainly asserted, so the contrary notion is
elsewhere utterly condemned, as I take it to be in the i Corinth.
viii. 5, 6 ; unto which place St. Chrysostom refers us in his
exposition upon the former words to Timothy : For though
there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth ;
as there be gods many, and lords many : but to us there is
but one God, the Fatlier, of whom are all things, and we by
him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,
and we by him : where St. Paid not only teaches Christians to
own one only Lord, but shows that it is a paganish error to
acknowledge more, and, now the gospel is revealed, is anti-
christian. For the plain sense of the apostle in these words is,
that the Gentile world indeed worshipped gods of several ranks,
some higher, and other inferior deities ; and addressed their
services also to other heavenly powers, whom the language of
the eastern countries cdlXeA. Baalim^, ' lords' and shedim; which
(if a learned man be not deceived in his conjecture f) is of the
same import, from a Syrian word signifying ' rulers and govern
ors ;' who having, in their opinion, the administration of human
affairs, they apphed themselves unto them as agents and medi
ators for them to the highest : and there were many of both
sorts, whom they .reputed gods and lords. But we Christians
acknowledge no more but one only true God, the Father, of
whom are all things ; that is, the Creator of ah, from whom
we had our being, and on whom we and all things else de
pend ; unto whom therefore we ought to address all our ser
vices, and make our apphcation to him alone, (which is the
meaning of and we by or for him.) And one only Lord, our
sole Mediator with God, Jesus Christ, by whom the whole
e Mr. Mede, p. 774-6. [p. 626. ed. 3. fol. Lond. 1672.] ' Lnd. de
Dieu in S. Matth. ix. 32. [p. 33.]

SEEM, XIV. One Mediator. 209
world was created, and all good things still communicated unto
us from the Father of all, through his hands alone ; and there
fore we by him ought to offer up all our prayers, praises and
thanksgivings to the Most High, and hope to find access unto
his majesty through him alone.
This evidently shows it is an heathenish notion to imagine
more lords or mediators, (for that was the quahty of their
Baalim,) who have power with God to do us good, (for whose
sake i. e. we hope to prevail with God, and by whom we expect
to receive blessings from him,) than our Lord Jesus Christ
alone, who is the only person by whom are all things, and we
by him. " Every country, every city, nay, almost every family
had their several gods and godhngs" (as one of our own divines
speaks*) in the days of ignorance and darkness ; but now that
we are illuminated with the clear and full knowledge of God in
the face of Jesus Christ, there are no more mediators than
there are gods ; one God, and one Lord, who is the only be
gotten Son of God.
This is the religion of Christians, who if they either hope to
receive grace from him that alone can give it, or would give
glory and honour unto him that alone ought to have it, they
must believe that this is he and he alone, the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who will be invoked by no other
name, but only by the name of his Son, for whose sake, and
whose alone, he will accept us, and grant our requests.
This I take to be so certain, that we may conclude, from
these words of St. Paul, it was the very intention and design
of God in the Christian religion therefore to appoint one only
Lord, the only begotten Son of God, to be our intercessor with
the Most High ; that the world might be taken quite off from
all dependence upon other mediators, by whom they had been
wont to make their addresses, and upon that account gave
them that honour and service which was due to God alone,
Unto which kind of worship if we return, by having recourse
to any other mediators with God the Father to obtain his
favour for us, but only our Lord Jesus Christ, it is appa
rently to set up again that way of religion which our Lord
Christ, the eternal Son of God, came to destroy and utterly
abohsh. It is a manifest apostasy (so far) from Christianity,
f Dr. Sanderson. [Serm. xiii. ad Aulam, Works, vol. i. p- 341.]
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. P

210 One Mediator. seem. xiv.
the very purpose of which is defeated, if other mediators be
ahowed together with him, whom God enthroned on purpose
that he might put down all pretenders whatsoever to this high
office, for which none is fit but himself alone. As will appear
in the following part of this discourse concerning the reasons
which demonstrate none to be qualified to be our Mediator
with God, but only our Lord Jesus Christ.
HI.
I. The principal of which reasons is this, that he alone par
takes of both our natures, the nature of God and the nature of
man. By which means he is absolutely quahfied so as no other
person is, or can be, to be the Mediator between God and man.
For when we consider the infiniteness of the Divine Majesty,
we cannot conceive any proper Mediator with him but one
equal to him. But what encouragement could we have had
from such a Mediator ? who being no less infinite in his majesty,
and no nearer to us, might as much deter our approaches to
him, as if we came immediately unto God the Father himself ;
whose almighty goodness therefore wonderfully contrived that
the Son of God, equal to the Father, should become a man ;
that so we might not fear to draw nigh to him, nor doubt of
acceptance by his means, either for want of any interest in God
the Father, or for want of tenderness and affection towards us,
the children of men, who are miserable sinners.
This is a most astonishing mystery, wherein we must humbly
and thankfully acknowledge God hath infinitely condescended
unto us ; who are not sufficiently sensible of it, if we imagine
any inferior person is fit to perform this glorious office for us,
of recommending us and our requests to the favour of God.
Unto which office the ancient Christians could not conceive
how any mere creature could be fit to be admitted, until he
was advanced into a personal union with the Godhead. For
with one mouth S they interpret the man Christ Jesus (who St.
Paul says is our one Mediator) to signify as much as God-man,
or God incarnate, whom he names man (saith Theodoret upon
these words) because he calls him Mediator, for he mediated
by being made man. And from this very thing he confutes
Arius and Eunomius, who said Christ did not partake of the
B Epiphan. in Ancorato, [§ 44. doret. Dialog. 2. [tom. iv. p. 85.]
tom. ii. p. 49 D.] Athanas. Dial. v. CEcumen. in loc, [tom, ii, p. 219.]
de S. Trinit. [tom. ii. p. 532.] Theo- &c.

SEEM. XIV. One Mediator. 211
nature of the Father ; for then, said he, how is he a Mediator ;
unless as he is oiwowios, ' of one substance ' with us in his hu
manity, so he be with the Father in his Divinity ? which is an
evident proof there can be but one administrator of our peace,
as his words are ; even he who hath knit together in himself the
most distant things. Just as he who is desirous to reconcile two
persons that quarrel one with another comes between them,
and taking one of them by the right hand, and the other by
the left, makes them friends, and joins them together in a
bappy agreement: even so did our Saviour, by uniting the
human nature to the divine, procure a sincere and everlasting
peace. Thus he and St. Chrysostom, to whom others more
ancient might be added. And that they speak not this with
respect to his redeeming us onlj'-, but to his interceding for us
also, appears from this, that they cannot be separated, he in
terceding for us in the right of his redemption, (as you have
heard in part, and shall hear more presently,) and from this
famous passage in St. Austin's Confessions I. x. c. 42, 43 ^ ;
" Whom shall I seek after to reconcile me to thee ? Shall I go
to the angels ? By what prayer, by what sacraments ? Many
endeavouring to return to thee, and not being able by them
selves, have (as I hear) tried these, and fallen into a desire of
curious visions, and been worthy to be deluded, &c." The me
diator between God and man ought to have something like to
God, and something like to man ; lest being in both like to
man, he should be too far from God ; or in both like to God, he
should be too far from man, and so not be a mediator, &c.
And well might the Divine Majesty be so offended as to suffer
those to be deluded who adventured to make addresses to
angels for their assistance, after the revelation he made of his
good will unto men by Christ in so condescending a manner as
hath been related. For he is jealous lest that honour which
belongs to him alone should be communicated to any other, and
for that very reason provided, by the great mystery of the in
carnation, that, without provoking him to jealousy, we might
address ourselves unto one in his very presence as our Medi
ator, to act as an agent between him and us ; even unto our
Lord Jesus Christ, who, as I have often said, is completely
fitted to do us this kindness, and he alone, because as God he
^ [Tom. i. coll. 193, 194.] P 2

212 One Mediator. seem. xiv.
best knows the nature and quality of every offence against the
Divine Majesty, what the deserts of it are, what punishments
are in justice due to it, and also of what mercy and mitigation
it is capable, and what dispositions there are in the hearts of
those who sue for mercy to make them capable of it ; and as
man he knows all our infirmities and temptations, our needs
and sufferings, not by information from others, but by his own
experience, which disposes him to pity us, and to be the more
ready to sue out a pardon, and to procure our deliverance from
those punishments we deserve, the heaviness of which he him
self, and he alone, best knows, by what he felt in his bitter
agony and passion for our sakes, the very oppression of which
made him sweat as it were drops of blood, and be heavy and
sorrowful even unto death.
I have used some of the words of an excellent divine of our
own church, and I do not see but they have reason, who humbly
conceive, as he did^^, that while our Lord was only the Son of
God, (before his incarnation,) all the vengeance that men's sins
deserved was not executed at his intercession, though men could
not think of requesting him to intercede for them. The saints
then did nothing for men, as they of the Roman church confess,
and it was the error of the Gentiles to think that angels were
interpreters between God and men. Now our Lord, by taking
our flesh upon him, and becoming the Son of man, hath not
altered the case ; the intention of that not being to make his
divine nature more favourable, or that his access to God the
Father might be more free, but that we might approach unto
him with greater boldness and assurance of immediate audience,
than we could have before this wonderful mystery of the incar
nation of the Son of God was made known to us.
Upon which account it would be a great sin to apply our
selves to any other intercessors, as if we distrusted his tender
ness, who, having taken our flesh, exposed it on purpose to
greater indignities and sorrows than any man in this life can
have experience of, that he might be a more compassionate in
tercessor for us to God the Father than any saint or angel
can be ; unto whom if men had any reason to resort, it should
have been before Christ's incarnation, when they knew so little
of the Son of God. But then there was no such thing allowed ;
h Dr. Jackson's Orig. of Un- on the Creed, book v. chap. 24.
belief, sect. iv. c. 24. [Commentaries vol. iv. p. 219.]

seem, xrv. One Mediator. 213
he was then our sole Mediator with God, and therefore is so
much more now, when, having submitted himself to be a man,
he hath done and undergone all that can be, to complete himself
for this office between God and us.
The sum of this particular is, that the mystery of God incar
nate forbids us to address ourselves unto any other mediator
but Jesus Christ, both because it is unsafe to prostrate ourselves
before any mere creature in the divine presence, which pro
vokes the Most High to jealousy, and because no mere creature
is great enough to interpose between us, to procure us a gra
cious acceptance with his Majesty. For if there were, we can
not see why the Son of God should have humbled himself so
much as to become a man.
II. But it is further to be distinctly considered, that having
taken our nature, he alone died for us, and upon that account
is our alone Intercessor with God the Father. For here it must
be carefully observed, that our Lord was not presently installed
into this glorious office as soon as he had taken our nature
upon him, but he was advanced unto it by the means of his
suffering death, even the death of the cross ; whereby he both
paid the price of our redemption, and made a purchase to him
self of this unparalleled preferment, to be exalted to sit on the
right hand of God, there to make intercession for us. And here
more considerations than one present themselves to prove that
he alone can discharge this office. But that which I shall par
ticularly consider is only this, that he alone deserved this glo
rious preferment by his meritorious death and passion, in obe
dience to his Father's wih ; by virtue of which meritorious
passion he intercedes with God for us, and pleads it in our
behalf. For there is nothing plainer in the holy Scriptures
than this, that the intercession of Christ is his continued ob
lation of himself for us in the heavens. Whence it is 'that in
Heb. ix. 24, 25!, &c., these two expressions, to appear in the
presence of God for us, that is, intercede with him, and to,
offer himself to God, are used by the apostle, as hath been
elsewhere observed S for one and the same thing under different
considerations : they both have respect to his sacrifice ; but the
first of them to his sacrifice as continued, the other to his sacri
fice as begun : setting this difference aside, there is no other
' [Sermon of One Sacrifice.]

214 One Mediator. seem. xiv.
between them ; that offering himself as a sacrifice for us being
the beginning of his intercession, and his intercession, or ap
pearing in God's presence for us, being his continued oblation.
And therefore, as none offered sacrifice for our sins, much less
offered himself a sacrifice for us, but he alone, so none else can
intercede for us, because it is in the virtue of this sacrifice that
he intercedes, and appears as one sacrificed in the presence of
God for us, thereby procuring divine blessings to us, as the
fruit of that his continued sacrifice in the heavens.
In short, it hath been proved in a foregoing sermon, that
there is but one Priest or Saviour of the New Testament, which
is Christ himself, part of whose office it is to intercede by the
virtue of the sacrifice which he began and offered but once
upon the cross, but completed and finished by his intercession,
in virtue of the same sacrifice which lasts for ever in heaven.
To go then to any other intercessor is in effect to make void
the sacrifice of Christ, which he needed not have offered if
there can be any intercession without a sacrifice : and what an
indignity is this to the highest love which he expressed in giving
himself a sacrifice to God for us ! It is to commit a crime of the
highest ingratitude to him, who intended by this to obhge us
eternally unto him, as an ah-sufficient and our only Saviour and
Redeemer. III. And indeed he alone is in the most holy place, (as appears
from what hath been said,) his advancement thither being the
fruit of his deep humihation to the death of the cross for our
sake ; for which cause God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and
things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father, as the apostle discourses in Phihpp. ii. 9, 10,
1 1 . With which let the reader join a few places more and seri
ously peruse them, particularly Heb. i. 3 ; ii. 9, lo, and x. 12,
and he wih be satisfied that his enthroning at God's right hand
was the reward of his obedient sufferings, which being pecuhar
to himself, so is the privilege granted thereupon : that is, none
but he our great High Priest can come into the holy place,
there to appear before God for us ; which is the reason that
our asking in his name is frequently made the fruit of his as-

SEEM. XIV. One Mediator. 215
cension into heaven, even by his own words before he went
thither. Read John xiv. 12, 13, and xvi. a6, as well as this verse
of which I am treating, which begins thus. And in that day ye
shall ask me nothing, &c. ; where, and in verse 26, these words,
in that day and at that day, are to be remarked, because they
show us how his name became so powerful when mentioned in
our prayers, viz. by his going unto the Father, and being with
him in his heavenly habitation, where his faithful disciples may
be confident he undertakes their cause, and will do for them
according to their desires. And accordingly the apostle makes
his eternal intercession for us to depend upon his being higher
than the heavens^, which shows, as I said in the beginning,
that to ask in his name is as much as to ask in his name alone,
because none can approach to the Divine Majesty as an inter
cessor to him but our Lord alone, who by his own blood en
tered in once into the holy place^. For there is none else ad
mitted in the holy place where intercession is to be made but
only he himself. The angels, as great as they are, stand at a
distance, being but ministers of God, who are ready to despatch
his orders according to the direction of our great High Priest,
unto whom they are all made subject.
IV. And upon this score he is said to be our Advocate with
the Father, and must be understood to be our sole Advocate,
both because he alone (as hath been now said) is with the
Father, and because he therefore is our Advocate with the
Father, because he is our Priest who sacrificed for us, which no
saint or angel ever did, much less sacrificed themselves to God
a propitiation for our sins. That is proper to him alone, and
therefore so is the patronage that we expect from an advocate,
which he alone can give us.
This is a matter which deserves to be a httle particularly ex
plained. Now an advocate, in the proper notion of the word,
is such a person as a man calls in to his assistance when he hath
a cause depending, to plead it for him before a judge better
than he can do it himself. That is, first to present his suits
and desires to the judge, and then to clear the justice or show
the equity of those desires, that so the judge may be persuaded
by these or any other good endeavours, to favour his client's
suits and interests, notwithstanding any thing that can be said
I' Heb. vii. 26. 1 ix. 12.

216 One Mediator. seem. xiv.
to the contrary by the other side who oppose him. Such an
advocate is Christ, who recommends both us and our suits unto
God by all such means and arguments as may render thera
efficacious on our behalf, notwithstanding any thing that may
be objected against us by our grand adversary, from the demerit
of our manifold offences.
And as this is the business of an advocate, so our blessed Lord
is said to be an Advocate with the Father, because he is not
only in the heavens, but before the very throne of God, there
to represent our suits and obtain favour for us ; which he doth
with authority by the virtue of his precious blood, whereby he
propitiates his heavenly Father and moves him to be gracious
to us.
For so St. John teaches us that his advocation is in conjunction
with his propitiation : If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the
propitiation for our sins, &c.™ He not only was, but still is
our propitiation, because by his sacrifice he appears in God's
presence for us, (as an advocate doth for his client before the
judge,) to render him propitious to us, having made atonement
by his precious blood, wherewith he pleads for us. Now all
this plainly shows he is our only Mediator and Advocate with
the Father ; for what hath now been so presented can be said
of no other person but himself alone. And therefore, to apply
ourselves to God by any other as our patrons with him, and
to desire them to undertake our cause, especially to desire God
for their sakes to grant our requests, is an open infringement
of the sole prerogative of our Lord Jesus Christ ; unto whom
this alone belongs in so uncommunicable a manner, that none can
be promoted unto it without a manifest invasion of his office. For
God not only on purpose advanced him unto it, that we might
not want one to recommend us to him, but gave him such an
authority in the heavens as none else hath, that we might never
think of desiring any other to recommend us unto God, who
hath commanded us alHo come unto him by Christ. In an evident
allusion unto clients, who, not being able to manage their cause
themselves, make their addresses and speak to the judge by
their advocate, who undertakes their patronage, as Christ doth
ours, with such a prevaihng authority as none other can exer-
™ I John ii. I, 2.

SEEM, xrv. One Mediator. 217
cise. For he is appointed by God himself unto this office, in
which also I have shown he is infeoffed (as Mr. Mede signifi
cantly speaks) by his inimitable death and passion, and by his
triumphant resurrection from the dead, and his glorious ascen
sion to the throne of God, where he alone can manage this
office, by virtue of the same immediate death and passion, for
our sake.
There are many vain endeavours used by those of the Roman
church to avoid the dint of this argument, by pretending par
ticularly that they do not go to God immediately by any other
mediators and advocates, but only by Jesus Christ, through
the intercession of saints and angels.
Which is a most lamentable shift, being manifestly convicted
of untruth by the public offices wherein they address themselves
immediately to God by them, desiring him to hear their prayers
and grant them pardon and grace, &c., at the intercession of
the saints, and for the sake of their merits. This is not a place
to produce particular instances of such prayers, which the reader
may find truly reported by many of our writers, and observe
withal that they conclude indeed those prayers with these
words, " by and through our Lord Jesus Christ." But as this is a
monstrous absurdity, (just as if one should desire his sovereign
to grant his petition for the meritorious services, and at the
instance of such and such great courtiers, by his son the prince,
which would be looked upon as ridiculous,) so it plainly shows
their addresses are not made immediately through our Lord
Christ, but they desire God the Father to be gracious to them
immediately for the sake of the saints, and bring in the Lord
Jesus in the conclusion only as a supplement to the saints' merits.
Nay, more than this, they desire in several prayers that the
oblation which they make of Jesus Christ himself, God's eternal
Son, (as they take the sacrifice of the mass to be,) may be ac
ceptable to God by the intercession and the merits of the
saints". Which is not barely to advance them to be joint intercessors
with him, and an open invasion of his prerogative royal, in
thrusting others into his office together with him, but a mani
fest degrading or deposing him from his throne, and putting
others into it ; by whom he himself must be commended unto
" See, among other instances, Domitillse, et Pancratii, in Mens.
Missale in festo Nerei, Achillei, Mali.

218 One Mediator. seem. xrv.
God, and find acceptance with him, and profit those that re
ceive him.
V. But to show that as there is but one God in heaven, and
no other God subordinate unto him, so there is but one Me
diator there, and no subordinate mediators by whom we must
come unto him : let it be further considered, that to suppose
the need of any inferior sort of mediators unto this one supreme
Mediator, (which is the very best the Roman church can make
of their practice,) is, in truth, to destroy the very notion of
Christ's mediatorship between God and us. For it makes him
to be as distant from us as God the Father himself, and not to
have sufficiently condescended to our weakness in becoming a
man, and in dying for us ; but to be still so far from us, and above
us, that we must not presume to approach him without the favour
of some other person to introduce us into his glorious presence.
This is the plain meaning of such a number of mediators
to him as are now solicited by the prayers of the Roman
church ; of which there can be no need if he be indeed of our
flesh and of our bone, and own us for his brethren ; and be
ready and desirous to undertake our patronage ; and be also
appointed thereunto by God on purpose that we might not
doubt. He who loved us so much, as after he had taken our
nature upon him to submit himself willingly to die for us,
would as wihingly, upon our humble addresses to him, recom
mend us and our request to God, because he liveth ever to
make intercession for them that come to God by him ». Ob
serve that this is his very office, which he cannot but be in
clined to discharge without the importunities of any other per
sons to put him in mind of it. And observe again, if we must
trouble ourselves to desire the saints to intercede for us to
Christ, then he is not so properly our Mediator as theirs, and
we do not come to God by him, but by them, who came to
God by him.
And, indeed, those very places of Scripture whereby the
RomanistsP themselves prove that the saints are not immediate
intercessors with God for us, (but whatsoever they obtain for
us, they obtain it by Christ,) are some of them so pregnant
that they directly overthrow all secondary mediators, or me
diate intercessors (as they distinguish) with Christ to him.
" Heb. vii. 25. p Bellarmin. de Sanct. Beat. 1. i. c. 17. propos. 2.
[0pp. tom. ii. col. 737.]

SEEM. XIV. One Mediator. 219
For example. It pleased the Father that in him should all
fulness dwell'i. If all fulness, then the fulness of mediation
or intercession dwells in him, as a great man'' of our own church,
I think, most reasonably argued. Again, from the place before
aheged, there is one God and one Mediator^, we may safely
conclude, if there be no secondary gods, there are no secondary
mediators. And John x. 7, 9, our Lord calls himself the door,
and John xiv. 6, the way ; and such a door and such a way as
no man cometh to the Father but by him, which restriction
proves him to be the only door and the only way, and there
fore we have nothing to do either with angels or saints in this
matter. For if we come to God by them, we must pass through
other doors that we may come to this only immediate door ;
and take other ways that we may get to him the only immediate
way : which is as much as to say that he is the only door by
which the saints come to God, but we must go through other
doors, the saints being necessary doors for our admittance to
him. We must have mediators to the Mediator. A piece of
divinity borrowed from St, Bernard, but directly contrary even
to common reason. For if Christ be our immediate mediator,
(as they say he is) then he hath an immediate reference unto
the two parties between whom he is Mediator ; which he is not
between God and us, unless we have an immediate access unto
him, as he hath unto God ; and that we have not, if we must
make use of mediators to him, and not come directly by him
to the Father. But besides all this, there is no mere creature
in heaven or in earth that can with any reason be thought
capable to discharge this vast office ; for who but he alone can
be supposed able to hear all men's prayers every where, to
attend unto all their supplications, which are very various at
the same moment, and both to comprehend all their suits in
his mind, and to judge what are fit to be presented, and what
not ? This one thing alone excludes all others from this office :
for could we suppose his mother or any other saint to hear all
requests, (which is not to be conceived,) yet we are sure they
dare not recommend the suits of any to God but of sincere
persons. Now there is no means for them to be assured of
men's sincerity, unless we suppose them to be the searchers of
1 Coloss. i. 19. on the Creed, book v. chap. 24.
^ Dr. Jackson, Orig. of Unbelief, vol. iv. p. 218.]
sect. 4. chap. 24. [Commentaries ^ iTim. ii. 5.

220 One Mediator. seem, xiv,
the heart, which is proper to God our Saviour alone, who saith,
/ am he which searcheth the reins and the heart, and upon
that account knows how to give unto every one of us according
to our works*'.
VI, And what authority have either angels or saints in heaven;
what power to dispose of any thing ? Intercede they may
at large, and so are we on earth commanded to make inter
cession " ; but these prayers of ours and of the saints for other
persons are of a quite different nature from the intercession of
a mediator and advocate with God the Father, which Christ
alone is for us all ; for the prayers of all mere creatures are no
more than humble supplications, but the intercession of which
we stand in need is a powerful recommendation of us and of
all our prayers and supplications with such an authority as will
certainly prevail : such an intercession belongs unto our Lord
alone, by virtue (as I have often said) of the propitiatory sacri
fice which he alone offered for us. They petition as subjects
to their prince ; but he recommends as one prince doth to
another, in whom he bath a prevailing interest upon the ac
count of his incomparable merits.
By these he pleads for us ; but saints and angels have nothing
to plead in our behalf which can challenge an audience. This
is his peculiar honour, who, as he alone hath authority enough
with God the Father, so alone hath compassion enough to con
cern himself for us all. The very saints themselves need to be
recommended by him ; and have nothing of their own to plead,
but depend as we do upon their own authority in the court of
heaven. Where he alone hath power to give whatsoever he desires of
God, being a King (you have heard) as well as a Priest. And
therefore, as he here saith, whatsoever you ask the Father in
my name, he will give it you, so in another place of this Gospel
he saith he himself wih do it ; Whatsoever ye ask in my name
that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son ^ ;
which he repeats again, ver. 14, If you ask any thing in my
name, I will do it. For he hath ah power in heaven and
in earth, as he told his apostles before he went to heaven,
whereby he can effect his own desires, and make good all his
promises, and command the angels (without any suits of ours
t Rev. ii. 23. " I Tim. ii. i. x jghn xiv. 13.

seem. xiv. One Mediator. 221
to them) to attend our service, which is their proper business,
to listen, not to our prayers, but to his commands, which he
issues forth for the service of his clients.
VII. And therefore it is very considerable that we never meet
with one word of advice or encouragement (much less of com
mand) to use the intercession of any other person but only his, in
whose name we are expressly and frequently required to address
ourselves to the Divine Majesty, not only here, Johnxvhi. 23,
24, where there is a promise also of an acceptance, but in other
_ places, where we find the same, and are invited thereupon to come
with confidence, particularly John xiv. 13, 14, the place just
now mentioned, and ,Tohn xiv. 16, / have chosen you and or
dained you to go and bring forth fruit, &c., that whatsoever
ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Of which we may be confident, because we are sure of the
power of his intercession^, and of the value of his merits and
satisfaction which give him such power *; and that it is his office
to intercede for us'', and that he hath perfect knowledge of all
our affairs, both of our outward state and condition, and of our
inward qualities and dispositions <= : all things being naked and
open to the eyes of him who is our great High Priest, passed
into the heavens, where we are sure also he hath power to help
us and hath promised he will, (as was said before,) and that his
compassion is greater towards us, infinitely greater than the
pity of any creature can be, because he is the good Shepherd
who laid down his life for the sheep ^. Finally, he intercedes,
we are certain, as a Son with his Father, as an obedient Son
with a most gracious Father, as a Son whose obedience was tried
in no ordinary service, but in suffering the death of the cross,
by which obedience he hath obtained the highest power to re
lieve us, and is disposed by the same sufferings to be most
ready to do it, having been tempted in all points like as we
are^. Upon all which accounts it is that the apostles say expressly,
we have access to God by him f, and that our spiritual sacri
fices are acceptable to God by him s. And that it is so far from
z Heb. vii. 25. ^ John x. 2, 11 ; xv. 13.
a I John ii. I, 2. « Heb. iv. 15.
b Rom. viii. 34- ' ^°^- "¦ 2-
<: Heb. iv. 13, 14. ^ Heb. xiii. 15; i Pet. n. 5.

222 One Mediator. seem. xiv.
being a presumption to come to God by him without any other
Mediator, that, quite contrary, they tell us, we have boldness
and access with confidence by the faith ofhim^, and give us
this general rule, that whatsoever we do in word or deed, we
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
and the Father by him^. Which is sufficient to make one
wonder that any Christians who know these things should
have so much as a thought enter into their minds of doing any
thing in any other name, especially of presenting their prayers
by any other person ; since we have all this evidence that this
is not only a sure and certain way of prevailing, but the alone
sure and certain way, the only way to which we are directed,
the only way wherein we can have any confidence, because
there is no promise of acceptance by any other intercessor.
For to all this let one observation more be added, that this
is the very reason of that name or title whereby God is pecu
liarly represented in the New Testament, viz. tlie God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ g. In the old covenant his
style was. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and Jacob.
But now it is quite otherways ; the denomination is no longer
taken from the persons redeemed by God, (as it was heretofore
from those great saints who were indeed the faithful and be
loved servants of God,) but from the Redeemer himself, the
Lord Jesus, who is the only begotten Son of God, for whose
sake alone he will accept us and be gracious unto us.
And if we should lay all this aside, yet it would be very un
safe to trust to any other intercessor, if there were no more
reasons for it but this, that we can have no certainty of faith
that either angel or saint is appointed by God to do us this
kind office, or that they have power, as I said, or interest
enough to serve us, or can so much as hear us. But rather,
we have the greatest reason to think they are every way as
defective and unqualified for this illustrious office, as he is in
ah things completed and fitted for it, being, as you have heard,
God-man, our great High Priest, Jesus Christ the righteous ;
who purged away our sins by himself, who is the propitiation
for our sins ; who was in all points tempted as we are, only
without sin ; who now appears in God's presence for us, being
e Ephes. iii. 12. f Coloss. iii. 17.
s Rom. XV. 6 ; 2 Cor. xi. 31 ; Ephes. iii. 1451 Pet. i. 3.

seem. xiv. One Mediator. 223
entered into the holy place with his blood, where he lives for
ever to make intercession as our High Priest at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. None of which can be said of
any angel or saint; who are not so much as priests, much
less high priests, to appear in the presence of God for us.
For to which of the angels said he at any time. Sit thou at
my right hand ? No, they stand before his Majesty, and behold
his face, as servants do who look to observe what their masters
will command them, being all ministering spirits, sent forth to
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.
VIII. It is therefore a disparagement both to our Lord
Jesus Christ, and unto God the Father Almighty, and unto
ourselves, to make addresses unto any but him alone, as our
Advocate, Mediator and Intercessor with God the Father.
I. A disparagement to our Lord Jesus Christ it is most
manifestly, because it represents him as if he had not affection
and tenderness enough for us from his own inclination, but
must be moved by others to be kind to us ; directly contrary to
the scope of the gospel, which tehs us he loved us so much as
of his own accord to lay down his life for us, and as contrary
to his most serious professions of love to us, his most solemn
entreaties that we would come to God by him, and his frequent
solemn assurances that he will obtain audience for us.
2. And to apply ourselves to any other mediator of any
sort, is no less than an affront to the majesty of God the Father
Almighty; representing him who is almighty love, as if he
were (though not utterly inexorable, yet) so hard to be en
treated, that we must use nobody knows how many intercessors
to him for his favour. This is so contrary that nothing can be
more to the notion that Christ hath given us of him ; which is,
that he is inchnable of himself, even without his intercession, to
be favourable to us ; (and therefore much more without the in
tercession of others ;) his love towards Christ's disciples being
so great, that our Lord would have them rely more upon that
than upon his own intercession in their behalf. For in com
parison with the love of God the Father, he saith he would not
so much as mention what he would do for them, as their Ad
vocate in the heavens. Thus we read, ver. a6 of this chapter,
At that day ye shall ask in my name : and I say not unto
you, that I will pray the Father for you ; for the Father

224 Oiie Mediator. seem. xiv.
himself loveth you, because ye liave loved me, Sj-c. Where
we are taught that we ought indeed to depend upon our Sa
viour's intercession for us, now that he is in heaven, but not
so as to distrust the kindness of our heavenly Father towards
us, who hath appointed us to make use of the name of his Son
in our addresses to him ; not because he would discourage our
confidence in himself, but only to make and keep us humble,
and to work in us a sense of our own unworthiness ; which we
must never forget when we have the highest thoughts of his
infinite goodness. Which assures us that he loves us upon the
account of his own inclination, as well as upon the account of
being recommended by Christ's intercession into his favour,
which recommendation of us by Christ must needs therefore be
effectual without any other ; not only because it is made by
him whom God always hears, but because it is made for them
whom God dearly loves of his own accord.
3, It is therefore even upon this account a more dishonour
able thing for us, who are thus highly favoured and beloved by
God, as well as by his Son Jesus Christ, to go to any other,
either saint or angel, to beg their recommendations, and entreat
for their sake the acceptance of our prayers, which are directed
to God's infinite love in the name of his most dearly beloved
Son, our only Saviour and Redeemer Christ Jesus, who having
procured us this high privilege of addressing unto God only by
him, (which God the Father hath graciously indulged to us,
and assured us withal there needs no more, he himself being
inclinable to favour us, even without the intercession of his
Son.) it is below the dignity of a Christian to crouch to his
fellow-servants, and debase himself before them as their suppli
cant ; whereby he declares himself unworthy of the great
honour that is done him, of approaching, as Origen speaks,
unto the Most High by his eternal Word.
Would to God these few plain truths were seriously con
sidered ; what a disrespect this way of praying by the media
tion of saints and angels is to our blessed Lord and Saviour,
what a distrust of him and of his merits, who redeemed us by
his precious blood ; as if his Verily verily carried no certainty
at all in it, nor could be safely relied on as an assurance we
"shall prevail in his name !
What a disparagement also this is to the transcendent love

SEEM. XIV. One Mediator. 225
of God the Father, who assures us he loves them so tenderly
who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, that he is ready of him
self to grant their requests.
And therefore how much we degrade ourselves, and forget
our high calling of God in Christ Jesus, by going a begging
to others for their favour, as if we were their servants, when we
are all the children of God, and of the same family with the
saints themselves. And then we should withal see what a folly it
is to trouble ourselves to use any other interest but that of our
blessed Saviour, especially when we have the highest assurance
given us that we shall have whatsoever we ask in his name.

APPLICATION.
And here now I must remember you, for a conclusion of this
discourse, that it supposes it to be our duty to address ourselves
continually in humble prayer to God, and then to make those
prayers in the prevailing name of the Lord Jesus.
If we desire and hope for any advantage by the powerful
intercession of the Son of God, we must take care of these two
things : first, to ask of God the Father whatsoever we need ;
and, secondly, to ask those things of him in the name of Christ.
For as the apostle speaks. He is able to save them to the utter
most who come to God by him, seeing he ever lives to make
intercession for them, but then they must come to God, and
likewise they must come by him.
For the former of these, we must consider that Christ makes
not intercession for those who make no prayers to God for
themselves. For if the main business of his intercession be as
you have seen the Scripture represents it, a recommendation of
us and of our suits to God, it is not to be understood how he
should intercede for them who offer him nothing to be recom
mended by him. There can be no use of a priest where there is
no kind of sacrifice, no use of an advocate where there is no
chent : all that he can do for such neghgent people, is to move
for grace to stir them up to a sense of piety towards God, and
to awaken them to attend to their own good, which is not the
proper intercession so much spoken of in the holy Scriptures,
but a lower thing, supposing us still to be unacceptable unto
God. If we would be otherways, we must previously set our-
FATEIOK, VOL. VIII. Q

226 One Mediator. mam. xir,
selves to seek God's favour, as he hath directed us ; and till we
do this, he hath nothing to offer unto God from us, because we
present no sacrifice of prayer or thanksgiving to be offered by
him. Let them weigh this, who are so irreligious as to live in a
perpetual neglect of the duty of prayer to God : and they
also, who are so defective in rehgion, as never to draw nigh
unto God in the holy eucharist, which is the pecuhar Christian
worship and service wherein we commemorate that sacrifice
which our Lord pleads for us in the heavens. Such people do
not at all concern themselves in the intercession of Christ, at
God's right hand, and in all the admirable fruits and benefits
which by that intercession he procures for men. Of which we
cannot partake, but by our hearty acknowledgment of our
Creator, and of our constant dependance upon him, and obli
gations to him ; in our daily prayers and thanksgivings, with
hearty devotion to him. Forasmuch as our prayers and
praises, our holy and hearty desires, are the proper and most
peculiar matter which Christ our great High Priest and Advo
cate recommends to God by his intercession.
But here we must take care of two things :
I. First, that our prayers be not cold.
2. Secondly, that they be not lame and imperfect.
For we ought to supphcate him with such strong cries and
most ardent desires, as Christ himself we read offered unto
God in the days of his flesh, that is in his bitter agony S," which
will be more especially expected from us when we have any
great difficulties to wrestle withal, and are in apparent dan
gers. And in these prayers we must offer our very selves to
God's faithful service, as Christ gave up himself for us an of
fering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
Thus the apostle beseeches all Christians in his Epistle to the
Romans xu. i, that they would be moved by the mercies, the
tender mercies of God, to present their bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.
So reasonable, that without this, all our prayers are lame ; and
such sacrifices, you know, were never accepted by God, nor
could be presented by the priest, as without the other they are
e Heb. v. 8.

siiEM. XIV. One Mediator. 2^7
careless, and we may be sure will not be regarded by our
Saviour when we mind not what we say ourselves.
IL
But more than this, we must consider that even the best
prayers and services we can offer unto God do not interest us
in the intercession of Jesus Christ, unless we use him as our
Advocate with the Father. That is the other part of our duty
which I told you lies upon us. As we ought to ask, so we must
ask in the name of Christ. As we must come to God, so we
must come to God by him ; that is, in the faithful use of his
powerful mediation and intercession for us.
We must desire that all our prayers, and the devoting our
selves to God in holy obedience, may be acceptable to him, by
his well-beloved Son. For though natural religion might be
accepted while there was no law but that of nature, yet now
that we are expressly required here to ask of God in Christ's
name, now that we are required to offer up our sacrifices by
him*', and now those sacrifices become acceptable to God by
Christ Jesus, (as St. Peter teaches us ',) we must make our ad
dresses to God by the mediation of this great High Priest,
whom he hath appointed over his house and family, the church ;
that is, we must own the religion of the gospel, by offering our
prayers, our thanksgivings, and ourselves, souls and bodies,
unto God, in the name and through the mediation of his Son
Christ Jesus, desiring they may be accepted upon his account.
For which there are such pregnant reasons, that we do not
understand our religion if we be not sensible of the weight of
them, and be not moved by them.
1 , For first, this way of addressing to God is of great and
necessary use to breed and preserve in us a due sense of the
infinite greatness of the Divine Majesty, and to make us keep
our distance from him, and maintain that reverence, fear, and
awe of him, which this way of approaching him by an inter
cessor naturally teaches us, notwithstanding the belief we have
of his incomparable love to us.
2. For, secondly, it manifestly tends to make us sensible of
our meanness, and the meanness of all our services, which are
of small value, but as they are recommended by one of greater
merit. And so it begets and preserves in us the great virtue
h Heb. .xiii. 15. ' i Pet. ii. 5.
Q 2

228 One Mediator. seem. xiv.
of humihty, which is the foundation of all virtue, and most ne
cessary to make our prayers and all we do acceptable.
3. And, lastiy, this is but a fitting respect (as I may cah it) to
our blessed Lord and Saviour, who hath done and suffered so
much for us, that we ought not to expect to receive any thing
from God but by his means, who it is fit should have the honour
of procuring and conferring all blessings we desire. This we
declare when we pray in his name, which is nothing else but
to represent unto the Divine Majesty his meritorious sufferings,
as the very ground of our approaches to him, and of our hope
to obtain what we ask by the power which our Lord hath in
the heavens at his right hand. And this is the sense of the
thanksgivings we offer in his name ; whereby we acknowledge
we are not worthy to receive any thing but only upon his ac
count, who procures for us all the blessings which the Divine
goodness bestows upon us, and through whom they are all
conveyed unto us.
And therefore let us be sure to come to God by him, and in
a humble sense of our own undeservings hope to have even
the best services we can present him withal (either at the
eucharist, or throughout the whole course of our life, in the
faithful discharge of our several offices) made acceptable to
God only by Jesus Christ our great High Priest, who can do
that for us which we cannot for ourselves, and procure for us
that acceptance of which we are utterly unworthy. Which, if
you observe it, is the encouragement the apostle gives us in the
place I have often mentioned'', both to address ourselves to
God, and to make our addresses upon the account of Christ's
interest with him, because he is able to save, and save to the
uttermost all those who come to God by him to obtain their
salvation, that is, all the means or spiritual aids requisite for so
great an end. There is no sin so great, but the hearty peni
tent may confidently hope for pardon of it by the intercession
of this Advocate who is the propitiation for our sins.
No temptation, no passion so strong, but it may be overcome
by the power of God's grace ; and no grace needful but may be
obtained of God by the intercession of our Saviour ; through
whom grace, mercy and peace is multiplied upon those who are
sincerely devoted to him. '' Heb. vii. 25.

SEEM. XIV. One Mediator. 229
No duty so difficult but it may be performed by the assist
ance of the Divine power, and whatsoever power is necessary,
we may procure it by ardent prayer to the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who will grant us, according to the riches of his
glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner
man '. Yea, we may be made able by him to perform our duty
with satisfaction and comfort in the midst of all difficulties.
For we pray to the Father of mercies and the God of all com
fort, who will comfort us in all our tribulation ; and if the suf
fering of Christ abound in us, will make our consolation also
abound by Christ f".
In short, all things necessary for the support and increase of
our spiritual life and vigour may be obtained by fervent prayer,
through his recommendation who knows the strength of those
temptations that assault us, and is acquainted with our weak
nesses and infirmities under those temptations ; and no less
ready to intercede for seasonable supplies of constant spiritual
aids, if we importunately ask them for the sake of him, to whom
God will deny nothing.
To sum up all. It is one of the fruits of Christ's intercession
that we have the knowledge of these things ; which being com
municated to us, together with the motions of his holy Spirit, to
stir us up to make a good use of this heavenly knowledge, our
business must be to devote ourselves sincerely to God in all the
duties of a religious life.
For he cannot present their prayers to God who pray not
for themselves, (that is impossible,) and he cannot present those
prayers as acceptable to him, which are nothing but words,
without affection and cordial resolution of faithful obedience;
sacrifices, as the ancients speak, without a heart, which were
never allowed in any religion.
Our religion requires us to offer up spiritual sacrifices ac
ceptable to God, (as St. Peter speaks) by Christ Jesus, who
makes them acceptable by his recommendation, when we un
feignedly present them unto God. And those spiritual sacri
fices are not merely our prayers and thanksgivings, but princi
pally ourselves, as St. Paul informs us in the plaee foremen
tioned". And if we do in this manner present ourselves to
God, Christ will make both this present, and ah the prayers
1 [Ephes. iii. i6.] "> [2 Cor. i. 3-5.] " Rom. xii. i.

230 One Mediator. seem. xiv.
and thanks which persons so well qualified and resolved in
God's service shall offer unto him, to find grace and favour in
his eyes by virtue of that great sacrifice which he offered once
himself on the cross, and now presents to God in the heavens ;
as that which he hath already accepted by raising him from
the dead, to sit at his own right hand, as our only Mediator
and Advocate with him ; to procure us all manner of blessings
which we ask in his name, both now while we are here in this
world, and hereafter when we depart from hence ; and at the
great day of the Lord Jesus, when he shall come to complete
our salvation in eternal life and glory. Unto which since he
alone can bring us, we ought not to apply ourselves unto any
else but him, to conduct and lead and assist us in our way
thither, particularly to help us to obtain audience for our
prayers, which we make for mercy and grace, both now and in
the day of Christ. To whom, with the Father and Holy Ghost,
(according to the ancient doxology of the church, who never
concluded with laud and praise to the blessed Virgin or any
other saint, no more than prayed to them,) all honour and
glory, thanksgiving and praise, be given in the church through
out all ages, world without end. Amen.

ONE SACRIFICE:
A SERMON

HEBREWS X. 12.

[Now first printed from the original manuscript in the library of
Lambeth Palace.]

IMPRIMATUR
Concio cui titulus ONE SACRIFICE.
Sept. 4, i688. Guil, Needham.

ONE SACRIFICE.

Hebeews X. I 2,

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for
ever sat down on the right hand of God.
THE scope of the holy writer of this Epistle being to per
suade the Christian Hebrews to continue constant in their hea
venly calhng, (i, e, the Christian rehgion,) notwithstanding all
the sufferuigs in body, goods, or fame, which they either had
or were in danger to endure from its enemies, he represents to
them the vast advantages they had by this rehgion, which that
instituted by Moses could not afford them. Which advantages
he derives from these two heads, that the Apostle and the High
Priest of our profession, (as he calls our Saviour, chap. hi. i,)
do so far excel all the ministers of the law, that there is as
wide a difference between the one and the other, as between
the heavens and the earth. For first, as to the Apostle of our
profession, or the Author of our faith, (as he speaks, xh. i,) he
is no less than the Son of God, a person not only greater than
Moses and all the prophets, but than the angels themselves: as
he demonstrates in the first chapter of this Epistle, and from
thence infers the danger of forsaking him, as well as the benefit
of adhering to him, in the second, third, and fourth chapters.
2. But there being nothing upon which the Hebrews moro
valued themselves and their rehgion than the priesthood, and
the sacrifices thereupon depending, by virtue of which they
were preserved in friendship with God, and held the good land
which God had given them ; the greatest part of the Epistle is
spent in showing that the old priesthood and sacrifices were but
mere figures and shadows, nay, not so much as perfect shadows
andjmages of the Christian. For we have a great High Priest
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, as his

234 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
words are in the latter end of the fourth chapter. The very
same person who was the Apostle became also the High Priest of
our profession or religion ; of whom not Aaron but Melchisedec
(a greater high priest than Aaron, and ancienter than the law)
was the type and figure, and by whom a sacrifice was offered to
God, of such value, force, and efficacy, as not only echpsed but
utterly abohshed and put an end to all those typicSl sacrifices
under the law ; having made such a perfect expiation thereby
as all their priests and sacrifices for so many hundred years as
had run -out since Moses's time had not been able to ac
complish. This he begins to demonstrate in the fifth chapter, and with
some other things intermixed continues unto my text. In
which he draws to a conclusion of his discourse upon this sub
ject, and is upon the point of making his inferences from it.
For what can be added unto this, that after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins, he for ever sat down on the right hand
of God ?
Which words, if well considered, will suggest unto us most of
those things wherein the preeminence of Christ's sacrifice con
sists ; particularly these four :
First, that the sacrifice here mentioned which he offered for
sins was himself.
Secondly, that his sacrifice was, like himself, but one sacrifice.
Thirdly, that as his sacrifice was but one, so it was but once
offered. And
Lastly, that as he himself was both priest and sacrifice, so by
this sacrifice he was consecrated to be both King and Priest.
I.
There is nothing more evident than the first of these, that
by the sacrifice (here mentioned) which he offered for sins we
are to understand the sacrifice of himself, his own body and
blood, which were broken and shed for the expiation of our
sins, that is, to obtain from God a pardon of them. That is
the intention, we are sure, oi offering for sins, which is expressed
by several names of the same import in holy Scripture, which
we translate purging our sins, cleansing us from sin, re
demption, making himself a ransom, a propitiation. All
which was done by laying down his oivn life, and shedding

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 235
his own blood, (as the very same Scriptures tell us,) whereby
we were reconciled to God, and have received the atonement or
reconciliation, are justified or acquitted, and have remission
or forgiveness of our sins ; which are different words for the
same thing, all signifying the taking away the guilt of our sins;
so that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus, &c., for he was made sin for us^, &c. ; i. e. by his own
consent was placed in our stead to bear the punishment of our
sins ; which were laid on him as the sins of the people of Israel
were upon their sacrifices, which were offered to free them from
the guilt of those sins for which their sacrifices were offered.
This free consent of bis to be made sin, i. e. a sacrifice for sin,
we read of in many places, which acquaint us both with his free
and willing offering of himself to be such a bloody sacrifice, and
also with his giving up his life by his actual dying for us, or
shedding his blood for our expiation or cleansing. Of the first
of these he himself speaks in most remarkable words : There
fore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself^ ; i. e. he voluntarily of his own
accord, in obedience to his heavenly Father, offered himself to
be a sacrifice, devoted himself to die, (in the time proper for it,)
in confidence he should rise again and go as a priest with this
sacrifice into the heavens, there (as you shall hear anon) to
complete our redemption. Of the second, his actual dying as a
sacrifice, the apostle speaks in the beginning of this Epistle, i. 3,
When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high ; which is the very sense of my
text, with an explanation of this part of it, what the sacrifice
was which he offered for sins, which he saith was himself.
And so he discourses more largely in the chapter before my
text, ix. 11, 12, Christ being come an high priest of good
things to come, &c. neither by the blood of goats nor calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. The same he
repeats once before my text, when he saith, ver. 1 o, that we
a Hebr. i. 3 ; i John i. 7 ; Ephes. xxvi. 28; Rom. viii. i ; 2 Cor. v. ult.
i. 7 ; Matt. XX. 28 ; i John ii. 2; ^ John x. 17, 18.
iv. 10; Rom. V. 9, 10, 11; Matt.

236 One Sacrifice. seem, xv,
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.
A truth of such importance, that the apostle thought he
could not mention it too often, because herein mainly exists the
excellency of Christ's sacrifice above all other, that he offered
his own body which was slain for us. As much as to say, our
great High Priest was himself our sacrifice.
These two very different things met in him who was both
sacrifice and priest, which none ever was beside himself. He
did not, as the Levitical priests, offer the blood of bulls and goats,
neither did he offer up any other man, (as Abraham was about
to offer up his son,) but he offered up himself, as the apostle
speaks again in this Epistle, vn. 27 : He needed not daily, as
those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins,
and then for the people : for this he did once, when he offered
up himself. Which he inculcates once more, ix. 26, In the end
of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacri
fice of himself He himself was the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sins of the world ; the blood of atonement was no
other but his own, which makes his sacrifice of far higher value
and his priesthood of greater power and force than any other,
as might be shown upon many accounts : but if we should deduce
no more but this single advantage which he reaps from thence,
it is of vast moment, and yields us incomparable comfort ; that
he must needs be hereby rendered a priest far more tender and
compassionately affected towards those for whom he offered,
than Aaron or any other could be made by their sacrifices.
For though Aaron and his successors offered first for himself,
as you just now heard, yet he did not offer himself; but that
was peculiar unto our great High Priest, Christ Jesus, If
Aaron had suffered in the place of the beast which he offered,
nay, if the sacrificing knife had but so much as rased his own
throat, if bis body had been gashed and wounded, if his own
blood had been shed, though not unto death, he might have
been made thereby a little more sensible than otherwise could
be of the guUt and the misery of wretched people for whose
sins he offered sacrifice. And all the time he had lain under
the chirurgeon's hands for his cure, he might have been
moved to put up the more ardent prayers for them by feehng
the pain and dolours which their sins had cost him. But alas.

SEEM. XV. One SacrifiiCe. 237
he suffered none of these things in his own person ; he only
beheld the struggling and heard the cries of the poor beast
which he khled, without feeling the least harm himself; he
only took the blood of other creatures, and with that went into
the sanctuary made with men's hands, and therefore could be
nothing so sensible as our great High Priest is of the condition of
sinners, for whose transgressions he himself was bruised, cruelly
crucified, and bled to the very death, that by his stripes we
might be healed. As he went also to the cross he was in a
dreadful agony, and felt such sore strugghngs within himself,
that they made him sweat as it were great drops of blood
falling to the ground. Unto which was added also unheard of
shame and reproach, nay, the vilest ignominy and contempt ;
whereas the person of Aaron and of his sons were always in
high honour and esteem, and then most of all when they
offered for the people's sins.
One great end of all which sufferings in his own person was,
that he might be rendered thereby a more merciful and com
passionate High Priest towards us miserable sinners, and that
we might be assured he will intercede for us with the greater
tenderness, and not fail to succour us in all our sufferings, and
especially send his grace to enable us to strive against sin, and
overcome it. As the apostle shows in the Epistle, chap. u. ver.
1 8 and iv. 15, 16, which is a just reason why we should not
depend upon nor use any intercessor with God but him alone,
because he only is so qualified by his sufferings which he en
dured, as to be a fitting person to interpose on our behalf;
being tempted or tried in all points like as we are : whereas
the angels never suffered any thing, and the martyrs but a
httle ; and therefore, in this regard, (as well as many other,)
are not sufficiently qualified to perform this office for us, being
never tempted or tried in all points, much less without sin.
Away therefore with all other mediators, even of interces
sion, besides this great High Priest alone, who, by offering
himself, made an expiation for all sinners, and became so sensi
ble thereby of their condition, that he is disposed with greater
compassion than any one else can have, to make apphcation of
that expiation to every one of our souls. And so I come to the
second particular, wherein the preeminence of Christ's sacrifice
and priesthood consists, which is, that his sacrifice was like

238 One Sacrifice. serm. xv.
himself, but one sacrifice, as he was but one priest, who had no
successor in his offices.
Both these are fit to be distinctly considered.
First, that the sacrifice which he offered being himself, he
therefore offered but one sacrifice, as my text tells us, whereby
all manner of sins were expiated. Under the law there were
many sacrifices offered for every guilty person, some for one
sort of sin, and a different for another ; every particular trans
gression and offence against the ordinances of Moses being to
be expiated by a particular sacrifice. And that sacrifice which
was sufficient for one crime was not sufficient for another ; but
there was to be a new sacrifice, and of a new kind also, as the
law in that case directed. But Christ, saith the apostle in the
next verse but one below my text, by one offering hath per
fected for ever them that are sanctified.
That is, all they that are devoted to the Lord Jesus hy an
obedient belief in him need take no more care for a sacrifice
to procure remission for their sins ; for his one sacrifice (being
the sacrifice of himself) hath done more than millions of sacri
fices under the law ; being so all-sufficient, that it hath per
fected or completed every such person for the Divine favour
and acceptance ; that is, it is able to procure them not only their
pardon, but consummation of bliss and happiness, in that place
where he himself is. The reason of which he gives in my text,
because after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, he for ever sat
down at the right hand of God. He was raised, that is, from
the dead after he was slain ; and not only so, but went with
his blood into the heavens, and, more than that, remains there
for evermore, and still more, sits at God's right hand in full
power to do what he pleases for the perfecting of those whose
sins he expiated by his blood ; which he having shed, he had
no more to do (as you shall hear presently) but to enter into his
rest, and to enjoy the reward of his sufferings ; which is such a
sovereign almighty power, that he must needs be able, without
any further pains, to perfect all his pious worshippers. The
Priest, you see already, who sits at God's right hand obtained
that dignity by making himself a sacrifice, which was so excel
lent, that there needed no more but that one sacrifice, either
for himself or any else ; the end for which it was offered being
fully obtained, viz. remission of sin, and the eternal salvation of

seem. XV. One Sacrifice. 239
those that obey him, together with grace to enable their obe
dience. Now the ground of ah this, why this sacrifice was so
excellent as to be but one, is in that which was said at first,
viz. that it was the sacrifice of the priest's own body. And he
was but one priest, as he was but one sacrifice ; which the
apostle takes special notice of, and therein pleads one preroga
tive of the Christian rehgion and priesthood above the Jewish ;
and therefore ought not to be passed by without our serious
observation. II.
As he offered but one sacrifice, so he is but one and the
same Priest who continues alway in this office. Under the
law there were a great number, as the apostle observes, vii. 23 :
And they truly were many priests, because they were not suf
fered to continue by reason of death ; that as there were
many inferior priests at the same time, so the high priests wore
many also, one after another ; because they being mortal, there
must either be no priest at all, when one of them died, or upon
his death another must immediately come into his place. But
this man, (or this priest,) because he continueth ever, (mark
that reason,) hath an unchangeable priesthood, without any
succession or alteration ; for it cannot pass to another, because
he who enjoys it is immortal.
Which is a singular comfort to us many ways.
First, because we are hereby assured, that if he ever had
compassion for any, he can have the same for us : or if ever
we ourselves have found any benefit by his intercession, any
life communicated to our souls, any help in danger, any strength
against temptations, we may still confidently expect the like
relief, because he is one and the same merciful High Priest,
who, as the apostle argues in the very next words to those now
named, concerning his unchangeable priesthood, is therefore
able also to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
This assurance they wanted under the law of Moses, because,
though one priest might be tender hearted, and very compas
sionate, yet another might arise when he was dead, that was
not so good, nor of such a compassionate disposition as to be
carefuUy concerned for their souls ; and this was an imperfec
tion which the Jews could never remedy ; but our great High

240 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
Priest, continuing always without any alteration, being the
same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, (as the apostle
speaks, xui. 8 ;) the same now that he hath ever been ; the
same that not only we, but all the people of God have ever
had ; we may be sure that he can and will take compassion
upon us, and be gracious unto us, and do us good now and in
all time to come, as much as he hath ever done : yea.
Secondly, he may be conceived rather to have more com
passion than less, now in this age ; having had the experience
of ah the distresses, miseries and afflictions of innumerable
Christians of all sorts, for so many years as have passed since
he went into the heavenly sanctuary ; being acquainted with
all the dangers that have happened to them, all the temptations
that have assaulted them, all the confficts they have endured
for his name's sake. And it having been his constant practice
to relieve, help, and save them, whereby much glory hath come
unto him, and unto God the Father ; and he keeping in re
membrance also the fidelity and constancy of every pious
Christian, which will not suffer us to doubt of his continued
kindness to his church, or suggest any alteration in his affec
tion, or abatement of his care about us ; but rather make us
confident that he is, upon all the forenamed accounts, more
tenderly concerned for every one that sues unto God by him,
and depends wholly upon his favour and grace, and the power
he hath at God's right hand, which is so great, that he needs
do no more than he hath already done to merit any thing of
God for us. III.
Which is the third thing, wherein I told you the excehency
of Christ's sacrifice consists, that as it was but one, so it was but
once offered for the sins of the world. For he being slain, and
having shed his blood, and therein begun his sacrifice of him
self for us, he was made ahve again, that he himself might go,
with that very blood which he had offered, into the most holy
place, that is, into the heavens, there to perfect his sacrifice, or
finish it for ever.
For this was necessary, every one knows, to the completing
of the sacrifice of expiation ; which was then perfected, when
the blood was carried into the sanctuary, and there presented
unto God, and accepted by him.

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 241
Now the blood of beasts which were sacrificed under the law
was carried in by others into the earthly sanctuary, because it
was a dead blood : but the blood of Christ being a living blood
was carried by himself, after his resurrection from the dead,
into the very presence of God, in that glorious place in the
heavenly sanctuary, of which the other was but a shadow ; and
being carried thither, there he lives for ever to make interces
sion for us ; being by his resurrection made an immortal High
Priest, to die no more. For he went into the heavenly sanc
tuary to continue there, not to come out again till the end of
all things ; and therefore is said by his own blood to have en
tered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us": that is, hath so perfectly done his work,
that he need not come out to be sacrificed again, and to enter
thither anew to obtain mercy for us.
This is another wide difference between his sacrifice and all
others ; that as there were many sacrifices under the law, of
divers sorts, so every one of those sacrifices were often re
peated upon fresh occasion : but his sacrifice, as it was but one,
so it was but once offered, not needing to be repeated, because
it continues in everlasting force. The reason of which lies in
that which was said in the beginning of this discourse, that it
was the offering of himself ; who, though he died for sin, yet being
made alive again dieth no more, but hves (as you shall hear more
largely in its due place) for ever at the right hand of God.
Which the apostle takes notice of in many places of this
Epistle, particularly in the place before named, vii. 27, He
needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice,
^c.,for that he did once, when he offered up himself. As
much as to say, his one sacrifice continues its real efficacy to
the end of the world, whereas those under the law had no
virtue but only for the present, while they were offered, being
upon new occasions to be repeated. The same he teaches in the
ixth chapter, not only in the verse before mentioned, (ver. 12,)
but again, ver. 26 and ver. 28, which I desire the reader to
consult. My text also affirms as much, if we refer the word
for ever not to the latter, but to the former part of the verse ;
This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever
sat Sj-c. A sacrifice, that is, of everlasting force, to endure as
0 Heb. ix. 12.
PATEICK, VOL. Vin. E

242 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
long as the world lasts, without any new sacrifice, or any new
offering of this sacrifice. And so some ancient translations
manifestiy understand it, particularly the Ethiopic, which runs
thus ; This man, liaving offered once for ever a sacrifice for
sins, sat down ^c. But howsoever this be, the whole foregoing
part of this chapter shows this to be the sense of the apostle.
For having shown (ver. i, 2, &c.) how imperfect the best sacri
fices of the law were, by this argument, that they stood in need
to be repeated year by year continually, he proceeds to set
forth the perfection of Christ's sa9rifice by this, that we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for
all. Every priest indeed (under the legal dispensation) stood
ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which
could never wipe away sins. But this priest, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on tlie right
hand of God ; which is plainly to say, " that by his one oblation
of himself once offered" (as our church paraphrases upon it in
the Communion book) " he made a full, perfect, and sufficient
sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole
world ;" so that there is no need, as of old, to stand minister
ing, and offering oftentimes this same sacrifice of Christ, who
by one offering (ver. 14) hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified. From whence we learn this comfortable truth, that Christ's
blood which he offered was not only of infinite value, but also
of infinite virtue : that it did not only procure an universal
pardon for the sins of mankind, but the operation also of it
continued throughout all ages, to work out a pardon for us.
And there is as real a communication of the virtue still unto
every one of our souls, as if it were but just now shed, provided
we make good our part of the covenant of grace which he by
his blood sealed and made of everlasting force. This is a con
vincing reason, as I shall show before I have done, why there
neither needs, nor can be, any daily sacrifice made for the
propitiating of God towards sinful men, as the Roman church
now pretends. Let me only briefly point you out the true'
cause of this difference between Christ's sacrifice and all other,
which was this :
Therefore the blood of beasts was of no longer force and
power to expiate and take away sin but only when they were

seem. XV-. One Sacrifice. 243
offered, whereas the blood of Christ retains a never-ceasing
virtue ; because their blood was corrupted and perished, but his
blood is incorruptible, and never dies. Unto which St. Peter
seems to have respect when he saith, We were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish ^.
Silver and gold, as one of our own divines observes, are less
corruptible than the blood of beasts, for they do not so soon
corrupt ; yet they do at last decay and perish, being not of an
enduring substance. And therefore the apostle would give us
to understand by this comparison, that we are redeemed with
a price as of far greater value, so of infinitely greater virtue
too, because it shall always endure and never be corrupted.
For whereas the blood of the old sacrifices was consumed, and
did vanish, the blood of Christ, like to his body, did not see
corruption. It was not spilt as water on the ground, which is
not gathered up again, but preserved by the grace of God,
and every drop of it made immortal in the heavens.
Which is the plain reason why he need not offer often ; be
cause the sacrifice he offered remains in perfect life and strength,
and is so far from being lost, that it can never perish. But as
it is appointed unto all men once to die, so Christ was once
offered, that is, died as a sacrifice to God, to bear the sins of
many; and to them that look for him shall he appear the
second time without sin unto salvation, not to die any more,
(there is no need of that,) but to give life, being made, as that
apostle elsewhere speaks, a priest after the power of an end
less life. For by this sacrifice of himself once offered, he was
consecrated to be an everlasting Priest in the heavens, for ever
to execute the office of an high priest ; which consisting in the of
fering of sacrifice for the expiating of men's guilt, it necessarily fol
lows that his sacrifice which he offered for our expiation continues
now in the same force and efficacy which it had when he died,
and entered with it after his resurrection into the holy place
in the heavens. For the explaining this the apostle uses two
expressions, which signify one and the same thing, under dif
ferent considerations : when he saith that Christ now appears
in the presence of God for us, and that he offered himself to
God to put away sin by the sacrifixie of himself^. The former
e I Pet. i. l8, 19. ' Heb. ix. 24, 25, 26,
E 2

244 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
of which signifies the continuation of that which he began when
he first entered into the holy place with his blood which he had
shed for us. Then he presented his sacrifice unto God, (which
was the last part of his sacrifice,) which he stih continues to do
by appearing (as one sacrificed) in the presence of God for us,
that is, for the obtaining all that which his blood was shed to
procure to us.
These are points of such exceeding great moment in our
religion, that we ought to be the more careful to settle them in
our minds, because ah our comfort, all our security, our peace
and hope depend upon the sacrifice of Christ, and his eternal
priesthood. From whence flow the certainty of remission of
sin, of the grace of God's holy Spirit, and of our eternal re
demption, both in soul and body, from the power of hell and of
the grave by the resurrection from the dead unto endless bliss.
For which reason we ought to be the more cautious, lest we
fall into any mistakes about these matters, and beware of
giving entertainment to such notions as are injurious to these
two grand principles of our Christian faith, the sacrifice of
Christ, and his eternal priesthood ; which have been extremely
wrongly and sorely disgraced more ways than one, particularly
by the doctrine and practice of the Romish mass ; which it will
be useful briefly to demonstrate while these things remain fresh
in our minds, before I pass to the fourth general part of my
discourse. The church of Rome binds all her members, under pain of
eternal damnation, to beheve both that the very same body and
the very same blood which were once offered by Christ upon
the cross, are daily offered up to God by the mass priest, and
hkewise (as if this were not enough) that every such offering
made by the priest is a propitiatory sacrifice, nay, makes atone
ment as well for the dead as for the living.
Which is so directly contrary to the very scope and drift of
the apostle, both there and in many other places of this Epistle,
that if they had studied it on purpose, they could not have
framed a more manifest contradiction to his discourse ; for the
very sinews and strength of ah the apostle's arguments consist
in this, that the very best of the legal sacrifices were therefore
insufficient to take away sin, because they were to be per
petually repeated ; the greatest and most solemn of them every

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 245
year, many of them every day, and others as oft as particu
lar occasions required. Now, if Christ's sacrifice must of ne
cessity be thus repeated every day, who sees not that (if the
apostle argue weh,) it is not more sufficient than the legal, but
labours under the same imperfection, and could no more take
away sin than they did ? For if it could, why is it repeated ?
This is as strong an argument against it as the apostle frames
against the other, and either he concludes nothing against the
Jews, or this Romish doctrine is false, which makes his conclu
sion strike as home against Christianity.
This might serve for a short confutation of the sacrifices of
the mass, as they are commonly called ; but that you may see
our church was not rash in that sentence it hath pronounced
against these sacrifices, as " blasphemous fables, and dangerous
deceits g," I shall a little more distinctly unfold how contradictory
they are to the doctrine of the apostle which I have now de
livered, and that in these three regards : first, with regard to
the priest, viz. Christ, who offered for us ; secondly, with re
gard to the sacrifice which he offered, which was himself ; and
thirdly, with regard to the completeness of it, in that it was
sacrificed but once.
I. For the first of these, it appears sufficiently by what hath
been already said, that Christ is the only, the sole and per
petual priest of the New Testament, who alone offers a propi
tiatory sacrifice for us. In which his priesthood excels those of
old, that whereas they were many priests, we have but one,
who by himself alone expiates sin, being an immortal, eternal
High Priest, who hath no colleague to assist him, much less any
successor in his office to come after him, because he hath, as
the apostle expressly declares, a-napafiarov, an unchangeable
priesthood, or ' a priesthood which passeth not over to another,'
as the word is more literally translated in the margin of Heb.
vii. 24. A priesthood that indeed cannot pass over from him
to any successor, because he remains for ever himself, to do
the work of a priest for usv In this hes the force of the apo
stle's argument in that place, that the priesthood of the New
Testament belongs only to him who is immortal. For other
wise he had not estabhshed a necessary difference between the
priesthood of Christ and the priesthood of Aaron. The latter
s Article XXXI.

246 One Sacrifice. seem. xV.
of which by reason of death went from one to another, and
suffered not one and the same priest continually to enjoy his
office : but Christ continueth for ever ; and therefore his priest
hood abideth in himself alone, and is not transmitted to any
other : as much as to say, he is the only priest of the New
Testament, which St. Chrysostom'' concludes out of these words:
" As there were many priests because they were mortal, so
here is but one because be is immortal." This is a demonstra
tion that there are no such priests in the church as can offer
propitiatory sacrifices to God, for this belongs to Christ alone,
who is the sole Priest of the New Testament ; and they who in
our language are called by that name (viz. the ministers of
Christ in his church) derive it from another fountain, not from
the word which signifies a sacrifice, but from the word (pres
byter, whence our English name priest) which signifies an
elder, that is, one who orders and rules the church of Christ,
and ministers therein with authority according to his direc
tions. And now it may be fit to consider that if they whom Christ
hath appointed to minister in his church were priests, truly and
properly so called, it is very strange that they should never be
commended to us by this name in the holy Scriptures : but
whereas their office is described by great variety of names, yet
is this name never so much as once given to them in the Gos
pels, the Acts of the Apostles, their Epistles, or the Revela
tion. Is it reasonable to think that Christ appointed an order
of men to be very priests, with a commission from him to offer
such an excellent sacrifice, as the hke was never offered by any
priest but himself ; and he never give them this name, in this
sense, when so many other titles are given them, such as
bishops, or overseers, elders, rulers, shepherds, watchmen,
angels, ministers, stewards, servants, and such hke ? One would
rather conclude that the Holy Ghost, avoiding this name so
carefully, intended to shut the door against such pretences as
are now made by sacrificing priests, who, in truth, have nothing
to do in the house of God. For it is directly against Christ's
order, nay, against his office, for any man to go about to offer
a proper sacrifice for sin.
Much less can they offer Christ ; that is impossible to be done
h In Heb. vii. 24. [hom. xiii. tom. xii. p. 132 D.]

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 247
'^y ^"^y one but by himself. He alone would offer his own body
to God, and it would not have been efficacious if any person
had done it but himself.
And moreover there is this further consideration, which ut
terly destroys this fancy, that no sinner can offer this sacrifice,
or exercise this priesthood, for it is perfectly contrary to the
discourse of the apostle in Heb. vn. 26, 27 : For such an high
priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, made higher than the heavens ; who needeth not
daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for hi»
own sins, and then for the people : for this he did once, when
he offered up himself. None but such a priest as this can do
any service to make propitiation for us. One that hath no sin
of his own to offer for, that is undefiled and perfectly separate
from sinners ; made higher than the heavens, that is, none upon
earth, none but the Lord Jesus, whose priesthood is of that
high supereminent nature, that it can be exercised by none but
himself alone.
And if you observe it, you will find that the high priest was
ever either greater than the sacrifice, as in the legal offerings,
or at least equal to it in dignity, as in this sacrifice of Christ.
Now who dare say that the priest who officiates in the sacra
ment is either superior or equal to Christ ? who we may be sure
therefore is not offered up by him that ministers in sacrifice to
God, nor is he by the same reason a proper priest in that sense
wherein the priests of old and Christ were, who offered pro
pitiatory sacrifice for the sins of men.
That is the first thing.
2. And we may argue as strongly from the sacrifice itself as
from the priest, that it cannot be offered in the mass. For this
sacrifice is but one, as the priest is no more, and it is the priest
himself who was offered by himself in sacrifice, and cannot be
offered by any other, aS will appear by considering briefly, but
distinctly, wherein this sacrifice consisted, the entire essence of
which was made up of two parts. His passion and bloody-
death upon the cross, where he offered up himself for us, and
his presentation of this sacrifice in the heavenly sanctuary.
For after he had offered, he entered in with his own blood
into the holy place; as the apostle speaks, ix. 12, and proves
in the rest of that chapter, and in this, from that great and

248 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
solemn sacrifice which was offered every year by the high
priest under the law, with the blood of which, slain at the altar,
he went into the sanctuary, and sprinkled it before the mercy
seat. Now there is neither of those parts of Christ's sacrifice
in the Romish mass ; nor can there be either of them, neither
the bloody death of Christ, nor the presentation of it in the
heavens. And therefore it is impossible that the mass should
be the very same essential real sacrifice which Christ offered,
unless it be possible that a thing should be without its proper
being ; that there should be an whole entire thing without the
parts of which it consists, which is a palpable contradiction.
And the truth of it is, this doctrine is full of contradictions,
like that of transubstantiation, which is the foundation on which
it is built. But this one may suffice under this head, that there
can be no propitiation or remission of sin, without shedding of
blood ; for it is the express affirmation of the apostle in the 22nd
verse of the foregoing chapter. And there can be no shedding
of blood without suffering again. Now the Romish church itself
confesses that there is no shedding of blood in the sacrament,
nor doth Christ suffer again, (for they call this an unbloody
sacrifice,) and therefore with the same breath they confess that
there is no propitiatory sacrifice in the sacrament, because there
is no blood, without which there can be no propitiation.
As for the invention of an unbloody sacrifice, it is as contra
dictory to the apostle as all the rest. For he often makes
Christ's sacrifice and his passion, or shedding of blood, the very
same thing, and from thence concludes he did not offer him
self often, because he did not suffer often. Particularly chap. ix.
25, 26, &c.. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the
high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the
blood of others ; for then must he often have suffered since
the foundation of the world : but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. From whence it is evident, that if the apostle could
speak and reason aright, there is no sacrifice of Christ without
suffering, and consequently the unbloody sacrifice (which is a
sacrifice without suffering) is a mere imagination.
3. But the strongest confutation of all is contained in the
third thing I mentioned, viz. the perfection of Christ's sacrifice,
which consists in this, that it was but once offered, and thereby

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 249
perfected for ever them that are sanctified. From which the
apostle demonstrates the weakness and imperfection of all the
legal sacrifices ; that they were often offered, and never ceased
to be repeated. And we in hke manner conclude, that the mass
being celebrated every day innumerable times, nobody knows
how often, cannot be the very sacrifice which Christ offered.
For then the apostle did not say true, when he tells us it was
offered but once, nor did he argue well when he places the im
perfection of the legal sacrifices in this, that they were often
repeated ; because, according to the doctrine, Christ's sacrifice
must also be continually repeated, nay, oftener than the legal ;
and is no less imperfect than they were.
And here, having touched upon this before, let me only re
present to you (what a learned and pious doctor of our church i
hath observed long ago) how impossible it is to answer a Jew
who enters into a dispute against our rehgion, if this doctrine
of the Roman church be true. For thus he may reason ; " We
once had daily sacrifices as well as you, and our high priest
also went every year into the holy place with the blood of a
most solemn sacrifice, to make atonement for us. Now you
Christians teach your people that none of those would take
away sin, because your apostle says they were often offered,
which was a confession of their imperfection, for if sin had been
taken away by them, they would have ceased to have been
offered. But if this were a sufficient reason against our sacri
fices, it is as good against that which your High Priest offered,
which hath taken away sins no more than ours ; for if it did,
why do you repeat it often, and offer it daily, as our priests did
their sacrifices ? Either the principle of your apostle is not
true, or your present principles and practices are false and un
lawful. " Your priests stand daily ministering and offering the same
sacrifice that was offered by your great High Priest, which is
the thing your apostle objects against our sacrifices, to prove
them to be defective and insufficient. And therefore yours is
liable to the same exception, and according to your apostle's
argument against us, and your own practice among yourselves,
this sacrifice of Christ, which you say abolishes ours, can never
take away sins. For it is more the same sacrifice (according
> Dr. Jackson. [Comment, on the Creed, book x. chap.S4. vol. ix. p. 582.]

250 One Sacrifice.

SEEM. XV.

to your principles) than the sacrifices of the law were, a great
deal more the same ; and yet it is oftener repeated and offered
over and over again, in more places than any legal sacrifices
were." To this argument men may seek for an evasion, but it is im
possible to make a sohd reply. For if it be driven home, it
will prove the sacrifice of Christ to be more imperfect than those
under the law ; because the oftener this sacrifice is repeated, the
weaker and the more insufficient we must in reason think the
first offering of it to have been. For if repetition argue weak
ness and insufficiency, (as the apostle says it doth,) then the
more frequently the repetition is made, the greater it argues
the weakness of it to be. Now this sacrifice is repeated infi
nitely more frequently than the Jewish sacrifices were, being
offered, it is impossible to tell how many thousands or mhlions
of times every morning.
There were also a great many other considerations which
arise from thence, of which it is impossible to give any satis
factory account. I will mention no more than two.
First, it was never heard of that the blood of any sacrifice,
after it was carried by the high priest into the most holy place,
was brought out again to the altar to be offered there, as this
doctrine supposes the body and blood of Christ to be.
Secondly, if this could be done, who can conceive that the
precious body and blood of Christ should become more acceptable
with God, being upon a mass altar, than it is now at the right hand
of God, where he appears continually with his sacrifice in the
presence of God for us. And if it be not more acceptable, to
what purpose is it repeated ? and how can it become more
propitiatory when a sinner presents it, than when it is presented
by Christ himself?
What a strange thing it is to bring the Son of God himself
down from heaven for this purpose, that a man may offer him
again to God, as if he had not done it sufficiently himself, (and
then to desire an angel may carry him up again.) For so the
words of the prayer are in the mass ; unless we understand,
as I doubt not that they anciently did, by these gifts, which
they desire the angel may carry unto God, the bread and the
wine ; which destroys the whole doctrine of a proper sacrifice,
by taking away the matter of it, viz. the substance of Christ's

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 251
body and blood, which this sense of those words (and it is the
true one) supposes not to be there. And so to proceed to
the fourth and last thing wherein I have told you the super-
eminence of Christ's sacrifice and priesthood consists, ivhich my
text peculiarly mentions ; from whence the like inferences will
arise with those now named, against the pretended sacrifice of
the mass. IV.
It is this, that as Christ was both sacrifice and priest, so by
the sacrifice he offered he was consecrated to be both King and
Priest ; both those dignities were united in him, who was such
a sacrifice, that together with his eternal priesthood, he had all
power in heaven and earth bestowed upon him as the reward
of bis humbhng himself to death, even the death of the cross,
for our sakes. So St. Paul teaches in the second to the Phi
hppians, ver. 8, 9, lo ; and it is the great scope of this Epistle
to the Hebrews to show that he is a royal High Priest, an
High Priest with a kingly power ; whereby he is able himself
to dispense the virtue and benefits of his passion unto all
his faithful followers, who dutifully depend upon him, and
place their hopes and happiness on the favour of his inter
cession, and the blessings he is about thereby to bestow upon
them. And this particularly is the main scope of my text. But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat
down on the right hand of God ; the last words of which (sat
down at God's right hand) import these four things, which
make a very wide difference between him and the priest of
Aaron's line.
I. First, that he is such an High Priest, as not only went
into the holy place with the blood of his sacrifice, but continues
and stays there, and that as in his settled place of abode. The
high priest among the Jews would go indeed once in a year
(and no more) into the holy of holies; but he was to come out
again as soon as he had presented the blood of the sacrifice,
which he carried with him before the ark, which was the
throne of God ; and could not be permitted to stay there any
longer than till he had performed this service, for which he
was to return thither again the next year. But our great
High Priest is here described quite otherways, as one that upon

252 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
his going into the heavens (the true most holy place, where the
Divine Majesty indeed dwehs) sat down, in token of his abiding
there with God, and having no need to go out of the heavenly
sanctuary to sacrifice again for the sins of the people.
II. Which is the second thing imphed in these words, and
the necessary consequence of the former, that he is not to offer
sacrifice any more, but hath finished that work which he came
into the world to do, and is now at rest from his labours, which
is betokened by his sitting down, after the manner of those who
have done their business ; and his business being sacrificing, it
was hereby declared to be at an end, and so concluded that
nothing more of this kind was to be performed for the expiation
of sins. For
III. It is here imphed that he had made a full and perfect
satisfaction for the sins of the world ; else God would not have
honoured him with an exaltation to a place so high and so near
himself at his own right hand. Though resting there betokens
such a cessation from the work he had undertaken in the behalf
of mankind, as both assures us he had no more to do, and that
God was fully satisfied with what he had done. For he for
ever sat down on the right hand of God. From every one of
which particulars we have the most evident demonstrations,
that the sacrifice which is pretended to be made of Christ con
tinually in the mass is a mere figment.
For this would be to bring him every day out of the hea
venly sanctuary, directly against the first thing here expressly
asserted, that he sat down when he entered into it, not to come
out again to be sacrificed any more.
Which, secondly, destroys the excehency of Christ's sacrifice
by the perpetual repetition of it; after the manner of the
Aaronical priests, who were continuahy offering the same sacri
fices (ver. Il), and yet had not effected what they intended.
Nothing can be a greater disparagement to Christ's sacrifice, if
it must be thus continually offered, though the same sacrifice.
For it directly crosses the apostie's discourse in my text, (which
is the reason I again mention it,) wherein he shows that every
priest under tlie law stood daily ministering, and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifice. But this man, (or this priest,)
afier he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down,
Src. : that he was not to offer any more, no, not the same sacri-

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 253
fice, having for ever done the business for which sacrifices were
offered by his one sacrifice for sins, and by one single offering
of that sacrifice. So the apostle is to be understood, it is
evident by the disparity which he observes between this and
the sacrifices of other priests. They offered the same sacrifices
continually, but he offered only one sacrifice, never to be
offered again, because of its eternal virtue, implied in the word
for ever.
Therefore there is no way for the usual evasion of those who
maintain the sacrifice of the mass ; which they say does not
suppose the sacrifice on the cross to be imperfect, because this
in the mass is not another sacrifice, but the very same with
that which Christ then offered. For if this be supposed, the
apostle did not reason aright when he here argues against the
repetition, even of the same sacrifices, as a sign of their imper
fection ; and upon that account saith that Christ is no more
sacrificed, because his one sacrifice is sufficient for ever, which
he affirms again, ver. 14, By one offering he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified. And indeed the repetition of
the same sacrifice for sin doth as much argue it hath not, by
once using it, cured the disease for which it was administered.
Which is a manifest dishonour to the sacrifice of Christ ; as
if it had not perfectly given satisfaction to God, For if it have,
(which is the last of the three things now mentioned,) then it
need not, no, it ought not to be again sacrificed as a propitiation
for those sins which it hath already purged and done away.
The usual shift for the putting by the force of this argument
will be taken away by the next thing I have to add for the
explication of my text.
IV. The fourth and principal thing herein plainly asserted
is, that Christ is such a Priest as hath all power in heaven and
earth; a Priest with royal dignity and authority, which is
imphed in his sitting at the right hand of God. For that is as
much as to say, he is advanced to the highest degree of glory
and power, and hath the management of all the affairs of man
kind, nay, of the whole world, as the supreme Governor under
God the Father of ah, and therefore is caUed the Lord of all,
the heir of all things.
This is the chief difference between , him and the priests of
old, who, when they went into the holy place, only stood

254 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
before the throne of God as ministers and servants of his, who
were appointed by him to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice
before the mercy-seat. But our great High Priest Christ
Jesus, having presented his own blood in the heavens, sat
down, and that in no meaner place than next to the Divine
Majesty. This opposition is manifest unto those who attend to my
text and the words foregoing, comparing them together. Every
priest, saith the apostle, ver. 1 1, standeth, (that was the posture
of the priests of Aaron's line in all their services '',) ministering
and offering oftentimes, ^c. : but this man, or this priest,
having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down for ever, 8fc. ;
which denotes him to be more than a minister in the heavenly
sanctuary, (as the apostle calls him',) having now ended ah his
ministration in the form of a servant, and being exalted to the
office of a King, and made such a copartner with God the
Father in his kingdom, that he hath committed all judgment to
our Saviour, and given him to have life in himself; and made
him the Author of eternal salvation to them that obey him.
This is the height of his priesthood, the very sum of what
the apostle had to say in this matter, as he speaks viii. i , Now
of the things we have spoken this is the sum : We have such an
High Priest, who is set on the right liand of the throne of the
Majesty in tlie heavens : such an High Priest as hath power to
apply the merits of his sacrifice, and bestow the blessings he
thereby procures for us.
Which overthrows the pretensions of those who say the
sacrifice of the mass is necessary for the application of the
merit and virtue of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, which is a
medicine indeed powerful enough, but will not work, say they,
no more than any other medicine, unless it be applied to us,
which is done by the sacrifice of the mass. For as this goodly
contrivance is a downright absurdity, (being as much as to say,
that a sacrifice of propitiation is applied to us by a sacrifice of
propitiation, a satisfaction by a satisfaction, nay, by the same
satisfaction made over and over again,) so it is against the evident
scope of the apostle in this discourse, which is to show that
Christ himself, appearing continually in the presence of God as
sacrificed for us, hath full and absolute power by one perpetual
^ Psalm cxxxiv. i. ' Heb. viii. 2.

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 255
continuation of his sacrifice offered for us in the heavens, to
apply the fruit and benefit of it to us, especially when we wor
thily commemorate it, and represent to God what he hath done
for us, with a lively faith and ardent love. By these we apply
ourselves to him, in the use of this holy means which he has
ordained for all, the blessed effects of his sacrifice, which con
tinues for ever in the heavens in full force, and is imparted to
those by his royal power who seek the favour of God through
his one sacrifice alone, in the way that he hath appointed.
That is, the holy communion is instituted as a means by which,
if we have a lively faith in him, he himself applies to us the
everlasting efficacy of his sacrifice out of the heavens, from
whence he dispenses himself unto all his faithful worshippers.
And to feign any other apphcation of it, by a renewed sacri
fice here upon earth, is the greatest disgrace that can be to the
continuance of it in the heavens, and to his Almighty power at
God's right hand, to communicate the virtue of it unto us, by
working faith in us, and by converting us unto God, that he
may make us capable of the benefit of his redemption ; and by
pleading his victorious sacrifice for us when we are converted,
that our sins may be actually forgiven us, and we may have
right to eternal salvation.
Whence it is that as an High Priest in the heavens he is
said to make reconciliation for the sins of the people^, which he
doth as our intercessor with God, by virtue of his blood com
mending us and all our concerns unto him, especially our
prayers for remission of sin, and for a power to obey him, that
we may find mercy with him ¦". And never are our prayers
more likely to be heard than when we piously celebrate the
memory of his bloody sacrifice in the communion of his body
and blood ; which is so cahed, because we therein communicate
with him in his death and passion, and are made partakers of
his sacrifice which he offered for us, and of the benefits of his
intercession on our behalf. Which intercession is nothing else
but his continued sacrifice in the heavens, wherewith he appears
in the presence of God for us.
APPLICATION.
Now what a singular favour and comfort is this, (if we rightly
iHeb, u, 17, m Heb. iv, 15, 16,

256 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
understand it,) that we may all have access to God with the
highest confidence ; and draw nigh to his altar (which the
priests of old only did) as so many priests and kings unto God,
who have the freest liberty to approach him with assured hope
he will graciously accept of such poor oblations as we are able
to make him, nay, that we shall prevail for further blessings,
even all the grace we stand in need of for our eternal salva
tion, through this powerful priesthood of Christ Jesus whereof
I have been treating.
For he is as able as he is wilhng to bless us. Able, because
he is the Prince of hfe; and willing, because he is our High
Priest ; made compassionate also by his own sufferings, and by
being a sacrifice for us.
How joyfully should we draw nigh to God at all times, if we
be of this belief ! How readily should we embrace all occasions of
assembling ourselves together, especially at the holy commu
nion ! Where, though there be no proper and propitiatory sa
crifice offered for us, yet there is a commemoration made of
that very sacrifice which Christ hath already offered, and con
tinues for ever in the heavens. Which the ancient Christians
therefore called a sacrifice, because this commemoration is
made with the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and the
oblation of our souls and bodies to God, made acceptable to
him by the sacrifice of Christ, which we commemorate, and
which he continually presents before God in the heavens.
These things are very different, to say that the sacrament is
a sacrifice, and to say that Christ is therein properly sacrificed.
For the commemoration of another sacrifice may be truly a
sacrifice, as a representation of that sacrifice unto God, whereby
we supplicate his grace and favour. And so is the sacrament
of Christ's body and blood ; not a mere representation of it
unto us, but a representation of it also unto God. Unto him
this action is directed as a thankful commemoration, which we
make to him of what his Son hath suffered for us ; whereby
we put him in mind of his passion, by setting the monuments
thereof before him, and entreating him for the sake of his
sacrifice of himself to be propitious to us miserable sinners.
This is the very end and intention of his sacrament, to be
seech the Father of mercies, that by this commemoration of
Christ's sacrifice upon the cross, our sacrifice of prayer and

SEEM. XV, One Sacrifice. 267
thanksgiving with the oblation of ourselves, may be accepted
with him through the powerful intercession of our Lord Jesus
Christ for us, which he makes by his continued appearing be
fore God for us as our sacrifice,
Christ is here commemorated and received by us for the
same end for which he was given and suffered for us ; which
was, that through him we receiving forgiveness of sins may
have all our services accepted by God the Father, who hath
that very sacrifice continually before him in the heavens which
he hath commanded us to commemorate upon earth; not to
offer up Christ again, (that is impossible,) but to offer up the
sacrifices before mentioned with this commemoration, as a means
of having communion with Christ in that sacrifice which con
tinues for ever in heaven.
He reads the gospel with strange prejudices, who thinks he
sees more than this in the sacrament of Christ's body and
blood. The very institution of which is a sufficient confutation
of the sacrifice of the mass. For there is not the least men
tion in the institution of this sacrament, either of a sacrifice or
of a priesthood, unless it be in those words, which was broken
for you, and which was shed for many for the remission of
sins. And they relate to the death and passion of Christ upon
the cross where he shed his blood, which the church of Rome
confesses is not shed in this pretended sacrifice ; which there
fore hath no foundation in Christ's institution.
Now there can be no sacrifice unless instituted by Christ ;
for they themselves confess it is not in the power of the church
to ordain a sacrifice ; and in Christ's words or actions, when he
instituted the sacrament, there is not so much as a shadow of
a sacrifice ordained by him. As I might show more largely,
if I had time, and if there needed any further confutation of
this imaginary sacrifice.
Which is a new conceit (in comparison) in that very church
which now contends so earnestly about it. For Gabriel Biel
(who wrote not much above two hundred years ago several
lectures upon the mass) honestly declares that their meaning
then was, when they said Christ was offered in the sacrament,
first, that there was a representation and a memorial of the
true sacrifice made by Christ upon the cross ; secondly, that
this memorial makes us partakers of the same. Nay, Petei-
PATEICK, A^OL. VIII. **

258 One Sacrifice. seem. xv.
Lombard himself (many yeairs before that) putting this ques
tion, Whether that which the priest doth may properly be called
a sacrifice, makes this answer" : " To this may be said briefly,
that which is offered and consecrated by the priest is called a
sacrifice and oblation, because it is the remembrance and repre
sentation of the true sacrifice and holy oblation which was
made upon the altar of the cross ;" which being a plain con
fession it is not the very sacrifice which Christ made, but the
remembrance and representation of it, we may certainly con
clude also, that if there remain no sacrifice in the church, (in
the proper and natural sense of the word,) as this master
teaches, then there can be no priests remaining properly so
called. For such as the kind of sacrifice is, such is also the
kind of priesthood. If the sacrifice be not a sacrifice properly,
the priesthood cannot be so but only in a figurative and im
proper manner of speech.
And indeed the whole discourse I have made concerning the
royal priesthood of Christ utterly destroys the Romish notion
of priesthood, which they say consists in offering proper sacri
fice. For if we demand by what authority they do this ? who
called them to this office, of what order of priests they are ?
after the order of Aaron or of Melchisedec ? it is not possible for
them to give a tolerable answer. They are not of Aaron's
order, (they themselves confess,) for so Christ was not a priest ;
and of Melchisedec's order they cannot be ; for this priesthood
having inseparably a kingdom annexed to it, it must necessarily
follow they are kings as well as priests, and that properly ;
which, as one of our authors" said long ago, would be a very
proper thing indeed.
I conclude this in a few words ; the reasons which were an
ciently given why the sacrament is called a sacrifice were these.
First, because it hath a resemblance of the true and real sacri
fice upon the holy cross, which is here commemorated, (and it
is a common way of speaking, as St. Austin P shows, to cah the
signs and resemblances of things by the names of the things
of which they are figures.) Secondly, because it communicates
to us in the due commemoration of it, the effects of the true
n Lib.iv. Distinct, xii. [quaest. 7. queest. i. tom. ii. pp. 523, 524.]
0pp. tom. ii. col. 866.] P [Epist. xcviii. tom. ii. col. 267.]
o Dr. Whitaker. [Controv. iv.

seem. XV. One Sacrifice. 259
and real death and sacrifice of Christ. Both which we stead
fastly believe, and give God thanks for making us partakers,
by this means, of the death of his Son. And we are wihing to
allow a third reason why it is called a sacrifice, because in this
commemoration there is an offering and presenting of Christ
and of his passion unto God, by the faith of holy communi
cants ; who beseech God for the sake of it to grant them re
mission of sins, and all other benefits of his passion.
And this is a sacrifice peculiar to Christian people, who offer
this commemoration as a sacrifice distinct from all the rest of
mankind, devoting themselves in a more solemn manner unto
God's faithful service ; and in a peculiar way proper to them
alone, deprecating his divine displeasure and supplicating his
grace and favour.
How carefully then ought we to improve such holy oppor
tunities ; exciting our faith in God our Saviour, inflaming our
love, encouraging our hope, and raising our joy by recounting
the blessings we have already received from him, and all those
which we still expect from his incomparable bounty and uncon
trollable power.
We have the greatest reason, if we understand our religion,
silently to applaud our happiness, (if I may so speak,) in being
called to be of the household of faith and of the family of God ;
over which he hath set such a great High Priest, as I have de
scribed. Under whose care we are, and who is so full of pity
and commiseration, so wise to discern what is good for us, so
gracious and inclinable to relieve us, so just to his word, so
faithful to his office, so holy and without spot in his nature, so
absolute in his dominion over all creatures that may either
hurt or pleasure us, so powerful to execute the desires of his
will, so settled in his power at God's right hand, that none can
put him out of his throne, nor pluck his sheep out of his hand,
so watchful over his flock, and withal eternal in his love, and of
an everlasting strength.
If these things be not sufficient to comfort us under ah the
troubles of this life, and under ah the trouble and anguish of
our consciences also, we must remain for ever (but it wih be our
own fault) without satisfaction. Did we consider indeed only
our own meanness in respect of the incomprehensible majesty of
God, it might sink us into the most melancholy thoughts, and
S 2

260 Onv Sacrifice. sEem. xV.
make us doubt of his love, and suspect he would never be re
conciled to such insolent offenders as dared lift up themselves
against the Most High. But when we believe that God in his
infinite love hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, and
sent him to die for us, and e.\;alted our nature in his person at
his own right hand, where he lives for evermore to make inter
cession for us by the power of his everlasting priesthood, and in
the virtue of his all-sufficient sacrifice, especially when we most
thankfully cominemorato it; there needs no more to be done to
give us assurance of all that we can desire from his goodness.
Which we extremely dishonour if we pretend there can be no
peace and reconciliation with him, unless the Son of God be in
the substance of his body and blood sacrificed every day here
upon earth for the propitiation of our sins.
They that infuse sucli fancies into men's souls apparently
disparage, as I have shown, the sovereign priesthood of Christ
at the right hand of God, and the everlasting efficacy of his
one all-sufficient sacrifice, once offered to purge us from all
sin. For the partaking of which let us dispose ourselves by
making him that oblation which will quahfy us to offer all the
rest acceptably to him, and to receive the entire benefit of his
satisfaction and intercession; viz. the oblation of ourselves, souls
and bodies, to his service.
Which is the very first and immediate inference, you may
observe, that the apostle makes from his long discourse con
cerning the excellence of Christ's sacrifice and priesthood in
ver. ig, 20, 31, 22, below my text. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, &c.,
and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw
near with a true heart, (i. e. a sincere desire and purpose in
all things to please God,) in full assurance of faith, nothing
doubting, that is, of the truth of the Christian religion, and
particularly of the authority of the Lord Jesus as our royal
High Priest in the heavens; having onr hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, (i. e. not being conscious to ourselves
of any secret sins to which we are indulgent, though the world
sees them not,) ami having our bodies washM with pure
water, (i. e. our lives and conver.sations holy and without ble
mish, according to tiie profession we made in baptism, and the

SEEM. XV. One Sacrifice. 261
instructions we have since received out of the gospel of Christ.)
For we are sanctified with the washing of water by the word.
saith St. Paul P. Let us hold the profession of our faith with
out wavering ; resolve, that is, to adhere unto Christ, in a con
stant belief and profession of the power of his one sacrifice once
offered for our sins, and of his power at the right hand of God
to make us partakers thereof, which he will certainly do if we
walk in the light as God is in the light ; for then we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sinl. He will cleanse us, if we
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, per
fecting holiness in the fear of God". Which is the same with
the apostle's language in the words before alleged, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water. A plain allusion to the custom
among the Jews, who, if they had touched any impure thing
forbidden by the law of ceremonies, were first to wash them
selves, and so approach to the sanctuary ; which was but a
figure of that purity, not only in our outward actions, but in
our hearts and consciences, wherewith all Christian worshippers
ought to address themselves to the Father of mercies, through
the intercession of their great High Priest Christ Jesus, who
by his one sacrifice continued for ever in the heavens will pro
cure them acceptance, and present them and all their sacrifices
as well pleasing to God, and will bless them out of the high
and holy place where he lives continually, and at last present
them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding
joy '. Amen.
P Ephes. V. 26. 1 I John i. 7. "2 Cor vii. i. ^ [Jude 24.]

A SEEMON
AGAINST CENSURING.

PEEACHED

AT ST. PAUL'S, COVENT GARDEN,
ON THE THIED SUNDAY IN ADVENT, 1688.

A SERMON AGAINST CENSURING.

1 CoE. iv. 5.
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until
the Lord come.
In these words there is a double supposition, and thereupon
a weighty inference.
The suppositions are, first, that there will be another advent
or coming of our Lord, besides that which we now commemo
rate, when he appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Secondly, that the end and intention of his second coming is
to judge us, as the foregoing words tell us : He that judgeth me
is the Lord ; therefore let none of you be so bold as to judge
before the time, until the Lord come, whose proper business it
is to judge others.
That is the inference he makes from those two known
doctrines. Since the Lord will come again on purpose to judge
us all, let not us take upon us to prejudge one another, but
suspend our censures till he come to judgment.
The suppositions are so well understood, and I hope so stead
fastly beheved, that I need not go about to prove them. They
are among the first principles or elements of the doctrine of
Christ, and it is a shame to be continually laying again the
foundation (as it is called, Heb. vi. i, 2) of the resurrection of
the dead, and of eternal judgment ; the belief of which we
own by professing the Christian religion, which, in opposition to
the Jewish pedagogy, is thus described in the same epistle,
Heb. xii. 22, 23 ; We are not come to mount Sinai, (such a
dispensation, that is, as that of Moses, whose law was given
upon that mount,) but we are come to mount Sion, to the city

266 A sernwn against cenfniring. seem. xvi.
of tlie lluing God, and to God the judge of all : as much as to
say. When we are made members of the Christian church,
(figured by mount Sion and Jerusalem,) we acknowledge God
to be the Judge ; first, of all things, not only the outward
actions, which the Mosaical law chiefly regulated, but even the
thoughts and counsels of the heart : and secondly, of all per
sons, not only Jews, but the whole Gentile world, of whatsoever
rank or condition they be ; who shall be called to an account
for all things whatsoever, open or secret, known or concealed ;
and accordingly receive their doom from the almighty and
righteous Judge of the world.
Let me only therefore remember you, that it is necessary to
keep these great confessed truths continually in mind, and carry
this sense about with us every where, that there will be a day
when the Lord Jesus who came in the form of a servant, to
visit us in great humility, to give us his laws, and to die for
our sins, will come again in glorious majesty, not as a servant,
but as a sovereign, attended with all the host of heaven, to call
us before him, and examine how his laws have been observed
by us, and what fruit there hath been of his shedding his pre
cious blood for us.
This if we thought of daily, with a lively belief that, as he is
a most impartial Judge, so the greatest secrets cannot be con
cealed from his knowledge ; it would move us to observe all
his laws with the greatest care and dihgence ; because he will
certainly and unavoidably sentence those to the heaviest punish
ments, who contemn his authority by the violation of any of
them, particularly this in my text, which the apostle infers from
those principles, not to judge any thing before the time, but to
leave all to the judgment of the Lord.
For the understanding of which it will be necessary to do
these three things:
First, to show what it is to judge.
Secondly, how the apostle is to be understood, when he saith.
Judge nothing.
Thirdly, what the reasons and grounds are upon which this
precept stands, in the right sense and meaning of it.
I.
For the first of these, to judge sometimes signifies no more

SEEM. XVI. A sermon against cen.wring. 267
than to make such a difference in our thoughts between one
thing and another, when they are presented to our under
standings, as our reason shows us there is in the things them
selves. To discern, for instance, between truth and falsehood,
so as to approve the one and to reject the other ; in which
sense we ought to judge every thing, and to admit nothing till
we see good reason to entertain it : for it is a Christian virtue
to make a discrimination between good and bad, true and false ;
and as we find things upon examination, so to determine whe
ther they are to be received or rejected.
And therefore the apostle's meaning cannot be to forbid us
to judge, in this sense of the word, for he himself saith in this
very Epistle, chap. x. 1 5, 1 speak as to wise men, judge ye what
I say, 1. e. I desire not to be believed if I speak not reason
which you understand, and therefore I leave it to yourselves to
determine, upon serious consideration, whether I speak not the
truth. And again, chap. xi. 13, Judge in yourselves, is it
comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered ? i. e. I need
say no more, for you can resolve what is fit in this matter, if
you please to consult with your own sober thoughts.
We must find then another sense of the word judge, which
is this :
2. To pass sentence upon other men's actions or qualities,
pronouncing them either good or bad. And thus the apostle
uses the word in the two verses immediately preceding my text,
verse 3, But with me it is a small matter that I should be
judged of you, or of man's judgment ; that is, I make no great
account what opinion you or anybody else hath of my fidehty
in the stewardship committed to me, (mentioned verse 2,) of
dispensing the mysteries of the gospel of Christ ; for whether
you judge well or ill of me, you may be mistaken, and therefore
I am not much concerned about it ; yea, I judge not my own
self; that is, I do not absolutely depend upon my own opinion
of my fidelity, though I cannot but know myself better than
any one else can do, because I may overlook many things which
the Lord sees, and so think better of myself than I deserve.
And therefore, (as it follows, verse 4,) though I know nothing
by myself, yet I am not thereby justified ; for he that judgeth
me is the Lorrl ¦ it is not as others judge of us, or as we judge
of ourselves, but as the Lord, who cannot be deceived, shall

^68 A M'nnon againat censuring. seem. xvi.
judge. In all which discourse judging is passing a sentence,
either for or against another person, either to acquit and clear
him, or to censure and condemn him. And thus it is frequently
used in other places, particularly for passing a sentence of con
demnation upon others, accusing them as guilty, and censuring
them to be worthy of punishment. For example. Let not him
that eateth desjiise him that eateth not ; and let not him that
eateth not judge him that eateth ^, that is, condemn him of
profaneness or contempt of God's laws, in taking his liberty of
eating any thing without distinction of meats : and verse 4,
Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? that is,
condemnest him over whom thou hast no jurisdiction ?
And thus it is to be understood in my text for censuring and
condemning others ; which is an office that belongs not to us,
who seldom have a sufficient cognizance of their case.
Which may be done either inwardly in our own thoughts,
or outwardly also in our words and speeches, whereby we pro
nounce the sentence which our mind hath passed upon them ;
between which two (inward and outward censures of others)
there is no small difference ; and therefore this is a distinction
which ought to be carefully observed, because it may be lawful
to pass a judgment upon men's actions in our own thoughts,
when we ought not to signify it to others by our words. For
first, the persons upon whom we pass a judgment may be so
much superior to us in dignity and authority, or they may
excel in so many eminent virtues, and do so much good to the
world, that it may not be fit for us to speak of every thing we
see amiss in them, which we may truly judge in our minds to
be faults : or secondly, the company to whom we speak may be
such as will not make a good use of our judgment, but a bad ;
which is a just cause why we should forbear to declare our
judgment, whatsoever we may justly think in our own breasts :
or thirdly, the thing itself, which we cannot but condemn, may
be of such a nature, and done so secretly, that it will be a
breach of charity to speak of it unto any but him that is guilty
of it.
Now the word judge being thus explained, I proceed to the
second thing. * Rom. xiv. 3.

SEEM. XVI. A sermon against censuring. 269
II.
How the apostle is to be understood, when he saith. Judge
nothing : for it may seem an impossible precept, seeing there
are many things which ought to be condemned, and many per
sons who are apparently guilty of them. We must therefore
understand him with some hniitations, that we may make a
wise judgment concerning judging other men, and not let all
things they do pass without censure, because we are bound in
some cases not to censure them at all.
And for our clearer information, I shah show, first, what
judgment is not here forbidden; secondly, what is.
First, with respect to the former of these, I shall only put
you in mind of these three things.
I. That public judgments and judicial censures are not here
condemned, for they have the divine authority to warrant
them, and human societies cannot subsist without them : there
fore let none imagine there is any thing in these words either
forbidding a Christian to be a magistrate, or forbidding a
magistrate to judge and condemn evil things and evil-doers.
For as magistracy is God's ordinance for the good of mankind,
so it is the duty of every magistrate to condemn and punish
such as do evil ; being sent or commissioned by God for the
punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do
well^. They do ill then that censure and condemn this office,
or those that execute it; for it is that which all men do in their
own families, where, having authority as parents, or masters,
they correct what is done amiss.
2, And as there is nothing in these words forbidding magis
trates to exercise their office, so they contain no prohibition
unto private persons either to form an opinion concerning
others in their mind, upon the serious observation of the course
of their actions, or to reprove and rebuke each other for their
sin, according to the rules of truth and charity : for it is neces
sary to form a judgment concerning others in our minds, that
we may avoid the company of evil men, and preserve ourselves
from the danger of their contagion : and charity being the sum
of all our duty to our neighbour, prudent and seasonable re
proof is often the greatest charity we can bestow upon them.
b I Pet. ii. 14.

270 A sermon against censuring. seem. xvi.
Let the righteous smite me, (saith David,) and it shall be a
kindness ; and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil
which shall not break my head".
3. And as we may thus judge men to be worthy of reproof,
and take upon us to tell them of their faults, so there is nothing
in these words forbidding us to speak of them unto others in their
absence, especially when they are not amended by private re
proof; provided, first, that we sincerely design the good of
those to whom we declare our mind concerning them ; and,
secondly, that we say no more than is necessary to forewarn
their neighbours, lest they be misled and infected by them. We
must not blacken them more than needs, much less make them
worse than they are; but only give such a just character of
them as may serve for a caution to those who otherwise may
be in danger to be inveigled by them into their evil courses.
Thus our Lord bids his disciples beware of the scribes, who
looked demurely, and behaved themselves gravely, and made a
show of great piety in their long prayers, that they might be
the less suspected of bad designs, and the more securely deceive
such as trusted to their honesty ''. And thus St. Paul bids the
Ephesians have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove tliem^ ; that is, detect them, and
declare against them.
II. These things therefore being not forbidden in these
words, let us now consider what judgment or censure is for
bidden. I. And this is certain, that we ought not to judge such
things to be sin, nor censure and condemn others upon the
account of such things as the law of God doth not condemn ;
for to censure those things as unlawful which the law of God
hath not forbidden, is in truth to judge and condemn the law
itself as an imperfect and defective rule of our actions ; which
is the censure St. James passes upon this practice in those
known words of his, He that speaketh evil of his brother, and
judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the
law^. Which cannot be meant of any other evil-speaking and
judging but this ; when a man censures and condemns his bro
ther, where the law doth not censure and condemn what he
c Psalm oxli. 5. '' Luke xx. 46, 47. « Ephes. v. n. ' James iv. 11.

SEEM. XVI, A sermon against censuring. 271
doth. Whosoever thus judges his brother doth really and
truly argue the law of Christ to be wanting in something,
which ought to have been prescribed by it. Instead of con
forming himself to it, he takes upon him to be a corrector of it,
and to make supplements to it ; as if it were an insufficient
direction to us without his additions : which is the meaning of
the next words ; But if thou judge the law, thou art not a
doer of the law, but a judge. Let such men consider that
there is but one lawgiver, (as it follows, ver. 1 2,) who is able
to save or destroy. Who art thou that judgest another ? for
such things, that is, as the law of Christ doth not condemn ?
Who gave thee authority to pronounce first peremptory sen
tences upon thy brethren, when thou art not appointed by God
to be either a lawgiver or a judge of others, especially of such
as do not break any law of Christ ?
2. As we ought not to judge, that is, condemn men for such
things as the law doth not condemn ; so in matters of dispute
and controversy, where the law is doubtful, or not clear to
many good men, we ought to forbear judging those who are
not of our mind, or act not as we do, if otherwise they do well.
This was a famous case in the apostle's days, when there arose
a question, whether the law of Moses should be observed by
the disciples of Christ, The apostles said no, because our
Lord had abolished it, and left men at hberty to eat, for in
stance, any meat whatsoever, if they were but thankful and
temperate. But the Jewish Christians generally maintained it
was still in force ; and therefore judged all those to be impious
who did not observe his rites and ceremonies. This was a high
charge, for which St. Paul in many places reproves them, as
going about ignorantly to abolish the law of Christ, whilst
they endeavoured to estabhsh that of Moses : particularly in
Romans xiv. 3, he tells them, it became such as were weak in
the faith to be so humble as not to judge those who made no
difference of meats, which Christ, they steadfastly believed,
had made common. Though their ignorance made them scru
pulous, it ought not to have made them censorious ; especially
in such a case, where men followed Christ rather than Moses.
Which some think is the meaning of St. James (whose Epistle
is written to the Jeivish Christians) in the place before named,
He that judgeth his brother (about such matters as I now

272 A sermon against censuring. seem. xvi.
mentioned) judgeth the laws, i. e. the gospel of Christ, called
in that Epistle the royal law, the laiv of liberty, and the per
fect law of liberty \ which absolved them from such obh
gations. And if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of
the law, but a judge ; that is, takest upon thee the office of
Christ, to enact those things again into a law which he hath
abohshed. What a presumption is this ! When there is but one
lawgiver, who is able to save and destroy, who art thou that
judgest another ? That is, whatsoever you may fancy, there is
but one to whose laws we ought to be subject, and that is not
Moses, but Christ, to -whom alone belongs the power of hfe
and death. You may take this authority upon you, if you
please, of passing sentences of condemnation upon your bre
thren, but they are of no force ; it being out of any man's
power to do those any hurt whose innocent liberty he con
demns, or to do those any good, who comply never so far with
his scrupulosity. And what the apostles say in this case may
be applied to all other wherein good men differ ; and both
sides think with a great deal of reason. They that have most
reason must not yield to the temptation they have to contemn
the others' needless scrupulosity ; and they that have least
must not condemn those, as they are too prone, who take the
liberty they dare not use. If both sides think, as they do
commonly, that they have equal reason, then there is no more
reason for the one to judge the other, than for the other to
judge him : but they ought mutually to abstain from all cen
sures of each other's principles or actions,
3, As we ought not to condemn one another in matters
doubtful, so much less ought we to pass our judgment upon
things that are quite out of the compass of our knowledge.
The secrets of men's hearts do not fall within our cognizance,
but only as they discover themselves by outward acts ; which
sometimes may not be good, and yet not proceed from such ill
intentions as we may be apt to imagine. In this therefore we
ought to be very scrupulous how we judge others to be men of
evil designs, whose ih actions will admit of a more favourable
interpretation. But when men do good things, it is the highest
presumption to judge they are not done with a good mind.
e James iv, 11, 12. '' James ii. 8,12; i. 25.

SEEM. XVI. A sermon against censuring. 273
This is to pretend to know the hearts of men, into which none
can see but God alone. And therefore we must not condemn
men of hypocrisy when their actions do not declare it ; but
refer that to the cognizance of our Lord, who, as it follows
after my text, will bring to light the hidden things of dark
ness ; that is, discover the inward intentions and purposes of
men's souls, and all the close wickedness which was contrived
there : and then every man shall have p-aise of God. That
is, if he did weU, with a good mind, sincerely and heartily, he
shaU receive commendation ; but otherwise, disgrace, and
shame, and confusion of face, for being so wicked as to imagine
our Lord could see only the outside of things, and be deceived
by fair appearances.
IV. In things which fall within the compass of our knowledge,
we must take care not to judge either falsely, or rashly, or
hypocritically. Under these three are comprehended most of
the common censures which men are wont to pass upon others.
I. And then we judge falsely, when we charge another
person with that of which we know he is not guilty ; which is
so great a sin, that it can scarce be committed without the help
of other sins, which throw men into it; such as secret hatred,
envy, wrath, revenge for former injuries or offences. But
whencesoever it proceeds, it is an high piece of injustice ;
which, as we ought at all times carefully to avoid, so then
especially when we undertake to be judges.
3. Rash judgment is when we charge others with such things
as we know to be but rumours and suspicions ; or which we
have only some shght reason to believe. This forward haste
to be passing our judgment upon men, though we be well in
formed, is to be corrected ; especially when we declare it upon all
occasions, or perhaps without any occasion : but to do this before
we be well informed, or have duly considered, is very vicious; and
is one of the bad dispositions of mind which lead us to judge
the actions of others to proceed from worse principles and
ends than really they do.
Thus men are sometimes rashly accused of covetousness,
upon the account of such actions as were the effect of caution,
not to bestow their charity amiss. Others are charged with
pride, and neglect of company, with whom their discretion
taught them not to be too familiar. Ambition, and courting
PATEICK, vol. viii. T

274 A sermon against censuring. seem. xvi.
the favour of great men, is laid to the charge of those who
thought of nothing but only to please God, in doing that which
proves also pleasing unto them. And on the contrary, cross
ness and perverseness is charged on those who cannot comply
with others for fear of offending God. Nothing is more com
mon than to call that wilfulness, which, perhaps, is only weak
ness ; and to condemn that as wickedness which was no more
than ignorance or imprudence. And thus whole sects and
parties condemn one another in the lump, before they know
their circumstances, particularly what advantages they have
had or wanted of right information.
In such things, which are not very evident, we ought to
suspend our judgment ; or rather err on the other side, by
judging well of others, which is the virtue we call candour,
which argues much wisdom, and no less charity; at least, a
great deal of good nature.
3. The last thing of this kind, which I called hypocritical
judgment, is when men charge others truly and justly with
such bad things as they have really committed ; but neither
out of dishke to the sins which they condemn, nor with any
design to do good, either to the guilty persons, or any other ;
but merely to gratify their own spleen, or arrogance, or such
like bad affections ; to which our Saviour seems to have had some
respect, when he said. Judge not, that ye be not judged'^; for
it follows immediately. Why beholdest thou the mote that is
in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in
thine own eye ? And he calls this, in effect, an hypocritical
judgment, when he adds. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the
beam out of thine own eye ; and then shalt thou see clearly to
cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. If it be hypocrisy
to find out smaller faults in others sooner than greater in
oneself, it is much more so to discover any fault whatsoever,
merely to please some bad affections which delight in speaking
evil of others.
These are dangerous kinds of judging which the apostle
here requires us to forbear, false, rash, or hypocritical con
demning of others. The first of them is slander ; the second
is uncharitable censure ; the third is ill designing self-love, envy,
pride, or some such vice, which we harbour in our breasts.
» Matt. vii. I.

SEEM. XVI. A sermon against censuring. 275
And so I proceed to the third thing I propounded, the rea
sons and grounds why we ought not to judge in this manner.
Ill-
There is one reason in my text, and there is another so nearly
alhed to it, that they are frequently joined in other places.
That in my te.xt is the respect we ought to have to our
Lord, whose office it is to judge.
That which is nearly linked with this, is the respect we ought
to have unto our brethren ; over whom we have no authority,
and therefore ought not to take upon us to be their judges.
The first of these, if it be weighed, will make our judging
others appear to be an insolence towards our Saviour. The
second will represent it as an insolence towards men.
1 . First, I say, it is an insolence towards God our Saviour :
an usurpation upon his right ; a bold intrusion into his office ;
an arrogating to ourselves that which truly and properly is
his sole prerogative : especially when men proceed so far as to
dare to judge the very hearts of others, or to censure and con
demn them for that which God's law doth not condemn.
For the judging of the heart is a thing which God and our
Lord assume as peculiar to themselves. /, the Lord, search
the heart, and try the reins ; even to give every man according
to his ways ^. I am he, saith our Saviour, which searcheth
the reins and the heart ; and I will give unto every one of
you according to your works ^. Upon which account it is a
most bold presumption, a dangerous arrogance in us to pass a
sentence upon the secret purposes and designs of men, of which
we know nothing ; but they are reserved to the peculiar cog
nizance of him who alone searches their hearts.
And so it is also in the other case, when we presume to cen
sure that which the law of God itself doth not condemn, either
in general or in particular. He that doth this, as you heard
out of St. James, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the
law ; and he that judgeth the very law casteth off the relation
of a subject, and sets up for a sovereign : instead of being a
doer of the law, he takes upon him to be a judge ; that is, he
puts himself into the place of God, who, as he is the only
maker of laws, so is the only Judge of those who are to be
governed by them. He therefore that censures and condemns
•^ Jer. xvii. lo. ' Rev. ii. 23.
T :

276 A sermon against censuring. seem. xvi.
where this lawgiver doth not condemn, forgets himself ; and is
so lifted up in his own opinion that he usurps the divine au
thority. Whereas, poor wretch, he can neither save nor de
stroy (as it there follows), but merely show his own folly and
arrogance, to the great offence of Almighty God, and the en
dangering his own soul : For God, saith the apostle (ver. 6
of the same chapter), resisteth the proud ; he resists him as an
enemy to his majesty ; as one that invades his sovereign right,
and intrudes into his sole office of judging others.
2. And though it be less considerable, yet this is not to be
neglected, that he who judges the hearts of men, or censures
and condemns that in them which the law of God no way cen
sures, commits an insolence upon his brethren, over whom he
hath no such authority. He arrogates a jurisdiction over
them which he hath no right to exercise ; and is guilty of a
breach of all the duties we owe to our neighbour; of justice, of
charity, and of humility. Who art thou, says St. Paul, that
judgest another 'marCs servant ? to his own master he standeth
or falleth^. That is. Whom dost thou take thyself to be,
that thou presumest thus to censure and condemn him who is
none of thy sei-vant, but the servant of the common Lord of
us all ? By what right dost thou meddle with another's ser
vant, who hath his own master, the very same that thou hast ;
by whose judgment, and not by thine, he must either stand or
fall ; that is, either be pronounced innocent or guilty ?
If his master have not forbidden this which thou condemnest
in him, it is presumption in thee to censure him; it is an injury
both to the master and to his servant; an usurpation of an au
thority over him, unto which we can have no pretence ; and
therefore cannot be answered, either to God or to our neigh
bour, who are both wronged by such judging.
The same may be said of all other sorts of judging before
mentioned ; by which we give great offence both to God and
unto man, towards whom if we have any regard, we shall
hearken to the discourse of St. Paul, ver. lo, &c. of the same
chapter, (where he puts both these reasons together :) But why
dost thou judge thy brother ? or why dost thou set at nought
thy brother ? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat
of Christ : for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every
' Rom. xiv. 4.

SEEM. XVI. A sermon against censuring. 277
knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Let us not therefore judge one another any more.
We ought, that is, to examine ourselves strictiy, particularly
about the false, the rash, the causeless judgments we have
passed upon others ; for which we ought to call ourselves unto
an account, and judge ourselves severely ; and passing an up
right sentence upon our actions, after we have laid them to the
rule of Christ's laws, repent sincerely of what we have done
amiss : (for that is the use the apostle makes of this doctrine
in another place. Now God commands all men every where to
repent, because he hath appointed a day, whereiyi he will
judge the world in righteousness, ^c.™) But as for other men,
we must not be so forward as we are to pass our censures upon
them ; but in many cases leave them to our Lord, who only
can pass a certain judgment upon their actions ; he seeing their
secret intentions, what was the spring of them, and the end at
which they aimed : all which he will come again to examine,
in the season proper for it. and make an exacter search than
we can do, and be more impartial in his judgment than we are
apt to be ; and likewise render to every man according to his
work ; which is not in our power, though we were never so
well inclined to it.
These things are sufficient, if duly pondered, to show the
reasonableness of the apostle's injunction, to judge nothing
before the tiine. And therefore I need not enter into the con
sideration, either of the causes from which this censorious
humour flows, which are, arrogance, envy, hatred, ignorance,
self-interest, and such like : or of the very mischievous effects
of it, both upon the censurer himself, and upon those who are
loaded with his censures. Whose spirits are hereby irritated,
from whence proceed sharp contentions and dangerous disor
ders; and whose names are hereby blasted, their reputation
and esteem in the world diminished ; by which means they are
rendered less capable to do the service they otherwise might
have performed, either in church or state. For it gives a man
a great advantage, in whatsoever place he be, to be well thought
of in it, and to have a fair character : which whosoever spoils
by his unjust or uncharitable censures is injurious not only to
¦» Acts xvii. 31.

278 A sermon against censuring. seem. xvi.
him, but to the rest of mankind, who might have been benefited
by his labours. This single consideration should make all
those that have any sense of God to be more sparing of their
censures than men generally are, that they are a great hinder-
ance to men's doing good in the world ; for which we were ah
born, and is the thing at which we should all aim in the several
places where God hath disposed us.
But I have not time to set this vice forth in all these colours ;
and therefore what remains shall be spent in giving a few ad
vices for the cure of this censuring humour ; and some direc
tions how to behave ourselves when we are unjustly censured
by others. I.
The advices for the cure of this distemper in those that are
prone to it are three : the first hath respect to God ; the second
hath respect to ourselves ; and the third to our neighbours.
I. First, if we thought more of this single principle of
Christian religion, that God will one day judge us, we should
be less prone to judge others ; for this very thing will be ex
amined and judged at that day, whether we have judged others
falsely, unjustly, rashly, or hypocritically ; and nothing can
more directly move God to judge and condemn us, than such
judgment and condemnation as we have sinfully passed upon
other men. My brethren, be not many masters, saith St.
James, (that is, be not forward to judge and condemn one
another,) knowing that we shall receive tlie greater condem
nation''^. Of which our blessed Lord himself puts us in mind.
Judge not, that ye be not judged °. Where Grotius's note is,
*' I certainly resolve that the judgment of God is here meant."
For it is the custom of our Saviour, to transfer things spoken
of human affairs unto divine and spiritual concernments. And if
so, then the sense of his words is this : ' Judge not your bre
thren, lest God judge you.' But if a man be overtaken ivith a
fault, as St. Paul's advice is, restore such a one with a spirit
of meekness ; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted P.
Let it be your work to strengthen the weak, direct the igno
rant, and restore the lapsed with tender admonitions and
gentle reproofs : but put no scorn, pass no severe censures
upon them ; for this God takes ill, as well as they. This is not
p James iii, i. " Matt, vii, i. p Gal. vi. i,

SEEM. XVI. A sermon against censuring. 279
to study to help your brethren, but to insult over them : it is
to exasperate, not to reform them. It is highly offensive to
God, who hath made it our duty to assist, support, and comfort
others, but reserved judgment to himself; who wih judge us
the more heavily for assuming to ourselves his prerogative, not
only because it is an insolence towards him, but a violation of
that great law of charity ; which is the new commandment, the
fulfilling of the law, the perfection of all virtue. The breach
of this, which is of such excellence, and such great use, must
needs be a most hateful, most hurtful offence, and be most
grievously punished.
Let us have this great day of judgment much in our minds,
and it will keep all our passions in awe, particularly our anger
and displeasure, which are too frequently a bias upon our judg
ments, and make them warp aside from truth and charity, and
pronounce such sentences upon others as we cannot justify our
selves when we are in a calmer temper.
The constant thoughts of the day of judgment would always
preserve us in such a temper, by keeping us humble, and main
taining an holy fear in us of offending the Divine Majesty by
doing any wrong to others.
II. And it would be a further security to us, if we would let
our thoughts dwell more at home, and there scan our own
intentions and actions rather than those of other men. Here
our proneness to judge and censure may find sufficient employ
ment, without meddhng with other men: nay, if we would
thoroughly examine and condemn all that we find amiss in our
selves, we should be disposed to excuse or make apologies for
them. No other men can be so well known to us as we may be to
ourselves ; especially as to the thoughts and purposes, the de
signs and ends, which we propound to ourselves in all our
actions. Particularly in our judgment which we pass upon
others, we should do weh to observe from whence such for
ward, and many times severe censures proceed ; which we may
be able to know a great deal more certainly than we can the
faults of those whom we condemn.
And this self-reflection is never more necessary than when
we are about to pass our judgments upon others. If at that
time we could cast an eye upon ourselves, and consider whe-

280 A sermon against censuring. seem, xvi.
ther that very thing which we are going to condemn in them
we are not, or may not be guilty of ourselves ; whether, if we
were in their circumstances, we might not, it is possible, do the
same which we blame in them ; it would lay a mighty restraint
upon us, and put a stop to those forward motions we find in our
hearts to censure others. For it is hkely we shall find the same
inclinations, if not the same distempers, in our own hearts and
lives : and perhaps, in our own case, we call them by the name
of infirmities ; and therefore why should we give thera a worse
character in other men ?
To conclude this : it is evident this wih preserve us from judg
ing others, both by diverting us another way, and by making
us ashamed to do that in another case which we would not have
done in our own.
While we look at other men's faults we are wont to neglect
our own ; and, in like manner, it is to be hoped we shall be de
tained from looking abroad by observing how things go at home.
For here we shall find enough to do ; and at last find it a more
comfortable employment, as well as more easy ; being both
nearer at hand, and likely to do us as much good as censuring
others doth hurt.
And if we will needs be finding fault with others, we may
know the better how to judge of them by the observations we
have made at home ; where, I beheve, we shall find that we do
not love to pore (as we speak) upon our own faults or imperfec
tions ; from which we are apt to turn away our eyes, and not
keep them long fixed on them. I am sure we are loath others
should know them ; and I fear we make excuses and apologies
for them, nay, if we can with any colour, deny them. To be
sure we will not easily nor hastily believe any ih of ourselves,
and have very evident reason, before we conclude any thing
against ourselves ; which teaches us how to treat other men, in
our opinions and censures of them ; unless we will have one
measure for ourselves, and another for them ; which is so un
just, that we cannot for shame, if we attend to what we do, be
guilty of it. Especiahy if, in the third place,
III. With respect to our brethren, we wih always endeavour
to possess our hearts with an unfeigned love and charity to
wards them all. This is, as I said, the great virtue of Christ
ianity, the spirit wherewith our religion inspires us to love one

seem. xvi. a sermon against censuring. 281
another, because God loved us ; and as he loved us with such a
kind of love which passes by and covers abundance of our fail
ings, so should we be inclined to do by others. And if we be,
this grace wih preserve us from aU rash, as well as false judg
ment of them ; because love worketh no evil, as the apostle
speaks : and this is none of the least evils, to condemn our
brethren, when they are innocent ; or before we be weU in
formed about their fault ; or with a design not to do good to
them, or to others, but only to gratify our own bad affections.
Charity is a proneness and readiness of mind to do good to
others, and therefore much more to speak well of them, that is,
all the good we can ; and not to publish all the ill we know
of them, unless, as I said, to prevent others being infected or
deceived by them.
Out of this blessed temper of mind we must not suffer our
selves to be beaten by any hi behaviour of others towards us, or
their hi treating of us ; but still retain a sincere love to their
persons, whatsoever hatred we have to their vices. Which whl
dispose us to wink at many faults ; to lessen and abate our re
sentment of others ; to aggravate none ; and to judge as favour
ably as we can of all. Except, as I said, where the common
charity we owe to other Christians obliges to do otherwise ;
for sometimes it is a duty not only to reprove those that are
faulty, but to rebuke them sharply V and with prudent charity,
to let both them and others also know our opinion concerning
them or their actions ; which may be a means to amend them,
and prevent the like guilt for the future, both in them and in
others. Thus if we behave ourselves, with a just fear of the judgment
of God, with an impartial observance of our own actions, with
an universal charity to all our brethren, we shall not easily
break this precept of the apostle, and thereby provoke and
dishonour God, reproach ourselves, and injure our neighbours.
Who will have just cause to complain of us, if we condemn
them for every little difference there is in their opinions from
ours. Of this we ought to take a special care, because we have
seen the lamentable effects of it among ourselves ; which shows
us it is time to lay aside all our uncharitable thoughts one of
another, and to forbear the heavy censures we have been prone
to pass upon those who differ from us.
p Tit. i. 13.

282 A sermon against censuring. seem. xvi.
We cannot indeed but judge some doctrines and practices to
be very heinous, because they are against the express word of
God : as image-worship, for instance, we cannot but call idolatry,
because God himself hath so judged it. This is to judge ac
cording to God's law, and not against it, or beside it ; but to
say it is idolatry to pray by a form out of a book, or that it is
superstition to wear a surplice, or such like things, is certainly
a grievous crime, because it is to condemn that which God's
law nowhere condemns. And on the other side, to pronounce
all in general to be schismatics who cannot conform to every
thing which we think reasonable, is, at least, rash judging;
for perhaps their scruples arise out of mere weakness of under
standing, prejudice of education, or a pious fear of offending
God, by doing that in which they are not fully satisfied ; or
such hke causes, which may excuse them before God of the
gmlt of scliism, even when they live in it.
Charitable persons will consider the natural infirmity of all
mankind, which God considers much more; the prejudices under
which they are bred, the difficulty of shaking them off, the per
plexities wherewith some things are entangled by designing
men, the great variety there is in our apprehensions, the
strength of our passions, the value every one of us sets upon
his own opinion, our desire to have others of it, with a multi
tude of such like things ; and upon these accounts bear one
with another in matters that hurt not the faith of Christ, nor
make us careless in Christian practice.
Here to pass peremptory sentences is highly presumptuous.
For how come one sort of men by a right to judge, censure, and
condemn all the rest ? Why may not others take the same au
thority over them ? And then there will be nothing but cursing
and damning throughout the Christian world. For this kind of
judging, you know, is come to such a height among some men,
that they pronounce anathemas, and pass a sentence of damna
tion upon all those who in any thing believe otherwise than
they do.
This is so contrary to the tender mercies of our Saviour ; so
destructive of the communion of saints ; so injurious to the
grace of charity, which hopes the best ; so cross to the precept
of Christ, Judge not, that you be not judged ; such an enemy
to the pubhc peace, which is easily broken with those who are
looked upon as no better than damned wretches ; such a for-

SEEM. XVI. A sermon against censuring. 283
getfulness of human weakness ; so proud an usurpation of the
Divino prerogative, and arrogant tyranny over another's ser
vants ; and, to say no more, so much against the very law of
nature, (which hath made the understanding free, and not to be
forced to submit to what it knows to be false ;) that of all things
in the world it is most unlike the Christian spirit, and will be
so judged at the day of Christ.
But notwithstanding all our reasons and advices, there will
be too much censuring and judging of all sorts, while the world
continues as it is. Let us therefore see how we ought to behave
ourselves when we are unjustly censured by others.
II.
And here I shall give as many directions as I gave advices.
I. First, we must watch ourselves, that we be not provoked
by men's unjust or unkind censures to return the like censures
upon them. To this we are very prone ; for the most ingenuous
minds have the greatest value for their reputation, and deeply
resent the wounds that are given to their good name. If any
thing will make them think their tongues are their own, and
incense them to sharpen them like a sword, and be severe in
their recrimination, this is the provocation. This whets men's
invention to find out faults, as well as to aggravate them ; and
gives a sting to the words wherein they represent them, which
presently turns censures into reproaches, and heightens re
proaches into downright railing. St. Peter's rule therefore in
this case must be observed in the very beginning of it. Not
rendering evil for evil, (censure for censure,) nor railing for
railingl. Which was exemplified in our blessed Saviour, who,
when he was reviled, reviled not again ".
He that returns censure for censure blows the fire already
kindled, and inflames the passion into higher animosities ; but
who wisely forbears to recriminate, in effect extinguishes it.
By governing his tongue and his passions, he both evidently
proves himself a better man than his censurer, and also dis
credits all he says ; nay, repels the reproach he cast upon him,
so that it returns upon himself.
This is the very method the apostle St. Peter prescribes to
baffle reproaches ; not to return them, but to continue in well-
1 I Pet. iii. 9. " I Pet. ii. 23.

284 A semion against censuring. seem. xvi.
doing : For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye put
to silence the ignorance of foolish men^. And again, ver. 16
of the next chapter. Having a good conscience, that whereas
they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may be ashamed who
falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
II. Secondly, the censures that are cast upon us, though
unrighteous, should make us watchful over ourselves, lest we
give any real occasion for them. There is excellent use to be
made even of the judgment which an enemy passes upon us ;
insomuch that they who censure or reproach us out of hatred
may thereby do us a kindness against their intentions. Every
way of man is right in his own eyes, saith Solomon*. We are
all apt to flatter ourselves ; and our friends are apt to be
partial also, or loath to tell us of our faults, either because
they are afraid to offend us, or they are guilty of the same
themselves. By which means it often comes to pass, that we
have the first notice of our failings, not from them that love us,
but from them that hate us : which, though meant ill by them,
may prove very serviceable to us ; for open rebuke is better
than secret love ". We may profit more by the bold censure
of our enemies than by the caution and reservedness of our
friends. For whosoever is faithful to himself wiU so far mind
the judgment of his adversaries, as thence to take occasion to
reflect upon himself, to examine his heart and his ways, and,
calling himself to a strict account, labour to amend what he
finds amiss.
Have I not given some ground to this censure 'f Is not the
reproach too true ? Or if he that passes it be mistaken in this
particular, might he not have found something else to censure,
wherein I am truly guilty ? Have I not been faulty in this very
kind, of censuring others ; if not faulty, yet rashly ? Such
questions as these we should do well to ask ourselves on such
occasions; which naturally awaken us to self-reflection, and
bid us stand upon our guard, lest by our negligence and remiss
ness we not only incur the just censure of men, but even the
judgment of God himself
Which leads me to the last direction in this case, when we
fall under unchristian censures.
III. Which is, to use special care to preserve our souls in
^ I Pet. ii. 15. ' Prov. xxi. 22. ^ Prov. .x.xvii. 5.

SEEM. XVI. A sermon against censuring. 285
peace with God. This is the remedy St. Peter prescribes in a
place much hke to the forenamed ; Having your conversation
honest among the Gentiles : that, whereas they speak against
you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they
shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation K
It is impossible for the best of men, in the midst of so many
fohies and enmities as reign among us in this world, wholly to
escape ah censure. John the Baptist was said to have a devil;
Christ himself was deemed a glutton, a winebibber, and a
friend of publicans and sinners; the aposties were made as
the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things, as St.
Paul tells us, ver. 13, below my text. Now if such men as
these could not escape the censures nor avoid the reproaches
of a wicked and mistaken world, by what reason doth any one
of us expect to be free from either ? And if it be fohy in us to
expect to escape them, what must we make our support and
comfort under them, but the very same that they rested in as
their satisfaction ? Peace with God and our minds ; a spotless
conscience towards God and towards men. This we ought to
study to the utmost of our power ; and in this rest contented,
or rather take full satisfaction. For this was the support in
which the apostles found such consolation, that St. Paul says.
This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our conscience, that in
simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but
by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the
world ^. The very same will also support and comfort us in
every thing that befalls us.
If all be clear and bright within, nothing without can cloud
and darken us. If we put on that armour of God, the breast
plate of righteousness, it will secure us from all the arrows that
are shot against us. If they scratch the skin, or perhaps leave
a scar without, they shall make no wound within ; their poison
shall not reach the heart. Nay, they shall not set a lasting
mark upon our name ; but recoil, and fly back at last in the
faces of them that shot them.
Peace with God is peace with the Sovereign of the world.
Peace with him who is our Judge, the only Judge and Lawgiver,
that is able to save and to destroy. And what is it to be
judged and condemned of men, whilst we are absolved by the
» I Pet. ii, 12. ^ 2 Cor. i. 12.

286 A sermon against censuring. seem. xvi.
great Judge of heaven and earth ? Who will call our very
judges to an account, and reverse their unrighteous sentences
which they have passed, to their eternal shame and confusion ;
and to the eternal honour of those who have been abused by
them. Who in the meantime ought to suffer patiently, and have
inward peace and quiet, comfort and satisfaction in their minds,
in the midst of the clamour, the noise, the tumult, the dust, and
the clouds which the fohy and passion of men may raise about
them : if their consciences all the time of this bustle do acquit
them, and give them the testimony which St. Paul gave of
himself. Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a con
science void of offence towards God, and towards men7.
Let this be our constant exercise, and it will reward the
pains we take in it with ease and rest : for a conscience void of
offence will not be so much as disgusted at that which galls and
sorely grieves those who are conscious of guilt. Great peace,
saith the Psalmist, have they that love thy law ; and nothing
shall offend them^. For besides the feast which a good con
science continuahy makes them, they have the joys of hope,
that God will one day not only clear them from all base impu
tations, but crown their innocence with eternal glory.
Which hope, as it ought to inspire us unto all worthy under
takings, so it ought to bear us up with courage and resolution
in the pursuit of them, though they meet with ill interpre
tations, unkind censures, and vile requitals. That joyful day
of the Lord will make an amends for all that we may suffer by
the uncharitableness or ill-will of some, and by the fohy or
ignorant zeal of others ; when he that knows the heart will
say, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord *- Amen.
y Acts xxiv. i6. ^ [Psalm cxix. 165.] * [Matt. xxv. 21, 23.]

A SEHMON
PREACHED IN THE CHAPEL OF ST. JAMES'S,

BEPOEE

HIS HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF ORANGE.
JANUARY 20, 168f.

A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE PRINCE OF ORANGE.

Isaiah xi. 6.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the young
lion, and thefatling together, and a little child shall lead
them, &c.
THIS chapter contains such an illustrious prophecy of
Christ, and of the splendour and amphtude of his kingdom,
that the greatest enemies of our blessed Saviour have not been
able to shut their eyes against it. They all confess it is their
great King, the Son of David, who, the prophet saith, shall
come forth as a rod out of the stem of Jesse, &c. ver, i, upon
whom the Spirit of the Lord shall rest, in the greatest
plenty and variety of heavenly gifts, (as it there follows,) to
whose standard the Gentiles shall resort, ver. lo, and his rest
be glorious.
Of this there is no question made : but they take exception
to our Lord and Saviour, and will not allow him to be the King
that is here foretold ; because the whole prophecy, they fancy,
was not fulfilled in him. For we do not see, say they, the
wolf dwelling with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the
kid, the lion eating straw like an ox, and the sucking-child
playing upon the hole of the asp, &c., as the prophet tells us
they shall do in the days of the Messiah : and therefore, he
whom you worship is not that king of Israel unto whom we
ought to yield obedience.
Unto this exception I shall endeavour at this time to give
full satisfaction, and withal to explain the nature of Christ's
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. U

290 A sermon preaclied at St. James's seem. xvii.
kingdom ; by showing, first, the meaning of this prophecy, and
secondly, the truth of it ; or that it was exactly fulfilled in our
blessed Lord and Saviour, who came to work and did effect
this marvellous change in the world. I.
And for the understanding of the sense of the prophecy, two
things are necessary to be done :
First, to show what is meant by the wolf, the leopard, and
the rest of the creatures here mentioned.
Secondly, what it is for them to dwell and lie down to
gether. I. The sottisher sort of Jews, who had rather any thing
should be altered than themselves, have taken these words
according to the very gross letter of them ; and imagined that
all the ravenous creatures shall change their natures when
Christ comes.
But the sober men among them are sensible that the pro
phet by a parable of wolves and lambs, leopards and kids, lions
and oxen, describes, as in a picture, such men as in their quali
ties and dispositions are hke unto these creatures. Which is a
scheme of speech no less familiar in the sacred books than in
other authors.
Jacob, for instance, when he solemnly blesses his twelve
sons, Gen. xlix., calls Judah a lion's whelp, because of the
strength and fortitude, the courage and valour, which he fore
saw would be in that tribe. And Dan he calls a serpent and
an adder in the path ; because of their subtilty and craft.
And, to name no more, he says, Issachar is a strong ass,
couching down between two burdens, ver. 14, because of their
patience in labour, and suffering the heaviest loads of oppres
sion to lie upon them, rather than stir to discompose their rest
and quiet in that plentiful country which fell to their lot in the
division of the land of Canaan.
But though they are content this prophecy should be a de
scription of mankind, who, they see, are represented by such
creatures as are here mentioned ; yet their pride and vain
opinion of themselves makes them to mistake the persons.
For their conceit is, that they themselves are the lambs, the
kids, and oxen, and we Gentiles the wolves, leopards, and

SEEM. XVII. before tlie prince of Orange. 291
lions: which, if it were exactly true, would afford (as you shall
hear anon) a most excellent sense of this prophecy.
But it is contrary to their own Scriptures, in which we find
the greatest persons among them, their princes and judges,
(that is, the men of the great sanhedrim, and they that judged
in inferior courts,) compared, too often, unto the most rapacious
creatures. They ought indeed to have been as gentle as lambs,
as harmless as young kids, as innocent as a sucking child : but
the prophet Zephany says in his days their princes were
roaring lions, and tlieir judges evening wolves, (the greediest
of all others,) who, after they had eaten the flesh, presently
gnawed the bones also*, that is, they raked the very poorest of
the people, who were already so bare that they were stripped
to their skins, nay, to the very bones.
And after him Ez;ekiel makes the same complaint of their
unrelenting cruelty. Her princes in the midst thereof are like
wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls,
and get dishonest gain ''. And both these prophets, it is pro
bable, borrowed this resemblance from the wise king of Israel,
one of whose aphorisms is this : As a roaring lion, and a
ranging bear ; so is a wicked ruler over a poor people ".
In this condition our Lord Christ found the Jewish nation at
his coming, as he plainly enough intimates, when; sending forth
his twelve apostles to preach unto them, and them only ^, he
saith, ver. 16, Behold, I send you forth as sheep (or as
St. Luke hath it, as lambs) in the midst of wolves.
Under that character he represents those who had obtained
the greatest reputation for sanctity among them, telhng the
Scribes and Pharisees they were serpents, a generation of
vipers^, who made a fair appearance without, but within were
full of extortion and excess, or (as St. Luke expresses it) of
ravening and wickedness; had a wolfish appetite, that is,
being so ravenous, that they devoured even widows' houses, and
never thought they had enough.
By this it is apparent, that, though the Gentiles were gene
rally more savage than the Jews, yet they too often imitated
their crueltv ; and, notwithstanding their wholesome laws,
which taught them better, were as oppressive and hard-hearted
^ Zeph. iii, 3. "^ Ezek. xxii. 27. <= Prov. .xxviii. 15.
d Matt. x. 5, « Matt, xxiii. 25, 33.
U 2

292 A sermon preached at St. James's seem. xvii.
as the most barbarous nations. And therefore, it is most rea
sonable by wolves, leopards, lions, asps, and such hke crea
tures, to understand all men, of what nation soever, who are
of a fierce and rapacious, a cruel and implacable nature : and
by lambs, kids, calves, and others of that kind, all those who
are of a more mild and gentle, tender and merciful disposition;
that have no enmity to others, and do no hurt, but are useful
to their neighbours, and inclined to do good to all.
This being very evident, there is no difficulty in the second
thing to be explained, but we may easily tell what it is for these
persons to dwell and he down together.
Cohabitation, and resting in the same place, signifies friend
liness, love, and constant kindness ; the effect of which is
mutual help, assistance, and comfort. And so the meaning of
the prophet is, that such persons as were so full of hatred
before our Saviour's coming, that they did not only contend
and quarrel, but also worry and devour one another, should in
the days of Christ become new creatures; and, laying aside
their enmities and oppositions, their variance and emulation,
their bloody strife and contention, live in such love and peace
together as they are wont to do who dwell in the same house,
that is, as brethren and sisters ; or who lie in the same bed, that
is, as husband and wife ; between whom there is the strongest
and dearest league of friendship.
This, I doubt not, is the general sense of the words : if
there be any particular rank of persons designed by these
several sorts of creatures, I can make no more of them than
this ; that by lions, in the better sense of the word, (as in the
blessing of Judah,) may be meant princely persons, (as Epi-
phanius himself interprets that place ^ ;) and by the failings.
their wealthy and happy subjects j by the wolf and the
leopard, the strong and the mighty ; and by the lambs and
kids, the weak and infirm ; by the bear, such as are fierce,
rough, and warlike ; and by the cow, the gentle, tame, and
peaceable people ; and lastly, by the asp and the cockatrice,
(which are mentioned in the verses following my text,) the
angry and envenomed spirits ; and by the sucking children,
all meek and good-natured persons.
^ Hseres. 77. uumb. 33. Aia to totov, aXX' oi Sta to oKoyov koi
(TXVpOTCpov Tov fciou KOI /3a(rtXiKio apiraKTiKOV, [tom. i. p. IO27 C]

SEBM. XVII. before the prince of Orange. 293
And so the meaning may be, that Christ shall come to make
the world so happy, that princes and people, the mighty and
the meaner sort, the violent, and they that have no power or
no will to resist, the soldier and the peaceable countryman;
the waspish people, and they that are of a sweet disposition,
shall all be brought under the same disciphne, and submit to
the same laws ; not to hurt or molest one another, but to pro
mote the common good of the whole body to which they be
long. For they shall be conducted by the most tender hearted,
peaceable, and gentle guides ; who, perhaps, are meant in the
latter end of my text, and a little child shall lead them. By
this name of his children our Lord calls his apostles, whom he
sent to gather and feed his flock; and both they and their
successors are called in the holy language fr/ovp,evoi, the
' leaders' of his people, to guide and conduct them into the
way of truth and peace.
Thus far none can make any difficulty to yield their assent,
but will easily grant this prophecy sets forth the happy days
under Christ's kingdom and government, in such words as the
very heathen poets (or prophets, as they call themf) were
wont to use when they would represent the like peace and
prosperity under their kings and princes. For Virgil congra
tulates to Pohio the birth of his son, and pretends to presage
the happiness which should be in his time, in words as like to
these of Isaiah as if he had borrowed them from his writings.
And to ingratiate himself with Augustus, he speaks in the same
style concerning Julius Caesar, as all know who are acquainted
with his poems s.
The greatest difficulty whl be to show the truth of what the
prophet here writes, and to make his words apphcable to our
blessed Saviour.
For when were there such happy times ? may some say.
Did we ever yet see the enmities of mankind laid aside, or so
much as laid asleep ? Hath not even the Christian world been
ever full of strife and contention, of hatred and bitter opposi
tion, of violence and oppression, nay, of wars and bloodshed,
which besmears the face of Christ's flock as well as other
people ? Do not our eyes still see men devouring and de-
f Tit. i. 12. s Eclog. iv. and v.

294 A sermon preached at St. James's, seem. xvii.
stroying one another ? Are not our ears filled with the dole
ful complaints and lamentations of miserable wretches, the
mighty in many places (even in neighbouring countries, not
far off from us) roaring hke lions for their prey, and poor
harmless people trembling before them, like so many lambs
that have no helper ? Nay. are not the meaner sort engaged
in perpetual brawls and endless janglings ? Are they not
fraught with envy, wrath, and malice ? Do they not sting
one another (and perhaps their betters) with bitter words, as
if the poison of asps were under their lips ? And more than
this, are they not ready to sheath their swords in one another's
bowels with such a furious zeal, as if to kill their opposites
were to do our Lord good service ?
How can all this be denied ? and, if it cannot, what appear
ance of truth is there that Jesus is that Christ under whose
government the prophet saith there shall be a most blessed
accord ?
I answer, all this is true ; and yet it is as true that our
Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Saviour of
the world. Which is the second and the principal part of my
discourse : wherein I undertook to demonstrate that this pro
phecy was exactly fulfilled in him : as will be confessed, if I
make good these three things. n.
First, that it was the apparent design of our Saviour's coming
to make such an happy accord among men as the prophet
here describes.
Secondly, that the nature of his religion is such as is apt to
produce this effect which he designed.
Thirdly, that this effect was actually produced in those that
heartily embraced his religion,
I, The first of these is so unquestionable, that I may be ex
cused if I wholly omit it, for fear of being tedious. Or it may
be sufficient to say, that as he was called by this prophet the
Prince of peace^ long before he was born, so at his birth the
angels tell us plainly enough what his business was, when they
welcomed him into the world with this joyful hymn. Glory be
P Isaiah ix. 6,

serm. xvii. before the prince of Orange. 295
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good ivill toivards,
or among, men'\
And when he was to enter upon his office, John Baptist was
sent before him to prepare his way, by turning the hearts of
the fatlier s to the children, (so the same angel describes his com
mission,) i. e. to make them all of one mind ; and the disobe
dient to the wisdom of the just ^. Which wisdom, you know,
is pure and peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of
mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy,
as it is described by one of the apostles of our Lord 1.
Whose whole conversation in the world was such a rare
pattern of meekness and peaceableness, that he did not strive
nor cry, neither did any man hear his voice in the streets, (as
St. Matthew observes, ch. xu. 19, out of this prophet;) that is,
he would not contend with those that opposed and provoked
him ; nor make a clamorous noise when he was abused ; nor
move the smallest disturbance, how ill soever he was treated :
no, not so much as break a bruised reed, nor quench the
smoking flax ; i. e. dishearten, or utterly deject those of whom
there was any hope ; though, for the present, they were his
enemies, and sought to destroy him. But he persuaded all in
the most gracious manner to become new creatures, and sent
his apostles abroad also upon this errand, with peace in their
mouths, unto every house into which they entered.
And if you would know what kind of creatures he intended
to make them, you may learn that even from the names he
commonly bestows upon his disciples : whom he calls his sheep,
and his lambs, and little children, (the very terms wherein the
prophet here speaks,) unto whom he gave this new command
ment, that they should love one another, even as he had loved
them ; that is, with the most ardent love, and sincerest affec
tion. Which his beloved apostle repeats so often, and in the
very same language, calhng those to whom he writes My little
children, as if he thought this was the whole business of
Christianity, tliat we should believe on the name of his Son
Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us command
ment f".
But I will spend no more time in this, nor stay to give an
' Luke ii. 14. i' i. 17. ^ James iii. 17, " i John iii. 23.

296 A sermon preached at St. James's seem. xvii.
account of one place in the Gospel which seems to contradict
it", because, whatsoever the event was by accident, in the at
tempt of so great a change as our Saviour came to make ; the
nature and genius of the rehgion which he taught is such, that
as he could have no other design, so it is apt in itself to make
men the most peaceable creatures, though never so disagreeing
in their natural tempers and dispositions.
That is the next thing to be considered in this matter,
II. Which will be evident to every one's satisfaction, who
will seriously weigh these three things :
First, the principles of his religion, or the doctrines he taught
men to believe; together with the way and means whereby
these principles were established in men's minds.
Secondly, the precepts of his religion, or the things he
taught them to practise.
Thirdly, the obligations he laid upon men to receive these
principles and observe these precepts.
All of which are very powerful to make men of a loving,
gracious disposition, and perfectly to reconcile them one to
another. i. First, as to the principles of his rehgion, and the means
he used to settle them in men's minds. He,
I . Taught them, first of all, that there is but one God. The
disbehef of which, as it had set the world at such enmities one
with another, as they confessed was among their deities ; so the
planting this faith in men's hearts, any one may discern at the
first sight, must needs be an apt means to breed such love
among men, as is between the children of one and the same
common parent of them all.
2. And that is very considerable: as he declared one God to
men, so he revealed him as his and their Father, full of kind
ness and goodwill to all his children, having a tender and affec
tionate care of their immortal happiness. Which St. Paul
thought a bond so strong, and a motive so very efficacious, that
it concludes the great heap of arguments whereby he per
suades Christians to unity of spirit and peace ; There is one
God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and
in you all" ; that is, the supreme Lord of us aU, diffusing his
n Matt. X. 34, 35. " Ephes. iv. 6.

seem. xvii. before the prince of Orange. 297
careful and paternal providence through the whole body of this
vast empire, and more particularly resides among Christian
people. 3. Who are taught (which is the next thing) to worship this
one God by one Mediator alone ; which is both another bond
of union, (as the apostle there teaches, when he saith there is
one Lord p,) and likewise gives very great assurance of God's
tender love to all mankind, as he discourses in another epistle 1,
where he proves that God would have all men to be saved, and
to come to the knowledge of the truth from this principle ; for
there is one God, and one Mediator betiveen God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.
4. Which appears by this further care he hath taken of us
ah, that he sent his apostles to baptize all nations into one
simple faith, (for next to one Lord, the apostle mentions one
faith and one baptism,) which is this, that there is one God,
the Creator of all, who is to be worshipped and served by one
Mediator, his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, who offered one
sacrifice, that is, himself, for the sins of the whole world, rose
again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and from thence
sent the Holy Ghost, to testify that he is Lord of all, and will
come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead. This
was easily and quickly learned ; and this they taught every
where, that Christians might be perfectly joined together in the
same mind and in the same judgment^.
5. In order to which they further declared the whole world
should be governed and judged by one common law ; and that
not the law of Moses, but the plain rules of righteousness, so
briety, and godliness. For our blessed Saviour, being made
Lord of all, abolished by his authority the ordinances of Moses ;
and thereby took away the distinction which had continued for
a great many ages between the Gentiles and the Jews : whose
law was, in the very intention of it, a law of division and sepa
ration ; whereby God designed to sever them from the famhiar
society and conversation of the rest of the nations in the world :
who, while that law remained in force, were kept at a distance
from the Jews; but by the removal of it were no longer
strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints,
P Ephes. iv. 4. 1 i Tim. ii. 4, 5. ' 1 Cor. i. 10.

298 A sermon preached at St. James's seem, xvh.
and of the household of God^. Upon which account the
apostle tells the Ephesians a little before, that Christ was their
peace, who had made both one, by breaking down the middle
will of partition which was between them and the Jews*;
that is, as he explains himself in the next verse, the law
of commandments contained in ordinances, i. e. the ritual
constitutions of Moses, which he calls the enmity, because
they had been the cause of enmity and hatred between Jews
and Gentiles ; and were therefore abohshed by the death of
Christ, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so
making peace : that they, he means, who had stood divided by
vastly different, nay, opposite rites of worship and other cus
toms, might meet and join together in his religion ; and so be
coming one new body or society under the government of his
laws, there might be a happy accord and agreement between
them, as members of one and the same holy catholic church ;
the Jews no longer looking upon the Gentiles as profane,
nor the Gentiles looking upon the Jews as an unsociable
people. 6, Now for the settling this behef in men's minds, that they
were all under the care of one and the same God, and of the
same Mediator, and were become one corporation, by submit
ting to the same laws ; they were all, both Jews and Gentiles,
indifferently endued with one and the same Spirit.
This St, Paul frequently inculcates, especially in the fore-
named Epistle to the Ephesians ; where you read, presently
after the words now mentioned, that through Christ they both
had access by one Spirit unto the Father ". And again. Ye
also are built together in him for an habitation of God
through the Spirit ^. The Holy Ghost, that is, falling down in
great variety of wonderful gifts upon the Gentiles as well as
the Jews, was an undoubted testimony of the same Divine
favour towards them both alike, an evident token that the
same Divine presence was among the Gentiles, which had been
among his ancient people ; and was likewise the bond of union,
whereby they were knit together, without any distinction be
tween them, unto one God, in the same rehgion of Jesus
Christ. So the apostle tells them, chap, iv, where he requires
' Ephes. ii. 19. ^ Ephes. ii. 14. ^ Ephes. ii. 18. ^ Ephes. ii. 22.

seem. xvii. before the prince of Orange. 299
them to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace's,
because there is one body and one Spirit. They were all made
members, that is, of the same society ; and one Spirit moved
and wrought in them all, which could not but dispose and in
cline them unto love and kindness, unto peaceableness and the
strictest friendship imaginable.
Of this alone it would not be hard to make an entire dis
course, and to show withal, that by the power of this Spirit
only, and not by armed force and violence, his rehgion was
propagated and advanced in the world, in a very quiet and
peaceable manner. But my design is merely to represent what
effectual means our Lord employed, had they been observed
and pursued to bring about his end, and to fulfil this pro
phecy. Which will further appear, if you cast your eyes a while
upon his precepts, which is the second thing I propounded to
be considered under this head.
h, I will briefly mention some of them ; for that will be suffi
cient to make you sensible of their efficacy if they were
heartily obeyed.
1 . First, exact justice ; all the duties of which he hath com
prised in so few, but very forcible words, that, as in an instant
they enter into our minds, and gain our assent, and recommend
themselves to our best affections, so they are easily remembered
and preserved in mind. For all things whatsoever ye would
that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them ^, is a rule
so pregnant, that it comprehends in it the wisdom of all laws ;
and so equitable, that it makes every man's own desires to be
the measure of his actions towards others ; and so powerful,
that this alone, were it observed, would turn the whole earth
into a paradise ; in which the lions should be tame as lambs,
and nobody destroy or hurt, or so much as molest others any
more. 2. For this rule comprehends in it mercy also, which is an
other lesson our Saviour hath taught us, no less than justice.
Which if men would exercise, as they desire it should be shown
to them in their necessities, they would not merely cease to be
hurtful to their neighbours, but become helpful and beneficial ;
y Ephes. iv. 3, 4. ^ Matt. vii. 12.

300 A sermon preached at St. James's seem, xvil
and that in an extraordinary measure ; for our Lord hath
raised this virtue to the sublimest pitch, by requiring all his
disciples to be merciful as their heavenly Father is merciful.
3. But suppose some to be so far from doing good, that they
do nothing but mischief ; and continue to be as unruly as the
bears, and as spiteful as the asps, of which the prophet speaks
in the next verses : in this case our Lord hath taught us meek
ness and patience, and would have us to suppress those angry
and furious motions which are apt, on such occasions, to rise
and boil up in our hearts. So that, notwithstanding the brutish
nature of some, if the rest were generally possessed with the
Christian spirit, the world might see more happy days than
now it doth.
4. For he requires us also, not only to pass by and forgive
those wrongs and affronts we receive from our enemies, but to
bless them and to do them good. Which hath a strange power
in it to charm and conquer even the most fierce and barbarous
natures ; and to reconcile them to the love of that virtue which
makes men requite injuries with courtesies, even when it is in
their power to take a terrible revenge.
5. Nay, further, he would have us contented with such things
as we have : which evidently destroys that envy, emulation,
and ambition, from whence no small stirs and confusions arise
in the world.
6. In questions also and disputes about matters of liberty, he
charges those that are satisfied not to despise such as are not ;
and those that are not satisfied, he commands not to judge those
that are, Rom. xiv. 3.
7. Nay, in all manner of differences which are apt to arise
among us, he would have the peace of God rule in our hearts^ ;
so that this having the umpire there, and all being referred to
its judgment, we should rest in the determination of what wih
make most for peace.
8. He instructs hkewise our behaviour in our several rela
tions, teaching husbands and wives, parents and children, mas
ters and servants, pastors and people, to demean themselves so
to their mutual satisfaction, as to take away tne cause of all
discord, not only in famhies and parishes, but in the larger
» Col. iii. 16.

serm. xvii. before the prince of Orange. 801
societies of church and state. When the flock, for instance,
know those which labour among them, (as St. Paul discourses
1 Thess. V. 12,) that is, have a great respect to their spiritual
pastors and instructors, whose faithful discharge of their office,
in labouring among their flock, presiding over them in the
Lord, and admonishing them, procures a great regard to
them, and inchnes the people to esteem them very highly in
love for their works' sake; they cannot well miss of that bless
ing which there immediately follows, to be at peace among
themselves. For from wise and faithful instructions on the one
hand, and affectionate regard to holy counsels on the other,
there cannot but issue such an accord, as will make them no
less happy, than by their divisions they make themselves un
quiet and miserable.
For, lastly, the root and foundation of all these our Lord
hath laid in much humihty and charity ; which, as they are the
very soul and spirit of Christianity, and utterly destroy that
selfishness which is the great make-bate among men, so they
are of such a sweet and obliging nature, that did they univer
sally prevail, there would be an end of all impatience and
wrath, jars and contentions, injustice and violence, cruelty and
hard dealing ; all factions in the state, and all schisms in the
church, would either be prevented, or presently quashed and
gently healed.
I need not distrust the evidence of these things so much as
to add one word more about them.
iii. Let me only put you in mind, (which is the last thing under
this head,) that this faith and these duties our Lord hath bound
upon us by such strong obhgations of his exceeding great and
precious promises, and of his most dreadful threatenings, (which
were confirmed also after a wonderful manner,) that if we laid
them to heart, they could not fail to draw us as irresistibly to
the behef of his doctrine, and to the observation of his precepts,
as our obedience to them, it is certain, would make us all more
happy than either these words of the prophet or any other can
express. Herein chiefly his doctrine excels tliat of the best philoso
phers, who taught many excellent lessons, but could not enforce
them with such an assured hope of immortal life, or fear of
eternal death, as our Saviour and his apostles have done ; who

302 A sermon preached at St. Jameses seem. xvii.
thunder this in our ears. Follow peace with all men, and holi
ness, without which no man shall see the Lord^. To be where
our Lord is, and behold his glory, is the great hope of Christ
ians, John xvii. 24 : it is the very joy that is set before them.
But they are out of the way to that high and holy place where
our Lord is, and shall never come thither, who do not study
to be pure and undefiled, and whose purity doth not make
them peaceable ; nay, followers of peace, and that with all
men. This is as sure as that Christ is in heaven ; and we have as
good security of that as can be given us, by the coming of the
Holy Ghost from thence, in wonderful plenty of miraculous
gifts ; which declared him to have all power in heaven and in
earth, and puts it out of all doubt that he is able to give to all
them, who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory
and honour and immortality, eternal life: but to them that
are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unright
eousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish,
upon every soul of man that doeth evil".
And now I hope no man will question the application of this
prophecy to our Saviour, merely because he doth not behold
such happy days as are here described ; since things are so
ordered, I have demonstrated, that we may see them if we
will. It is senseless to think that God intended to force mankind
to agree together, and to be quiet, as if they were indeed a
company of such beasts as the prophet here mentions, and not
merely indued with such qualities. The prophet explains his
own meaning, when, in the conclusion of this description of the
peaceable reign of Christ, he assigns this cause of it : They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain : for the
earth shall befidl of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters
cover the sea^.
This felicity was to be the effect of abundance of divine
knowledge, which in its own nature is apt to produce it. But
as no knowledge can be acquired without diligent studies ; so,
when we have it, it can do us no service unless we will be
governed by it. And therefore, if men either will not enter-
^ Heb. xii. 14. •= Rom. ii. 7, 8. ^ Isaiah xi. 9.

SEEM. XVII. before tlie prince of Orange. 303
tain this heavenly wisdom, or, having entertained it, do im
prison and smother it, they deprive themselves of the blessing
of peace : but they cannot make this word of God of none ef
fect, because he never intended to bestow this happiness upon
the ignorant and the negligent, but upon those who receive and
improve the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So much the sober Jews themselves confess, particularly
Maimonidesa, in these remarkable words: "The evils which
men create one to another flow from their different opinions,
persuasions, affections, wihs, and studies ; and all these spring
from ignorance and want of wisdom. As a blind man not only
stumbles himself, but runs upon others, because he sees not his
way J so in every sect of men, they who are wedded to it do
one another a world of mischiefs by reason of their blind igno
rance : all which would be remedied if they had wisdom, which
is to a man's soul what the faculty of seeing is to his body.
When the truth is known, then hatred, envy, contention,
whereby men tear one another in pieces, is at an end ; which
God himself teaches us by his prophet, who after he had first
said. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, &c. then subjoins the
cause which should take away this enmity, and that is the
knowledge of God the Creator, wherein men ought to be
instructed : They shall not hurt nor destroy, &c., for the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord," &c.
But the time calls me to hasten to the third and last general
head, which is this : III.
That the knowledge of our Lord was so fitted and so suffi
cient to make men thus happy, that there was actually to be
seen such brotherly love and peace as is here foretold among
the first converts to his religion, who embraced each other with
such an hearty and fervent affection, that, what one shall rarely
find an instance of between two single persons, might have
been beheld in some thousands of men and women, who had
but one heart and one soul in so many several bodies'" ; that is,
were perfect friends, who had their possessions so common,
that no man called ought of the things he had his own.
And if we hst by these wild creatures in my text to under-
* More Nevoeh. par. iii. c. xi. [p. 354.] ^ Acts iv. 37.

304 A sermon preached at St. James's seem. xvii.
stand the Gentiles, it is evident they were in a little time
brought to live in such unity, love, and peace with the Jews,
that they maintained the communion of the saints in the most
proper sense thereof: for they communicated their goods to
them most freely and liberally when they were reduced to
great straits in Judea, contributing to the rehef of their neces
sities, not only to their power, but in some places beyond their
power, praying St. Paul with much entreaty, that he would
receive their gift, and take upon him the fellowship of min
istering to the saints".
Many instances might be given of their frankness in their
hospitality to strangers, whom they readily entertained, though
they had never seen them before, merely because they belonged
to the same body of Christ with themselves, and they looked
upon them as their brethren. But I should transgress my
bounds if I should pursue such like things any further, which
deserve a discourse by themselves. And I have said enough to
my present purpose, which was to show how completely this
prophecy was fulfilled in the actual effecting of that which our
Saviour designed, and for the producing of which he employed
the most proper means.
From ah which it would not be hard to find, had I time to
make the inquiry, why those happy days in the beginning of
our rehgion (when the multitude of them that believed were of
one heart and of one soul) were of so short continuance ; and
the days are long ago become exceeding evil. It is to be
imputed in great part to the corruption of Christian doctrine,
and the imposition of new articles of faith ; or to the over-zeal
ous espousal of such opinions as are no essential parts of it,
(whereby men's minds have been diverted from the study of
serious piety and virtue,) about which most of the heats and
quarrels in Christendom have arose, and not about the sub
stance of Christianity itself.
But it is to be hoped that the time is coming apace, when
Christianity will end as it began, in abundance of truth and
peace, by a right understanding of the whl of God, and an
hearty submission thereunto ; in zealous love unto God our
Saviour, and unto one another. Or, to speak in the prophet's
<^ 2 Cor. viii. 3, 4.

SEBM. XVII. before the prince of Orange. 305
language, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
(in the highest and largest sense of those words,) as the waters
cover the sea.
I have not room to lay before you the grounds of this hope
out of the holy oracles, but that wonderful work which God
hath wrought in our days, and before our eyes, by that great
prince, whose spirit he hath stirred up to undertake our deli
verance from popish tyranny, and whose proceedings he hath
blessed with amazing success, may well awaken the minds of
considering persons to expect greater things he is about to do
in the world, which groaneth (as the apostle says the whole
creation did in their days) to be delivered into the glorious
liberty of the children of God.
Here at least, in these kingdoms and churches, it would be
very strange if we should defeat the design of God's gracious
providence, by continuing our old differences and enmities, our
unchristian roughness and severities ; frowardly refusing to
close together in such an happy settlement as may give secu
rity to our religion and safety to all our other concerns.
This would set an eternal brand of infamy upon us, if, having
all agreed so far with a common consent as once more to
shake off the Roman yoke which was about to be put upon our
necks, and to preserve the liberty of our country and of our
religion in its purity and simplicity, we should now fall out
about other matters, and suffer the few things wherein we differ
to have a greater power to divide us than the many, nay, the
most things wherein we agree have to unite us.
God forbid we should prove so ungrateful unto him, and
unto the blessed instrument of his providence ; which hath
given us a new opportunity, after our shameful abuse of a
former, to make ourselves happy by being like minded, having
the same love, being of one accord, of one mind : not looking
every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
. of others, as the apostle writes''.
Unto this let every one who loves the Lord Jesus in sin
cerity, who hath any love to his religion and its honour, or
loves his country, that is, his own ease and safety, and the wel
fare of his posterity, bend his serious study and most earnest
•1 Philipp. ii. 4.
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. X

306 A sermon preaclied at St. James's seem. xvii.
endeavours. Let every soul of us do his part, that the place
where he lives may be in peace; and not only wish, but labour,
that the blessed times which we look for (when our Lord shah
take to himself his great power and shall reigne) may begin
here in these churches and kingdoms ; where there never was
greater need nor greater reason for unity than at this present.
Princes and governors should study this, by making just,
reasonable, and merciful laws ; and the people should study it,
by a humble submission to them, and careful observance of
them. The ministers of the gospel should seek this, by being the
ambassadors of peace and love, by speaking ah the same thing;
that is, preaching only the undoubted truths of the gospel: that
so they may be one, (according to Christ's prayer for his apo
stles,) even as the Father and our Saviour were one; and thereby
persuade men more effectually of the certainty of their doc
trine. And all their hearers should study to adorn this gospel
of peace, by learning of them in humility, and receiving the
engrafted word with meekness ; by setting themselves to the
serious practice of plain and unquestionable precepts, and not
quarrelling about doctrines that are uncertain and obscure.
They who are in office should endeavour this, by faithful
execution of the known laws, by maintaining good order, by
taking up petty differences among neighbours, which should
be the work of every honest man, as far as it lies in his
power. The great and the rich should labour to bring on these
happy days, by countenancing true piety, by comforting the
poor and indigent, by all other acts of mercy and kindness
unto those who are below them ; that they may not be tempted
to envy their prosperity, . or murmur at their fulness and
abundance ; but be the better contented in their poor condition.
In like manner all other estates and conditions of men are
obhged to discharge their several duties conscientiously, that
they may contribute to the peace and quietness, the prosperity
and happiness of the society whereof they are members.
For as there is no greater scandal than this among Christians,
nothing more destructive to rehgion among ourselves, or a
^ Rev. .xi. 17.

SEBM. XVIL before the prince of Orange. 307
greater hinder ance to its propagation among strangers, than
the perpetual differences and feuds, hatreds and enmities of
which Christians themselves are the authors, so there is
nothing more pernicious and deadly unto those who are em
broiled in them.
If they have no greater respect to the credit of their reli
gion than to continue still such animosities, they shall have
this just punishment from God, that they shall thereby make
one another so much the more miserable.
For when religion, according to its nature and design, doth
not unite and bind men fast together, it makes them so much
the sorer enemies one to another.
No differences so sharp as those among men of the same
profession ; none so cruel and outrageous as those whom
religion sets a quarrelling.
And therefore let us heartily apply ourselves to the dihgent
study of that universal Christian piety, which will make us as
innocent as lambs, as gentle as the young kids, as humble, void
of malice, covetousness, ambition, or worldly designs, as the
little sucking children. For this is the very intention of it.
The kingdom of God, i. e. the Christian religion, is not meat
and drink, (doth not consist in those things about wliich men
quarrel,) but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost. And therefore let us (as the apostle there exhorts)
follow after the things which make for peace, and things
wherewith one may edify another f.
Unto which give me leave to propound a few motives, not of
my own, but out of one of the Greek fathers s, who presses
this upon the people of Constantinople when miserably divided,
with equal zeal and eloquence.
First, says he, look up unto Almighty God, the highest and
most excellent of all beings : who delights in the name of the
God of peace, and hath taught his apostles to tell us, that God
is love. OtJre yap iv ©co'rTjrt (rrdcK, ' for there is no commotion
nor stirs in the Godhead ; ' but a perfect unity in that blessed
Trinity. And next unto God are the angehcal powers, who are the
first rays from the first light, and sparkle in no property so
f Rom. xiv. 17, 19. s Greg. Nazianz. Orat. xii. p. 108, &c. [ed.
Ben, Orat. vi, § 12, 13. tom. i. pp. 187,8.]
X 2

308 A sermon preached at St. James's seem. xvii.
much as this : settled quietness, and freedom froin contention
and disturbance.
As for those angels who would needs raise a sedition by
their discontent and ambition, they are fallen from their happy
estate, and condemned to eternal darkness instead of hght : the
rest remaining still in their ancient dignity, the principal glory
of which is peaceableness and unmovable love.
It follows therefore, that all they who embrace peace, and
hate discord and contention, with all the causes of them, are
@eov Koi T&v &eia>v eyyvs, 'nigh unto God, and unto divine
beings.' On the contrary, they who are quarrelsome and turbulent,
the authors of division and makers of parties, glory in their
shame, and are on the devil's side : who is always unquiet and
uneasy in himself, and being from the beginning a murderer,
and a hater of that which is good, labours to engage mankind
in the hke pernicious ways; hiding himself in the midst of
contention and strife, and endeavouring, (as an army is wont to
do when a few are entered,) by a httle breach among us, to get
in his whole body.
But let us come down from these heights, and cast our eyes
a while upon the whole visible world, the heavens, the earth,
and every thing therein : and take notice what a lovely sight
it is, when every creature keeps its place, and observes its
usual motions. Then it is a world indeed, according to its
name, and an incomparable beauty.
I will not proceed in his description of it ; but only add, as
he doth, that when the earth quakes and is rent in pieces,
when the sea breaks its banks, or the heavens pour down im
moderate showers, how sad and dismal doth the face of all
things appear ! into what astonishment doth it cast us I But
this proclaims peace and unity unto mankind : who ought to be
affrighted by these disastrous accidents from tumults and
confusions. He desires them also to consider how all societies, great and
small, are preserved and made happy by unity ; and by division
utterly destroyed.
And particularly propounds to them the example of the
Jews ; who brought upon themselves all these calamities, which
are unexpressible, by their mutinous and seditious courses.

SEEM, XVII. before the prince of Orange. 309
And lastly, he desires them to learn by their own dear-
bought experience ; which is a mistress that teaches even fools
to be wiser. There being no greater shame, nothing more
sottish, than for them to embroil themselves again, who are
but newly escaped out of the flames, wherein they were almost
consumed. And he subjoins these two memorable observations, with
which I shall conclude.
I. They are not the empty-headed people, as they are vul
garly esteemed, who continue constantly settled in one ill
state ; but they who are ever changing hke the inconstant air,
rolling like the waves of the sea, backward and forward, never
knowing when they are well, nor where to fix, and how to
settle themselves. Such men have no reason to expect ever to
be happy ; as they who continue in one bad condition it is
possible may.
2. For that is his next observation ; that even they who
have been long in a state of faction and confusion have the
hopes of agreement and peace left to comfort them, (for this is
the support of the miserable, that better times may come at
last.) But they who, being often brought to an accord, are so
restless and unquiet that they fall out again, are deprived,
together with the rest of their happiness, even of all hopes of
agreeing in any settlement ; dreading concord as much as they
do commotion ; trusting to neither, because of their fickle and
discontented spirit in both.
From which wretched temper of mind and forlorn condition
the God of peace and love of his infinite mercy deliver every
one of us, for the sake of Christ Jesus, who is our peace.
Amen.

A SERMON
PREACHED AT ST. PAUL'S, COVENT GARDEN,
ON THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT, 1689.
BEING A SECOND PART OF THE SERMON
PREACHED
BEFORE THE PRINCE OF ORANGE.

IMPRIMATUR
Hen. Wliarton, R. R. in Christo P. ac D. D.
Marcli z6, 1689. Wilhelmo, Archiep. Cant, a Sacris Domest.

THE SECOND PART
OF A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE PRINCE OF ORANGE.

Isaiah xi. 6.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the young
lion and the falling together ; and a little child shall lead
them, &c,
I HAVE already explained the prophet's meaning in these
words ; which is, that Christ should come to make those men
who were at as great odds as the wolf and the lamb live in
perfect love and peace together.
Of this there is no question, but only concerning the truth
of this prophecy, which may seem not to have been fulfilled in
our blessed Saviour ; because we see as bitter enmities and as
bloody contentions among Christians as among other people.
But though this be true, yet it is as true that our Saviour is
the Christ, in whom this prophecy was accomplished ; as I un
dertook to demonstrate from these three considerations :
I. That it was the manifest design of our Saviour's appearing
to make such peace and reconciliation among mankind as is
here described.
II. That the nature of his religion is such as is apt to pro
duce this effect which he designed. And,
III. That it was actually produced in the first converts to
Christianity who heartily embraced his religion.
Of the two first of these I have largely discoursed, especially

314 A second jyart of a sermon seem, xviii.
of the second. Wherein I showed that such are the principles
of his religion which he requires us to believe, such the precepts
which he recommends to our practice, and such the obligations
he lays upon us to believe these principles and practise these
precepts ; that they could not fail of this end, to make peace
among men, were they seriously considered and heartily en
tertained. And that is said in Scripture language to be done by God,
which he uses sufficient means, and gives us sufficient power to
bring to pass ; though the things should not be actually ef
fected. For God doth not intend to keep us in order and
peace like a herd of beasts, by penning us up and imprisoning
us, (as we do lions and tigers,) so that it shall be out of our
power to destroy and worry others ; but he orders and governs
us as reasonable creatures, who are to be restrained from doing
hurt by the knowledge of the Lord, as the prophet explains
himself, ver. 9.
If this enter into our minds, and be rooted in our hearts, it
will alter our brutish natures, and chain up our furious pas
sions; nay, so mortify and subdue them to the obedience of
Christ, that we shall become new creatures, transformed into
the likeness of our Lord and Master, by whose name we are
called. This is enough to verify what the prophet saith : as I could
show by many unanswerable arguments, if it would not take
up too much room in this discourse.
But to give a fuller and more evident satisfaction, I added
the third consideration, which I could but lightly touch in the
former sermon, but shall now more largely explain : and in
conclusion add a fourth, which wih expound this prophecy in
the most literal sense that can be imagined.
To put it then out of all doubt that our blessed Lord is the
Christ, who was to make the wolf and the lamb dwell together,
let it be considered that as it was his intention to bring men to
unity and peace, and as the nature of his religion is such as is
apt to produce this effect, so this effect was actually produced
in the first converts to his religion. All that were thoroughly
indued with his divine knowledge became the most loving
creatures in the world, and embraced one another with the
most tender and sincere affection.

seem. XVIII. before the prince of Orange. 315
And here it will be fit to consider in the first place,
I.
How John Baptist, the forerunner of our Saviour (who came,
as I told you, to prepare his way, and to turn the hearts
of the fathers to the children,) began to work this happy re
conciliation among men, and make ready, as the angel said
he should, a people prepared for the Lord. For he preaching
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins *, great
multitudes, of all sorts of people, resorted to him, and with a
common consent, obeyed his summons ; even they who were
as disagreeing in their natures and dispositions as those' crea
tures that are here mentioned in the prophet.
The publicans, for instance, who were infamous for extortion
and cruel oppression, being as ravenous as " evening wolves,"
(for that is the character Zeno ^, the comedian, gives of them,
" All publicans are harpies,") were taught by him to be as
innocent as lambs, by exacting no more than that which was
appointed them in the pubhc tables of rates. Unto which all
that received his baptism gave their consent and engaged
themselves ; for he admitted them unto remission of sins upon
no other terms, being far from flattering them with a false
hope of finding mercy with God, if they did not cease their
rapine and unmerciful dealings with men.
The soldiers likewise, men as fierce as leopards, and as rough
as bears, were disciphned by him into a gentler nature ; hke
that of the ox and the cow. For by receiving his baptism they
submitted their necks to that yoke which he laid upon them in
this comprehensive precept. Do violence to no man, neither
accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. Where he
cautions them against their usual pillages, in extorting money
from the people, either by threats and terrors, (as the first
words signify,) or (as the next import) by pretended reasons '¦>
which, though never so false and absurd, it is in vain to dis
pute ; as is wittily represented by .^sop in the fable of the
Wolf and the Lamb, (by which Grotius illustrates this passage,)
who came to drink at the same river. Where the cruel beast
accused the harmless creature for spoihng his draught by
troubling the water, when he drank his fill at the top of the
* Luke iii. 3. *> [Rather Xeno. See Meineke, Fragm. Com.
Cyr. tom, iv. p. S96.]

316 A second part of a sermon seem, xviii.
stream, before it come down to the innocent lamb who stood
below, &c.
The people also were taught this lesson when they came to
his baptism. He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that
hath none ; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise ; that
is, let not others perish by want, when you have more than
needs. A most admirable and easy measure of charity, to help
others without hurting ourselves, to provide for their extreme
necessities out of our superfluities.
Unto which it is to be supposed they also consented when
they were baptized, (that is, made profession of repentance,) as
vast numbers of them were. Insomuch that many of the Pha
risees and the Sadducees came to his baptism, against whom
he cries out as a generation of vipers ; who had hearts as full
of rancour and malice as the viper is of poison ; no less venom
ous than the asp and the cockatrice mentioned in this pro
phecy : and yet were so terrified at his preaching that they
humbled themselves to his baptism, and there disgorged their
venom by confessing their sins, and engaging (for it was not a
bare acknowledging, but a renouncing them) to amend their
lives according to his doctrine.
All this you may read in the third of St. Matthew and St.
Luke ; where they show how the whole nation flocked to him
for advice, what they should do to flee from the wrath to come ;
and were instructed by him to prepare themselves, by such
means as these now mentioned, for the kingdom of Christ,
which he told them was approaching. II.
Now what was thus begun by him was further promoted by
our blessed Lord and Saviour as soon as he appeared ; when
he taught all his disciples whom he admitted. Except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye cannot enter into
the kingdom of heaven^, that is, be made my subjects, and
be partakers of their happiness. Accordingly, all that pro
fessed subjection to him in sincerity had their hearts thus con
verted and changed into that blessed temper of spirit which he
infused into his disciples in his sermon upon the mount. Where
he taught them to be humble, contented, tender-hearted, meek,
^ Matt, xviii. 3.

SEEM. xviiL before the prince of Orange. 317
merciful, peace-makers, pure in heart, patient ; to lay aside all
anger, lust, revenge, and whatsoever it is that troubles the
world. And you read in the conclusion, that the people were
astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having
authority <=, or, as St. Luke expresses it upon another occasion,
his word was with power ^ ; having, no doubt, such effect as
to work these qualities in many hearts ; whereby their natures
were altered, and turned into the simhitude of their Master,
the Prince of peace ; who in his lifetime employed his twelve
apostles in the same blessed work, of making peace among
men ; and compares them to lambs, when he sent them to
preach in Judaea ; which he tells them was to send them
among a company of wolves. For men of such spirits there were
then in that nation ; some of which notwithstanding were con
verted, and brought to live with them in a peaceable subjec
tion to the government of the Lord Jesus.
III.
But this work was completed when the Holy Ghost came
down from heaven upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost ;
when some thousands of Jews and proselytes of several nations
were converted, not merely to believe on Christ, but to live in
the dearest love and kindness one with another. So you read
in Acts ii. 44, 45, And all that believed (who were three thou
sand converted at the first sermon they preached) were toge
ther, that is, lived in perfect unity, and had all things com
mon, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them
to all men, as every man had need; that is, they did not
barely abstain from hurting and destroying one another, (as
Isaiah here saith they should, ver. 9,) but were so kind as to
do good and impart to each other, as their own abihties af
forded, and their neighbours' necessities -required.
And this not for a fit only, but they continued daily with
one accord in the temple, and did eat their meat with glad
ness and singleness of heart ^, that is, with charity and hbe-
rahty unto others whose wants cahed for their assistance.
For so a single eye signifies f, a charitable frank disposition.
And accordingly so a single heart is to be here interpreted ; a
mind free from covetous selfishness, purely bent to do good to
<= Matt. vii. 29. d Luke iv. 32. ^ Acts ii. 46. f Matt. vi. 22.

318 A second part of a sermon seem. xvin.
others, and that with cheerfulness : which was the thing that
gave them favour with all the people, as it there follows,
ver. 44. IV.
Nor was this the effect of Christianity in those only that
first received it ; but you may observe, the same spirit conti
nued in those that afterwards embraced it. For at the next
great conversion which was made of disciples to Christ, you
find that they being ah filled with the Holy Ghost, the multi
tude of them that believed were of one heart and of one souls.
In which was punctually fulfilled this prophecy of Isaiah :
for though they were never so different in their principles and
affections before, now they were so reconciled and united, as if
there had been but one heart or spirit in such a great multi
tude. And it is observable, that this change was wrought in
the holy mountain of God (as the prophet ^edicts, ver. 9,) at
Jerusalem, where the gospel was first preached ; and had this
admirable effect in those that entertained it, to make them
conspire together for their common good, as if they had been
but one man. For none of them said that ought of the things
he possessed was his own, but they had all things common, (as
it there follows,) neither was there any among them that
lacked ; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses
sold them, and brought the price of the things that were sold,
and laid them down at the apostles' feet ; and distribution
was made unto every man as he had need.
V.
After this indeed, when the number of the disciples was
multiplied, (as the text speaks"^,) there arose a murmuring of
the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were
neglected in the daily ministration. But as this only signifies,
that in such a great company of Christians of which the body
of the church was made up, there were some so imperfectly
instructed that they retained some partiality of spirit, and
were too much inclined to favour particular persons, out of
their near relation and peculiar affection to them, because they
were their countrywomen, born in Judsea, which the Grecians
(though Jews) were not ; so this very thing occasioned a
s Acts iv. 32. i^Actsvi. I.

SEEM. xvui. before the prince of Orange. 319
greater unity, by the provision of a speedy and most excehent
remedy, which silenced these murmurings for the present, and
prevented them for the future. For the people are directed to
find out seven persons from among themselves, men of honest
report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom the apostles
might appoint to attend upon this business.
And it is very remarkable, that as this proposal pleased the
whole multitude, so they all agreed by a common consent to
make choice of Grecians only (as appears by their names,
ver. 5,) for this employment ; who could not be suspected of
any want of tenderness for that party which had been ag
grieved. And accordingly after this, we hear of no more com
plaints about such matters ; because all men's necessities were
considered by these excellent persons with an equal respect
and fatherly care, to the general satisfaction both of those who
were born in Judjea, and those that were born in other
countries. And thus far you have seen only what concord there was
among those Jews and proselytes who were converted to
Christianity. VI.
But now if we proceed to consider what an happy agreement
there was among Christians, when the church was enlarged so
far as to take in the whole Gentile world, it will convince every
one that this prophecy was exactly fulfihed.
I. At the first opening of the door to let the Gentiles into
the fold of Christ, it must be acknowledged that for a little
space there was some strangeness, though no enmity, in the con
verted Jews unto the Gentile Christians. They could not be
persuaded to converse familiarly with them, much less to
believe that the Gentiles should be made partakers of the very
same happiness with themselves ; but they would have confined
the blessings of the Messias to their own nation, or to their
rites of rehgion.
The apostles themselves were possessed with this opinion at
the first, by reason of the narrowness of their minds, which
were by degrees enlarged to contain more of the knowledge of
the Lord. For as soon as a more full discovery was made to
them of the will of God, immediately all their shyness in con
versing with the Gentiles vanished, and they most joyfully

820 A second part of a sermon seem, xviii.
closed with them to make one body, which edified itself con
tinuahy in love.
This discovery was first made to St. Peter, who was sent (as
you read Acts x.) to preach unto Cornelius and other Gentiles,
by a voice that came to him from heaven in a vision, wherein
he saw all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild
beasts, &c., and was bidden to eat of them indifferently, and no
longer to call that common which God had cleansed ; that is,
as he afterward understood the meaning, not look upon the
Gentiles as unclean creatures ; who were no longer to be
avoided as wolves and leopards, and such like beasts, but be
made the sheep of Christ. For the wild beasts as well as the
tame were all comprehended in that sheet which St, Peter saw
in the vision let down from heaven to the earth.
And therefore immediately upon this he went and preached
to the Gentiles ; and the Holy Ghost falling on them, even
before they were baptized, stopped the mouth of all gainsayers,
and perfectly silenced the Jews who had before disputed
against all society and conversation with them. So you read
Acts xi, where you find, ver. 2, they of the circumcision con
tended with Peter, saying. Thou wentest in to inen uncircum-
cised, and didst eat with them, &c. But when he had ex
pounded to them the whole matter in order from the beginning,
(i. e. told them what instructions he had received from heaven,
whereby more of that divine knowledge which Isaiah here
speaks of was communicated to him,) they held their peace,
saith the story, ver, i8, and more than that, they glorified God,
saying. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repent
ance unto life ; that is, they owned them for the children of
God as much as themselves, heirs of the same promises of life
and bliss, and accordingly laid aside their strangeness, and
made no difference between themselves and those whom they
had looked upon as unclean, and utterly unfit for their society,
II. And as the Jews were thus reconciled to the Gentiles, so
were the Gentiles (I think I may say much more) reconciled to
the Jews, though they had treated them formerly as unclean
creatures. I. This appears from their unheard of charity towards the
Jews when they were in necessity, which was the highest proof
of a disinterested affection. It would take up too much time to

SEEM, xvni. before the prince of Orange. 321
enumerate the places where we read of the collections which
were made for the poor Christians in Judsea, in all churches of
the world which St. Paul planted, who himself sometimes was
at the pains to carry their alms to Jerusalem, According to
an agreement made between Peter and him, when the one
went to preach to the Jews, and the other to the Gentiles, they
took one another by the hand to confirm this agreement, and
the only condition was, as St, Paul tells us, that we woidd
remember the poor ; the same which I also was forward to
do^. I gave you a famous instance of it in the churches of
Macedonia, who when they were in great affliction themselves,
and in deep poverty, (as St, Paul's words are,) yet abounded in
the riches of their liberality : for to their power, yea, and
beyond their power, they were willing of themselves ; praying
us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift^, &c. ;
which is a wonderful example of that noble and high gene
rosity of spirit which Christianity infused into them ; little less
marvellous than if one should see an hungry lion or wolf
become so tame and tender-hearted as to feed a feeble lamb.
For they were extremely poor themselves, and yet contributed
to the more pressing necessities of their unknown brethren.
Unto whom they not only made a free willing offering of their
own accord, and with abundance of joy, but beseeched the
apostle to receive it, and that with much earnestness, as if it
had been a favour to be admitted to give help to others ; the
greatest benefit to themselves to be beneficial to their brethren.
2. Besides this their hospitality was wonderful ; which con
sisted in receiving strangers whom they never saw before, when
they had occasion to travel from one country to another". If
they brought testimonials along with them that they were
Christians, they were freely entertained in foreign parts, and
there provided for as members of the same body with that
church to which they came ; who did not look upon them as
strangers, but as friends, whom they treated with ah imaginable
kindness. This, no doubt, was one of the things that made the
heathen say, " Behold how these Christians love one another !"
3. And it is further observable, that there were certain per
sons who devoted themselves to the service of such people,
1 GaL ii. 10. ™ 2 Cor viii. 2, 3, 4. " Rom. xii. 13.
PATBICK, VOL. vm. T

322 A second part of a sermon seem. xvm.
washing their feet when surbated or heated with their travels,
attending on them in their sickness, and wholly employing
themselves in such like charitable offices ; which demonstrated
there was one spirit that acted the whole body, and made all
the Christian world one communion. I have not room for all
the places where these things are recorded ; but you may read
this plainly enough, where Phoebe it appears was such a
person, a servant of the church of Cenchrea" : i.e. one who
ministered there to the sick, and to the poor, and had suc
coured many, even St. Paul himself, as he there acknowledges
to her great honour. For the word he uses signifies more than
a mere succourer or helper ; no less than a patroness of him
and others, whom she had in a generous manner entertained
out of her own estate, and therefore upon that account is
recommended by him to be kindly treated by the Roman
Christians. 4. There were whole colleges of pious widows who devoted
themselves to such services, as those mentioned in i Tim. v. 10,
bringing up children, lodging strangers, washing the saints''
feet, relieving the afflicted, and diligently following every
good work. Which kindnesses were more especially shown to
those who were banished their own countries, or despoiled of
their goods, and lost their friends for religion sake. Unto
whom the promise of our Saviour was by this means literally
made good. Verily I say unto you. There is no man that hath
left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, ^'•c-,
for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred
fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and
•mothers, and children, and lands, with 2')ersecutions ; and in
the world to come eternal life V. For every country was their
own country ; every man's lands were at their service ; for
every house they lost upon our Saviour's account, they had
hundreds of houses to which they might resort. For every
Christian's house was their house ; every one that belonged to
Christ was a brother and a sister to them ; and many treated
them with such care and tenderness, as if they had been their
own children.
And thus the words of Isaiah were exactly fulfilled also;
° Rom. xvi. I, 2. p Mark x. 29, 30.

SEEM. XVIII. before the prince of Orange. 323
that people between whom there had been anciently the greatest
strangeness, or rather antipathy, were now brought to such a
famiharity, that wheresoever they met they dwelt together in
one another's houses, and there received such a hearty wel
come as if they had been domestics, born and bred up in that
family which they had never seen before. By which means
also the gospel was marvellously propagated, as is observed by
Julian himself; who takes notice of this entertaining strangers
as a most obliging virtue, wherein Christians quite outdid
heathens, (who practised no such thing,) and gained ground
upon them every where.
HI. It must be confessed indeed, that after God had thus
opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, (as St. Luke writes,
xiv. 27,) there did arise a controversy, wiiich for some time
disturbed the peace and quiet of those churches which were
planted among them ; but it was admirably composed by the
wisdom and authority of the apostles.
Some of the Christians in Judsea, who were imperfect in the
knowledge of the gospel, (which must be dihgently noted,
because where men were fully instructed there was no con
tention about such matters,) went abroad and preached, that
though the Gentiles did indeed belong to the kingdom of
Christ, and should be made one body with them, yet they
must be circumcised, and tied to observe all the rites and cere
monies of the Jewish law. Nay, they carried it so high as to
say. Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye
cannot be saved "3.
They had the same opinion which the Jews are of at this
day, that the reconciliation of the world one to another should
be brought about by uniting all nations in the Mosaical rehgion.
Thus Maimonides expounds the words of this prophet, as if by
the lion's eating straw like an ox (in the verse following my
text) were meant the Gentiles eating only clean meats, and ab
staining, as the Jews did, from all those creatures prohibited
by the law of Moses as unclean.
About such matters as these Paul and Barnabas had no
small dissension and disputation with them, ver. 2, that is,
laboured to convince them (as we find by many arguments he
uses in his Epistles) that all the world was to be made one ; not
1 Acts XV. I.
T 2

324 A second part of a sermon seem. xvm.
by the observing their law, but by the abohshing it, because it
was, in truth, a wah of partition and separation between them
and other nations. Of which they could not be persuaded
presently, popular errors being very hard to be rooted out ;
and this was one of the chief : which had so deeply rooted
itself in the hearts of that nation, that such as were become
Christians still retained it, and, through a partial ignorance
remaining in them, stiffly maintained that Moses' law was to
stand for ever, and that all mankind must submit unto it, or be
shut out of the kingdom of Christ.
With this unreasonable conceit they infected some of the
Gentile churches, though these things following were most
evident. First, that the law of Moses was given to that one nation
alone, and to be the law of that one land and country alone,
and no other ; and this to keep them from the idolatrous
customs of the people round about them. All this is apparent
from the law itself, where you read, that circumcision (that
great distinguishing mark) was established to be observed by
Abraham and his seed in their generations "¦, and that other
laws are appointed, a statute throughout their generations ^ :
and this only in that particular land or country, I have taught
you statutes and judgments, that ye should do so in the land
whither you go to possess it*. And again, ver. 14, Tlie Lord
commanded me at that time to teach yo%i statutes and judg
ments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to
possess it. And for this end alone, that they might be a holy
people to him, that is, separated from other nations, and
thereby preserved from their wicked customs. The places that
mention this are so obvious, that I need not recite any of
them : and it is apparent enough from those now named, that
all nations were not concerned in those laws, but only the
Jews, and they only in the land of Canaan, not in other
countries, where they could not keep them. As the Jews
themselves find by experience at this day, in the several
countries where they are dispersed; in which they cannot
observe all the laws and customs which they were bound to
observe there.
Secondly, and indeed it is impossible that ah those laws
" Gen. xvi. 7, 9. = Levit. vii. 36 ; xxiv. 3. * Deut. iv, g.

SEEM. XVIII. before the prince of Orange. 325
should be observed by the whole Gentile world, or by any that
hve in countries much distant from Judsea. For how should
they go up three times a year to worship at Jerusalem, (as all
the males among the Jews were bound,) who hve so far off
from thence, that it would require a whole year to make one
voyage thither ? And how should women for their purification
after childbirth, and lepers for their cleansing, bring their
offering unto the priest, to be presented by him at the door of
tlie tabernacle of the congregation^? Such things as these
demonstratively show the law of Moses was local, that is, deter
mined to a particular country. ^
Thirdly, but if it were possible to observe that law, yet it
would be unnecessary ; because the reason of it is ceased by
the coming of Christ ; who, having abohshed that idolatry
which occasioned the law, might very well abolish the law
itself, whose end was to keep them from the manners of those
nations which are now destroyed.
Fourthly and lastlj"-, it was far more reasonable that one
nation should conform to the common law of all the world, than
that all the world should be constrained to conform to the law
of one nation. Especially since their law was arbitrary, de
pending wholly on the will of the lawgiver, having no natural
goodness in its precepts. But the laws of Christ are httle else
than the plain dictates of reformed nature ; such as all man
kind, if they were themselves, would choose to observe, though
Christ had not given them.
Such reasons as these, no doubt, satisfied the wisest and best
Christians ; and as for the rest, the apostles took an admirable
course to compose the differences they had made in the church,
by that most prudent decree which we read in the same Acts
XV. 20, 28, 29, that the GentUes, to maintain peace and unity
with the Jews, should for the present abstain from a few things
which were most offensive to them, particularly eating blood,
and things strangled ; which was no great abridgment of their
liberty, and therefore the Gentiles cheerfully consented to it,
because they saw it would be an effectual means to settle them
in quietness and peace.
For this decree being first sent to the Christians of Antioch,
where the controversy began, they rejoiced for the consola
tion '^- And beipg afterward dehvered to every church where
¦¦ Levit. xii. 14. * Acts xv, 31,

326 A second part of a sermon seem. xvm.
the apostles travelled to preach the gospel, so were the churches
established in the faith, and increased in number daily y ; that
is, they were settled in the right belief, that none of those
things were necessary which the Jews urged them to observe,
(save only for peace sake ;) and by that means a great many
other Gentiles, finding no such burden should be laid upon
them, came and joined themselves to the Christian society.
It is true, some of the Jews still made a disturbance, as we
may guess from some passages in St. Paul's Epistles : but they
were dreadfully confuted by the destruction of the temple and
whole commonwealth of the Jevfs ; which made it impossible
for them to observe all the rites and customs for which they
contended, though they were in Judasa ; and laid this contro
versy asleep, or rather dead, among the Gentiles for ever.
You will say, perhaps, that other questions and differences
arose which troubled the church. And it is confessed, that
the apostles themselves complain of some unreasonable and
absurd men, who taught perverse things ; and also foretold,
that after their decease grievous wolves would enter in among
them, not sparing the flock ^-. But still by their care and au
thority the main body of the flock of Christ were kept in per
fect peace and quiet ; or differed more in some opinions than
in their affections. And after their departure out of this world
they so continued, under the conduct of apostolical men, who
watched over their flocks with such diligence that those wolves
did little hurt ; all that sophistry being powerfully baffled by
them, wherewith those pestilent men subverted some weak
minds, and drew them into their senseless heresies. For, as
St. Paul says to the Thessalonians, it was needless to write to
them touching brotherly love, because they themselves were
taught of God to love one another^; so it is reasonable to
presume the same of the generality of all other Christians in
those days. And in tlie following ages their love, as I observed
before, notwithstanding some sects among them, was so no
torious, that it set a mark upon them, (as Tertullian speaks •>,)
and made the heathen say, " See how they love one another."
For the heathen were not more prone to kill those whom they
hated, than the Christians were to lay down their own hves for
to save their brethren. So thoy called one another, as he says,
y Acts xvi. 4, 5. z Acts XX. 29. a j Tliess, iv. g.
b Apolog. c. 39. [p. 31 B,]

SEEM. XVIII. before the prince of Orange.
in his days, having all one Father, being born again in one
la,ver of regeneration, and drinking of one spirit of holiness, (as
his words are,) which inspired them with such charity, that
they were kindly affectioned towards the most froward and
peevish people ; and, as St. Austin tells the Donatists, whether
they would or no, looked upon them as their brethren.
Thus, I may presume, I have sufficiently proved how peace
able and quiet the kingdom of Christ was, when he first began
to reign: what a marvellous change he made in the world:
how he reconciled their enmities, and made them deposit their
hatreds : inclined them to embrace one another with such an
unusual affection, and to take such a care of each other's wel
fare, that it made the Christian society to be admired by those
who were not of it ; and invited great numbers, in the most
dangerous days, to enter into it.
That things did not continue in this blessed state so long as
might have been expected, is to be imputed to those vain talk
ers who perverted the • plain, simple doctrine of Christ, and
turned it into another gospel; till at last there was such a
foul apostasy as we now see in the church of Rome. Where
great numbers of Christians are become wolves, leopards and
tigers again ; who for many ages have ravaged and devoured
the harmless lambs of Jesus Christ. For a most beastly cruelty
entered into the church, together with a profound ignorance ;
according to the observation of the Psalmist, (which will ever
be true,) The dark places of the earth are full of the habita
tions of cruelty".
For the first three hundred years and more there was not
the least sign of a persecuting spirit ; though there were such
horrid opinions then vented as have not been heard of in these
later times. But Christians, being then wholly unacquainted
with force and violence one towards another, beat them down
with spiritual weapons ; by which they maintained the faith of
Christ in sincerity, and got a glorious victory over those mon
strous heresies. Impositions upon men's understandings, and.
forcing their belief, or at least the profession of articles of faith,
by inflicting corporal punishments merely for false opinions,
came in with the retinue and train of antichrist ; that is, crept
into the church, as other abuses and corruptions did, when tho
<= Psalm Ixxiv. 20.

328 A .second part of a sermon seem, xvm.
first warmths of Christianity were abated, and the charity of
many was waxed cold.
But as this was foretold by our blessed Saviour and his
apostles, so they assure us, that the lofty pretences of this
apostate church shall one day be thrown down : and that with
the destruction of this mystical Babylon the Christian world
shall be renewed. A new Jerusalem shall come down from
heaven, (as St. John saith. Rev. xxi. 3, 4,) and the tabernacle
of God shall be ivith men, and he will dwell with them, SfC. ;
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, (or
bawling, as the word signifies,) neither shall there be any more
pain, (or toil rather, and drudgery,) for the former things are
done away ; that is, oppression and cruelty shall be strangers
to tliis church ; there shall be no haling men to the stake ; no
lamenting over those that are butchered ; no bawling Away
with thera, they are not worthy to live ; no condemning men
to the galleys ; no painful tugging at the oars, and such like
barbarities ; but Christians shall live at ease, and be so kind
one to another, that there shall be nothing but joy in God, and
in their mutual charity ; for, in one word, former things, such
as we now see, shall be so banished from the Christian world,
that they shall be known only by hearsay.
I cannot now further enlarge upon this, because I have one
thing more to add for the explication of this prophecy, which
as it will answer the most hteral sense of it, so is very suitable
to the present season.
IV. The grosser sort of Jews, I told you in the beginning of this
discourse, would have us understand by wolves, leopards, and
lions, &c., the very beasts that bear these names ; which in the
days of Christ they fancy shall become tame, and made as
gentle and familiar as those we call oxen, calves, and lambs.
There is great reason, I showed you, against this interpreta
tion ; but if any be so stubborn as to stick to it, and wih not
believe unless we show him when this was done, I think it is
not difficult to give him satisfaction.
For St, Mark tells us, that when our blessed Saviour was in
the wilderness forty days tempted of the devil, (of which
St. Matthew gives us a larger account in the Gospel for this
day,) he was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered

SEEM, XVIII. before the prince of Orange. 329
unto him^. The devh, that is, attempted to affright him with
such terrible creatures as the lions, wolves, and tigers, which
are greedy of man's flesh as well as of other creatures ; but
none of these had any power to annoy him. Quite contrary,
they all licked his feet, (as I may speak,) and were as innocent
and as gentle as the lambs. For that must be the sense of
these words, {He was with the wild beasts,) he was in the
midst of them, and that without any harm at ah ; they being
as mild in his presence as those we count the meekest crea
tures. In this the power of our Saviour began to discover itself to
the devil, who saw this prophecy hterally fulfihed in him, The
wolf shall dwell with the lamb, &c., and that of the Psalmist
in Psalm xci. 13, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the
adder : the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample
under thy feet.
Yet such is the bold and restless nature of the tempter, when
he could not terrify him by this horrid company of wild beasts,
he had the confidence to hope for an advantage from hence
another way. For he imagined our Saviour himself would
take the confidence by this authority and power which he found
he could exercise over those fierce creatures, to presume to do
some other strange thing without the same reason ; especially
when Scripture might seem to encourage to it, even that very
Scripture which I now named.
Accordingly the devil takes our Saviour into the holy city,
and sets him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith. If thou be
the Son of God, cast thyself down : for it is written. He
shall give his angels charge concerning thee : and in their
hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy
foot against a stone '. If you inquire where this is written,
the answer to it will acquaint you with a thing very remark
able. For it is written in the same psalm where you find the
other words I now alleged, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and
the adder, &c. ; and, the truth is, goes immediately before them
in this manner. For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in
their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou
ti Mark i, 13. ^ Matt, iv, 6.

330 A second part of a sermon seem, xviii.
shalt tread upon the lion and adder : the young lion and the
dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet. Now they being
thus connected and knit together, our Saviour durst not sepa
rate them, as men in these days are bold to do with the holy
Scriptures. Which he understood so perfectly, that he could
not be cheated with the devil's sophistry ; for he knew the
psalmist was to be thus expounded, (as an eminent divine of
ours hath long ago observedf,) " that the angels should keep
him if he trod upon a lion or an adder as they came in his way
in the wilderness, as well as bear him up that he should not
dash his foot against a stone.'' And so they did, for the angels
ministered unto him while he was with the wild beasts, upon
whom if he had trod it had been no tempting of God ; because
he had promised to send his angels to guard him from harm in
that action. But they had no such commission that he could
find to keep him if he cast himself headlong from the pinnacle
of the temple ; for it was no part of his way, as it was to be in the
wilderness whither the Spirit carried him. Nor was it a thing
included in this promise, which signifies only thus much, that
all creatures should be obedient unto him, and though never so
fierce and virulent in their own nature, should lose their power
and their poison in his presence.
Thus, I think, the words of Isaiah were in the most literal
sense of them made good to the full.
And it may be observable, perhaps, that as this prophecy in
my text immediately fohows a prediction, that Christ the
Branch of the stock of Jesse should be filled with the Spirit ;
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel^, &c. ; so
our Saviour's being with the wild beasts immediately followed
after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him at his baptism,
as the three first evangelists tell us who write about this
matter. Particularly St. Mark in the place before-named saith.
Immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness ; that
is, as soon as ever he was baptized, and the Holy Spirit with a
voice from heaven was come down upon him, he was led by the
Spirit into desert places, and there he was with the wild
beasts^. And then came to pass what Isaiah had foretold, that
f Doctor Jackson. [Commentaries s Isaiah xi. 2, 3.
ontheCreed,bookvii.vol.vi.p.422.] h Mark i. 12, 13.

seem, xviii. before the prince of Orange. 331
there was no difference between a lion and a lamb, a leopard
and a kid, an asp and a sucking child ; but they were all alike
subject to our blessed Lord and Saviour.
There is one objection that may be made against what I have
said, which seems to lie against tlie very intention of our Sa
viour ; which was not, may some fancy, to make peace in the
world : but he himself saith, I came not to send peace, but a
sword; I am come to set a man at variance against his
father, and the daughter against her mother^. Or, as St.
Luke's words are. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on
earth ? I tell you, Nay ; but rather division '. This I thought
good to mention ; though such passages, I hope, are now so well
understood, that a short answer will serve to it. For,
First, it is evident from plainer places that our Lord did
come to send peace ; and he was not so weak as to contradict
himself. What can be plainer than those words of his, Peace
I leave with you, my peace I give, or commend, unto you ^ 1
Secondly, and on the other side, it is as manifest he intended
nothing less than to bring a sword, and to make war : for he
forbade his disciples to take the sword, and commanded them
to pray for their enemies, not to kill them.
Thirdly, therefore he cannot be thought to speak of his in
tention, (when he saith, / came to send a sword, or division,)
but of the event of his coming by accident. Just as we say
when we give a friend a visit out of mere kindness, " I am come to
trouble you ;" not that we design any trouble to him, but are
afraid it may prove so at that time, if he be otherwise engaged ;
in like manner doth our Saviour say he came to bring a sword,
and to make variance : not because he would have it so, but
because he foresaw many men were so much inclined another
way, and so strongly engaged in other persuasions, that they
would not only refuse his religion, but quarrel with them that
received it.
This was the division he speaks of: they who did not be
come Christians, he knew would hate and malign those that
did, and that a great deal more than if they had remained
still heathens or Jews. Which was not the drift or the effect of
his doctrine, but proceeded from their ignorance of it, by re
fusing to entertain it ; nay, wilfully shutting their eyes against
h Matt. X, 34, 35, 36. * Luke .xii. 51. ^ John xiv. 27.

332 A second part of a sermon seem, xviii.
that hght of Divine knowledge which filled the earth as the
waters cover the sea.
To be brief: this only proves what I discoursed in the
former sermon, that mankind must use their sincere endeavours
to make themselves happy through the knowledge of Jesus
Christ ; or else they may become more miserable by that very
means. The business will not do of itself, but we must con
tribute our pains and labour to bring it about, by a faithful
improvement of those means which God affords us of know
ledge and of grace.
So the prophet, I showed you, explains his own meaning ;
and so the sober Jews themselves understand him : particularly
Maimonides, who saw very well that if he had said otherwise,
he should have been in danger to be confuted by other places
of the old Scriptures ; where there are the like promises to
the Jewish nation, which did not come to pass because of their
refractory disposition : and yet the promises were true, because
God did what he intended and engaged to effect that blessing
for them. Read Jer. xxxii. 37, 39, where he promises to give
them one heart and one way; and so he did, by disposing
things in such a manner at their return from Babylon, as to
take away the causes of all their differences. And yet they
still continued at odds as much as ever, because they did not
receive that heart which he gave them, by disposing themselves
to make a good use of his wonderful providence, which ordered
all things to concur for the making a blessed accord among
them. Which that it may not prove our own case, let us seriously
consider that Christ will not absolutely force his favours upon
us ; for that is directly contrary both to the gospel and to the
law of the Jews also : which suppose that men may refuse
what he designs to bestow upon them, nay, puts into their
hands. For both of them threaten men severely, if they be
so cross as to walk contrary unto him who would do them
good : and therefore the issue of this long discourse is, that we
must do our part to make ourselves and the world happy.
We must be sensible of the infinite love of God ; we must
thankfully receive the gospel ; we must heartily believe it, and
study it, and apply ourselves to observe it ; we must regard
also the works of Divine providence, which hath a voice, and

SEEM. XVIII. before the prince of Orange. 333
speaks loudly, as well as his word ; and not expect to be made
happy like a company of wild beasts, who are kept by mere
violence from destroying others. No, if we will not show our
selves men, as this prophet speaks, we shall, after such extra
ordinary means as God hath used for our amendment, become
so much the more brutish, more fierce and violent, like lions
and tigers, by being under discipline, but not subdued by it.
For when men hold the truth of God in unrighteousness, he
dehvers them up to a reprobate mind ; so that they become
not mere beasts, but worse than beasts ; for beasts do not act
such things as the apostle there says some men committed '.
Beasts follow the use of nature, and are generally favourable
to those of the same kind with themselves : but they who per
vert the knowledge of God forsake, in time, the natural use,
and, as the proverb is, " One man becomes a wolf to another
man ;" nay, according to another ancient saying, " They be
come so many devils one to another,'' to vex and torment each
other without end.
Let this move us therefore to apply our minds to the study
of making ourselves and the world happy, by an hearty enter
tainment of the Christian religion ; and then it is heartily en
tertained, when it makes us love God and one another.
Do your best to bring back those comfortable and truly
glorious days when Christians were of one heart and of one
soul. Lay aside, or rather, bury all your enmities and hatreds ;
put away strife and contention ; cease from anger, and let go
wrath ; let no clamour, no evil speaking be heard among you :
much less such evil speaking as St. Jude charges upon some
ungodly men, who spake evil of dignities, ver. 8, and spake
evil of those things which they knew not, ver. lo.
Wrest this prophecy out of the hands of the Jews, who will
not believe what is written in the Acts of the Apostles con
cerning the unity of Christ's disciples. Therefore let them now
see such unity among us, by the change of our fierce and vio
lent natures into a lamb-hke disposition. Confute all their
objections, and leave them not the shadow of an argument
against our rehgion. Convince them that Jesus is the Christ,
by the innocence and unblamableness of your lives ; by your
love and charity, by subduing all your unruly appetites and
' Rom. i. i8, 26, 27, &c.

334 A second part of a sermon seem. xvm.
desires, by taming your furious and outrageous passions, by
purging out your choler and gall, all anger, malice, and desire
of revenge; by becoming like the sucking child, of which
Isaiah here speaks; who is without guile, without ambition,
covetousness, pride, hatred, or any other quality whereby the
world is now miserably divided and disturbed.
In short, you must be like httle children in all things but
only in understanding ; for therein you must be men, as the
apostle instructs you. Brethren, be not children in understand
ing ; howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding
be men '". And truly, that is the way to be like children iji
malice, (that is, to have none at all,) in understanding to be
racn. For the more thoroughly we know the will of God in
Christ Jesus, the more loving and peaceable, as well as just
and pure, we shall be. We shall make it our business to do
good to all, but hurt to none ; no, not to our enemies, and such
as do hurt to us. And therefore fill your minds with a solid
knowledge of your duty, and not with notions merely, or airy
speculations, which serve only for talk, and perhaps for wran-
glings and disputes.
There is a knowledge, I must here mind you, which will
hinder the fulfilling of this prophecy ; for it makes men fall
out and quarrel one with another, nay, hate all those who are
not of their mind and way. But this is not the knowledge of
the Lord ; which, as it is the ivisdom that is pure, the knoiu-
ledge of the holy, so it is the meekness of wisdom, the way of
peace. For it is the knowledge of God's great love to us in
Christ Jesus ; and the knowledge of that love and obedience
we owe to him, and of that extraordinary kindness we ought to
have one for another.
In this knowledge let us grow and increase daily, and not
be like to those of whom St. Paul complains, who doted about
questions and strifes of words, wliereof cometh envy, strife,
railing, evil surmisings, SfC. " I take it to be very remark
able, that the apostle cautions Timothy five or six times against
this wrangling religion, which spent its time in questions,
doubts, and arguings about many useless notions, that tended
to nothing but to fill men's minds with a false opinion of know
ledge, and to embroil the church with disputes that could never
¦" I Cor. xiv. 20. n I Tim. vi. 4.

SEEM. XVIII. before the prince of Orange. 335
be determined ; or, if they could, it was never the more edified
thereby either in faith or piety. He begins with this charge,
not to give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which
ininister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in
faith "- The critical notion of which words, fables and gene
alogies, is not to be expected in this discourse. It is sufficient
to know, that he means hj fables not only false and doubtful
relations, which rely upon no certain tradition, but such as
were idle also, if they had been true ; because they served for
nothing but to fill men's minds with unprofitable thoughts, and
to keep out better things. Which was the fault also of that
endless pains which the false apostles took to derive their
pedigree from the ancient patriarchs, (which perhaps may be
meant by genealogies.) For they neither made men a jot
wiser nor more holy ; neither improved their minds, nor re
formed their wills and affections. Which is the great thing
that the gospel designs, as he shows in the following words,
(where he tells what kind of knowledge we should inquire
after,) The end of the commandment, i. e. the design of the
gospel, is charity, the love of God and of our neighbour, which
springs out of a pure heart, purged from all sensual affections
and passions, and a good conscience, that aims only at being
truly void of offence towards God and man ; which arises out
oi faith unfeigned, that is, a sincere belief of the gospel of
Christ. To the same effect he admonishes him again, iv. 7, Refuse
profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto
godliness. Where it is evident he speaks of such discourses
as not only busied men's minds to no purpose, but hindered
them from being better employed in serviceable actions of
piety, mercy, and other Christian virtues.
And as in these two places he opposes piety to this sort of
knowledge, so he doth in a third, which I before named,
vi. 3, 4, 5, where he describes those who doted about questions
and strifes of words, as men that consented not to wholesome
words, even the words of our Lord Jesus, and to the doctrine
which is according unto godliness.
Which he repeats again when he writes a second time to
him in the next Epistle, Flee youthful lusts; but follow right-
o 1 Tim. 1. 4.

336 A second part of a sermon seem. xvm.
eousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the
Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned que.s-
tio7is avoid, knowing that they gender strifes. And the ser
vant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all
men, Sfc. P
By which you see that this is a knowledge rather to be
rooted out than planted and cherished ; though, alas ! it hath
been so diligently cultivated, that it hath covered the earth as
the waters cover the sea : which the saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ ought to have done. The world hath been filled with
questions and controversies, and men have thought themselves
wise when they had learnt to argue and wrangle about them.
On this they have set their hearts, as if it were all religion, or
the most considerable part thereof. " But to what end do we
contend," as Erasmus honestly glosses upon the first of these
placesl, " whether sin be a privation only, or a spot which
sticks to the soul ? Let this rather be the work of a divine, to
persuade all men to abhor and hate every sin. We dispute
whole ages, whether that grace with which God loveth and
draweth us be the same with that wherewith we love him
again ? whether it be something created or increated ? Let
us make this our business rather, that by pure prayers, by
innocence of life, by pious actions, we may obtain the favour of
God to bestow his grace upon us. We squabble without end,
what it is that distinguishes the Father from the Son, and both
of them from the Holy Ghost ; whether a thing or a relation ;
and how they can be three when they are one essence. How
much more pertinent would it be, by all means to endeavour
that we may piously and liolily worship and adore that Trinity
whose majesty is inscrutable; and by our concord and agree
ment express to our power their ineffable concord ; that so at
length we may be admitted into their blessed fellowship for
ever !" &c.
This indeed is a contention most worthy of Christians, to
strive who shall have most charity, and be the forwardest to
come to an amicable agreement, and make a friendly end of all
their differences. In this we are truly followers or imitators
of God : whose great design of sending his Son with the gospel
of his grace to us was to reconcile us unto himself, and one
P 2 Tim. ii. 22, 23. 1 1 Tim. i. 6. [0pp. tom. vi. col. 926.]

SEEM. xvm. before the prince of Orange. 337
unto another. If both be not wrought, neither of them is ; nor
is it possible for us to see happy days, unless there be an
accord among us : in order to which we must, among other
things, avoid that contentious and quarrelsome sort of know
ledge, by which men lose not only their charity, but too often
their faith also, and dispute themselves into irreligion.
Which is so necessary a caution, that the apostle, I observe,
mentions it once more in the conclusion of his First Epistle to
Timothy : 0 Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy
trust, (the doctrine according to godhness before mentioned,
verse 3,) avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppo
sitions of science falsely so called : which some professing
have erred concerning the faith ^. The way to keep the one
is to avoid the other : for by refusing to engage ourselves in
vain babblings and oppositions, in contradicting one another,
and in perverse or preposterous disputations, (as the apostle
calls them, verse 5,) we shall have the more time to bestow in
settling the solid knowledge of Jesus Christ, and of our
Christian duty, not only in our minds, but in our hearts.
Which will give us such satisfaction, that we shall not be
wilhng to have it disturbed by angry disputes, sharp conten
tions, and fierce conflicts one with another, but (to speak in the
language of my text) we shall be as meek and quiet as lambs,
though of never such different opinions ; and have nothing at
all of the wolf in us, lest if we bite and devour one another, we
be consumed one of another.
Our present oppositions and contests indeed are of another
sort than those in the apostle's times ; but they have the same
ill effect, to hinder better things, especially that thankfulness
we ought to have for God's benefits, and that Christian unity
and concord, for which all good men wish, and in their several
ways endeavour. Give me leave therefore, with respect to our
present circumstances, to suggest a few things, which may help
to lead us into the way of peace.
Besides the knowledge of the nature of God, and of his love
in Christ Jesus, and of the nature of rehgion, especially of
Christianity, and the principal doctrines of it, particularly
those two great commandments, of loving God above all things,
and our neighbour as ourselves : it might do us some service, if
s I Tim. vi. 20, 21.
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. /¦

338 A second part of a sermon seem. xvm.
we would labour to know ourselves better, and to understand
the nature of things, and reflect fi^equently upon the knowledge
we have of former times. Briefly of these three.
I. First, the knowledge of ourselves would teach us, that
men do not differ more in their countenances than they do in
the frame of their understandings : and therefore we must not
spend our pains in making all men think alike, for it is impos
sible to be effected. But while we differ in our thoughts, the
knowledge of ourselves would soon make us sensible we are not
such considerable creatures, that it becomes us to be confident in
the opinions wherein we clash one against another. If we be,
we should consider, that others may think they have as great
reason to be confident in their persuasion as we are in ours ;
and that they differ no further from us than we do from them ;
and therefore why should we not bear one with another, which
is the way of peace when friends cannot agree ? Nay, why
should we not entirely love one another, notwithstanding such
differences ? Since there is no more reason for our hating them
than there is for their hating us, the opposition being equal on
both sides. For just so much as they are against us, we are
against them ; and there is no more we have to bear withal in
them, than they have to bear withal in us.
II. Secondly, if we understood the nature of things a httle
better, we should the sooner agree to this. For we should find
that some things are of very great difficulty; about which
there will be ever such variety of judgment, that it is not
becoming any of us to be too confident. All things hkewise are
not of equal moment, and therefore we ought to make a differ
ence, and not contend for every thing alike. There are things
also out of our way, which belong not properly to our cogni
zance ; in which it is a good rule. Every man must be beheved
in his own art. In matters of law, divines have as much reason
to rely upon good lawyers, as lawyers have in matters of
religion to rely upon good divines ; not with an absolute resig
nation, but with a modest deference to their judgment in their
own faculties. If able men of either faculty be of different
judgments, that is a reason to be moderate in our opinions, and
in our censures, and in all our behaviour; and not to judge ill,
much less speak ih of those that differ from us in things
wherein the wisest men are not agreed.

SEEM. XVIII. before the prince of Orange. 339
To speak freely, the things that at present distract us are
either our concerns as we are Christians, or as we are English
men ; our ecclesiastical, or our civil differences. Now as to the
former, there is such a disposition on one side to yield to the
weakness of their brethren, that if they on the other side will
be satisfied without breaking the very constitution, I do not see
how we can fail to come to an happy agreement. All the diffi
culty is about the other ; of which it is not fit in this place to
say more than this : Can we be so sure that things are wrong
settled, as we are that Christians, of the same communion
especially, ought to be at peace, and live in love, and concur in
the strictest union for their common safety and preservation ?
We need not be told how contrary it is to the Christian law to
act otherwise ; but as for the laws of the land, it is not so evi
dent that any thing is done contradictory to them ; for men of
great skill in those laws affirm all things that have been acted
are consistent with them. Why then should we be violent in
our opinions and assertions about such matters, in which it
becomes us to be more modest ? Nay, why should we give one
another any trouble at all about any thing whatsoever, when
our religion and our interest require us to agree ?
Alexander Aphrodisaeus, as Maimonides' hath observed,
gives these three reasons why controversies are multiplied, and
cannot be determined. First, the subtilty and depth of some
things ; in which, notwithstanding, everybody will be meddling.
Secondly, the weakness of human understanding, of which
nobody will be sensible. Thirdly, love of dominion and victory,
for which men sometimes contend more than for truth. Their
reputation is engaged, and they cannot yield till they come off
with credit. To which Maimonides himself adds a fourth ;
which is custom. We have a great love to that unto which we
have been used, and are very loath to leave it. Which appears
abundantly from what I have said concerning the state of our
religion in its beginning ; upon which let us reflect a httle :
for I will meddle with nothing else in the consideration of the
third thing I commended to your study, the knowledge of
times past.
III. From whence we may learn, first, that good men's pre
judices may be such that they cannot be presently removed,
' More Nevoeh. part. i. c. 31. [p. 39.]
Z 2

340 A second part of a ¦¦sermon seem, xviii.
though their scruples be ungrounded. As we see by the ex
amples of the first and best times, when some Christians of the
Jewish nation could by no means be satisfied about such things
as seem to us so plain, that we cannot but wonder they made a
doubt about them. The generality of Christians in the Gentile
world easily understood that they had no obhgation to be cir
cumcised, nor to abstain from certain meats and drinks, and
such hke things ; and yet many thousands of the Jews who
believed, as St. James tells St. Paul, (Acts xxi, ao,) were all so
zealous of the law, that they would not have endured him, if
he had not charitably considered their weakness, and prudently
sweetened them by a temporary compliance. What wonder
then is it to see many dissatisfied, in our present circumstances,
about things which give others no kind of scruple ? Who ought
to have no worse thought of them than this ; that they labour
under old prejudices, as the Jewish Christians did; which must
be worn off by time, but cannot be dispossessed on a sudden.
2. For it is very observable, that most of the differences that
troubled the church in the beginning, sprang from those who
had been bred up under a quite contrary persuasion to that
which was settled by the authority of Christ and his apostles.
It was not the Gentiles that quarrelled with the Jews, but the
Jews quarrelled with them ; because they would not look upon
their law, which bad stood so many ages, as of eternal obhga
tion. And thus, we should consider, it will always be : strong
prepossessions cannot easily be persuaded to yield to the clear
est reasons. Men will walk on in the way to which they have
been accustomed ; and hold fast the notions which have been
deeply riveted into their minds. We see the power, or tyranny
rather, of custom in the very habits and fashions of several
countries : unto which men having been always used, they not
only account those ,of their own country most decent, but are so
in love with them, that they look upon all other as rude, nay,
as ridiculous. In short, there is no greater enemy to know
ledge than this (as Maimonides notes in the place before named);
for as all men are pleased with that to which they have been
long habituated, so to many it may have become very profit
able ; and some may be afraid that their authority will fall to
the ground, together with that which they have long main
tained.

SEEM. XVIII. before the prince of Orange. 341
3. But notwithstanding this, we learn from that ancient ex
ample we may be at peace, if we do as they did, or as they
were taught to do. That is, be not angry one with another ;
but patiently bear with each other's infirmities ; and be kindly
affectioned one towards another in brotherly love, as if there
were no differences at all among us ; and forbear rash judging
on one side, and contempt on the other : remembering we all
serve the same Lord ; and that it is neither for his service nor
his honour to have his family divided, but agree together in
this, to do one another all the good they can, as the best ser
vice they can do to him. Let our heats at least be abated, and
not grow more violent than they have been formerly ; (as they
are in danger, I have shown you, to be when we resist the
means of being made one ;) and then it is to be hoped that we
shall all come, in time, as the first Christians did, to be per
fectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judg
ment. Which is the last thing 1 have to observe from what
hath been snid of the state of things in the beginning.
4. And we shall the sooner come to it, if we will but live in
love and peace together, notwithstanding our present differ
ences. For this will make us capable of receiving and giving
satisfaction ; which will not be admitted from enemies, or
strangers, or such as are shy one of another. In order to which,
let us forbear, as I said, all censuring one of another ; especiahy
all evil speaking : let us suppress anger, and resolve not to fah
out, but to converse one with another as friends ; and remember
that the way to agreement of all parties, is not to bring men
to be of one opinion, but to be of one mind ; which we may
be, though of different opinions ; not by thinking the same
things, but by thinking well one of another ; endeavouring to
preserve charity as carefully as to preserve truth. For though
truth be great, yet charity is greater : which made a man of no
small learning and piety say, (and, I think, not amiss,) " Discord
is so odious to me, that even truth itself displeases me, if it be
seditious"." I intended to have pressed one thing more upon you ; which
is, that you would not fail to study the providence of God in
the late great and wonderful revolution ; whereby he seems to
" [" Mihi adeo est invisa discordia. Eras. Epist. ad P. Barbirium. [Epist.
ut Veritas etiam displiceatseditiosa."] dlx.\xvii. tom. iii. col. 656 D.]

342 A second part of a sermon 8fc. seem. xviii<
me to have designed the same that he did to Israel when they
came out of Babylon ; to give us all one heart, and one way,
that we might fear him for ever, for the good of us, and of
our children after us, as I observed before out of Jer. xxxii.
39. What a pity is it that we should lose such a blessed op
portunity of heahng all our breaches, and closing ah together
with strong affection in one firm body for our mutual pre
servation and happiness !
But perhaps we may not agree in the meaning of this provi
dence, and therefore I shall conclude with the prayer of the
apostle, Heb. xin. ao :
Now tlie God of peace, which brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through tlie blood of the everlasting covenant, make you per
fect in every good work to do his will, working in you that
which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to
whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

A SEEMON PEEACHED
AT ST. PAUL'S, COVENT GARDEN,
ON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING,
JANUARY 31, 1689,
FOR THE GREAT DELIVERANCE OF THIS KINGDOM BY
MEANS OF HIS HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF ORANGE
FROM POPERY AND ARBITRARY POWER.

TO THE EIGHT HONOUEABLE
WILLIAM
EARL OF BEDFORD,
KNIGHT OF THE NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER,
my most honoueed loed and patkon.
My Loed,
I HAD not the least thought, either when I penned or preached
this sermon, to pubUsh it to the world ; but have been overcome to
yield to it, after a long resistance, (which is the reason it comes forth
so late, by the importunity of a great number of my parishioners ;
who persuade me they shall reap some profit by the reading, as they
tell me they did by the hearing of it.
If they so do, they are bound very much to your lordship for it,
by whose favour I was promoted to this place : where your kindness
hath not grown less to me, but so much increased, that I cannot
but take this opportunity to assure your lordship it shall never be
forgotten by. My Lord,
Your most humble and affectionate servant,
SYMON PATRICK.
Feb, 7, i68|,
a [" Jan. 22. This day the lords spi- ordered by the lords and commons, that
ritual and temporal and commons as- Thursday the 3 1 st of January instant
sembled at Westminster. The lord be appointed for a day of public thanks-
marquis of Hahfax executed the place giving to Almighty God in the cities of
of speaker in the house of lords j and London and Westminster, and ten
the commons chose Henry Powle, esq. miles distance, for having made his
to be their speaker. After which a highness the prince " Orange the glo-
letter from his highness the prince of rious instrument of the great deliver-
Orange was read in both houses on the ance of this kingdom from popery and
occasion of their meeting ; and the lords arbitrary power : and that Thursday,
and commons unanimously resolved the 14th of February next, be appoint-
upon an address to be presented to his ed for a public thanksgiving throughout
highness of thanks for what he had the whole kingdom for the same ; and
done, and humbly to desire him to con- then the lords and commons went in a
tinue the administration of public af- body to St. James's, to present the
fairs till further application be made by forementioned address to his highness."
them to his highness. It ivas likewise

A THANKSGIVING SERMON

THE DELIVERANCE OF THIS KINGDOM, &c.

PsALM LXXV, I ,
Unto thee, 0 God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give
thanks : for that thy name is near, thy wondrous works
declare.AS it is impossible to look upon the curious frame of the
world, and consider the admirable contrivance and harmony in
every part, but we shall be inchned to reflect upon a supreme
and almighty Wisdom, which was the Author of it, so we cannot
take notice of the several wonderful events that fall out in the
world, beyond all human expectation ; the strange changes (for
instance) and unlooked-for revolutions that there are in our own
affairs, but it wih dispose us to confess the Providence of God,
who with a careful eye doth superintend and see to the govern
ment of every thing that he hath made.
The first of these is the foundation of that admiration,
reverence, and awful regard which we pay to the Divino
Majesty ; as the latter is of that devotion of mind which we
express in humble and hearty prayers and thanksgivings to
him. For were we never so sure that there is a God who
created all things by his power, yet we should not think of
addressing our supplications to him, and offering him our
thankful acknowledgments, did we not also beheve that his
care extends itself even as far as this earth, and reaches unto
us the children of men.
That is the ground of this hymn, which the divine writer
composed in consideration of some remarkable passage of that
Providence.

348 A thanksgiving sermon for seem. xix.
And that is the occasion which hath brought us now
together ; to acknowledge with thankful praises as wonderful
(I am sure as unexpected) a turn in the affairs of this corner of
the world as ever was. In which if we do not see a finger of
God, it is because we are blind, or, which is worse, shut our
eyes against the most evident tokens of a divine hand. Which
hath given us reason to express our joyful resentments in such
words as these : Unto thee, 0 God, do we give thanks, unto
thee do we give thanks : for that thy name is near thy won
drous works declare.
What the occasion of this hymn was, will be seen in the
progress of my discourse. In the entrance of which I cannot
but take notice, that the Psalmist was so fuh of admiration,
love and joy, when he considered what God had done for
them, that he was transported thereby out of the method of
common writers : who are wont to proceed from the relation
of matters of fact to set down the consequences of them, and the
passions which they are apt to produce. But here his heart
was pressed with such a mighty sense of God's goodness, that
he bursts out at the very first word into as pathetic a strain of
thanksgiving to him as can be conceived, before he relates
what he thanks him for. His affection was suitable to the
benefits they had received : both were extraordinary, which
transported him to the greatest height of devotion. And that
doth not so much follow art as nature ; which can attend to
nothing else, when it is possessed with delightful passions.
According to which method of the Psalmist, I shah in the
first place treat a while of the duty of thanksgiving. And
then. Secondly, proceed to show that the works of God's provi
dence in the world ought to excite us thereunto.
And thirdly, that the more wonderful those works are,
the greater, in all reason, ought our thankfulness for them
to be.
And lastly, (if I have time for it,) that we have this reason
for it among others ; that when God doth any wondrous
works, they are an earnest of some greater blessings he further
intends to bestow, if we do not unthankfully deprive ourselves
of them ; for his wondrous works declare that his name is
near.

seem, XIX, the deliverance of this kingdom, ^-c. 349
I.
I begin with the duty of thanksgiving. About which you
must not expect an exact discourse, because it is not here to be
considered in itself so much as in order to something else. It
will be suflScient to gather together such passages in this book
of Psalms as will, in a plain and familiar manner, express the
temper of a thankful mind ; and show withal from whence it
arises. I. And it begins in a dihgent observation of the benefits
' which are done unto us : of which if we take not special
notice, they will be like the things that pass by a bhnd man's
eyes ; of which he never speaks, and with which he is not at all
affected. Therefore after the Psalmist had so often repeated this as
the burden of his song, 0 that men would praise tlie Lord
for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children
of men *, he concludes all with these remarkable words, which
show us the fountain from whence these devout acknowledg-
ments^spring, Whoso is wise, and will observe these things,
even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.
None but wise observers can have any sense of God's goodness,
in the greatest benefits which he bestows upon them, especially
in such providences as were brought about by a long chain of
events ; one of which drew on another in a silent manner.
If a man's eyes be closed, or if they roll about in unsteady
and giddy motions, he cannot take notice of such objects as
present themselves unto him, nor receive their salutations with
any sense or acknowledgment. And it is the same case, if a
man be lulled asleep in the lap of sensual pleasure, or be
grubbing like a mole in the earth : if he attend, I mean, only
to his own private gain and advantage ; if he hath a thousand
projects in his head for himself, which busy all his thoughts, or
be of a murmuring discontented humour at every httle cross
occurrence ; this alone will turn his thoughts from the infinite
goodness of God, in the most signal blessings which he bestows
upon the nation wherein he hves. By which means God wih
lose all the praise of his mercies, because they wih not be at all
observed or regarded by such ungrateful souls : who must
a Psalm cvii. 8, 15, 21, 31.

350 A thanksgiving sermon for seem. xix.
first be disposed to be serious, sober-minded, and attentive to
what is done in the world, and is of universal concernment to
it, before they can be made sensible of tlie loving-khidness of
the Lord.
II. Which when we observe, we must carefully remember
and lay up in our minds ; or else these two mischiefs will
ensue. First, that we shall have only a flash of devotion kin
dled in us for a few moments. And secondly, we shall thank
the Divine goodness only for present mercies, but not for those
that are past.
We must imitate the Psalmist therefore in that admirable
hymn, saying. Bless the Lord, 0 my soul: and all that is
within me, bless his holy name. Bless tlie Lord, 0 my soid,
and forget not all his benefits^. Of which there is no more
remembrance in some men's minds, than there are footsteps of
a bird newly flown by left in the air. One may as well go to
search out the path of a fish in the water, as ask them which
way God hath gone to do them good. So thin, so fluid and
inconsistent are their minds, that they retain no impres
sions that are made upon them. A most fearful example of
which we have in the Israelites, who too soon forgat the works
of God, and remembered not the multitude of his mercies ;
that they provoked him at tlie sea, even at the Red sea : at
that very place where they had been newly saved by a most
miraculous providence".
I beseech God we may never be guilty of the like horrid
ingratitude ; unto which there seems to be too great an incli
nation in some among us, who a few weeks ago longed and
sighed for deliverance from those dangers which were ready to
swallow us up ; and were no sooner dehvered, but, as if nothing
had been done for them, they fell a murmuring against their
Deliverer, the great instrument, I mean, of their preservation ;
because every thing was not managed according to the model
of their desires.
This is an humour we must endeavour to cure, if any of us
have been infected with it ; because it makes us soon forget
the works of God, and that wih make us unthankful. For
a thankful temper of spirit must be made and maintained by
considering and often revolving those observations of the Divuie
b Psalm ciii. i, 2. c Psalm cvi. 7, 13.

seem, xix, the deliverance of this kingdom, ^"c. 351
providence which we have reposited in our mind. We must
frequently turn over, as I may say, the leaves of the book of
remembrance, which we have written in our hearts, of the
several notes we have taken of the loving-kindness of the
Lord. Which is so much of the essence of thankfulness, that when
we would express the contrary, ingratitude, we say men are
unmindful of their obhgations.
Now that which will most impress the benefit we have
received upon our minds is the observation of those circum
stances wherewith they were clothed, and came attended to us.
As the manner how they were conveyed, and that they were
unhkely to be effected by much means; that a deliverance
was unexpected and unlocked for, and yet the arrival of it most
seasonable to save us from ruin ; and that there was nothing in
us to invite it, but we rather deserved to be made more mise
rable ; and yet God took compassion upon us, and made those
very things contribute to our salvation wliich were designed for
our ruin.
These and such like other circumstances (which are very
applicable to our present case) will make God's goodness admi
rable in our eyes ; and that which strikes us with admiration
will be longest remembered.
III. When we would give solemn thanks to God for his
mercies, we must set ourselves to consider and ponder the worth
and value as well as count the multitude of them. We must
weigh as well as number them.
So the Psalmist teaches us, if we compare Psalm Ivh. 7, with
cxxxix. 17. In the former he tells us, his heart was fixed, his
heart was fixed, (so steadfastly settled, that is, that he would
not let it stir from his work,) and then he sang and gave praise.
And in the latter he admires God's mercies, first, as they are
invaluable, 0 how precious are thy thoughts towards me, 0
God! and then as they are innumerable, how great is the sum
of them.
Thus if we apply our thoughts to the present deliverance
which God hath wrought for us, we shall find the miseries from
which we are preserved so innumerable, and consequently such
a multitude of mercies for which we are indebted; and those so
dear, so precious, all that we are worth, either as men or as

352 A thanksgiving sermon for seem, xix.
Christians, our civil rights and liberties, but especially our holy
religion secured to us ; that it is impossible not to have our
hearts affected with God's goodness at present, and if we keep
those things in mind, not to give thanks unto him as long as
ive live, and praise him while we have any being. That is
the next.
IV. We must by these considerations affect our hearts with
God's innumerable and inestimable mercies vouchsafed to us,
and make them sensible of the obligation which they lay upon
us. So that we may say with David, Because thy loving-
kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus
will I bless thee while I live, my soul shall be satis/led as
with marrow and fatness ; and my mouth shall praise thee
with joyful lips^. He speaks, you see, of God's benefits with
such a sensible relish, as demonstrated he more than tasted the
sweetness of his loving-kindness, and valued the love that gave
them more than the best and most excellent of them.
We had need practise the foregoing duties well, of serious
fixing our heart, and setting a just value and due price upon
God's blessings; for otherwise we shall not be so affected
towards him as we ought, nor make him those returns of gra
titude which he expects. For such is the imperfection of our
nature, we are least apt to mind and observe those things which
are nearest to us, and in our quiet possession : our souls being
herein like to our eye, which sees nothing that lies upon it and
touches it; but discerns it clearly when the object is removed
to some distance from it.
We mind not those blessings while we enjoy them, and have
them in our hands ; which we hold to be very precious when
they are taken away and carried from our embraces.
Without serious consideration and frequent reflections, the
more we have of the best things, the less we shall be affected
with them. The plentifulness of the choicest fare in the world
makes it no dainties with us, but breeds in us such a fulness
and satiety as makes it less esteemed. And so it is with all
the rest of God's blessings. Those which we commonly and
constantly enjoy, though of never such value, move us little ;
unless we duly poise them in the scales of serious consideration.
Witness that great blessing of health, of which it is pity we
^ Psalm Ixiii, 3, &c.

SEEM, XIX, tlie deliverance of this kingdom, 8fc. 353
should not know the worth without being sick ; and the
blessing of liberty, which, I beseech you, let us learn to prize
without being made slaves,
V. When our hearts are thus affected with God's mercies,
and the love from whence they flow, there naturally arises in
us an holy joy in God, which is the most agreeable passion of
all other, and disposes us to say, It is a good thing to give
thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, 0
most High. For this joy is apt to burst out into songs of
praise, and indited all the thankful hymns we read in the book
of God.
Such as that of the children of Israel when the Lord turned
their captivity by an amazing deliverance out of Babylon :
Then was their mouth filled with laughter, and their tongue
with singing : then said they among the heathen, The Lord
hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great
things for us ; whereof we are glad ". It is not easy to enume
rate all the like instances of joy and gladness for private as
well as pubhc blessings, which produced songs of praise, as a
part of their thanksgivings ; according to that of the psalmist,
/ will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify
him with thanksgiving f .
VI. But thankfulness doth not consist merely in these de
vout and joyful songs, but in paying our vows we made to God,
either in the time of our affliction and trouble, or upon the
first approaches of a merciful deliverance. For these are two
seasons which commonly engage men in pious vows to God;
when they are oppressed with grief and sorrow, or when they
are suddenly eased, and overflowed with joy. And the discharge
of these vows God himself requires as a proof of our sincere
thankfulness to him for his benefits : Offer unto God thanks
giving, and pay thy vows unto the most High S. Which the
psalmist promises in Psalm cxvi. 17, 18, / will offer the sa
crifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the
Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord, in the presence of
all his people. And makes the whole world speak the same
language in Psalm Ixv. i, 2, Praise waiteth for thee, O God,
in Sion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed. 0 thou
= Psalm cxxvi. 2, 3. ^ Psalm Ixix. 30. e Psalm 1. 14.
PATEICK, VOL. VIII, A a

354 A thanksgiving sermon for seem. xix.
that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Not merely
with prayers, but with dutiful performance of their vows.
VII. And good men thought themselves bound upon such
occasions to renew their pious resolutions, and tie them
selves faster to God in holy purposes, to please him in all
things ; who was so gracious to them in such singular benefits
as challenged their highest praises. Thus you find David re
solving never to forget to thank God for his mercies to him :
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing : thou
hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness ; to
tlie end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be
silent. O Lord my God, I luill give thanks unto thee for
ever^. And in Psalm Ixxi. 15, 16, he says, My mouth shall
show forth thy righteousness, and thy salvation all the day ;
for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength
of the Lord God ; I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. Which is a resolution to trust in God for
ever, of whose goodness he had had such large experience : and
never to depend upon any thing, but only his power, holiness,
and faithfulness, in performing all his promises. Which engaged
him in a further resolution, to do the will of God in all things,
and live suitable to his obligations : Return unto thy rest, 0
my sold ; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For
thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears,
and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living '.
These are three proper resolutions to be made when our
hearts are dilated with joy in God for the benefits he hath
bestowed upon us : and we should endeavour to seal such reso
lutions upon our hearts, in those solemn words of the psalmist,
(which follow that affectionate exclamation. What shall I ren
der unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? ver. 1 2, and
his resolution to pay his vows in the presence of all Gods
people, ver. 14,) 0 Lord, truly I am. thy servant, I am thy
servant, and the son of thy handmaid ; thou hast loosed my
bonds ^. Where he not only solemnly devotes himself to God's
service, but binds himself to be entirely his, as much as a ser
vant was his master's when he was born in his house of the
body of his slave ; or as a poor captive was wholly his who had
ii Psalm xxx. 11, 12. ' cxvi. 7, 8, 9. "^ cxvi. 16,

SEEM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, Sfc. 355
redeemed him from thraldom, or rescued him out of the hand
of an enemy in which he was hke to perish. For that is the
proper notion of the word servus, ' a servant,' one that is saved
and not slain, when it was in the power of a conqueror to take
away his hfe. Such a one, owing his very being in this world
to him that saved him from destruction, stands bound in all
the duty and service that it is possible to be performed by him
as long as he hath a day to hve.
VIII. But our thankfulness is not completed till we arrive
by these means at such an habitual sense of God's goodness
as powerfully inclines us frequently to reflect upon it, and
always to be making good our promises and resolutions of obe
dience. Our first thanksgivings are to conclude in a thankful dispo
sition, which is the best security for future performance.
Constant thanks will flow from those who are of a thankful
nature. Which will incline us to a comportment agreeable to
the liking of those who have obliged us ; that by a constant
study to do what is pleasing to them, we may become more
acceptable in their eyes, and invite their further favour. Ac
cording to which God himself declares he expects our thank
fulness should end in this, if we expect his endless love. Whoso
offereth praise, glorifieth me ; and to him that ordereth his
conversation aright will I show the salvation of God '.
Whatsoever falls short of obedience is either but a compli
ment, or no more than a good-natured fit.
And as for comphments, the more finely they are adorned,
and trimmed up with songs of praise, with vows and protesta
tions, the more nauseous and fulsome they are ; because a
studied piece of flattery which the Divine Majesty abhors.
And as God himself calls this flattery of him ; They flattered
him with their mouths™, &c. ; so fits of good nature, the
more passionate they are, the more they are apt to flatter and
abuse ourselves ; by persuading us we have discharged the
duty of gratitude unto God, when we have only eased our
selves of a burden which at that present lay upon us.
And indeed all passions that come by fits are apt to do us
hurt, especially if they be very violent. It is a constant
motion which is most profitable to us. Thus physicians ob-
1 Psalm 1. 23. "> lxxviii. 36.
A a 3

356 A thanksgiving sermon for seem. xix.
serve, that the perspiration which is made by a violent motion
of the body or mind is wont to weaken us ; when that which is
made eqiially all the day and night long gives us strength and
vigour. So it is in the exercises of devotion : the vehement
expressions men make of their love and gratitude in their
prayers and praises only, the heat they put themselves into,
and the labour they take to raise up a passion, is nothing so
beneficial as a constant quiet sense of God's love warming the
heart, and insensibly breathing forth itself in the whole tenour
of a man's actions in a regular life.
The former, if he take not care, may prove hurtful ; for by
spending himself too much in one thing, he is the less able to
perform his duty in other matters. His affections being all
evaporated in that great commotion, he afterwards grows so
cold and feeble, that he can do nothing but sigh and groan that
he is no better.
But it is time to finish this part of my discourse, which may
be briefly reduced to these four heads.
To the performance of this duty of thankfulness there is re
quired, I . First, an act of the mind, to observe and take a true sur
vey of all the blessings which the Divine goodness doth at any
time confer upon us.
2. Secondly, an act of the memory, to represent them again
as occasion serves, and set them before the eyes of our mind.
For that is the treasury of those observations which we make,
the storehouse in which we lay up the notes of God's mercies.
3. Thirdly, an act of reason and consideration, who it is
that gives us all these good things ; for what an end, by what
means, and in what measure, both as to their value and their
number. Which when we have well performed, we shah be
prepared for the fourth and last, which is,
4. An act of the will, that must frame an affectionate
acknowledgment of God and of his great goodness ; binding us
fast to him by acts of love and joyful devotion, by serious per
formance of our vows, and hearty resolutions perpetuahy to
obey him.
I will not stay to tell you what title God hath to such
thanksgivings; but immediately pass to the second general
thing I propounded.

.SEEM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, Sj-c. 357
IL
That the wonderful works of God in the world justly chal
lenge from us our most grateful acknowledgments. They
ought, that is, to be so dihgently observed, so faithfully remem
bered, so carefully laid to heart, and often revolved, that we
may be so affected with them as to give continual praise to
God for them ; with such joy and gladness, and such a sincere
performance of our vows, as may testify the lively and lasting
sense we have of his love, and engage us in his service for ever.
I will content myself at this time with that instance of God's
providence unto which this Psalm itself directs our thoughts ;
in those discriminating acts of God's justice, whereby he makes
a remarkable difference between one sort of men and another,
and renders unto them severally according to their works.
And those acts of God's discriminating justice were twofold ;
having respect both to the punishment of the wicked, and the
salvation of the good. God is the judge : he putteth down one
and setteth up another. For in the hand of the Lord there is
a cup, and the wine is red ; it is full of mixture ; and he
poureth out of the same : but the dregs thereof, all the wicked
of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them^. The
words, I think, refer to the insolent and haughty behaviour of
Sennacherib and his captains, who, having got all the fortresses
of the kingdom into their hands except Jerusalem, and reduced
that also into great straits, insulted over Hezekiah and his
people in a most imperious manner ; till God the righteous
Judge took the matter into his hand, and decided the quarrel
by a most remarkable vengeance, which humbled the one, and
exalted the other more than ever. For though God's own
people had for a time tasted of the cup of astonishment, and
felt the smart of sharp afflictions, (which is the meaning of
those words, he poureth out of the same, upon them as well as
others,) yet the dregs of this cup, the stupifying and intoxir
eating ingredients, were reserved for their enemies ; who. were
made to drink them up to the very bottom, until they reeled,,
and staggered, and fell, and never rose up any more. Which
is expressed again in plainer words : All the horns, that is, the
power, of the wicked will I cut off ; and the horns of the
righteous shall be exalted". In such acts of these God ought
" Psalm Ixxv. 7, 8. ° Yer. 10.

358 A thanksgiving sermon for ^eem, xix.
to be admired and acknowledged, in his punishing the good
sometime to make them better, and in destroying the bad who
can by no means be persuaded to become good.
We of this nation particularly have great reason to observe
these things at this time. For, after a long invasion of all our
just rights and liberties, tlie popish party had intruded them
selves so successfully into all places of trust and authority
j everywhere, that they wanted but a little of making themselves
' masters of these three kingdoms; and were just upon the point
of confirming all their usurpations by the formalities of a legal
establishment, in such a parliament as they were about, by all
manner of indirect means, to pack together. AVhen, behold !
I the outstretched hand of Heaven appeared against them, to con-
(found the Babel which they had been so many years a building.
On a sudden their long studied designs were dashed in pieces,
hke mere bubbles, and that in a moment.
By which defeat the great Judge of the world hath made a
notorious distinction between those who stood firm to their re
ligion and hberties, and those that were about to betray them ;
and hath demonstrated to us all, that nothing is safe but what
is just ; that they are no better than fools, who go about to
separate interest from honesty ; and that there is no such way
to thrive as to keep in his ways, though they expose us to
seeming disadvantages. For he hath taken the subtle in their
own craftiness, and ensnared them in the work of their own
hands : whereby he hath rescued us from becoming a prey to
the teeth of those ambitious and ravenous spirits who thought
to devour us.
And therefore we ought to bless and praise him, above all
other people, in these acts of his providence and just govern
ment of the world ; which can never be enough admired. For
when God doth such things, he keeps, as I may call it, a little
day of judgment : the great day of all, which we expect at the
end of the world, being a day of general separation and dis
tinction of the bad from the good; for which he prepares us
beforehand, and warns us to it, by the petty sessions (as they
may be called) which he holds in all ages. Wherein he ascends
his tribunal, and sits in the throne (as the psalmist speaks)
judging right : beginning that dreadful day by remarkable
punishments upon notorious and numerous offenders, and as

SEEM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, ^c. 359
remarkable preservations of those who, being oppressed by
them, were in danger to suffer an utter ruin from their vio
lence. By this he shows to all men that he whl be partaker with
none in their wickedness : but be they never so great, they
shall be all confounded and perish who do unjustly, though for
a time they may prosper and flourish in the world.
Thus we have not only heard with our ears, but our eyes
have seen it : and this very day bids us mark and observe, how
gloriously God's providence hath triumphed over the bold in
justice and daring usurpations and impieties of insolent men.
And it is a thing to be carefully noted by us, for this reason
among other, that it may be a caution to us never to take any
unlawful courses, but to make as exact a difference between
good and evil in our practice as God hath made in his pro
vidence. We ought, in prudence as well as conscience, to take warning
by other men's miscarriages ; and not be bold to encourage
ourselves in an evil matter, because it is not presently pun
ished. Optimum est aliena insania frui, as Pliny speaks : ' it is a
singular happiness to reap the benefit of other men's madness
and wild extravagancies.'
It is much better to be taught by other men's mishaps than
by our own.
Wise men learn to beware by the disgrace and shame which
they see others suffer.
As wholesome remedies are drawn from poison, so from the
ruin of men of evil principles honest persons may derive pre
cepts for their direction.
And the greater and the more powerful they are who fall,
and the stronger they seemed to stand by evil practices, the
more wonderful is the hand of God, and the more instructive
when he throws them down.
What is more amazing (says an eminent historian) than to
see a lofty mountain, commanding over a goodly plain, sink
and swallowed up in a moment ? And yet it is not less strange
to behold a man of mighty power, a great colossus, surrounded
with numerous supporters, overthrown in an instant. This
cannot but breed some astonishment for the present ; though

360 A thanksgiving sermon for seem. xix.
the example, alas ! be very much neglected : posterity still
trusting to their own judgment, and adventuring to walk the
very same way ; but with another pace, and more cautiously,
they fancy, than those that went before them.
One ship alone, which happily returns from a long and dan
gerous navigation, hath more power to encourage bold under
takers to attempt the hke voyage, than the shipwreck of a
hundred vessels hath to divert them from it.
For such is the vain conceit we have of ourselves ; so apt we
are to be flattered with our own imaginations, that no man be
lieves ill success is ordained for him, especially if he prosper in
his evil way at the first attempt.
But this their way is their folly : and whoso is wise, and
hath the fear of God before his eyes, will believe that no arti
fice, no power can secure him who hath God for his enemy; as
they all have who are ungodly.
Remember the counsel of the psalmist ; Trust not in op
pression, become not vain in robbery. God hath spoken once ;
twice have I heard the same ; that power belongeth unto God.
Also unto thee, 0 God, belongeth mercy : for thou renderest to
every man according to his work". That is, let no man oppress
others, let no man cozen and cheat, he and dissemble, nor pro
mote his end by any violence : for many a time hath God de
clared that he is the governor of the world, who will see right
maintained. His works have spoken more than once, that
power, dominion and strength belongs to him ; and that no
evildoer is great enough to defend himself against him : unto
whom also belongs mercy, which he will show to ah good men ;
for whom he hath the greatest kindness, and therefore will
bless them and do them good ; because he renders to every one
according to his work.
And so I proceed to the third general observation.
III.
That the more wonderful the works of God are, the greater
in all reason ought our thankfulness to be. Which the psalm
ist denotes by the repetition of his gratitude, and doubhng his
words. Unto thee, 0 God, do we give thanks : unto thee do ive
give thanks : because his power was so stupendously great, in
" Psalm Ixii, lo, il, 12.

SEEM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, Sfc. 861
defeating of Sennacherib and all his forces. The like you may
read in Psalm ix. i, 2, where there are four several declara
tions of his resolutions to be thankful to God for that mar
vellous act of his providence in the overthrow of Goliath, the
champion of the Philistines, who boldly defied Israel. / will
praise thee, 0 God, with my whole heart ; I will show forth
all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee :
I will sing praise to thy name, 0 thou Most High. In many
other places you may meet such repeated acknowledgments,
particularly in Psalm Ixxh, 18, 19, where he not only him
self blesses the Lord, but wishes his name may be blessed for
ever ; and that by all mankind : which hearty desire he con
firms with a double Amen, Amen and Amen.
Now in this very Psalm there are two remarkable passages,
which serve to illustrate the wonderfulness of those works men
tioned in my text ; and may be applied to that wondrous work
for which we give our thanks to God this day.
First, in preserving and raising up good men, when they
were in their lowest depression.
Verse 3, below my text, The earth and all the inhabitants
thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. The whole
country, that is, was in a flame, and such a terrible combustion
made, that it melted away, and one part of it was separated
from the other. All the soldering whereby they were united
together was dissolved ; so that the whole frame of the govern
ment was in a manner broken, and likely to come to utter
ruin. But now the pillars of the earth (that is, men of excel
lent virtue and of authority, who are the props of their church
and country) were borne up by a Divine hand, which kept
them from fahing. So the Jews call their wise men the pillars
of the world ; and by the same name St. Paul calls the chiefest
of the apostles. Gal. ii. 9. Such eminent persons were sup
ported in their constancy when they were assaulted by the
hand of violence, and in danger to be shaken, nay, subverted :
and they by their prudent advice and pious endeavours, by
their prayers and by their tears, quenched those flames, and
prevailed for a happy settlement again.
Secondly, the providence of God was as marvellous on the
other side, in pulling down the wicked when they were at their
greatest height and exaltation. / said unto the fools, Deal

362 A thanksgiving sermon for seem. xix.
not foolishly : and to the wicked. Lift not up the horn. Lift
not up your horn on high : speak not with a stiff neck P.
These words show that the folly of wicked men made them
prodigiously insolent, and so vain as to imagine it was impos
sible that they should meet with a check, much less see their
power broken. But in the midst of these vaunts, they not only
received a sudden rebuke, but had their horn (that is their
power) cut off, and utterly disabled from doing any further
mischief. Whereby the Almighty showed them their senseless
confidence, and taught them (if they could learn) to be no more
so bold and arrogant.
The very same remark the psalmist makes in another place
upon one of these insolent, haughty boasters, viz. Cusli the
Benjamite. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and
his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. I will
praise the Lord according to his righteousness : and will
sing praise unto the name of the Lord most high'i.
You see the use which David's pious heart made of such
wonderful deliverances. Which ought to be the more regarded,
because the Divine wisdom, on purpose, suffers things to come
to such an extremity (the wicked to be lifted up so high, and
the good laid so low) to make us sensible that it is a Divine hand
whereby we are delivered ; and that he may get himself a
greater name in the world, and excite all our hearts to the
higher gratitude.
And if these things may be applied at this day to any nation
in the world, I think they may safely, and in the very first
place, be applied unto us. For our earth and the inhabitants
thereof have been, in a manner, dissolved. The very founda
tions of our government were about to be razed. The whole
fabric did not only shake and totter, but was upon the point of
being buried in its rubbish. When, behold, the hand of God
supported it, (by supporting the spirits and assisting the en
deavours of many good and great men, who laboured to pre
serve it,) and on a sudden hath broken in pieces the power
that pushed at it to overthrow it, and given us hope to see it
shine in its ancient splendour and glory. For the cloud that
covered us, and fihed us with melancholy apprehensions, is not
only scattered, but dispersed without a stormy wind and tem-
P Psalm Ixxv. 4, 5. 1 Psalm vii. 16, 17.

SEEM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, ^-c. 363
pest. Salvation is come to us, by the help of that illustrious
prince, whom God hath made the great instrument of our
deliverance, in a perfect calm, without any considerable dis
turbance. We may take up the words of the psalmist. Thou hast
proved us, 0 God ; thou hast tried us as silver is tried. Thou
broughtest us into the net; thou laidest affliction upon our
loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads, Sfc, but
hast brought us forth into a wealthy place'', a state, that is, of
hberty, prosperity, and ease. And therefore every one of us
should resolve, as it therefore follows, / will go into thy house
with burnt-offerings, I will pay thee my vows : which my lips
have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken when I was in
trouble. Come, and hear all ye that fear God, and I will
declare what he hath done for my soxd.
And truly it is but just, that upon such a day as this we
should recount the wonders of God's providence ; for which we
ought to give him our highest thanks.
Come therefore, and hearken, while I declare what the Lord
hath done for us in this church and kingdom.
First, he hath in a signal manner vindicated himself from the
aspersion of favouring unjust and irregular courses. In which
men prospered so long, that they looked upon it as an encou
ragement to proceed : and presumed God was on their side,
whom they entitled to every ill-favoured design and practice of
their own.
Which now he hath so notoriously discountenanced, that all
the world may see he is not tlie Author of confusion, but of
peace : and every one of us may learn to avoid that which is
evil, though we should be invited by never such fair opportu
nities to greaten ourselves, and to advance, as we may fancy,
his glory and the interest of rehgion by unlawful means.
Secondly, God hath also marvellously justified the truth of
his holy gospel here professed, and confounded the vain tradi
tions of men, which arrogantly coping with it, and being made
equal to it, were in danger to subvert it.
We may truly say the Bible triumphs in this dehverance,
and hath gotten a glorious victory over human inventions :
which are no less confuted by this Divine providence, than
" Psalm l.xvi. lo, &c.

364 A tlianksgiving sermon for seem. xix.
they have been by dint of argument. For the bold assertors
of them were no less confident of their prevalency than of their
truth. Both were presumed with equal assurance, which may
induce us to hope there is no better foundation for the one
than we are sure there is for the other ; but that they both
(their principles, I mean, and their prevaihng here) stand upon
the like tottering terms.
Thirdly, God hath vindicated likewise our rehgion from that
contempt and scorn which they cast upon it. The northern
heresy, as they reproachfully called it, hath got the better of
their catholic religion. The supporters of which lately lifted
up their horn so high, and pushed at our church so furiously,
as if they not only intended, but were assured it should not
stand much longer. But the righteous Lord hath made thera
fall by their own violence, and hath put this new song into our
mouths, (which is as proper now as in the days of old :) They
are brought down and fallen; but we are risen, and stand
upright ^.
Fourthly, whereby God gives us the fairest opportunity that
ever was put into our hands, of healing all the divisions and
breaches that are among good men : if they have any heart to
make use thereof. And we ought to rejoice and give thanks,
if it be but for the hope that we may become one : and no
longer look upon each other as enemies, but as friends and
brethren, who ought to come to terms of agreement.
Fifthly, he hath hereby also preserved the best laws in the
world, which contain the wisdom of many generations.
Sixthly, and consequently hath put us into a way of settling
the English liberties, which were sealed by the blood of many
of our famous ancestors, but in eminent danger by one bold
stroke to be ravished from us.
Seventhly, he hath revived likewise, by this means, the hope
of all protestants in the world, whose eyes are upon us as the
most potent people of that religion, in whose prosperity they
rejoice as in their own.
Eighthly, and why may I not add, that this providence gives
us hope to see some deeds of darkness brought to hght, whereby
the innocence of such worthies whl be vindicated as have been
unjustly defamed? =¦ Psalm XX. 8.

SEEM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, Sj-c. 365
Ninthly, all which God hath done for us on such a sudden,
that he would have been counted a fool who should have spoken
of such a revolution a quarter of a year ago.
Tenthly, and it is brought to pass with the loss of very little
blood ; which I hope will not make this deliverance less, but
more valuable, because we come by it so easily.
Eleventhly, nay, more than this, God hath made our enemies
themselves the first, and not the meanest instruments of their
own destruction. All that they contrived against us turned most
manifestly upon their own heads. Every step they took carried
them backward, and set them further off from the end at which
they aimed.
Twelfthly, and lastly, we may hope that God hath vouchsafed
these blessings to us as a return of many earnest prayers which
have been made by good people among us.
And therefore in all these regards we ought to make the
greater returns of praise and thankful obedience unto God.
Who, if we prove ungrateful to him, can turn all our joy into
sudden mourning, our singing into sighing ; and instead of the
garments of joy and gladness, clothe us with sackcloth and
ashes ; because of our unworthy behaviour towards so gracious
and great a Benefactor.
Let our thankfulness therefore be great, in some proportion
to his wondrous works.
I . First, in the intenseness, as I may call it, and earnestness
of our minds, to praise him with our whole heart, (as the
psalmist speaks. Psalm cxi. i, 2,) and to call up all that is
within us to bless his holy name * : where the reason he gives
for it (ver. 6) is very pertinent to our purpose ; the Lord exe-
cuteth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
2. And secondly, in the extension of it, the greater our de
liverance is, the more the hand of God hath appeared therein,
so much the more time should we spend in thinking of it, and
labouring to affect our hearts with it : that so we may praise
his name for ever, saying with the psalmist, / ivill extol thee,
my God, 0 king ; I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
Every day will I bless thee ; and I will praise thy name for
ever and ever ".
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, especially
t Psalm ciii. i. " cxlv. i, 2.

366 A thanksgiving .sermon for seem. xix.
in such works as these, which we cannot suflSciently praise;
and therefore should desire and endeavour that posterity may
praise him for them, as it there follows, ver. 4 : One generation
shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy
mighty acts, &c.
But we are most of all concerned to express our unfeigned
thankfulness by a more solicitous care to please God in an
exact obedience. Without which our rehgious services are but
hypocrisy ; and may prove a dangerous deceit, making us cry
Peace, peace, when there is no peace. For there is no peace,
saith my God, to the wicked.
Especially if we should continue to do wickedly after such
obligations to reform, which will highly increase our guilt.
According to that of Ezra when the people were joining them
selves with the heathen, after their deliverance from Babylon " :
Seeing that thou our God hast j)unislied us less than our
iniquities deserved, and hast given us such a deliverance
as this; should we again break thy commandments ? wouldest
tlion not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that
there should be no remnant nor escaping ?
We have the greatest reason in the world to dread this ;
and therefore let us fear the Lord and serve him, and obey
his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the
Lord; and then shall we continue to follow the Lord Y, that is,
to be a happy kingdom ; settled in the secured possession
of our religion, laws, and liberties ; and not fear what man can
do unto us.
For God shows by what he hath done already that he hath
a mind to do more. He will not leave his own work imperfect,
but finish it in the firm establishment of what we enjoy ; and
in the addition of other blessings which may make these
churches and kingdoms a praise in the earth. For that his
name is near, his wondrous works declare.
IV,
This is a point I would gladly have pursued if there had
been room for it ; but the time will not suffer me to do much
more than explain this phrase. Thy name is near.
The name of God is in holy language God himself ; who is
" Ezra ix. 14, 15. y i Sam. xii. 14.

SEEM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, S^x. 367
therefore said to be near when any wondrous work is done,
because it could not have been done without him.
I. That is certainly imported in this form of speech, Thy
name is near, &c. The works are so strange that they plainly
speak thou hadst a hand in them, else they could not have
been wrought. The disappointment of the crafty speaks God's
wisdom; the throwing down the mighty from their seats
declares his power ; the great benefits he bestows on his people
show his goodness; his punishments on the wicked proclaim
his justice ; the unexpected evidence of all these manifests his
sovereign and uncontrollable dominion : the blowing away all
the contrivances of many years in a moment, tells us there is a
vigilant Providence which sends deliverance in the opportunest
seasons ; the very changes and mutations that are made in the
world are an argument of his immutable and unchangeable
nature, which carries on one constant design of correcting vice
and encouraging virtue. For he makes no changes merely for
the love of particular men, but for the love of religion and
piety ; which he resolves to promote by other hands, when it
is neglected by those who have power to do it.
2. But this may also be further suggested by this form of
speech, that we ought to look upon every wonderful work of
God as a token of some other blessing he intends us, besides
the present he bestows upon us. It is apparent he approaches,
and is desirous to join himself unto us, and (as the Scripture
speaks) to be our God, else he would not have done such
strange things for us. This was the way in which Manoah's
wife reasoned : If the Lord ivere pleased to kill us, he would
not have received an offering at our hands ; neither would he
have showed us all these things ; nor would, as at this time,
have told us such things as these ^.
And may we venture to argue with ourselves after the same
manner, when he doth any thing extraordinary for us ; If he
had a mind to destroy us, nay, did he not bear a favour to us,
he would not have taken such a seasonable care of us ; and
wrought such an unexpected deliverance as this for us.
Which is a meditation that renders the goodness of God
most admirable in our eyes, when we consider he is not content
to bestow a single benefit upon us. There are none of his
^ [ Judges xiii. 33.]

368 A thanksgiving .sermon for seem. xix.
blessings that come alone, but are accompanied with a nume
rous train of good things, which follow and attend every one of
them, if we will heartily receive the present favour that he
doth us. We find this true in his spiritual blessings. He not
only prevents us with the blessings of his goodness, and is
found of them that seek him not ; but when we do set ourselves
seriously and diligently to seek after him, he not only gra
ciously meets us, (as the father is said to do to the prodigal
son,) but is desirous to dwell with us, and to take up his abode
in us. He would not give so little as a pardon to a returning
sinner, but his holy Spirit; the joys and comforts of an holy
life ; an assurance of eternal bliss. All his laws hkewise
whereby he governs us, not only give inward peace and satis
faction to our minds when we are ruled by them, but the hap
piness of our bodies, and of our families, and of whole king
doms and churches, inseparably twisted with the faithful
observance of them. For by these we come to be united in the
most sweet and pleasing relations of families and friends.
Nay, his whole religion, if we would receive it, secures the rarest
friendship among men that is imaginable. It sows the seeds of
love and kindness, of peaceableness and Christian communion,
of mercifulness and good works in their highest perfection ;
which must needs spring up into such a famiharity, as the hea
thens themselves accounted the greatest blessing in the world.
There is nothing more demonstrable than this, and it is no
less plain that as ah his spiritual blessings draw temporal along
with them, so likewise the outward blessings he bestows are
intended as pledges, not only of more mercies of the same
kind, but likewise of diviner and nobler favours to our souls.
There is no deliverance he gives us from temporal calamities,
but he designs shall draw us nearer to him, who is the fountain
of all good. He would give us himself together with it; he
would fill us with his love, and increase our confidence in his
goodness, and make us more fruitful in all good works ; and
dispose us to such a sense of him and of our duty, that we may
be every way happy, together with all those who enjoy the
same blessing in common with us.
This is the use we ought to make of all the marvellous works
of God which have been done among us, far surpassing all our
expectations. They declare that God is near us. He comes to

SEEM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, Src. 369
see what entertainment we wih give him. He opens the door
to see how we are disposed to receive him. But let us not
presume ; he is only near, we may put him away and his mercy
from us. We may shut the door against those divine blessings,
those heavenly graces, which he would introduce into our
hearts. 3. On these let us set our affections; and since God's presence
with a people is the greatest matter of praise, as these words
intimate, (for he gives thanks for God's wondrous works
upon this account, because they declared him to be with them,)
let this be the principal cause of our joy this day ; because we
hope true religion will be more than ever promoted, unfeigned
godliness countenanced, profaneness and debauchery every
where curbed, regular and orderly piety encouraged, all our
unnatural heats quenched, and our rigours abated ; brotherly
love and kindness, peace and concord firmly established.
For if we rejoice merely because we hope peace and quiet
ness will be secured, plenty and abundance flow in upon us,
trade and commerce quickened, riches increase and grow to a
greater height, and the strength and power of the nation much
exalted : we may justly fear we shall have none of these long
to rejoice in ; but God whl find some way, as unexpected as our
deliverance, to punish us for our ingratitude to him.
Did not Jerusalem presume it was for ever secured, after
such a miraculous preservation as that in the days of Hezekiah,
for which the Psalmist, it is probable, in my text gives the
highest thanks to God ? And yet this very city, in process of
time, was burned with fire, (not to mention the preceding ca
lamities before this came,) the temple destroyed, and the peo
ple carried captive into a strange land.
And after God had inspired the heart of Cyrus to send them
back to their own country, and given them such favour in the
sight of the heathen, that they built their city and their temple
again, and grew a very great nation; it is very hkely that
sleepy and careless minds might dream they were now under
such a pecuhar care of Heaven, that no evU should henceforth
befal them. And yet they were again miserably harassed and
afflicted by Antiochus, with a rage against them that differed
little from madness.
The very same confusions hath impiety made in the Christian
PATEICK, VOL, VIII, B b

370 A thanksgiving sermon for seem, xix,
world, and that by the hands of contemptible instruments.
Those that they despised and thought themselves able to resist
(though they had been far stronger than they were) got the
mastery of them, when the sins of Christians had taken their
defence and protection from them.
Many examples of which have been observed by divers
authors out of Salvian". " What was it," saith he, " that
abandoned Spain to the Vandals ? Were they the strongest of
all the barbarous nations? No such matter; but God would
show these two things : first, how much he hated the lusts of
the flesh ; for he delivered the impure, filthy Spaniards into
the hands of a chaste people ; and then he put them under the
yoke of the weakest enemies ; that he might show it is not
strength which prevails, but something else : they being over
run, not by the force of their sluggish enemies, but by the
power of their own vices,"
And how came France also to be vanquished ? Why, at that
time it was but one great gulf of riot, one brothel house of fil
thiness and uncleanness.
And when some objected and said. These Goths and Vandals
are all Arian heretics : sure God will give us the better, who
are good Christian catholics. " Alas ! " replies that good
father, " what a folly is it to rely on this fancy ! What ! do
you talk of being good catholics, when almost all rehgion is
derided by us ? What can the prerogative of a religious name
profit us ? What good can it do us to boast that we are the
faithful, and they the heretics, when we live as wickedly as
the wickedest heresy can make us ; and we ourselves could be
no worse, if our opinions were as bad as theirs ?"
Once more, how came these people to take the confidence to
invade Afric ? Had they an infinite number of legions, where
by they might hope to prevail ? No, we are expressly told by
good authors, that they were very small forces wherewith they
wafted themselves over to those shores. But it was an hand
from above (saith Salvian) which carried them thither, to punish
the horrid vices of those countries : the whole territory of Africa
being nothing else than one huge house, wherein all vices met
and dwelt together.
2 [De Gubern. Dei, lib. vii. cap. 7. in Biblioth. vet. Patr. Gallandii,
tom. X, p. 42.]

SEBM. XIX. the deliverance of this kingdom, Sj-c. 371
It is a madness then (unless we could show some privilege
and protection we have, to secure us from those punishments
which have come upon others) to plunge ourselves into those
vices; that irreligion, that filthiness, that debauchery which
hath undone so many.
They are the more deadly in us after such a deliverance as
this. They will cry to heaven for vengeance on such miscreants
as are not satisfied to have undone a kingdom once or twice ;
but, in defiance of all that they have seen with their eyes, as
well as of what they have heard from the report of ancient
times, will proceed on still in their trespasses, to undo it over
again. God of his infinite mercies enlighten our eyes, that we may
see these things ; and strike our hearts, that we may consider
them ; and implant in us such a reverend sense of himself and
of his righteous providence, that we may fear before him, and
obey him for our good, all the days of our lives. Amen.

B b 2

A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE QUEEN
AT WHITEHALL,
MARCH 1, I68f.
Published by her Majesty's special command.

A SEEMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE QUEEN.

Coloss. ih. 15.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which
also ye are called in one body ; and be ye thankful.
IN these words three things offer themselves to our con
sideration: First, a duty, which is, to let the peace of God rule in our
hearts. Secondly, the reason of it, which is double. First, we are
called to it. Secondly, we are called to it in one body.
Thirdly, a means or help hereunto, and be ye thankful.
I.
In the first of these also there are three things to be con
sidered: 1. The grace itself here commended to us, which is peace.
2. The excellency of this grace, it is the peace of God.
3. The authority it ought to exercise over us, let it rule in
your hearts.
I. For the first of these, peace doth not here signify that
quiet and satisfaction which we have in our minds and con
sciences from a sense of well-doing, and of God's gracious pro
mise thereunto ; but one part of well-doing, from which that
inward peace and comfort flows, viz. the grace of peaceableness.
Wherein we consult the quiet of other men as well as our own,
and hve in an undisturbed union with them.
Which is a grace compounded of several other graces, prin
cipally, humility and kindness, meekness and patience. The
two first of which (humility and kindness) dispose us to avoid
the giving any offence to others ; and the two last (meekness

376 A sermon preached at Whitehall seem. xx.
and patience) dispose us to pass by the offences that others
give to us : by which means peace is both made and maintained
both in private and public, in civh and Christian society.
For peace being that grace which preserves us from variance
with our neighbours, and clashing one against another, to the
great prejudice of all society, it teaches us, as I said, to avoid
all those things whereby we may offend other men, and to
keep ourselves in such good temper as not to be too much
offended at those things whereby they give disgust to us.
These are the things which cause all variance, and make all
the breaches that are among neighbours ; the offences which
are either given or taken. Which peace instructs us equally
to shun, and is itself instructed by humility and kindness to
shun the giving any, and by meekness and patience to shun the
taking any offences when they are given.
It is ill-natured pride and insolence which makes men give
trouble and disturbance unto those who would live quietly with
them ; and it is too much passion and impatience which makes
others unable to bear with such provocation.
Both must be amended before we can come into the way of
peace. The first, by humble thoughts of ourselves, and by
being kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly love, (as
the apostle speaks.) The second, by meek putting up injuries,
by forbearance, and patient suffering the insolent folly of abu
sive persons.
These two put us into the way of peace, and will keep us in
it, either by preventing differences, or by composing them.
For differences there wih be (and my text supposes as much)
as long as men''s apprehensions of things are very various ; yet
they may be without the breach of peace. Which doth not
hinder all manner of differences, but only compose them by an
overruling hand, as you shall hear presently, when I have
given a short account of the second thing under this head.
II, Which is, the excellence of this grace, here called the
peace of God; that is, a divine quality of which God is the
author, who works it in the hearts of true Christians ; as a
part of his own image which he dearly loves, and wherein he
exceedingly delights.
In all these regards it is the peace of God ; because it
springs from him : and is a communication of his own divine

SEEM. XX. before the queen. 377
nature, which renders us very like him and makes us highly
beloved of him ; who is 'the most excellent Being, and delights
in this name, the God of peace and love. For in his most
blessed nature there is no discord nor dissension ; but all the
three persons perfectly agree, and entirely accord, being exter
nally united in the same will as well as essence.
Unto which pattern our Lord and Saviour tells his apostles
God intended to form their minds ; that they all might be one,
as he and the Father are one^. And the apostles endeavoured
to make the same happy accord among all Christians, that they
might all speak the same thing, and that there might be no
divisions among them; but that they might be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment ^.
And when we are thus joined together in peace and love,
then are we perfect men in Christ Jesus, and in a singular
manner beloved of God ; unto whom nothing is so grateful as
this, whereby we make the nearest approaches unto his divine
nature. By this small touch I have given upon this subject, (which I
have not room to prosecute,) you cannot but see there is the
greatest reason that we should not only admit this heavenly
guest into our hearts, but let them be absolutely governed by
it. Which is the third thing.
III. The authority it ought to have over us ; which should
be so great, that it command, and have the dominion of all
other affections that stir in our souls. For so the apostle saith.
Let the peace of God rule in your liearts.
The word in the Greek for rule relates to contests and con
troversies ; in which the peace of God ought to interpose so
powerfully as to quiet them, that they give no disturbance to
the Christian society. So the words may hterally be trans--
lated, Let the peace of God be umpire in you. That is, when
any disputes arise about which ye cannot agree, but are in
danger to fall into parties and break in pieces ; then refer all
unto peace, as you do your differences to an arbitrator. As
much as to say. Let that be concluded which will make most for
peace. Let it determine every controversy, moderate in all
differences, be instead of a judge to decide and settle all things
a John xvii. 21. '' i Cor. i. lo.

378 A sermon preached at Whitehall seem. yx.
iu dispute ; which whl soon be at an end, if you do but think
with yourselves what will make most for the peace of the
church, or the kingdom where you live, and resolve to let that
prevail. In order unto which we must let it quell all those unruly
passions which upon such occasions are wont to rise up in our
hearts. Anger may begin to boil, pride and ambition to swell,
self-love and interest to make a bustle and bestir themselves ;
but then the love of peace and quietness ought to get upper
most, and bear the greatest sway in our hearts ; so as to over
rule and keep down all other affections, which would be trou
bling us and others.
This is the apostle's meaning, and thus the holy men of God
understood him ; who were content to sacrifice any thing but
the Christian faith to peace and quietness. Concerning which
there is an excellent discourse in the Epistle of Clemens (one of
the apostle's immediate successors) to the church of Corinth.
Where he shows that those contentions which began in St.
Paul's days, and could not, it seems, be suppressed by the
apostolical authority alone, would have immediately been sub
dued and quashed by the peace of God, if it had been grafted
and borne rule in their hearts.
" Who is there," saith he ", " that is of a generous spirit
among you ? Who is there that hath any bowels of compassion ?
Who that is full of charity ? Let him say if this sedition be for my
sake ; if this contention, these schisms, be upon my account, I
am gone, I depart whither you please. There is nothing that
shall be enjoined me but I will do it. Only let the flock of
Christ be in peace, with the elders that are set over it... Thus
they who live that life which is never to be repented of have
done, and will do. ..For we have known many, who, to be the
authors of liberty to others, have thrown themselves into
bonds : and many have left their own cities, that there might
be no strife and contention about them."
And what he saith godly men would do hereafter, according
as others had done before them, for peace sake, was fulfihed,
as we find in the monuments of the church. Where there are
examples of such self-denial as made them desire (to use the
" [§ 54j Sj apud Coteler. Patr. Apost. tom. i. pp. 177, 8.]

seem. XX. before the queen. 379
words of one of them) to be thrown into the sea, like Jonas
rather than have the tempest which was raised upon their
account continue to disturb the church. Thus I could show
some have done since in later ages. And if we had the same
humble, the same tenderhearted, charitable, and truly generous
spirit, we should think it the greatest glory to submit all our
particular concerns to the government of peace, and not let
them prevail to the making any pubhc disturbance, no, nor
private quarrels with our neighbours.
Unto which we are now so prone, that we fall out even about
a trifflng opinion, wherein we differ one from another. The
reason is, because we are too full of ourselves, and too void of
charity and the peace of God : which if it did possess our
hearts, we should not be so much wedded as we are to our own
opinions, much less indulge our passions ; but resign them all
to be ruled and ordered by this grace, which teaches us to be
of a yielding spirit, as far as piety will permit.
Nay, if our passion and our pride were kept under, we
should not be impatient to be contradicted, nor think ourselves
bound to engage in the defence of every thing that we judge to
be true, nor to rise up against every thing that we judge to be
false ; but endure without disturbance the contrary opinions of
others, which may seem untrue to us, if they do no great hurt
to the world.
Were we possessed with this desire alone, to make others
better, we should not trouble ourselves about every error and
mistake, if the remedy will prove worse than the disease ; that
is, breed quarrels, and break the peace, by endless disputes
and jarrings about it. Our blessed Saviour himself, the Prince
of peace, did not undertake to free men from every error
whatsoever, but those only which concerned the means of
their salvation.
And in such matters, when we are constrained to declare
our dissent from others, who are, we apprehend, in dangerous
errors, the peace of God teaches us to do it in such sweet and
gentle manner, that they may see we aim only at their good,
and they may not by our rough treating them take occasion of
disgust, not only unto us, but to the truth also which we
defend. For we oftentimes give distaste to others, and make
them irreconcilable, not so much by our contrary opinion, as by

380 A .sermon preached at Whitehall seem, xx.
a fierce, insolent, presumptuous, and disdainful way of proposing
our own opinion, and opposing theirs.
But it is far worse when we come to terms of contempt and
reproach ; which are commonly observed to make such breaches
as are never to be repaired.
The peace of God teaches us quite another lesson ; and
constrains us to compassionate the weaknesses of our brethren,
to treat them with tenderness as well as humanity ; and when
they are peevish, and passionate, and prone to quarrel, even
then to bear with them, and meekly reduce them to a better
temper. For the weaknesses of our brethren make them objects of
our pity, not of our anger. And they are never more to be
pitied, than when they cannot be cured by our charitable
compassion and forbearance of them. Unto which we shall be
the more inclined, if we consider that we are men also, and
may possibly fah into the same error, and commit the same
faults : and then what we tolerate in them, it will be their turn
to bear withal in us. But especially if we consider that we are
Christians, who lie under this law. Bear ye one another's bur
dens, and so fulfil the law of Christ ". Which law of charity
and peace being not fulfihed, is the cause of all the vexatious
disturbances that are in the world.
We do not mind this Christian obhgation, to bear one
another's burdens. We have other inclinations than to obey
the will of our blessed Lord. We seek ourselves, our own
glory, our own pleasure, our own interest and satisfaction in
every thing ; and are not satisfied with this, that God is glori
fied, our Saviour honoured, piety promoted, the church edified,
by our patience, by our peaceableness, by our forbearance one
of another ; and by our studying the good of our neighbours
as the greatest contentment to ourselves.
Thus I have explained the first part of my text, the duty :
which I have pressed the more earnestly, because strife and
contention will spoil all the fastings and humiliations of this
season ; nay, utterly defeat our very prayers and supphcations.
Which then will obtain of the God of ah mercy that perfect
remission and forgiveness which we beg of him, when they
dispose us to be merciful, as our heavenly Father is merciful ;
¦= Gal. vi, 2.

SEEM. XX. before the queen. 381
to be kind one to another, (as the apostle speaks,) tender-
liearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven us'^.
Come we now to the second part, which is the reason
whereby the apostle urges this duty.
IL
And that is double, as you heard. First, we are called to it.
Secondly, we are called to it in one body.
I. For the first of these, it suggests to us three obligations ;
whereby we are bound to be peaceable. First, by the preaching
of the gospel to us. Secondly, by the special favour which God
has done us therein. Thirdly, by the high honour he hath also
conferred upon us in making us partakers of his heavenly calling.
I. First, I say, calling is a word which relates to the preaching
of the gospel, by which we were called unto belief of the
truth " ; and by that truth not only taught, but required to be
at peace among our selves f, and to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peaces. Nay, if it be possible, as much as
lieth in us, to live peaceably with all men^; or, if they refuse
it, yet to follow peace with all men ', to seek peace and
ensue it ^.
Finally, brethren, (as St. Paul writes,) be perfect, (i. e. com
plete Christians,) be of good comfort (or receive this word of
exhortation), be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of
love and peace sliall be with you ' : that is, as we desire and
hope for the favour and love of God, and for all the blessed
effects and fruits thereof, we are bound to live in peace. For
he is the God of peace and love : and his Son is the Prince of
peace ; who left peace with his church, as his last legacy, when
he left the world : Peace I leave with you, my peace I give
unto yoW". And his gospel is the gospel of peace, the word of
reconciliation, which instructs us in that heavenly wisdom
which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be en-
treated'^, or easily persuaded unto those things which make for
peace, though therein we deny our own will and particular
interest. ti Ephes. iv. 32. ' Heb. xii. 14.
<¦ 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. '' i Pet. iii. 11.
' I Thess. V. 13. ' 2 Cor. .xiii. 11.
B Ephes. iv. 3. ^ Rom. xii. 18. "> John xiv. 27. " James iii. 17.

382 A sermon preached at Whitehall seem. xx.
This is the genius of that rehgion unto which we are called
by the preaching of Christ's gospel.
2. And it was the greatest favour and grace that Heaven
could bestow upon us, to communicate unto us the knowledge
of his wih, and to make us of this heavenly spu-it ; for so the
word calling is sometimes used in Scripture for the free grace
and bounty of God, in opposition to any work of ours whereby
we could deserve it; as in Rom. ix. ii, That the purpose of
God might stand, not of works, but of him that called, that is,
mercifully dispensed the benefit according to his own free will
and good pleasure.
We do not understand our own happiness, nor the great
grace of God to us, if we do not think ourselves highly obhged
to him, in commanding and disposing us, by the gospel of his
grace, to be peaceably minded; that is, to be, as I said, of an hea
venly spirit : for what other notion can we frame of the happi
ness of those above, but that they live in perfect love of God and
of one another, without any discord or contention which would
disturb their blessed repose ? For having all the very same end
and design, the very same affections and desires, which are to
do honour to God, and to promote one another's good, there
can be no rupture, nor so much as quarrelling or dissension
among them ; which arise from men's private desires and aims,
and the cross interests which they pursue in this present world.
And therefore the more perfectly we divest our minds of all
selfishness, and bend our thoughts to study the common good,
the nearer we shall approach to their blessed state ; and the
fitter we shall be for the company of happy souls and spirits,
by such a sweet concord and agreement here, as reigns in the
peaceable society of heavenly minds in the other world.
And on the contrary, while we hve in wrath and bitterness,
in pride and disdain one of another, and thereby are engaged
in perpetual contests and quarrelsome differences, pursuing one
another with a deadly hatred, we are of the same nature and
disposition with the infernal ghosts, the devil and his angels :
and if we go out of the world in this wretched temper of mind,
(which cannot be changed in a moment,) we fall unavoidably
into their troublesome company ; who could not be quiet even
in heaven itself, but there raised such a faction and disturb
ance, that they were thrust down from that blessed place, and

SEEM. XX. before tlie queen. 383
condemned to keep one another company in endless misery and
despair. And one great part of their misery, we ah apprehend, is that
they are ever restless and unquiet, unalterably bent to trouble
and torment themselves, bv contriving how to make disturbance
among others.
Which shows what a kindness our blessed Saviour hath done
us in calling us unto peace ; and thereby redeeming us from
the society of those rancorous spirits, unto whom we are so
strongly linked, while we are of a turbulent and untractable
spirit, that we must necessarily fall into their company when
we depart from hence, if we be not cured of this disease, and
have our natures altered into the peaceable mind that was in
Christ Jesus.
3. By which we understand, thirdly, the honour also our
Lord hath done us in calhng us to be peaceable ; for this the
word calling implies in Rom. xi. 29, The gifts and calling of
God are without repentance : where calling is the great pre
ferment God designed for Abraham's family, and to which ac
cordingly he advanced them : wherein he intended immutably
to have continued them, if they had believed on him, as Abra
ham did.
And indeed we are called to a very high dignity, by being
called unto peace ; for it entitles us to the honour of being the
children of the Most High. So our Saviour instructs us in his
sermon upon the mount : Blessed are the peacemakers ; for
they shall be called the children of God ".
Peacemakers are peaceable minded men. For as to make a
lie, in Scripture language, is to be given to lying, and to make
a practice of it ; so to make peace is to have a strong constant
inclination to it, and to bend that way upon all occasions.
Which is a divine disposition, and makes us like to God : so
like him, that we may thereby be known to be his offspring ;
who are endued with his most excellent nature, and act by his
spirit ; and therefore shall be partakers of his blessedness.
This is the sum of the first part of the reason : we do not
answer the gracious design of the gospel, and the great kind
ness and honour Christ hath done us, if we do not let the peace
" Matt. V.9.

384 A sermon preached at Whitehall seem, xx,
of God rule in our hearts ; unto which we are called in one
body, II, That is the second part of it : we are therefore called
unto peace, because we are called to be one body, of which
Christ is the head.
When we were made Christians, we were not brought into
that state to live separately and distinctly, every one of us by
ourselves, as our particular fancies and affections shall incline
us ; but to be knit together in one Christian society, every
part of which is to seek his own good interest and safety, by
preserving the whole in peace and quietness, without any rup
ture in the body of Christ. For by that the body is destroyed,
as by union of the members it is maintained and preserved.
There is nothing plainer than that no society can subsist,
unless they who belong to it, as members of it, hve peaceably
together ; as the members of the natural body do, which are
made to love and have a care one of another, and keep all to
gether, without any division ; for that certainly tends to its
dissolution. But above all others, the Christian body, or so
ciety, is disposed and bound hereunto by its very constitution,
and by various obligations.
As for its constitution ; it is founded upon the law of love
and kindness, and mutual care of each other ; by which our
Saviour hath told us all his disciples are to be known, as by
their very badge and proper character.
And as for their obligation ; St, Paul reckons up a great num
ber of things wherein we are united, and thereby tied to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one
bodyP ; that is the first and general obligation : and what
can be more unnatural, than for the members of the same body
to quarrel and fall out, and tear one another in pieces? and
one Spirit, (that is the second,) the Spirit of love and truth,
which suggests the same peaceable inchnations to every one
that it doth to any one ; and what more unchristian than to
throw off the government of this one heavenly guide, and to
live as if we were severally acted by so many infernal furies ?
Even as we are called in one hope of our calling, (that is
the third,) we must all be friends in heaven, if we ever meet
P Ephes, iv. S, 6.

SEEM. XX. before the queen. 385
there ; why do we bite then, and devour one another in the
way thither ?
One Lord, (that is the next,) who redeemed us all at the
same rate of his own most precious blood : and is it agreeable
to this relation for the servants of the same Master to make
disturbance, nay, confusion in his family ? Is this, think you,
for his service ? Or can it turn to our good account when he
reckons with us ?
One faith, dehvered to us by his apostles ; how come we to
fall out about that which teaches us to agree? For faith
worketh by love, as the apostle speaks i.
One baptism, whereby we are received into Christ's family
upon the same terms and conditions. " We are marked with
the same cognizance, (as an excellent writer of our own glosses
upon if,) we use the same word, we march under the same
banner;" how come we to mistake one another for enemies ?
Lastly, there is one God and Father of all, who is above all,
by his most excellent nature ; and through all, by his provi
dence and care of the whole world, especially of every member
of the church ; and in all, by the operations of his grace in
our hearts. For Christians then to contend, and quarrel, and
fight, what is it but to divide this one God, to commit him
against himself, to disown his government, to cross his motions,
to refuse to follow the conduct of his grace, which works in
us ; and, by abandoning ourselves unto our own passions, to
throw ourselves out of his fatherly care of us and favour
towards us, and to expose ourselves to all the sin and all the
mischief unto which the malice of the evil spirit can hurry us ?
Behold here not one or two alone, but seven bands of unity
and peace among Christians : whereby they are tied to such
mutual care of each other's welfare, that they cannot vex,
much less destroy one another, unless they forget all these ob
ligations, and break these bauds in sunder.
Nay, there is not a leaf in the whole book of God (wherein
we read these things) but it teaches us this blessed accord.
The very body of the holy Scriptures, we might easily see if
we did observe, from the one end of them to the other, is a
most lively image and type of this unity of the Spirit in the
1 Gal. v. 6. S. W. [" Schism guarded," part i.
¦¦ Bishop Bramhall's Answer to sect. viii. vol. ii. p. 320.]
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. C C

386 A sermon preached at Whitehall seem. xx.
bond of peace, which the apostle commends unto us in this
place. For though the writers of them lived in divers ages,
in distant places, and were of different tempers ; yet they all
most admirably agree together, having the very same relish in
their writings ; carrying on the same design, and aiming at the
self-same end ; without the least ground for suspicion that they
had any private respect to themselves.
Let us but remember then that we have so many ties upon us,
and endeavour to have a feeling of them ; and then, as the
consideration that we are members of the same civil society
moves us to be at peace one with another in the state, which
cannot otherways subsist, but must be dissolved ; so the serious
consideration that we are members of the same sacred body of
Christ, linked together by so many strong ligaments, will much
more move us to study the peace of his church ; which cannot
be preserved but by a firm union of those parts of which it con
sists and is made up.
To end this, let it be considered that the peace of God here
mentioned is a branch of charity, as appears by the foregoing
words. And above all these thiiigs, put on charity, which is
the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in
your hearts % &c. Which tell us that peace is the natural
effect and product of a lively and sincere love in the heart ;
especially of such a love as is between the members of the same
body. I. For we naturally fear to do any harm to those we love :
and it is from the injuries we do one another, of several sorts,
that abundance of quarrels and contentions arise among us.
2. But suppose any hurt be done, the affection we have to
those whom we dearly love disposes to look upon all the faults we
commit against them as great, and all that they commit against
us as smah. Which stops up the very source of quarrels ;
which, for the most part, spring from those false ideas which
make all things that concern ourselves look very big, and those
that concern other men seem very little.
3. Nay, we are so far from being disposed to hurt those we
love, that we cannot but perceive an inclination we have to
serve and succour them the best we are able. Which it is not
'¦ Ver. 14.

SEEM. XX. before the queen. 387
possible for us to do, unless we be at peace with them. For
peace is the very gate by which we enter into their hearts,
which is barred against us when men have an aversion for us,
and are upon terms of enmity or opposition to us. Therefore
if we be bound to help, we are bound to be at peace one with
another. And all that have any sense of humanity cannot
but confess that we are made by God to be helpful one to an
other : which Christianity cannot but make us more sensibly
acknowledge : because of the ardent love which, above all
things, it commends to us ; and is nowhere so strong as be
tween members of the same body ; especially of such a body
as theirs, which hath Christ for its head, and the Spirit of God
for its soul and life. Which inclines them and powerfully moves
them to hold all together in love and peace, as the only means
of preserving and edifying the body of Christ, and also of per
fecting it for the happy rest of the other world.
Thus I have given a brief account of the reasons for this
duty. Which sufficiently commends itself to us, in that it is
the peace of God : but the apostle presses it from this consi
deration also, that we are called to it in one body.
III.
I proceed now to the last part of my text, the means or help
(as I understand it) which the apostle prescribes for the intro
ducing and increasing the peace of God, and giving it the rule
over our hearts : which is contained in these words, and be ye
thankful. We are very apt, as you have heard, to be disgusted at
many things which are disagreeable to us ; from whence arises
much disquiet, discontent, and sometimes quarrels with those
who give us such distaste. But if we would spend that time
in recounting God's mercies to us, and giving him our solemn
thanks for them, which we spend in complaining, in finding
fault one with another, and aggravating every thing which
displeases us, we should be perfectly cured of those distempers ;
and ashamed to make such a bustle and stir as we are wont to
do about such small things as now disquiet us.
Thankfulness, we all agree, is a Christian duty as much as
any other.
And not only a duty enjoined us by God, but to which we
c c 2

388 A sermon preached at Whitehall seem. xx.
are inclined by nature ; if our hearts be touched with the least
sense of his divine benefits.
And that it is very pleasant and dehghtful, as all natural
motions are, every one may feel, who pleases to make a trial.
And no less profitable and beneficial, we must needs acknow
ledge, because he invites a new benefit who most gratefully ac
knowledges the old.
And lastly, (to omit the rest,) we cannot but confess that
nothing more becomes us than thankfulness, because we have
nothing originahy of ourselves, but all purely from God.
Which makes it the most decent thing in the world to be
paying him our perpetual acknowledgments.
Or if there should be any one so perverse as not to be sen
sible of this, he cannot but yield that it is far more decent and
becoming than perpetual complaints and discontents, brawhngs
and scoldings one with another about every petty difference.
Far more agreeable, I am sure, to the Christian spirit, (if
we know what that is,) more beseeming those who lie under
infinite obhgations to God our Saviour, which challenge our
highest and incessant praises ; than it is to murmur and repine,
to find faults and pick quarrels, to contend and strive ; which
end too oft in fighting and destroying one another.
We may well be ashamed then and confounded at our folly
and disingenuity, if we do not live in a sincere practice of this
duty ; which, if we do, will be an effectual means to suppress
all such unseemly behaviour as that above mentioned ; because
it strikes at the very root of all discontent, and wrath, and pride,
and such like evil affections, which gave disturbance unto us
and unto others.
We cannot easily be discontented about any thing, when we
set ourselves seriously to consider how many blessings, both
temporal and spiritual, past, present, and to come, we stand
indebted for to the Divine bounty ; and accordingly offer to him
the sacrifice of praise continually, giving thanks unto his
name. We shall soon suppress auger and rage at those that offend
us, when we remember with due thankfulness, as we ought to
do perpetually, how oft we have provoked God, and have been
mercifully forborne and forgiven by his patient and longsuf
fering goodness towards us.

SEEM. XX. before the queen. 389
The swehings of pride wih presently go down, when thank
fulness puts us in mind that we are nothing, nor have any
thing of our own, but depend wholly upon God : who can
soon humble us, and lay us low, if we be forgetful of his
bounty to us.
All harshness and severity will be abated by the thoughts of
God's lenity, compassion, and kind dealing with us ; there will
be no room for fretting envy to trouble us or molest others :
but it wih be immediately thrust out of doors when this thought
comes into our mind, and fills our heart with devout affections
to God, that we are in a far better condition than we deserve,
and, if we be ungrateful, may fear to be in a worse.
In short, all those graces from whence (I observed in the
beginning) the peace of God springs, are manifestly maintained
and nourished by continual thankfulness to God for all his be
nefits. In which if we exercise ourselves, it will give the
peace of God the government of us ; by making us humble
and courteous, mild and gentle, kind and merciful, meek and
patient ; which are the natural qualities of a truly thankful
Christian. Let us make this then our constant employment and our de
light, and look upon a thankful heart as " a great treasure (to
use the words of St. Chrysostom P,) inestimable riches, a good
of which none can rob us, armour of defence against all tempt
ations." I.
And first, as we are men who live together in the same
neighbourhood, let us be thankful to God for all the good we
receive one by another ; and then we shah the easier pass by
any evil that is done us, because it is small and inconsiderable
in comparison with the good we do, or may receive, by our
neighbourly living together in one society, family, parish, or
city. There is not the meanest man among us who doth not some
way or other serve the greatest ; God having so made this
world, that we should be helpful one to another in our several
ranks and conditions; nay, that one sort of men should not
be able comfortably to subsist without the service of the rest.
Which if we did consider, we should perceive so many and great
1 Horn. I, ad Pop, Antioch, [tom, ii, p. i8C.]

390 A sermon preached at Whitehall seem. xx.
benefits we reap thereby, that it would make us confess we have
great reason to be thankful to the Creator and wise Disposer
of all things: and that thankfulness would moderate all the
disgusts we take one at another, which disturb our private
peace and quietness.
Nay, the benefits we receive by some men are so very con
siderable, that if we were not extremely ungrateful, we could
not be so apt as we are to find fault with every thing we do
not like in them ; but for the sake of the greater good they
do us, should wink at, or rather not mind, the smaller faults
we see or fancy in them. With which we are wont to be so
distasted as to forget all the excellent qualities they are en
dowed withal, and the great service they do to all mankind.
II.
But if we enlarged our thoughts beyond these bounds, and
considered ourselves as members of the same kingdom, we
should find so many obligations to be thankful to God for the
invaluable blessings of order and government ; that it would
mightily appease that heat and violence which is very trouble
some to us and others, when our passions begin to raise a
commotion, and to make us displeased with the present settle
ment. For it is by the protection and favour of the public govern
ment that we eat, and drink, and sleep, and do all other things
in safety.
Which thought alone is sufficient to quiet us when our spirits
begin to fret and be tumultuous ; that is, to quarrel with our
happiness. III.
But let us still further make ourselves sensible of the far
nobler benefits which we enjoy by being Christians, and be truly
thankful to God for them, more particularly for his great
grace in calling us to be one body in Christ ; and thereby
calling us unto peace one with another, and to peace with him
the God of peace, (who will be with us, as I have said, while we
continue perfectly joined together in the same mind and spirit,)
and then we shall not have the heart to give the least disturb
ance unto this blessed society of the church of God : but with
united affection study to preserve it, and to promote the honour
of it by the most ardent love and kindness, tenderness and

seem. XX. before the queen. 391
compassion, one towards another ; especiahy in that part of it
where we live.
Read the pathetical exhortation of the apostle in the verses
foregoing, upon which my text depends ; and it will be impos
sible not to have your heart affected with it, if you attend unto it,
and ponder every word : Put on therefore, as the elect of
God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of
mind, meekness, longsuffering ; forbearing one another, and
forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against
any : even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above
all these things, put on charity, &c.
What if you did read these verses deliberately every morn
ing, before you went about any other business ? It would not
take up much of your time, nor cost you much pains, unless it
be in laying them to heart, and laying them up in your hearts.
But whatsoever labour you bestow in that, it will be abun
dantly recompensed in the benefit you and others will receive
by it ; if this small portion of the word of Christ dwell in you
richly, (as it follows immediately after my text,) and dispose
you to continue in this heavenly temper all the day long.
And how can you choose but be so disposed, if you consider
how much you are bound to God for his inestimable benefits
bestowed upon you, in making you his elect, holy and beloved ?
Ponder these three words seriously, and look upon yourselves
as elect of God, that is, chosen unto salvation, through sancti-
fication of the Spirit and belief of the truth (as he speaks
2 Thess. ii. 13) ; holy, that is, separated from the profane world
to be his devoted servants ; beloved, that is, made partakers of
the greatest kindness heaven could do us in sending his Son to
save us ; and then you will not be able to reject the exhort
ation which speaketh unto you as unto chhdren, Be ye there
fore followers of God as dear children; and walk in love, as
Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to Oodfor a sweet-smelling savour'}.
IV.
Especially when we remember that we are not bare Chris
tians, but reformed Christians, whose principles lead to unity and
peace more than the principles of any other Christians what
soever. 1 Ephes. V. 1, 2.

392 A sermon preached at Whitehall seem. xx.
For the very basis of the reformed religion is this, that all ne
cessary truths are not only contained in the holy Scriptures, but
evidently and plainly set down there. Which single truth
being agreed, it is manifest there must needs be an unity of
opinions among us in all things necessary.
And as for other things which are not evident in the holy
Scriptures, and therefore are not necessary ; what should hin
der, but that notwithstanding any different opinions about
them, there may be among us an unity of affection. Unto
which the holy Scriptures direct and press us, as the most
necessary duty, and as the greatest happiness of which this
world is capable.
For there is nothing the gospel urges so much as kindness,
forbearance, tender compassion one of another : such kindness
as, making us look upon one another as brethren, and fehow-
members, will not let us break all the bonds of friendship that
are between us.
For why should there be any breach among those who are
agreed in this plain principle, that there being unity of
opinion among them in all things necessary, in things not ne
cessary unity of opinion is not necessary, but only unity of
affection ? Which will make us study and embrace the means
of our common preservation, by mutual condescension to such
terms of agreement as will establish a firm and undisturbed
peace among us.
In which if there should happen any breach, the same spirit
of love and goodness whl dispose us immediately to make it
up, by not adhering too stiffly to our own private opinions,
much less to any worldly interest ; which must be laid aside
by all peaceable-minded men, that is, by all good Christians.
Who ought not to engage in fierce oppositions, much less in
confident censuring and condemning one another ; but with all
humility, modesty, and calmness, endeavour each other's infor
mation : or, if that cannot be obtained, patiently to bear with
one another's infirmities, according to the forenamed golden
rule of St. Paul, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil
the law of Christl.
The law of Christ, that is, his peculiar law, is the law of
love, which he calls a new commandment'^ ; and his command-
1 Gal. vi. 2. r John xiii. 34.

SEEM. XX. before tlie queen. 393
ment. This is my commandment, that ye love one anotlier, as
I have loved you s. Which we then fulfil or perfectly observe,
when it makes us bear one another's burdens, that is, offences ;
whether they be infirmities or sins.
For as long as there are any hopes of amendment, we ought
(as the apostle there teaches in the verse foregoing) if any
man be overtaken with a fault, to restore such a one with the
spirit of meekness, considering ourselves, lest we also be
tempted. That is, we must tenderly admonish such offenders,
study in the kindest and softest manner to reclaim them ; which
is no small labour and trouble indeed ; but thereby we in the
properest sense take part of their burden upon ourselves, whhst
we seek by such charitable means to rid them of it.
V.
And now, if, in the last place, we make ourselves sensible
that we are such reformed Christians as have been lately saved
and delivered in a wonderful manner from the hands of those
that designed our destruction, it will raise our thankfulness to
such a height, that it will surmount all those clouds which
overcast our joy in God and in his salvation.
For what a blessing is it, that we have the liberties of our
holy rehgion, and meet here together in peace and quietness,
without the least apprehension of such dangers as not long ago
hung over us ! If we had been deprived of it, should we not
have accounted the loss to be invaluable ? What is the matter
then, that we do not set the greatest price upon the enjoy
ment? Is it nothing to be delivered from those fears where
with we were lately surrounded ? What should we think if God
should throw us back again into them ? But there is a great
deal more to be thankful for, which is the hopes we have that
this blessed liberty will be continued and secured to us and to
our posterity after us. Which whl derive a blessing likewise
upon all other protestant churches abroad ; whose safety lies in
our preservation.
Nay, this one single reflection, that we have had the happi
ness to behold a protestant king_ and queen, here worshipping
God together in this place, (a sight, which if it hath been ever
seen in England, yet not these seventy years,) is enough to
'^ John XV, 12,

394 A sermon preached at Whitehall Sf-c. seem. xx.
transport us with such joy as should make us quite forget all
our differences and discontents. And let us think of nothing
else, but what we shall render to the Lord for such benefits as
he hath bestoived upon us.
For which we can never thank him enough, and therefore
let us thank him continually.
Evening and morning, and noon, let us give our solemn
thanks unto him. Yea,
Let us bless the Lord at all times ; let his praise be ever in
our mouths.
When we sit in our house, (as Moses speaks in another case,)
when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we
rise up, let us be talking of all his wondrous works : saying,
with the Psalmist,
Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord ? Who can show
forth all his praise ?
Thy righteousness (or goodness), 0 God, is very high, who
hast done great things : 0 God, who is like unto thee ?
Thou art great and dost wondrous things : thou art God
alone. I will praise thee, 0 Lord my God, with my whole heart :
I will glorify thy name for evermore.
For great is thy mercy towards me, and thou hast delivered
my soul from the lowest hell, (i. e. the extremest dangers.)
Therefore shall my tongue speak of thy righteousness, and
of thy praise all the day long.
I will praise the Lord with my whole heart ; secretly among
the faithful, and in the congregation.
For the works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them
that have pleasure therein.
His work is honourable and glorious : and his righteousness
endurethfor ever.
Now the God of all grace grant unto every soul of us such
truly thankful hearts, that we may be always praising him and
speakmg good of his name : and then the peace of God will
rule and govern us, unto which we are called in one body by
Christ Jesus. To whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost,
be eternal praises. Amen.

A SEEMON
AGAINST MURMURING,
PREACHED AT ST. PAUL'S, COVENT GARDEN,
ON THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT, MAECH 17, 168|-.

A SEEMON
AGAINST MURMURING.

I Cob. X. lo.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, ami
were destroyed of the destroyer.
AMONG the many demonstrations we have of the Infinite
goodness to us, this is the greatest ; that he hath been pleased,
out of the excess of his kindness, to leave no way untried, to
omit no means that hath any force in it, to reduce us unto the
obedience we owe his Majesty, and thereby bring us to ever
lasting happiness. For this end he sent his own dear Son
among us ; who dying for us, and rising again, sent the Holy
Ghost, by whom the apostles were instructed and empowered
to call us back to God, both by injunctions and exhortations
and beseechings ; by promises of eternal life if we hearken to
them, and threatening of eternal death if we refuse to obey
them. And because some minds are so dull, at least at certain
seasons, that they are little moved with the hope and fear of
rewards and punishments so far off as the other world ; there
fore, together with those future things, they represent the
present advantages or mischiefs which attend upon our good or
bad behaviour towards God in this world, who invites us to
obedience by the memorable examples of those who were
faithful to him, and followed him fully ; whom he therefore
extraordinarily blessed, and multiphed his mercies on them, as
persons highly in his favour : and, on the other side, deters us
from rebehious works by the fearful examples of those who,
being an untoward, faithless, and stubborn generation, were
therefore as remarkably punished with one severe judgment
after another, till they were utterly consumed.

398 A sermon against murmuring. seem. xxi.
Of this last sort the old Israelites were the most famous in
stance ; who having received singular favours from God, by whom
they were brought out of Egypt, carried through the Red Sea
under the protection of a glorious cloud, baptized there into
Moses, did all eat the same spiritual meat, and drank the same
spiritual drink, yet proved the most ungrateful of ah men
living ; and not only forgat his benefits, but turned them into
wantonness and rebellion against him : for which cause he was
not well pleased with many of them; for they were overthrown
in the wilderness, into which he had brought them by a
mighty hand and outstretched arm, in order to their settlement
in the land of Canaan.
All this you read in the five first verses of this chapter ;
from whence the apostle proceeds to warn all Christians, by
their disastrous fah, to take good heed to themselves, and not
to fancy the case was now altered under the disciphne of
Christ. No such matter : These things, saith he, ver. 6, were
our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil
things, as they also lusted; neitlier be idolaters, as were
some of them, ver. 7, nor commit fornication, \er. 8, nor tempt
Christ, ver. 9, neither murmur, as some of them also mur
mured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. For all these
things happened unto them for ensamples, (or types of what
shall befall us,) and are written for our admonition, upon
whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him
that thinketh lie standeth take heed lest he fall, ver. 11, 12.
As much as to say. If ye do as they did, expect to suffer as
they did : do not presume upon the grace and favour of Christ,
nor imagine you are so settled in it, that, do what you can,
you shall not fall from it ; for he will not bear you out in evil
courses, but proceed against you according to these former
precedents of the Divine vengeance upon an ungrateful people.
Now the ingratitude of the old Israehtes appeared in nothing
more than in their murmuring ; which the apostle here men
tions in the last place, as the very upshot of all their provoca
tions : and I have chosen to treat of it at this time, because this
sin, which in itself is most unworthy, and in its effects very dan
gerous, is, I fear, too common, and yet very slightiy passed
over, without a particular repentance for it, in this age wherein
we live.

SEEM. XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 399
In handling of which, I shall, first, show what it is to
murmur ; secondly, whence it proceeds ; thirdly, what reason
we have to obey this holy precept, and not give way to a mur
muring humour.
First, for the first of these, everybody, I beheve, by mur
muring understands that dissatisfaction of mind which makes
us repine at and find fault with our present condition.
But if we search into the propriety of the Greek word, we
shall find that it signifies something more than merely an inward
repining and dissatisfaction of the mind ; denoting withal the
outward expressions of that discontented humour in undutiful
words. That is the import of yoyyvCeiv, which in our language
we may translate, to ' grumble and mutter,' by speaking against
such things or persons as we dishke without a just reason for
it, or upon shght causes, especially when we ought rather to
be very thankful.
And here in my text it hath a peculiar signification, for
speaking disrespectfidly of their governors and guides, out of a
dishke of their conduct; which in the issue burst out into
reproachful language against them : for this was the sin here
taxed by the apostle in the old Israehtes, who murmured
against Moses and Aaron because they fancied they had brought
them out of Egypt to perish in the wilderness. This they
began to do so early after their deliverance, that they were no
sooner come out of the Red Sea, and had sung their song of
praise to God for it, but immediately, (as you read in the very
same chapter,) when they had travelled but three days,) the
people murmured against Moses, saying. What shall we
drink '? And again. The whole congregation murmured
against Moses and Aaron, and said. Would to God we had
died by the hand of God in Egypt, when we sat by the flesh
pots, and did eat bread to the full ; for ye have brought us
into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger^.
With these two first murmurings the patient goodness of God
was pleased to bear, expecting they would be cured of this
distemper by the care he took to provide both drink and meat
for them in the wilderness : but when his gentleness would do
no good upon them, and they were so far from laying to heart
his tender mercies, and remembering what he had done for
a Exod, XV. 24. •> E.xod. xvi. 2. 3.

400 A sermon against murmuring. seem. xxi.
them, that they fell into new and more desperate fits of this
disease ; then his displeasure arose against them, and moved
him to begin to destroy them ; with hghter strokes indeed, at
the first breaking out of his anger ; for when the people com
plained, in Numbers xi. i, he only sent a fire which consumed
those who were in the skirts of the camp. But when they
would take no warning by this, he proceeds to heavier ; for
you read in Numbers xiv. 2, 3, their murmurings grew so
high, that they had the face to say, not only Would God we
had died in Egypt, or in this wilderness ; but Let us make us
a captain, and let us return to Egypt. A most unaccountable
fit of discontent ; which so infatuated them, as to make them
think of their late slavery without any trouble ; nay, speak of
throwing themselves voluntarily into the hands of their cruel
tormentors. Now this was so provoking, that God sent a
plague to cut off those that were the cause of that murmuring,
ver. 37, unto which the margins of your Bibles direct you as
an explication of ray text ; the destroyer here spoken of being
the angel whose ministry God used to destroy them with a
pestilence, as it is explained in the case of David, 2 Sam. xxiv.
1 6. And they that escaped this plague were only reprieved
for a time, but not acquitted ; for they had this heavy sentence
passed upon them all, that not one of the evil congregation
which murmured against God should enter into the good
land to which he intended to conduct them, but wander in the
wilderness till they were utterly consumed, ver. 27, '^^.
And yet this did not cure them of their wicked disposition ;
but you read of a far more grievous murmuring after this,
which broke out into an open mutiny. Read Numbers xvi.,
where you will find a great party of the most eminent persons
gathered together against Moses and Aaron, saying, Ye take
too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
every one of them, and the Lord is among them ; that is, they
pretended Moses and Aaron stretched their authority too far,
and assumed a power which did not belong to them, or not
more to them than any other ; there being no man in the con
gregation but had as good a title to it as themselves: and
therefore they boldly demanded. Wherefore do ye lift up
yourselves above the congregation of the Lord ? As if they had
said. By what right do you govern us, who are your equals ?

SEE.M. XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 401
This so incensed the Divine displeasure, that you read there
of a more terrible destruction than the former : for lightning
burnt up those who affronted Aaron; and the earth opened
her mouth, and swallowed up those who disputed the authority
of Moses. Which were such frightful examples, that they make
us tremble now at the thoughts of them : and yet so hardened
was that evil generation in this discontented humour, the very
next morning all the congregation of Israel murmured
against Moses and Aaron, saying. Ye have killed the people
of the Lord, ver. 41 ; whereupon they had all been consumed,
without any further reprieve, as in a moment, if Moses and
Aaron, whom they so grossly abused, had not interceded with
God, and made an atonement for them.
Now as they thus murmured because of the difficulties they
met withal, when they first came out of Egypt, so there were
such kind of men, it seems, in the beginning of our religion,
who being made partakers of the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, were so insensible of God's great grace to them. For
when they saw the straits into which the profession of Christ
ianity brought them, and other things were not suitable to
their expectations, they murmured against the apostles them
selves, and against other ministers of Jesus Christ, as if they
had undone them; or, at least, they were very discontented and
impatient under the troubles which befel them for religion's
sake, and distrusted the conduct of the apostles ; and were apt
to betake themselves unto the guidance of other persons, who
promised them liberty, wlien they themselves were tlie servants
of corruption".
For notwithstanding such warnings as this of St. Paul in my
text, we find by St. Jude there were some Christians, chiefly of
the Jewish nation, who were murmurers, complainers, walking
after their own lusts'^, that is, were of the same disposition
with their forefathers in the wilderness^; complaining bitterly
that they were in a distressed condition, (as the church was
generally at that time,) and had not that rest, ease, liberty and
prosperity which they longed for, and perhaps expected to
enjoy. And it is very probable (which is Grotius's conjecture)
that they complained of the present government, and were
desirous to throw it off; for we read, ver. 8, they despised
" 2 Pet. ii. 19. ^ Ver. 10. - Numbers xi. 4, 5, &c.
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. D d

402 A sermon against murmuring. seem. xxi.
dominion, and spake evil of dignities : going in the way of
Cain and Core, ver. 1 2 ; though there was so httle reason they
should be discontented upon this account, that of all the former
monarchies to which the Jews had been subject, whether Baby
lonian, Persian, or Grecian, none had treated them with such
gentleness and lenity as the present did, which was that of the
Romans, But a murmuring humour is utterly insensible of any thing,
but only present griefs or wants ; having no remembrance of
former evils either suffered or feared, nor being at all observant
of present blessings, though never so many, and though never
so big with future hopes and expectations. This .is visible in
the whole history of that people, with whom the Divine good
ness was grieved forty years long in the wilderness.
From which we may also learn, that though this be the pro
priety of the word murmuring in this place, yet it hath also a
larger signification, (as we understand from several other pas
sages of the holy Scriptures,) and doth not denote only discon
tent with the present government, but with a man's own private
condition, when it is not suitable to his desires.
For the history of the old Israelites informs us, that their
murmurings were as much at the state of their private affairs,
as at the public management. This was their common fault in
the whderness, that they complained upon every occasion if
they had not such plentiful provision ; nay, such variety of it,
as might gratify their fancy as well as satisfy their necessity :
or, if they fell into any difficulty in their travels unto that good
land, to which God promised, if they would have patience, in
due time to conduct them.
And as we find thera complaining upon this account, so we
find (if we look into the rest of the Scriptures) other persons
complaining upon divers other scores.
I. Some because they were not regarded according to the
deserts they fancied in themselves. As we read in the parable
of the labourers in the vineyard^, that some murmured at the
good man of the family, because they who came early into his
service, and had borne the burden and heat of the day, received
no more wages than those who came later, and had taken less
pains in his business ; which they thought to be unequal.
f Matt. .XX. II.

SEEM. XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 403
2. Others we find murmuring because they seemed to be
neglected, while great care was taken of their neighbours ; so
we read in Acts vi. i, that there arose a murmuring of the
Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were
neglected in the daily administration.
3. Others murmured at such doetrines as they did not relish,
finding fault with them, as the manner is, before they under
stood them. Many of his disciples, ivhen they heard that,
said. This is an hard saying ; who can hear it ? And when
Jesus knew that they murmured at it, he said, Doth this
offend youS ? that is, turn you away from me ? As much as to
say. There is no cause for it ; the fault is in yourselves, and not
in me or my doctrine.
4. Another sort murmur because all do not consent to their
little opinions, and comply with their customs ; as the Pharisees
did at the disciples of Christ, because they transgressed the
tradition of the elders, and did not wash their hands before
they sat down to ea.i^ ; and because they plucked the ears of
corn, and rubbed them in their hands on the Sabbath-day'.
All which I pass over with the bare mention of them,
because that is sufficient for my purpose ; which is to show,
that any thing we dislike because it is not according to our
fancy, opinion, humour, inclination, or interest, may be the
matter of murmuring and complaint : whereby we reflect very
reproachfully upon God and his providence, and sometimes
upon those who are God's ministers, or upon our innocent
brethren, who may have good warrant for that which we
condemn. And now from what hath been said it will be easy to show
from whence this murmuring humour proceeds ; which is the
second thing I propounded, and may soon be despatched.
II. Secondly, i , For it is evident it proceeds from false opinions
and wrong notions of things, which must be examined and cor
rected, or else there whl be no cure for it. Hence it was that
the Scribes and Pharisees murmured, because our Saviour and
his disciples did freely eat ivith publicans and sinners^ ; not
considering that the whole needed not a physician, but the
sick : and that he came not to call the righteous, but the sin-
e John vi. 60, 61. ^ Matt. xxv. 2. ' Luke vi. 1. ^ Luke v. 30.
D d a

404 A sermon against murmuring. seem. xxi.
ners to repentance. The other Jews had done the same upon
other occasions before mentioned, but very unreasonably and
unjustly, as they might have understood, if instead of mur
muring they would have pondered his instructions. They
murmured at him, (saith St. John, vi. 4ij) because he said, I
am the bread which came down from heaven. But why did
they not rather complain (as Musculus glosses upon those
words) that they could not understand things of such weight
aud necessity ? Why did they not pray to be enlightened from
above, and desire him to instruct them more clearly in these
matters ? This had become men of sense. But in this we see
the genius not only of Judaical, but of all carnal minds, who
sooner murmur against the truth they do not understand, than
accuse the grossness of their own hearts, and pray to God for
the gift of right understanding and of faith. If they had
•understood in what sense he said he came down from heaven, they
would not have murmured; and therefore they ought to have
desired to be instructed in the sense of his words, and not have
murmured at that which they did not understand. But thus it
fares, as I said, with the doctrine of Christ, that " it sooner
finds those that dislike it, and condemn it, before they know
it, than hearts that desire rightly to understand it, and to em
brace it when it is understood." Thus he.
2. It arises also from impatience of any troubles or inconve
niences which commonly attend our condition here in this
world, or which arise from our present circumstances; as we
see in the history of the Hebrew nation before mentioned, whose
case this was upon several occasions.
3. From pride and ambition, envy and malignity of spirit, as
in the case of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram ; who imagined
themselves to be altogether as deserving as Moses and Aaron,
and to have as much right as they to that authority, which
they pretended those great ministers of God had usurped over
the people.
4. Sometimes from luxury and wantonness, as when the
Israehtes murmured because they had not such dainty food as
they looked for, though they were otherwise plentifully and
miraculously fed with manna from heaven, which they were
cloyed withal, and loathed'. ' Numb. xi.

SEBM. XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 405
5. Sometimes, or rather always, from un thankfulness for the
great mercies we enjoy ; which are in all conditions so many,
that they might well silence all unmannerly complaints, did we
but take the pains to lay those blessings to heart : especially if
we compared them with the bad condition wherein we have
sometimes been, or deserve to be, if we be not more grateful
than to complain in a better. This was also the case of the
whole Hebrew nation in the whderness, who forgat the works
of God, and remembered not the wonders he had done for
them, nor the evhs from which he had delivered them ; and so fell
into fits of discontent upon every occasion. And it is the case
of all other men who are guilty of this sin at this day ; for as
CEcumenius™ notes upon those words of the apostle, {Do all
things without murmurings and disputing",) ' He that mur
murs is unthankful unto God, and he that is unthankful speaks
hardly of him.'
6. Sometimes from vile covetousness, though covered under
specious pretences ; as when Judas the traitor murmured at
the waste of the precious ointment poured on our Saviour,
which he would have had sold that the money might have
come into his pocket.
Lastly, from want of a lively faith in God and in his good
providence, which was the sin of the old Israehtes also, who
murmured, saying. Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ?
Behold, he clave the rock that the waters gushed out. Can he
give bread also ? Can he provide flesh for his people" ? The
former instances of his power did not breed such a confidence
in him as they should have wrought in their hearts, but they
still distrusted him, whom they could not but acknowledge had
done things as wonderful for them as those which they further
desired. And thus Origen observes upon Exod. xvi.P, it is common
among men to murmur if the weather be not seasonable, if the
years be not so fruitful as they were wont to be; nay, if
every thing do not fall out according to their wishes and ex
pectations : that is, we would have no trials of our faith and
™ '0 yap yoyyv^av, a.\apitrTei. 'O " Phil. ii. 14.
he axapurrav Sva-<f>rjp€i. [tom. ii. " Psalm lxxviii. 19, 20.
p. 85 C] P [Hom. vii. tom. ii. p. 153.J

406 A sermon aga/inst murmuring. SEEM. XXL
patience and submission to God, but a constant stream of pros
perous successes, just according to our own contrivances or
heart's desires.
Which is a very dangerous distemper of mind, which must be
cured by removing these causes from whence it proceeds. There
is not the like danger, it must be acknowledged, in every one
of them ; but none of them are safe, and therefore we ought to
seek after a speedy remedy. It makes a considerable difference
in this case, who it is that murmurs, against whom, and for
what cause. If he be a subject who hath received great benefits ;
if it be against him to wliom he owes much, and therefore ought
to love and praise ; if it be for a trifling or a tolerable cause,
much more if thanks ought rather to be rendered than com
plaints made ; it is a most detestable sort of murmuring, as the
good man before named (Musculus) hath observed. It is also
much to be considered from whence this vice arises, whether
from mere impatience of some loss or inconvenience, or from
pride, contempt, indignation, and envy : for though it be vicious
in itself to murmur against a superior, yet it is a less fault if it
arise from some damage a man hath received, of which he is
impatient, than it would be if it proceed from pride, contempt,
and a spirit of envy, such as was in Corah, Dathan, and Abiram
against Moses and Aaron, and in the false apostles and their
sectaries among the Corinthians who murmured and spake
against St. Paul. The first Christians had some among them,
as you have heard, who murmured because their widows were
neglected in the provision which was daily made for the poor ;
but it was neither out of pride, nor contempt, nor envy, but
from mere impatience of the grievance it was to them, to see
those for whom they had a special concern not so much minded
as others, who had no more need than they that were neglected.
Every eye can discern the difference between these murmurings ;
which are not all of equal guilt, yet none of them free from
blame, nor without danger, if we do not apply ourselves with all
dihgence to the proper means of curing our minds of this dis
temper. Unto which that I may awaken you, I shall now proceed to
consider the reason we have to obey this apostolical precept,
and no longer give way to a discontented humour, which is the

SEEM, XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 407
third thing I undertook in the beginning, and may help to re
move the causes of this disease, if we well weigh the mischiefs
it doth. Thirdly, i. And here let it be considered that this is a most
uncomfortable condition, and puts the soul into such disorders,
that, if it did no other hurt, it ought on this account to be
avoided ; for who is there that allows himself in this humour of
discontented murmuring, either at the pubhc state of things,
or his own private condition, that truly enjoys any part of those
blessings which are fallen to his share in this world ? His spirit
is so sorrowed by it that he can relish nothing, though in itself
never so pleasant : he is poor and miserable in the midst of
abundance, wanting not only that which he hath not, but even
that which he hath : he takes no satisfaction in any thing,
though God's bounty hath bestowed perhaps variety of blessings
upon him ; for this humour will let him take no notice of them,
but only of that which is grievous to him. By this means he
possesses nothing, no, not himself; his soul being carried away
in a hurry by things without him, he knows not whither ; he is
seldom at home, and when he is, he finds nothing there but
disorders, tumults, and disquiets of mind ; such a confusion of
thoughts as hurries him away again from himself, and that,
many times, into dangerous adventures. Who would indulge
then such a temper of mind as spoils all our comforts, even
that satisfaction which we should find in our own serious
thoughts ?
2. But it is not merely an uncomfortable condition, it is also
very sinful; for it proceeds, as you have heard,from several other
sins, and it is the cause also of many more, both of sins of
omission and sins of commission, as we commonly distinguish
them. I. First, of innumerable sins of omission, in not recounting
the multitude of God's mercies bestowed upon us ; in not pon
dering the greatness of them, and our own unworthiness to en
joy them; in not giving perpetual thanks for them, neither
calling to mind all the evils from which we have been preserved
or dehvered, nor so much as taking notice of all the blessings
we daily receive, which call for our most grateful acknowledg
ments. For they who are given to murmuring seldom reflect
(as we find by the Israelites) upon the obligations they have to

408 A sermon against murmuring. seem, xxi,
God, though never so great, never so wonderful ; they forget
how he hath saved them from the dreadful dangers which they
feared, or delivered them from the heavy burdens which op
pressed them, and mind only what they at present desire or
dislike. Which wrought the Israelites into such a very bad temper
of mind that they were never pleased. No better pleased out
of Egypt than when they were in it ; for they murmured as
much, or more, after their deliverance, as they did before ; and
I do not find they were better satisfied in Canaan, than they
had been either in Egypt or in the wilderness ; for they carried
their ungrateful mind along with them thither : and men can
be pleased nowhere, in no condition, unless they have a due
sense of God and of his goodness, and be truly affected with
his benefits.
2. As for the sins of commission, they are no less numerous ;
such as envious detractions, evil surmisings, rash censurings,
lying, defamations, and sometimes injustice, oppression, ex
tortion, if not downright robberies, which are the common ef
fects of men's discontented repining at their own private con
dition. And when they are discontented with the public state
of affairs, thence proceed evil speakings, clamour, revhings,
variance, strife, contention, quarrelling ; and many times higher
degrees of all these sins, such as speaking evil of dignities, &c.
For by discontent men exasperate their own spirits, and by
complaints and murmurings they exasperate others unto unruly
passions, which increase into undutiful practices, which break
out at last into pubhc disturbances. And how many mischiefs
men are wont to draw upon themselves by that means I shall
not now say, because my present business is to show only the
sinfulness of a murmuring spirit.
But the next particular will make you sensible of that also,
when I have added to this these two considerations.
I . First, that a murmuring humour puts us into a temper of
mind directly contrary to the Christian spirit, which consists in
such a happy frame of mind as makes us rejoice in God always,
and administer all the joy and comfort we are able one to
another. For the kingdom of God (saith St. Paul) is right
eousness, peace, and joy in tlie Holy Ghost 'h Where hjjoy
1 Rom. xiv. 17.

SEEM. XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 409
is not meant only the joy we feel in our own hearts from a sense
of God''s love to us, but that which we give to one another by
our friendly agreement. So St. Chrysostom, and from him
CEcumenius interprets the words : " A virtuous life, peace with
our brethren, and the joy which springs from concord," are the
things will bring us to heaven ; and " he that subverts this peace
and joy doth his brother a greater inj ury than if he had robbed
him of his money :" for it is a thing far more precious than gold
and silver, being one of the fruits of the Spirit'', next to love,
from whence it springs as from its source : for if we love our
brethren we shall be loath to grieve them, and shall study to
please them ; which is such an excellent disposition of mind, that
Plato himself reports this as an ancient saying, that " he should
be reputed the wisest man and the most victorious whose busi
ness it is to make others rejoice and be merry s.
Now murmuring is so opposite to this, that it damps all the
joy we should otherwise take in God and in his love, and puts
us into such a sullen humour, that it spoils also Christian society,
and that sweet fellowship we ought to have, by giving such
counsel and comfort one to another as may make us rejoice always,
whatsoever happens, and never repine at any thing though never
so cross to our expectations ; which we should the rather study,
because joy makes us more serviceable to the world than other
wise we shall be, both by putting us forward to do good, and
by commending piety and goodness unto others. Whence it is
that we read, The churches were multiplied when they walked
in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy GhostK
Let us take heed then how we any way (particularly by
murmuring and complaints,) banish this heavenly guest from
ourselves or others, which is " the page," as St. Basil " calls it,
(or whosoever was the author of the Monastical Constitutions,)
" that waits upon goodness and virtue." Especially now, when
there is such cause for it, by God's wonderful goodness to us
in this kingdom, let us not upon any account refuse to take our
share in it, but (to speak in the psalmisfs) phrase. Let us rejoice
in the gladness of our nation'^.
r Gal. v. 22. (i<j>po(rvvt}. [Const. Monast. cap. 2.
s L, 2. de Legibus. [p. 657 E.] tom. ii. p. 541 D.]
' Acts ix, 31, * Psalm cvi, 5,
" 'OjraSos dpeTrjs Koi dyaOoTtjTos

410 A sermon against murmuring. seem. xxi.
2. For if we do not, but give way to a murmuring humour,
it will spoil all the good we do, and make it unacceptable to
God our Saviour. Which is a reason, more especially, why we
should not murmur at any part of our Christian duty ; no, not
at taking up the cross, nor any thing else which may seem a
hard saying ; which is the worst sort of murmuring that we
can be guilty of; for it is the quality of base, disingenuous and
stupid slaves, (as St. Chrysostomy observes upon Phil. ii. 14,)
and therefore ought not to be found in a child, " who is about
his father's business, and labours for himself. Consider," says
his father, " that what thou dost for me thou dost for thyself :
thou wilt have the benefit of it ; wherefore then dost thou
grumble ? It is for them to murmur, who labour and toil when
others reap the advantage : but he that labours for himself,
what cause hath he to mm'mur ? He had better not work at all,
than not without murmuring. He loses his labour ; he spoils
that which he hath done, though it be well done. Do you not
see how in our own family we are wont to say continually, I had
rather you would let it alone than do it with murmuring ? Nay,
we oftentimes choose rather to want one's service than bear
with his murmuring humour : for it is a grievous sin, very
grievous, to murmur. It is nigh unto blasphemy ; which is the
reason God punished it so severely in the Israelites ; for it was
a piece of ingratitude. He that murmurs is unthankful to God,
and he that is unthankful is a blasphemer." Thus he.
And indeed it is directly contrary to that love and charity
which is the note of the children of God, and believes all things,
hopes all things, takes all in good part, and makes the best
construction of them : as, on the contrary, where self-love, pride,
and such like vices reign, there is nothing but impatience, sus
picions, sinister interpretations, murmurings and complaints,
whereby even things good in themselves are corrupted and de
filed. This we learn from that famous instance of Christian
charity, viz. entertaining strangers, in which it was not so
much considered whom they entertained, as with what mind.
If they did it with an ill wih, and repiningly, it was so far from
being looked upon as a benefit, that it was taken for a reproach :
whence that admonition of St. Peter, Use hospitality one to
another without grudging ^, or murmuring ; (for it is the same
y [Tom. xi. p, 259,] z I Pet, iv. 9,

SEEM, XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 411
word which we so translate in other places.) They were not to
think much at it, as we speak ; much less to grumble at the
trouble or the charge their brethren brought upon them ; but
receive them as cheerfully as men now welcome their guests to
the public inns, where they pay for what they have : and thus,
as St, Paul instructs us in the place before named, we ought to
perform our whole Christian duty, [do all things without mur
muring,) and likewise entertain, in the same manner, whatso
ever falls out in the world by the direction or permission of
God's wise providence ; for he is not pleased to see us follow
him, or do as he bids us, with a heavy heart, and a discontented,
complaining spirit.
And so I come to the third and last reason why we should
obey the apostohcal admonition in my text, and work out this
part of our salvation, even with fear and trembling ; which is
this, III.
That murmuring is the cause of such sins as are the pun
ishment of those who are guilty of it. Their own tongue, as
the psalmist speaks, falls upon themselves ; they uttering in
their anger such discontented speeches, that God takes them at
their word, as we speak, and brings upon them the evils they
unadvisedly wished : for anger, you may observe, is the ordi
nary companion of discontented murmuring ; which reflects so
highly upon God that it moves his just displeasure. We may
say in this case, as Solomon doth. The foolishness ofmanper-
verteth his way, and his heart fretteth (or as the Chaldee hath
it, murmureth) against the Lord^. Men run inconsiderately
into many sins, and then lay the blame upon their natural
weakness and want of power to avoid them ; which is in effect
to lay the fault upon God : and in the same manner they draw
many inconveniences upon themselves, and fall into great straits ;
whereupon they fret and fume (though not directly, yet by
consequence) against God. For when they say. Things might
have been better ordered ; what necessity was there for this ?
they forget that nothing comes to pass without God's provi
dence, (no, not those things which are ill done,) towards which
we ought to behave ourselves with a becoming reverence, and
take heed lest we speak unadvisedly with our lips.
» Prov. xix. 13.

412 A sermon against murmuring. seem. xxi.
The danger of which is so apparent in the example of the
murmuring Israelites of which my text speaks, that we need
seek no other proof of it : for you read how, in a raging flt
of discontent, they were so distracted, that they minded neither
what they did nor what they said ; for they entered into a
consultation, as you have heard, to make them a captain, and
return again into the Egyptian slavery, out of which they had
been lately redeemed : as if that were more desirable than the
present liberty they enjoyed of serving God as he had ap
pointed in the wilderness ; which they were not permitted to
do while they stayed in Egypt. And among other angry
things which they said in that discontented fit, this foolish word
dropped out of their mouth. Would God we had died in this
wilderness ^. Accordingly it came to pass ; they had their
wish : God being so provoked with their murmuring, that he
pronounced this heavy judgment upon them for it, that none
of them should see the good land he designed for them, but
perish in the wilderness ; where they wandered about for forty
years, till all their carcasses were consumed.
This is a sufficient caution against this sin; which is then
most dangerously provoking when it continues long : which is
the only thing I shall further observe upon this argument.
The Israehtes, I told you in the beginning, had been guilty
of murmuring before the time unto which the apostle hath re
spect in my text : but God most graciously forbare to proceed
against them, and did not send the destroyer to cut them off.
Before they came out of Egypt, you may read in Exod. v. 21,
how reproachfully they treated Moses and Aaron ; as they did
after their deliverance, Exod. xiv. 13, xv. 24, and xvi. 2 : in the
last of which places you may observe a great many aggrava
tions of their sin. Read the words again, to make them the
more evident : And the whole congregation of the children of
Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,
and said unto them. Would to God we had died by the hand
of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by tlie flesh
pots, and when we did eat bread to the full ; for ye have
brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole as
sembly with hunger.
I. Behold here how very gross their ingratitude was, which
* Numb. xiv. 2.

SEEM. XXI. A sermon against murniuring. 413
extenuated the benefits they had received as inconsiderable ;
and, looking only upon a present strait, which was soon over,
made them quite forget their long servitude in the house of
bondage, out of which they had been newly delivered.
2. Nay, behold how they magnify Egypt, where they were
no better than vile slaves ; and prefer carnal things before
divine blessing, the flesh pots of Egypt before the liberty of
their rehgion, and the glorious presence of God, which appeared
among them, and went along with them.
3. More than this, they speak of the very plagues of Egypt
(by which they wish they had died) with more satisfaction than
of the mercies they enjoyed under the Almighty's protection.
4. And it is observable how extravagantly they commend
their condition in Egypt, as if they had wanted nothing there,
but had had their fill of all good things ; and despise their pre
sent happiness of being the people of the Lord, whom he had
redeemed and purchased".
5. They unjustly also and ungratefully accuse Moses and Aaron
for bringing them forth out of Egypt into that wilderness ; when
they did nothing of their own head, but by the direction of
God, who went before them, and led them the way wherein
they should go.
6. To conclude this, they miscall their glorious deliverance
from the house of bondage into a state of freedom by the
odious name of death and destruction.
So frantic doth a discontented humour make those who are
possessed with it : notwithstanding which, God, as I said, was
so longsuffering towards them, that he did not at that time
visit their iniquity upon them, but bare with them till he saw
them so settled and fixed in this evil temper of mind, that they
would not be reformed by his patient goodness. Then he took
a severe vengeance on them, and by degrees utterly destroyed
them. Let us admire this longsuffering and forbearance of God, and
thankfully acknowledge his goodness, which, as Isaiah speaks,
multiplies to pardon, and hath not yet entered into judgment
with us : but let us take heed how we provoke him to anger,
by continuing in this or any other sin ; especially after much
patience with us, which ought to lead us to a speedy repentance.
0 Exod. XV. 13, 16.

414 A sermon against murmuring. seem. xxi.
God may be pleased graciously to pass by the first irrup
tions of those passions which make us murmur ; nay, not be
so strict in marking what is done amiss, as not to pardon many
fits of discontent which may come upon us. He knows our
frame and pities our weakness ; and is slow to anger, and far
from being forward to punish our frowardness. But if we in
dulge ourselves in this humour, and do not labour to correct it ;
if we set not ourselves against it, but let it grow to such an
height that we forget to be thankful to God for his mercies,
never reflect upon all the good he hath done us, nor the evils
from which he hath freed us, either by his own hand imme
diately, or by the ministry of others ; but, quite contrary, we
complain in a state of happiness, being displeased that every
thing is not to our gust ; and disordering ourselves with angry
discontent because all things are not ordered according to our
mind ; and perhaps speaking against those whom God hath
employed to do us good, (which was the case of the old Is
raelites in their murmurings against Moses and Aaron :) then
it is high time, we may fear, for God to chastise us, both for
our ingratitude, and for our abuse of his longsuffering good
ness to us.
We have all the reason in the world to believe, that if we
walk in the same way the Israelites did, it will lead us into the
same destruction, as the apostle here teaches us in this dis
course to the Corinthians. If we slight, or do not value the
mercies God hath bestowed upon us; or undutifully reflect
upon those who have been instrumental in procuring them to
us ; if we so dislike our present settlement that we thirst after
a change ; we do not know what punishments we are drawing
upon ourselves. And let us be assured, we shall be no more
satisfied in that change, should it come to pass, (which God
forbid,) than we are in the present establishment. The motions
of our discontented minds cannot be quieted by any thing with
out them. We shall ever find matter for complaint, and far
greater in a new revolution than we can do in this.
We have not forgotten, sure, the condition wherein we lately
were ; how all our laws were violated ; what endeavours were
used to subvert our religion and our government ; so that men's
hearts (to speak in our Saviour's vfords^), failed them for fear,
^ Luke xxi, 26.

SEEM, XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 415
a')id for looking after those things which were coming upon
us ; which we shall unavoidably draw upon ourselves, (and, if it
be possible, greater evils,) should we be so unhappy as to see
our present settlement overturned.
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, not only to your ac
tions and to your tongues, but to your very minds and spirits.
Do not allow of any risings and boilings there, but instantly
suppress them. Give not way to the very beginnings of any
discontented thoughts and angry motions : stay them before
they proceed further and grow unruly. Ask them what they
would have ? whither they would go ? what they design, and
where they wih end ? For you know not whither they will
carry you, if you do not put an end to them as soon as they
begin. They will lead you from one sin to another, till they have
drawn one mischief upon you after another ; and where they
will conclude at last we cannot certainly tell ; but we may
make a shrewd guess, by the example of those whom the
apostle here sets before us to be a warning to us ; by which
if we judge, it will be in utter destruction. For all that evil
generation who would not cease their murmuring, notwith
standing all the chidings they had for it, and the sharp punish
ments that had been inflicted on them for their amendment,
fell at last in the wilderness, short of the promised land, into
which God resolved they should not enter because of their
perverseness. And what was the cause of all this ? What made them so
perversely murmur, but only such things as these ?
They forgat the late oppressions under which they had
groaned, and the glorious deliverance God had wrought for
them from that miserable bondage.
They considered not their present ease, and the liberty they
had to serve God according to their heart's desires.
They had no respect to the hope which was set before
them, of being brought to perfect rest in the land of pro
mise, and there settled in the happiness which God himself
expresses in these magnificent words : If ye will obey my voice
indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all people ; for all the earth is mine.

416 A sermon against murmuring. seem. xxi.
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation^. Herein then lies the cure of this disease, if we find any spice
of it in ourselves.
I . Let us reflect daily upon the condition wherein we were a
few months ago, and the extraordinary hand of God in deliver
ing us from our fears.
2. And then lay to heart the freedom we now enjoy to
serve God without fear of those dangers wherewith we were
surrounded. 3. Together with the hope we have (if we ourselves do not
hinder) to see both our civil and religious rights and liberties
secured to us and to our posterity, so as they have not been
since we were a nation.
And then we shall be so far from murmuring, that we shall
think we owe the highest praises and thanksgivings to him.
Which if we be careful to pay, and every day upon our
bended knees bless his holy name, who hath saved our life
from destruction, and crowned us with loving-kindness and
tender mercies; we shall never be guilty of murmuring any
more, which is utterly inconsistent with thankfulness to God
for all his benefits.
Of which if we be unmindful, who knows but we may fall
by degrees into such an angry mood as that of the Israehtes ;
who commended their Egyptian bondage, and miscalled their
slavery there by the name of hberty to enjoy a fulness of
good things; nay, looked upon their deliverance from thence
as a betraying them to perish in the wilderness ; insomuch
that at last they wished themselves in Egypt again, and con-
ferrred about going back into their chains. This was such a
fearful provocation, that we .should dread any approaches to
it ; not admitting so much as a discontented thought, if we can
prevent it ; but if it press in upon us, reject it, or throw it out
as soon as it is entered : for if it lie brooding there, we know
not what it may bring forth. If it be no more than complaints,
where we have reason rather to give thanks, it is a great deal
too much, and must be speedily amended : for there is no great
difference between approving that which is evil and disliking
e Exod. xix. 5, 6.

SEEM. XXI. A sermon against murmuring. 417
that which is good : Nay, " to find fault with that which is well
done, is equally culpable as to commend that which is bad :
the same thing to free that which is base and unworthy from
just reprehension ; and to quarrel with those things which are
so far from deserving our censure, that they ought to be highly
praisedf." ' Cyril, Alex. 'Ev tcru yap rd^ei t(5 pelv tov koXoO, &c. in Johan. vii. 12.
avvtiTTfiv TJj <j)av\6Tt)ri to KaTtjyo- [tom.iv. p. 407 D.]

PATEICK, VOL. VIII. E e

A SEHMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE KING AND QUEEN
AT WHITEHALL
APRIL 16, 1690.
BEING THE FAST-DAY.
Published by their Majesties' special command.

E e 2

A SERMON PEEACHEn
BEFORE THE KING AND QUEEIST,
AT WHITEHALL, APRIL 16, 1690.
BEING THE FAST-DAY >.

Peoveebs xiv. 34.
Righteousness exalteth a nation : but sin is a reproach to
any people.
IF we enlarge our thoughts beyond our own narrow parti
cular beings, and look upon ourselves as members of a com
munity, we cannot but think it our interest to endeavour its
safety no less than the preservation of our natural body : whose
health ought not to be dearer to us than the prosperous and
flourishing estate of the country where we hve.
Which if we heartily wish, (as we seem to do by our as
sembling here together to implore the blessing of Heaven upon
their majesties, and the forces they employ for our preserva
tion,) it concerns us to apply ourselves unto the serious use of
all those means which we see to be necessary for the making
our prayers successful.
Now there is no book in the holy Scriptures which gives us
fuller directions in the way to make not only private persons
and families, but whole kingdoms and states happy, than this
of Solomon : who comprises them all in this general maxim
here in my text. Righteousness exalteth a nation, &c.
I will not vex our translation, nor examine the exactness of
it in the latter part of the verse, which may be otherwise ren-
" [On the outbreak of the Irish Wednesday in eveiy month suc-
rebellion, a public and general fast cessively during the continuance of
was appointed to be kept on Wed- the war. The present sermon was
nesday, March 12, and tlie third preached on one of these occasions.]

422 A fast-sermon preached .seem. xxir.
dered : but consider the words as an ancient proverb, grounded
on great reason, constant observation, and long experience ;
which assured king Solomon of these two things. First, of the
certain way and means to make a nation great, honourable,
and famous. Secondly, on the contrary, of the no less certain
way and means to lay it low, and make it base and vile in the
eyes of all the world.
These are the two parts of my text, the first of which is ex
pressed in the beginning of the words. Righteousness exalteth
a nation : that is the way to make it great and glorious. The
second, in the latter part of the verse. Sin is a reproach to any
people : that is the way to lay them low, were they never so
high in riches, reputation, and all other things before.
The first of these being evidently proved will necessarily
infer the second : and therefore, after a brief explication of
what is meant here by righteousness, 1 shall endeavour, in the
rest of my discourse, to make good the truth of what Solomon
asserts concerning it, by showing how a nation is raised and
advanced by righteousness.
It is certain that righteousness hath a threefold signification
in Scripture ; yea, in this very book of the Proverbs.
I. Where, first, it signifies that particular "^virtue which we
call justice and honest deahng : which consists in giving to
every one that which properly belongs to him. Thus the Wise
Man uses the word in Prov. xvi. 8 : Better is a little with
righteousness, than great revenues without right : i. e. a small
estate honestly gotten is to be preferred before a great one
gotten by fraud and doing wrong to others.
2. Sometimes the signification is enlarged to include in it
another virtue also, viz. mercy and charity. In which sense
the Wise Man seems to use it, (to omit other places,) Riches
profit not in the day of wrath, (i. e. in a calamitous time,) hut
righteousness (i. e. doing good with our riches) delivereth from
death; may preserve us in the greatest dangers.
3. But there is another acceptation of this word, which is
more comprehensive ; wherein it signifies not only these, but
all other virtues whatsoever, universal obedience to the laws
of God. And thus it is commonly taken in this book, particu
larly here in my text, as appears from that which is opposed
* Prov. xi. 4.

SEBM. XXII. before the king and queen. 423
to it in the latter part of the words, viz. sin. Which most cer
tainly signifies all sorts of wickedness, and therefore by right
eousness we ought to understand all manner of virtue : piety
and holiness, as well as justice and mercy. In one word, true
religion : which I may safely use instead of the word right
eousness, as comprehending under it whatsoever is good and
virtuous, which springs from true religion and the fear of
God. Now these things being premised, I shall address myself to
the proof of this proposition, " that true religion and piety
(which is the mother of justice, mercy, moderation, and all other
virtues) exalteth a nation :" that is, makes it truly great and
honourable ; of great power, and in great esteem in the world.
Which it doth (i) in itself; and (2) by virtue of its own
natural fruits and consequences; and (3) by procuring the
blessing of Divine Providence upon that country where it
flourishes. I.
First, I say, righteousness, that is, true religion, in itself,
promotes and advances the glory of a nation : being in its own
nature a truly great, noble, and honourable thing : which every
man praises and commends in others, though perhaps he doth
not love to practise it himself. For who is there, for instance,
that doth not rather love and honour a people that are just,
holy, and devout, than a nation that is merely rich, powerful,
and mighty? It is possible a nation may be so for a time,
though it do not stand upon the foundations of truth, justice,
and piety ; but it is impossible it should last so long : and while
it doth continue so, what is its power without piety but an
ability to do mischief and to destroy ; which is hateful to ah
the world ?
The greatest monarchs have sometimes been the greatest
spoilers : who, though they were feared, yet were never truly
honoured. Though they acquired some fame, they never had
any reputation or esteem. Though they were cried up, because
dreaded, while alive ; yet they were always scorned, because
hated, when they were dead.
Whereas, on the contrary, religious princes, such as are holy
towards God, and merciful towards men, sober in their coun
sels and conduct, firm to their compacts and promises , faithful

424 A fast-sermon preached seem. xxii.
to their alhances, have always gained the love and honour of
all those that read their story. " II.
But as righteousness and true rehgion is in itself noble
and honourable, highly esteemed by all men; and thereby
a means to make a nation glorious ; so it doth much more pro
mote the glory and interest of it by its natural consequences :
on which I shall longer insist.
I. And that, first of ah, because true rehgion and virtue pro
motes industry ; which is the very nerves and sinews of every
commonwealth. It puts every man into some calling and em
ployment, (not suffering princes to hve idly,) and makes every
calling active and industrious ; and industry gains wealth and
riches ; and riches gained by honest industry procure power,
interest, and reputation in the world. For in all labour (saith
this wise man, ver. 23 of this chapter) there is profit : but the
talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. Industry and labour
are always beneficial, and bring many advantages along with
them : but where time is spent in vain company and frivolous
discourses, in hearing what every one will tell, and telhng again
what hath been heard ; there fohows poverty upon such mis-
spence of time ; and shame and misery follow that. According
to that which we read in chap. xii. 11 : He that tilleth his
land shall be satisfied with bread : but he that followeth vain
persons is void of understanding. As if he said. He that
minds the business unto which God and the nature of his
station calls him shall want nothing convenient for him : but
he who abandons himself to the company of those who lead
vain, idle, and useless lives shall hve in shame, and die in
beggary ; and so betray himself to be a man void of all under
standing. Idle and extravagant persons are the very pests of the
commonwealth ; who lie as a heavy burden upon the shoulders
of others, because they live wholly to waste and spend, devour
aud consume. They eat the fruit of other men's labours, and
drink the sweat of their neighbours' brows. Every thing is but
a prey to them, who are little better than those that rob and
spoil ; for they live by the consumption of other people.
Which, by the way, should excite all that have any authority
to correct this vice, according to the wholesome laws provided

SERM. XXII. before the king and queen. 425
against it; which would be a part of that reformation on
which it is the very business of this day to resolve, as the
means to make us a happy nation.
For, on the other hand, the laborious and industrious man
maintains that station wherein God hath placed him, though
never so mean, against the invasion of want and poverty ; and
against those dreadful effects of poverty which frequently
throw a nation into terrible convulsions, by producing in it
sedition and confusion.
Is not a nation then beholden to religion, more than to any
thing else, even upon this account ; that by putting men upon
industry and labour, and making it a piece of conscience not to
waste one's time vainly, it prevents those insufferable mischiefs
which grow out of idleness, sloth and luxury ?
Which might be further demonstrated from a known effect
of true religion and the fear of God, which is sobriety, modera
tion, and frugality ; which are both the parent and the product
of industry. Which industry, I might also show, is not only
the mother of riches, but of wisdom also, learning, knowledge,
and understanding of all manner of things, whether natural,
moral, political or divine. Which are not gotten by idleness,
but constantly procured, in some measure, by labour and pains.
That is, some men by their industry get wisdom and know
ledge ; others, whose genius lies not that way, get riches and
wealth ; and there are those who get both, and are all highly
serviceable unto the nation, to advance the greatness, the
power, the credit, and the glory of it.
But having many things to say, I omit all further discourse
of these considerations, and desire you,
II. Secondly, to consider, that as righteousness, that is, true
religion, promotes private industry, and by that means tends to
the advancement of a nation, so it also disposes men (which is
a far greater thing) to mind the public good and honour of the
nation where they live.
There is no good man, who hath a true sense of religion and
virtue, who doth not consider that he was not born merely for
himself ; but to help forward the good of others also, even of
the whole country whereof he is a member. For next to the
duty we owe unto God, who made us all, and unto our parents,
who brought us into the world, all virtuous men have always

426 A fast-sermon preached seem. xxii.
placed the duty we owe our country. And the'^more'any man
minds the first of these, his duty towards God, the more reli
giously will he mind the last, the safety and honour of his
country. Which ought to be so dear unto us, that no private
friendships, no, nor the duty our natural parents challenge
from us, ought in some cases to come in competition with it.
Tlius men of worth in the several ages and nations of the
world have ever thought.
Which makes our shame here in England the greater, who
of late years have had so little regard to this, which of ah
other things ought to have been most affectionately tendered.
And what was the reason of it, but an inundation of all manner
of vice and wickedness upon us ? This was the general cause of
it : and more particularly, sensuality, avarice, ambition, atheism
and infidehty, (which are the fountain of all vice,) are very base
and poor-spirited things.
For a vicious man is at the best but a crafty and subtle
beast ; and the beasts mind nothing but themselves, or that
which they look upon as a part of themselves, their young
ones, and that only while they are young.
Who ever knew an atheist truly useful or serviceable to his
country ? Who can name one that ever looked much beyond
himself and his own private interests and pleasures ? And,
indeed, how should he do any thing noble and generous for
his country (when it will expose him to any danger or
trouble) who cannot hope for a reward from God for what
he doth?
How should an idle companion and a sensual person, a man
abandoned to his ease, his lust, and bodily pleasure, a man that
loves nobody but himself, be concerned for the good of his
country ? No, let the laws and hberties of it sink or swim, it is
alike to him. For let his relations, friends, and family beg or
starve, nay, let his heir be in danger to ask a morsel of bread
at his neighbour's door, (for some of these men are not so good
as the beasts, who have a care of their young ones,) he wih
have his pleasure when his lusts have besotted him. They must
be fed, and his vanity must be gratified, as long as he is able to
make provision for them. Let shame and infamy, the hatred
and hl-will of the whole nation fall upon him, he regards it
not ; for his whole care is for his own carcase, to fulfil the lusts
thereof

SERii. XXII. before the king and queen. 427
Which is the nature also of covetous and ambitious men ;
who, to raise themselves, will not stick to ruin their country.
This is most manifestly a very great plague to the common
wealth ; where there are many of this sort of men in it.
But now, on the contrary, that holy religion which teaches
us to love our neighbours as ourselves, and not revengefully or
maliciously to hurt our enemies, teaches us much more to love
our country; for the sake of which the better sort of heathens
did not grudge to deny, nay, to hazard themselves to preserve
it in safety. And therefore he who is a good Christian, that
is, lives according to the laws of our religion, is of a free,
generous, and public spirit ; wilhng to lay out himself, nay, to
suffer for the common good.
If there be an occasion to serve himself by disserving the
public, he will keep his hands clear and pure from such foolish
baseness, and serve his country faithfully and justly ; knowing
that therein he most effectually serves himself, and shall gain
by it both in this world and in the next.
Thus is that again verified which the man here affirms, as
he had done before. By the blessing of the upright the city is
exalted^. Upright piety highly tends to the advancement
of a people's happiness ; both as it puts men upon labour
and industry, and as it makes them labour for the public
good. III. Unto which add, in the third place, that religion and
virtue makes a nation strong and powerful : and that not
only by the means before mentioned, but by procuring likewise
unity, concord, and agreement among fellow-citizens and
countrymen ; who are preserved by being knit together in
love, but undone by discord and dissension.
Now true religion combines men together, and so makes
them mighty arid formidable : first, by removing the causes of
division ; and secondly, by making them feel the happy effects
of peace and quietness.
The causes of division are pride, conceitedness, self-will,
covetousness, ambition, self-love, hatred, revenge, and such hke
lusts ; from whence, as St. James observes, come quarrellings
and fightings : that is, from want of true religion, which would
cure men of ah these evil qualities, and make them feel them-
b Proverbs xi. ii.

428 A fast-sermon preached sebm. xxir.
selves happy in mutual love and humble charity, as well as by
the practice of justice and truth.
For no man is either oppressed himself, or hath any inclina
tion to oppress others, when he doth as he would be done by ;
not only by abstaining from doing injury to others, because he
would not be injured by them, but by relieving, assisting, and
doing good to others, because he would be so dealt withal
were he in need of their succour. That is, when true charity
and brotherly kindness is added unto justice and truth, (as it is
where true religion prevails,) in what an happy condition is
that nation ! where every one finds his neighbours easy and
kind to him, and he himself is easy to himself. For when is a
man more at ease than when he hath no difference with anj"^-
body ; no quarrels, no contention, no heart-burnings nor evil
surmises ; but his soul is full of love and good-whl towards
others, being knit to them in sincere affection, not only as his
neighbours, but as his brethren and friends ?
This is the effect of true religion, and the effect of this is
great peace, and consequently prosperity at home. Where, as
nothing more dishonours a nation, and endangers it, than
domestic brohs or opposite factions, which are always bandying
one against the other, to the great damage as well as disgrace
of all ; so these are all prevented, or presently quieted by reli
gion and virtue, to the great honour and glory both of religion
and of the nation which is so happy as to be under the blessed
influences thereof.
The best men indeed are liable to great infirmities, which
may sometimes make them troublesome unto themselves and
unto others ; through misinformation, through mistake, through
surprise, through passion, and the like. But these, not being
wilful evils, cannot prove very hurtful, nor be of long conti
nuance. And besides, where true religion possesses the heart,
it makes men, on one hand, so charitable as to bear and to
pardon such infirmities ; and, on the other hand, so humble as
to make the best amends they can for any harm they have
done by their mistake or passion, and to be more careful and
kind for the time to come. For that commonly is the effect of
httle quarrels among good men ; who are so much the faster
friends when they see their errors, and have begged pardon,
and obtained and granted mutual forgiveness.

seem. xxu. before the king and queen. 429
Would to God it might be the effect of our lamentable dif
ferences and contentions in later years, (as in all reason it
ought to be,) to make us very fearful how we fall into the like
again ; at least to correct that sharpness, that acrimony and
hatred wherewith those differences were managed, to the great
scandal of our religion, and the exposing us all to be a prey
unto our common enemy.
There wih be still occasions of quarrelling, if we be so foolish
as to lay hold on them and improve them. For we shall never
be all of one opinion in every thing, which will occasion dis
putes, and they may occasion heats ; and they may beget
estrangements one from another, and thence may arise ani
mosities and open breaches ; unless we moderate ourselves, and
rehgiously consider what we are a doing, what mischiefs we are
drawing upon ourselves, when we engage so fiercely in contests
about things perhaps of small moment, or things in which men
will never be agreed, but there will be different judgments con
cerning then.
Let us, as was said before, be touched with such a lively
sense that we are members of one and the very same body,
and prefer the public good before our own private opinions and
interests ; and this will have a greater power to knit us faster
together than any thing else can have to divide us one from
another. If we have any regard to this, to the safety of our
nation, to the safety of our religion, not only here but in all
other Protestant countries abroad, we cannot but be inclined
thereby to join our counsels, or studies and endeavours, as well
as our prayers, for the preventing or quieting of all new quar
rels among us : that, as we had almost undone ourselves by our
hatreds and bitter contentions, so we may be preserved by a
firm union in sincere love and brotherly affection.
Which is a virtue that our holy rehgion commends unto us
above all other things. Put on, as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering ; forbearing one another, and for
giving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any.
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond
of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your liearts,
to the which also ye are called in one body^. Which the
•i Col, iii, 12, 13, &c.

430 A fast-sermon preached seem, xxii.
same apostle presses upon the Phihppians in the most pas
sionate and moving manner imaginable ; If there be any con
solation in Christ, if any comfort in love, (which we cannot
but feel to be exceeding great, if we be under the power of
it,) if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the .same love,
being of one accord, of one mind".
This is sufficient to show, that if Christian rehgion have
taken possession of our hearts, and bear any sway there, we
shall be strongly knit together as one man, for the common
good of the whole body to which we belong. And if we be, I
have demonstrated how much this will contribute to the exal
tation of our nation by unity and peace at home.
IV. But suppose a nation be assaulted from abroad, true
rehgion will make them courageous and undaunted, being the
mother of fortitude and valour ; which raises the power, glory,
and reputation of a nation to the greatest height.
I. And this it doth, because it unites them, as you have
heard, in bands of mutual love and kindness ; which gives
them confidence in each other, as well as moves them to join
their common counsels and jomt endeavours for the public good
and safety.
2. And then it makes all these counsels and enterprises go
on smoothly and cheerfully, without those rubs and impedi
ments which are wont to be raised by fears and jealousies,
and distrusts one of another.
3. And thirdly, by increasing their treasure, as I have said,
and giving them pubhc spirits to incline them to part with it
for the public good, it enables them to make such preparations
for mutual defence as wisdom and counsel shall direct.
4. Which preparations also are managed by religion, with
that industry, dhigence, and frugality before mentioned ; upon
which depends great likelihood of good success. For that reli
gion which makes a man industrious in his private calhng, wih
much more engage him to the dihgent and conscientious dis
charge of any public trust committed to him.
All which tends to inspire a people with courage, when they
see they want nothing that is necessary for their defence, but
only the divine aid and succour ; which, as you shall hear
« Phil. ii. I, 2.

seem xxu. before the king and queen. 431
anon, they cannot reasonably suspect will withdraw itself from
a people fearing God and working righteousness. No, quite
contrary, they ought to be confident of his presence with them,
especially in all straits and difficulties : which confidence will
marvellously heighten and raise their courage and resolution.
For as it naturally makes a man very undaunted and valiant,
when he is not conscious to himself of any base design or vile
practice ; so confidence in God, and full persuasion that he will
be with us in an undertaking, doth exceedingly increase and
exalt that courage which a good conscience breeds in us. And
of this we ought not to doubt, when we are a truly religious,
just, and holy people ; devoted to the love of God, and of one
another. And as this mightily inspires a nation with confidence, so
this unanimous courage and confidence in a nation no less
daunts their enemies, and either deters them from invasion, or
disheartens them in the attempt; for who is able to stand
before a great people united among themselves, that fight not
with divided affections, nor to serve particular interests and
factions, but for the common preservation and the public good?
And now that I mention a great people, it puts me in mind
of another thing which I will briefly touch.
V. True religion exalteth a nation by increasing it into a
multitude of people ; which evidently gives it renown by
making a people powerful and formidable to its neighbours ;
especially when it abounds with people, not of a feeble, but of
an able and strong Constitution of body, as well as of virtuous
minds. For so this wise man hath observed a little before my
text, ver. 28. In the multitude of people is the king's honour:
but ' in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.
Who is nothing if he have no subjects; but the more numerous
they are, the greater is his force and his splendour at home,
and his fame and reputation abroad; which very much depends
upon the populousness of his country, when it is stored with
such worthy persons as I have described.
Now, true religion increases a people into a multitude by
chaste marriages, and banishing fornication and vagrant lusts ;
and also by that healthful state of body, wherein temperance,
soberness, chastity, and industry preserves mankind. This is
so plain that it needs no proof, and is one argument against

432 A fast-sermon preached. seem. xxii.
that impurity, filthiness, and debauchery, which hath exceed
ingly abounded among us ; that it not only shuts men out of
the happiness of the other world, (as St. Paul shows f,) but
hastens them also out of this, weakens and destroys their
bodies, shortens their life, dispeoples their country, and makes
a nation feeble aud pusillanimous when it is generally infected
with this disease. Upon which account it is the interest of all
princes to punish the vices of this sort very severely ; not only
as displeasing to God, but as extremely disserviceable to
themselves. VI. From all which I might show how righteousness exalt
eth a nation, by inviting other people to resort unto it, and
increase its numbers, either for their education or their im
provement, among those who have gained a great reputation in
the world for their wisdom or their sobriety and purity, or
their unity and good government, their industry, their courage,
&c., and all those excellent qualities from whence these things
are derived.
But I need not add any thing more for the proof of what
I undertook. Lay all these considerations together, and if
wealth, if wisdom and knowledge, if unanimous affection to the
public good, if peace and concord, if great numbers of people in
health and strength, if fame and reputation, if fortitude and
courage, if counsel and conduct, if confidence of success in all
their enterprises, can raise and exalt the glory of a nation;
then true religion and virtue (serious obedience to all the laws
of Christ) is the exaltation of a nation. For all these are the
fruits of righteousness, as I have plauily demonstrated, when it
is generally practised.
For so this proposition is to be understood ; Righteousness
exalteth a nation, when that nation, that is, becometh right
eous. The sole virtue indeed of the princes that govern it may
do much towards it. For a king that sitteth in the throne of
judgment (saith this wise man) scattereth away all evil with
his eyes f ; and again, ver. 26, A wise king scattereth the
wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them ; that is, punisheth
them severely. Righteous lips are the delight of kings, (i. e.
of such wise kings,) and they love him that speaketh right S.
They promote, that is, virtuous men, not flatterers, such as
f X Cor. vi. 9. f Prov. xx. 8. s Prov. xvi. 13.

SEEM. XXII. before the king and queen. 433
speak what is true, not what they think will please, unto places
of trust and authority. And when the righteous are in au
thority, the people rejoice : but when the wicked bear ride.
the people mourn^.
But though all this be true, yet it is because such princes
are the blessed instruments of reforming a nation, (whicli
begins in reforming the court, and those who are in authority,)
by whose general amendment, by the people's becoming truly
religious and virtuous, this observation of the wise man is com
pletely fulfilled, that righteousness exalteth a nation, by the
very natural effects of it, when it is heartily and universally
practised. III.
But these, though very great advantages in themselves, are
small in comparison with that which follows, viz. the singular
favour and blessing of the Divine providence, which is procured
by the righteousness of a nation.
For the understanding of which, it must be considered, that
the providence of God is the great and first mover, which tm^ns
about all the wheels of human affairs, and orders how and whi
ther they shall go : whereby they are many times carried far
otherwise than we design and contrive. This is a truth so
often noted in this book, that from thence we may conclude it
is a matter of very great moment ; for it is not easy to num
ber all the places. The preparations of the heart in man, and
the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord ', who gives, that
is, what success he pleases to men's deliberations and dis
courses. And, ver. 9, A man's heart deviseth his way, (i. e.
designs an end and the means to it.) but the Lord directeth his
steps; to such an issue, perhaps, as he never thought of. And
again, ver. 33 of the same chapter. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. The same we
read, Prov. xix. 21, There are many devices in a man's heart;
nevertheless the counsel of tlie Lord, that shall stand. And,
XX. 24, Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man then un
derstand his own way ? That is, as no man can take one step
towards any thing he designs without permission from above ;
so it is impossible for him to know what the success will be of
that which he projects. The king's heart (on whose motions
h Prov. xxix. 2. ' Prov. xvi. 1.
PATEICK, VOL. VIII. F f

434 A fast-sermon preached seem. xxii.
we know the fate of kingdoms depends) is in the hand of tlie
Lord, as the rivers of water ; lie turneth it whithersoever he
will^. Once more, ver. 30, 31 of the same chapter. There is
no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.
The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is
of the Lord ; i. e. whatsoever warlike preparations any prince
shall make, though never so great, and never so well conducted
and managed, all is to no purpose, unless the Lord favour his
arms, and give good success to his counsels and designs.
Which is the very ground and reason of our meeting here
this day, to implore his blessing upon their majesties, and their
forces by sea and land : whereby we make a solemn acknow
ledgment of the truth of what I have now said, that the dis
posal of all events depends upon the providence of God : which
we ought therefore by all means to engage to be on our side.
Particularly by humble and fervent and frequent prayer to
him : which the holy Scripture calls seeking the face, that is,
the favour of God, who alone can make our way prosperous,
and in whose fear (as this wise man speaks, Prov. xiv. 26) is
strong confidence, of good success, that is, in all enterprises,
and protection in all dangers.
But if we have any serious belief of God and of his provi
dence, we cannot imagine that it can be engaged to favour us
by our prayers alone. They must never be omitted ; but if we
address ourselves to God with no resolutions of amendment,
this very wise man hath told us our doom in Prov. xv. 8, The
sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord ; he
will reject it, especially when he brings it with a wicked mind^,
as if he thought, by his sacrifices, to bribe the Divine Majesty,
and persuade him to wink at his sins. But, on the other side,
he tehs us in the very same breath, The prayer of the upright
is his delight ; which he repeats in the 29th verse. The Lord
is far from the wicked ; but he heareth the prayer of the
righteous. Who devoutly acknowledging the Divine provi
dence, and also studying sincerely to observe his commands,
prevah with him to give them what they desire ; his favom-,
protection, and blessing, to prosper them in all their under
takings. The wicked worketh a deceitful work; but to him that
^ Prov. xxi. I. 1 Prov. xxi. 27,

seem, xxii, before the king and queen. 435
soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. He deceives
himself, that is, who thinks to raise himself to greatness by
wicked devices ; in which he may prosper a while, but the
event at last will disappoint his expectations : when truly reli
gious men shall infallibly reap the fruit of their pious, just, and
charitable labours for the good of others. The like we read
Prov. xii. 3, A man shall not be established by wickedness;
but the root of tlie righteous shall not be moved. And here in
this chapter, ver. 1 1 , The house of the wicked shall be over
thrown ; but the tabernacle of the righteous shall flourish.
There was a great difference between a house and a taber
nacle ; the former being built strong and firm, to endure for
an age or several generations; but the other (a tabernacle)
was reared up only for a time, slightly jointed and put toge
ther, to be taken down and carried on a sudden any whither.
And such is the providence of God, the wise man observes,
over the righteous, that he makes his weak tabernacle abide
and flourish : when the very house of the wicked not only de
cays, but is overturned. Thus the world hath seen many potent
princes put down from their seat, and small ones raised up in
their stead ; according to the discourse of the pious father of
this wise man, who bids us mark what he saith. Psalm xxxiii,
where, after he had said, ver. ifi, 17, There is no king saved
by the multitude of a host ; a mighty man is not delivered by
much strength ; a horse is a vain thing to save a man, Spc,
he adds immediately, ver. 18, Behold, take notice of this, tlie
eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, (of such he will
take a special care, and exercise a most tender and watchful
providence over them,) upon them that hope in his mercy ; to
deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in time
of famine : to preserve them, that is, in the greatest dangers,
and deliver them out of the greatest straits.
And truly the providence of God is injustice engaged to give
countenance and encouragement to true piety and virtue in the
world. And though it do not move always so swiftly as we
expect and desire, yet we may observe there have been such
revolutions of Providence in all nations in one age or other, as
have sufficiently demonstrated how much God concerns himself
to bless those who live in observance of him, and to punish those
who do otherwise. F f 2

436 A fast-.sermon preached seem. xxii.
I will not presume, now that it is time to draw towards a
conclusion, to lay before you the story of the Jews, over whom
this wise king reigned ; but only say, that as God had chosen
them from among aU nations to be his people, planted them in
a chosen land, and blessed them with wise and holy laws, pro
mised them all manner of fehcity upon condition of their obe
dience ; so, notwithstanding this peculiar relation to him, the
same Providence which promised them protection, safety and
prosperity, if they obeyed him, threatened to abandon them
unto inevitable ruin if they forsook him and rebelled against
him. Whence those remarkable words, 0 that there were such
a heart in them, that they would fear me and keep my com
mandments always, that it might be well with them\ &c.
Where he speaks as if it were not in his own power to bless
them unless they would fear and obey him always; because
God cannot do that at all, which he cannot do consistently with
his wisdom, justice, and honour.
And however Divine Providence may please to order things
in those nations who are not so nearly related to him, yet we
cannot but think he will deal with us Christians, who are now
become what they were, his peculiar people, by the very same
measures he dealt with them, that is, bless us or curse us, ac
cording as we observe or break his holy laws.
But I see no reason to question his making this distinction
even among infidels who know not the laws of Jesus Christ ; if
we may judge of what he doth now by what he did in ancient
times : when the heathens themselves observed this difference,
as appears by the writers of the Roman story, who take notice
that while they were strict observers of the law of nations, and
continued religious, frugal, industrious, sober, and moderate,
(as they were in their beginning,) God's blessing rested upon
them, and they prospered wonderfuhy whithersoever they went.
But when they grew impious, luxurious, broke their faith,
abounded with all manner of vice, they soon dwindled, grew
weak, and lost their large dominions they had in the world.
And had they been at the first rise of their empire " as vain as
the Greeks (to use the words of a great divine™ of our own, in
the days before us,) as luxurious as the Asiatics, as perfidious
1 Deut. V. 29. ™ Dr. Jackson. [Commentaries on the Creed, book vi.
part 2. chap. 27. vol. v. p. 43,5.]

SEEM. XXU. before the king and queen. 437
as the Carthaginians, as uncivil and barbarous as many other
nations whom they conquered, they could not have been so
constantly fortunate in their enterprises at home and abroad
as they were for many years."
God indeed is a debtor to nobody ; but such is his bounty,
such his love to righteousness, of whatsoever sort it be, that he
will not suffer moral virtue, civil justice, honesty and truth, and
constant execution of laws, which in their kind and degree are
good, to be whohy unrewarded ; but by such means any nation
in the world may be exalted above those who are otherways
disposed. How much more then may Christian people expect this favour
from the Lord in the faithful observance of his holy laws ! Did
true righteousness, for instance, prevail in this Christian king
dom, what an happy people might we be ! As happy as we have
made ourselves notorious to all the world for the punishments
God hath inflicted on us.
What were the late civil wars and the woful effects of them,
but the calamities which God sent upon a sinful people for our
disobedience to him ? And since the wonderful restoration of
the royal family and the monarchy, what were the pestilence,
the fire, and other judgments which presently ensued, but
tokens of God's continued displeasure against us for our abuse
of his lovingkindness ? We rioted upon his mercies, we waxed
fat and kicked against him, we abandoned ourselves to lust,
pride, and idleness, and to all manner of debauchery ; nay, to
irreligion, atheism, and infidelity ; for which cause those heavy
calamities fell upon us. And what was the effect of them ?
After we had felt the smart of so many terrible judgments, we
fell into such implacable animosities and deadly hatreds one
against another, that we drew upon ourselves the greatest
plague of all, that of popery : which had set up its chapels,
schools, and convents among us ; and, had not God's mercy pre
vented by our late marvellous deliverance, would have brought
in those whips, and gibbets, and racks, and fires, and other in
struments of cruelty, wherewith we have seen it torturing the
bodies and souls of innumerable good men and women in France
and in other places. And shall we still adventure to continue
an unreformed nation because God hath spared us from utter
ruin ? After all this is come upon us for our evil deeds, as

4'38 A fast-sermon preached seem. xxu.
Ezra speaks, and for our great trespass, and after he hath
given us such a deliverance as this, which we have lately re
ceived, shall we again break his commandments ?
What a strange thing will it be not to believe our own ex
perience, though we would not believe God's holy word ! Which
now, one would think, should have greater credit with us, when
we have seen it so fully verified in ourselves, that sin is a re
proach to any people. Which in reason should move us to try
the truth of the other part of my text of which I have now
treated ; and by working righteousness, satisfy ourselves how
it will exalt us. As I have proved it will, not only by its own
natural consequences, (there being no virtue which tends not to
greaten a nation that lives in the practice of it,) but by the
special blessing of the Almighty ; whose method this is, which
he constantly observes, to bless the righteous, and compass him
with his favour as with a shield.
Hear this wise man once more : The way of the Lord is
strength to the upright, but destruction shall be to the workers
of iniquity''^. Tlie way of the Lord, that is, this is the Divine
method to give strength and power to upright men ; or the
very observance of the rules of virtue, (which may be meant
here by the way of the Lord,) the keeping close to God's
laws, and walking in his ways, inspires the upright with courage
and resolution when any evil threatens them ; but the workers
of iniquity are feeble and poorspirited, and shall be broken in
pieces by that destruction which is coming upon them. His
father gives the reason of it : The righteous Lord loveth right
eousness, his countenance doth behold the upright". Let us
love righteousness then, that we may be beloved of the Lord.
And if we have any authority, let upright men have our coun
tenance and favour, (as the glory and strength of the nation,
the chariots and horsemen for the safeguard of their country,)
that the righteous Lord may countenance us in all our ways
and proceedings, and we may find him propitious to us on all
occasions.
¦ That is the use we ought to make of what hath been said.
I. First, let every one of us, being convinced of these truths,
and seriously reflecting on them, resolve to consult the safety
and happiness of the kingdom of which we are members, by
" Prov. X. 29. o Psalm xi, ult.

seem. xxii. before the king and queen. 439
betaking ourselves hereafter to a religious course of hfe, in all
holiness and righteousness all our days. Let us begin it this
day, by making it a day not only of humhiation, but of serious
and unfeigned repentance. Let it conclude in solemn resolutions
of amendment of life. That, as by wickedness this nation hath
been laid low, and made despicable in the eyes of all our neigh
bours, who neither loved nor feared us, because we had for
saken both our own and their true interest ; so we may raise
the reputation of it, and make it great, eminent, and illustrious,
by the faithful practice of true religion and virtue.
3. And let us not only make this resolution, but make it good,
by calling it often to mind, by representing to ourselves the
advantages of sincere piety even in this present life, by settling
this persuasion in our mind, that it is the interest of the nation
to be religious. Which cannot fail to sway our affection to it ;
and what we love we always pursue tih we have attained it.
If we love then ourselves, if we love our nation, if we love their
majesties, our government, our country, we shall love right
eousness. 3. And since righteousness exalteth a nation, it is our in
terest to do all we can to exalt righteousness, and advance it
to the greatest height, by being zealous of good works. We
have been very zealous for things of little moment in comparison
with the weighty matters of God's laws, very zealous to undo
one another and to ruin our country. Let us now be as zealous
for our common safety and preservation, by bending our most
earnest endeavours to provoke one another to love and to good
works; to be sincerely good ourselves, and to make others so
likewise as much as lies in our power. That is, devoutly pious,
strictly just and merciful, temperate and sober, diligent and in
dustrious in our several callings and offices, pubhc spirited, zeal
ously concerned for the common good, kindly affectioned one
to another in brotherly love ; forgiving one another, if any man
have a quarrel against any ; as earnest against revenge as per
haps we have been for it, studying the things that make for peace ;
labouring to convince men of their errors with the meekness of
wisdom, bearing with those whom we cannot convince, by no
means quarrelhng one with another about different opinions,
but joining with one heart and one soul for the defence of our
rehgion and our country, our laws and liberties.

440 A fast-sermon preached seem, xxii.
Then we may promise to ourselves the Divine protection
and blessing : God will make us great and powerful, and we
shall tread upon the necks of our enemies. He will hear our
prayers which we have now made unto him, (and I hope will
continue to make every day, because nothing, as you have
heard, can prosper without his blessing,) for the safety of their
majesties, and the success of their arms in their present great
undertaking for the necessary defence of their people. We
need not fear what man can do unto us ; no, nor fear the
arrows of the Almighty, I mean the raging pestilence ; nor
devouring fire ; nor that flood neither wliich St. John saw the
dragon pour out of his mouth to drown the church ; that is,
popish persecution.
That grand oppressor, who hath raised himself by methods
quite contrary to this of Solomon ; and, as if he intended to
disprove the truth of God's word, hath endeavoured to exalt
his nation by nothing but fraud and forgery, perfidiousness
and perjury, by breaking his faith and violating leagues and
solemn treaties, by wrong and robbery, nay, by the utmost de
gree of cruelty and barbarity ; this haughty oppressor, I say,
who hath ruined many other countries as weh as his own, shall
not be able to hurt us : but God will succeed their majesties
in the war wherein we are now engaged against him, and make
them go on prosperously, because of truth, meekness, and right
eousness. For since that nation hath so highly affronted the Divine
Majesty, (as well as abused all mankind with whom they have
had to do,) as sure as God is in heaven, he will lay them low :
because they have been so atheistical as to advance themselves
by all manner of falsehood and treachery, injustice and cruelty ;
having mocked at those virtues, (truth and honesty, &c.) without
which the world cannot subsist, but must be turned into a
wilderness. We cannot appoint times and seasons unto the Almighty
^Visdom : but if the universal desire of all nations could pre
vail with God, we might be confident the time is come wherein
he will bring down the high looks of the proud, (if I may
apply the words of the Psalmist to this matter,) and save the
poor afflicted people upon whom he hath trampled with scorn
ful pride and cruelty.

SEEM. XXII. before the king and queen. 441
He and his adherents cannot long prosper, one would think,
by such impious pohtics as they have practised : but the right
eous Lord, who sitteth in the throne judgeth right, wih make
all the world see by the judgment he will execute upon them,
that he loveth the righteous; but the wicked and him that
loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he will rain
snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest ; this
shall be their portion to drink.
But suppose God should defer this vengeance for some time,
and suffer him to be a further scourge to a sinful world ; nay,
should let him be the rod of his anger to chastise us for our
ingratitude to him : yet these three things are certainly true.
I. First, that he will not always bear with impious oppress
ors : but though hand join in hand, (as Solomon speaks,
Prov. xi. 21, though one oppressor join to help another,) the
wicked shall not go unpunished.
2. And that punishment will be very terrible when it comes.
For though mercy will soon pardon tlie meanest, (as it is in the
Book of Wisdom, vi. 4,) yet mighty men shall be mightily tor
mented : because, being ministers of his kingdom, they abused
his power, and that wantonly ; having abundant means to please
themselves without doing the least hurt unto others.
3. And this comfort, in the mean time, may be administered
unto all those who have amended their lives and grown better
by God's former judgments, or by our late dehverance ; that
they will find God favourable unto them, to protect and deliver
them in the needful time of trouble, should it please him to let
it come again to try them. So we are assured by this wise
man, who hath left us instructions of this kind also. You may
find a great many together in the beginning of the eleventh
chapter, ver. 3, 4, 5, 6, which are all I shall mention ; The in
tegrity of the upright shall guide them ; but the perverseness
of transgressors shall destroy them. Riches profit not in the
day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death. The
righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way; but the
wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness
of the upright shall deliver them ; but transgressors shall be
taken in their own naughtiness. The sense of all which is
this, that the highest wisdom is to be sincerely good. There
is no pohcy comparable to perfect integrity : which in difficult

442 A fast-sermon, Sec. seem, xxii.
times will guide and dh-ect a man unto the surest way for his
preservation : when nothing else wih secure him, but contrary
courses inevitably lead him unto his ruin.
God of his infinite mercy grant, that as we understand these
things, so we may consider them and lay them to heart ; yea,
lay them up in our heart, and reflect upon them as frequently
as they are repeated in this book : that we may make them
the rule of our actions, and trust to them as the most certain
way to safety and security (if not prosperity) in this world, as
well as to eternal felicity in a better life.

A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE
THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL,
IN THE
ABBEY CHURCH AT WESTMINSTER,
NOVEMBEE 26, 1691.

THE THANKSGIVING-DAY FOR THE PEESERVATION OF THEIR
MAJESTIES, THE SUCCESS OF THEIR FORCES IN
REDUCING OF IRELAND, AND FOR
THE KING'S SAFE RETURN.

Die Sabbati, 28 Novemb. 1691.
IT is ordered by the lords spiritual and temporal, in parha
ment assembled, that the thanks of this house shall be, and is
hereby given to the lord bishop of Ely, for his sermon preached
on Thursday last before this house in the Abbey church at
Westminster, and he is hereby desired to print and pubhsh the
same.
MATH. JOHNSON,
Cler. Parliamentor.

A SEEMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE HOUSE OF LORDS, &c.

Deut. iv. 9.
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest
thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest
they depart out of thy heart all tlie days of thy life.
THE Jewish nation being represented to us by St. Paul as
our types and examples ; and their history being written (as
he informs us) for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the
world are come * ; we cannot have a more sure direction for
the preservation and continuance of those great blessings which
we come this day to acknowledge with praises and thanksgiv
ings, than from the instruction which God himself here gives to
that people by his servant Moses in the conclusion of his min
istry among them.
They had seen strange things, such as no age had produced
the like since the creation of the world.
They beheld innumerable signs and tokens of a Divine pre
sence with them ; and were surrounded with so many amazing
proofs of an extraordinary Providence over them, that they
could not doubt of God's singular favour towards them, nor of
the continuance of his Divine protection : who doth not love to
leave his own work imperfect, but designs to finish what he
hath most graciously begun.
The only danger was lest they should forget all that their
eyes had seen, or be so negligent as not to lay to heart the
great goodness of the Lord ; against which Moses here gives
them this caution, Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy
soul diligently, Sj-c. a I Cor. X. 11.

446 A thanksgiving sermon seem, xxiii.
And truly this is the only thing that we have to fear : who
are a people also saved by the Lord, a people who have seen
his wonderful works ; and may rationally hope to see further
effects of his almighty mercy, if we be not so senselessly care
less as to let the memory of what God hath done for us shp out
of our minds, and leave no impressions upon our hearts. Which
would load us with so foul a guilt, that God might justly aban
don us to all the evils from which he hath delivered us ; and
let us perish, even after we have been saved by his special pro
vidence. I cannot therefore do you better service than to press upon
you this weighty admonition of Moses the man of God, as the
most certain means of our preservation, and the best expression
of our gratitude. Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul
diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have
seen, and lest they depart out of thy heart all the days of thy
life. In which words it is easy to observe two things :
First, it is here too plainly supposed that men are very apt to
forget even those wonderful works which they have seen with
their own eyes. Otherwise there would have been no need of
such great caution as is here given to the Jews, to take heed,
and not only take heed, but to keep their soul; nay, to keep it
diligently, lest they should forget what their eyes had seen.
For without heed, and diligent heed, and careful observance of
themselves, he knew these things would soon slip out of their
thoughts, and be no more remembered. And therefore.
Secondly, we ought to use our most serious endeavours not
to forget them ; no, not to forget them as long as we live : but
to preserve the remembrance of them to the very end of our
days. For so it follows in the last clause, lest they depart out
of thy heart all the days of thy life.
Which being the principal thing here intended, it is fit I
should begin with that ; and reserve the supposal, as an argu
ment to inforce this duty, if I have time for it : therefore we
ought to take care to keep in mind the things which our eyes
have seen ; because we are very prone to forget them.
Now when he bids us take heed lest we forget them, it is as
much as if he had charged us to remember them. And to re
member them is not barely to call them to mind, or to keep

SEEM. xxui. before the house of lords. 447
them in mind ; but to have our hearts also duly affected with
them. For in the holy language all such words as this, which
belong to the mind, include the affections, and such actions also
as are agreeable to such affections. To omit the many instances
there are of this in the book of God, Moses himself here gives
us this explication of his own words, when he charges the Is
raelites to take heed lest the things they had seen did depart
out of their heart aU the days of their life. There (in the
heart) they were to preserve such an affectionate remembrance
of them, as never to forget to perform the duties unto which
they were obhged by such wonderful works as God had done
to engage them to him.
Now this being premised, I have nothing to do but to con
sider. First, what the things were that their eyes had seen.
a. And then, secondly, I shall be your remembrancer, by
setting before you a few of the things that our eyes likewise
have beheld.
3. And lastly show you what suitable affections ought to be
in our hearts, and what behaviour becomes those (or how they
ought to live) who have seen such things.
I. As for the first of these, the things which the Israelites
had seen were of two sorts : for they had been in very great
dangers, and they had received as great dehverances. Both of
these are so well known, that I need but briefly touch them.
Nothing is more famous in their story than the affliction
which they suffered a long time in the land of Egypt. Where
they groaned under such heavy burdens, that when God sent
a deliverer to them, they hearkened not unto him for anguish
of spirit, and for cruel bondage ^ ; that is, they were so op
pressed, they could not think, much less hope for any relief.
From which they were no sooner redeemed, but they fell into
such dismal straits, at the Red sea, that they utterly despaired
of safety. And when they had passed that danger, Amalek
came forth with ah his power to oppose their passage through
the wilderness. Where they were so distressed with hunger
and with thirst, that they wished themselves in Egypt again,
rather than die in the desert, as they fancied they must for
want of food. b Exod, vi. 9.

448 A thanksgiving sermon seem, xxiii.
These were some of their dangers ; in all which they found
God wonderfully merciful unto them. For they were delivered
out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage, with a mighty
hand and a stretched out arm. The Red sea opened a way for
them to walk through it on dry ground. He gave them a
glorious victory over Amalek, which he ordered Moses to re
cord in a book for a memorial. He made water to gush out of
a rock, which followed them in a perpetual stream to give them
drink : and he showered down bread from heaven upon them
for to eat.
These and such like were the difficulties and the deliverances
which their eyes had seen, and which it concerned them never
to forget.
2. And some things like to these have our eyes beheld ; and
this so lately, that it may well be expected they should be in
our memory. I wish they had not departed from our hearts.
Which were this time three year very sensible of the great
danger wherein we were of being thrown into a worse than
Egyptian bondage. For we saw our laws so boldly violated
and trampled under feet, that we could not but fear the loss of
all our liberties. Many loyal persons were turned out of their
freeholds without any legal process : several of our bishops im
prisoned, and afterwards indicted as malefactors ; not for any
evil they had done, but merely for making an humble petition
that they might be permitted not to do what they thought to
be evil. We saw the main body of the clergy in the same
danger : most men thrown out of civil and mihtary employ
ments who would not help to enslave their fellow-subjects ; all
our corporations subverted, and their rights and liberties de
stroyed ; a great many men put into places of the highest trust,
who, by the laws, were not capable of any trust at all.
We saw likewise mass-houses set up in several parts of the
kingdom ; popish seminaries openly erected ; four Romish
bishops ordained, who took upon them to exercise the papal
jurisdiction in all the quarters of this realm. Where all manner
of endeavours were used, by threats and promises, to draw men
to assist unto their own destruction, by taking away all our
legal fences and securities. In one word, we saw the very
foundations of our ancient government about to be razed, and
in great measure overturned : the whole kingdom of Ireland

SEEM. XXIII. before the house of lords. 449
actuaUy put into the power of Romish butchers, who, in the
memory of many of us, embrewed their hands in the blood of
our protestant brethren there ; having massacred above an
hundred thousand of them, in a time of perfect peace, when
they had no suspicion of any harm from them.
This is a short representation of the dangers in which we
lately were ; which I hope we have not quite forgotten : for
then God may justly throw us back again into them, after he
hath in a wonderful manner rescued us out of them.
For behold, when we were in this distress, and so perplexed
that we knew not what to do, when all faces, as the prophet
speaks <=, were turned into paleness, and men's hearts failed
them for fear of what was coming upon them, God sent deliver
ance unto us by a great prince ; whose heroic spirit was stirred
up to venture his person, and all his worldly interest, to free us
from our impendent dangers.
Many things strangely concurred to favour his design. The
very wind and the sea were favourable to him. God bowed
the hearts of all the people of these realms, as one man, to wish
well to him, and the he9,rts of many to assist him. Never was
there a more universal consent to any enterprise ; never was
any more easily successful. All opposition in a short time
vanished ; the forces that were raised to enslave us helped to
deliver us. In brief, a long laid design, which had been cun
ningly managed for many years, and so craftily carried on,
that it was almost brought to perfection before it was generally
perceived, was blown away and dashed in pieces, hke a bubble,
in an instant.
This certainly was the Lord's doing, and ought to be had in
everlasting remembrance. Especially when we consider by
how long a chain of wonderful providences God hath hitherto
secured this great deliverance to us. No year hath passed
since this happy revolution, wherein we have not seen most
remarkable instances of his watchful care over us. And this
year hath crowned them ah, by the extraordinary success with
which God hath blessed their majesties' forces in Ireland.
Where ah the armies of the enemy are vanquished; their
strong holds taken or surrendered; the very robbers have
forsaken the woods and fastnesses to put themselves under the
" Jer, XXX, 6.
PATEICK, VOL. Vin. G g

450 A thanksgiving sermon seem, xxiii.
protection of their majesties, and submit to their government.
This reduction of that kingdom hath been attended with so
many strange circumstances, that all considering persons, who
are acquainted with them, cannot but acknowledge the hand of
Heaven therein.
Which hath appeared also in the merciful preservation of his
majesty's royal person, from all the dangers to which he was
exposed during his late expedition abroad ; in the protection of
the queen, and defeating all designs of giving us disturbance
here at home ; and in the bringing back his majesty to us in
health and safety.
By which means we are preserved in the peaceable pos
session of those blessings which of all other are the most
valuable, and which we hope will be secured to our posterity,
as the best inheritance we can leave them ; our holy religion,
and the English liberties. Yea, our very lives we ought to
consider are redeemed from destruction by this signal deliver
ance, which God hath wrought for us. For in a little time, if
he had not most graciously interposed, they would have been
at the mercy of our cruel enemies ; unless we had left our own
dear country, and fled for safety, as the French protestants
were forced to do, into foreign places. And yet, alas ! whither
we should have fled would have been hard to find : for all other
protestant churches would have been undone, together with us,
and presently buried in our ruins.
Can we be unmindful of such a deliverance as this ? or in
sensible of the great goodness of God, who hath preserved us
from losing all the happy fruits of it, by the marvellous successes
God hath given to their majesties' arms in Ireland this summer?
Can we forget those frightful dangers which we have
escaped ; which would have been ten times more dreadful, had
we relapsed into them ? Shall we be so stupid as to have no
more sense than the beasts, which think of no danger but just
when it stares them in the face ? This would be the greatest
danger of all. And therefore let us seriously consider how we
ought to be affected, both with our past dangers, and with our
late deliverances ; that we may behave ourselves suitable to
the obligations that are upon us. Which is the last thing I
propounded to be considered, in pursuance of this caution
given by Moses of old ; which concerns us as much now, that

SEEM. XXIII. before the house of lords. 451
we take lieed to ourselves lest we forget the things which our
eyes have seen, and lest they depart out of our hearts all the
days of our life. I.
And first let us reflect upon our dangers; and seriously
consider what the remembrance of them requires of us. To
which if we apply ourselves, these three things will imme
diately offer themselves to our thoughts :
First, that we ought to repent of those sins which brought
us into them.
Secondly, make good those pious resolutions which, it is to
be hoped, we made in the time of our distress.
Thirdly, abhor the spirit of popery, which turns the world
upside down, and, to settle itself, puts all things into confusion.
For the first of these, it is very proper on such a day as
this to call ourselves to an account, and examine wherein we
have any way offended God, that we may be humbled for it,
and repent of it ; because, as our sins brought us into ah the
forementioned dangers, and if they be not amended will throw
us into new ones, which may prove our utter undoing ; so the
due consideration of them will serve to magnify the goodness
of God, and raise our thankfulness unto him, who, notwith
standing our high provocations, was pleased, of his infinite
mercy, to deliver us.
There is no sin of which we have been guilty, but contri
buted more or less to our late dangers ; but some sins led us
directly into them. I will mention a few.
First, our remissness in rehgion ; in which some among us
were so far gone, as to say they could discern no such great
difference between us and Rome, that we need make a contest
about it. This was very comfortable news, no doubt, to those
of the Romish faction, and gave them no small encouragement
to attempt what our eyes have seen.
2. And so did the coldness and carelessness which was too
notorious in many places in the duties of religion ; scarce an
handful of people appearing in many churches at divine service,
when the play-houses were crowded every day with numerous
spectators. This I make no question emboldened their hopes
of prevaihng ; for why should not any religion serve those who
made little or no use of religion ? Gg 2

452 A thanksgiving sermon seem, xxiii.
As we love our souls, or tender our worldly interest, let
these things be amended. Let us grow more in love with our
religion ; aud let us express it in greater devotion, and more
frequent attendance upon all the duties of God's worship and
service. For it is impossible to be eminent in any other virtue,
if we be negligent in this. Necesse est virum bonum summce
erga Deum pietatis esse, as Cicero himself truly resolves ; " It
is absolutely necessary that a good man have the highest piety
towards God, without which he cannot be good."
3. And this no doubt hath been the great source of all the
wickedness which hath abounded among us ; ' that men so
seldom thinlt of God, and so little regard the solemn perform
ance of the duties belonging to his worship and service. I will
not mention the infamous debaucheries that have been com
mitted in many places, whereby our rehgion was dishonoured
and endangered.
4. There is another thing of which soberer persons have
been too guilty ; in their extreme severity towards those who
differed from them in some things, though in most they per
fectly agreed : which hath proceeded to such a degree of
rage, that generally we were more kind to papists than we
were to one another. This was the very thing that made them
so bold and confident in their attempts upon our rehgion and
liberties ; which they saw we ourselves were destroying by our
mutual hatreds.
These hatreds were the very foundation upon which they
built their hopes. These were the engines which they managed
with all their hearts to accomplish our ruin. For the bitter
strife and contention which ensued hereupon, our zealous en
deavours to undue one another, (even when we differed only
about civil, not rehgious matters,) were strong invitations and
manifest opportunities to the common enemy to make their
assaults upon us ; seeing such a wide breach opened by our
selves, at which they might easily enter.
5. What shall I say of that base selfishness which hath
reigned among us ? that inordinate affection to men's own
private interest, separate from the public good and the love of
their country ? This moved too many to go along with the
popish faction, and lend them their helping hand in divers
things, which they could not but see manifestly tended to our

seem. xxui. before the house of lords. 453
undoing ; a sin which the very heathens abhorred, who could
not be tempted to betray their country.
Lastly, that bad disposition of mind mentioned by our
Saviour in the conclusion of all those evil things that proceed
out of the heart of man, viz. a(f>po<Tijvr], foolishness, (we trans
late it,) or ' inconsiderateness,' hath had no small hand in our
dangers. From within, out of the heart of man, piroceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covet
ousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blas
phemy, pride, foolishness" ; these defile a man. There is no
nation I know of wherein this vice of inconsideration hath had
greater power than in ours : where we have been so foolish
(to omit other instances which I am loath to name) as to suffer
our sworn enemies to make us their tools ; and would not see
how they managed us, to work our destruction by our own
hands. For having taken great care long ago that our divisions
should not be healed, sometimes they courted one party to fall
upon the other ; and then turned about and courted the con
trary party to take their revenge for it. Sometimes the laws
must be put in execution with all imaginable strictness, and
then this strictness must be condemned as antichristian rigour
against our brethren.
Sometimes we were the favourites, and after a short court
ship bestowed upon us we were turned off, and our brethren
that dissent from us were complimented, as if they had been
the only darhngs ! Thus they played us one against another a
long time, and we were so blind as not to see what they were
adoing. We could not, or would not understand-, that they
loved none of us, but designed the utter ruin of us all. And
this in the vilest and most infamous manner, by making us the
instruments of our own destruction ; unto which we contributed
with all our might, by our fierce oppositions and violent clash-
ings one against another.
Of which fohy we ought most heartily to repent, together
with all those other sins I have mentioned, as endangering the
loss of two of the most precious things in the whole world, reli
gion and hberty. But we do not truly repent of these sins,
unless we become more zealous both for our religion and in it ;
= Mark vii, 21.

454 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxui.
more kindly affectioned one towards another in brotherly love,
more pubhc spirited also, not seeking merely our own things,
but every one also the things of others; i. e. the common good;
and be likewise at greater unity among ourselves, by loving
one another with a pure heart fervently.
Of this let us take a special care, lest our affections (which
seemed to be disposed to reconciliation) be again alienated one
from another, by our present differences. What ? cannot we
differ in opinion but we must declare war one against another ?
Or must we break off all friendship and kindness, yea, all
acquaintance and conversation, and look upon one another as
infidels ? Nay, I think we ought to have a greater kindness for
infidels than many of us had one for another in our former
differences and contentions. Which, for God's sake, let us not
act over again. If we cannot agree, yet let us not quarrel ;
no, nor be angry, much less furiously bent against those who
are not of our mind ; nor pass hard censures on those, as men
of no conscience, who (for instance) have endeavoured, by the
best and most j ustifiable means, as they think, to preserve the
reformed religion and the English liberties. For such cen
suring looks like raving, and that is no good sign men are in
the right.
Let us learn at last to be sober and wise, to love one another,
and to live in peace ; and the God of love and peace will be
with us.
In the time of our distress, I cannot but hope we had very
good resolutions about such matters, and intended hereafter to
be more moderate. Let us now therefore make them good.
II. Which is the second thing I intended to press under this
head. It is scarce possible for a man when he is in great
danger not to consider his ways, and to resolve he will avoid
those things which evidently brought him into it ; nay, to
make vows that he will remember those holy resolutions.
There was great reason, I am sure, for every one so to do.
We were strangely false to God and to our own souls, if the
methods of his providence wrought no such pious purposes in
us ; and if we do not now make them good, we are strangely
false also to our own promises and vows.
If one might judge of all places in the kingdom by some, one
would conclude, that as our coldness and carelessness in reli-

SEEM, xxiii. before the house of lords. 455
gion had brought us into great dangers, so our dangers had
quickened many souls to greater fervency and zeal. For we
saw our churches filled, our communions thronged with larger
assemblies, as if the fear that was upon us had moved us to flee
to the table of the Lord for sanctuary, as Joab did to the horns
of the altar. God forbid that any such souls should ever here
after forget those fears, or forget those resolutions which their
fears created, of being more diligent and devout in God's ser
vice. Take heed, 1 beseech you, lest you live to see the day
when all the apprehensions you had of God, and of your duty
to him are vanished, and you are fallen back into your former
remissness. For what can bring you out of it again but some
such danger ? And do you either desire, or hope, or fear to see
such dangers again, as you have lately seen ? I am sure you do
not, you cannot desire it ; and you cannot hope for that which
you cannot desire : and if you fear such a time may come
again, it is because you resolve to deserve it, by continuing
those sins which brought you into such distresses..
Consider, I beseech you, did we not for instance seem all
inclined to be at peace one with another ? Did we not at
length begin to reflect with grief upon our zealous folly, in our
indiscreet behaviour (to say no worse) one towards another,
upon the account of the differences that were among us 1 Did
we not resolve to be friends upon some terms or other, to forget
what was past, and to join together heartily for our mutual
safety and preservation ? And do we now break out again into
the same outrages, as if we had been wholly strangers to all
such good dispositions ? Do our spirits boil up with anger at
the very mention of reconcihation ? As if we had no resolutions
but to return to our former animosities and enmities ; to rake
into all miscarriages ; revenge all the wrongs that have been
done us; renew our ancient strife and contention, wrath and
bitterness, and all the rest of those sins which brought us to the
very brink of destruction ?
What can we think then whl become of us ; having, by the
dangers into which these sins threw us, seen such reason to
reform them, as I hope we shall never see again ? If they be
not amended by what we have seen, we shall be in danger to
perish in our sins.
For should we fall into new dangers of that kind which we

456 A thanksgiving nermon seem, xxiii.
have already seen, they will not in all probabihty be intended
to reform us, but to ruin us.
But I must prosecute this no further, because there is a
third thing which deserves to be pressed longer than I have
time for it.
III. Learn, I beseech you, by the dangers wherein you have
been, to abhor the spirit of popery : which, it is evident by
what was lately acted among us, is void of all truth and of ah
mercy, nay, of common humanity. None can trust those safely
that are possessed with it, when they are in power. No obli
gations can hold them, (for they had the greatest to treat us
otherwise than they did lately,) no promises, no oaths, no ties
of gratitude are of any force to bind them ; but this spirit
breaks through all, being the spirit of falsehood and violence,
made up of perfidiousness and cruelty.
Witness the tragedy it hath acted in France, (if you will not
take the character of it from what your eyes have seen at
home,) which hath been accounted the most moderate of all the
cathohc countries, as they call them ; but they have taught us
that there is no such thing as moderation among them. For
there they have not only violated the faith of all edicts, trea
ties, promises, and oaths, but persecuted those of the reformed
rehgion in such an outrageous manner, that their cruelty can
scarcely be matched in the history of the ancient pagan perse
cution of the primitive Christians. And yet so little of common
honesty there is in that spirit where it prevails, so little of
shame, they have had the face to pubhsh to the world that no
such thing as severity hath been used there ; but they have
made ah their conversions in the most gentle and sweetest
methods imaginable.
Be sensible, I beseech you, of the infinite goodness of God,
who hath prevented these gentle methods here ; in which we
have too much reason to think they would have proceeded,
(had they not been seasonably stopped,) without shame, without
remorse, without any tenderness, even for those who had been
so foolish as to assist them to undo themselves and others.
For we see they had the confidence so far to abuse our late
sovereign, as to make him declare that none of our laws were
violated, none of our rights or liberties invaded ; when ah the
world saw them break through the very strongest laws which

SEEM. XXUI. before the house of lords. 457
were purposely made for the security of our most holy reli
gion. Let it be a warning to you not to trust them, though they
give never such goodly words, and engage their faith to you in
the most solemn promises. Have nothing to do with that spirit,
which wih infallibly delude you, if you hearken to it, into your
destruction. Suffer not yourselves by any artifice to be in
veigled into a belief that they can be innocent and harmless.
For whatsoever declarations they make to this purpose, they
are mere impostures, and most dangerous snares laid to entrap
you; persecution being of the very spirit of the church of
Rome, by its principles, by its doctrines, and by its practices ;
which cannot alter.
This hath been so clearly and so lately demonstrated by
those of our church, that I shall only briefly remember you :
Their principle is, that we who stand separated from their
communion are heretics, who must perish everlastingly.
Their doctrine is, that the secular power ought to extirpate
all those whom their church condemns as heretics.
And their practices are sufficiently known to be consonant
to this : for where have they failed, when they had power, to
exterminate those of our religion ?
Blessed be God then, should we all say, that this spirit is, if
not quite cast out of these three kingdoms, in a fair way to be
utterly disabled from acting such tragedies among us as they
were manifestly preparing for us. What shall we render to the
Lord for his goodness towards us ? Can it be ever forgotten
by us ? And how can we remember it without such affections
as are suitable to such a remarkable deliverance ?
Which is the second part of this discourse.
II.
We ought to reflect frequently upon our wonderful dehver
ance from those apparent dangers wherewith we were com
passed : and consider what the remembrance of it requires
of us.
There is no need, I hope, to go about to prove that God
hath wrought a great deliverance for us. If any be so unhappy
as to question it, they may soon be resolved by asking them-
relves. Would we be wihing to be in the same condition wherein

458 A thanksgiving serinon seem. xxui.
we were three years ago, in the power of our popish enemies,
who, without the help of our dehverer, might have done what
they pleased with us ? Nobody, sure, can think of bemg in
such a condition with any satisfaction. And therefore I must
conclude we all own the great mercy of God to us in a most
seasonable deliverance.
Let us see how we ought to be affected with it. Which is
a subject very large and copious : but it may suffice to suggest
these four things to your Christian consideration :
First, we ought so to remember the lovingkindness of the
Lord, as never to fail to bless and praise him for it, as long as
we have a day to live.
Secondly, we ought to be very grateful to the glorious in
strument of our deliverance.
Thirdly, look upon ourselves as preserved on purpose by
God, that we may live to the praise and glory of his grace and
mercy towards us.
Fourthly, and then we may learn hereby to place our trust
and confidence in the same mercy for the time to come,
L. There can be no dispute of the first of these, that the
praises of God ought to be continually in our mouth ; for the
great thing he hath done for us. Nothing can be more unbe
coming, nothing more disingenuous and vile, than instead of
this, to hear such undutifid murmurings, repinings, and com
plaints, as too many mouths are filled withal : which would
be quite silenced if we would make it our business, as it is our
duty, to think how much we owe to God, and what thanks we
ought to be giving continually for the deliverance he hath
wrought for us, and for all the blessings which by that means
we enjoy.
There is nothing can be more rational than this.
2. And one would think there should be as httle dispute
about the second ; that we ought to be highly grateful to the
glorious instrument of our deliverance. For whose coming all
men longed. The news of whose arrival was every where wel
comed with the greatest joy. Which I hope we have not
already forgotten, nor suffered the benefits we have received
thereby to shp out of our mind. For we owe the happy
liberty we now enjoy, of worshipping God here together, ac
cording to the rules of the gospel, unto that deliverance : which

SEEM, XXUI, before the house of lords. 459
hath been followed with a very long train of labours and toils
which his majesty hath undergone, and of marvellous successes
God hath blessed him withal, for the confirming the peace and
prosperity which is continued to us by his means. With how
many difficulties hath he wrestied ? Through what hardships
hath he waded ? And to how great hazards hath he exposed
his royal person, both this year and the last, that we might
reap the peaceable fruit of them in safety and ease ? If it had
not been for his courage and conduct, our Irish brethren might
have still languished under those heavy oppressions from which
they are now freed. The common enemy might have still
made greater ravages in our neighbouring countries, if he had
not stood in the gap to stop their fury : which we ourselves
might have felt long before this time, had not God raised him
up to be our deliverer, and strengthened his hands to maintain
what he had achieved.
How vast are the obligations which by these things he hath
laid upon us ! Can we think that we have ever done enough
for him who hath done and endured so much for our preser
vation ?
The ancient heathens thought themselves so much indebted
to the deliverers of their country, that they set no bounds to
their affection, but honoured them as gods. This was an ex
cess of gratitude to them. But had they given them all the
honour that is short of divine, owned them for gods upon earth,
I mean for their kings and governors; they had not done amiss.
For nature hath ever taught mankind to pay all manner of
service to such as saved their hves, and redeemed their liber
ties, when they were in danger to lose them. Which was all,
I am apt to think, that the ancient heathen meant, by calling
such persons their gods ; that is, their kings, their great bene
factors: which was the name they frequently gave to their
princes, especially to such as had been their deliverers. Whom
they honoured under that notion while they lived, and super
stitious posterity pursued them with divine honours when they
were dead.
How could this nation then do less than own him for their
king, who had been their dehverer from slavery both of soul
and body ? This is no more than common gratitude hath in
clined ah mankind to . do for those who only preserved their

460 A thanksgiving sermon seem, xxiii.
civil liberties when they were invaded. He that redeemed
them they thought had a good title to them ; and by rescuing
them from their oppressor, entered upon all the legal rights be
longing to him. This hath been the constant sense of all nations.
And every good man among us who is of a contrary judg
ment, I would willingly believe, seriously laments his infelicity,
that he cannot acknowledge his present majesty with such gra
titude as is due to so great a benefactor. Which will not suffer
those who feel the least touch of it to do, or to speak, or so
much as think any thing to the prejudice of him who hath
ventured his life many a time to preserve our religion and
liberty. Yea, we ought in gratitude to him, as well as out of
love to ourselves, to give him the utmost assistance we are able
for the support and security of his government : that is, in truth,
for the defence of our country and religion. Which is the only
thing that he can be thought to design, unless it be the pre
servation of the reformed religion every where, and of the
liberties of these parts of the world which are in danger by
the ambition of a powerful oppressor. And this is matter of
joy to us, and thanksgiving to God this day, that however some
partictdar persons may be ill affected, the body of the people,
it appears by their representatives, are unanimously disposed
to grant his majjesty a supply as large as his desires, for the
carrying on what he hath so happily begun.
3. And if we look upon our preservation as a most special
providence of God, a kind of new birth of this nation, a resur
rection from the dead, or at least a recovery from a desperate
disease, a marvellous deliverance, wherein the wisdom, power,
and goodness of God most seasonably appeared for our rescue
from the most dreadful dangers ; we cannot think he hath done
all this for us merely that we may live to eat, and drink, and
sleep in safety ; much less to satisfy our sinful lusts and appe
tites : but that we may live to the praise of the glory of his
grace and mercy towards us. For what else should God con
cern himself in our preservation ? And therefore let us make
that use of it, to live as becomes a people that are saved by the
Lord ; to serve him faithfully in the steady and constant per
formance of our duty, according to the directions of our holy
religion ; which he hath continued to us in its purity by this
deliverance.

SEEM. XXUI. before the house of lords. 461
Such an extraordinary obligation manifestly chahenges some
extraordinary return of duty. But what return, I beseech you,
have we as yet made which may be thought in any measure
suitable to the benefits we have received ? Nay, what have we
not done to provoke God to forsake us after he hath been so
wonderfully kind to us? Is there any one sin that we have
amended ? Doth not all manner of profaneness, doth not hatred
and uncharitableness abound as much as ever among us ? When
there hath been such a great change, an amazing turn of affairs
by the late revolution, are any of our hearts changed and
turned sincerely to the Lord ? Do not all men go on in the old
track as if we had done nothing amiss ?
I am very loath to put any melancholy thoughts into your
minds upon a day of rejoicing ; but assure yourselves, as it was
God's intention in his deliverance to move and engage us to be
a better people, so if we defeat his intentions by continuing as
bad as we were before, we ought in reason to expect that he
will alter the course of his providence towards us. And as
Moses elsewhere speaks in this book, as he rejoiced over us to
do us good, so he will rejoice over us to destroy us and bring
us to nought^. Let us not run this hazard, I beseech you, but
endeavour seriously to answer his expectation, by learning from
this dehverance, to fear the Lord our God, (as Moses speaks,)
to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and serve him with
all our heart, and with all our soul ; to keep the command
ments of the Lord, and his statutes, which he hath com
manded us for our good". And then wih the Lord love us
and bless us, he will multiply his mercy upon us and make us a
truly great and happy people : For he is our praise, he is our
God, who hath done for us these great and terrible things
which our eyes have seen.
4. And hath -taught us thereby, that did we thus remember
his mercies in our late deliverance, we might then hope in the
same mercy for the future ; yea, be confident God wih con
tinue to prosper their majesties' arms, and bless them with
greater successes in the present war wherein they are engaged :
which we cannot but wish unless we be in love with calamities,
or our forgetfulness of former dangers makes us fearless of any
d Deut. xxviii. 63. - Deut. x. 11.

462 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxui.
future ; or our discontents throw such a mist before our eyes,
that we cannot discern our friends from our enemies.
Let me entreat you to consider what desolations threaten us
here in a protestant country if the French should prevail, when
they have made such havoc in Germany among those who are
as catholic as themselves. Where they have laid the most
beautiful cities in ashes, only because they could not keep them
any longer in their possession. As if the world were made for
them alone, and none else were worthy to inhabit it ; but every
place must be made desolate if they cannot continue in it.
Unto what pitch of proud wrath, or rather diabolical fury are
they arrived! which may justly make us look upon them not
only as the enemies of all protestants, but of all Christians;
nay, of all mankind. Whose interest it is to unite all their
power to pull them down and chain them up, that they may not
be able to make any further ravage in the world with their in
fernal troops.
It is manifest at what they aim, and how they intend to treat
all those who become their slaves ; and therefore, as we have
the highest reason to bless the goodness of God this day for
driving them out of the kingdom of Ireland, where they de
signed, no doubt, to settle themselves as a fair step to master
us also ; so it is the utmost degree of infatuation to favour their
pretensions, or not vigorously to oppose the progress of their
arms : for it is to oppose robberies and rapes, helhsh cruelties
and utter devastations ; it is to assert the common right of
mankind against a boundless oppressor, who forges a title at his
pleasure to any country which he hath a mind to invade.
And he hath invaded so many, that there are innumerable
souls in several places of the world, who cry out continually in
the anguish of their spirits, as the psalmist doth, 0 God, to
whom vengeance belongeth; 0 God, to whom vengeance be
longeth, show thyself. Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth :
and render a reward to the proud. Lord, how long shall the
wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph ? How long shall
they speak so disdainfully, and make such proud boasting,
Sj-c. And he who rules in ah the kingdoms of the children of
men, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment, and
those tliat walk in pride he is able to abase ; will at length
hear the sighs and groans of those poor wretches whom that

SEEM, XXUI. before the house of lords. 463
oppressor hath made very miserable, and will dash likewise all
the designs that are against us here in these kingdoms, if we
be not so ungrateful to him as not to regard the works of the
Lord, nor the operations of his hands.
For when did the hand of God appear more visibly than it hath
done of late, in defeating the attempts that have been made in
these three kingdoms upon our religion and liberties ? And can
we think that God intends they should rise up again, who have
been so remarkably confounded ? No, surely, if we be not so
wickedly unthankful as to forget the hand that hath saved us,
or slight his mercies towards us. There is the remaining
danger, and therefore let us take heed to ourselves, and keep
our souls diligently, lest we forget the things our eyes have
seen, and lest they depart out of our heart all the days of our
life. This is a thing which requires very great care, because we
are naturally forgetful creatures, apt to be unmindful of bene
fits, and in this particular case shall meet with many attempts
upon us to make us (hke the old Israelites) disgust our present
happiness, and, in effect, wish ourselves again in Egypt, Which
I have not time left to represent so effectually as it deserves,
but must only entreat you to be aware of this danger, and
watch yourselves so carefully that nothing efface the sense of
God's great goodness to you in the late deliverance he hath
given you.
And then he who hath hitherto heard our prayers, will still
fulfil our humble petitions. He will hear the cry of those miser
able people who are undone by a haughty oppressor ; though
he bear long, (as it is in the gospel for this day,) he will avenge
his own elect ; yea, he will avenge them speedily. And we may
rationally hope he will also preserve us from falling into his
cruel hands. He will stretch forth his hands against the fu-
riousness of our enemies, and put them to shame that hate
us. He will go on to disappoint them, and cast them, down ;
and as the psalmist elsewhere prays, reward them according to
their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their own in
ventions ; recompense them after the work of their hands ;
and pay them what they have deserved : in one word, break
them down, and not build them up.
The Lord will perfect that which concerneth us : for his

464 A thanksgiving sermon, ^'c. seem, xxiii,
mercy endurethfor ever : He will not forsake tlie work of his
own hands.
But we may take the boldness to sing on this day of thanks
giving, as the church doth upon the like occasion. We wait
for thy lovingkindness, 0 God, in the midst of thy temple.
This God (who hath done such great things for us) is our
God for ever and ever : he will be our guide unto death.
Amenf, ' Psalmxlviii.9, 14.

A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE QUEEN
AT WHITEHALL,
APRIL 8, 1692.

THE FAST-DAY APPOINTED BY HER MAJESTY, TO IMPLORE
GOD'S BLESSING ON THEIR MAJESTIES' PERSONS, AND
THE PROSPERITY OF THEIR ARMS BOTH AT LAND
AND SEA.
Published by Her Majesty's special command.

PATEICK, VOL, Vllf.

Hh

A SEEMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE QUEEN,
Apeil 8, 1692 a.

NUMBEES X. 9.
And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that op-
presseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with tlie trum
pets ; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your
God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
THE world, we see, is made up of vicissitudes and changes ;
there being a season for every thing, a time to every purpose
under heaven: a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time of
war, and a time of peace, as Solomon speaks in Eccles. in. 1 ,
&c. One of those doth but make way for the othpr : the true
use of war being to seek a good peace, and the ill use of peace
being wont to beget a war.
My text makes mention of both ; their going to war being
supposed in the beginning, and their being saved from their
enemies, and so settled in peace, being promised in the con
clusion of it. For it consists of three parts.
A supposition, a duty, and the success of its performance.
I. The supposition is double : that the Israelites, as well as
a [By order of the queen in majesties' sacred persons, and the
council, (March 21, 1694,) during prosperity of their majesties' arms
the king's absence on the continent, both at land and sea :" and " to be
a special form of prayer with fasting continued to be used on the respect-
was drawn up for the eighth of ive fast-days appointed to be so-
April, that day being appointed as a lemnly kept every second Wednes-
fast-day " for supphcating Almighty day of the month successively during
God for the burden of our sins, and the present war." — London Ga-
for imploring his blessing and pro- ¦sette.]
tection in the preservation of their
H h 2

468 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
other people might be oppressed by their enemies ; and that in
this case they might lawfully go to war with them.
2. The duty is single, though containing many in it ; which
is, to blow an alarm ivith the trumpets.
3. The success is again double, to be remembered before
God. and to be saved from their enemies.
I.
I shall say httle of the first of these ; which is as true now
as it was then. Unless all the world would become Christians,
and those Christians likewise obey the gospel, there will be
such injustice and oppression, violence and rapine, as will make
war necessary for the safety and preservation of those who are
innocent. In an ill-natured, angry, and covetous world, we must not
expect that all men will be our friends : and some people love
themselves so much, that they have no affection left for their
neighbours. Nay, this very thing makes them hate others,
because they love themselves so inordinately : they cannot be
their own friends, they imagine, unless they be other men's
enemies. Their own well-being consists in making others
miserable. And they never think themselves to have riches,
honour, dominion and greatness enough, if there remains any
of these to their neighbours.
Now what greater service can be done to these ravenous
oppressors than to broach such a welcome doctrine as this ;
that the hands of good Christians are so tied up by their
religion, that they may not oppose their ambition, rapine and
cruelty by force of arms, nor demand reparation by that way,
when ah other fairer means are ineffectual for all the damages
they have sustained, and are likely, without remedy, to endure
for ever ?
A fancy so absurd, that I do not think it worth the confuta
tion : but shah only note, that the Israelites extended this
liberty of going to war, which the law gave them, a great deal
too far ; as Christians since have been apt to do. For they did
not confine it to their necessary defence, or seeking redress of
wrongs, and the easing themselves of the burden of op
pressors, but there being two sorts of war which they managed,
one by the divine commandment, (which was only against the

SEEM. XXIV. before the queen. 469
seven nations in the land of Canaan, whom God for their
abominable wickedness had doomed to utter destruction, and
made the Israehtes the executioners of his vengeance,) the
other at their own choice, against any other people, as occasion
should require : their doctors fancied it a sufficient reason for
this latter sort of war upon their neighbours, merely to advance
the glory and dominion, the empire and majesty of Israel, (as
their phrase is,) though they had done them no manner of
injury ii.
Which is the very notion by which the grand oppressor of
this age governs himself, and justifies his wars. But the
ancient Christian doctors have taught us better than those old
masters in Israel, or the new Christian pohticians. Among
whom St. Austin fears not to call such a war grande latroci-
nium '', ' a greater sort of robbery,' a public burglary, (as I
may call it in the language of our law,) which is so much the
more villanous because committed by authority. Nay, it is an
ancient tradition recorded by Eusebius, Epiphanius" and others,
who received it from the east, that when Noah divided the
earth among his sons and nephews, he bound them by an oath
not to covet nor invade each other's territories ; and who
soever transgressed the law of this oath was solemnly cursed
by the very words of it, with all his posterity, to utter per
dition. These were the old principles of rehgion, (unto which, blessed
be God, their present majesties closely adhere,) that wars are
not to be undertaken but for the defence or the recovery of our
rights. II.
In which case there was a duty incumbent upon the old
Israehtes before they began the war ; which shall be the prin
cipal subject of my discourse, together with the success or fruit
of it when rehgiously performed. It was, to blow an alarm
with the trumpets : which is the only phrase in my text that
hath any difficulty in it, and must be explained a little before
any useful instruction can be drawn from it.
You read in the beginning of this chapter, that God com-
¦1 V. Seld. de Jure Nat. l.vi. c. 12. [tom. vii. col. 92 D.]
[tom. i. col. 659.] " In Ancoratu. [^ 116. tom. ii.
b Lib. iv. de Civ. Dei, cap. 6. p. 118 A.]

470 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
manded two silver trumpets to be made, which served for two
uses ; for the calling together of the assembly, and for the
journeying of the camps, as the words are, ver. 2. When
they did merely blow with them, that is, with a long, con
tinued, equal breath, then they were to understand that the
assembly was summoned to meet together. In which there was
this difference, that if they heard them both blow, then all the
congregation was to assemble ; if one only, then the heads or
captains alone of the thousands of Israel were to gather them
selves to Moses at the door of the tabernacle, as you read, ver.
3, 4. If they did not merely blow, but blow an alarm, that
is, with a short, concise, and interrupted breath, not continuing
the sound, but often breaking it, then it was for the journeying
of the camps, as you read ver. 5, 6.
So here was a civil and a military use of them ; besides
which, there was also a religious. Which was twofold likewise ;
either to give notice of a fast, or to give notice of a feast ; to
call them together to pray and humble themselves before God,
or to excite them to rejoice in his praise, and giving him
thanks. Of their sounding for a fast you read Joel u. 15. Blow the
trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly,
gather the people, Sjc. And in the like terms the psalmist
proclaims a festival : Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in
the time appointed, on our solemn feast day ; for this was
a statute for Israel, ^c.^ The hke you read Psalm xcviii. 6.
And thus my text and the following words are to be under
stood, if we will follow the interpretation of the best of the
Hebrews, who vouch it to be the true sense of the eldest
times. For if blowing the trumpets here were not for a reli
gious purpose, how could the effect of it be God's remembering
them, so as to save them from their enemies ? Could the bare
sounding with them procure such a blessing ? Without doubt
there was something more in it, to which God makes such a
gracious promise. And therefore though Moses speaks here
of blowing an alarm, (because it concerned the soldiery,) yet
the Hebrews understand thereby the calhng all together unto
a fast, that they might humble themselves before God, and
'' Psalm Ixxxi. 3.

SEEM. XXIV. before the queen. 471
seek his face (i. e. his favour) when they were forced to betake
themselves to their arms; and appeal to heaven for the de
ciding, by this means, the controversy between them and their
enemies. And then in the beginning of the next verse, when he adds,
In the day of your gladness ye shall blow with the trumpets,
some of them understand that clause of their thanksgiving to
God for victory over their enemies. Which was as reasonable
as their sounding upon their other solemn days, and in the
beginning of their months, and over their burnt-offerings, and
over the sacrifices of their peace-offerings ; which are there
hkewise mentioned. As they were to blow with the trumpets, .
proclaim a fast, that is, when they went to war, so they were
to blow with them again when the war was happhy ended, that
is, proclaim their thankfulness to God for giving them such
success as they desired.
This exposition I shall follow, which makes these words, you ¦
see, an injunction to the Israehtes«> for solemn fasting, before
they took in hand so weighty an affair as making war upon
their enemies. For which end we are now here assembled ;
and I pray God we may perform this duty according to the
full intent and meaning of this injunction. For then we may
hope God will remember us in the day of battle, and crown our
arms with such success against our injurious neighbours, as he
promised to the Israelites against their enemies.
Now by solemn fasting, you all know, is meant the setting
some day apart for this purpose ; which was always of two
sorts. One private, which pious people enjoined themselves of
their own accord, with respect either to their own particular,
or to the common concerns ; of both which we have examples in
Scripture^. The other was pubhc, enjoined by the supreme
authority : and those either stated and ordinary, at certain
times of the year, (of which we find only one enjoined by God,
in Levit. xvi., but four more enjoined by the elders during
their captivity in Babylon, Zech. vni. 19,) or extraordinary
and unfixed, in time of some imminent danger or great dis
tress : of which we have many examples, not only in Scripture,
but also in ecclesiastical story f.
f 2 Sam. xii. 1(1; Dan. ix. 3. Ezra viii. Tertul. de Jejunio. [cap.
' Judges XX. 26; 2 Chron. .\x. 3 ; 2. p. 544 C]

472 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
Of such a pubhc fast, and of this latter sort, my text speaks.
For the blowing with the trumpets signified the calhng all the
people together, as appears by the place before named in the
prophet Joel v. 16, Gather the people, sanctify the congre
gation, assemble the elders, gather the children and those that
suck the breasts, Sj-c. All were to appear before God, to im
plore his compassion by their cries and tears. I say before
God, because they were to be gathered together at the taber
nacle while it was standing, and afterwards at the temple.
Which is the reason of that expression. Proclaim a fast before
tlie Lord to all the people of Jerusalem^ : that is, at the tem
ple, where his majesty dwelt, and where they came together
for religious worship. And accordingly he bids Baruch, ver. 6,
to go and read the words of the Lord in the ears of the people
in the Lord's house upon the fasting day. After which ex
ample we are all here now assembled before the Lord in the
place of his worship and service. And that we may under
stand what our business is, I shall as briefly as I can show you,
first, what the Scripture means hj fasting before the Lord;
and consequently what will obtain his blessing upon our forces :
secondly, how fit and necessary it is, at such a time as this, to
employ ourselves in this holy duty.
I. Now the y^ovA fasting, in its ordinary signification, imports
no more than abstinence from all sorts of food for such a time
as was appointed to that purpose. But being designed for a
rehgious end, they used it, no doubt, as a token and a sort of
confession, that they were not worthy of the common supports
and comforts of life, not so much as a bit of bread, and conse
quently not worthy to live. They intended also thereby to
afflict their soul, as the Scripture speaks, to put themselves, if
not to trouble and pain, yet into a state of sadness and mourn
ing ; as a just chastisement for their sinful pleasures. For
which reason the Jews understand by solemn fasting a great
deal more than it hterally expresses ; viz. not only abstinence
from all manner of refreshment, by so much as washing their
faces, or any thing of that nature ; but putting on sackcloth
next their skin, (on some great occasions especially,) lying in
ashes, rending their garments, and such like acts of humi
liation. '' Jer. xxxvi. 9.

SEEM. XXIV. before the queen. 473
But we .shall be very much mistaken, if we think this was
the whole business of a fasting day, to deny themselves the
comforts and refreshments of nature. There was something
more, and more excellent in it, and that which was properly
the worship of God ; which mere abstinence from food is not.
And therefore,
II. The intention of such a day was, to make solemn ad
dresses to the Almighty by prayer and supplication, which is
frequently joined with fasting, and when any blessing was ob
tained, never separated from it. I could direct you to a multi
tude of places both in the Old Testament and the New, and
the Apocryphal books • also, to this purpose ; but a few may
suffice. In the chapter now read for the first lesson, 2 Chron.
XX. 3, you find that when news was brought to Jehoshaphat of
an invasion by a great multitude of several nations, he feared,
and set himself to seek the Lord, and jyroclaimed a fast
throughout all Judah. This was so much the business of such
a day, that the prophet Jeremiah speaks as if it was the thing
for which fasting was immediately designed : When they fast
I will not hear their cry 3. He doth not say he would not re
gard their fasting, but give no audience to their prayers ; which,
it appears by this, was a great part of the employment of such
a day. And therefore when the prophet Joel had called upon
them to blow the trumpet, proclaim a fast, gather all together,
elders and people, great and small, (in the place beforemen-
tioned,) he subjoins these words, ver. 17, to show what it was
for : Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between
the porch and the altar, and let them say. Spare thy people,
0 Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the
heathen should rule over them : wherefore should they say
among the jyeople. Where is their God ? For that purpose we
are now assembled on this fasting day, to put up our humble
and fervent petitions unto the Divine Majesty ; to cry ear
nestly to him for his grace and mercy, for his help and assist
ance ; for good success of our forces by sea and land ; for a
blessing upon ourselves and upon this whole kingdom.
A very great work ! A most weighty employment ! For
which we had need seriously inquire, whether we be well pre
pared. Are we fit to appear before the Lord of heaven and
' Tobit xii. 4; Judith iv. 9, 10, &c. ; vi. 21, J Jer. xiv. 12.

474 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
earth ? to be intercessors for a whole nation ? to bespeak his
favour in those great actions that are on foot among us and in
tho neighbouring world ? Can such as we hope to prevail for a
gracious audience of such important suits ? May we not rather
fear that he should hide his face from such obstinate sinners ?
that he should cover himself with a cloud (as Jeremy speaks
in his Lamentations, iu. 44,) that our prayer should not pass
through? and that he should turn away from us, when we
spread before him our necessities or dangers, and implore his
pity on us ?
Let us inquire and make a dihgent search into our hearts,
whether we have not brought something along with us into his
presence, which may obstruct the passage of our prayers to the
throne of grace, and render them ineffectual. Which leads
me to the third thing.
III. On their fasting days, every man who hoped for ac
ceptance with God was bound to search and tr^'- his ways ; to
enter into the very secrets of his soul, and see what he could
find there displeasing unto God, which might cry louder for
vengeance than his prayers could do for mercy.
For which end their iniquities were declared and set in order
before them by the prophets (if there were any) and those that
instructed thera. So we read that Jeremiah sent Baruch (in the
place before named) to read the words of the Lord in the
people's ears on the fasting day. And this charge is given to
the prophet Isaiah, (as you will hear in the first lesson ap
pointed at even prayer,) Cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy
voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions,
and the house of Jacob their sins ^. When you have consi
dered the chapter, you will find he speaks of the day of the
great fast, (which was a Sabbath of rest to them, on which they
were to afflict their souls ',) upon which he was to imitate the
trumpet which had called them together ; to sound a new
alarm in their ears, to rouse them from their security, to
awaken them to a sight of their sins, and move their hearts to
set themselves against them with all their might. And of
what sins doth he admonish them? In the first place he takes
notice of their vain pretences to religion. For though they
sought God daily, and heard the law, and observed the ordi-
'' Isai. Iviii. i. ' Levit. xvi. 30, 31.

SEEM. XXIV. before the queen. 475
nances of divine worship, yea, took delight in approaching to
God, (as you read ver. 2,) yet they continued in their open dis
obedience to the rest of his commands. For they were noto
riously unjust; nay, many miserable souls proclaimed their
unmerciful dealing and cruelty. They were full of strife and
debate, hatred and contention ; and so given over to voluptu
ousness, that on the very day of their fast they found plea
sure, as well as exacted all their labours (ver. 3,4.), and could
not forbear to speak evil one of another, when they were all
confessing their sins to God. Their hands were defiled with
blood, and their fingers with iniquity ; their lips spoke lies,
and their tongues uttered perverseness, &c., as you may read
in the rest of the chapter, and in that which follows.
These sins therefore the prophet proclaimed in their ears
with a loud voice ; and told them it was in vain to fast and
pray, while these iniquities continued, and separated between
them and their God : so that he hid his face from them, and
would not hear ™. And do not our iniquities, in like manner,
testify to our faces, (as another prophet speaks, Hos, v. 5,) that
is, are they not notorious, though we should seal up our lips,
and say nothing of them ? Nay, search and examine, I beseech
you, whether we be not worse than they. Do we seek the Lord
daily ? Dare we affirm this of ourselves, which the prophet
acknowledges they did ? Do we delight to know his ways, as a
nation that doth righteousness, and forsakes not the ordi
nances of their God ? Can we say (as he confesses of them)
that we ask of him the ordinances of justice, and talce delight
in approaching unto God ? Alas, alas ! these, I fear, are not
become national virtues ; but too many of us are hke that
people in Malachi's time, who said of the divine service. What
a weariness is it ! What a burden is such a day as this to us !
And what great numbers, may we justly fear, are now wahow-
ing in their sins, when they should be rather humbhng them
selves before God in dust and ashes !
But let us suppose better things ; that we are a people who
do not forsake the ordinances of their God : yet can we say
that our rehgion hath made a general reformation of our hves ?
How often have we approached unto God, and become no liker
to him ? How many fasts have we observed, and forsaken no
>" Isai, lix. 2.

476 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
one sin ? Are we not still as unjust and uncharitable as those
that know not God ? Or are we not lovers of pleasure more
than lovers of God ? Oh, this love of pleasure, how easily doth it
bewitch men's hearts and draw them from their duty ! Idleness
and sports are apt to swallow up the most of their time, besides
the gluttony and drunkenness, the filthiness and uncleanness,
that are wont to attend upon a negligent and careless life : the
quarrels also and contentions ; nay, the bloodshed and murders,
which they many times commit, when they are crossed in their
sinful pleasures, or contradicted in their drunken humours.
And what shall I say of the oaths and blasphemies wherewith
such men's mouths are too often filled? And there is still a
worse thing behind, which is putting forth of the finger, and
speaking of vanity, mentioned by the prophet, ver. 9, which
seems to denote that there were scoffers and open mockers
among them ; whose insolent boldness, when it proceeds to de
rision of religion, jeering at holy things, and playing even with
the word of God itself, it is the height of impiety, the fihing
up of a people's iniquity.
There is no prophet now among us, who can confidently
charge these crimes upon this nation, or tell us how far it is
guilty of them ; but if they abound every where, they will cer
tainly render our sacrifices unacceptable unto God. And there
fore let every one descend into his own breast, and make a
strict inquisition there into the state of his own soul : and when
he is acquainted with it,
IV. The next thing in a fast to the Lord is ingenuously to
confess, and sorrowfully bewail in the bitterness of our souls
those sins of which we find ourselves guilty. An exaraple of
which you meet withal in the days of Samuel, who, in a great
distress, gathered all Israel to Mizpeh, where they drew water
and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day,
and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. But I can
not stand to open that place, and many more in the books of
Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel, which relate to this matter ; be
cause there is something further and more considerable which
requires my care to explain and press upon your hearts.
V. And that is, a sincere purpose of forsaking our sins, and
reforming our lives according to God's holy word ; which must
accompany all the foregoing acts of religion to make them ef-

SEEM. XXIV, before the queen. 477
fectual. For to what end do we examine ourselves, unless it
be to correct and amend whatsoever we find to be amiss ? It is
an unprofitable labour to confess and bewail what is past, unless
it move us to do better for the time to come. Nay, to pray to
God for mercy while we continue to provoke him to anger by
our transgressions, is a perfect contradiction ; and accounted by
him no better than a piece of gross hypocrisy, which the psalm
ist calls flattering him with our mouth ; pretending that fear
and reverence of him which is not truly settled in our heart.
Therefore see what he replies to this people when they cried to
him saying. Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are
called by thy name ; leave us not. Thus saith the Lord unto
this people. Thus have they loved to wander, they have not re
frained their feet ; therefore the Lord doth not accept them,
he will now remember their iniquities, and visit their sins.
Then said the Lord unto me. Pray not for this people for their
good : when they fast I will not hear their cry, and when
they offer burnt offerings and an oblation, I will not accept
them, Sj-c. °
When there was no true repentance and resolution to turn
from their evil ways, you see the prayers of the prophet him
self were of as little avail for their safety as their own prayers
and sacrifices which they offered to him. And more than this,
he expected their holy purposes should be performed, and that
they should not content themselves with good resolutions, which
many times are as soon broken as they are made. When the
people therefore in their distress lamented after the Lord, the
good man tells themP, If you do return to the Lord with all
your heart, then put away the strange gods, and prepare your
hearts unto the Lord, to serve him only : and he will deliver
you. That is. Let us see the proof of your unfeigned sorrow
for what you have done amiss : let your fair promises and good
purposes bring forth fruit meet for repentance : and accordingly
you read, verse 4, that the children of Israel put away Baalim
and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only : i. e. they did ac
cording to their resolutions.
But one place may serve instead of a great many, Ezek. xxxiii.
3, 6, where the watchman is commanded to blow the trumpet,
and ivarn the people when he saw the siuord coming. What
o Jer. xiv. 9, 10, 11, 12. p i Sam. vii. 2, 3.

478 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
was this but to call them to fasting and humiliation, to repent
ance and forsaking their sins ? So you find it explained, verse
7, 8, (as you may read at your leisure,) and observe how the
prophet is directed to treat with them in these terms, verse 1 1 ,
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord. God, I have no plea
sure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from
his way and live : turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for
why will ye die, 0 house of Israel ? This conversion from their
evil ways was the only means to save them ; to which therefore
the prophet most earnestly importunes them.
And thus Maimonides, a most learned writer araong the
Jews, describes one of their fasting-days in his treatise upon
this subject^, " An elder," saith he, " is appointed, who stands
and calls upon the people to turn unto the Lord, speaking to
this purpose : 0 my brethren, it is neither your fasting, nor
your sackcloth, nor your ashes, which will be able to turn away
the anger of God from you ; but your repentance and good
works must ensue to do the business. Do you not find it so in
the case of Nineveh ? How do you read in their story ? Look
in the book of Jonah and observe how they proclaimed a fast,
and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least, in. 5. And
the king caused it to be proclaimed throughout the city, saying.
Let neither man nor beast taste any food; let them be covered
with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God : yea, let them
turn every one from his evil way, and from, the violence that
is in their hands, verse 7, 8. And what the effect was you
may find, verse 10, God saw their works, and that they re
turned from their evil ways, and God repented of the evil, &c.
Observe, brethren, he doth not say that he saw their sackcloth,
and took notice of their fasting, but that he saw their works,
and that they returned from their evil ways. And so God
speaks by the prophet Joel, Turn ye unto me with all your
heart, and vjith fasting , weepiing, and mourning. Rend-your
hearts and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your
God, for ho is gracious : who knows if he will return and leave
a blessing behind him ?"
Thus, saith Maimonides, the elder was required to speak with
all his might, that he might humble their hearts and turn them
1 In Taanioth, cap. 4. [De Jejun. Hebr. &c. interpr. J. B. Carpzov.
4to, Lips. 1662.]

SEEM. XXIV. before the queen. 479
with a perfect repentance. And after they had thus spent the
day in prayer, hearing the word of God, and other duties,
(which I shall mention in the next particular,) all the people,
he says, were wont to go into the burying place, and there they
wept and prayed again. And one spake to them in this man
ner ; " Behold, ye shall all die and perish like those whose graves
here lie before you, unless you be converted from your evil
ways." Which is much what such a saying as that of our blessed
Saviour's in the Gospel for this day : Except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish.
You see then what is the great work of this day : wherein
no exhortation is more proper than that of Jeremiah to this
people in his Lamentations, ih. 40, Let us search and try our
ways, and turn again unto the Lord. Do not presume of mercy
without this, though you should perform ah the other. But fear
rather lest that should be verified in us which was said to the Jews,
When you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes
from you ; when you make many prayers, I will not hear you^.
A very lamentable case ! to lose the favour of God, and all this
labour likewise to obtain it. What should they do then ? What
course would God have them take ? He informs them in the
very next words. Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil
of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to
do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the father
less, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason toge
ther, saith the Lord, (now I am williiig to be reconciled :) though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, Sj-c.
From which words I am directed to another necessary part
of a solemn fast, which is the last I shall mention.
VI. And that is, doing pubhc justice upon notorious offenders
by inflicting those punishments upon vice and wickedness which
the law requires. Judge the fatherless : the prophet speaks to
the rulers and governors of the people, that they should see
right done and abuses corrected. And accordingly you find
that upon the days of their humiliation this was a considerable
part of their care. For when Samuel gathered all the people
to Mizpeh where they kept a fast (as I showed before) and con
fessed their sins, &c., the day concluded with this ; And Samuel
judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh '. When Ezra, in hke
^ Luke xiii. 3, 5. ^ Isaiah i. 15. * i Sam. vii. 6.

480 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
manner, mourned, and did neither eat bread nor drink water,
he sumraoned all the people to come to Jerusalem, upon pain of
forfeiting all their goods if they did not; and when they ap
peared, he examined who had taken strange wives contrary to
the law, and he caused them to be put away, as you read, Ezra
X. 6, 7, &c.
And thus Maimonides tells us in aftertimes their manner was",
upon their fasting days occasioned by any public trouble, for
the house of judgment (as their phrase is) " to sit in the syna
gogue of every city, and there examine the lives of the citizens
after morning prayer until noon : and so they removed, saith
he, the stumblingblocks of transgression. They inquired, for
instance, after the men of violence, those who had been extor
tioners and oppressors of others, whom they excommunicated :
they sought after the scorners and those that despised the law,
whom they humbled with all the hke offenders. And then, from
the raiddle of the day till three o'clock, they recited the blessings
and curses that are in the law, according to what the wise
man says, My son, despise not thou the chastening of tlie Lord''.
And then having read such reproofs out of the prophets as were
most suitable to the present strait wherein they were, evening
prayer began, in which they spent the remaining part of the
day crying unto God with all their might.
This certainly very much concerns all the magistrates and
officers of justice among us in this kingdom, who should blush
to be found more remiss than those who hved under a lower
discipline. I wish I could lift up my voice and speak so loud
as to awaken every one of them to chastise all public offenders,
to do justice strictly upon those who dishonour God, and are a
scandal to religion. Stir up yourselves and be zealous for your
God (as the Scripture speaks). Let not the drunkards, the
blasphemers, the profaners of the Lord's day, who despise his
worship and service, go unpunished. See good order kept in ah
houses of public entertainment. Find out and suppress all places
of noted uncleanness; make a strict inquisition after false
weights and deceitful measures ; discountenance makebates and
sowers of discord among brethren ; and execute the severity of
the law against all open wickedness.
This would be indeed to keep a fast unto the Lord. This
" lb. cap. I. X Prov. ih. ii.

SEEM. XXIV. before the queen. 481
would be the ready way to make us a happy people. For
though there might still be a great many sins committed among
us, yet they would not be national sins, nor be imputed to us
as the guilt of the kingdom ; but every man should bear his
own iniquity. Whereas without such reformation as this, or
a hearty and honest endeavour after it, our fastings and
prayers and lamentations will serve only for marks of our in
sincerity, and of the mean opinion we have of God : as if he
could be could be moved with such services ; wherein we have
respect only to ourselves, and not at all to him : who is not
honoured while profane wickedness openly appears, to the high
affront of piety and religion, without check or controlment.
This bold commission of sin without correction he will ac
count the sin of the kingdom : and it will lie more especially at
the door of the magistrates and officers of justice, if they can,
and yet will not, redress such impieties. For it was always an
acknowledged rule, that he who doth not forbid sin when it is
in his power, doth in effect command it ; and he that doth not
punish it when it is in his power, encourages and upholds it.
As we expect then the blessing of Heaven upon us ; as we
wish the happiness of these kingdoms, and desire that the great
designs which are now on foot may thrive and prosper ; let us
every one, in our several conditions, relations, and places, set
ourselves seriously against vice and wickedness, and labour to
root it out. For not only our eternal, but our temporal interest
is concerned in this, as I shall now endeavour briefly to demon
strate, by showing how rational and necessary it is to perform
this duty of which I have been treating, in the full extent
thereof. That, you may remember, was the second thing which I un
dertook to do when I entered upon this part of my text. And
I shall not press you by general reasons, but such only as par
ticularly relate to those who are in a state of war : who ought
to consider, in the first place,
I. That as fasting and prayer are an open acknowledgment
that God is the sovereign Disposer of all events, so it is never
more necessary to make this acknowledgment than in a time of
war, when his overruhng power and wisdom is more eminently
apparent. For it hath been frequently seen that a littie chance,
as we call it, hath disordered mighty armies : a small accident
I'ATEICK, VOL. VIII. I i

482 Afast-sei-mon seem. xxiv.
hath turned the fortune of the day. The mistaking of a word in
fights at land, the shifting of the wind in fights at sea, or some
suchhke single event, hath sometimes ravished victory from those
who had it just in their hands. There are innumerable instances
in story of such sudden contingencies as have utterly defeated
the fairest hopes. We have one in the first lesson for this day's
Morning Prayer ; where we read how three nations that were
combined against Jehoshaphat, by a mistake of a party of them
who were laid in ambush, fell upon one another, and were
utterly destroyed by their own hands, 2 Chron. xx. 22, 23.
Which is to be ascribed to the secret interposition of the Divine
power, which governs all things both great and small, and by
very little things produces very great alterations.
The skill and prudence of those that comraand in battles may
do much ; the courage of the soldiers is of great moment ; the
strength and number of ships is very considerable. But (as one
of the heathens speaks) one single chance, that is, (in the Christ
ian language,) one turn of the Divine providence, can do more
than them all.
Thus far then, blessed be God, we are in the right : the very
appointment of such an assembly as this being a public acknow
ledgment which their majesties make that there is a Mind, (to
use the words of Plato y,) an eternal Mind, which is the King of
heaven and earth, governing and ordering all things every
where ; and our meeting together at this time being a solemn
recognition of that supreme authority and providence of his.
Whereby we declare our sense of human weakness, though
never so well armed and bravely appointed ; and, disclaiming
all confidence in the arm of flesh, testify to the world that we
hope not for salvation from thence ; but from the hving God,
whose favour is at all times to be most humbly implored ; but
then especially, when not only men, but the wind and the seas,
storms and tempests, nay, all other things may rise up against
us. And we ought further to consider that,
II, Our fasting and prayers being an acknowledgment like
wise of the obedience we owe to Almighty God in all things,
there can be nothing of more dangerous consequence than to
persist in our rebellion against him, after we have made such
open confessions of his supremacy, and of our dependence on
y 'Oi vovs Ecrn ^aa-iXevs ovpavov Ka\ y^r. [Plat. Phileb, p. 28 C]

seem. xxiv. before the queen. 483
him, and the need in which we stand of his favour and help.
Upon which account we ought to take care that these rehgious
addresses to him be attended with such a reformation as I have
now mentioned, before we venture to engage with our enemies ;
that so we may have no more enemies than they to oppose us ;
but we may be in peace with Heaven when men make war upon
us. For he is in a bad condition who hath a great many ene
mies to deal with all at one time : and he in a worse who carries
a secret enemy along with him in his armies ; as ah those do
who go in their sins to fight with their opposers. And thence
it follows, that none are in so dangerous a condition as those
who have God for their enemy ; who threatens to wound the
head of his enemies, of such an one as goeth on still in his
trespasses^. But never are they in more danger than when by
their prayer and fasting the devil is not cast out, but they still
resolutely persist in their disobedience.
Before we blow the trumpet then of war against our enemies,
we ought in all reason to proclaim war against our sins. It is
our highest interest to call up all the forces of our souls (if I
may so speak) to encounter these, and tread them down under
our feet, before we have the confidence to look our other foes,
who are not so deadly, in the face. There is a peculiar precept
of God by Moses belonging to this matter, which ought to be
often pondered : When the host goeth forth against thine ene
mies, then keep thee from every wicked things.
III. By which means we shall be disposed to manage all
other wars after a Christian manner. We shall not commit
any injustice or violence when we go to redress it ; nor exercise
cruelty when we take in hand to punish it. We shall never be
guilty of that of which we complain, but fight like those that
hate fighting. We shall love even our bitterest enemies ; and
wish we could conquer them by that weapon rather than any
other. But if that cannot be, we shall be able however, which
is the next thing considerable,
IV. To place a good hope in God that he will take our part,
and send us auxiharies from heaven when men rise up against
us. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,
See. (as the wise man observes,) but time and chance happeneth
to them all^. It is God only, as you have heard, that can
» Psalm Ixviii. 21. » Deut. xxiii. 9. ^ Eccles. ix. ir.
I i 2

484 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
make opportunities favourable to us, and cause things to fall
out advantageously on our side ; yea, make little raeans bring
mighty things to pass : and we may hope he will do so, when
in all our ways we acknowledge him, and live as becoraes
those who beheve that, let us devise what we please, it is the
Lord who directs and orders the success"^.
V. And then to hira we shall not fail to give all the praise,
and ascribe nothing to ourselves : as that adrairable prince
David doth ; who after all his wonderful achievements makes
the most humble acknowledgments to God, in the last of those
Psalms now read : Blessed be the Lord my strength, which
teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight : my good
ness, and my fortress ; my high tower, and my deliverer ; my
shield, (observe how many words he uses to express his sense
that he owed all to God,) and he in whom I trust ; who sub-
dueth my people under me. Lord, what is man, that thou
takest knowledge of him ? or the son of man, tliat thou makest
account of him ? Man is like to vanity : his days are as a
shadow that passeth away '^. As if he had said, " Lord, what
am I ? what is the best or greatest of men, that such things
should be effected by them, as the subduing so many people
as have submitted unto me ? Alas ! we are but vanity ; a mere
shadow : and what can a whole army of shadows do without
the power of God ? Unto which I must and do ascribe entirely
all the victories which have been won over great and strong
nations by such a feeble creature as I am," And thus Jona
than, a friend of David's, speaks to his armourbearer ; Let us
go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised : it may be
the Lord will work by us : for there is no restraint to the
Lord to save by many or by few ".
VI. With him therefore if we can make friendship by aban
doning ah his enemies, it is visible that this good hope in God
will inspire us with true valour, and make us fear nothing in
ordinately ; no, not death itself. The righteous, says Solo
mon, are as bold as a lion f ; they can look dangers undaunt
edly in the face. Whereas all the natural courage and boldness
which abundance of natural spirits, in a vigorous constitution of
body and health, may indue some men withal, wih grow faint,
<^ Prov, xvi. 9; XX. 24. (' Psalm cxliv. i, 2, &c. e i gam. xiv. 6.
' Prov. xxviii. i.

SEEM. XXIV, before the queen. 485
and languish, whensoever the terrors of an evil conscience seize
upon them, and their guilt starts up and stares them in the
face. If a wicked man chance to reflect upon this one thing
alone, that he is issued forth into the field of danger without
God, (more confident in his own strength than in the power of
the Almighty, whom he doth not seriously acknowledge, nor
study to engage,) it will amaze his spirit, and quench his cou
rage. This will daunt him more than all the enemies in the
world : and strilce a greater terror into him than the noise of
cannon and the shrieks and groans of dying men. And what
man on earth is there so resolute and confident, so high spirited
and a despiser of danger, as to be able to secure himself from
these invisible strokes of heaven ? which will trouble and con
found him, and baffle him in all his enterprises. It is necessary
then, to make a man a thoroughly good soldier, that he have
first conquered himself. He that would fear nothing must in
the first place fear God. Unto which, if we would all apply
ourselves with due seriousness, we should have reason to expect
that God would remember us, (as my text speaks,) that is, own
us for his friends, and save us from our enemies. Which he
can do, either by overcoming them, or by overcoming their
enmity, and making them friends ; which is the best way of all.
For when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his
enemies to be at peace with him s.
Ill,
This is the last part of my text ; of which let me beg your
patience while I give a short account.
It is possible indeed that success may wait upon the wicke d;
but as they cannot reasonably hope for it, so they will be in
fear and dread, whensoever they reflect upon their wickedness,
that at last they shall miscarry. Whereas truly good men can
never fail to have a good hope in God ; that whatsoever success
they meet withal at present, he will not abandon them utterly :
but turn even crosses to their future advantage. And who so
happy as he that hves not in suspense and doubt about the
final issue of things ? but can commit himself to God, and to
his wise providence with an assured confidence that it shall go
s Prov. xvi. 7.

486 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
well with him at the last ; though his faith and patience be ex
ercised a while with dubious, or with adverse events.
It is the observation of Isocrates' in several places of his
orations, (and he lived almost to an hundred years of age, and
so could the better take notice of the carriage of things in his
own country,) that the conclusion of all the wars in Greece
were not according to the strength of their forces, but also ac
cording to the justice of their cause. For though there were
different successes in the intermediate acts, which made some
men doubt which side was in the right, yet the catastrophe, (as
they speak,) the conclusion of those tragical commotions, de
clared the righteous cause victorious ; and they who were un
justly oppressed were vindicated into their ancient liberties.
But however that be, there is no greater truth than what was
said by Cassiusl^, Meyiarr] eXttis ev tols TiokipLois (o-tI to bUaiov,
' Nothing gives a man such hope in war as to have right on his
side.' " God and my right,'" is the best inscription that ever
was in any escutcheon, and the greatest support of a Christian
prince. But of all the stories you ever read or heard of, there is none
like that which reports the confidence and assured hope of Jeho
shaphat king of Judah, in the first lesson this day, which I
have often mentioned. Where, after he had proclaimed a fast,
and made a most admirable prayer to God, (in which he briefly
sets forth these two things, his trust in God, and the justice of
his cause,) he was so mightily encouraged, that he ordained
the people to go singing, when they went to fight with their
numerous enemies. A marvellous confidence in God's power
and goodness, which inspired them with such hope of success,
that they sung their imvCuov, or song of triumph, beforehand,
as you read 2 Chron. xx. 21 : When he had consulted tlie
people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, that should praise
the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, say
ing. Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth for ever. They
had a prophet indeed, who came and assured them of victory,
but they who had none have done the same, and it is probable
' In Archidamo. Kai tovs TroXf- [Orat. vi. p. 162.]
ixovs TOVS wpoyeyevrjiievovs ov Kara ^ Apud Appian. [De Bell. Civil.
ras Sui/a/ieij, dWa Kai Kara to dl- lib. iv. cap. 9''.]
Katov Te\os dnavTas tlXtjfjiOTas' —

seem. xxrv. before the queen. 487
from this example. For Cedrenus tells us, that the ancient
Christians used to sing in their battles, as if they would praise
God for assured success before the victory was obtained.
This was the issue of a pious fast in those old times ; and we
might see the same again, did we not merely forsake our food
on this day, but hkewise our sins. If we would not only
humble ourselves before God to-day, but alway walk humbly
with him, I might with some confidence use the words of the
prophet in that place, ver. 17, and say. Stand ye still, and see
the salvation of the Lord ; fear not, nor be dismayed, for the
Lord will be with you. He will certainly remember us, and we
shall be saved from the hands of all that hate us.
Not so speedily perhaps as we may desire, but as soon as we
are fit for the mercies he intends to bestow upon us ; and with
such speed as is consistent with the wonted methods of his
most wise proceedings. We expected, I remember, to have
seen Ireland reduced that year his majesty went over thither ;
and thought it very hard that after so much expense we did
not see our enemies elsewhere humbled the last year. But
were we a much better people than I can suppose we are, God
might justly defer the accomplishment of such hopes, and yet
be as good as his word here in my text and in other places.
First, that he may keep us in a continued dependence upon
him, and quicken us to pray with all prayer, watching there
unto with perseverance, and patiently waiting till he have
mercy upon us.
Secondly, that he may work in us a thorough repentance ;
which, alas ! is very imperfect, and therefore so is our deliver
ance. Let us complete the one, and God will finish the other.
But while our repentance remains so defective, it is rather a
wonder that God hath done so much, than that he, hath done
no more for us. Particularly,
Thirdly, God may justly defer to do all that I hope he in
tends, till we become more sensible of what he hath done al
ready. He wrought a mighty deliverance for us not long ago ;
when we were not able to deliver ourselves, nor deserved to be
dehvered by him. But so it is, that our angry fits of discon
tent, because we were not delivered in our own method, and
after our way, have made us not to take sufficient notice of the
deliverance itself ; and of that mighty hand of God which (as

488 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
we sing in our daily hymn, which I wish we would mind)
hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
It is hard to find a greater instance of this any where than
here in this nation : where men that had proudly projected the
alteration of the whole frame of our government, and of our
religion, and in their own opinion had laid their design so
strongly that they thought it could not be defeated, were
scattered and dispersed in a moment ; and all their towering
imaginations confounded and brought to nought. This was
certainly the Lord's doing, which ought to have been marvellous
in all our eyes. And when it is, then he will still work wonderful
things for us in righteousness, as the prophet speaks : and
crown our dehverance with a conclusion suitable to its begin
ning. Besides all this.
Lastly, we must consider that God is not wont to pour out
his indignation all at once, even upon those whom he intends to
destroy ; but consumes thera by degrees. Whence that re
markable phrase very frequent in the prophets, who are said
to dropj when they were sent to denounce God's judgments
against a people : Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem,
and drop toward tlie holy places l. So it is in the Hebrew,
which (to make out the sense) we translate drop thy word,
and prophesy against the land of Israel. The like you read
Micab ii. 6, where the people said, Prophesy not to them that
prophesy : in the Hebrew (as the margin of the Bibles tells
you) it is, Drop ye not, &c. Thus Amos speaks also, Thou
sayest. Prophesy not against Israel, and, drop not against the
house of Isaac ¦". Upon which words St. Hierora " hath this
pertinent observation, " This is the idiom of the Scripture, quod
non totam Dei simul inferant iram. &c,, because the prophets
do not denounce the whole anger of God at once, but threaten
it by little drops,''
So patient is the goodness of God, that he doth not presently
suffer his whole displeasure to arise, but punishes those by
little and little whom he intends to ruin : that they may have
time to repent and save their souls, though they shall by no
means save their temporal estate. Thus he dealt with all the
proud tyrants of old ; with those, for instance, of Nineveh and
1 Ezek. xxi. 2. «> Amos vii. i6. » [0pp. torn. vi. col. 334 E.]

«EEM. XXIV. before the queen. 489
Babylon, And it may give us some account of the method
wherein it is likely he will proceed against the grand oppressors
of this age ; particularly him in these western parts of the
world. Whose humiliation (which so many nations groan for)
is not to be expected, perhaps, by a sudden pouring of the
vials of God's wrath upon him all at once ; but drop by drop,
as the prophets speak : till the time come that the sins of that
insolent nation be ripe ; and then God no longer proceeds in
this leisurely method, but is wont to pour out his indignation
in larger measures to a speedy destruction.
If you please, for a conclusion, look into the prophecy of
Nahum ; where you will find all this declared more fully, and
admirably expressed. He was sent to denounce utter de
struction to the Ninevites, who had abused the patience and
goodness of God in the days of Jonah, by returning to those
wicked works which for a time they reformed upon his preach
ing. Therefore this prophet tells them from the Lord, i. 9,
He will make an utter end, affliction shall not rise up a second
time. That is, one blow should strike them down, and there
should be no need of a second to perfect their overthrow.
But hitherto it had been much otherwise, as you may see in
the beginning of that prophecy : which is very remarkable
for the account it gives of the way of the Divine providence, in
the description he makes of the Divine nature, ver, 2, God is
jealous, that is, he cannot alway endure to behold his friends
oppressed and his enemies triumph, but will in due time take
vengeance : as he three times repeats it, in the words iramedi-
ately following, to show the certainty of it. God is jealous,
and the Lord revengeth, the Lord revengeth, and is furious,
(that is, can do it suddenly and easily when he pleases ;) the
Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries; and he re-
serveth wrath (thl the time proper for it) for his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger, i. e. to execute his displeasure ;
and great in power, to do it when he thinks good ; and will
not acquit the wicked ; i. e. not suffer them to escape, though
he long forbear them. And when he doth come to execute
his anger, it is in a terrible manner ; after there hath been
long forbearance. So it follows. The Lord hath his way in
the whirlwind and in the storm, Sj-c. ; the mountains quake at
him, and the rocks are thrown down by him, Sj-c. : with an

490 A fast-sermon seem. xxiv.
overflowing flood will he make an utter end of the place
thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
The prophet, that is, could not tell how to represent the
dreadful vengeance God took of those who had tired his long-
suffering goodness, better than by storms and hurricanes,
deluges and inundations; which sweep all before thera with
such an irresistible violence as is impossible to be opposed. So
he concludes in the very next words. What do ye imagine
against the Lord ? to hinder, that is, the execution of his
wrath, and to escape his vengeance. Alas I all your contri
vances to avoid the stroke will prove vain imaginations, foohsh
devices, when he designs to ruin you. So it follows in the next
words, which I read at first, He will make an utter end, and
affliction shall not rise up a second time. Which he repeats
again, ver. 1 2, Though I have afflicted thee, (by various sorts
of punishments,) / will afflict thee no more : but this once,
that is, for it shall be a concluding stroke that shall utterly
confound thee.
Thus the Lord did with that great king, (as he would needs
be cahed,) the king of Assyria. And thus we may rationally
expect he wih treat all other haughty tyrants ; who assume to
themselves the name of great, only because they are so strong
as to be able to crush their weaker neighbours. For it stih
reraains true what the next prophet saith concerning the Chal
deans, who succeeded the Assyrian tyrants. The Lord is of
purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity " ;
that is, he cannot approve of the violence and cruelty of such
oppressors, who deal treacherously, (as it there follows,) and
devour the men that are more righteous than themselves. For
how bad soever the Israehtes were in those times, the Chal
deans were much worse. And I hope I may say the same of
this sinful nation vrith respect to our injurious neighbours ;
unto whom the cup of the Lord's right hand shall (at last) be
turned, and shameful spewing shall be upon their ghry".
Then let them set their cunning wits on work to imagine
and devise all the means they can invent to save themselves
from drinking of that cup, they shah not be able to turn it
away ; but be so intoxicated with it, that they shall reel and
stagger, and stumble at noonday, being unable to see the things
" Habbak. i. 13. o Habbak. ii. i6.

SEBM. XXIV. before the queen. 491
that belong to their peace. Then shall ah the fine politics of
that subtle nation quite fail them. They shall not be able to
serve themselves by any of their wonted artifices and illusions ;
but only, expose themselves the more to shame and disgrace, by
trusting to such falsehoods and impostures as those whereby
they have long amused and deceived many of their neighbours.
For there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel
against the LordP.
All whose works are truth, and his ways judgment : and
those that walk in pride he is able to abasel.
For he loveth righteousness : but the wicked and him that
loveth violence his soul hateth'^.
And will preserve the faithful, and plentifully reward the
proud doer ^.
In which humble confidence let me conclude as he there
doth, ver. 24, Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen
your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
To that great Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three
Persons and one God, be glory, and power, and dominion, both
now and for evermore. Amen.
P Prov. xxi. 30. 1 Dan. iv. ult. r Psalm xi. 5, 8. » Psalm xxxi, 23.

A SEEMON

PEEACHED BEFOEE
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR,
AND COURT OF ALDERMEN,
AT ST. BRIDGET'S CHURCH,
ON EASTEE-MONDAY, 1696.

HOUBLON, Mayor,
Cur' SpeciaV tent' apud Domum Mansion' Owen Buckingham, Mil' un'
Vic' die Mercur' xv. dieAprilis in Hebdomada PasctuE, 1696. Annoque
Regis Willielmi tertii, Anglice, SfC. octavo.
This Court doth desire the Right Reverend Father in God,
the Lord Bishop of Ely, to print his Sermon preached on
Monday last at the Parish-Church of St. Bride's, before the
Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Governors
of the several Hospitals of this City.
GOODFELLOW.

A SEKM ON
PREACHED BEFORE THE LORD MAYOR, &c.

2 Timothy ii. 8.
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was
raised from the dead according to my gospel.
THESE words are a solemn charge of St. Paul's to his son
Timothy; whom he had earnestly exhorted in the foregoing
part of this chapter to take care of three things.
First, to continue constant in the grace which he had
received from our Lord, i. e. in the doctrine of Christianity,
ver. I, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus.
Secondly, to deliver this doctrine to other faithful persons,
who might spread and publish it there where he could not
preach it himself, ver. 2, And the things which thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to
faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. And
Lastly, not to be moved by any troubles or difficulties that
might come in his way to neglect his duty, or be less zealous
in it ; but in his Christian warfare to endure hardship, as a
good soldier of Jesus Christ^.
This he illustrates and urges by three most apt resemblances,
in the three following verses, 4, 5, 6. Which show that it was
highly reasonable he should be no less dihgent in his business
than soldiers, and wrestlers, and husbandmen are in theirs.
Who do not expect to carry away the spoil, to win the crown,
(or other prize,) to reap the fruits of the earth, unless they
fight and strive, (and that according to the laws of the combat,)
and undergo those labours that belong to their employment.
a 2 Tim. ii. 3.

496 A sermon preached seem. xxv.
These things he bids him consider and lay to heart, ver. 7,
beseeching God to give him a right understanding in all
things. Now that he might never fail to do according to these direc
tions, he gives hira the charge which I have now read, to
remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David (i. e. the true
Messiah) was raised from the dead, according to the gospel
which he had heard him preach. This if Timothy preached
constantly to himself as well as others, the apostle knew that
he would find it more powerful to animate and encourage hira
in the Christian service, and to make him unwearied and
undaunted therein, than any other consideration in the world
could be.
So the words, you see, do not lead me to prove the resurrec
tion of Christ from the dead, (for which I must refer you to
the gospel which he preached, where you wih find the belief of
it grounded upon the most undoubted testimonies,) but to show
you what necessity there is to remember this, and inculcate it
upon yourselves and others ; that Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead, according to what we read in the Gospel.
Why should the apostle, may some say, command this to be
remembered above all other things ? Was there not as much
cause to remember the cross of Christ ? to reflect continually
upon his death and passion, his bitter agonies and bloody
sweat, his cruel torments, and all the vile circumstances of his
sufferings ?
Yes, no doubt, there was and is great reason to remember
both. But yet you may note, that when the apostles were to
choose a person to succeed in the place of the traitor Judas, it
was not that he might be a witness of Christ's passion, but of
his resurrection''. This was the great business of the apostle-
ship, and the great work also of the Holy Ghost, which pre
sently came down to join his testimony with theirs, as you
read Acts v. 32, We are witnesses of these things (speaking of
Christ's resurrection) ; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God
hath given to them that obey him. That therefore which they
were peculiarly sent to testify, with the conjunct testimony of
the Holy Ghost, was above all things to be heartily believed,
^ Acts i. 21.

SEEM. XXV. before the lord mayor, ^c. 497
and faithfully remembered, and solemnly commemorated ; as it
is at this festival upon more days than one : which our ances
tors with great reason have appointed for this purpose.
For this (to give a general reason of it) was the only thing
whereof there was any doubt, there being no question at all
that our Saviour suffered, and was exposed to public shame.
All his enemies saw him hang upon his cross, and were as ready
as any other persons in the world to proclaim and publish
every where that he was accused, condemned, and punished as
a notorious malefactor. Nay, they rejoiced in hope, that they
were rid of one, who, if he had still lived, was hke to draw all
men after him. They not only confessed, but gloried that he
was buried and shut up in his grave ; where they thought to
keep him so fast, that he should never stir to trouble them any
more. But that he suffered unjustly, and was wrongfully sen
tenced and put to death, this they denied and resolutely gain
said: and therefore would by no means grant that he was risen
out of his tomb ; which they saw plainly would be to reverse
the judgment they had passed upon him, and to judge and
condemn themselves as murderers and crucifiers of the Lord
of hfe.
This therefore being the great controversy, it was absolutely
necessary that the apostles should constantly assert and evi
dently prove the resurrection of Christ above all other things,
if they meant to gain any disciples to the crucified Christ.
And when they had gained them, this was to be kept in mind,
and carefully preserved, if they intended to have them abide
in him, (as St. John speaks,) that is, persist in the belief and
practice of his religion. As I shall now proceed to show, by
laying before you how much depends upon the resurrection ;
even all the faith and hope and comfort of a Christian. For,
I. First, the resurrection of Christ from the dead was the
strongest proof of the most fundamental point in our rehgion.
II. Secondly, it removed the greatest scandal that lay in the
way to the belief of that fundamental point.
III. Thirdly, it gave all Christians full satisfaction, that God
was abundantly satisfied with what our Saviour Christ had
done and suffered.
IV. Fourthly, it verified the whole Gospel, which relies upon
this as the undeniable evidence of it.
PATEICK, VOL. viii. K k

498 A sermon preached seem, xxv,
V. Fifthly, more particularly it proved the certainty of
future rewards in the other world. And therefore,
VI. Sixthly, was the most powerful encouragement to patient
continuance in well-doing ; without which we cannot hope for
those rewards.
This is the sura of what follows. I.
First, the resurrection of Christ was the strongest proof of
the most fundamental doctrine in our rehgion, viz, that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God.
Which he demonstrated indeed in his lifetime by many
miraculous works, which were the divine testimony to hira that
he was what he said, the Son of God, And this in the highest
sense of those words, not only sent to act in God's name, and
by his authority, but begotten of him before all worlds, being
of one substance with the Father : as the whole current of the
Gospel teaches us, and as the Jews themselves seemed to
understand him, when they accused him for saying, God was
his Father, making himself equal with God". And this was
said upon occasion of such a miraculous work as none but God
could effect.
But some were so mahcious as to say such things were done
by the power of the devil. And others, who were better
minded, were still incredulous, and asked for a further evi
dence, saying. What sign showest thou, seeing thou dost these
things ? That is, took upon him to drive out those that bought
and sold in the temple, which he calls his Father's house. To
which he answered in the second of St. John's Gospel, ver. 19,
Destroy this temple, (speaking of his own body in which the
divinity really dwelt,) and in three days I will raise it up
again. Here he plainly fore-assigns his resurrection from the
dead by his own power, as the greatest evidence that he was
what he pretended, the Son of God, in whose human nature
the divine really inhabited. For these words were as if he
had said, I have given you signs and wrought wonders already,
which if they will not convince you, then you must stay tih my
resurrection, which will undeniably prove that which you ques
tion ; it being impossible I should raise my body from the dead,
if I were not really the Son of God.
<^ John V. 18.

SEEM. XXV. before the lord mayor, Sj-c. 499
And thus we read also in St. Matthew, that another company
upon another occasion asked him the same question more than
once, and his answer was, A wicked and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign (i. e. after so many signs had been already
given, it was a token of a depraved disposition to call for more) ;
there shall none be given to them, but the sign of the prophet
Jonas''. This was all that remained for the conviction of
obstinate people ; such a wonderful thing as the deliverance of
Jonas out of the whale's belly, after he had been there buried
three days : or rather a far greater wonder, the resurrection
of Christ, after he had been so long actually dead and buried
in the earth.
This was more than all the miracles he had wrought while
he was alive. Which was the reason (as Theophylact observes)
why he wrought none after his resurrection, because that was
the greatest, the most astonishing miracle ; able by itself alone
to prove that he was the Son of God. There needed no more
but only the coming of the Holy Ghost to prove that he was
indeed risen.
If he had come from the cross, as his crucifiers desired, it had
not been such a wonder as his coming up out of his grave, after
they had seen him give up the ghost upon the cross. His rising
to life again struck all his enemies dead. They knew not what
to say, but only that he was not risen. For if he were, then
God (whose power alone could raise a dead man) had verified
his word, who said he was the Son of God ; and condemned
theirs, who not only denied it, but pretended that in saying so
he committed blasphemy against God. If that had been true,
God would never have countenanced such an impious person
by raising him to life again, but have been more concerned
than they to confute his word ; which had been very easily done,
by letting him lie and rot in his grave. For he having given
this sign of his being the Son of God, if it had not come to pass,
all the fame he had acquired by his miracles would have died
with him. And it was impossible it should come to pass if he
had been a deceiver and blasphemer, because God, who alone
could raise hira, would never have lent any support to a lie,
and to a lie whereby his Majesty was most highly affronted ;
much less would he have digged so deep into the earth (if I
d Matthew xii. 39 ; .xVi. i.
K k 2

500 A sermon preached seem. xxv.
may so speak,) as to fetch him to hfe out of his grave, that he
might lay such a strong foundation as this for faith in his name.
No, he himself had declared by the mouth of David, the royal
ancestor of this person, that he would destroy all those that
speak leasing^ (or lies). And therefore would not have restored
one to hfe whom they had destroyed upon that account, if he
had been indeed guilty of speaking lies ; but rather have taken
care that their sentence might have been confirmed, by keeping
him for ever in his tomb.
But since our Saviour thus preached that he was the Son of
God, and since he asserted this with as great plainness at his
death as he had done in his life, and since he foretold his own
resurrection, and that by his own power, and alleged it as the
last and greatest sign of his truth in this assertion; he hath
proved it beyond contradiction by rising again punctually at the
time appointed. Which is the testimony of God to our Saviour,
whereby he hath confirmed and established our Saviour's word :
and, in effect, said what he had said himself, that he is the
Son of God. Which truth is the great support and comfort of
our souls ; God having laid help (as it appears by this) upon
one that is mighty to save, because he is really God as weh as
man ; and therefore present to us at all times and in all places,
privy to our most secret thoughts and desires, when we cannot
speak a word ; able to succour every one throughout the whole
world who comes to God by him, and depends upon his almighty
grace. II.
Secondly, this the apostles had the greater reason to press
and imprint upon men's minds and memories, because the re
surrection of Christ removed the greatest scandal that lay in
the way to the belief of this fundamental doctrine of his being
the Son of God, which was the offence of the cross. This was
a very great stumblingblock to the Jews, (even to those who
had some good persuasions of our Saviour,) that he, who ap
peared as their king, should be crucified, that is, exposed to the
most shameful and ignominious death in the world. This they
thought would expose them also to the laughter and scorn of
their neighbours, if they should profess themselves the followers
of one who died amongst thieves, and whose life was not valued
^ Psalm V. 6.

SEEM. XXV. before the lord mayor, Spc. 501
by the wise men of their nation so much as the life of a seditious
murderer. The Gentiles also thought this foolishness, a mere
sottish humour of some dull people, to addict themselves to the
service of a man that hung upon a gibbet, and there made a
most shameful end.
And so they might have thought still, if it had not been for
his resurrection, which took away this scandal, and made it ap
pear that it was no folly nor disgrace to honour one whom God
had most highly honoured above all other men. His glory now
shone the brighter, because the most base, ignoble and infamous
death of all others could not obscure it. He appeared now
like the sun, which after it hath been a while wrapped up in a
very thick cloud breaks forth with the greater splendour.
This therefore was to be asserted and firmly settled, because
it advanced him above all other lawgivers whatsoever, who still
lie in their tombs, if their ashes have not been long ago scat
tered into the air, and blown nobody knows whither. They
have a memory indeed in story, but it is that they are dead,
and have no authority now to demand obedience to their laws.
This exalts our blessed Lord and Saviour above the greatest
kings and conquerors that ever have been in the world ; who
after all their achievements over others were at last utterly de
feated by death, and so vanquished as never to recover their
thrones any more. Search after the sepulchres of all the
Caesars, read their inscriptions, if there be any remaining, and
that which seems to raise their names, and to make them great,
in truth depresses them and lays them low ; since after the
loftiest titles upon their monuments they confess them to lie
buried underneath :
Hie facet terrarum Dominus.
' Here hes the lord of all the earth' was the highest style
wherein the goodhest monuments of earthly monarchs could
speak. But our Saviour's tomb spake another language, or
rather the angels of God told his disciples when they came to
visit it, Surrexit, non est hie.
He is risen, he is not here. Why seek ye the living among the
dead^? He is ccelorum Dominus, ' the Lord of the heavens' as
well as of the earth ; whither you shall see him ascend, and
f Mark xvi. 6; Luke xxiv. 5.

502 A sermon preached seem. xxv.
there he shall live for evermore. This great Lord never ceases
to reign : he hath no successor in his kingdom, but, as God
himself, sitteth King for ever and ever.
Which when the nations of the world heard, and it was sub
stantially proved, how could they choose but say, (notwith
standing the scandal of the cross,) as they do in the Book of
the Revelation :
Who would not fear thee, 0 Lord thou king of saints? who
would not glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy, or sacred.
Thy throne, 0 God, (as it is elsewhere) is for ever and ever ;
the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre : thou lovest
righteousness and hatest iniquity, therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows:
that is, raised him above all the kings that ever were.
Thus with respect to Christ himself, we ought to commemo
rate his resurrection with the greatest joy, (as I might show,
if it were not time to proceed to the other particulars,) because
it was in order to his own advancement to the throne of glory,
as the reward of his ignominious sufferings.
IH.
Thirdly, as his resurrection did him more honour than his
death had done him disgrace, so it proved hkewise that by his
death he had given to God all the satisfaction that he desired.
And therefore is most necessary to be firmly believed and stead
fastly preserved in our memories, that we who do confess him
may all rest assured, that by his blood, which he shed upon the
cross for us, he hath made a complete propitiation for the sins
of all the world.
He himself said before he died, that he would give his flesh
for the life of the worlds : that is, offer up his own body unto
God a voluntary sacrifice, to preserve us from eternal death.
For he laid down his life of himself, as he professed'', and
without his consent no man had power to take it away, and he
truly laid it down as the blood of the new testament for the
remission of sins, as he hkewise himself speaks just before his
death '.
Now if his blood had not been an acceptable sacrifice unto
God, upon this account for which it was offered, or if there had
Kjohnvi. 51. h John X. 18. ' Matt. xxvi. 28.

seem. xxv. before the lord mayor, Sj-c. 503
remained any thing more to be done, which God required or
expected from him for the expiation of our sins, (which was the
end, he tells us, of his sacrifice,) God would not have raised him
out of his grave. For that was not only to acquit him of all
the pretended crimes for which the Jews unjustly condemned
him ; but to free him also from the iniquity of us all, which
the Lord (as the prophet speaks, Isaiah hii. 6,) laid upon him,
and to declare publicly to ah the world, that he had received
full satisfaction for them and demanded no more.
Nay, by his resurrection God not only testified that his blood
was most precious in his sight, and had obtained what he in
tended, but also enabled him to go with it himself into the
heavens, there to perpetuate this sacrifice to the end of the
world, and by virtue of it make intercession for us.
For we are to look upon his rising again after he was slain,
to be in order to his doing just as the high priest under the
law did; who taking the blood which had been shed at the
altar, on the great day of atonement, carried it into the most
holy place, where the glory of the Lord resided, and there
presented it unto him ; from whence, if he came forth alive, it
was a final declaration that God was well pleased with the
sacrifice, and was at peace with his people. In hke manner did
our blessed Lord and Saviour, who is both our great High
Priest and also our expiatory sacrifice, after his blood had
been shed upon the cross, gather it up again at his resurrec
tion, and go with it into the highest heavens, there to appear
with it in the presence of God for us. And from thence hath
already begun to bless us, by sending the Holy Ghost to us, as
an undoubted testimony that his blood hath made the atone
ment which he designed. Whereof we shall be more assured
at the consummation of all things ; when we shall see him come
in person out of the most holy place at the last day, and appear
alive the second time, without sin unto salvation ^.
But for the present it is evident by his resurrection, and his
sending the Holy Ghost, (which Tertulhan well calls his vis
vicaria, or his ' power which supplies his place' tih he come
again,) that he hath fully expiated our sins, so as to obtain an
eternal redemption for us ; and will also appear in person to
^ Heb. ix. ult.

504 A sermon preached seem. xxv.
our salvation, because he hath by the same resurrection over
come death, which was the punishment of sin.
The conquest of that was a sufficient declaration that sin
hath lost its power over those who by obedient belief on his
name are made one body with him. They may be satisfied
that it can no more hold them for ever in its chains than it
could him, whose members they are. And consequently that
their sins (of which death, as I said, was- the punishment) are
certainly cancelled and blotted out ; so that they may comfort
ably wait upon God for his Son from heaven, whom he hath
raised from tlie dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the
wrath to come^.
Whereas, if he had not risen from the dead, we could have
had no assurance, no, not by his death and passion, of re
mission of sin, because there would have been no proof that
the punishment of it (viz. death) was taken away, without
which we cannot be said to be forgiven. No, St. Paul openly
professes. If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain : ye are
yet in your sins ™. They are not remitted, that is, but we are
still liable to undergo the punishment of them : it is not ap
parent tliat we shall be acquitted, and freed from that obhga^
tion to suffer the punishment of sin, unless we believe Christ's
resurrection. He made indeed a new covenant in his blood, which promises
remission of sin ; but what assurance can we have that his
blood is accepted with God for this end, and that Christ hath
power to make good his promise, to pardon our sins, to release
us from the punishment of them, by dehvering us from death
and from the Avrath to come, if he be not risen from the dead ?
None at all, but as St. Paul there asserts just before, ver. 15, If
Christ be not risen, then is our jireaching vain; and your
faith is also vain. We have no ground to publish, nor you to
receive, such great things as we promise, unless we are as sure
of this as we are that Christ died.
Therefore this was absolutely necessary to be estabhshed
and settled in the minds of behevers, by all the labour and
pains the apostles could take ; that as Christ was delivered for
our offences, (they are the words of the same St. Paul, Rom. iv.
' I Thess. i. 10. ™ i Cor. xv. 17.

SEEM. XXV. before the lord mayor, ^c. 505
ult.,) so lie was raised again for our justification. But further
1 must add that, IV.
Fourthly, tho resurrection of Christ was necessary to be
established in men's belief, and in their remembrance, because
it was the verification of the whole gospel ; the great proof of
all that Christ had taught his disciples; the Christian rehgion
in an epitome ; the doctrine of Christ in one word. Which is
the ground of that speech of the apostle. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved ".
This he makes to be the sum of Christian belief; because he
that was persuaded of this, and openly acknowledged it, must
unavoidably believe and own the whole gospel. The truth of
which Christ sealed by his blood ; and God the Father sealed
by raising him from the dead. Which assured all that believed
it there was no other way to life and happiness but that alone,
which the Lord Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life,
had dehvered.
And a far greater testimony this was, which God gave to the
gospel, than had been given to the law of Moses ; for after he
was buried, we hear no more of him till our Saviour saw him
in the holy mount, together with Elias ; where they discoursed
with him of his glorious decease which lie should accomplish
at Jerusalem. Moses indeed wrought miracles, he heard
voices from heaven, there were appearances of angels to him
upon some occasions, his face shone, as our Saviour's did when
he was transfigured : but as most of these were more frequent,
and all of them more glorious in the giving of the gospel, so,
besides them all, the Author of it rose from the dead, as he
said he would, to prove that God, who had sent his prophets
before, had now sent his Son to publish his will unto the
world. .
If we believe this, then we are obliged, and there is no way
to avoid it, to entertain all his doctrine, to lay to heart his
commands, to take upon us his yoke, and submit ourselves to
the government of his laws ; and that, as we hope to obtain
remission of sins, and eternal bliss, which are promised to none
but the obedient. On the contrary, tribulation and anguish,
"Rom. X.9.

506 A sermon preached seem, xxv,
indignation and wrath, are threatened to all those that do evil :
which the resurrection of Christ assures us he will not fail to
inflict upon them.
And here it will be fit to observe these two things, which are
very manifest :
First, that the resurrection of Christ most evidently proved
that no man was bound any longer to observe any laws for
merly in force, which are not contained in the law of the
gospel. But,
Secondly, that we are all thereby necessarily and indispen
sably tied strictly to observe this law which Christ hath laid
upon us.
I. First, I say, it proved the dissolution of all former laws,
though of God's own making, and solemnly delivered by Moses
unto the Jewish nation. Who were very hard to be persuaded
that they needed no longer to trouble themselves with those
carnal ordinances, which required them to make a difference of
meats, to wash their bodies after several defilements, to wear
only a certain kind of garment, and offer such sacrifices as
Moses prescribed, (which were a very heavy burden to them,)
but only give up themselves to Christ, to be ruled by his easy
and gentle laws, of temperance and chastity, meekness and
humility, justice and charity, being ready to do good and to
forgive, as well as to worship God in spirit and in truth. For
unto this the Jews objected, that God had made a covenant
with their fathers, by the ministry of Moses, requiring such
observances ; and that they could not absolve themselves from
that bond, which they had received by being circumcised, but
stood in dread of being cut off (as the law threatened) if they
did not receive that obligation, by circumcision, to observe the
whole law of Moses.
Unto which the apostle St. Paul gives satisfaction after this
manner, (Romans vii. beginning;) a law (as you all know who
are bred up under the disciphne of the law) can have dominion
over a man no longer than he lives under that law. As for
exaraple, a raarried woman cannot be bound by the law to her
husband any longer than he lives. If he die, she is so loose
from her husband, that though while he lived she could not
honestly marry another man, yet he being dead, she may give
herself in marriage to another person, and be no adulteress.

SEEM. XXV. before the lord mayor, Src. 507
This is the sense of the three first verses of that chapter. To
which the Jews might reply. True, if we were no more bound to
Moses his law, than a wife is bound to her husband when he is
dead, your argument would be good : but how doth it appear
that the law of Moses is dead, as it supposes ? For if it be not
dead, we are still tied to it by your own .confession. Unto this
the apostle goes on to give satisfaction in the fohowing words,
ver. 4 : Wherefore, my brethren, (i. e. if you allow my prin
ciple, then thus I demonstrate your obligation to the law
ceases,) ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who
is raised from the dead, that ye should bring forth fruit unto
God. In which words he asserts, that by the death of Christ
(for that he means by his body) there was an end put to their
law : from all obligation to which they were as much released
as a wife is from her husband when he is gone out of this
world, (that is the meaning of ye are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ,) for the whole law of Moses depended
upon their sacrifices ; which all having respect to the sacrifice
of Christ, his body being offered up put a conclusion to them,
(which could have" no effect if they continued them,) and de
monstrated they had no obligation to observe that law, but
were left free now, to subject themselves to a new law, (which
he calls being married to another,) and they might easily
know whose law that was, even his who is raised from the
dead. They were really absolved from the Mosaical rehgion,
by the death of Christ's body, as much as a wife is from her
husband when he is extinct : but that which fully convinced
them of it, and moved them to embrace a new religion, was the
resurrection of that body of Christ from the dead. They
could not have beheved their freedom, and so none would have
forsaken their old discipline, and betaken themselves to Christ,
if his resurrection had not followed his death : which solidly
proved the efficacy of it to abohsh the law of Moses. For this
being established, none could see any good reason to adhere
still to their former rites and ceremonies ; there being such a
powerful proof of the authority of Christ to take them all
away, and settle a better way of hving in their room ; which
the apostle calls bringing forth fruit unto God.
And as this was an argument to persuade the Jews to for-

508 A sermon preached seem. xxv.
sake their rites, though appointed by God ; so it effectually pre
vailed with the Genthes to renounce their idolatrous worship,
as we read i Thess. i. 9, 10, Ye know what manner of entrance
we had unto you, and how ye turned from idols to serve the
living and true God ; and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, Sj-c. We have all great reason
so to do, and to be exact and faithful in his service ; looking
upon ourselves as most strictly tied to the observance of those
laws, which are confirmed to be the will of God, by such a
demonstration as the resurrection of hira that gave them from
the dead. This evidently shows which is the other thing I
raentioned. II. That they are utterly inexcusable, who break loose from
the laws of Christianity, which hath excused us frora all other
obligations. For that very reason we are the raore strictly
bound to obey the gospel ; because we are thereby absolved from
the law of Moses. The resurrection of Christ doth not more
effectually prove, for instance, that the sacrifices which he or
dained (and such like rites) are all abolished, than it proves the
indispensable obhgation that is upon us to offer unto God con
tinually the sacrifices which Christianity prescribes. Which
are principally these :
First, the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart, truly
grieved for our sins past, and sincerely resolved to do better
for the tirae to come : that is, unfeigned repentance, which
was ever necessary before that law was given.
Secondly, the sacrifice of our own body °, that is, of ourselves
to God, which we must devote to him in purity and hohness,
temperance and soberness, meekness and humility, and such
like virtues ; which are infinitely more acceptable than all the
beasts in the world.
Thirdly, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God P
who hath made us partakers of his grace in Christ ; which
shows us the way to be more happy than we could possibly in
vent, had we the whole world at will.
Fourthly, the sacrifice of all our animosities and angry re
sentments, which must be entirely given up to God, for this
reason ; because Christ our Passover, or Paschal Lamb, is of
fered for us : therefore let us keep the feast, not with the
o Rom. .xii. 1. p Heb. xiii. 15.

SEEM. XXV. before the lord mai/oi , ^c. 509
old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the urileavened
bread of sincerity and truth '^ ; which was part of the anthem
yesterday. For it is vain to pretend to love God, if we
hate one another. The praises we bestow upon him whl sig
nify nothing, if we jar and quarrel among ourselves. This will
spoil all the melody of our psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, wherein at this festival we laud his holy name.
Lastly, the sacrifice of alms seems to be the chief of all,
which the apostle would no more have us to forget, than the
resurrection of Christ from the dead. But to do good and to
communicate forget not ; for with such sacrifices God is well
pleased^. He had been proving in the foregoing part of the
Epistle, that Christ, being risen from the dead, was not only
gone into the heavens, but there made an high priest at the
right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens^,
whereby he can by virtue of his sacrifice, once offered, do that
for us which the priests of old could not by all the sacrifices
which they offered daily ; bring us, i. e. into that high and
holy place, by a new and living way which he hath conse
crated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his fiesh, which
he offered for us. From whence he infers, that as all Christ
ians should hold fast their profession, with a true heart and
pure conscience ; constantly enduring, with such a steadfast faith
as was in the ancient worthies, whatsoever God pleases ; having
Christ especially in their eye, the Author and Finisher of our
faith, ^c. So he at last, in the conclusion of all, presses the
great duty of charity, ver. i of this xiiith chapter. Let bro
therly love continue. Which he illustrates by some instances
in the two fohowing verses ; and then, after some other in
structions, renews his exhortation, in these famous words I
have now mentioned : But to do good and to communicate
forget not ; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. And
let me press the same duty upon you, (before I proceed any
further,) as both the feast which we keep, and the place where
we are assembled, and the occasion of our meeting together
require. We are here assembled in the house of God, to commemo
rate the wonderful love and power of God in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. For which, I doubt not, you
1 1 Cor. V. 7,8. ¦¦ Heb. xiii. i6. ^ Heb. viii. i.

510 A sermon preached seem. xxv.
are all ready devoutly to offer unto him the sacrifice of praise,
giving thanks unto his name ; as the foregoing words (ver. 15.)
exhort you. But the apostle tells you further, that you must
not content yourselves, nor think to please God with empty
praises and acknowledgments ; but remember to do good and
communicate to the necessities of others; for these are the
sacrifices which are most grateful to his Majesty.
There was an express comraand in the law of Moses which
we find often repeated, that when the children of Israel came
to worship the Lord none should appear before him empty.
Which was first ordained, I observe, when he enjoined them to
keep the feast of the Passover*. But it is afterwards ex
plained to be meant also of the other two great feasts, (men
tioned in the following verses,) Three times in the year shall
all thy males appear before the Lord, in the place which he
shall choose, Sj-c, and they shall not appear before the Lord
empty ^: that is, without some present unto hira, as a tribute
of thankfulness for the benefits they had received ; and as an
acknowledgraent that he was the supreme Lord of all, and
they but tenants under him.
Which precept is not less reasonable to be observed now
than it was under the law, but far more reasonable ; he being
our Lord by a higher title, of our redemption by Christ Jesus ;
and the blessings of the gospel, for which we make our thank
ful acknowledgments, infinitely transcending their deliverance
out of the bondage of Egypt, and the fruitful seasons which
they afterwards enjoyed in the land of Canaan.
Therefore, if not at all our holy assemblies, yet at our prin
cipal festivals, (which are three also,) we are bound sure to bring
along with us some alras and oblations to our almighty Bene
factor. Particularly now at this feast, which is answerable to
their passover, no man ought to appear before the Lord empty ;
but fuh, at least, of most hearty resolutions, that he wih do
some charitable act or other ; as a token of his gratitude to
God, who hath done so much for him ; and as a recognition of
his supreme dominion over all.
It is always a Christian duty to contribute to the rehef of
those that are in need ; but now, at such a tirae as this, it is a
piece of worship, a part of the divine service ; without which
" Deut. xvi. 16.

seem. xxv. before the lord mayor, Sj-c. 511
our solemn feasts and praises of God wih be but empty sounds
and avail us nothing.
Let us therefore be careful not to forget to do good ; but to
gether with the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offer this
most acceptable sacrifice, which God expects should attend
upon the other.
Never fail to communicate to others, when you commemo
rate how bountiful God hath been to you. Especially now,
when you remember the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead,
to be your Advocate with the Father, and to exercise the
office of a merciful and compassionate High Priest for you ih
the heavens ; let it raise and stir up in your hearts bowels of
mercy and pity, for the help and relief of your distressed
brethren. When you feel your hearts moved to give thanks to God,
saying with St. Peter i. 13, Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resur
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead ; let this grateful sense
of his goodness move you also to be merciful, as your hea
venly Father is merciful; that thereby you may excite others
to bless him as well as yourselves.
Do good to the poor and needy, because he is so very good
to you, as to make you able to do good to them. And the
more good God hath done any of you, look upon yourselves as
bound to do the more to others. For that was the rule which
God gave for their charity at the three great festivals amongst
the Jews, as you read Deut. xvi. 1 7 : Every man shall give as
he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God,
which he hath given thee.
Consider now how God hath blessed every one of you here
present, and then look upon yourselves as engaged to offer to
him something proportionable for the comfort of others at this
time : when you appear before him to thank him for the great
blessings of all sorts which you enjoy by the favour of his
goodness towards you. And that for these two reasons :
First, because the commemoration of God's benefits to us, of
whatsoever kind they be, necessarily obliges us (nay, if we
have any sense, naturahy inchnes us) to make some suitable re
turn to him, AVho needing nothing himself, bids us give it to

512 A .sermon preached seem. xxv.
those that do : and he wih take it as bestowed upon hira.
And, Secondly, because it is the very intention of this particular
benefit which we now commemorate, viz. Christ's resurrection
from the dead, to raise up our hearts above this world, and to
quicken us to all good works ; of which these sacrifices are the
chief. So that he hath but a narae to live who still remains
covetous, and for whom nobody is the better. He is dead and
buried in earthly affections, and is not risen with Christ : for if
he were, he would seek the things that are above (as the apo
stle speaks Coloss. iii. i .), lay up treasure in heaven, and not
set his heart on things here beneath.
And accordingly we find this blessed fruit of the resurrection
of Christ, as soon as ever it was published, in the first converts
to Christianity. For all that believed had all things common,
and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all
men, as every man had need''. Immediately, that is, their
minds were quite taken off from this world ; and they ap
prehended nothing more necessary than to make provision for
another world where Christ is : by employing all that they
possessed here in the best manner they could for his service.
As you are further informed Acts iv. 33, if it be rightly under
stood ; With great power the apostle gave witness of the re
surrection ; and great grace was upon them all. This x^P'?.
or grace, was charity ; as appears by the proof he gives of it
in the next words : Neither was there any among them that
lacked ; for as many as were possessed of lands or houses
sold them, and brought the price of the things that were sold,
and laid them down at the apostles' feet : and distribution
was made unto every man as he had need.
You are not bound indeed to seh all you have, and give it
away to pious uses as they did, (which was practised only at
Jerusalem, and in no other church ; for some special reasons,
not now to be mentioned,) but yet you must not keep ah you
possess to yourselves ; for the aposties expected some of this
good fruit in all other churches where they sowed the seed of
the gospel. Which was wonderfully fruitful in sorae churches,
particularly those of Macedonia ; who brought forth, as I may
say, an hundredfold. For such was the grace of God bestowed
^ Acts ii. 44.

SEEM. xxv. before the lord mayor, Sjc. 513
on them, that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of
their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches
of their liberality : for they gave to their power, nay, beyond
their power ; praying the apostle with much entreaty to re
ceive their gift, &c.y By which noble example St. Paul provokes
the Corinthian church (ver. 7.) to a pious emulation of those ex
cellent Christians ; that as they abounded in every thing, in
faith, in utterance, and knowledge, Sj-c, so they might abound
in this grace also.
And the like fruit the preaching of the resurrection hath
brought forth in abundance among your worthy ancestors in
this great city ; else we should not have had such a large cata
logue of good works as I am now to report to you, of a great
number of poor children and other poor people maintained in
the several hospitals under the pious care of the lord mayor,
commonalty, and citizens of the city of London, the year last
past. [Here followed the Report.]

After the Hepoi't.
See here, right honourable and well-beloved, what powerful
motives you have to this grace, as the apostle calls it. You
have the worthy examples of those who have gone before you
in well-doing : which it is rank hypocrisy to commend and
extol without imitation. You have the care and fidelity of
those who are intrusted with their bounty to provoke you to
this sort of charity, in augmenting the revenues of the several
hospitals. Both because you are sure what is so bestowed will
be faithfully employed, and employed to the rehef of those who
are undoubtedly necessitous : and because their revenues, you
see by the Report, are much impaired ; and yet very consider
able numbers have been most mercifully reheved.
For to the honour of this renowned city be it spoken, and to
the honour also of our religion, there have not been more noble
things of this kind done in any place of the world than have
been done here since the reformation of religion. Which they
of the Romish faction have been wont to revile with most im
pudent calumnies, saying, that " good works died, together
y 2 Cor. viii. 1, 2, &c.
PATEICK, VOL. Vni. L 1

514 A sermon preached seem. xxv.
with their way of devotion; and that we have nothing but an empty
faith left among us." Which is like all the rest of the im
postures whereby that religion subsists. For this was confuted
in the very beginning of the Reformation. Forty years after
which, (now above an hundred years ago,) a great man ^, upon
this very occasion, challenged Rome or any other city in
Christendom to produce such a show as we see here this day.
And it is much increased, I doubt not, since that time : though
then, he saith, he was able to prove that " there had been
more done for the increase of learning, and providing for the
poor, within these forty years since the church was reformed
from its errors, than had been done in any Christian realm,
not only within the same forty years, (which was sufficient to
stop their mouths,) but in any forty years upward, during all
the time of popery."
And if they were so hberal in those days, when they were
but newly crept out of the darkness of superstition, how much
more should we abound in this virtue, who by God's singular
goodness have long enjoyed the light of the gospel ! who have
had also so many examples since of bountiful benefactors ; who
have been taught this duty so frequently, and been taught it
not only by God's word, but by his rod. Whose discipline
some years ago instructed us how uncertain all our possessions
are ; as we beheld in those dreadful flames, which consumed so
raany goodly buildings, and spared neither God's houses nor
the poor's.
And now we have been very lately taught this duty again,
in a contrary method, by the most merciful deliverance God
hath graciously bestowed upon our king, this church and king
dom from the hands of bloodthirsty men. Who if they had
^ [" I will be able to prove that realm Christian, not only within the
learning in thefoundation of schools, selfsame forty years, (which were
and increase of revenues within col- enough to stop their mouths,) but
leges, and the poor in the foundation also than it hath in any forty years
of almshouses, and increase of per- upward, during all the time of
petuities to them, have received popery; which I speak partly of
greater help in this realm within mine own knowledge, and partly
these forty years last past, since not by sufficient grave information.
the starting up of our church, as This may be said, and said truly."]
they fondly use to speak, but since Dr. (afterwards bishop) Andrews'
the reforming ours from the errors sermon at the Spittle, 1588, p. 17.
of theirs, than it hath, I say, in any [vol. v. p. 37. 8vo, Oxford, 1841-3.]

SEBM. XXV. before the lord mayor, Sj-c. 51 5
succeeded in their execrable designs of assassination, insurrec
tion, and invasion, this city, in all hkelihood, had been ex
posed to spoil and rapine, if not laid desolate, by the bar
barous cruelty of that nation which hath not been wont to
spare those of their own religion from the most terrible exe
cutions, no, not their religious houses, (as they call their mo
nasteries,) which they have laid in heaps of rubbish.
This is a mighty reason we should dedicate some part of
those goods to God, which might have been all ravaged from
us if he had not most graciously secured them unto us.
But there is a far stronger reason, which is, that God strictly
requires this grace of you, as you hope for mercy from him at
that great day when you must appear before our Lord, who,
being raised from the dead is ordained by him to be the judge
of the quick and dead *. If he find then you have been wont
to appear before him at these solemnities with empty hearts
and hands, having put him off merely with verbal praises,
you must not expect a favourable sentence from him; for,
quite contrary, he shall have judgment without mercy, that
hath showed no mercy ''.
For they who have been unjust and fraudulent in their
dealing, who have oppressed their brethren, or used any ex
tortion, can never answer it unto God, if they do not, by giving
alms, purge their estates from those ill-gotten goods : which
they cannot restore to their right owners, because they know
not, perhaps, whom they have particularly wronged, or where
to find them.
And as for those who have honestly gotten their estates,
they are plainly bound in gratitude to God to make him a
present of some portion of them ; who is the Donor of the
whole, and expects such an acknowledgment of his divine bless
ing upon their true endeavours.
And whether you have done thus, assure yourselves, will be
strictly examined at that great day, as our Saviour himself
teacheth us in that known place ", which I beseech consider at
your leisure. Some then will be apt to say, (according as the
proceedings at this tribunal are there represented,) " Lord,
though I have been a great sinner, yet I have been very peni
tent for my offences ; and have not only very sorrowfully
» Acts X. 41, 42. * James ii. 13. '^ Matt. xxv. 34, &c.
l1 2

516 A sermon preached seem. xxv.
bewailed them, but utterly forsaken them. " How doth that
appear?" will the Judge then inquire. " Have you restored that
which was deceitfully and unjustly gotten? Or have you given
it to the poor, as I directed you in those words. Give alms of
such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean
unto you^?" And if you cannot return the answer of a good
conscience, and faithfully say you have so done, your repent
ance will be rejected.
And if others plead their justice and honesty, that they
never wronged or defrauded any body, but always paid every
man his own, the Judge will demand, " But what good did you do
with all the wealth that I blessed your honest diligence withal ?
You have been just, it is true, but have you been charitable ?
Have you supphed the needs of the poor, fed the hungry,
clothed the naked, taken care of the sick, and of the prisoners 1"
&c. If not, your justice will prove a lame and defective virtue;
unable to support you, and raake you stand in that dreadful
judgment. Now that there will be such an audit, wherein every man
shall be acccountable to God for what he hath done in the body,
the resurrection of Christ, which we now remember, is the great
and most convincing proof ; as the apostle teaches us in
Acts xvii. 30, 31, where he saith, God commands all men
everywhere to repent : because he hath appointed a day,
wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance to
all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Which leads me now to the next general head propounded in
the beginning. V.
Fifthly, that the resurrection of Christ is a most evident
demonstration of future rewards in the other world to all that
live godly in Christ Jesus. For, as it verified his whole Gospel,
of which this is a part, that they that believe in him shall have
everlasting life ; so it is an instance and example of the truth
of it, that they who do well shall not go unrewarded, how ill
soever they be used here. For our Lord is the first-fruits of
those that sleep : and hath shown by what is done for him
what he will certainly do for us. And it is to be considered
* Luke xi. 41.

SEEM. XXV. before the lord mayor, Sj-c. SIT
also, that he hath power by his resurrection to perform his own
promise : the gift of eternal life is in his own hands. For this
is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; and he
that hath not the Son hath not life". That is, all the wit
nesses to the truth of Christianity testify this, that God will
give us eternal life ; and that it is in his Son's power to bestow
it : and therefore he that is a Christian, (i. e. sincerely and
effectually believes on his Son,) that man may be confident of
eternal life. VI.
Sixthly, which is the most powerful encouragement to
patient continuance in well doing ; though, after all the good we
do here, we should suffer never so much for righteousness'
sake. This, as well as the former, would deserve to be
enlarged, if I had room for it in this discourse, which is to be
confined within the bounds of a sermon. Which though I am
unwilling to transgress, yet I beg leave to say a few words of
this last thing, because my text hath a particular respect to it.
The apostle, you heard in the beginning, had exhorted his
son Timothy to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ; and not to flinch from his duty, though he encountered
in the discharge of it never so many difficulties. Which he
knew he would easily overcome, if he did but remember Jesus
his Lord and Master of the seed of David; and how he was
raised from the dead according to his Gospel. This was suf
ficient to inspire him with courage and resolution, if he always
kept it in mind. For what if lie was persecuted ? What if he
was reproached, and vilified, and turned out of doors ? &c. So
was David, so was Jesus, who was every way of the seed of
David : both as he was born of that family, and as he endured
the like persecutions and vile usage from the Pharisees, as
David had from Saul. But both their sufferings, David's and
his, ended at last in a kingdom : and, as St. Paul saith else
where of our Saviour, Though he was crucified through weak
ness, yet he lives by the power of God f.
Let us then be of good courage, for because he lives we shall
live also : and where he is, there shall his faithful servant be
also. So he hath told us himself, who is the faithful and true
" I John V. II, 12. f 2 Cor. xiii. 4.

518 A .sermon preached seem. xxv.
witness ; the first begotten from the dead ; the Prince of all
the kings of the earth : who will never suffer those who are
faithful to him to lose by his service, but beget them all again,
after they are dead, unto an endless and heavenly life ; that
they, being children of the resurrection, may reign with hira in
his celastial kingdom.
Ye have lieard, saith St. James, ver. ii, of the patience of
Job, and have seen tlie end of the Lord; that the Lord is vei-y
pitiful, and of tender mercy. For all his affliction concluded
in a far more flourishing condition than he enjoyed before they
befell him : and if we could believe what is added in some
copies of the LXX to that book, he was also made partaker of
such an honour as set a special mark of God's favour upon
him, and declared how highly he valued his patience. For
after the last words of that book of Job according to the ori
ginal, {So Job died old and fidl of days,) some Greek copies
add, TeypaTtrai 8' ainov ¦nakiv avaor-qa-eaOai, &c. ' It is written
also, that he should rise to life again with those whom the Lord
raiseth up.' " The word TiaXLv, ' again,' " saith Olympiodorus^,
" denotes that he should have another resurrection here, besides
that which he had from poverty and misery to a splendid state
of prosperity : and that was when Christ rose from the dead.
When the graves were opened ; and many bodies of saints
which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resur
rection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many^."
Now by Suidas aud others it appears that there was a tradition
which some believed, that Job was among those saints that
arose with our Saviour; which, if it be true, was to demonstrate
the high esteem that God hath of humble patience; which
moved him to do this man the honour of accompanying our
Saviour at his resurrection, who had been so memorable for
this virtue. For so Suidas's words are : " He triumphed glo
riously after his agonies, he set up his trophies ; not such as
those in the Olympics or other celebrated games among the
Greeks, but far more honourable s." For besides what God
restored to him of worldly blessings before he died, this was to
lo-xarov, ' the last and greatest' prize which he won, to rise to
hfe again with our Saviour, when he overcame death.
But howsoever that be, we have a more sure word (as St.
f [Oaten, in Job. p. fii2.] < Matt, xxvii. .52, ,53. e [Col, 1792 C]

SEBM. XXV. before the lord mayor, Sj-c. 519
Peter speaks) upon which to build our faith, and support our
patience in well-doing. For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with MmK For he will appear the second time (as you
have heard) ; and when Christ who is our life shall appear,
then shall we also appear with him in glory. Faithful is he
that called you, who also will do it. Therefore be faithful
unto death, and he will give you a crown of life.
Thus I have shown you there was more to be seen in an
empty sepulchre than when the corpse was in it.
For if our Lord be risen, and be not there, (as the angel
said,) then we see he was the Son of God. We see him that
by suffering death was made a little lower than the angels
crowned with glory and honour. We see that God is recon
ciled unto sinners, and that death hath lost its sting. We see
the gospel is the rule'^according to which we ought to order
our life. We see our high and heavenly calling in Christ
Jesus. And lastly, we see, that as glorious things are laid up
in store for those that love and obey him, so nothing can sepa
rate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, un-
moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for
asmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the
LordK Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through tlie
blood of the everlasting covenant, m,ake you perfect in every
good work to do his will, working in you that which is
wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ ; to whom be
glory for ever and ever. Amen^.
¦» I Thess. iv. 14. ' i Cor. xv. 58. '' Heb. .xiii. 20, 21.

A SERMON

PREACHED BEFORE
THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL
IN
THE ABBEY CHURCH AT WESTMINSTER,
Nov. 5, 1696,

THE ANNIVERSARY THANKSGIVING FOR THE HAPPY DELIVER
ANCE FROM THE GUNPOWDER TREASON, AND ALSO FOR THE
HAPPY ARRIVAL OF HIS PRESENT MAJESTY ON
THIS DAY, FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF
OUR CHURCH AND NATION.

Die Veneris, Nov. 6, 1696.
It is ordered by the lords spiritual and temporal, in parha
ment assembled, that the thanks of this house shall and are
hereby given to the lord bishop of Ely, for his sermon preached
yesterday in the Abbey Church at Westminster, and he is
hereby desired to print and pubhsh the same.
MATH. JOHNSON.
Cler. Parliamentor.

A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE LORDS,
NoVEMBEE 5, 1696.
Daniel iv. 35.
 And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth : and none can stay
his hand, or say unto him. What doest thou ?
THESE words are part of a pious declaration which king
Nebuchadnezzar set forth, unto all people, nations, and lan
guages, to show (as he saith in his preface to it, ver. 2) the
signs and the wonders which the high God had wrought to
ward him. Which having profoundly admired and adored in
the next words, {How great are his signs, and how mighty
are his wonders!^) he proceeds to give the world an account
what an amazing turn there had lately been in his affairs. For
when he was lifted up to the highest pitch of princely power
and glory, and had nothing to fear on earth, he was admon
ished from heaven in a dream of his sudden fall into a condition
as low as the beasts ; in which he was to remain till he should
be made sensible that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of
men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will ^. Accordingly he
relates how all this not long after came to pass. The effect of
which was, that it took down his pride, (for which so great an
abasement was the most proper remedy,) and brought him to a
sober sense that God governs the world, and orders all things
every where by his overruling Providence, with an absolute
power which none can withstand or control.
Which is a meditation very seasonable at this time, when we
are met together to commemorate the wonderful providence of
God over us in this church and kingdom, upon a double account.
First, in discovering and defeating one of the deepest and most
' Daniel iv, 3. * Ver, 1 7.

524 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxvi.
desperate conspiracies against us that ever was hatched in hell ;
secondly, in disappointing the same restless enemies again, when
by their fraud and our folly they had contrived themselves into
such an height of power, that we had no means left to preserve
our religion and liberties.
Had we no other arguments of the overruling power of God's
eternal providence in the world but these and such as these,
they might be sufficient to awaken the sense of it in your minds,
and to make us conclude that he doeth according to his will in
the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth :
and none can stay his hand, or say unto him. What doest
thou ?
In treating of which words I shall only consider these two
things :
First, the extent of God's sovereign dominion and govern
ment. Secondly, the way and method whereby he governs.
I.
I. For the first of these my text resolves us that there is no
thing exempt from it ; but it reaches to every creature through
out the whole world, which are comprehended in these words,
the army of heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth.
By the former of which, the army or host of heaven, the holy
Scriptures are wont to express both those beings in the heaven
that are invisible, and those that are visible, viz. the angels, and
the sun, moon, and stars. Both these are called the host of
heaven; and with respect to both God is styled the Lord of
hosts. And first, let us look with our minds into the invisible world,
the world of spirits, both good and bad. For that there are
such beings hath been the sense of all mankind in all ages, (as
it were easy to show, if this were a place proper for it.) but the
holy Scriptures have given us the clearest and fuhest account
of them ; not only informing us, but giving us particular in
stances how God rules and governs them with an absolute au
thority ; the good angels obeying his voice, and the devils trem
bling at his presence. That is, he governs the good by his
will, and he restrains the evil by his almighty power. The
good cheerfully perform his pleasure, and the evil are con-

seem. xxvi. before the lords, Nov. 5, 1698. 525
strained to do it; being made to serve the ends of his wise
providence, where they design to gratify their own malice.
Out of those sacred records therefore I shall briefly lay be
fore you the devout sense which the most excellent persons
have had of the extent of God's providence, without entering
into the other evident proofs we have of this doctrine.
Read then and consider those words of the royal psalmist,
and they will inform you how God governs the holy angels.
Bless the Lord, ye angels that excel in strength, that do his
commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word. Bless
the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his
pleasure ". The like you read in the very next Psalm : He
maketh his angels spirits ; his ministers a flaming fire'^. For
so did the angels sometimes appear, in a glittering and shining
manner, like a flame of fire.
And hence it is that they are styled the chariots of God ;
because they are an host or army to execute his will and plea
sure. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thou
sands of angels : the Lord is among them, as in Sinai ", SfC
And hence also they are said more particularly to be minister
ing spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs
of salvation^. That is, they minister to the wih of God for the
preservation and safety of good Christians ; unto whom God de
signs a happiness beyond this world, in his heavenly kingdom,
and therefore will not let them want his care of them while
they continue here.
And in like manner the same sovereignty of God is repre
sented in holy Scripture as governing the devils also ; whom he
awes and restrains by his power. For when he cast them out of
heaven for their rebellion against him, he delivered them into
chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgments. This judg
ment they expect, and tremble at the thoughts of it ; because
they know they cannot avoid it ; and thence are said to believe
and tremble ^. And they expect it in chains ; feel, that is, the
power of God upon them, tying them up and restraining them,
so that they cannot do what, nor go whither they please ; but
are hke great malefactors, who, till they are brought before the
<: Psalm ciii. 20. ' Heb. i. ult.
¦t Psalm civ. 4. ^ 2 Pet. ii. 4.
s- Psalm Ixviii. 17. ^ James ii. 19.

526 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxvi.
judge, are bound in chains, and cannot stir but whither their
keeper thinks fit to suffer them.
Thus we find they were perfectly subject to our blessed
Saviour ; and by him to those whom he sent to preach the
gospel, who at their return came and told him. Lord, even the
devils are subject to us through thy name •. They fled when
they did but hear of him ; they quitted their possession when
his power approached ; they were not able to stand before his
authority. Which is sufficient to show how God rules the in
visible world in every part of it, over all the hosts of angels
and legions of devils, who cannot resist his word.
And now if we lift up our eyes unto the visible heaven, we
behold there another army, the sun, moon, and stars, running
the course that God hath appointed them ; and we read also of
their standing still at his commandment. For he bringeth the
sun as a bridegroom out of his chamber, (saith the psalmist,)
and it rejoiceth as a strong young man to run a race •'. But
if he pleases he can stop its course, and hinder its motion ; as
he did in the days of Joshua, when he said, Sun, stand thou
still upon Gibeon ; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people
had avenged themselves upon tlieir enemies '. The stars also
are said to ha.ve fought in their courses against Si sera ", by
pouring out, perhaps, some violent storm upon him ; which dis
comfited his numerous army, and broke their ranks, and put
thera into such disorder, that it was apparent Heaven fought
against them.
And accordingly the thunder, which is said also to come out
of heaven, is called the voice of God " ; who is said also in the
first Lesson appointed for this day to shoot out lightning like
arrows " ; whereby David's enemies were scattered. The clouds
of heaven hkewise he is said in other places to make his chariot,
and to walk upon the wings of the wind P ; because he hath
often employed those in terrible blasts, and furious tempests of
rain and hail and stormy winds, which, as the psalmist else
where SAys, fidfil his pleasure.
i Luke X. 17. n Psalm ^xix. 5, 7,8.
" Psalm .xix. 5. o 2 Sam. xxii. 14, 15.
1 Joshua X. 12, 13. P Psalm civ. 3.
•" Judges V. 20.

SEEM, XXVI, before the lords, Nov. s, i6g6. 527
II. And now if we bring our thoughts down from the upper
regions of the world unto these lower, wherein we live, we have
the same devout acknowledgments of all good men, that he
hath an absolute dominion there, and doth according to his will
among the inhabitants of the earth, as well as in the army of
heaven. For the earth itself is said to tremble and shake
before himl, as it did at the giving of the law from Mount
Sinai, and at other times. He ruleth also the raging of the
sea : when the waves thereof arise he stilleth them'. Nor is
his dominion limited to inanimate creatures, but extends also to
every living thing, to whom he opens his hand, and satisfies
their desire^. But the principal inhabitants of the earth are
mankind, to whom he hath given dominion over all other crea
tures*, and rules over men as men rule over other things.
For he turneth man to destruction ; and sayeth. Return, ye
children ofmeW^. He lifts up and casts down according to his
pleasure. He sets up one and puts down another ; for he is
the Judge whose sentence none can reverse.
Nor doth he rule over men's outward concernments only,
but sways their minds and moves and influences their hearts :
for the preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of
the tongue, is from the Lord^.
Which is true, not only of mean persons, men of low degree,
of easy and flexible minds ; but of the highest and mightiest
orders, of the stoutest and most undaunted spirits, of kings and
princes, of their great captains and commanders, their wise
counsellors and deep statesmen, whom he frequently infatuates
and brings their counsels to naught, when they cross his will :
for with him is both strength and wisdom (as Job admirably
speaks) : he leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the
judges fools. He leadeth princes away spoiled, a)id over-
throweth the mighty. He removeth away the speech of the
trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. He
poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of
the mighty y. This was the sense of that holy man in the most
ancient times, and posterity made the same observations. For
1 2 Sam, xxii, 8 : Psalm civ, 37. " Psalm xc, 3.
r Psalm Ixxxix. 9. " Proverbs xvi. i.
s Psalm cxlv. 16. y Job xii. 16, &c.
' Genesis i. 28.

528 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxvi.
many kings (saith the son of Sirach) have sat down upon the
ground, and one that was never thought of hath worn the
crown. Many mighty men have been greatly disgraced, and
the Iwnourable delivered into other men's hands'-.
Nor, lastly, doth he govern single persons only, but kingdoms
also, and the greatest societies of men. From whence he is
called the God of the kingdoms of the earth \ and said to rule
over all the kingdoms of the heathen, (as well as over his people
Israel,) with such a power and might, as none is able to with
stand^. Thus I have, as briefly as I could, represented the extent of
God's dominion and providence, which rules over the whole
world, visible and invisible ; reaching to all things in heaven
and to all in earth ; to all and every creature, and to all the
concerns of every one of them. II.
I proceed now to the second thing I undertook, which is to
show the way and method of this divine government, whereby
it will appear that all this that I have reported from the holy
Scripture is evidently true, and cannot be denied by those who
believe God to be the Creator of heaven and of earth.
And here I shall consider only these four things :
First, that God sees and knows all things throughout the
world. Secondly, that nothing can come to pass but what he either
effects or perraits.
Thirdly, he effects and permits nothing but for wise and
worthy ends. And,
Fourthly, he certainly accomplishes these ends, and that by
such means as he pleases.
I . First, I say, God sees and knows all things, all persons,
and whatsoever appertains unto them ; and that in all possible
measures, in measures infinite and incomprehensible by us ; but
which we are sure to be true, because he made and formed all
things, and therefore must be privy to every motion which it is
possible for them to have, and is present to every the smallest
inclination they make to any motion. He knows their nature,
he understands the virtue of every cause, he perfectly compre
hends what it can do, and how far it can go ; he discerns its in-
2 Ecclus. xi. 5, 6. » 2 Kings xix. 15. ^ 2 Chron. xx. 6.

SEEM. XXVI. before the lords, Nov. 5, 1696. 529
tentions and what it designs ; nothing can be concealed from
him, but every thing hes naked, bare, and open before him.
For the eyes of the Lord, saith his prophet, run to and fro
throughout the whole earth", that is, his knowledge compre
hends all things every where.
And as for man, his ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and he ponder etli all his goings^ ; for his eyes are in every
place, beholding the evil and the good".
Nor are his outward actions only exposed to him, but all the
thoughts and designs of his heart : for hell and destruction
are before tlie Lord : how much more then the hearts of tlie
children ofmen^! The most secret imaginations of their minds,
the deepest desires of their souls, all the windings and turnings
of their spirits in their most retired consultations, even those
motions which are not observed by themselves, are all known
to God. Whence those expressions in the prophet Jeremiah,
xvii, 1 o, I the Lord search the heart and try the reins, even to
give to every man according to his ways, and according to the
fruit of his doings. And in the prophet, Ezekiel, xi. 5, Thus
saith the Lord, Thus have ye said, 0 house of Israel: for I
know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
Which declare that God doth not only see and know what is
subject to outward view, but the very thoughts of men's hearts
also ; yea, and every one of those thoughts, and the entrance
or beginning of them.
II. But further, as he infallibly knows all things, so nothing
comes to pass but what he either effects or permits ; and per
mits, not because he cannot, but because he is not pleased to
hinder it, for he acts every where according to his will. There
is a providence in all things under his government, but there is
a difference in the exercise of it. That which is good and
worthy of God in the mind, and counsels, and actings of men,
that may and ought to be ascribed to God and to his grace,as
guiding, aiding, and assisting therein. But that which is wicked
in them must not be thus ascribed to him, as if he moved or
excited them to it, (for he cannot will any thing that is evil,)
but only that he did permit it when he could have hindered it,
for the accomplishment of such ends as those wicked agents did
'^ 3 Chron. xvi. 9. -^ Prov. v. 21. « Prov. xv. 3. ' Prov. xv. 11.
PATEICK, VOL, vm. M m

530 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxvi.
not think of. In both these are the clear lines of providence,
though in different characters.
For how often do we read of God's working what he pleases
throughout the world ; particularly Psalm cxxxv. 5, 6, / knov}
that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.
Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did lie in heaven, and in
earth, in the seas, and all deep places. Where, as he effects
what he thinks good, so nothing can be effected by any agent,
unless he think good to permit it. For he awes the thoughts,
and restrains the passions, and binds the hands, and fetters the
goings of men, so that they cannot move a step but as he suffers
them. Whence that of Jacob to his wives. Your father hath
deceived me, and changed my wages ten times : but God suf
fered him not to hurt me° ; that is, let him proceed no further
in his projects than to show his ill intentions towards me. And
thus David, speaking of the patriarchs, and of God's respect
towards them and care of them, saith, He suffered no man to
do them wrong ; yea, he reproved kings for their sake, saying.
Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no liarm^- The
greatest resolution can proceed no further, the strongest power
can effect no more than the supreme Governor of all wih
allow. III. And as nothing comes to pass but what he either effects
or permits, so he effects and permits nothing but for wise and
holy ends. He that is infinitely wise cannot but exercise that
wisdom in ah that fahs under its view ; for did he not so, he
were not infinitely wise. And for the same reason, he that is
infinitely holy cannot but design most holy ends in all the contri
vances of his wisdom. From whence it is that the holy books
ascribe the event of things not merely to his will, but to the coun
sel of his will. For with him is wisdom and strength, (as Job
admirably speaks in the chapter before named,) he hath counsel
and understanding. Behold he breaks down, and it cannot be
built up again ; he shuts up a man, and there can be no
opening^. Which he manifests to be true sometimes in such
surprising ways, that the prophet Isaiah saith, he is wonderful
in wisdom, and excellent in working^. And Jeremiah, that he
is great in counsel, and mighty in work^, and as St. Paul sums
g Genesis xxxi. 7. ¦ Job xii. 13, 14 ; k Isa. xxviii. 29.
h Psalm cv. 14, 15. 1 Jer. xxxii. 19.

sebm. xxvi. before the lords, Nov. 5, 1 696. 531
up this matter, worketh all things after the counsel ofhi.s oivn
ivill'^. Nor doth his wisdom manifest itself in his doings only, but
in his permissions too ; in what he suffers to be done even con
trary to his own commands. The sinner intends one thing in
the sin he commits, and God intends another in permitting it.
The sinner to gratify his own lusts, his pride, his rage, am
bition, covetousness, or revenge : but God to magnify his justice,
his power and wisdom, whereby he punishes, corrects, amends,
improves, and perfects men, according as they are severally
qualified for his favour or displeasure.
Thus what Joseph's brethren did to satisfy their envy, God
suffered for most excellent purposes ; to save their whole family
in a sore and general famine, and to accomplish what he said
to Abraham, that his seed should long sojourn in Egypt : and
thus the invasion of the king of Assyria was permitted by God
as a chastisement of the Jews for their many and great sins ;
but intended by him to fill his coffers by spoil and rapine. 0
Assyrian, saith the Lord by the prophet, the rod of my anger
and the staff in your hand is my indignation ". Did he then
intend to serve God in this expedition, and execute his anger ?
No such thing: for thus it follows, ver. 7, Howbeit, he meaneth
not so, neither doth his heart think so ; but it is in his heart
to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few. That is, to make
all the ravage he is able.
Thus you see that whatsoever men design and intend, God
always designs some just, wise, and holy end, in all that he
effects or permits in the world.
IV, And as he designs these ends, so they certainly come to
pass, in despite of all opposition that contrary powers can make
against them : for none can stay his hand, or say unto him,
What doest thou ? And as none can withstand his power, so none
can avoid his counsels, or control his purposes : for there is no
wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord °.
But the counsel of the Lord, saith David, standeth for ever ;
and the thoughts of his heart to all generations v. And thus
it standeth against all opposition and contrivances of men : for
there are many devices in man's heart, but the coimsel of the
"" Eph, i. II. " Isa. X. 5. " Prov. xxi. 30.
P Psalm xxxiii. 1 1 .
m m 2

s

532 A thanksgiving sermon seem, xxvi.
Lord, that shall standi. And all the skill wherewith any
understanding creature is or can be endued, all the devices and
projects of men's hearts, are as subject unto his incomprehen
sible wisdom, and the counsel of his will, as the life, being, and
motion of natural things. Which subjection doth no way
deprive them of all liberty and freedom in consulting, devising,
and projecting, but only of power to appoint such success as
they please to their own projects and devices. And the more
ample we allow the sphere of any creature's liberty to be in
devising and projecting, the more admirable doth the counsel
of the Most High appear, in directing and ordering its free
courses to such ends as he appoints.
Now these ends God accomplishes sometimes by common
and ordinary means, sometimes by means wholly miraculous,
and sometimes by such as are not wholly miraculous, but have
something extraordinary in them.
First, sometimes by comraon and ordinary means, as when
the dihgent hand getteth riches, and slothfulness and neghgence
brings men to poverty : when the proud and ambitious fah
into a snare, which entangles them in destruction, and the
meek, the humble and patient inherit the earth. These means
commonly produce such ends, yet not without success from
God, who sometimes is pleased to hinder their production, for
reasons best known to himself. So the Son of Sirach hath
observed. Prosperity and adversity, life and death, poverty
and riches, come of the Lord '¦, The last of which he thus
explains in the foregoing verses, ii, 12: There is one that
laboureth, and taketh pains, and maketh haste, and is so
much the more behind. Again, there is another that is slow,
and hath need of help, wanting ability, and full of poverty ;
yet the eye of the Lord looketh upon him for good, and setteth
him up from his low estate. In these common things (parti
cularly in ploughing, sowing, and harvest, &c.) we do not
attribute to God so much as we ought to do : and one reason
of it is, that we either are not conversant in the holy Scrip
tures, or do not mind them when we read them. And " the
often repetition of the words of life (as an excehent man of our
own long ago observed) without due reverence and attention to
them, breeds an insensibihty or deadness in men's souls."
1 Prov. .xix. 21. r Ecclus, xi, 14,

SEEM. XXVI, before the lords, Nov. 5, 1 696, 533
II. Which is so true, that though God sometimes produces
the ends he designs (as I observed in the second place) by
such means as are wholly miraculous, yet men's souls continue
benumbed and stupified, unless they seriously consider, and lay
them to heart. For thus he often ruled among the stubborn
Jews : whom he seems to have chosen to be a theatre of his
providence, in them to give a demonstration unto all the
nations of the world, and to all following generations, of his
power ruling every where. Thus he delivered them out of the
hand of Pharaoh by an outstretched arm (as Moses speaks).
Thus he passed them through the Red sea ; thus he fed and
maintained them in the wilderness ; and at last brought them
into Canaan, by a continued succession of wonders wrought by
his mighty power among them, that all the ends of the earth
might fear him.
III. But sometimes he works his ends by a middle sort of
means or causes, such as are not perfectly miraculous, but yet
have something extraordinary in them.
When second causes are not proportionable to their effects,
when they produce things unexpected, and which seem alto
gether improbable, when lesser things prevail over greater,
weaker overthrow the strength of those that seemed in all
human judgment to be far mightier; here is something that is
very extraordinary, something that is remarkable, a mar
vellous hand of God, though nothing, perhaps, perfectly
miraculous. Read the story of Esther and Mordecai, and
observe how they prevailed against the potent interest and
dreadful project of Haman, (in which the whole empire was en
gaged,) and you will find such a concurrence of strange things
as will convince you there was a wonderful hand of God in it.
Every one of those occurrences apart may seem usual and
ordinary ; as that king Ahasuerus could not sleep, and that he
called for a book to divert him rather than instruments of
music ; and that they brought the chronicles of the kingdom
rather than any other book, and that they read there where
Mordecai's good deeds were recorded, but had been forgotten
by him ; and that Hainan should just then come into the court,
when the king inquired what had been done for Mordecai, and
should himself unwittingly contrive the greatest honour to be
put upon him, and appointed to be the instrument of it ; these

534 A thanksgiving sermon seem, xxvl
and all the rest, considered severally and singly, alone by
themselves, cannot be called extraordinary ; but take them all
together, in their entire frame and composure, it is such as
cannot be ascribed to any but his workmanship, who created all
things by an astonishing artifice.
Thus are things that seem unlikely brought to pass by the
secret counsel of God, against the most powerful interest, con
trivances, and combinations that can be raised upon earth.
And of this sort were those two great providences of God,
for which we bless him this day ; and are met here together to
celebrate the remembrance of them publicly with our thankful
acknowledgments. First, the happy deliverance of king James the First, and
the three estates of this realm, from the most traitorous and
bloody intended massacre by gunpowder.
Secondly, the happy arrival of his present majesty on this
day for the dehverance of our church and nation.
The former of these was a deliverance so wonderful, if it be
considered in all its circumstances, that it can hardly be
paralleled in any human story. I will mention but these two
things :
First, the inevitableness of our danger according to human
reason. Secondly, the marvellous manner of its discovery and pre
vention. I. In the former of these there are two circumstances which
show the intended destruction was inevitable, if God by an ex
traordinary providence had not interposed to prevent it.
They are, the secresy of its contrivance, and the persons by
whom it was contrived and managed.
I . As to the secresy of the contrivance, it was so great, that
the conspirators themselves boasted of it in the letter which
discovered all, wherein were these words : " They shall receive
a terrible blow this parliament, and yet they shah not see who
hurts them." For so secret was the design, that though it had
been long working, yet it lay concealed, without the least
inkling of it, till within twelve hours of its intended execution.
It was a work of darkness, framed under ground, where no eye
(but God's) could see them. They buried their counsel in the
depth of the earth, and bound themselves hkewise by the most

SEEM. XXVI. before the lords, Nov. 5, 1 696. 535
sacred ties never to disclose, directly or indirectly, by word or
circumstance, the matter propounded to them to keep secret ;
nor desist from the execution thereof, unless the rest should
give leave.
Thus every man swore that entered into this conspiracy,
by the blessed Trinity, and by the sacrament, Avhich then they
received. 2. After this it was not likely they should either disclose it,
or desist from it ; if we consider, secondly, the persons engaged
in it; who were men of desperate resolution, as well as of
desperate principles. They were all inspired with a false
religious zeal, spurred on by a fancy that they were about an
action meritorious, whereby they should highly serve God and
his catholic church : which so hardened their hearts, that he
who was first apprehended was not so much as abashed, nor
expressed the least sign of trouble, but only for this, that he
had not done the execution. When the rest also came to
suffer for this treason they did not repent of it, nor beg
pardon, unless upon this condition, that the pope and the
church should declare it a sin : which I do not find they have
done to this day.
Now how could men of such principles and resolution relent
or think of going back, when they certainly believed they were
set on work by God, and were warranted by his will, and in
fallibly guided by his chief minister to bring the greatest glory
to God, and to advance his religion ? These and the like ad
vantages made the discovery of this conspiracy so unlikely,
that they were fully assured in their own minds of the success.
II. And yet, now behold how this work of darkness was
brought to light even by themselves, for it could no otherways
be discovered; and that it should be discovered by them is
littie short of a miracle. For you have heard how they were
bound by a solemn oath not to give the least intimation of it,
directly or indirectly, by word or by circumstance. And yet
so it was, that one of them, who was wihing to work such a
public mischief, had a desire to secure a private friend from the
danger. And this against his own intention, against his reso
lution, against his oath, as weU as against his interest : nay,
and against the judgment of their oracle, (F. Garnet, the Jesuit,)
who had settled this point in a deliberate answer to this question

536 ^'1 thanksgiving sernwn seem. xxvi.
proposed to him, whether the innocent (that is, those of their
rehgion) might be destroyed with the guilty, (that is, with
those of ours,) when the good that would come thereby would
abundantly compensate their loss? Unto which he gave this
resolution. That they might ; nay, that it would be a thing of
great merit, if thereby some great benefit would be procured to
the catholics ^. Notwithstanding all which contrary obhgations,
one of them opened a little crevice whereby there was a way
made to look into this work of hellish darkness.
This most certainly was the extraordinary hand of God, and
ought to be so acknowledged by us. It was not extraordinary,
indeed, that one of them should admonish an honourable friend
of a danger, unless it were in this, that there should be so much
good nature loft in the breast of a man who had consented to the
ruin of his country. But without question this was extraordi
nary, that a man under such sacred ties of the strictest secresy,
should give the smallest notice of a danger, and that he should
express his mind in such terms as gave apprehensions of sorae
unusual hidden and unseen danger, and (lastly) that the mind of
the king should be awakened to apprehend a danger by some
blast of gunpowder.
These things ought to be ascribed to that most watchful pro
vidence of God whereof I have been discoursing, which some
times in an extraordinary manner disappoints the devices of the
crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. To
this alone the king and the whole kingdom ascribe it in that act
of parliament which is appointed to be read in all parish churches
this day ; wherein they acknowledge, God was pleased, by in
spiring the king's most excellent majesty with a divine spirit, to
interpret some dark phrases of a letter, above and beyond all
ordinary construction, miraculously to discover this hidden
treason, not many hours before the appointed time for the ex
ecution. They call it miraculous in a large sense, because it was extra
ordinary, wonderful, and amazing, as miraculous events are.
And therefore those protestants who would entitie a great
- [See the earl of Northampton's &c., published by Barker, the king's
si)e6ch in the official narrative, or printer, 4to. Lond. 1606; and the
" True and perfect relation of the speech of sir E. Coke, in Howell's
proceedings against the late traitor," State Trials, vol. ii. col. 229.]

SEEM. XXVI. before the lords, Nov. s, '696. 537
statesman to the discovery have justly been thought to have a
spice of atheism in their breasts, as a great man observed who
lived in those days. They would have nothing (saith he) im
puted to God, whose hand was so visible in this discovery, that
it could not be denied, but by ascribing it to an oracle of in-
tehigence in those times ; who they say (without any other
authority for it but their own) knew of this conspiracy long
before, and let it go on, because he could catch them when he
pleased. But as this is for private men to give the lie to the whole
kingdom, king and all, so it is to rob God of the glory of his
marvellous works ; and therein to be worse than heathens, who
ascribed such strange events to some unknown god, or to the
goddess Fortune, rather than think there was nothing but human
contrivance in them. Far be it from any of us to entertain such
a thought, which can spring from nothing but an unwillingness
to believe that doctrine of providence which Nebuchadnezzar
himself here proclaims to all the world, when he saith, He doth
according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth, &c.
Nor is the providence of God less apparent in that other
great- mercy for which this day is become memorable, as
might be shown in all the foregoing particulars. But let it
suffice to remember you in general, that when the design of
destroying our religion and liberties had been laid with great
secresy, and carried on with such subtlety for many years, that
our foot was in the snare before we perceived that it was laid
for us ; when the nation had been so deluded by fair promises
and by their own credulity, that the danger wherein we were
did not appear till we knew not how to avoid it ; when our
Romish adversaries had gotten such an absolute power over us,
that it emboldened them to break through all restraints of law
and every other obligation. Then, when we were in these
straits, God was pleased to raise up the spirit of our present
sovereign to enterprise our deliverance, and with the hazard of
his own person to endeavour our preservation.
And as nothing could discourage him in this undertaking
(but though he was driven back by a tempest at his first setting
out, he calmly pursued his resolution, trusting in that Al
mighty Providence unto which he had committed himself) ; so

538 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxvi.
he found all things in the issue succeed much beyond all expec
tation. God turned the hearts of the whole realm to favour his
design so far as^to wish prosperity to him in his voyage hither.
And hejturned the winds also to be so favourable, that if they had
been absolutely at his own disposal, he could not have com
manded them to be more obsequious to him than he found
them. For when he was brought to our coast by a strong
gale in a very speedy course, and had overshot his port, the
wind changed immediately and brought him back to his desired
haven. These are but a few of those wonderful things that con
curred to his safe landing here on this day eight years, without
any opposition ; and made him appear like a hand out of a
cloud to rescue us from our eminent danger ; being so befriended
from above, that with a handful of men in comparison he struck
such a terror into his enemies, that they melted before him as the
wax before the fire, and were scattered as the dust before the
wind. He was received every where with the joyful acclamations
of the people, and in a short time placed peaceably upon the
throne of these kingdoms.
Thus God dashed in a moment the projects that had been
forming nobody knows how many years. Their long laid designs
miscarried on a sudden, when they thought nothing could hinder
the execution. A deliverer was sent unexpectedly to us when
we were ready to perish, and without any contrivance of ours
we saw all the contrivances of those that hated us utterly broken
in pieces.
This we must acknowledge was brought about by the singular
providence of God, who, when we were left in very great con
fusion, wrought things beyond our hopes into the happy settle
ment we now enjoy. We cannot ascribe such a wonderful re
volution of affairs to mere human force, which was very small ;
but to the omnipotent hand of God, whose kingdom, saith the
psalmist, ruleth over all : and who scattereth the proud (as the
blessed virgin speaks in her song) in the imaginations of their
heart ; putting down the mighty from their seats, and exalting
them of low degree'^.
Of which doctrine great use may and ought to be made, both
by them whom God hath thus wonderfully defeated, and by our
selves, whom he hath preserved from their wicked contrivances.
^ Luke i. 51, 52.

SEEM. XXVI. before the lords, Nov. 5, 1696. 539
To the former, another holy woman hath given most excellent
counsel in her song. Talk no more so exceeding proudly, let
not arrogancy come out of your mouth : for the Lord is a God
of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of
the mighty men are broken ; and they that stumbled are girt
with strength*.
But we ourselves are most concerned to make a right use of
what hath been said ; and therefore I say no more to others,
but apply myself to those who enjoy the benefit of these great
deliverances which God hath vouchsafed to us.
I.
And first, we should all learn to live in a constant sense of
God, and of his overruling providence ; and accordingly in all
our affairs, whether public or private, to have a regard to hira,
to acknowledge him, and to put our whole trust in hiin : con
sidering that he governs the world, and governs it according
to his wise will and pleasure. His eyes behold all the con
cernments of the sons of men : nothing comes to pass but what
he effects or permits among them. He effects and permits
nothing but out of wise, holy, and excellent ends ; and whatso
ever ends he absolutely purposes, those he will certainly ac-
comphsh. And therefore in all our ways, we ought, as I said,
to have a respect unto him, and commit ourselves and under
takings unto the direction of his good providence : and above
all things take care that we be found in such courses as he
approves, and we may rationally hope he will favour and bless.
For there is not a greater comfort in the world than this doc
trine, if we render ourselves capable of the favour of his good
providence. Which is, by endeavouring that our ways may be
so pleasing to God, that we may humbly expect he whl suc
ceed and prosper them ; unless he intend some greater good to
us by the disappointment. II.
That is the next use we ought to make of this doctrine ; to
take the strictest care that we never so much as design, much
less undertake any thing, but what we know is agreeable to
God's most holy wih, and upon which we may look for his
blessing. For though he may permit sinners to do evil, and for the
* I Sam. ii. 3, 4.

540 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxvi.
present to work their own ends by it ; yet, as this is no excuse
to those sinners, so it will prove no advantage to them in the
issue : nay, he often dashes all their hopes, and spoils all their
projects in a moment, when they little expect it. But if we
delight ourselves in the Lord, and do good (as the psalmist
speaks, xxxvii. 3, 4,) he will give us the desires of our heart :
or make even disappointments to prove advantageous to us, by
that good Providence which knows how to work all things for
the good of those that love him. And on the other side, what
soever mischief wicked men devise against us, he will either
wholly put it by, or let it proceed so far only as to make his
wisdom appear in their defeat ; or let it succeed to produce the
greatest good to those that fear him.
We must live therefore in the fear and love of God, in duti
ful obedience to our sovereign and to the laws ; and be just,
and charitable, and kind one to another. For in these and
such like things we are sure we fulfil the will of God, and
therefore may promise ourselves to be favoured by his Al
mighty Providence. III.
Unto whom we are bound to be very thankful for the pros
perous issues and events of all good designs in the world, whe
ther of our own or other men ; and for the defeating of all
wicked contrivances ; and more particularly those wherein the
public safety and tranquilhty is concerned ; especially such sin
gular providences of God as we this day commemorate.
If God demonstrate his providence in any thing here in this
world, (and I have proved he shows it in all things,) he exer
cises it in the governing, defending, and protecting of public
persons and societies. And never was there a more visible ap
pearance of the Divine Providence over a kingdom than in the
discovery and prevention of the gunpowder treason, and in
the late defeat which he unexpectedly gave to the same con
spirators against our rehgion and hberties. Concerning both
which dehverances we may say, as the psalmist doth in an
other case. They imagined a mischievous device, which they
were not able to perform. They travailed with iniquity, they
conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. They made
a pit, and digged it, ami are fallen into the pit which they
made. For the event of the gunpowder conspiracy, by the

SEEM. XXVI. before the lords, Nov. ^, 1696. 541
merciful providence of the Almighty, proved the discloser of it
to be a false prophet, and to have spoken presumptuously, when
he said in his. letter, "that God and man had concurred to
punish the iniquity of those times" by that blow which they
intended. The blow, blessed be God, fell upon themselves ; and
they suffered the just punishment of their own iniquities. In
the snare which they laid was their own foot taken, and they
fell by their own wickedness ; but we escaped as a bird out of
the snare of the fowler : the snare was broken, and we were de
livered. So that I may say as king James did upon this occasion,
" Whereas they thought to extirpate us and our memory, their
infamous memory shall by this means remain to the end of the
world." Upon the one part, and upon the other, God's great
and merciful deliverance of his anointed, and of us all, shall re
main in never dying records ; and the same God grant, that
it may be engraven in marble tables of thankfulness in our
hearts. IV.
But we must not express our gratitude merely in rendering
praise and thanksgiving unto the Author of our deliverances ;
but in the faithful improvement of them also to his glory : by
the sincere love and practice of that holy rehgion, which hath
been so often in such a marvellous manner preserved, and still
is continued to us.
A religion which teaches us to worship God most purely, and
to believe all things that he hath revealed unto us ; to honour
and obey the king also most conscientiously, next to God : for
it acknowledges no superior to him in these his realms and
dominions, nor will let us believe that anybody can dispense
with the duty we owe him. A religion which abhors private
conspiracies and rebelhon, as much as it doth heresies and
schisms ; which leads us in the way of the truly catholic church
of Christ ; which doth not allow us to do any evil for the ob
taining the greatest good. In short, a rehgion which is wholly
built upon the undoubted word of God, and not upon the un
certain traditions of men.
Unto this therefore let us adhere with a steadfast affection
and unshaken fidelity. Let us preserve this most carefully,

542 A thanksgiving sermon seem. xxvi.
which hath been wonderfully preserved by God. And there is
no way to preserve it like a sincere practice of that piety
which it teacheth us : in which let us endeavour to grow more
and more, and be quickened to it by these two motives.
First, that the work of reformation itself was at first ef
fected by an extraordinary providence of God, through mean
and weak instruments ; when many greater persons, who
wished for a reformation, thought it impossible to be brought
about. Secondly, that it hath been here among us in as extraor
dinary a manner preserved, by the same Almighty providence
whereby it was wrought. So our forefathers have testified
unto us, who saw this day which God himself made memorable
by the marvellous deliverance which he vouchsafed to them.
And so we ourselves are able to testify, who have again seen
his salvation upon this very day ; which he hath made anew to
be a day of praise to hira and blessing to us.
Let us be afraid of provoking so gracious and bountiful a
Benefactor by obstinate disobedience to his holy laws, which
he hath bound upon us by such endearing obligations. Let us
cheerfully do his will, who hath done for us according to our
heart's desire. This was the end for which God vouchsafed
such wonderful deliverances unto Israel as are recorded in
Psalm cv., that they might observe his statutes and keep his
laws. So that Psalm concludes ; and the very same, no doubt,
God expects frora us, who ought to charge ourselves with these
two things.
First, to preserve the raemory of what God hath done for us,
for lie hath so done his marvellous works, that they might be
had in remembrance, as the psalmist speaks ".
And secondly, to consider, that then we remember them as
we ought, when we remember his commandmei/itts to do them.
Then we may have a good hope that the Lord, who hath been
mindful of us, will still bless us, he will bless the house of
Israel, lie will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them
that fear the Lord, both small and great ^. For the mercy of
tlie Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that
fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children : to
« Psalm cxi. 4. '^ Psalm cxv. 12, 13.

SEEM. XXVI. fte/bre the lords, Nov. 5, 1696, 543
such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his
commandments to do themy.
Which the God of all grace give us hearts sincerely to re
solve and study for the sake of Christ Jesus : to whom, with
the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory and majesty, do
minion and power, both now and ever. Amen,
y Psalm ciii. 17, 18.

A LETTER

OF THE

BISHOP OF ELY TO HIS CLERGY,

BEFORE HIS PRIMARY VISITATION.

1692.

PATEICK, VOL. VIII. N U

A LETTER OF
THE BISHOP OF ELY
TO HIS CLERGY

Mt deae beetheen,
THAT the Visitation I shortly intend may be more easy to
myself, and more profitable to my diocese, I have thought fit
to desire a few things of you beforehand.
I. It would be a good preparation to the inquiries I am then
to make, if you would call yourselves to an account how you
have performed the several parts of the duty incumbent on
you ; and if you find you have been neghgent, to resolve upon
and immediately begin a sincere reformation. I am not able
to mention them all in a short letter, but the very first thing
in the Book of Common Prayer deserves to be seriously con
sidered : where you are enjoined " to say daily the morning
and evening prayer, either privately or openly," &c. It is
possible, I am sure, to observe one part of this injunction, if
you cannot observe the other; that is, if you cannot procure a
congregation to meet daily in the church, yet you may, and
therefore ought, to read the service of the church in your own
famihes, either " privately or openly, not being hindered by
sickness, or some other urgent cause," which cannot happen
every day. This, if solemnly performed, would be a powerful
means to preserve an awful sense of God continually upon your
minds, and to make " yourselves and your families wholesome
examples to the flock of Christ," as you promised to endeavour
at your ordination.
Read over the vows you then made, and the charge which
was then given you, and examine yourselves faithfully how
you have observed them; which would save me the labour
either of mentioning all other particulars of your duty here, or
making long exhortations to you when I meet you at the visit-
^ Rubric 2, 3. after the preface concerning the service of the church.
N n a

548 A letter to the clergy of Ely.
ation, all being comprised in the promises you made at that
time, if they be distinctly pondered.
If I had therefore but one request to make to you, it should
be this ; that every morning the first thing you do, you would
call to mind that you are the ministers of Jesus Christ, who
have made such and such promises to him when you were ad
mitted into his service : which if you grant me, it could not
fail to have a great effect upon your hearts and lives. For
how could any man neglect to preach the word of God dih
gently, to catechise the children, visit the sick, reconcile differ
ences, and all the rest, with due care and fidelity ; when he
had it always in his mind that this is his business, and that he
promised to God before his people that he would make this his
business, and conscientiously attend it ? You cannot think of
appearing before our Lord and Master with any confidence, if
you have not made good your word to him.
II. I am loath to suppose that any who have sworn allegiance
to their present majesties neglect to observe the monthly fasts
appointed by their authority ; to implore God's blessing upon
their persons, and the prosperity of their arms. But there
being reports that some are guilty of such scandalous omissions
in several parts of this kingdom ; I beseech you to take care
that there be no such complaint made to me of any in my dio
cese : and let me not find that any omit the use of that form
of prayer which is enjoined on that occasion : after which I
will make a solemn inquiry, and am commanded so to do.
III. I hope you received, two years ago, a letter of his
majesty's to the bishop of London, ordered to be communicated
to both provinces, of Canterbury and York. Wherem he re
quires all the bishops to keep a strict watch over their clergy,
and more particularly to order them to preach frequently
against those sins and vices which are most prevaihng in this
realm : as namely, against blasphemy, swearing, and cursing,
against perjury, against drunkenness, and against profanation
of the Lord's day. And, in those Lord's days on which such
sermons are preached, to read also to the people such statutes
of this realm as are provided against that vice which is their
subject on that day : which statutes were printed together with
that letter, and ordered to be transmitted to every parish in
both provinces. I most earnestly entreat you to observe these

A letter to the clergy of Ely. 549
injunctions ; for they were not intended for that year only,
but to continue till we saw the blessed effects of them in a
hearty reformation.
And for your better direction in this matter, let me desire
you to observe this method. On the Sunday sevennight before
the assizes, it will be most proper to read the act of parhament
against perjury, and to preach upon that subject. On the
second Sunday in May it will be seasonable to read the act for
observation of the Lord's day, and exhort your parishioners to
the rehgious observation of it. On the first Sunday in Advent,
read the act against blasphemy, swearing, and cursing, and
preach against those sins. On the fourth Sunday in Lent,
against the sins of adultery and fornication. It hath been
intended that homilies be provided for all these days ; but till
they be, let every one furnish himself with sermons upon these
heads, and continue this course from year to year.
IV. There have been such foul practices in clandestine mar
riages, that they produced lately a bill in parhament, which if
it had passed into an act would have fallen very heavily upon us
all, and cast no small reproach upon us, for standing in need of
such severe means for our reformation. Which if we would
avoid, let us observe the canons of the church exactly, and
there will be no such abuses to be corrected by anybody but
ourselves alone. I resolve by God's grace to observe that part
of them which concerns me, by proceeding against him as a
person suspended for three years ipso facto who shaU offend
against the sixty-second canon. I hope you will as carefully
observe your part, which is, (as you may there read,) not to
marry any persons without asking in the church, or such a
license as the law allows ; and at no hour but between eight
and twelve in the forenoon, nor in any place but in the church
or chapel where one of the parties dwell ; and not without con
sent of parents or guardians, if the parties to be married be
under the age of one and twenty years.
Let no person, under the colour of any peculiar liberty or
privilege belonging to the church or chapel, presume to do
otherwise ; for the penalty of suspension for three years will,
notwithstanding fall upon him, as he may learn by the
next canon sixty-three, which I am resolved to see put in
execution. V, And now let me prevail with you to take some pains.

550 A letter to the clergy of Ely.
where you find it necessary, with your churchwardens, to con
vince them of the obligation that is laid upon them, by a solemn
oath, to make a faithful answer to my inquiries ; which shall be
as few as may be, that they may be the better able to give sa
tisfaction to every one of them.
It would be a great comfort to me, as well as credit to this
church, to find the usual answer true : but pray them to con
sider what a guht they bring upon their souls, if they say. All
things are well, and as they ought to be ; when they know in
their consciences that many things are quite otherwise.
Beseech them, as they love their own souls, not to increase the
sins of the nation, when we are endeavouring to reform thera,
VI, Particularly press them earnestly, and assist them to
present to me all those who profess to live in the comraunion of
our church, and are of age, and yet neglect to receive the
holy communion at least three times in the year, as by law
they are bound to do. For such people not only wrong their
own souls, as the wise man speaks, but bring a great scandal
upon our church and religion. For what other Christians are
there in the world who suffer their members to live without
any solemn regard to their blessed Lord and Master who died
for them ? As all those do who never commemorate his won
derful love by receiving the holy sacrament of his body and
blood. For the Lord's sake let this gross neglect be amended.
And let me prevail with you to put in practice the first rubric
before the communion office, which directs all those who intend
to partake of the holy communion to signify their names to the
curate, at least some time the day before ; that he may both
know what quantity of bread and wine is necessary to be pro
vided for communicants, and also discourse with those young
persons who may need instruction, and admonish those who are
notorious and open evil livers, or have any way injured their
neighbours, (as the next rubric directs,) to abstain from the
Lord's table till they have openly declared their sincere pur
pose of amendment, and made satisfaction for the wrong they
have done. This would be the more easy to perform, if as many
as intend to communicate would be persuaded (as I hope with
out much difficulty they may) to come to the public prayers,
which I beseech you never fail to have in the church on the
Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays before the communion,
however you may want a congregation at other times ; and in

A letter to the clergy of Ely. 551
great and market towns, if not in others, I hope you may be
able to keep up monthly communions, as well as prayers on all
Wednesdays and Fridays.
VII. There is another thing, in which both you and the
churchwardens are concerned, of which I beseech you due care
may be taken, which is, to bring in to me, or to the archdeacon
at his next visitation, a terrier of the glebe lands, meadows,
gardens, orchards, and all other things belonging to your par
sonage or vicarage, with an account of any customs of tithings
which have been used among you, that so the maintenance pro
vided for God's ministers by our pious ancestors may be pre
served. It is so great a sin and shame to let those buildings which
they erected for the service of God, and for our commodious
habitation, run to decay, that I must desire you likewise to in
form me truly whether both the church and chancel of your
parish, and also your own houses and outhouses, be in good
repair. It makes my heart ache, I assure you, to think that
any of us should so far degenerate from our worthy progenitors
as not to uphold those fabrics in a good condition which they
raised from the ground with great cost and charges.
Let us all endeavour to redeem ourselves from this infamy.
It would be very useful also to have an inventory under your
and the churchwardens' hands of all the utensils belonging to
your church, which I desire you to deliver unto me, or unto my
archdeacon at his next visitation, to be kept in the register's
office : of this the archbishop hath required me to take an account.
VIII, And now let me beseech your conscientious care in
some things which concern myself as well as you.
I. It is my duty to confirm such as are prepared for it ; which
that it may be done to edification, and all disorders and crowds
may then be avoided, I pray you to take notice that I will con
firm none but such whose names shall be given to me in writ
ing by you the ministers of the several parishes from whence
they come, with a certificate under your hands that you have
examined them, and find them not only able to repeat tho
words of the church catechism, but also sensible of the solemn
vow which was made in their names at their baptism, and de
sirous to renew the same themselves. Let it be your endeavour
therefore to dispose the young people of your parish unto this,
by presenting to them the necessity and the benefit thereof.

552 A letter to the clergy of Ely.
And, for the better performance of it, I design to confirm as
frequently as I am able, not only in my visitation, (when we
have so much other business, that I desire those only who are
near then to attend me,) but at other times, and in such
churches as I shall be advised to be most convenient, where
those in the neighbourhood who are fit to be confirmed may be
appointed to resort unto me,
II. Giving holy orders is another weighty care of mine,
about which I cannot be too solicitous, and wherein I must beg
your assistance. And first, I entreat you not to set your hands
to the testimonial of any person, but upon your own certain
knowledge of his life and conversation for the space of three
years next before, as the XXXIVth canon requires. It would
much conduce to restrain young men from vice, if they had no
hope to gain a testimonial of their good life and behaviour from
the easiness or civility of their neighbours, or any other raeans,
but merely from their own known virtue. Make a conscience
of this, and it will go a great way to reform the church. And
secondly, do not send any person to me with an empty title,
for I will admit none to orders upon a curacy, unless it be a com
petency to be continued tih he be otherways provided for.
And lastly, let me desire you to signify unto such as you find
desirous to be put into holy orders, that I expect they come to
me, or certify me of their intentions a month, at least, before
Ordination Sunday ; that I may be able to give notice of it to
the parish or place where they hve, that if they have any im
pediment to object why they should not be admitted, I may
have timely information of it.
For there cannot be too much care taken that the flock of
Christ be not committed into the hands of bad men, but such
may be set over them as will watch for their souls, and fleeing
youthful lusts will follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace,
with tliem that out of a pure heart call upon the Lordl.
Unto whose grace and blessing I do most heartily commend
you and your labours.
April 20, 1692.
SYMON ELIENSIS.
1 Heb. xiii. 17; 2 Tim. ii. 22.

THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY
REPRESENTED TO
THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF ELY.

THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY
BEPBESENTED TO THE
CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF ELY.
Dear Bkethrbn,
To shorten my own labour and your attendance at my approaching
visitation, I send you this httle treatise beforehand, which may serve
instead of the exhortation which is wont to be made on that occasion.
You will read it, I hope, with as serious consideration as you would
have heard it, had it been spoken with due attention. By which
means you will receive a greater benefit than you could have done
the other way; for you may read that often, and imprint it in your
minds, which you could have heard but once, and might have slipped
out of your memory.
You see by the title of it, that it treats of the duties which belong
to that function in which it hath pleased the Most High to do you
the honour to employ you. A function so truly noble, that it is not
in my power to set forth the dignity of it. For the blessed apostle
St. Paul thought it so great an honour to be made a Christian, that
he thought no words too lofty to express the dignity of their state,
which he calls not only our high calling^, but our heavenly calling
in Christ Jesus^. Which I cannot think of, but it makes me reflect,
what an honour then it is to be made a minister of Jesus Christ, whose
business it is to bring others into this glorious state of Christianity,
and to breed them up and keep them in it.
What preferment is there comparable to this, to be constituted a
servant and a minister of the King of Glory, a steward of the hea
venly mysteries, an ambassador for Christ, a labourer in his vineyard
or harvest ; which implies indeed great pains, but carries in it also
the great honour of sowing the seed of eternal life in men's souls,
0. Philipp. iii. 14. '' Heb. iii. i.

55(jand cultivating, that is, preparing and making them tit to be carried
into Christ's heavenly kingdom ? I do not name all the places in the
holy writings where you find yourselves described under these cha
racters, because you cannot but be well acquainted with them. I
shall only add, that we do not assume too much to ourselves, when
we call ourselves the Clergy, i. e. God's portion or inheritance, being
peculiarly separated to his service, as our famous Mr. Mede hath
most judiciously observed. Discourse XXXVI, p. 270 <=. For the
prime ministers of our Lord Christ are called by himself the angels
of the churches^ over which they presided. And therefore St. Chry
sostom^, in his third book UepX 'Upaavvrjs, feared not to say, " that
the priesthood is a dignity raised far above all the honours of this
world, and approaching to the angehcal glory."
Which if it be duly weighed, and laid to heart, we can never cease
to give God thanks, who hath advanced us to such a noble station,
nor be unmindful of the service he expecteth from us ; but both
study all the duties belonging to it, and endeavour to perform them
with a spirit suitable to our function.
What those duties are, it is the principal business of this small
treatise to lay before you. And with what spirit they ought to be
performed, I shall, in the conclusion of it, briefly admonish you.
These two will comprehend all that I have to recommend to your
consideration. For there is no necessity, sure, to prove that they
whom God hath set apart to himself for a peculiar service, and
therefore have a special relation to him, and have received a special
favour from him, have a singular obligation to do all they can to ex
press their gratitude to him, by discharging faithfully that great trust
which he hath committed to them.
' [Works, vol. i. fol. Lond. 1664.] d Rev. i. 20. « [Tom. i. p. 383.]

PART I.
NOW as to the duties which are incumbent upon the min
isters of Christ, I shall first treat of those which are to be
performed in private, and then of those which are of public
concernment. I. The private duties, being to qualify them for the right
discharge of all public offices, are principally the study of the
holy Scriptures and prayer.
We profess at our ordination, that we are " persuaded the
holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of
necessity for everlasting salvation," &c., and we declare that we
are " determined out of the said Scriptures to instruct the
people committed to our charge, &c." Which supposes that
above all things we ought to apply ourselves to the serious
study of these holy books, that there we may learn our own
duty, and the duty of those whom we are to instruct in the
Christian religion. And accordingly a solemn exhortation is
made to those who are to be admitted to the order of priest
hood, to consider how studious they ought to be in reading,
and weighing, and learning the Scriptures ; " that they may
wax riper and stronger in their ministry." And more than
this, we promise before God and his church, that we "will be
diligent herein ;" which no man can think of if he have any con
science, and live in the neglect of this sacred study. For after
we have given our faith to God and to his church to be careful
in this matter, we seal it by receiving the holy communion of
Christ's body and blood. Which one would think should be of
mighty force (and will be so if duly weighed) to stir us up to
this part of our duty ; that we may not be guilty of the breach
of such solemn promises as were made to God at his altar.
And here it may be proper briefly to remember you, that
this is so conformable to the doctrine and practice of the
ancient church, that Theophylact (upon John x. i, &c. ») saith,
a [Tom. i, p. 644 B.]

558 The work of the ministry. paet i.
" The Scriptures are the door by which the true pastor enters;
and that he is a thief who comes not in by these. Ov yap xparai
Tals ypafais p^dpTva-iv, &.C., ' for he doth not use the Scriptures
as witnesses' and vouchers for what he says. By these," saith
he, " we are brought to God : these will not permit wolves to
enter; they keep out heretics, placing us in safety and se
curity : these give us right notions of all things wherein we
desire to be informed."
And therefore, my brethren, apply yourselves devoutly to
the studj"^ of these divine books, or rather of these books which
whl make you divine. For so they were called in the ancient
Christian language, deificos libros, and deificas Scripturas,
and instrumenta deifica, (as jElianus, proconsul of Africa, calls
them in Optatus, lib. i.^) Which name the very heathen had
learnt, it was so comraon, as appears by the inquiries they
made after Bibles to burn them : this being an usual question
in the examination of the martyrs, Libros deificos habetis?
Which we should look upon therefore (as they did) as an
invaluable treasure : and let the word of Christ dwell in us
richly in all wisdom, as the apostle St. Paul speaks, Coloss. iu.
1 6. Such wisdom as will not indeed make us philosophers or
rhetoricians, &c. (to use the words of Justin Martyr,) aWa
¦naihevovcra wotet tovs 6vr]Toiis aOavdTovs, &C, " but gives such
instructions, that of mortals it makes us immortal ; of men it
makes us godhke ; from the earth it translates us above the
top of Olympus." Exhort. 2. ad Grcecos, p. 40 ".
And the very same in effect the holy Scriptures speak con
cerning theraselves, when they tell us they are able to raake
such a man as Timothy was wise unto salvation ; being profit
able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works ^. Which should
move us to follow his exhortation in the foregoing Epistle, Give
attendance to reading, Sj-c. Meditate on these things; give
yourselves wholly to them ; that your profiting may appear to
all*^, or in all things.
For this end you must join with this such other studies as
tend to lead you into a right understanding of the holy Scrip-
b [Cap. 27. 0pp. p. 23.] c [P. 5 A.]
d 2 Tim. m. is-17. o I Tim. iv. 13, 15.

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 559
tures. Of this you were admonished also at your ordination,
when you promised "to be diligent in reading the holy Scrip
tures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the
same, laying aside the study of the world and of the flesh."
And chiefly you are to study to understand the language in
which the holy Scriptures were originally delivered to the
church ; especially the New Testament, in which we ought to
be as perfect as lawyers are in Littleton's Tenures. For this is
our standing rule of faith and manners ; in which if we be not
well skilled ourselves, we shah never be able to direct others.
And next to this, it is necessary to study dihgently some ap
proved commentator upon the Bible ; especially Dr. Hammond
on the New Testament : which is not only to be read over, but
to be digested, so that you may be masters of the sense of our
Saviour and his holy apostles. I shall not launch out into any
further directions about the study of the fathers, and the
church history, which are necessary to accomplish a complete
divine ; for that would swell this book to a much greater bulk
than I design it should have.
To conclude this section, let Ezra, that restorer of rehgion
among the Jews, be your pattern ; who tells us himself, that he
was a ready scribe in the law of Moses''. Such we should be,
well versed in the holy Scriptures, especially in the laws of
Christ; so as to have them ready at hand for our purpose.
And in the tenth verse he tehs us how he came to deserve this
character. First, he had prepared his heart to seek the law
of the Lord, i. e. to understand it : and then, secondly, it
fohows, he prepared his heart to do it ; that is, to act according
to his knowledge, and so, to teach Israel statutes and judg
ments. II. Which that we may be able to do with good success, we
ought, as the psalmist speaks most emphatically, to give ourselves
unto prayers. This is a duty incumbent upon all private
Christians, whom our Saviour and his apostles command to
pray alway, and to pray without ceasing, and to watch unto
prayer. But the ministers of Christ ought more especially to
be instant and incessant in it, because they have need of a
special assistance and blessing from above upon their labours to
make others good Christians.
f Ezra vii. 6. ^ Psalm cix. 4.

560 The work of the ministry. paet i.
Which cannot be done without the blessed presence of God's
holy Spirit with us ; which must constantly and earnestly be
implored, to give us a right judgment in all things, to fill us
with a lively sense of divine matters, and to enable us to convey
it into the minds and hearts of others.
Of this also we are put in mind at our ordination ; and there
fore should never forget it. For in that adrairable exhortation
which goes before the questions to which we are to raake an
swers, the great excellence and the great difficulty of our office
is represented to us ; to make us sensible " what need we have
to pray earnestly for God's holy Spirit :" without which it is
impossible for us to have either a will or ability to perform it
as we ought. And accordingly this is one of the things which
immediately after we promise to God and to his church : that
we will " be diligent in prayers, as well as in reading the holy
Scriptures." Let us therefore, as it follows in the forenamed exhortation,
" pray continually to God the Father by the mediation of our
only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the heavenly assistance
of the Holy Ghost." For as the holy Scriptures are dvpa, the
' door,' whereby the good Shepherd enters to the performance
of his office, as Theophylact, I observed before, expounds our
Saviour's words'" ; so the Holy Spirit of God, in the opinion of
the same father, is the Ovpcapos mentioned in the third verse of
that chapter, which we translate the porter, or the doorkeeper,
who opens the door for us, and lets us into the sense of the
holy Scriptures. So his words are : " Because, by the holy
Spirit the Scriptures being opened and understood, Christ is
made known to us ; therefore it is called the doorkeeper."
'Ezj M ojs Uvevp-aTL cro^tas, &c, " by whom, he being the Spirit
of wisdom and knowledge, the Scriptures are opened unto us :
and by that means our Lord the good Shepherd enters to take
us into his care and conduct.''
To be strangers then to this holy duty is to be strangers to
God, and to ah that is good : who, as he is nigh to all tlwse
that call upon him faithfully, so ho withdraws himself frora
those who neglect him. Of which we cannot be guilty, if we
reraeraber in what need we stand, above all other raen, of his
blessed presence with us, to guide, and strengthen, and further
^ John X. t.

paet I. The work of the ministry. 561
us in the discharge of our weighty trust for his honour, and
the salvation of men. This will stir us up not only to ask and
seek, but knock also, (as our Saviour speaks,) that is, pray with
the greatest importunity for the Holy Spirit, which our heavenly
Father is more ready to give than parents are to give food to
their hungry children.
Let us be awakened by the example of king David, who
prevented the morning light to pray to God, and to meditate
in his statutes, as he tells us Psalm cxix. 147, 148. " Though
he was a man that had abundance of cares upon him, and was
engaged in many wars, (as Theodoret glosses upon that place >,)
yet God still was in all his thoughts ; without whose aid he
durst not undertake any thing, much less hope for success in
his affairs. And shall we who have no such load of business
upon us roll ourselves up and down in ease, and, (as that
father there speaks,) ovS apxopAvr\s fip^epas, &c., not so much as
in the beginning of the day offer up an hymn of praise and
thanksgiving to the Giver of all good things, and implore his
blessing upon us ?" A most stupid negligence, and an un
pardonable insensibleness of our constant and most bountiful
benefactor : without whom we can do nothing.
His grace and mercy we ought to seek as soon as we rise,
and as often as we can in the day ; retiring ourselves on pur
pose into our closets, to beseech him to be with us in our studies,
and in our labours for the good of souls. For, as Clemens
Alexandrinus speaks, {lib. vii. Strom.^,) " a priest ought to be
of such an heavenly spirit that ev-xj} piev aw<3 6 /3&s oAos, koI
djuiXio TTpbs ®ebv, ' his whole life is prayer and conversation
with God.' " Which St. Basil, (in his homily upon the Martyr
Juhtta',) thinks is the apostle's meaning when he bids ns pray
without ceasing : not by putting up petitions to heaven per
petually in so many words, (for that is impossible,) dAAd -npo-
aipia-n jxaXXov yj/vxrjs, &c., ' but rather by the settied disposi
tion of our mind,' and bent of our wihs towards God, (into
which our prayers ougl t to put us and preserve us therein)
and by a regular life : whereby we shall draw down still more
of his grace upon us.
For this I must observe in the conclusion of this part of my
i [Tom. i. p. 1475-] " [C^P- 12. p. 875.] > [Tom. ii. p. 35 E.]
PATEICK, VOL. vm, O O

562 The work of tlie ministry. paet i.
discourse, that careless and frigid prayers, which make no al
teration in ourselves, have no effect with God, To whom we
must address ourselves with such fervent and earnest desires
as turn our hearts towards him, and give us such a lively sense
of hira as brightens and cheers our minds, knits our wills and
affections to him, and makes us like him. Thus Daniel repre
sents this duty to us, when he complains of the children of
Israel, that they did not make their prayer to the Lord tlieir
God, to turn from their iniquity, and to understand the
truth™. Which as it denotes their dull formahty in their
prayers, (which, no doubt, they continually made in their cap
tivity,) whereby they were not converted to God, and reformed
in their lives ; so it implies withal that serious and devout
prayer hath a power in it to turn about the heart, and give
God the possession of it : which is the best way to understand
the truth.
Employ therefore as much tirae as you can in secret prayer
to God, with such affection that you may feel yourselves really
bettered by it. Pray for yourselves, and pray for your flock,
(that God would bless your labours araong them, and pour the
dew of his heavenly grace upon them,) for the whole church of
Christ, yea, for all mankind. For such is the nobleness of this
duty, that in the exercise of it we extend our charity to all the
world, which we cannot do by any other means. It enlarges
our souls into a kind of infinity and immensity in our good
desires and wishes, and in the readiness of our mind to do
good to every one, were it in our power.
Sect. III. Thus having briefly laid before you the private
duties incumbent on the ministers of Christ, I proceed to those
which are of a public concernment. And in treating of them
I shall take them into consideration in that order wherein they
lie in the public liturgy of our church.
Where the flrst thing that presents itself unto us is the Order
for Morning and Evening Prayer daily throughout the year.
Which is to be performed by him that " ministereth in every
parish church or chapel, being at home, and not being other
wise reasonably hindered." This is the standing law of this
realm, and a most reasonable law it is. For who can imagine
™ Dan. ix. 13.

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 563
that God, who so strictly enjoined the Jews to offer him a lamb
every morning and every evening at the temple, and to double
this sacrifice on their sabbath, doth not expect that we (who are
made a peculiar people to him by far greater benefits than
were conferred on them.) should offer unto him the sacrifice of
prayer, and praise, and thanksgiving, morning and evening in
our churches ? All Christians from the beginning ever did it.
At this day all the eastern churches, both Greek and Armenian
constantly do it. I need say nothing of the practice of the
Roman church ; which in this matter is truly catholic. The
Lutherans and Calvinists (as they are called) in Germany
have their daily public offices, and full congregations. The
Socinians in Poland, as Ruarus tells us, (cent. 2. epist. p. 99 ",)
had public prayers morning and evening, which lasted three
quarters of an hour. Yea, the Mahometans themselves have
their stated times of prayer, five times in the day. For Ma
homet had so much sense as to call " prayer the pillar of reli
gion," (as Dr. Pocock observes upon Abul-Pharagii, p. 304 ".)
" For take this away, and rehgion falls to the ground :" as this
pillar of it will soon do, if it be not supported by public as
semblies. How they came to be so much disused among us, here in this
church, except only on Sundays, it is sad to consider, and
extremely to be lamented. We herein forsake the practice of
all churches, and fall short of those who are not Christians.
The constitutions indeed of our church are conformable to all
others, and strictly enjoin that which we do not now practise.
Which is a public witness against us, that we are degenerated
from our first principles, and by degrees grown cold and remiss
in our rehgion. The fault perhaps may have been very much
in the people, but it is to be feared we have been to blame
also, in not admonishing them of their duty, and calling upon
them to assemble themselves daily to worship their blessed
Lord and Saviour.
It must be allowed that in some parishes the houses are so
scattered, and he so far distant from the church, that they
cannot possibly meet together daily for the pubhc service of
God. But this plea cannot with any appearance of truth be
n [Martini Ruari Epistt. Select. &c., 8vo, Amst. 1681.]
o [P. 297, ed, 4to, Oxon. 1806,] 0 0 3

564 The work of the ministry. fabt i,
made for ah parishes, especially for market-towns ; where the
houses are built closer together, and not far from the place of
pubhc worship. Many are at leisure also in such parishes to
attend daily, if they had hearts to do it, upon the pubhc
prayers ; whatsoever may be alleged in the excuse of poor
labouring people.
Therefore use your best endeavours to bring the people to a
sense of their duty in this matter, and to the performance of it;
where no tolerable reason can be given for the neglect of so
necessary a part of our religion, and which tends so much to
the honour of it, and to the glory of God. To attempt such a
good thing, though you should not succeed in it, wih give you
great satisfaction. But whosoever considers the condition of
the cities of London and Westminster, as they were formerly,
and as they are now, whl not despair of success. For before
our unnatural civil war, I have been informed by a reverend
divine, there were few churches in those cities where daily
public prayers were read; and where they were, very few
people to join with the minister in them. But now there are
very few churches that want them, or a congregation to attend
them. And though such assemblies were but thin when this
first begun, a little after the happy restoration of our monarchy
and church, yet I myself can witness that their numbers dahy
increased ; insomuch that in some places there are public
prayers four times a day, and good congregations, where in
my memory there were none at ah.
This is a great encouragement to try what may be done in other
great towns, where people are not far distant from,the church.
Begin with persuasions to come, at least, upon Litany days ;
and so by degrees they may be induced to wait upon God con
stantly at his house, to make their prayers and acknowledg
ments to him. Represent to them frequently how much the
public service of God excels all that we can perform in private ;
because then God appears more glorious in praises, when his
people join together to set thera forth. Bid them mark how
David and other inspired persons have in the book of Psalras
stirred up the affections of the whole body of God's people, to
meet together for his divine service, saying, O praise the
Lord, all ye nations : praise him all ye peoplel. O magnify
1 Psalm cxvii. i.

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 565
the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together''.
Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and
his praise in the congregation of saints^. Or, as it is in the
hymn appointed every day, after the second lesson at morning
prayer, 0 go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and
into his courts with praise : be thankful unto him, and speak
good of his name^. In short, instruct them that every halle
lujah they meet withal in the holy Scriptures, or Praise ye
the Lord, suppose public assemblies, (to which all the foregoing
exhortations are directed,) where many met together for divine
worship : not contenting themselves to praise God alone by
theraselves, but with all those who were members of the same
body with them.
But if by all your endeavours you cannot bring this to pass,
yet there is one thing of which I must admonish you, that I
am sure is in your power. It is this, that all priests and dea
cons are bound by the law of this realm and of this church to
say daily morning and evening prayer privately, when they
cannot openly ; not being let by sickness or some other urgent
cause. See the first rubric in the Common-Prayer Book, after
the preface, concerning the service of the church. Do not fail
therefore, I beseech you, to read the daily prayers morning
and evening privately in your own family ; that the divine
service according to law may be performed daily in every
parish, though not in every church. There cannot be con
stantly nor commonly urgent causes, much less sickness, I
hope, to hinder this ; and when there is not, look upon your
selves as bound in conscience to read the prayers at home.
And when you do officiate publicly on the Lord's days, or
other times in the church, let it be in such a solemn manner,
that it may move the people to attend and make them in love
with our prayers. There is a careless, overly way of reading
them, so fast, and with such little devotion, as hath exceedingly
disgraced them ; and given great offence to the better sort of
people among us, and hardened the bad in profaneness and
irreligion. I hope none of you are guilty of this, but it becomes
me to admonish you of the danger of it, and to beseech you
constantly to corapose yourselves with the greatest seriousness,
and reverence, and affection, to perform divine service in the
r Psalm .xxxiv. 3. *¦ cxlix. i . ' c. 4.

566 The work of the ministry. paet i.
church. This will keep up the majesty of our worship, and
preserve it from contempt. For I can see nothing that should
move those that dissent from us to call it dead and formal, but
only the deadness and formality that hath appeared too often
in him that officiates. Stir up yourselves therefore to officiate
in every part of the divine service with a becoming gravity
and deliberation ; and yet with such life and affection, as may
express your concern to have your petitions granted, and the
word of God regarded.
Avicenna, (as he is vulgarly called,) an Arabian philosopher,
hath an excellent discourse upon this subject in the third part
of his Metaphysics ; where having said that they who instruct the
people ought to teach them forms of prayer wherein to address
themselves to God, he adds this direction to them. "As a man
uses to prepare himself to come to the king in purity and
cleanness ; with graceful language, and an humble gravity ;
with a comely deportment of body, ceasing from all disorderly
motions there, as well as from perturbation of mind ; so it is fit
there should be laudable modes and forms of serving God at all
times. For these do highly conduce to imprint on the minds of
the people a sense of the Most High, and to confirm them in
their devotion to the laws and rules of life. Which, if they
were not preserved by this solemn commeraoration, men would
quite forget in one or two generations." Thus I find him quoted
by Mr. Selden in his Comment, in Eutychii Origines,fol. ^'j.
And he doth but express the sense of the ancient Christians ;
from whom the Mahometans derived that solemnity and serious
ness which they use in their Divine service.
It is no small part of the study of priests in the present
Roman church to learn how to corapose their looks and ges
tures and voices, in the several offices which they are to per
form. Which as it hath too much of the theatre in it, so that
pains may all be spared by possessing our minds with a deep
sense and feeling of the majesty of God to whom we speak,
and of our great need of the things which we pray him to
bestow upon us. This will naturally compose our countenances,
and regulate the tone of our voice, and make us pronounce the
prayers as gracefully as we would a petition to the greatest
majesty on earth. Tiie organs of speech indeed in several men
are of a very different frame and figure ; so that all cannot

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 567
speak no more than sing alike ; but some more harshly, some
more sweetly. Yet an awful sense of God upon our minds, and
an hearty love to him, would form every man's voice to as good
an accent as his natural capacity will permit.
Sect. IV. The next office in our Liturgy is The Order for
the Administration of the Holy Communion ; which being the
highest duty of our religion, that which is most peculiarly
Christian worship, the greatest care ought to be taken about
the due performance of it. That is :
I . First of all you ought to invite your people to a frequent
participation of it. We are not told in Scripture how oft we
are to do this in remembrance of our Saviour ; but when we
consider that this is the end and intention of it, to commemo
rate the wonderful love of our Lord in his death and passion
for our sakes, we cannot think fit to let there be a long time
between one communion and another. Especially when we
consider that the first Christians, it is manifest, met together
every Lord's day at least to magnify the mercy of God in giv
ing his only begotten Son to be our Redeemer, and the incon
ceivable love of the Son of God in making himself an offering
for our sins. This they thought their great business when
they assembled together ; so that our assemblies never look
so like Christian assemblies as when the holy communion is
celebrated, 2, In order to which frequently open to your people the
nature, necessity, and the great benefits of communion with
Christ, and one with another, in this holy sacrament of Christ's
body and blood. Answer their scruples, and remove their ob
jections ; but especiahy awaken them out of that lazy indiffer
ence wherein too many hve, whether they live like Christians
or no.
3. When the time is appointed for its administration, warn
them to prepare themselves for it, and direct them how to do
it ; and require them who intend to partake of it to signify
their names to you at least some time the day before. So the
first rubric before the Order for Administering the Holy Com
munion requires, with great reason, because you ought to have
time to do what follows :
4, If any person in your parish be a notorious evil liver, or
have done any wrong to his neighbours, either by word or

568 The work of the ministry. paet i.
deed, so that the congregation be thereby offended ; you ought,
having knowledge thereof, to admonish him (as the next rubric
directs) to amend his naughty life, and not presume to corae to
the Lord's table tih the congregation be satisfied of his repent
ance ; and that he hath made such a recompense to those he
hath wronged as they accept of. The hke is to be done when
you perceive malice and hatred to reign among any of your
parish ; endeavouring to bring them to a reconcihation before
you suffer them to partake of the holy communion.
5. And more than this, the third rubric requires you, if these
private endeavours have no effect, openly to repel such persons
from the comraunion, if they offer themselves to receive it, who
will not be reconciled nor reformed ; giving notice of their ob
stinacy to the Ordinary within the time there prescribed.
6. In the administration of the holy communion compose
yourselves to the most serious and solemn deportment, and per
form every part of this most Christian service with the highest
degree of devotion. So St. Justin Martyr » tells us, in his Second
Apology, (where he gives an account of what was done in the
Christian assemblies in his time,) that bread, wine and water
being set before him that presided, " he sendeth up prayers
and thanksgivings, oar) bvvap,Ls avTm, ' with all his power or
might.' " Which is an expression that hath been much abused
by those who separate from us, to prove that no forms of prayer
were used in the church in those days, but he who officiated
conceived a prayer of his own as well as he was able. So they
interpret that phrase ocrrj 6vi>aju.is avr^- which is manifestly an
expression of that earnestness of devotion with which the bishop
or priest came to consecrate the sacraraent of Christ's body and
blood. It being a phrase very much used among the Jews
when they speak of their prayers ; for their ancient doctors
have this saying among them, (as our excehent Mr. Thorndike
observes,) " Whosoever saith Amen with all his might, the gate
of the garden of Eden is opened to him :" and Maimonides de
scribing their morning service useth the same form of speech ;
" The people answer, Amen, be his great name blessed for ever
and ever, with all their might." See Service of God at Rehgious
Assemblies, chap, vii ''. To which may be added what we read
in the Apostolical Constitutions ; where there is a large form of
u [Al. Apol. i. cap. 67. p. 83.J " [Works, vol. i. p. 2S4.J

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 569
thanksgiving at the Eucharist for all God's blessings ; especially
in our Lord Christ, from his incarnation to his sufferings, death,
and resurrection : and then it follows, " Therefore being mind
ful of these things which he suffered for us, we give thee thanks,
0 Almighty God, o^x' oirov 6<j)eCXop.ev, a\X' oaov hvv6,p.ida y, ' not
so much as we ought, but as much as we are able.' Which
exactly answers to the oat) bvvapus, ' all the might,' in Justin
Martyr, and explains the meaning of it.
But there have been so many excellent books written about
the holy communion, that I will enlarge no further upon this
subject. V. In that office there is a rubric directing where the sermon
is to come in ; and therefore I shall in the next place say
something to you concerning preaching. Which is a duty to
be performed by every priest, according to the authority given
to him at his ordination, in those words, " Take thou authority
to preach the word of God, and to minister the holy sacra
ments, in the congregation where thou shalt be lawfully
appointed thereunto :" and the prayer made after the ordain
ing of priests, " That God's word spoken by their mouths may
have such success, that it may never be spoken in vain."
Now to make it thus successful a great many directions
might be usefully given, concerning both the matter of ser
mons, and their form ; their style also and manner of delivery,
with distinct pronunciaition, and such like : into which if I
should launch out, they alone would be sufficient to fill a little
book. I shall therefore only briefly desire you to consider the
state and condition of your auditory, and to suit your dis
courses thereunto. Country people are not to be troubled
with controversies and disputes, but to be plainly taught what
to believe and practise.
I . Therefore endeavour to instruct and settle their minds in
the principles of rehgion. And for this end study weh the
works of two late bishops of Chester : one of which (Dr. Wil-
kins) hath wrote a treatise of Natural Religion ; and the other
(Dr. Pearson) hath given a full account of the Christian, in his
admirable book upon the Apostles' Creed.
2. Especially instruct them in the great fundamental article
of our religion, the divinity of our blessed Lord and Saviour,
and of the Holy Ghost ; showing them how all our comfort is
y [Const, Apost, lib, viii, cap, 12. Coteler. Patr. Apost. tom. i. p. 407-]

570 The work of the ministry. paet i,
built upon this. And truly, I look upon it as a singular provi
dence of God, that he did not suffer those heretics who now
boldly strike at this great article of our faith to start up in an
ignorant age, but in a time when there are so raany able raen
in the church to beat them down. God hath furnished us
with a great number of such excellent persons as have thoroughly
studied the holy Scriptures and the ancient doctors of the
church ; and they who have not had opportunity to make such
improvement in divine knowledge furnish themselves out
of their writings, which these heretics have occasioned. Parti
cularly out of the bishop of Worcester's discourse about the
Blessed Trinity ^, which is not long, but very full and satis
factory. 3. Yet I must admonish you, when you find it necessary to
discourse to your people upon this subject, that you be mindful
of his majesty's late injunctions", and not presume to invent any
new ways of explaining so sublime a mystery as the holy Tri
nity, or use any other terms to express it, but such as the
ancient Christians used, and are in the Articles of our Religion,
the three Creeds, and our Liturgy. Which teach us that our
blessed Saviour is the Son of God, in the highest and most
proper sense of these words, by eternal generation. In like
manner we are to believe that the Holy Ghost is God, proceed
ing from the Father and the Son. This may be evidently
proved out of the Scriptures, wherein God hath thus far
revealed his own most blessed nature, as well as his mind and
will unto us. But how the Son is begotten of the Father, and
how the Holy Ghost proceeds frora both, he hath not revealed
unto us, (because it is as incomprehensible as the divine essence
is,) and therefore we must not adventure to say any thing
about it. For though we know that " the Son is God, and the
Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one
God in three persons," (because the holy Scriptures plainly
declare the Son to be a distinct person from the Father, and
the Holy Ghost from both,) yet what it is that makes the dis
tinction of the person of the Son from the person of the
Father, &c., that is not declared to us by God, who only knows
it, and therefore is not to be inquired into. Accordingly the
2 ["A Vindication of the Doc- a [A. D. 1695,— Wilkins, Con-
trine of the Trinity," &c,, by Ed- cill, iv, 625.]
ward StiUingfleet, D. D.]

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 571
holy fathers of the church frequently admonish us to forbear
such inquiries, in that memorable saying of theirs, To ttws <l>ivye
Cryre'iv, ' search not into the manner' how such things can be,
but shun such inquiries. For the manner of the Son's genera
tion, and the Holy Ghost's procession, can be comprehended by
none but themselves.
But such things being let alone as out of our reach, let it be
your business to estabhsh the people in this great truth, that
Jesus Christ is really " the eternal Son of God, begotten of
him before all worlds :" by representing this to them as the
great support of their souls, which may safely rely upon one so
mighty to save. For he who is persuaded that our Saviour is
"perfect God as well as perfect man,'' can no more doubt of his
power to communicate all divine grace to us, than he can doubt
of the virtue of his sacrifice to make satisfaction for our sins,
and work our reconcihation with God ; whereby whatsoever
might hinder his divine communications to us is taken out of
the way. We are sure, if this be true, that he is an everlasting
spring of divine grace to the whole world, would they but
beheve on him ; whereas it is inconceivable how any mere crea
ture should be so highly exalted as to be possessed of omnipo
tence and omniscience ; that is, to be able to know all our
needs, as weh as to supply them. Which it is easy for our
blessed Saviour to do, if he be the eternal Son of God, who
hath taken our nature into a personal union with himself.
4. Which great truth being firmly established in their belief,
endeavour, I beseech you, to improve it all you are able to the
amendment of their lives. Such an amazing love of God ought
to have a mighty effect upon us all, and will make a great
change in us, if it be heartily believed, and pressed home by
serious consideration. Let that therefore be the great business
of your preaching, to reduce this and all other Christian truths
to Christian practice. Make them sensible what manner of
persons they ought to be in all holy conversation and godli
ness, (as St. Peter speaks,) being so nearly related to the Son of
God, Whatsoever sin you know them to be addicted unto,
lay the heinousness of it before them ; especially after God
hath loved us so much as to give his only begotten Son to re
deem us from all iniquity, and purify us to himself a iJeculiar
people zealous of good works. Whatsoever duty you know

bTit The work of the ministry. paet l
them to neglect, or to be remiss in the performance of it, repre
sent to them how dangerous it is to disobey our blessed Saviour,
who hath made this the test of our love to him, that we keep
his commandments. Remember them frequently of what he
said to his disciples, in his last discourse he had with thera. Ye
are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you^.
5. Endeavour to convince their judgment about these things
by clear reasons ; and then to awaken their affections by your
zeal and fervour. And that will be excited in you by an in
ward sense and feehng in your own hearts of that which you
deliver to your people. It is an admirable observation of Eras
mus (in his book De Ratione Concionandi *) upon those words
of our Saviour concerning John the Baptist, He was a burning
and a shining light ^; Ardere prius est, lucere posterius ; ' To
burn (with zeal, that is, for God, and fervent affection to the
people) is the first thing, and then we shall shine by Christian
instructions.' Which will be faint and feeble, if they do not
proceed from an ardent spirit.
6. And there is very much in another thing of which the
same great man put me in mind in another part of his works,
lib. V. epist. 2y", where he tehs Jodocus Jonas, Non parum
ponderis addet orationi turn, si qu(e doces potissimum ex ar-
canis voluminibus haurias, si vita doctrince responderit, si
docendi offcium nulla glori<e, nulla quaestus suspicione vi-
tietur ; ' It will add no smah weight to thy sermons, if thou
draw those things that thou teachest chiefly out of the holy
Scriptures ; if thy life be correspondent to thy doctrine, and
the office of instructing be tainted with no suspicion of vain
glory or worldly advantage.' The proof of what you say out
of the holy Scriptures, rightly expounded and fitly applied, will
certainly make it very powerful. For what is there that hath
so much force in it as the authority of God? All believers
have a great reverence to his word, which the ancient Christ
ians thought the highest learning. Insomuch that the Abys-
sines (who retain much of the ancient simplicity) are never so
pleased as to hear the word of God aheged; and the raore
Scripture any raan hath in his sermons, the more learned they
^ John XV. 14. c [Al. Epist. ccccxxxi. 0pp. tom.
a [Lib. i. tom. v. col. 790 A.J iii. col. 448 D.]
'' John V. 35.

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 573
esteem him. So Ludolphus informs us in his late Historia
.Mthiopica, lib. iii. cap. v. n. 16.
7. And there is nothing in the holy Scripture that you
ought to explain with greater care, or inculcate more fre
quently, than the covenant of grace which God hath made
with us in Christ. The terms and conditions of which you
should endeavour to make your people thoroughly to under
stand, both on God's part and on their own; together with
the Mediator of this covenant, and the means whereby he pur
chased such gracious conditions of salvation for us.
But above all things we must take the greatest care that
our life do not contradict our doctrine ; for it is not sufficient
that our conversation in this world be innocent and unblam
able, but we must endeavour to make it exemplary and useful.
It must be so ordered as to convince the people that we firmly
beheve the excellence of those virtues which we commend to
them ; and that our chief aim and design is to save their souls.
This will procure us love and esteem, and make the people
look upon us with reverence as men of God. Our office, which
is indeed very honourable, is not sufficient to secure us from
contempt, if we act not according to it. Nay, men are prone
to pry into our hves, to see if they can find a justification of
their own evil practices by ours. Which is the argument that
Isidorus Pelusiota uses to a bishop, to be very cautious {lib. iv.
epist. 2 1 9 <!,) ort alio ptvplav 6^9aXp,&v /cat yXaiTT&v fKeivov 13a-
o-avlCerai ^loi, ' because his life is scanned and strictly ex-
mined by a thousand eyes and tongues.'
I shall say nothing particularly of our care to avoid any
tang of vainglory, and desire of applause in our preaching,
but conclude this matter with this plain admonition ; that in
an age so degenerate as that we now live in, we ought to give
all diligence to shine as lights in the world, as well as to be
harmless and blameless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in
the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, holding forth the
word of life ^ ; by our exemplary conversation, that is, as well
as by preaching. This St. Paul there makes the duty of all
Christians ; but above all it concerns the ministers of Christ,
whom he himself calls in a peculiar manner the salt of the
earth, and the light of the world^. And there never was
" [Col. 543.] « Phil. ii. 15, 16. ' Matt. v. 13, 14.

574 The work of the ministry. paet i.
greater need than now, that we should study to season men,
not only with wholesome doctrine, but a holy example, that we
may preserve them from the corruption which is in the world
through lust. There is a most dangerous putrefaction of man
ners (as I may call it), which hath so universally spread among
us, that I look upon the nation as lost, if we should lose our
savour «. Nothing can then preserve it from utter ruin and
destruction. And therefore let us distinguish ourselves from
others, by our diligence in our calling, by our exemplary piety
and holiness; that if it be possible we may save our nation
from perishing.
VI, The next office wherein you are concerned is the minis
tration of baptism of infants. Concerning which I shall only
briefly admonish you of these things following :
1 . First, that it is your duty to instruct your people fre
quently in the nature of this sacrament ; that they may not
imagine it an indifferent thing whether their children be bap
tized or no, nor bring them carelessly to the font, as an old
ceremony that hath been long used in the church : but they
may look upon it as indeed it is, a • solemn dedication of their
children to Christ, and their entrance into the covenant of
grace, which they stand bound sacredly to keep. And conse
quently call upon them often to consider their children after
this as Christ's children, by whom they are regenerate and
born again ; and therefore ought to be carefully brought up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord f,
2, More particularly put them in mind that in baptism a
solemn profession is made of belief in the blessed Trinity ;
that is, of God in three persons. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost :
unto whose service we are there devoted. For it is no frivolous
observation of Theophylact s upon those words of our Saviour :
Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of tlie Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that ovk eiTre
€ts TO. 6v6p,aTa, dXA.' ets to ovojxa, ' he does not say. Baptize them
into the names, but into the narae of the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost.' For though they be three, yet their name, viz.
ri BeoTT)'}, ' their Godhead,' is but one, as he there explains it.
One God in three persons, of whose love and favour we are
« [Misprinted ' Saviour' in the original edition.]
t Ephes. vi. 4. e [Tom. i. p. 167 C] h Matt, x.xviii. 19.

paet I. The work of the ministry. 575
assured in baptism ; and should value it above all the riches in
the world.
3. And therefore admonish them what care they ought to
take to give up their children, as soon as they can, to this
blessed Trinity : that they may be under their care, and par
take of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the love
of God, and the communion, or communication, of the Holy
Ghost, as St. Paul speaks, 2 Cor. xin, 14. And the first ru
bric before the office for private baptism directs them to ad
monish the people often, that they defer not the baptism of
their children longer than the first or second Sunday next after
their birth, or other holiday fahing between ; unless upon a
great and reasonable cause to be approved by you.
4. Next of all you are bound by the following rubric to
warn them, that without great cause and necessity they pro
cure not their children to be baptized at home in their houses.
The reason of which is given in the first rubric before the
office of public baptism, which sets forth the convenience of
administering baptism only upon Sundays or other holidays,
when the most number of people come together : first, for that
the congregation there present may testify the receiving of such
as be newly baptized into the number of Christ's church ; and
secondly, that every man present may be put in remembrance
of his own profession made to God in his baptism. Which are
such wise and holy reasons, that every man of conscience who
is considerate will yield unto them,
5. Advise parents also about the choice of godfathers and
godmothers, and of the usefulness of them. First, about their
choice, that they be such persons as have a sense of rehgion,
and understand it ; and will take some care, it may be hoped,
of their children, if they themselves should die before they be
grown up. It is supposed that as long as parents live, they
will put their children in mind of their vow in baptism : which
is the reason that no new obhgation, besides that they have
already, is laid upon them by making them sureties for their
chhdren. But without this solemn undertaking for them, other
men would not be so ready to assist them, and look after their
education, as it is to be hoped this will make them. Which
shows the other thing, the usefulness of this institution : which
in the beginning of our rehgion was in a manner absolutely

576 The work of the ministry. paet i.
necessary. For when parents were sometimes snatched on a
sudden from their children by bloody persecutors, they might
have been brought up in paganism, if these spiritual parents
had not been engaged to look after them, and instil Christian
principles into them.
6. You give a charge after baptism to the godfathers and
godraothers, that they take care the child be brought to the
bishop to be confirmed by him so soon as he is fit for it : and
therefore you would do well to remember them, as you have
opportunity, of this part of their duty ; and in order to it to
see they be instructed in the church catechism set forth for
that purpose.
VII. Which is the next part of your care, " diligently upon
Sundays and holidays to instruct and examine openly in the
church so many of the children of your parish sent unto you
as you shall think convenient, in some part of the Catechism."
They are the very words of the first rubric, in the end of that
office, where, in the next rubric, " fathers, mothers, masters, and
dames, are ordered to cause their children, servants, and ap
prentices, (which have not learnt their catechism,) to come to the
church, at the time appointed, and obediently to hear and to be
ordered by you, tih they have learned all that is appointed in
the Catechism for them to learn." It is to be hoped they will
do this, if you call upon them and beseech them to take care
of it : letting them know that you are ready and desirous to
perform your duty, if they will do theirs.
And mark, I beseech you, what is required of you ; not only
to examine the children in the Catechism, (that is, to ask thera
the questions, and receive their answers.) but to " instruct them
therein ;'' that is, teach them the meaning, and make thera un
derstand the weight of every word. If you would spend a
quarter of an hour in this exercise all the summer long, when
the days are long, at evening prayer, after the second lesson,
(as the rubric appoints,) it would be of wonderful use both to
yourselves and to your people. I say to yourselves as well as
the parish, because it would put you upon considering, col
lecting, and digesting such proper places of Scripture as relate
to every article of the Creed, and to the Commandments, and
to all other parts of the Catechism ; and upon studying also
and framing the plainest and clearest explications, and illus-

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 577
trations of every point, couched in so few words that they might
easily be carried away and remembered. Which being once well
done, it would serve you all your life : the same thing being to be
repeated over and over again every year. For I suppose you may
be able once a year to go through the whole Catechism : which
would certainly edify your people very much, and make them
more capable to understand your sermons, by having a clear
notion of many terms which you have constant occasion to use
in them. It would bring people also to church in the after
noon ; for they would soon perceive this short instruction to be
as useful as any sermon. And consequently they would ob
serve the Lord's day better : for I cannot but think that many
would by this means have your explication of the Catechism
by heart, and be able to instruct their children again at home.
I shall quicken you to this by what I find was done about it
in the reign of king James I, who sent strict orders to the
archbishop of Canterbury both respecting preaching and
catechising ; especially the latter : which he would have by
all means " continued in the afternoon, according to the former
custom in England," (so his words are',) which, it seems, then
began to be disused. And of this the lord keeper Williams
saith the king was so desirous, that he declared, " if his bishops
would not take care that it should be done, he would recommend
it to the care of the civil magistrate." And in a letter to the
bishop of London he tells him the reason of all this : " He saw
many going away to popery, or anabaptism, or other points of
separation : and considering with much admiration what should
be the cause of it, (especiahy since he opposed both so much
himself,) he could think of none in greater probability than
the hghtness, affectedness, and unprofitableness of that kind of
preaching which had of late years been much taken up in
court, university, and country. The usual scope of very many
preachers being noted to be soaring up in points of divinity
too deep for the capacity of the people ; or the mustering up a
great deal of reading ; or the displaying of their own wit ; or
an ignorant meddhng with civil matters ; or the venting their
own distastes, &c. So the people being bred up with this kind
of teaching, and never instructed in the catechetical and funda-
' [Archbishop Abbot's letter to the bishops, Aug. 15, 1622, in the
Cabala, p. 104.]
PATEICK, VOL. VIII, P P

578 The work of the ministry. paet i,
mental points of religion, were easily led aside from their re
hgion, either by papists, or anabaptists, or other sectaries."
This I find in the Cabala of Letters, p. 1 1 2 J, which is necessary
to be considered now, because since that time the explication
of the Catechism in the afternoons hath been much neg
lected, imto which we have reason to impute the instability of
many souls in their religion.
VIII. When the children of your parish are thoroughly in
structed in the Church Catechism, and are come to a competent
age, (as the words of the third rubric are in the end of that
office,) you are to take care that they be brought to the bishop
to be confirmed by him.
Now such httle children as are commonly presented to the
bishop cannot be thought to be of a competent age ; which is
explained both in the title of the Order of Confirmation, and the
preface to it, to signify such as are come to years of discretion.
That is, to understand what they do, and consent to renew the
solemn promise and vow that was made in their narae at their
baptism, ratifying and confirming the same in their own per
sons, and acknowledging themselves bound to believe and do
what their godfathers and godmothers undertook for them.
As you are bound therefore (by the last rubric at the end of
the Catechism), when the bishop gives notice of his intention to
confirm, either to bring or send in writing, with your hands
subscribed thereunto, the names of all such persons within your
parish as you shall think fit to be presented to him to be con
firmed : so I beseech you take care you set down the names of
none but such as have a sense that they take upon themselves
an obhgation to keep their vow in baptism, and are resolved to
do their duty towards God and towards their neighbour, as
they have been taught in their Catechism.
In short, I think none ripe to be confirmed but such as are
fit and disposed immediately after it to receive the holy com
munion of Christ's body and blood. Our church seems to sig
nify so much, when in the end of this office it ordains that " none
be admitted to the holy communion until such time as he be
confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed." One of
i [A letter from John Williams, don, Sept. 3, 1622. Cabala, j). 106.
bishop of Lincoln, lord keeper, to ed. 3. fol. Lond. 1691.]
George Mountain, bishop of Lon-

PAST I. The work of the ministry. 579
these is plainly here made a preparation for the other ; and as
none should be admitted to the communion till they be con
firmed, so bemg confirmed, (or ready for it and desirous of it,)
I take it none are to be refused the communion.
It is of the greatest concernment therefore that young people
be discreet and serious before they be brought to be confirmed.
Of the necessity of which king James, before mentioned, was as
sensible as he was of the necessity of catechetical instruction.
For his son (who was afterwards king Charles the martyr) was
not confirmed till the thirteenth year of his age. Then he was
confirmed on Easter Monday, 1613, in Whitehall chapel, after
a long and strict examination by the archbishop of Canterbury
and the bishop of Bath and Wells, as Dr. George Hackwell,
who was an ear-witness of the satisfaction he gave, tells us
in a little tractate he wrote upon that occasion concerning con
firmation. I conclude this section with these remarkable words of a
famous divine of our church. Dr. .Jackson, in his tenth book upon
the Creed, chap. 50, (which I have mentioned, with a great
deal more upon this subject, in a little book about Baptism, near
forty years ago ^,) " Whether the solemn baptizing of all infants,
which are the children of presumed Christian parents, through
out this kingdom, without solemn astipulation that they shall,
at years of discretion, personally ratify their vow in baptism in
public in such manner as the church requires, be not rather
more lawful or tolerable than expedient, I leave with all sub
mission to the consideration of higher powers." In like manner
may I be bold to put this question, Whether it be to any purpose
to admit those to this solemn act of ratifying and confirming
their vow in baptism who are not arrived at such years of dis
cretion as understandingly to consent thereunto, and to remem
ber it all the days of their life. For I fear many have been
confirmed who have no more memory of what they then did
than they have of what was done to them in baptism.
IX. The next office wherein you are concerned is the so
lemnization of matrimony ; which though it be not a sacrament,
yet is such a holy state, that as there is the greatest reason it
should be solemnized with public rites and forms by the ministers
of Christ, so they ought to take care to perform it in a very
solemn manner. k [Vol, i, p. 49.] P p 2

580 The work of the ministry. paet i.
It may be demonstrated that no marriage anciently was ever
made among Christians which the church did not allow, and
the benediction of marriage by the priest was a sign of that al
lowance. Nay, among the Jews it is manifest from the story
of Boaz and Ruth, that marriage was celebrated before the
elders'. And Epiphanius was of opinion that our Lord was in
vited to the marriage of Cana in Gahlee, that as a prophet he
might bless the marriage i.
And therefore it ought to be celebrated in the church in as
public a manner as may be, and with such gravity and serious
ness as becomes the place, and the priestly function, and the
state itself, which is holy and honourable. In order to this,
the people are to be instructed often, with what advice, deli
beration and reverence, such a weighty matter is to be under
taken. Of which they are excellently admonished in our
Liturgy at the time of marriage ; and should be admonished
beforehand, that they " may not lightly or wantonly enterprise
it, but discreetly, soberly, and in the fear of God."
For the better security of this, keep strictly to canon LXII,
which requires you to marry none except the banns of matri
mony have been first pubhshed in time of divine service, three
several Sundays or holy days ; or a license have been obtained
to do it without, according to canons C, CI, CII, CIII. Which
most reasonably constitute, that none be married, either with
hcense or after banns published, under the age of one and
twenty years complete, without the consent of their parents, or
of their guardians and governors, if their parents be deceased.
Remember also that marriage is to be celebrated publicly in
the parish church or chapel where one of the parties dweheth,
and in no other place, and that between the hours of eight and
twelve in the forenoon. For which reason care is taken by the
second rubric in the office of matrimony, that if the persons
that are to be married dwell in divers parishes, the banns
must be asked in both parishes ; and the curate of the one
parish shall not solemnize matrimony betwi.xt them without a
certificate of the banns being thrice asked from the curate of
the other parish.
These laws are the more sacredly to be observed, because
they are for the preservation of human society. "Which made
i Ruth iv. II. i [Hseres. Ii. § 30. tom. i. p, 452.J

PAET I. The work of the ministry. 581
Plato say in the beginning of his book de Legibus^, that the
yap,iKo\ v6p.oi, ' the laws for the regulating marriage,' should be
the very first which a lawgiver should estabhsh ; because the
propagation of mankind is the support of cities and kingdoms,
of which if due care be not taken, all other laws are in vain.
This very consideration, that marriage is seminarium ge
neris humani, (as Tertullian cahs it, lib. i. ad Uxorem,
cap. 2 ',) was sufficient to make our church so very cautious in
its constitutions about this important affair, that those many
mischiefs might be prevented which have ensued from the
neglect of them in many places. Which have been no less
than incestuous mixtures, together with the ruin of several
famihes, great grief of parents, by the disobedience of their
chhdren ; which hath quite alienated their affections one from
another, not to mention the contempt and reproach it hath
brought upon those of the clergy or others that have had a
hand in these irregular actions,
I question not but all imaginable care will be taken in my
diocese that no license be granted but according to the canon :
and none of my clergy, I persuade myself, can be so mean as
to let a little money prevail with them to dishonour their holy
calhng, by violating those wise and pious constitutions of our
church, which they have sworn, as I take it, to observe in
their oath of canonical obedience,
X, The next office which follows in our Liturgy is that of
Visitation of the Sick; which ought to be attended very seriously,
as much, if not more than any else. For men are never so
sensible of the everlasting concerns of their souls, as they are
when they lie on a sick bed. If they had no thought of God
before, no reflections on their ways, they can scarce avoid
them in that condition. Pliny tells us he learnt this by the
sickness of a friend of his, Optimos nos esse dum infirmi
sumus, ' that we are then the best men when we are sick.'
Read a most pithy epistle of his, which is wholly upon this
subject, lib. vn. epist. xxvi : where among other things he
tells Maximus, (to whom it is directed,) " then a man remem
bers that there are gods, (that you know is' the pagan lan
guage,) and that he himself is but a man. Then he envies no
man, admires no man, despises no man ; riches signify nothing
to him, nor honours; lust is extinguished, &c.: all that he
k [Lib, i . p. 631 D,] 1 [P. 162 A.}

582 The ivork of the ministry. paet i.
desires is, that he may recover his health, purposing then to
lead an innocent and happy hfe. So that whatsoever philo
sophers endeavour to teach in many words and many volumes,
that I may teach thee and myself in this short precept : Ut
tales esse sani perseveremur, quales nos futures profitemur
infirmi, ' that we continue such when we are well as we promise
to be when we are sick.' " So he concludes that epistle.
By which you cannot but see what an opportunity the sick
ness of any of your parishioners affords you to help forward
the salvation of their souls by your prayers, instructions, and
exhortations, when they are mo.st disposed to receive them,
and to be tenderly affected with them. Do not stay therefore
till notice be sent you by those about them of any one's sick
ness, (for they are too apt to defer it till there be no hope of
life left,) but when you hear of it, repair to such persons, and
apply yourselves to them in such discourses as are proper to
their condition.
Examine them, as the office directs, about their belief in
God, and in Jesus Christ, and all the rest of the articles of the
Christian faith. If they have led a bad life, contrary to their
belief, represent to them how highly it concerns them to
repent, and resolve to become new men. Bid them consider
how much they have neglected God, and his divine service,
(which is a common sin,) and also what wrong they have done
to any of their neighbours, that they may make them what
satisfaction they are able. If they have lived in most things
regularly, but been negligent in some duties, comfort and
support them with this persuasion, that God hath sent this
sickness to perfect what was wanting in them. As for such as
have led truly pious lives, void of offence towards God and
towards man, they are to be strengthened with all the consola
tions that are in Christ, and raised in their hope of remission
of sin and eternal hfe, which will banish all fear of death. By
this means not only the sick person may receive great benefit,
but all the by-standers also who hear your discourse ; which
may raise such a sense of things in you as will much improve
yourselves. And here I shall admonish you only of one thing more,
leaving you to the directions in the office for the rest : that
absolution of penitents is a thing of great moment ; which may
alone be sufficient to convince you both of the dignity and the

PAET I. Tim work of the ministry. 583
difficulty of your holy function. For what a high honour is it
to be made a judge of the state of men's immortal souls, and to
pronounce a sentence upon them according as you find them
upon examination! But how industriously then -ought you to
labour to understand the gospel of Christ, whereby you are to
judge, that you may not pass a wrong sentence through igno
rance of the conditions of salvation by Christ ! Whose promises
are made plainly to an holy life, which if it hath not been
minded till a man come to die, let him not despair of God's
mercy, but take heed how you absolve him in his name. For
we can make no certain judgment of men by what they resolve
in their sickness, when they have no temptation to run on in
their former wicked course of life ; but must stay to see how
they will keep their resolutions, which they too often break
when they are well. If they do not live to give a proof of
their sincerity, God notwithstanding, who knows the secrets of
all hearts, if he see them to be sincere, and that they would be
steadfast, should they have recovered their health, whl un
doubtedly absolve them, though they depart the world without
our absolution. In short, this may well (as the Pythagoreans
were wont to admonish their scholars) make you reverence your
selves, so as to live up to this dignity and high authority he
hath committed to you : and this very power, if you use it well,
will procure you reverence from others, who understand any
thing of rehgion.
At the end of this office is annexed the Order of administering
the Communion to the Sick : which Mr. Calvin himself thinks
(though it was not the usage of Geneva) should not be denied
to them if they desired it, and understood what they did, and
were disposed with solemn resolutions to renew their covenant
with Christ. But timely notice ought to be given of this
desire, with a signiflcation how many there are to communicate
with the sick person, which must be three or two at the least ;
unless it be in the time of a plague, or other contagious dis
ease, when the minister may communicate with him alone.
XI, Concerning the next thing in our Liturgy, which is, The
Order for the Burial of the Dead, there needs not much to be
said ; but that commonly men and women are apt to be very
serious when they see their friends and neighbours laid in their
graves ; and therefore what you are then ordered to say, either

584 The work of the ministry. paet i.
when you meet the corpse, or in the church, or at the grave,
should be pronounced with great gravity, earnestness, and
affection, that the hearts of those who are present may be
moved with it. If you are desired to come to the house of the
deceased, and thence to accompany the corpse to the grave,
you may have an opportunity to put those in mind who sit near
to you of preparation for death ; which should never be out of
our thoughts, but then especially be sensibly reflected on when
we have a spectacle of mortahty before our eyes. Who was as
strong and healthy perhaps as any there present, and yet on a
sudden snatched away. Such things piously represented are
apt (for the present at least) to touch men's hearts, and make
deep impressions there.
XII. Of the Churching of Women after Childbirth I shall
say only this ; that tho first rubric directs that the woman, at
the usual time after delivery, shall come into the church
decently apparelled, and " there kneel down in some conve
nient place, as hath been accustomed." Now the accustomed
place (it appears by our old Common-Prayer Book before the
restoration) was " nigh to the communion table." To put her
in mind, I suppose, that she should take the next opportunity
to receive the holy communion ; if there be none that day
when the last rubric declares it is convenient she should par
take of it. Unto this therefore you are to exhort her, that
she may perfect her acknowledgments of God's goodness by
the highest thanksgiving the church can offer ; and which is
proper and peculiar to Christian people.
XIII. The last office wherein you are concerned is the
reading the Commination, which is to be done but once a year,
on the first day of Lent: though the prayers then appointed
are to be used at other times as the Ordinary shall appoint.
This, if done solemnly, though it seem a thing of no great
labour, yet might have a great effect. For every one knows
(or ought to know) that the Lent fast was instituted to be a
tirae of repentance ; and to bring men to it, what can be more
effectual than this denunciation of God's anger and judgments
against sinners, with most comfortable assurances of grace and
mercy to the penitent ?
I know it is hard, as the world goes, to get a congregation
together upon that day, when this is required to be read in the

PAET I. The work of the ministry . 585
church. You may therefore read it on the first Sunday in
Lent, and then put the sense of it into your sermon ; where it
may be proper to press them to weigh every part of it dis
tinctly. And in order to it, remove that foohsh objection
which I have heard sorae have in their mouths, that they
cannot endure to curse their neighbours; by showing them
plainly that they are not the curses of the people, but of God
himself, which he hath denounced against sinners. To which
when the people are ordered to say Amen, they only consent
to the truth of that which God saith. The very office teaches
this, when it declares the end of reading those curses gathered
out of Deuteronomy xxvii. and other places of Scripture, and
the people's saying Amen to them ; " that they may fiee from
such vices, for which they affirm with their own mouth the
curse of God to be due." And represent to them also, that
whether they will affirm these curses to be due or no, they will
fall upon thein if they be such sinners as are there named ;
and the sooner, because they refuse to say Amen to the words
of God : that is, affirm what he affirms, who is the faithful and
the true.
This cavil being taken away, it will be easy to make them
sensible how useful it is for them to join with you in this com
mination ; which may awaken drowsy souls to consider and
amend their evil doings, that they may escape those judgments
that are threatened to them, which are unavoidable if they go
on still in their sins.
There was something like this among the ancient Jews, who
at certain stated times were wont to denounce a general ana
thema against all the Israehtes who knowingly and wilhngly
violated such and such laws. A form of which Mr. Selden
hath given us out of their ritual, called Golbo, lib. iv. De Jure
Nat. et Gent. cap. 7. This it is likely the Christian church
thought fit to imitate, not by denouncing a formal anathema,
but only by a solemn^^recital of the threatenings in God's laws
against impenitent sinners ; and their affirming the truth and
certainty of them. Which in the Romish church came at last
to such an anathema as I now mentioned in the Jewish ritual,
called, The greater Excommunication ; which here in England
was denounced by every bishop twice a year, and by every
parish priest four times a year against certain persons. A form

586 The work of the ministry. paet i.
of which great curse, the same most learned person hath given
us out of the ritual, according to the use of the church of
Sarum, in his first book De Synedriis, cap.yi^, where he ob
serves, that in the roora of this our first reformers only ordered
this maledictory commination (as he well styles it) to be used
once a year.
In the beginning of which Commination there is mention
made of " a godly discipline in the primitive church, whereby
such persons as stood convicted of notorious sins were in the
beginning of Lent put to open penance." This disciphne we
there wish might be restored again ; but seem to suppose, that
for the present we can only, instead of it, denounce God's anger
and judgments against sinners, and make thera say Amen there
unto ; whereby they may stand convicted in their own con
sciences that they are under the curse of God, and so be brought
to repentance. Had we not need then do this very seriously,
if it be all that we can do of this kind ? Yet let it be considered,
whether we may not be able to do something more, if we wih
attempt it. For may not scandalous persons be more fre
quently presented than they are ? May not private admoni
tions, if not public, be more used ? Let us not then think fit to
do nothing, because we cannot do all that we would. The right
way to enlarge our authority (of the want of which we com
plain) is to use that which we have uprightly and faithfuhy.
That is, if we presented none in the ecclesiastical court till
private applications had been made to them, with seriousness
and earnestness, unsuccessfully ; and if it were done without
respect to persons, parties, or interests, we might bring our
courts into that just esteem and credit which they ought to
have. And having mentioned private admonition, let me, in a few
words, remember you that at your ordination you promised to
" use both pubhc and private monitions and exhortations, as
well to the sick as to the whole, within your cures, as need
shall require and occasion shall be given." And perhaps more
good might be done this way than any other ; if it were done
at fitting times, with as much secresy as may be, and with ap
parent affection to thera. In some cases perhaps it may be
done most effectually by letter ; which may be sent, when you
'^ [0pp. torn. i. col. 946.]

PAET II. The work of the ministry. 587
cannot have opportunity to speak to them. And here it may
be proper to admonish you that dissenters from our church are
thus to be dealt withal, by some way of private conference
with them, not by preaching against them, for they are not
there to hear it. Our own people indeed are by public dis
courses, as well as otherways, to be confirmed and estabhshed
in our communion ; but there is no way to reduce them but by
private arguing with thera. Which is not to be omitted ; be
cause the present act of indulgence doth not justify them in
their separation, but only suspends the punishments to which
they were before liable. Still they are in a state of schism,
out of which you should endeavour to recover thera by kind
persuasions and arguments, which may work more upon them
than all the penalties formerly inflicted, which made them
angry, but did not convert them.
For the conclusion of this part of my treatise, I should upon
the mention of Lent have said something concerning that fast,
and other days of fasting or abstinence appointed by the church,
which if raen could be persuaded to observe, as times of recol
lection and examination of themselves, and prayer, they would
flnd great benefit thereby, to the increase of Christian piety.
I wrote a little book about it in the beginning of the late reign,
which had the approbation of my superiors ; but I have no
room to say more of it here. Nor of the festivals which are
ordered to be kept in commemoration of great blessings God
hath bestowed upon us. Of which you should endeavour to
make your people sensible ; whereby they may be induced to
observe them with religious joy. Especially the three chief
festivals in memory of our Saviour's nativity, resurrection, and
the coming of the Holy Ghost.
But it is time to proceed to the other part of this discourse,
which I propounded in the beginning : and I must be the shorter
in it, because I have been longer in this than I at first in
tended.
PART IL
Having laid before you the duties, both private and public,
which belong to your holy function, I come now to treat a little
of the spirit wherewith they ought to be performed.
Sect. I. And above all things you must labour to possess
your hearts with a spirit of love to God, whose servants you

588 The work of the ministry. paet ii.
are, and who employs you in the most glorious work in the
world. A spirit, I say, of love to God the Father, who hath
sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world ; and to God the
Son, who loved the church, and gave himself for it ; and to
God the Holy Ghost, who hath, by a peculiar grace, separated
you from other men to minister unto Christ in his church.
Which was a witness of what was said to you at your ordina
tion ; " Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a
priest in the church of God." These were not empty words,
nor mere lofty expressions without any power in them ; but an
effectual prayer for the Holy Spirit of grace, which was then
conferred upon you : and should mightily move you to serve
the church of Christ, in the love of the Spirit^, as St. Paul
speaks : that is, in the love which the Spirit of God inspires
you withal. For, as he saith before in the same Epistle, The
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us'^ ; so we pray in the hymn which is
recited at the ordination of priests,
Corae, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire.
And hghten with celestial fire.
Thy blessed unction from above.
Is comfort, hfe, and fire of love.
These are not vain words if sent up with ardent affection to
God, but procure for us the power of the Holy Spirit to enlighten,
and enliven, and warm our hearts with the knowledge and love
of God our Saviour. Which love we should every day endea
vour to stir up, by reflecting upon the wonderful love of God
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost unto us. For so St. Chry
sostom notes upon those words of St. Paul, Rom. xv. 30°.
He mentions the love of the Spirit, Kaddirep yap 6 Xptoros ijytt-
TTTjcre TOV Koap-ov, koX 6 Ilar^p, oiVw xai to Ylvevp,a, ' for as Christ
and the Father hath loved the world, so hath the Spirit.'
Upon this love we ought to reflect every morning, and ponder
it so long till we find it excite in us that heavenly fire of love
to God which we prayed for at our ordination.
For if we preserve this flame in our hearts, it will make us
cheerful as weh as diligent, restless and unwearied in the work
of the Lord. Nothing can carry us through it like this, and
render it so easy and sweet to us, as to think we are serving
our good God in that which he loves and delights to have done ;
• Rom. XV. 30. "> Rom. v. g. " [Tom. ix. p. 739 C]

paet IL The work of the ministry . 589
and to feel that every thing we do proceeds frora love to him
and to his service.
Our Saviour teaches us that this is the principle by which all
his ministers ought to act, in that question which he asks St.
Peter, and repeats it thrice after his resurrection, Simon Peter,
lovest thou me°? and in the command which follows upon
his profession that he sincerely loved him, Feed my lambs, and
Feed my sheep. Take care of the souls of young and old, that
they want not their proper food. For they are so dear to
him, (as Theophylact there notes p,) that he makes our care of
them to be the mark of our affection to him ; Tijs ds avrbv
ayATtr]s tovto iroie'i TeKp.ripiov. For it is therefore a certain
token of our love to him, because it flows from thence as from
its fountain and spring. If we love him, we can never neglect
them. This whl make us studious and industrious to promote
the salvation of those souls whom Christ so dearly loved : it
being the truest expression of our love to Christ. So St. Chry
sostom upon this place <i : Christ repeated this so often, to show
us TToiM bei TpoTKo pdXiaTa avTov ayanav, ' after what manner we
ought chiefly to love him, by taking care of his flock,' Can
any man read this then and be negligent ? No, not if he love
the Lord Jesus in sincerity : who hath bid him demonstrate his
love by feeding his lambs and his sheep. There are several
other things, saith that great father of the church, which may
give us some confidence towards God, nay, make us ihustrious
and famous : " but that which above all things wins us the
favour of Heaven is ^ Trepl tovs irkria-iov KrjbepovCa, ' our tender
care of our neighbours.' " Which leads to the next thing :
II. Which is a sincere love and affection to the souls of men,
which Christ hath redeemed with his precious blood. If we
make an estimate of them by the price which was paid for
them, we cannot set too high a value upon them : and if we
look upon them as invaluable beings (purchased at so dear a
rate), we shall do all we can to save them : and be exceeding
fearful lest any of them should be lost through our negligence.
Preserve therefore and keep alive in your hearts a spirit of
love to the souls of men, especially to your parishioners. And
there is no way to do this like to the consideration what it cost
to redeem them ; no less than the blood of the Son of God :
who demonstrated thereby how precious they are in themselves,
" Johnxxi, ig, i6, 17, p [Tom.i. p, 769D.] 1 [Tom. viii. p. 526 B.]

590 The work of the ministry. paet ii.
and how dear to him. Hestow a few thoughts upon this every
day, and it will beget and continue in you the greatest kindness
and tenderest compassion towards them : and that will move
you to lay out yourselves with the utmost diligence in ah the
offices belonging to your function. And this, both for his sake
and for theirs, that he may see of the travail of his soul, and
be satisfied, (as the prophet speaks, Isa. lih. 1 1.) and that they
may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with
eternal glory''.
I shall conclude what I have said of these two things (a
spirit of love to God and to the souls of men) with a notable
discourse of St. Austin's ; who in a letter to Longinianus, a
pagan philosopher, remembers him of this saying of one of the
ancients, quibus satis persuasum esset, ut nihil mallent se
esse, quani viros bonos ; his reliquam facilem esse doctrinam ;
' unto those who were persuaded so far as to desire nothing
but to be made good raen, all the rest of the instructions that
philosophers could give them would be very easy.' This, he
saith, he took to be a saying of Socrates, which raust be ac
knowledged to be excehent. But then he tells him there is a
far more ancient prophetical saying, which preceded this many
ages ; teaching men briefly, and at once, not only to desire
nothing but to be made good men, but also how they may be
made truly good, viz. Love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind ; and thy
neighbour as thyself. To him who can be persuaded to do
this, non ei reliquam facilem, sed eam totam esse doctrinam
duntaxat utilem et salubrem ; I do not say as Socrates did,
' that all the rest will be easy, but that this is the whole only
profitable and wholesome doctrine ; and there needs no more.'
Keep this therefore perpetually in your heart, which con
tains in it all things else. Love the Lord your God, and love
your neighbour ; and you have done all you need to do : for
all is included in this : you will not be wanting in your duty to
either of them if you heartily love them.
III. My next advice shall be in the words of the blessed
apostle St. Paul, (who hath left us a wonderful example of
most tender affection to men's souls : read i Thess. ii. 7, 8, 1 1 ,)
Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the
' 2 Tim. ii. 10. ^ Epist. xx. [Epist. cc.^x.'tiii. ed. Ben. tom. ii.
col. 845 D.]

PAET II. The work of the ministry. 591
Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the Father by him '.
That is, when you are going to perform any part of your office,
pray him to be present with you and assist you. So St. Chry
sostom" (and out of him Theophylacff) expounds these words,
in the name of Christ, Avtov KaXav jSorjObv, ' calhng upon him
to be thy helper,' -npoTepov aiiT^ ivxppevos, koa. ovtchs aijTov t&v
ipymv, ' first making thy prayer to him, and so go about thy
business.' When you put on your surplice, for instance, think
with yourselves that you are going to offer up the prayers of
the people to God in the name of Jesus Christ : and then with
what solemnity, with what reverence will you perform that
sacred office ! Especially when you have besought him to be
with you, and believe that he is nigh to all them that call
upon hira in truth. In like manner when you go up into the
pulpit, consider with yourselves that you are going to speak
in the name of Christ unto his people ; beseeching him to
assist you, and to carry home the truths you shall deliver to
their hearts and consciences. For dexterius loquentur cum
hominibus, qui prius tota mente cum Deo fuerint collocuti,
as Erasmus excellently speaks, * they will speak with men more
dexterously, who have first of all with their whole soul spoken
with God.' The hke I might say of other parts of your duty,
which will then be most successfully discharged, when you
have engaged our Lord, by solemn prayer to him, to go along
with you, and accompany you.
Theodorety hath another interpretation, or rather a further
improvement of the sense of these words ; which is this. Adorn
all your words and actions tjj p.v^p.ri tov beaTioTov XptaroC, ' with
the remembrance of the Lord Christ.' That is, having invoked
his blessed presence to be with you, think what he would do,
how he would behave himself, and with what spirit he would
perform such things as you are going about. For example,
when you are going to compose a sermon, it would be of great
use and efficacy, if you would think with yourselves what
Christ would say to your people if he were to speak to them,
what he would require of them, with what motives he would
excite them, and what compassion he would express to their
souls. It would be impossible then for any man, if he had
t Coloss. iii. 17. X [Tom. xi. p. 394 B.]
" [Tom. i. p. 493 D.] y [Tom. iii. p. 496.]

592 The work of the ministry. paet n.
Christ in his mind, to say any thing but what he hath well
considered, and will tend to make men good. He whl not
preach for his own glory, but for the glory of Christ ; pursuing
things profitable rather than plausible ; not affecting in his
discourse lenocinia, sed remedia, such things as may tickle the
ears of idle people, but such as will cure their diseases and
distempers. They are the words of Salvian in his preface to
his book de Gubernatione Dei. Which are agreeable to the
old rule which Rittershusius there mentions, M^ /not ra Kopyj/a,
aKX' <av bei Ty TioKei 7, ' give me not spruce things, but such as
the city needs.'
They that interpret the words to this sense, " Be so mindful of
Christ, that you do nothing indecorous, nothing unbeseeming
the relation you have to him, nothing that may dishonour
him," differ not much from the former. And therefore I con-
elude this advice as the apostle doth his admonition : as we
ought to begin every thing with a devout remembrance of
Christ, whose blessing upon us we ought to implore, so we
ought to end all by giving thanks to God through him. That
is as acceptable to hira as our prayers ; nay, is a powerful
prayer for more of his grace. For none are so likely to receive
more, as those who thankfully acknowledge what they have
received already. And therefore let all your doings be thus
begun and ended in the name of Christ. Whereby you will be
preserved in his love and favour, and partake still more of his
grace. IV. Especially if you do all this in sincerity of heart. Which
is that good soil, wherein if the seed of the word be not sown
and received, it brings forth no fruit to perfection ; and which
our Saviour more particularly required in his apostles, who
were to sow that good seed in men's hearts. Such persons, it
is manifest, he sought for, as were plain, simple, and honest-
hearted ; having no worldly end to serve, but wholly bent to
know the way to eternal salvation. Andrew and Peter, who were
first called to follow hira, it is evident were of this spirit ; for
they left all they had to attend him : and next to them Phihp,
who finding Nathanael, and telhng him they had found the
Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, to whom he prayed hira to go
along with him, as soon as our Saviour saw him he said, (to
y [Eurip. apud Aristot. Pol. iii. 2.]

PAET II. The work of the ministry. 593
show what kind of man he dehghted in,) Behold an Israelite
indeed, in whom is no guile^, which was a surprising character
of him, after Nathanael had made this objection against our
Saviour, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? But, as
Theophylact* well observes, those were not pr\p.aTa a-ntaTlas,
' words of unbelief,' but aKpipdas koI vopop.a6ovs biavolas yivat-
<rK0vcF7\i, ' of a mind that accurately weighed things, and was
well studied in the law :' which taught him that Christ was to
come out of Bethlehem in Judsea, not out of Nazareth in
Galilee. By this our Saviour judged of his sincerity, which
appeared also in that notwithstanding this seeming preju
dice he went along with Philip to be better Informed of our
Saviour. This is one great part of that sincerity which I am now
recommending to you — to have your minds free from the
power of prejudice and partial affections — being desirous only
to know the truth, and understand what the will of the Lord
is. So St. Chrysostom upon these words, 'ASeKaoros yap aiiTov
17 Kplai's' ovh\v irpbs \dpw, ovbev irpbs d-neyQeiav (pdfyyerai^ :
' His judgment was uncorrupt and unbiassed, and pronounced
nothing either out of favour and affection, or out of dislike and
hatred.' Another token of which sincerity there follows, in that after
this high commendation which our Lord gave hira he was not
at all elated by it, nor ran away with these encomiums, (as the
same father speaks,) dAA.' eTnp,ivei (tjt&p, tcai aKpifiiarepov biepev-
v(opL€vos, &c., 'but continues inquiring and searching more
exactly,' being deisirous of this alone — to be more perfectly
satisfied in the truth : as he was upon his next question, and
our Saviour's answer to it.
By this it appears that sincerity of heart is the best dispo
sition to understand the mind of Christ, and to be employed by
him in the ministry of the gospel, as the apostles were ; who
had regard to nothing in this world, but only to the glory of
God, and the salvation of men ; in which also they found the
highest satisfaction, or rather rejoicing and glorying. For so
St. Paul saith. Our rejoicing (or glorying, or boasting) is this,
the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly
^ John i. 47. » [Tom. i. p. 530 A.] h [Tom. viii. p. 117 B.]
PATEICK, VOL, VUI. Q q

594 The work of the ministry. paet ii,
sincerity, Sj-c, we have our conversation in the world". He
served our Lord, that is, with pure intention ; designing nothing
but to win souls to hira, by dehvering his mind sincerely to
them, and seeking no greater satisfaction than to have it
believed and obeyed, Ovb'ev bokepbv, ov\ imoKpicnv, &c., as
St. Chrysostom ^ glosses on those words, "There was nothing
deceitful in him ; no hypocrisy, no simulation, no flattery, no
craft or fraud, or any thing of that kind ; but he acted with all
freedom, in siraphcity, in truth, in a pure, uncorrupt judgment,
and clear intention ; having nothing concealed and hidden
underneath, nothing rotten at the bottom." Thus he explains
himself in the second chapter of the First Epistle to the
Thessalonians, ver. 3 — 6 ,• For our exliortation was not of
deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: but as we were
allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even
so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth
our hearts. For neither at any time used we flatteritig
words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness ; God is wit
ness : nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of
others. This admirable spirit let us imitate ; endeavouring after such
a degree of this virtue, as to be glad if men could look into our
hearts, and see our secret intentions and designs, as we are
sure God doth. Who, as he is witness to them, (as the apostle
speaks,) so will judge us according to our uprightness and in
tegrity in seeking to do him honour and to promote the salva
tion of souls.
Thus the fathers of the church, particularly Gregory Na-
zianzen, distinguish a political Christian from a spiritual : Ilo-
XlTiKov p-ev yap epyov etvat, TiAvra iroieiv Kai Xiyeiv, i^ Siv ivbo-
KLp.rja-ei, &c. " A pohtical person, or a man of this world's busi
ness, is to do and to say all things whereby he may do himself
credit, and be honoured by others; designing no happiness
beyond this present hfe. But a spiritual man's business is to
take care of his salvation, and highly to esteem what con
tributes unto that, but to look upon that which doth not as
nothing worth; in short, to esteem those things above all
others, i^ &v kavros re TrAet'oTou a^tos eorot, &c., ' by which he
' 2 Cor, i, 12, "1 [Tom, x, p. 442 B.]

PAET n. The wm-k of the ministry. 595
himself may be made most worth, and he may draw others by
himself to the best and most excellent things^.' "
V. There are some other qualities that make up the charac
ter of a good minister of Jesus Christ; of which I have not
room in this little treatise particularly to discourse. For he
ought to serve the Lord with all humility of mind f, with
patience s, and with meekness ^. All which St. Paul hath com
mended to us, together with the foregoing qualities, in that
admirable description he makes of himself, 3 Corinth, vi. 3, 4, 5,
6, &c,, which was part of the Epistle, I observed, for the flrst
Sunday in Lent, Where he first of all saith, that they took care
to give no offence in any thing, that the ministry might not be
blamed. Of which I shall briefly speak a httle, when I have
first laid before you what follows ; — but in all things approving
ourselves as the ministers of God. Not merely showing them
selves, (saith CEcumenius on the place',) but more than that,
approving or commending themselves; which signifies a de
monstration bi epycav Kai aXrjOelas, ' by real works and deeds,'
to be truly Christ's ministers. Which demonstration, saith he,
they gave first of all iv {nTop,ovfj, ' in patience ' ; nay, he adds,
much patience, TtAvra (f^fpovres yevalcas to, prjOrjcropieva, ' gene
rously bearing all that was said of them,' that is, men's cen
sures, reproaches, and calumnies, yea, and all the sufferings
and miseries they pleased to heap upon them ; which he ex
presses in the next words, in afflictions, in necessities, in dis
tresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in
watchings, in fastings. Upon which I cannot enlarge, nor
upon what he saith of their pureness and knowledge, (i. e. their
divine wisdom, whereby they approved themselves God's minis
ters ; not by human phhosophy, as the same CEcumenius ex
pounds it,) and all the rest ; but only take notice of what he
saith, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and
on the left^. As if he had said. Would ye know how we came
to perform such things ? (as the same author expounds it ;)
give ear then to what follows : It was by being armed on both
sides, on the right and on the lefi ; which are not so contrary
but the armour of righteousness fitted both. By the right
' Orat, xix. p. 300. [Orat. xviii. s 2 Tim. ii. 24.
^. 24. ed. Ben. tom. i. p. 345 C] 1> 2 Tim. ii. 25. ' [P. 641 D.]
' Acts XX, 19. '' 2 Cor. vi. 7.
Q q 2

596 The work of the ministry. paet ii.
hand, saith he, the apostle understands to, imbe^ia, ' prosperous
things,' such as honour and esteem among men ; which did not
make us swell, nor puff us up with vainglory, and therefore
were the armour or weapons of righteousness. On the left
hand were the things contrary to these, temptations, persecu
tions, reproaches, and injuries ; by which we were not dejected
nor cast down, as by the other we were not elated. As if he
had said, in other words, MrjTe toIs KaXois eiraipopevoi, p-qTe rois
KOKOiy juaAa/cifo'fxefot, ' neither lifted up by good things nor dis
heartened by evil.' A proof of which immediately follows, by
honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report. In
which words, saith that author, he recounts the right hand and
the left hand things. And in this spirit we ought to serve the
Lord Christ; not minding the vain praise of men, nor their
dispraise ; but only endeavouring to approve ourselves to our
blessed Lord and Master with an equal mind in all conditions.
Before I end this 1 cannot but a little reflect upon those
words wherewith the apostle begins this discourse, giving no
offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed. Which
admonishes us cautiously to avoid every thing at which men
may take just exception, for this very reason, lest the gospel of
Christ should be hindered, and our fault be laid upon our re
ligion. There is a remarkable precept to this purpose, which the
apostle gives both to Timothy and to Titus ; Let no man
despise thee ^ : which sorae may fancy (as Theodoret ¦" observes)
to be a comraand belonging to others rather than to us, who
cannot hinder men's despisals. But that is a mistake, in the
apostle's opinion ; who would have Timothy to know that he
who commands and teaches others may preserve himself from
contempt by this means : (though he was a young man :) 'E/x-
i/fvxos vopos yivov, &c., ' Be thou a living law : show in thyself
the perfect work of the law ; lead such a hfe as will bear wit
ness to thy words.' Which hfe he describes in the words im
mediately following, Be thou an example of the believei^s, in
word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
He that thus makes himself dJo-Trep eiKutv €p.\l/vxps, Kai 8pos ev-
fwias, (as CEcumenius " expresses it,) ' as it were a living image
• I Tim. iv. 12 ; Titus ii. 15. m [Tom. iii. p. 661.]
" [Tom. ii. p. 234 A.]

PAET IL The work of the ndnistry. 597
and rule of a good hfe,' will preserve himself from contempt,
and not lose, but maintain his authority.
To conclude this, there is nothing the devil more desires
and endeavours than to alienate the hearts of the people from
their ministers; and therefore they should take the greatest
care to do nothing that may give the least occasion of it. And
here I cannot forbear to mind you of one thing, which hath
given no small scandal ; which is, the not keeping your houses,
and that part of the house of God which belongs to the care
of some ministers, in good repair, and leaving them so to their
successors. This argues a very careless or covetous sordid
spirit, minding nothing but a man's self, and the present world,
and having no consideration of the future.
I hope I need not exhort you to observe the seventy-fifth
canon of our church ; which requires you not to resort to any
taverns or alehouses at any time, other than for your honest
necessities, &c., which occasions cannot be frequent nor of
any long continuance, I shall only tell you that Julian the
Apostate, in his famous letter to Ai-sacius the high priest of the
pagan religion in Galatia", having commended the exemplary
charity of Christians to the imitation of his priests, adds, (after
some other good admonitions of governing their families well,)
Ilapaiveaov lepia p-rfre deaTput napa^akK^iv prfre ev Kais-qkeita
¦niveiv, &c. 'Exhort a priest, that he neither go into the
theatre, nor drink in a tavern, nor exercise any base or igno
minious art. Honour those that obey these orders, and put
the disobedient out of their office.' This shows how sen
sible he was of the necessity of the apostohcal precept, that
he who ministered to God should have a good report of them
which are without^, i. e. are not of his rehgion.
To conclude, think often what an honour it is to serve the
Lord Jesus, and what care he took of his flock ; how invaluable
the souls of men are which he purchased with his blood : what
an inestimable treasure the gospel of Christ is wherewith you
are intrusted : in what an high station God hath placed you :
and then you will never submit to so much as any mean action,
but do such things as may procure you esteem, or at least pre
vent contempt.
And to keep this good spirit in you which I have described,
o [Epist, xlix, p. 430 E.] P I Tim. iii. 7.

598 The work of the ministry. paet ii.
it would be of singular use to read every Lord's day, (at least
every Ordination Sunday,) the vows and promises you made
when you were admitted into holy orders : which are so
solemn, that it is impossible not to be moved by them, if they
be not merely read, but seriously weighed and considered.
These instructions I have written in the midst of great
variety of business, and with many interruptions, which may
make them defective in many particulars, and less accurate
than they might otherwise have been : but what they want in
that, will be made up, I hope, by the sincere desire I have to
do good, and by the grace of God accompanying all honest
endeavours. Unto which grace I most heartily commend you,
and rest, Your affectionate brother,
SY. ELIENS.
March 19, 1697.

THE DIGNITY

op

THE CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD.
BY SYMON, LORD BISHOP OF ELY.
DIRECTED TO HIS CLERGY AT HIS FOURTH TRIENNIAL
VISITATION.

THE DIGNITY

OF THE

CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD.

Deae Beetheen,
Theee is nothing, as I have often represented unto you,
more effectual to excite every one of us to our duty, and to
make us diligent therein, than frequent reflections upon the
solemn charge given us at our ordination, and our promises
which thereupon ensue. In which we are admonished unto
how high a dignity and to how weighty an office God hath
been pleased to call us ; and thereby are awakened to con
sider with how great care and study we ought to apply our
selves, as well that we may show ourselves dutiful and thank
ful unto that Lord who hath placed us in so high a dignity, as
also to beware that neither we ourselves offend, nor be occa
sion that others offend.
Now that we may be sensible of the excehency of our office,
(upon which depends the weight and difficulty of it,) I have
thought fit, instead of the usual speech at my visitation, to pre
sent you with a small treatise upon that subject. And I have
chosen to ground it upon those famous words of our Lord to
St. Peter, St. Matthew xvi. in the beginning of the nineteenth
verse. And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
that I may at the same time instruct you in your duty, and
explain a difficult passage of the holy Scripture.
Two things must be premised, before I can give you the true
sense of these words, / will give thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, and propose the matter of which I intend to dis
course. The first is, that the power which these words import was
not bestowed upon St. Peter alone, (as they of the Roman

602 The dignity of the
church imagine,) but what Christ here spake to him, as the
prime apostle, he intended unto all the rest.
This is manifest by comparing three places in the Gospel to
gether, which speak of this power. For what is here said of
it, by way of prediction or promise, that he would confer it, is
a little after spoken of by way of description and explication of
the nature of this power, and the manner of using it ; as you
may see in the xviiith chapter of this Gospel, from ver. 15 to
the 2 1st, where, ver. 18, he speaks in the plural number. What
soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven : and
whatsoever ye shall loose Sj-c, which is the very same power
and in the same words promised here to St. Peter, / will give
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven : and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And then,
in a third place, when this power is actually conferred upon
them, they are all invested with it, after our Saviour's resur
rection, but before his ascension*, where he doth not say Aa/Se,
Receive thou, as if he spake to one alone, but AdySere, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost : whose soever sins ye remit, they are
remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are
retained : which, it is evident, was spoken indifferently to
every one of them.
Now the second thing to be premised is, that the power in
tended to be conferred by these words was not given only to the
apostles, but to their successors also unto the end of the world ;
and to all those that their successors should invest with it, in
their several orders and degrees.
This will be clear, by considering not only the needs of the
church, which was not to continue only while the apostles
lived, but while the world lasted ; but also from the time when
this power was bestowed upon them ; which must be carefully
observed. Now \t was given, either on the evening after our
Saviour's resurrection, or else eight days after it ; for the place
in that particular seems to be dubious''. Whichsoever it was,
this tirae shows that this power was not bestowed upon them
as apostles, or as having an extraordinary office which was to
expire ; but as the ordinary pastors and curates of souls. For
their extraordinary mission by tho gift of the Holy Ghost,
^ John .XX. 22, 23, b John xx, 19,

Christian priesthood. 603
and whatsoever should qualify them for the office of apostles,
(that is, to preach the gospel to all nations.) was not bestowed
upon them thl ten days after his ascension into heaven, when
the day of Pentecost was come. For our Lord had said to
them just before his ascension. Depart not from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father. And ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judcea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth".
This is a thing to be carefully heeded, as I said ; for in the
following discourse I shall show there is great use of it.
And now, having premised these two things, there are two
more to be explained ; and then we shall be easily let into the
sense of these words, and see what we are to observe from
them. First, what is meant by the kingdom of heaven.
Secondly, what by the keys of it, and the giving them to
his apostles.
I. By the kingdom of heaven is certainly meant the church of
Christ, the company of believers. Which is evidently the sense
of this phrase in more places than one of this very gospel :
The kingdom of heaven is like to a man that sowed good seed
in his field ; but while men slept, the enemy came and sowed
tares, Sj-c.^ In the kingdom of heaven, properly so called,
there are no enemies nor any tares ; therefore by the kingdom
of heaven must be meant the church. And so it is to be un
derstood in all the rest of the parables of that chapter ; and in
xi. II, xvin. I, 3. And thus the Pharisees are said to shut up
the kingdom of heaven against men (which is near to the
phrase of our Saviour in this place), and woidd neither go in
themselves, nor suffer them that were entering to go in " : that
is, kept men from believing in Christ, and becoming members
of his church. And in the same sense, another phrase is fre
quently used, viz. the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God
shall be taken from you, Sj-c. ^ that is, they should no longer
be the church of God. Which in another place is thus ex
plained : Many shall come from the east and west, and shall
sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom
'=Actsi,4,8. d Matt, xiii, 24. ^ Matt, xxiii, 13. ' Malt, xxi. 43.

604 The dignity of the
of heaven, but the children of the kingdom shall be cant outs,
Sj-c. That is, men should come from far distant countries, and
beheve on Christ, when the gospel was preached unto them,
(as Abraham the father of the faithful obeyed God's cah when
he bade him leave Chaldaja,) and they who tih now were the
only people of God, viz, the Jews, should be no longer owned
by him, but cast off for their unbelief.
II. Now what is meant by the keys of this church whl be easily
understood by observing that the church is often called tlie
house of God •>. And that every house hath a door which lets
into it, and that door is made fast and opened by the lock ;
unto which the keys belong. The giving of which to the
apostles, signifies in general Christ's giving them a power over
his family, and intrusting them with the care of those that
belong to his house. And in particular it signifies the power
of a steward ; whose office is to look after every one in the
family, that they both do their duty, and want nothing that is
necessary for them. This will be most manifest by consulting
Isaiah x.xu. 20, 21, 22, from whence this expression of our
Saviour's seems to be borrowed ; where God threatens to put
Shebna out of his office, and to confer it upon Ehakim, who
was a much better man : / will clothe him with thy robe,
and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit
thy government into his hand : and he shall be a father to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. What
that government was which he promised to give him may be
learnt from ver. 15, where Shebna is said to be over the house.
And accordingly it follows, after the words now mentioned con
cerning Ehakira, ver. 22, The key of the house of David will
I lay upon his shoulder ; so he shall open, and none shall
shut ; and he shall shut, and none shall open. That is, he
should have the sole power of ruling the house of the king, and
administer the affairs of the whole family, so that he should
admit into it and exclude out of it whom he pleased, without
control. Such a power there is over the church, which originally is in
Christ himself; who is said to have the key of David', that is,
of the house of David. Who was pleased to communicate this
e Matt. viii. 11,12. ti Heb. iii. 2', 3, 4. ¦ Rev. iii. 7.

Christian priesthood. 605
power unto his apostles, and by them unto their successors :
who were to confer it on such persons as they judged meet for
this office of stewards in the church of Christ, as Eliakim was
in the court of the king of Judah.
Now these Avords of our blessed Saviour thus explained, suf
ficiently warrant us to assert, that he hath advanced his min
isters unto an high dignity, and given them a very great power
over his people, who are the subjects of his kingdom ; that is,
the merabers of his church. I say his ministers, because this
power was not left to one, but unto them all ; to be distributed
among them according to their several shares in this office,
wherein they are placed in divers orders and degrees of power :
for it being the power of stewards over a large family, it is
absolutely necessary that the chief steward in it have several
others under him to take part of the care upon them.
Now if we inquire into this power of a steward, it is already
apparent that it consists of three parts :
First, of admitting persons into the family.
Secondly, of feeding and providing for them, when they are
admitted: and,
Thirdly, of governing and keeping them in order ; and, if
need be, turning those out of doors who are disorderly.
They have power to open the door, to keep and maintain in
the house, and to shut out of it. Such is the power of the
ministers of our Lord. By them persons enter into his church,
and are there instructed ; and also ruled and governed. For
they are not only to use the keys to open the door, and let men
into the family of God, which is done by baptism ; but when
they are in, to keep and preserve them there, to set them about
their work to provide for their welfare (as stewards feed and
clothe the family) : which Christ's ministers do by cate
chising, preaching, administering the holy communion, and
other duties. And they are also to turn idle, unprofitable, and
drunken servants out of the family : and upon their sincere
repentance to open the door, and admit them again into it ;
not indeed by a new baptism, but by receiving them to the
holy communion again ; unto which they have a right by their
baptism, upon their unfeigned repentance.
My intention is to explain to you more largely the power
and duty which belongs to you, according to this little model

606 The dignity of the
of it which I have now laid before you : from which wih neces
sarily arise the duty of ah Christian people, in relation to the
ministers of Christ, and this power intrusted with them ; which
I shall represent in the conclusion.
Their office then consists in these things fohowing :
I.
First, they are to baptize into the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; whereby, as I said, they
let men into the church, and make them members of it. This
is the first work in which the keys of the kingdom of heaven are
employed. It is true, preaching or pubhshing the gospel went
before this to persons of age, that they might learn into what
they were baptized. But then, this work was not properly
performed by them as stewards of a family, or pastors, or over
seers of a flock, (for they who were heathens did not acknow
ledge that authority in them,) but as ministers of Christ at
large :. who were sent to invite all men to come to the marriage
feast, (as the gospel speaks,) in the house of Christ. Unto
which motion when any man consented, then he was baptized :
and that was the first exercise of the power of the keys, the
first act of stewards, whereby they received men into the family
of our Lord Christ.
And thus it is at this day. They who are not as yet mem
bers of the church do not own them as stewards and overseers,
nor are under their care as part of the family. And therefore
the act of teaching such persons and instructing them in reli
gion is performed by them as ministers of the gospel in ge
neral, not as exercising the power of the keys of the kingdom
of heaven. Baptism is the first part of that power, the first
act of Christ's stewards ; whereby they open the door (as I
said) and let raen into the church : and by this sign and token
admit them into the service of Christ, and hst them under his
banner. See St. Cyprian in his seventy-third epistle.
If persons before they be baptized do really believe the
gospel, and renouncing all other masters do in their hearts
devote themselves to the service of Christ, they become secretly
and invisibly members of his body. But they are not openly
and professedly of his family, and so under the care and
charge of his ministers, till they own Christ by being bap-

Christian priesthood. 607
tized ; till they receive his mark and cognizance, by which
they are solemnly initiated into his service, and made complete
Christians. And therefore they are said by the ancients then
to receive their TeXet'oxrtz', (so they called baptism,) their ' per
fection ; ' in comparison with the weak and imperfect state
wherein they were before. For now they openly contract
with Christ, and take upon them his yoke ; they bind them
selves by solemn vows to become his servants, and to obey
those whom Christ hath set in his stead, to order the affairs of
his family.
And if the persons baptized be but infants, they are received
thereby into the care and tuition of the church; and stand
engaged to make good what is promised for them by those
who brought them to be baptized. For they have upon them
(T^payiba tov KvpCov, tlie seal and badge of the Lord : whereby
they are appropriated unto him, to be peculiarly his, and to be
brought up in his rehgion, though as yet they understand
nothing of it. So great hath been the care of Christ's church
to take men as early as might be into her bosom ; to gather
thera, as I may say, under her wings ; and to commit them to
the oversight and care of those who are set over the house of
God, to bring them up in his knowledge and love.
II.
Secondly, when this is done, the ministers of Christ are to
catechise and instruct those who are received by baptism into
his family ; to teach them, as soon as they are able to learn,
the Christian faith, and to build them up in it : to feed them
with the wholesome words of sound doctrine ; to assign every
one the several parts of their work, and tell them their duty
in the place and station wherein God hath set them.
For this was another part of a steward's office, to take care
that such as belonged to the family wanted nothing that was
necessary for them. Now nothing is more necessary in the
church than Christian instruction. Whence St, Paul, among
many other qualifications of a bishop, which he mentions in
1 Tim. ih, saith, he must be StSaKriKos, apt to teach, we trans
late it. Which signifies both his abilities and his propensity to
this work. And in Titus i, 9, he saith, he must hold fast the
faithful word that he hath been taught, that he may be able

608 The d'lgnity of the
by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gain
sayers. Whereby it appears there are many parts of this
duty upon which I cannot particularly insist. They are, first,
to instruct in the principles of Christian religion : and secondly,
to exhort and persuade men to the practice of it, both by their
doctrines and examples; and thirdly, to reprove those who
walk disorderly, and not according to the rules of the gospel :
fourthly, to convince such as gainsay any of the truths of the
gospel : and fifthly, to call men off from vain questions and
unprofitable inquiries, that they may attend their necessary
and unquestionable duty''. And the truth is, this was the
ancient manner of preaching, to excite men to some virtue, or
reprehend some vice ; as any one may see in St. Chrysostom's
sermons especially : who, after he hath expounded some por
tion of Scripture, according to the plain and literal meaning,
doth not raise such observations as we now take the liberty to
do, according to every man's judgment; but presently falls
into an exhortation to the exercise of temperance or humility
or charity, according as the portion of Scripture and the needs
of his auditors required. And their other sermons upon fes
tival days were only to clear the mystery of our Saviour's
incarnation, death, or resurrection, &c., and to recommend, as
an example, the actions and sufferings of such persons as had
been esteemed saints in the church. Which tended much to
the keeping unnecessary disputes out of the church, and making
men more humble and less contentious. But this by the way.
Let it here be observed, that both these powers of baptizing
and teaching were given to them before the power of being
apostles, viz. immediately before our Saviour's ascension to
heaven (read Matt, xxviii. 19,20); and therefore these are
powers still inherent in some persons, who were to succeed the
apostles, not in their extraordinary, but in their ordinary
office. Which observation confutes those who take upon them
to preach and instruct others without authority from the
bishops of the church; restraining this passage, which gave
such a power unto their persons as apostles. Who they ima
gine could assign none to this office, nor commit this power
unto others which was given them ; that so they may the
better assert that there are no persons now in the world to ap-
^ Titus iii. 8. 9.

Christian priesthood. 609
point others unto this employment, and to deliver to them
those keys which Christ gave them when he spoke those
words, because there are now no apostles among us. But
mark what he saith in the conclusion of those words, and, be
hold, I am with you alwa,y even unto the end of the world.
Which can neither be meant of their single persons, nor of all
Christians in general ; but of those who should succeed them,
and have this power committed by them into their hands.
III.
A third part of their office is to administer the sacrament of
the body and blood of our Lord unto those who are thus in
structed and have learned Christ. This is another part of the
food which the stewards are to prepare and give to Christ's
family ; and is, indeed, the noblest provision that is in the
church's storehouse, the highest entertainment of the people
of God. Which therefore is not presently given them at their
first entrance, but reserved for them till they be confirmed in
the state of Christianity ; and be able to taste and relish the
nature of it, to digest it, and turn it into their nourishment.
And this is likewise an action whereby the several members of
the family do more strongly tie themselves to Christ, and give
him fresh assurances of their love ; as he assures them of his.
Of this it is not proper for me now to enlarge, because my
business at present is only to show that this is part of the
power which Christ hath given to his ministers, and to them
only ; who alone can consecrate the bread and wine, and give
the body and blood of Christ to the faithful. Which power
was given to them before he died, just at his last supper : in
the end of which he instituted the sacrament, when he said.
Do this in remembrance ofme^-
Here it is to be diligently observed that these words. Do
this in remembrance of me, are but twice to be found in the
New Testament ; though the institution of this sacrament be
mentioned there four times. For the first three evangehsts
and St. Paul speak of its institution, but St. Luke only and
St. Paul have these words ; and that to different purposes, to
show what every one's work and duty is. All Christians are
bound to commemorate the love of their Lord and Master in
this manner, and to show forth his death till he come. And
1 Luke xxii. ig.
PATEICK, VOL. VIII, B, r

610 The dignity of the
therefore in i Cor, xi. 24 the words run thus : Take, eat : this
is my body, which is broken for you : do this in remem
brance of me. Where these two words. Do this, manifestly
refer to Take, eat, which go before : and therefore they express
the duty of Christian people. But now in the other place of
the Gospel of St. Luke there is no mention of taking and
eating, but the words run thus : He took bread, and gave
thanks, and brake it, and gave it to them, saying. This is my
body, which is given for you ; do this in remembrance of me.
Where it is evident these words. Do this, can refer to nothing
but what goes before, He took bread, gave thanks, brake it,
and gave it : and therefore, as the former place directs what
the people should do, so this directs what the pastors are to do.
They are to take bread, bless it, break it, and give it : and the
people are to take it, and to eat it.
And as these words are plainly spoken to them, so they are
spoken before his death ; and therefore before they received
the power of apostleship. And consequently they belong to
all his ministers unto the world's end : who alone can conse
crate bread and wine to become the body and blood of Christ
unto those that devoutly receive them.
Ah these three powers, of which I have hitherto treated, we
find expressly given them in the holy Scripture : and another
there is, (which I shall mention in the conclusion,) which is as
expressly delivered to them as these. But there are some
other intermedial powers between these and that ; which
though not particularly mentioned by our Saviour, yet are
partly contained in those already named.
IV.
Fourthly, therefore they are to pray with and for the family,
and to bless them in the name of the Lord. We have the in
stitution of St. Paul for their praying for the family of Christ
and for ah men". After he had bidden Timothy, in the
nineteenth verse of the foregoing chapter, to war a good warfare
among his flock, and to keep the faith, and a good conscience
in the discharge of his ministry ; as a way and means to this
he thus prescribes : I exhort therefore that first of all suppli
cations, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made
for all men : for kings, and for all that are in authority, &c.
" 2 Tim. ii. i.

Christian priesthood. 611
Where the word Trp&Tov, first of all, is remarkable ; denoting
these to be principal parts of the priest's office. And as for
blessing the people, we have the same apostle's example in the
conclusion of every epistle ; but especially in the last verse of
the second to the Corinthians, The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holg
Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
And here two things are to be noted :
First, that though every Christian ought to pray, and that
continually, both for himself and others ; yet the ministers of
Christ only pray as persons separate unto this office. All
Christians are said to be made priests unto God ; but not by
office ; not as men deputed to such a ministry of praying for
others, God invites all that belong to Christ to come with
boldness to the throne of grace : being admitted to a greater
familiarity with him than the Jews were in former times ; who
prayed in the outward court only, at a distance from the sanc
tuary. Yet there are some persons who are more nearly re
lated to him, being properly priests ; who are set apart by him
to offer up prayers, supplications, and intercessions for others.
Which we cannot but think are of great efficacy, when they
seriously attend unto this duty ; because they are appointed by
God to this office. And,
Secondly, their prayers are then of most efficacy when they
celebrate the sacrament of Christ's body and blood. It being a
great part of their work at that time to represent unto God the
meritorious sacrifice which his blessed Son made for our sins ;
and by virtue of it to beg of him all spiritual blessings. For
then they imitate Christ's intercession in the heavens ; and do
that on earth, by way of representation, which he doth by pre
senting himself in the presence of God for us, in the high and
holy place above. Where he exhibits the sacrifice of himself
before God ; and so intercedes for us : which they also here
upon earth commemorate ; and exhibiting the same under the
form of bread and wine, send up their prayers with this repre
sentation for all the blessings for which he intercedes in hea
ven. They show to God all that Christ hath suffered, by pre
senting before him his body broken and his blood shed : and
by virtue of that sacrifice their prayers at that tirae become the
more prevalent, B r 2

612 The dignity of the
V,
They are also to direct, advise, and guide the people of God,
by spiritual conference with them : the ministers of God being
of counsel for the soul, as lawyers are for men's estates, and
physicians for their bodies. So that to them men ought to
resort, that they may be better acquainted with their duty,
satisfied in their doubts, resolved in difficult cases, and assisted
against the temptations which they find too strong for them.
For though many general advices may be given frora the pul
pit, yet no one can raeet there with every private man's malady.
And therefore this office of personal instruction, as occasion re
quires, seems to be comprehended in the general power given
God's ministers, of teaching all men, and building them up in
their most holy faith.
These words of the apostle are very significant, where they
are said to watch for men's souls^ ; that is, to be ready to
embrace all opportunities they meet with of doing them good ;
which must be by more than public instruction. And they are
also said to be 6br]yo\, ' guides' to the flocks : which they can
not be, without acquaintance with them and with their state.
And indeed their being made stewards, by giving them the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, implies as much : that they
should be acquainted, as much as is possible, with every one of
the family over whom they are set.
VI.
They are also to assist the sick, by helping them to search
into their consciences, and find out the diseases of then- souls,
and particularly what sin they may possibly labour under, for
which the sickness of their body may prove a proper cure.
They are to receive their confessions ; to direct them unto the
best remedies for reraoving their bad affections ; to exhort,
persuade and comfort them, according as their condition re
quires. No raan that understands our religion whl think it
strange that I say they are to receive the sick man's confession ;
for St. James saith the same, If he have committed sins,
(spealdng of a sick man,) they shall be forgiven him"; di^ed^-
o-erat avT<2, ' absolution shall be given him ;' and therefore con
fession must precede it. But to put ah out of doubt, he adds
in the next words, Confess your faults one to another, and
n Heb, xiii. 17. o James v, 14, 15, 16.

Christian priesthood. 613
pray one for another, that ye may be healed. Two things it
is evident he speaks of; the forgiving of djuaprtat, ' sins' and
transgressions against God ; and the forgiving of ¦napairTcop.aTa,
' faults,' which are lesser crimes and trespasses against men.
Now in the latter case it may be sufficient that we confess one
to another ; that is, to the party offended, who the apostle saith
should pray to God for heahng ; i. e. that he would not lay his
offence to his charge. But in the former case he was to confess
to the elders of the church, whom he is there commanded to
call for, that they may pray over him, and obtain healing and
reconciliation for him.
There are other acts of their office which I shall not now
mention, because I would only name the chief.
VII.
They are then to exclude men out of the Christian society,
when all other means fail which Christ hath appointed to
make them good Christians. When preaching, when private
admonitions and reproofs, when all other good offices will not
make them true to Christ, and hve orderly in his house ; then
they who had the power of opening the door, and taking them
into his family, have power to cast them out, and shut the
door against them. This is called binding them, in the words
after those I am explaining ; as men are wont to do idle and
false servants, who are delivered to the house of correction to
be punished for their faults. This is the very last and greatest
power they have for men's reformation.
And here it is to be observed, that this power, together with
that which follows, was given by Christ to his ministers, as I
noted in the beginning, before his ascension to heaven ; and
therefore doth not belong to them as apostles, which they were
not made till the day of Pentecost, but as pastors of the
church, stewards of Christ's household ; which came down to
their successors in that office.
But it is further to be noted, that the whole of this power is
not in every particular minister, but only so much of it as they
by whom they were ordained to their office bestowed upon
them. Now if you consider the whole process against a profane
person, you wih easily see how much every particular minister
of Christ can chahenge to himself of this power. He is first
to be admonished, and then to be sharply rebuked, if admoni-

614 The dignity of the
tions do no good : and these duties ought to be performed by
private Christians as weh as by ministers. But then, thirdly,
he is to be debarred of the privileges of the rest of Christian
people, for some time, to see if he wih repent and amend. And
this is in the power of every particular minister of Christ,
committed to him by the successors of the apostles at his ordi
nation. And then follows the thrusting him out of the family,
tih he repent, and return to his obedience : which is such a
censure as is not to be passed by any single person without the
assistance of others. For it is the sentence of a judge in such
a weighty concernment, that it is only in the power of a court,
being an act of judgment and heavy condemnation.
VIII.
Lastly, they are to absolve the penitent : that is, such as
acknowledge their sins, and reform their lives. Unto whom
they are to open the door again, and let thera once raore into
the Christian society. Not by a new baptisra, but by a solemn
absolution, and pronouncing them in the state wherein they
were before their exclusion. And this is cahed loosing, in the
words following these I ara explaining; untying the forraer
bond, and taking off the punishment inflicted. Which power is
lodged in the same hands that exercised the former. They that
laid on the load can only take it off.
There is indeed another sort of absolution, or acquitting ;
which in certain cases is in the power of every particular min
ister of Jesus Christ. . I will mention two which our church,
and the church of God every where, hath always approved.
First, in case of great dejection of spirit, which any pious
soul labours under. If upon laying open the state of that soul,
and a serious survey of it, and comparing it with the rule of
the gospel, it be found to be faithful unto Christ ; he that min
isters unto it in Christ's name ought not only to apply comfort
to it, but more than that, pronounce a pardon to it, and assure
it of God's grace and favour. Which cannot but be of great
use, and afford much satisfaction and confidence to troubled
spirits : when one that can neither be suspected of ignorance
nor of partiality, but is wise and holy, shall pronounce its
condition to be safe, according to the word of God.
Secondly, in time of sickness and approaching death, a good

Christian priesthood. 615
man who hath given testimony of a sincere repentance in his
hfetime, and behaved himself rehgiously in the family of Christ,
wih receive no small addition of hope of future happiness from
the judgment of a faithful minister of Christ : who, knowing
the state of his soul and manner of hfe, shall absolve him from
his sins in the name of Christ.
I confess they who are profane and dissolute in their health,
who live without God, and without a due regard to men, fol
lowing their own lusts and desires, though they show some
signs of sorrow and hatred of their sins on their death bed,
yet they are otherwise to be dealt withal. There is no reason
they should be absolved ; that is, pronounced pardoned, and in
a safe condition : for as they never lived well, so nobody can
tell what they will do if they should be restored to health
again. It must be their punishment for beginning so late,
that they go out of the world in a doubtful condition, without
such a great blessing of the church as that of absolution is ;
which belongs to those who have overcome temptations, and con
quered the devil, the world, and the flesh : which no man can
do upon his death-bed, because he hath no opportunities. We
cannot but conclude well of those who do well, when thej' had
temptations to do otherwise : but as for those who only resolve
to do well when they have no temptation to do evil, whatso
ever hope we may have of them, we can conclude nothing
certainly. They ought not to despair, but we can give them
no assurance of God's mercy.
A faithful steward of the mysteries of Christ must make a
difference between those that behave themselves according to
the rules of the gospel, and those that live disorderly in Christ's
family. He cannot honestly dispense our Saviour's blessing
alike to all. They that all their life have resisted the ex
hortations and admonitions of the church, despised her invita
tions, and entreaties, and reproof, and all other remedies,
must not think to be taken all on a sudden into her very
bosom ; but be content to depart the world in an uncertain
condition : only with earnest prayers for them, and recom
mendations of them to the infinite mercies of God in Christ
Jesus. Who knows their hearts, and whether their resolutions
of amendment were well grounded, and would have held out
in a time of trial ; and accordingly will dispose of them.

616 The dignity of the
Thus I have briefly explained to you the power Christ hath
given to his ministers, by coraraitting to them the keys of the
kingdom of heaven. Which are words of a very lofty sound,
but of no less signification : from the exphcation of which you
cannot but learn both your dignity and your duty. You ought
to think it the greatest honour in the world to serve the Lord
Christ in this office. However men are pleased to esteem you,
look upon yourselves as advanced to the highest and noblest
preferment. With which you ought not to be puffed up, but
to demean yourselves in it with the humblest reverence ; be
cause it is a very great and sacred trust. And therefore ought
to fill you with solemn thoughts how to discharge it to the
satisfaction of your Lord and Master : so that you may neither
dishonour him nor your office by performing it negligently ;
but with an hearty affection and true zeal to his service. Who,
as I said, hath conferred the highest honour upon you ; but
accompanied with a very weighty trust, which he expects you
should honestly discharge. He hath honoured you with the
office of stewards in his house and family, which is the king
dom of heaven : and it is required of stewards, (as St. Paul
teacheth us, i Cor. iv. 2,) that a man be found faithful. Let
none of us then, my brethren, ever prove false to our great
and gracious Lord by not attending to our office ; but give all
diligence both to understand it, and to perform the duties be
longing to it with all fidehty.
Consider what manner of persons they ought to be above all
other men, in all holy conversation and godliness ; who have
a work of such importance, of such large extent, incumbent on
them. How watchful, how studious, how industrious and careful
they ought to be, to make use of the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, wherewith they are intrusted, unto the ends and pur
poses for which they are committed to them. I wih not enlarge
this treatise by pressing upon you every particular part of
your duty ; but only in general beseech you to be so solicitous
in the discharge of them all, that the people may be convinced
of the truths I have now represented to you, and understand
that you are employed in an office both of great authority and
of great labour.
There are many of them who have so httle knowledge of
these matters, that they commonly say ministers lead a lazy

Christian priesthood. 617
life, and have their maintenance for nothing : when tho truth
is, the . people themselves are too willing to ease them of a
great deal of their pains. They would not have them do all
their work ; for they will not put themselves to the trouble of
going to them for any private advice, nor be at leisure to hear
all their admonitions, and instructions, and reproofs. Let
those therefore know, (by some means or other,) who are apt
to undervalue their labours, saying, it is but stepping up into
the pulpit tv/ice a week, and making an hour's discourse, that
it is their own fault if their labour be not far greater, by
having daily prayers, and more frequent communions, and
giving personal instructions. Pray them to give you opportunities
to perform every part of your office, and they will soon see it
is not an idle calling ; but there is employment enough, and
also care and great thoughts of heart about it, which deserve
the highest encouragement. Pray them to begin to have some
care of their souls, and they will find it necessary to come to
you for personal direction, or to let you come to them. Desire
them to be at leisure, at seasonable times, that you may take
an account of their practice and of their profiting. Let them
desire to be informed in what they do not understand, to use
you as the physicians of their souls, as the keepers of the
house of God, who are to give every one their portion in due
season ; and then they will discern the work is very great, and
cahs for skill and faithfulness, dihgence and patience.
And how is it possible the people should not see, if they
attend to these things, how highly they ought to esteem them
in love for tlieir work's sake, as St, Paul exhorts, i Thess. v,
13, and obey those that have the rule over them and submit
themselves, as his words are Heb, xiii, 1 7 ? But if I should
pursue such things as they deserve, I must make another little
freatise for the people, to acquaint them with their duty, as I
have made this for you that are priests. Who having the care
of thera, I shah leave it to you, on fitting occasions, to repre
sent to them what regard ought to be paid to the ministers of
Christ. And omitting many other things, I shah only mention that
which is most pertinent and agreeable to my present subject..
Which is, that the stewards of Christ being the governors of
his family, every one of that family ought to be ruled by them.

618 The dignity of the
and submit to their authority in such things as they decree to
be fit and expedient for the keeping the house of God in good
order. For that is, without all doubt, another part of the power
of those to whom Christ hath committed the care of his famhy
in chief ; to make such rules as to them shall seem most meet
for the regular and seemly performance of all religious duties
in his church. Let all things (saith St. Paul) be done decently
and in order 1. All things, he means, that I treated of before
are to be so performed that they do not fall into contempt, and
all confusion be avoided.
The stewards of Christ therefore are to take care that bap
tism, and prayers, and the holy communion, and aU the rest,
be administered in such a manner, that there want nothing to
the due solemnity of such sacred actions. The actions and
offices themselves Christ hath appointed, not they. But the
manner of their performance, as to time, place, gesture, habit,
and such Ihie things, is not appointed by Christ, nor can be
the same in all ages and countries, but is left to their discre
tion. That this then may be done with all gravity, and in the
most comely and edifying manner, they are to prescribe rules
and make orders : unto which every one that is under their
charge ought in conscience to submit himself.
I know it is become a question with too many, whether they
have such a power or no. This is a point which will not go
down with those who look upon all laws as too great an
abridgment of their liberty; and upon all governors as so
many enemies, that would despoil them of their own will and
pleasure, which is very dear to them. And so they rather
choose to throw all things into confusion, though they them
selves be undone thereby, than submit to be ordered by any
one else, but according as they theraselves judge convenient.
I will assist you therefore briefly to prove the authority of
church governors, to bind the people to such rules as they
think fit to raake for the preserving order and decency among
them. I. And here in the first place let this be premised, which
nobody can deny ; that there are some things which for the
time being are very decent in themselves, and others very un
becoming. And therefore, since common reason tells us that
1 I Cor, xiv, 40.

Christian priesthood. 61 9
nothing is to be managed with more solemnity and gravity
than the service of Almighty God; such things are to be
chosen in the performance of it as wih preserve its honour and
dignity, and such avoided as wih expose it to contempt. Upon
which account we may observe some things ordained by the
law of Moses, for which no other reason can be given but only
this, that there might not be any undecency in the worship of
God that then was. I whl give two instances, which the Jews
theraselves have noted. The holy things of which none but
the priests might eat were appointed to be eaten in the holy
place, and no where else ; and likewise they were ordered to
be eaten on the same day they were offered, and not kept till
the morrow. For no other cause, saith R. Levi ben Gersom,
but that the sacrifices might appear more glorious and magni
ficent : and that they might not fall into contempt by being
carried into private houses, nor create any loathing in the
priests by being too long reserved. Thus likewise the ephod is
ordered to be bound at the top, round about the hole of it,
that it might not be in danger to be rent^. The reason of
which was, saith the same author, because laceration, or rend
ing, is a very ill-favoured and unbecoming thing, though it be
but in the extremity of a garment ; for it signifies that thing
which is torn to be tending to decay. Since things therefore
were then appointed, according to the natural sense of man
kind, merely for this end and no other, that what belonged
to the service of God might not be despised, nor seem vile in
the eyes of the people ; this is not to be neglected now, but
care taken of such decency as may gain a respect and reve
rence to what is done in the church or family of God.
II. This being premised, let it be further considered that
our Lord himself hath nowhere appointed such things; and
therefore he hath left them to be ordered by the wisdom of
somebody else. He hath nowhere, for instance, told us in what
habit the sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving should be of
fered ; nor in what manner we should eat of the holy things,
that is, receive the holy communion of his body and blood : and
therefore provision must be made by those who have authority
from him, that these and all other services in his church be so
^ Exod. xxviii. 32.

620 The dignity of the
performed, that they be not rendered despicable and mean in
the eyes of the world.
III. And this is very apparent by the holy Scriptures, that
in the family of Christ all persons are not equal, but some are
said to preside, to rule, to be over the rest ; who are required
to submit, and be subject, and obey. Which is a clear demon
stration that these things are not to be put to the vote, and
carried by the major part of voices in the church ; but are to
be appointed and determined by the leaders and governors,
unto whom the rest are to yield their consent.
IV. From whence it plainly follows, that if they be to govern
and the people to obey, then there must be some laws and
rules made, without which there can be no government nor
any obedience.
V. And again I observe in the Scripture, that the authority
of these rulers was so great, that there was danger they might
abuse it, by troubhng the church with unnecessary obser
vances. Else why should St. Peter caution those whom he
requires to feed, and take the oversight of the flock of God,
not to carry themselves as lords over God's heritage : that is,
to use their power moderately =. This had been a very imper
tinent advice, if they had had no power at all. How was it
possible for them to lord it over the flock, if they could com
mand them nothing ?
VI. And then again observe, that this admonition is not
directed to the people, but to the elders themselves. He doth
not call upon the flock to see that their rulers did not lord it
over them, and to curb and check the power of their elders, if
it grew exorbitant ; but he requires the elders themselves to
take care of this, that they did not domineer by commanding
any thing for their mere will and pleasure, lest their power
proved grievous to their people.
Upon these grounds, and twenty other things I could name,
the ministers of Christ are to call upon their people to yield
obedience to the appointments of the governors of his church,
in matters of decency and order ; which do not manifestly cross
the appointments of Christ himself. They are the fittest judges
of such things; and indeed there can be no other. For the
^ I Peter v, 3,

Christian priesthood. 621
people having every one peculiar fancies, will never agree
about such matters ; which must therefore be regulated by
their guides, unto whose godly judgments they all ought to
submit. And if any one ask where Christ hath given them such
authority, let them know that it is manifestly included, if the
Scriptures be rightly understood, in those words of his before
his ascension unto St, Peter, Yloipaive,feed my sheep^. For
to feed signifies not only to instruct and teach, but also govern
and make laws and orders. The words of the Psalmist con
cerning David are sufficient to prove this ; God took him from
the sheepfold : from following the ewes great with young, (i.e.
from taking care to order them so that they did not miscarry,)
to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he
fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided
them by the skilfulness of his hand ". That is, he governed
them with great justice, and sincere study of their happiness ;
and exercised his power so as was most for their benefit.
Neither was this power given to St. Peter alone, but our
Saviour tells them all they should sit on twelve thrones^, that
is, rule and govern his people as persons having authority over
them. And that they did not exercise this power merely as
apostles, or men extraordinarily called, but that it was common
to all future governors of the church, appears by St. Peter's
own words to the elders in the place before mentioned. Feed
the flock of God that is among youJ, &c. That is, rule and
govern them, but do it discreetly : not as absolute lords and
kings in the church, (for that the word feed and shepherd
anciently imported,) but as ministers, and stewards, and those
that must give an account of their management.
This power hath ever been thought to be in the church since
that time ; and the bishop's chair hath been called by ecclesi
astical writers his throne (in allusion, I suppose, to those
words of our Saviour) : he together with his presbyters (who
are called priests e/c bevrepov dpovov, ' of a second throne, or
chair') being to order all affairs in the church, with such
prudence and integrity as David did the affairs of his
kingdom. ' John xxi. i6. " Psalm lxxviii. 70, 71, 72. J' Matt. xix. 28.
y I Peter v. 2.

622 The dignity of the
Nor can those words of our blessed Saviour be justiy alleged
as a bar to the exercise of such a power, where he saith, The
princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they
that are great exercise authority upon tliem. But it shall not
be so among you : but whosoever will be great among you, let
him be your minister ^, ^c. For, first, you may be sure that
our Lord could not contradict himself; who had told his apo
stles, in the chapter foregoing, that they should sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And therefore,
secondly, we may be sure he doth not, by this clause in their
patent, divest them of all power to make rules and orders for
his people : which would have been to make thera like so raany
golden images in the church ; or like a statue of a prince on a
throne, that hath no hfe, breath, or motion. No, it is evident even
by these very words that a great power is acknowledged to be
coraraitted to them : but our Saviour was afraid it might tempt
them to pride and insolent behaviour; as if they were such
princes as then ruled the world. And therefore his meaning is,
that he would not have thera look upon themselves as having
only a dignity conferred on thera, but a duty also incurabent
upon them. He would have them remember they were not
absolute lords and masters, but ministers and stewards ; who
were not to use their power, as the princes of this world are
wont to do, merely for their own pleasure and greatness, but
for the good and benefit and comfort of his church. In one
word, he would have them know that they ought to exercise
their authority, not to serve any private end of their own, but
to promote the common good of all. So that the greater any
of them was, the greater obhgation lay upon him to make his
greatness profitable and serviceable, not burdensome and trou
blesome to his people.
These things being evident and clear, if they be duly repre
sented to your people, you may hope they are prepared to re
ceive the exhortation of the holy apostle. Ye youngers, submit
yourselves to the elders ^ ; i. e. Ye that are learners in the
school of Christ, yield unto those that teach and govern you ;
and do not oppose your fancies unto their judgment. Obey
those that have tlie rule over you, and submit yourselves : for
they watch for your souls, as they that must give account,
a I Pet. V. 5.

Christian priesthood. 623
that they may do it with joy, and not with grief : for that is
unprofitable for you *>. Where I take those words, that they
may do it with joy, to refer unto their ruling and watchful
ness : of which they must one day give an account ; and then
also relate how their people have behaved themselves towards
them. Who ought to consider that, in the mean time, their
burden is great enough in doing their duty ; (if they con
scientiously attend it ;) and that they ought not to have this
additional trouble, that their people are refractory, and will not
yield to what is reasonably required of them. Study how to
make your people sensible of this, that they ought to endeavour
the ease and the comfort of their governors ; that they may
follow their employment with gladsome, and not with heavy
hearts, groaning, as it were, under a load. For this, as it will
be grievous to them, so it will be unprofitable to their people.
It will grieve them to take a great deal of pains without any
profit, or so much as thanks : and on the other side, it will
provoke God's wrath against the people for their disobedience :
which will be far more grievous than any of their rulers'
orders. In short, whether their place and office be considered,
or their solicitude and care, or the account they must give of
their people's demeanour, as well as of their own, or the com
fort it will be to them, or the profit it will be to the people :
all these persuade them to be obedient, and submit theraselves
to those who liave the rule of them, and watch for their souls.
And if any stih hang back, and be unwilling to conform
themselves to their orders ; desire them to consider these two
things with which I shall conclude this discourse :
First, the ground of their unwillingness.
Secondly, the danger and sad effects thereof.
I.
Beseech them to examine strictly, whether their unwilling
ness to obey in things enjoined by the authority of the church
(and I may add the state too) do not arise more out of preju
dice than any reason ; from custom and contrary usage, rather
than clear conviction of the unlavrfulness of that which is
enjoined. This I believe whl be found to be the truth. There
are no reasons weighty enough to be put into the balance
t> Heb. xiii. 17.

624 The dignity of the
against those which I have alleged. They are only light
suspicions, vain surmises and fears of superstition which keep
men from conforming, when it is most manifestly downright
superstition to boggle at that which God hath nowhere for
bidden. And it is the absurdest thing in the world to imagine,
that they whom Christ hath set to rule his church, whose
business it is to study to keep good order in it, should not
understand what is most decent and becoming, what most
edifying and profitable, what will most conduce to maintain,
promote, credit and honour our religion. Which cannot stand,
if a greater regard be not paid to those who are the main
supporters of it. II.
That is the other thing which ought to be represented to
them, the mischievous effects of disobedience ; which raay
incline them to use all diligence for their satisfaction. A
grievous rent is hereby made in the faraily of Christ : his
religion is disgraced, the governors of his church are dis
heartened and discouraged, the enemies of it are gratified, and
in fine, government plainly subverted. For where there is
envying and strife, as St. James saith, ih. i6, there is con
fusion and every evil work. These are the natural conse
quences of disobedience ; besides the just judgments of God,
who is wont to punish this sin with worse evils than thereby
men seek to avoid.
When Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against the
government of Moses and Aaron, and refused to pay that
respect which was due to those who ruled in church and state,
" The sun and the moon," saith R. Eheser in his Pirke, "went
to God, and said that they could shine no longer if these men
were suffered, as not being able to look upon such monsters."
His meaning is, that heaven cannot endure disorderly persons ;
that the world cannot stand if they be not punished ; and God,
who is not the author of confusion, but of peace, (as St. Paul
speaks,) will certainly chastise them, and sometimes destroys
them. Now what judgment is there more suitable to the
offence, than to deliver such unruly people into the cruel paws
of enraged, embittered, and merciless governors; and suffer
those to domineer over them who will not be their lords merely,
but plain tyrants ? Because they would not live voluntarilv in

Christian priesthood. 625
peaceable subjection, God lets them fall under such a force,
that they shall enjoy no peace but such as the stones have,
which are not able to knock one against another.
God of his infinite mercy prevent such a conclusion of our
perverseness, which an holy, grave, learned writer of this
church in the beginning of the last century left upon record as
his fear and dread. For after a discourse to show that there
is no better means to keep the popish yoke from us than a due
esteem of our spiritual governors, and being guided by them,
he adds these words, which I shall abridge : " Questionless
this malapert scoffing disobedience against all ecclesiastical
power, now professed by all sorts among us, is that which, to
all that know God's judgments, cries louder in the ears of the
Almighty (louder by much than the prayers of monks and
Jesuits) for vengeance upon this land. For vengeance to be
executed by no other than those our sworn enemies, to be exe
cuted by no other grievances than the doubling of the enraged
Romanists' iron yoke, which is now prepared for us, ten times
more heavy than that which our forefathers have borne."
Blessed be God, who hath not yet taken this vengeance on
ns, though this heavy iron yoke (as he justly calls it) was
about to be put upon our necks, if God had not broken it in
pieces by an unexpected wonderful deliverance. For which we
have not been so thankful as to have a good ground of hope,
that he who hath dehvered will still deliver us ; but quite con
trary, just reason to fear the apparent danger we are now in
of falling into the hands of those inveterate enemies, by the
strange increase of their united power, and by our unaccount
able quarrels and divisions among ourselves. For what that
great man said of his days, I think is truer now, " Sure, if
there be degrees of malignancy in helhsh ghosts, the most
potent factions of those evil spirits strive for glory by doing
the greatest mischief in this land." The condition of which, if
it were duly considered, common interest, it might be ex
pected, should tie and combine those together whom love and
charity cannot yet reconcile. This hath had power to bring
enemies together ; is it not a strange thing then, that it doth
not unite neighbours and friends ? We read in Numbers
xxii. 7, that the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went
together unto Balaam to desire his help. These, according to
PATEICK, VOL. vm. S S

626 The dignity of the Christian priesthood.
the Jewish tradition, were great enemies. How came they
then now to be friends ? "Hear a story," saith the Sanhedrim s;
" Two dogs were at difference, and there came a wolf, and
setting upon one of them, was like to overcome him. Then
stepped in the other dog, saying to himself, I had best help
my enemy, and join with him against this beast, who is a
worse enemy to me than he, and will have the more courage
to set upon me when he hath devoured him." You know how
to apply it. When there is a common danger, whatsoever
private differences we have, we should join as close as we can
together ; and not by holding httle things very fast, let go all
we have. It is an ill time to fall out with the master of a
ship, when a pirate is coming to board it ; and for soldiers to
mutiny against their general, when the opposite array stands
in battalia, and is ready to give the charge. And it is no less
dangerous for people to be finding fault with the orders of
their governors, when there are those at hand that are ready
to destroy what we like as well as what we dislike in them.
Consider what I say, and the Lord give you understanding
in all things *>.
a [Excerpt, e Gemara Sanhedrin, cap, xi, § 56. per J. Cocceium; Opp,
tom, ix, p, 258.3 " 2 Tim. ii. 7.

AN EXHORTATION SENT TO
THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF ELY,
BY SYMON, LORD BISHOP OF ELY,
BEFORE HIS FIFTH TRIENNIAL VISITATION, MDCCIV,

S S 3

AN EXHORTATION TO
THE CLERGY OF ELY.

Deae Beetheen,
THE late terrible storm of wind^ hath made such a deep im
pression upon me, that as I cannot put it out of my mind, so it
seems to call upon me to desire others to keep in mind such a
dreadful instance, as I account it, of the Divine displeasure.
It was certainly the voice of God ; and therefore it concerns
us highly to hearken to it, and consider what it spake to us
from God. For which reason I have waved such exhortations
to you as I have been wont to send before my visitations ;
and shall in this beseech you, and desire you to beseech others,
to look upon this tempest as a loud cah to a speedy repentance.
Which every one of us ought to practise ourselves, and preach
to our people with great earnestness and pressing persuasions ;
lest after so much damage as we have suffered by this stormy
wind, in the shattering our churches and houses, destroying
our shipping, and so many seamen and others, a worse thing
should come unto us.
I am the more excited to this by the remembrance of what
I long ago read, when I was a member of the university, in a
learned and holy divine of our church, the famous Dr. Jackson.
A httle volume of whose sermons, which I still have by me, I
met withal, printed at Oxford in the year 1637, (entitled,
" Signs of the Times, or God's Forewarnings,") preached
partly before his majesty, and partly at Newcastle upon Tyne ;
and may now be found in the second volume of his works,
P-35I''- In an Appendix to the last of which sermons, he having
mentioned a treatise of his concerning ominous presagements,
or abodings good or bad, (which was never published,) he hath
these memorable words : " Among all the forewarnings given
a [This memorable storm, which land, occurred November 26-27,
is said to have been one of the most 1703-]
disastrous ever experienced in Eng- " [Jackson's Works,vol.vi. p.i88.]

630 An erhortation to
to this land as so many summons to repentance, none which
have been given in my meraory did make so durable an im
pression upon ray heart and thoughts as that late mighty wind,
which having begun his terrible visitation from the utmost
point of the south west, did continue it in one night unto the
north east corner of this southern province." A wind, as he
describes it, much like that which lately raged, and blew from
the same point of the south west, and in the sarae month of No
vember, though not on the same day. For as that continued
something longer, (one whole night, as I understand him,) so it
fell out on the eve of the fifth of November, 1636, as ours did
on the twenty-sixth, about eleven o'clock at night.
Now the very time, as he thought, of that visitation was
more than a sign of the time. Tempus ipsum admonebat.
The very time itself wherein it happened, being the vigils of
that great anniversary November 5, was a sign, to his appre
hension, most significant ; " and did interpret (I transcribe his
own words,) the meaning of this terrible messenger's inarticu
late voice as weh as any prophet (if there had been any then
alive) could have done."
And thus much of its meaning a serious reader, he thought,
might understand : " That albeit we of these kingdoms were in
firm league with all the nations of the earth with whom we
have any commerce, although our greatest enemies should be
come our greatest friends, yet it is still in the Lord Almighty's
power, and we may fear in his purpose, to plague this kingdom
by his own immediate hand, &c., to bury more living souls, as
well of superior as of inferior rank, in the ruins of their stately
houses or meaner cottages, than the powder-plotters did intend
to do, or the powder plot itself, had it taken effect, could have
done." This was the admonition which he thought was given to
this kingdom at that time, by that invisible, but most audible
messenger (as he calls it). Which I do not find that any one
hath taken -notice of upon occasion of the like stormy wind in
November last ; though it seems to me most worthy of great
consideration. For herein he was a kind of a prophet, this
being written but a year before the tumults in Scotland began,
which were followed by those commotions both in this kingdom
and that, which shaked the very foundations of our govern-

the clergy of Ely. 631
ment, and overturned it ; by dethroning and murdering our
king, degrading the nobility, and enslaving the people to the
will of unreasonable men ; in one word, confounding ah things
both in church and state.
I dare not take upon me to interpret the language of the late
storm so plainly as he did of that ; for I am far from pretending
to such a divine spirit as seems to me to have been in that holy
man : but I may declare my fear that it bodes some further
calamities, if we do not amend our lives, which bid an open
defiance to all God's laws. And I may be ahowed, nay, it is
my duty, to pray as he did upon that occasion : " God grant,"
saith he, " every member of this church and kingdom grace to
look into his own heart and purposes ; and to all in authority,
whether superior or inferior, from the highest to the lowest, to
look not only unto their own, but unto others' ways of whom
they have the care or oversight ; that these may run parallel
with the ways of God. Which if we shall continue to cross, or
fah foul upon them, or his most sacred laws, it is not any par
liamentary law, or any act of state, or decrees of courts of just
ice, that can break the stroke of his outstretched punishing
arm and hand, and send off his dreadful judgments threatened,
from falling more heavy upon us than at any time hitherto
(praised be his name) they have done."
These solemn reflections of his upon the voice of that mes
senger of God (as he styles it) have awakened me to consider,
that I having the care and oversight of you, my dear brethren,
ought, upon the like occasion, to represent to you that you are
highly concerned in this matter ; being called by God to a
weighty office and charge, that is, (as you were told at your
ordination,) " to be messengers, watchmen, and stewards of the
Lord ; to teach, and to premonish, to feed and provide for the
Lord's family." And therefore, I beseech you, look to the
ways of your parishioners ; observe those who are negligent or
deviate from the ways of God, and admonish them of their
duty ; exhort them to repentance, giving them both public and
private monitions (as you then promised to do) with all faithful
diligence. I shall mention some few things wherein I desire your dili
gence. If you observe any persons to neglect the public ser
vice of God on the Lord's day, either loitering at home

632 An exhortation to
carelessly, or profanely frequenting ill houses, have a great
compassion upon these men, and endeavour to awaken them
out of their stupidity : for if they be not atheists, they are in
the direct way to that horrid impiety.
There are other solemn tiraes also appointed by authority
for humihation, to deprecate God's displeasure, and avert his
judgments, which ought to be dihgently attended. And though
they are not continued monthly as they have sometimes been,
yet no authority (as that great man before mentioned speaks
upon occasion of the storm in his days) prohibits any private
man to fast upon the days appointed by the church. Whose
canons enjoin, though not whole famihes, yet of every family
some one or other to resort unto the house of God, to offer up
prayers and supphcations appointed by our church, upon two
other special days in the week besides the Lord's day.
I know how hard it is to persuade men to come and suppli
cate the Divine mercy upon those we call Litany days : though
it is a very easy injunction for some one out of every family to
implore a blessing upon the rest. Yet try, I beseech you, what
you can do to bring your people unto this, by representing to
them the great benefit of it. The late dreadful tempest, which
put us all into a great consternation, fell out, I observe, on a
Friday night. Now I cannot but think it was a great comfort
to every good man in the midst of that fright, if he reflected
that he or some of his had been at church that day and com
mended his famhy to God ; beseeching him, as we pray in the
Litany, to deliver us "from lightning and tempest," as well as
other calamities there mentioned.
And further represent to them, that they who never pray to
God from one Lord's day to another, but remain the whole
week without the worship of God, are in very great danger of
falhng into such forgetfulness of God as is a large step to
atheism. Therefore exhort them to have so much care of
their souls, as at least to pray to God every morning and even
ing in their own family, begging his blessing upon them in
their several calhngs, and rendering their humble thanks to
hira for his mercies. You can easily make such a prayer for
them, and beseech them to use it, which would be a good step
towards the making them religious ; but without this very good;
men have looked upon it as a sign of irreligion.

the clergy of Ely. 633
I lately met with these words of a very eminent person,
which I cannot well forbear to set down here, " Constant family
worship is so necessary to keep alive a constant sense of God
and rehgion in the minds of men, that I do not see how any
famhy that neglects it can be esteemed a family of Christians,
or indeed to have any religion at all : "insomuch that another
late writer quoting these words takes the confidence to say,
a prayerless family is a pagan family."
But I will say no more of this, but only one word, that the
late storm seems to call us to this duty ; that we should not
content ourselves only on Sundays to beseech God, as we do in
the evening service, to defend us from the perils and dangers
of that night; but every night before we go to rest, commend
ourselves to his gracious protection ; for we know not, when
we lie down, whether we shall rise again ; but our beds before
the morning may become our graves.
It is incumbent also upon you, being the Lord's watchmen,
to observe what sins are most reigning in your parish ; whe
ther drunkenness, uncleanness, swearing, profaning of the
Lord's day, or any other; and endeavour to convince them of
these sins, and to bring them to repentance; exhorting all
those who have any power in their hands to employ it with
their utmost vigour for the suppressing of these vices.
But I must more particularly admonish you of one thing,
which you promised at your ordination, that you would " raain-
tain and set forward, as much as in you lieth, quietness, peace
and love among all Christian people, especially among those
committed to your charge." Now there was never greater need
of your laborious endeavours in this business than at this time ;
if we may judge of all places by what we see in some, where
there are such discords and divisions, such heats and ani
mosities, such hatreds and enmities, nay, such study of revenge,
as, if they be not extinguished, are sad presages of an ap
proaching ruin. I cannot but think that the late terrible
storm, which did so much mischief by land and sea, was a
warning to us ; cahing upon us to cease the violent storms of
contention that are among us, which endanger the shipwreck
ing of the whole kingdom.
Her most excehent majesty lately recommended this to the
whole bodv of the nation assembled in parliament by their re-

634 An exhortation to
presentatives, which she did in an extraordinary vehemence of
style ; telling us that she wanted words to express her earnest
desire of seeing ah her subjects in perfect peace and union
among themselves; and therefore desires us all carefully to
avoid any heats or divisions that may disappoint her of that
satisfaction, and give encouragement to the common enemies of
our church and state. But alas ! our differences and quarrels
still continue, and we are in nothing so zealous as in our fierce
oppositions one to another.
It is sad to consider the lamentable effects of this, which al
ready appears in the most unaccountable disaffection men bear
to one another, in the writings and reproaches that are cast on
those who have been and are the great supporters of rehgion
araong us. What a strange liberty do men tolerate in them
selves, who represent these persons as the betrayers of the
church, merely because they do not agree with them in some
notions ; that is, do not take those things to be for the service
of the church which they judge very necessary ! May not men
differ in such things, and not fall out one with another ? What
reason can be given for such a license as men take to censure
their superiors in this manner, who have all their lives, in all
times, in all dangers, closely adhered to the interest of the
church, and taken a great deal of pains in their pious labours
to promote it ? Might not a little modesty teach men to think,
that they who are above see a little more than they who are
below ? If this virtue were not very scarce, men would not be
so fierce and forward to censure and judge without restraint
their elders, who are men of longer observation and experience
than themselves.
May we not think that God sent this rough messenger (I
mean the late furious tempest) to reprove the violent boisterous
spirit which rages among us, and teach us more moderation,
gentleness, and goodness ? Which that we may learn, her ma
jesty hath been pleased most piously once more to recommend it
unto us, in the conclusion of the session of parliament yesterday;
when she told us, " that though her desires which she had ex
pressed in the beginning of it, of seeing us in perfect unity, had
not met with all the success which she wished and expected ;
yet being fully convinced that nothing is so necessary to our
common welfare, she is not discouraged from persisting in the

the clergy of Ely. 635
same earnest desires, that all will go down into their several
countries so disposed to moderation and unity, as becomes
those who are joined together in the same religion and in
terest." By this we cannot but see, that, as she said at first, her
royal heart is set on this. And let ours be so too : let nothing
discourage us from the blessed work of peacemakers, remem
bering that whatsoever character men give us, our Lord hath
pronounced such to be the children of God.
All these things are very plain, and have been often said,
but without their desired effect; the reason of which it is
worth our pains to search into. For which cause I have an
nexed to this short exhortation, a sermon I preached a little
after the late amazing storm, in my own chapel ; wherein I en
deavoured to show how it comes to pass, that so many judg
ments as have befallen us have not amended us. There are
too many, I have there observed, that mind not the hand of
God in them, but impute all such things to natural causes,
though they know not what.
This temper of mind renders men hopeless, unless they be
awakened before they are settled in it, to have a greater re
gard to the works of the Lord, and the operations of his
hands. For they who are not moved by such astonishing judg
ments as the late storm to think of God, are more stupid and
dull than the unreasonable creatures, such as the birds of the
air ; with which Jeremiah upbraids the Israelites, in not dis
cerning, or not observing, those signs of the time which fore
showed God's judgments coming upon thera, with the causes
that provoked them : / hearkened and heard, but they spake
not aright : no man repented him of his wickedness, saying.
What have I done ? Every one turneth to his course, as tlie
horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heavens
knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle and the crane
and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my
people know not the judgment of the Lord^.
Upon which words that great man before mentioned, Dr.
Jackson, thus discourses ; and it deserves our serious attention
and consideration : " This stupidity or senselessness in man,
whether Jew or Gentile, whether Christian or heathen, in thus
» Jer. viii. 6, 7.

6.S6 An e.rhoriation to
slighting or neglecting the signs of the time, that is, such por-
tendments or prognostics of God's judgments or calamities as
the very book of nature, or of the visible creatures, affords,
argues the nature, at least the disposition of men in whom this
stupidity is found, to be further out of frame than the nature
of the birds of the air, or beasts of the field. For they com
monly foresee unseasonable weather or storm coming, and seek
in time for some shelter or refuge : but so do not men for the
most part return to God, who is their only refuge, under the
shadow of whose wings there is only hope of safety ; albeit he
dahy gives them more pregnant prognostics of wrath ensuing,
than the disposition of the air doth unto birds or fowls."
I hope what I have said, and what follows in the ensuing
discourse, may have such an effect on those that seriously con
sider it, as to preserve them from such a senseless temper of
mind : which if it should generally prevail, I know not what
will become of us ; but shall be apt to say with David, My
flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judg
ments. Aprh 4, 1 704.

Rev. xvi. 9, latter part.
And they repented not to give him glory.
WHEN we see brute creatures so sensible as to beware of
those things whereby they have lately sorely suffered, it may
justly raise our wonder that mankind should be so stupid, as
when they have done very foolishly, and thereby ruined them
selves, not to alter their course, and by repenting of their fohy
give glory to God and take shame to themselves.
It is something strange that any man who owns a God should
adventure to affront his authority by opposing himself to his
declared will; but not to repent of the fault when' he hath
coraraitted it, is far raore unaccountable : but it is little less
than astonishing, that after men have smarted soundly for it,
(which was the case of the men here spoken of,) and been se
verely corrected many ways, and a long time, upon that ac
count, it should not lead thera to repentance.

the clergy of Ely. 637
What ! not repent after God had not only sent his Son to
call them to it ; and his Son had sent the Holy Ghost to give
them the grace of repentance ; and he had denounced terrible
threatenings if they resisted this grace, which is represented in
the second chapter of this book by a sword, nay a two-edged
sword going out of his mouth against all contumacious sinners :
but when he had began also a great while ago to take this
sword into his hand, to fulfil his threatenings, and to do execu
tion; nay, when he had made great slaughter, and his sword
was become drunk with the blood of the slain ! What an obsti
nacy was this ! How hard and rough were these men's hearts !
With what a mad resolution were they possessed, that nothing
would satisfy them but to be utterly undone !
Was there ever any such men in the world before ? or are
there any now so inconsiderate, who so little understand
their own interest, that they can be moved neither by words
nor by blows to cease their folly, and turn to God ? 0 that we
could say there are none now who tread in the steps of these
desperate sinners ! that it were as certain the men in my text
had no successors in their impiety, as it is certain they did but
follow some ancient precedents, who had led them the way to
destruction. You may read in the fourth of Amos a most sad complaint
which God made by that prophet of his people Israel, that
though he had sent one judgment after another upon thera,
yet they returned not unto him : / have given you want of
bread in all your places : yet ye have not returned unto me,
saith the Lord. I have withholden the rain from you : yet
have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have smitten
you with blasting and mildew : yet have ye not returned unto
me, saith the Lord. And so he proceeds to mention other
judgments ; five times repeating this as the burden of his com
plaint, Yet have ye not returned unto me. Read at your leisure
from ver, 6 to ver, 1 2 of that chapter.
Now the very same obstinacy which possessed those obdurate
Israelites was found here again in the hearts of these apostate
Christians ; who, after four vials of the wrath of God had been
poured out upon them, yet repented not to give him glory :
nay, after a fifth shower of Divine vengeance was fallen upon
their heads, yet it is said again, that they only blasphemed the

638 An exhortation to
God of heaven, because of their pains and their sores, and re
pented not of their deeds ».
I wish I could here raake a full stop, and proceed no further
in this sad history of an unrelenting spirit ; that I could say,
there have been none besides these so obstinately bent upon
their own ruin as not to repent of their deeds, after God hath
sent many terrible judgments upon them, one on the neck of
another, to awaken them to it.
But hath there not been more than a spice of this disease
among us in this nation ; who, after twenty years of tumult and
confusion, of war and bloodshed, (wherein we lost a most reli
gious king, with our ancient government in church and state.)
did not repent to give glory unto God ? No, nor after a de
vouring pestilence, which soon followed the happy restoration :
nor after a no less devouring fire ; nor after the plague of
popery, which began to break out among us, till God mercifully
stopped its progress by our late wonderful deliverance ? Yet
we cannot say that these and other judgments (which I forbear
to mention) have wrought any great alteration in us ; but the
same spirit still possesses us, of impiety towards God, and hatred
one towards another.
It wih well become every minister of the gospel to inquire
and find out the cause of such impenitence : that no persuasions,
no threatenings, no, nor judgments, nor the most dreadful exe
cutions (of which St. John here speaks) can move those that
feel them, and groan under the burden of them, to repent of
their evil deeds. And that shall be my business in the follow
ing discourse ; to the end, that by finding out the causes, we
may be directed how to remove the effects.
Now this stubborn impenitence may be ascribed to such
causes as these : I.
First, some sinners are apt to impute all the calamities that
fall upon them and others, to bring them to repentance, unto
mere chance and blind fortune. Their thoughts are so shght,
that they think nothing else is concerned in them. When noi
some and grievous diseases sweep multitudes away (as it was
the case mentioned in the second verse of this chapter) ; when
the fruits of the earth are blasted ; when such a furious tempest
^ Rev. xvi. II,

the clergy of Ely. 639
rages, as lately did so much damage both at land and sea, they
call it an accident, and never mind the hand of God therein.
Now how should they repent and return to him, when they
do not know who it is that smites them ? When God is not
in all their thoughts, (as the psalmist speaks.) what hope is
there that they should humble themselves, and submit to his
corrections ?
This, it is certain, was the cause of their ruin whom Amos
speaks of, whose condition was parallel to theirs in my text ;
as may be gathered from the third chapter of his prophecy,
ver. 6 : Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people
not be afraid ? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord
hath not done it ? As much as if he had said, Do not
people use to rise and run to their arms when they hear the
trumpet sound ? Yes, sure, though they be in their warm beds,
and heavy with sleep ; unless they think it a false alarm, and
imagine that some idle person doth but play the wanton with
them. And is there not the same reason that you should be
roused by the calamities that befall you ? Why should not
you be stirred up thereby to look about you, and endeavour to
prevent the danger which threatens you? unless you think
that there is nothing in all these calamities but a concourse of
accidents which fortuitously (i, e, by chance) meet together to
disturb and disquiet you. But know that there is no evil in
your city but the Lord hath a hand in it. Be not so sottish
as to fancy that he doth not interest himself in all that befalls
you. Look upon them as Divine admonitions, as warning
pieces shot from heaven to awaken your drowsy souls to repent,
and keep off further danger.
Thus the prophet Micab speaks to the people of Judah, as
Amos had done unto those of Israel : The Lord's voice crieth
unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name ;
hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it^. It is the Lord
of heaven and earth that calls aloud to you by these judgments ;
and if there be any man among you that hath not lost his rea
son and discretion, he wih see God's name, that is, his power,
justice, and truth, in these things, whereby he rebukes men
for their iniquity : therefore hearken to the voice of the rod,
b Micab vi, 9.

640 An exhortation to
mind and consider what it saith, and think that God himself
speaks to you by its mouth.
And what doth the rod of God say, when at any time you
feel its strokes ? The prophet there tehs us in the very next
words : Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house
of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abom,inable ?
ver. 1 o. And so he goes on to relate what violence was in their
hands, what fraud in their dealings ; how they spake lies, and
their tongues were deceitful in their mouths : that is, the rod
of God accused them of those sins which then reigned most
among thera ; and called upon them to repent of them. And
as it concerned them very highly in those days, so it doth us
now in such cases to show ourselves men of wisdom, and not
to be so foolish as to impute all the evil that befalls us to mere
chance; lest the Divine vengeance proceed to such an ex
tremity as there follows; ver. 13: Therefore will I make thee
sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy
sins. That is the usual effect of atheism and irrehgion, when men
wih not be cured of it, that they be extirpated and rooted out
of the earth, and their country be laid desolate : it not being
fit that they should live who will not acknowledge the God of
their life.
This is one great cause why there is no amendment, no, not
by the severest judgments. Men are void of a sense of God,
which is the beginning of all religion and goodness.
II.
Another cause why raen do not repent when they are pun
ished so severely for their sins as the men whom St. John
here speaks of were, is this ; that raany who have sorae sense
of God, have such a good opinion of themselves, that they look
upon these punishments that are inflicted on a nation as the
desert of other men's sins, and not of their own. There are
those who acknowledge the hand of God in all comraon cala
mities, who yet imagine they see that hand stretched out
against another sort of men, and not against themselves.
There is scarce any country or place but it is divided into
several parties and factions : all great cities are inhabited by
men of different opimons and persuasions in some thing or

the clergy of Ely. 641
other ; and each think the way wherein the other is to be
absurd and dangerous. Now when any mischief befalls that
place, every party is wont to impute it to the other's fault,
and though they all suffer in it, throw the guilt off from them
selves, and lay it upon other men's backs. Every one is for
ward and glad to absolve himself, and transfers the deserts of
his own sins to another man's crimes.
Now this humour (when it prevails, and it is commonly one
of the lamentable effects of all divisions) unavoidably hinders
men's return to God. For whilst all cast the blame from off
themselves, they must needs continue as they were before :
while every one thinks another bad, there is nobody grows
better: when they expect their neighbours should amend,
they do not amend themselves. It is you that have drawn
this ruin upon us, says one sort of men ; N^, it is you, rephes
the other : and so while they toss the guilt (as I may speak)
from one side to the other, it reraains araong them all.
If you would not have your hearts hardened in sin, every
man must suspect himself, and endeavour to find out his own
iniquity. He must not entertain such an opinion of his own
innocence, and other men's lewdness, as to imagine the guilt is
not divided between them. But, as the prophet Zachary saith,
every family or tribe apart should be forced to bewail and mourn
for their afflictions ". So truly we ought to do for our sins :
every man, every family, of whatsoever persuasion they be,
ought to ask themselves. What have we done ? For, more or
less, all have offended God.
Till there be this sobriety, this humility, this holy jealousy
over ourselves, this impartiality and upright judgment, there
is no hope men should be brought to repentance : but every
one will rush forward in his evil courses, like the horse into the
battle ; fearing no danger, and seeing no fault at all that should
raake him distrust himself in the course wherein he is engaged.
IIL
I may add unto this, as being nearly linked to it, that the
hatred which men of different persuasions usually bear to each
other is another cause they do not return to God ; because
they are vehemently bent on other designs against men. They
>: Zech. xii. ii, &c.
PATBrCK, VOL. vm. T t

642 An exhortation to
are so full of thoughts how to make a strong opposition to
them, that they consider nothing else, no, not the common ruin
that is likely to come upon them all. Their hearts are so
entirely possessed with earnest desires to supplant each other,
that there is no room for other thoughts ; especially when
they imagine that by such contrivances they are doing God
good service. This Winds their eyes, so that they can see no fault
in themselves, nor no good in others : nay, this mutual hatred
which they have conceived makes them ofttimes look upon the
evils which befall them as coming from men, and not from
God ; and so they are tempted to seek rather to be revenged
of thein, than to be reconciled to him.
Thus it is hkely it was with Samaria, against whom Araos
prophesied ; who worshipped God upon another mountain
different frora that at Jerusalem, nay, opposite unto it : and so
all their care was to keep at as great a distance as they could
frora Judah, though they stih remained at a wider distance
frora God. The very thing, I fear, that hath undone many in
these days, who have no greater concern than to destroy those
that are opposite to them. Their hearts are so fraught with a
bitter zeal this way, that they have no regard to any thing
else. Their sins lie quiet and safe, and are not at all op
posed, while they are furiously engaged in these enmities;
nay, all God's judgments, which are intended to allay these
heats, serve only to inflame their spirits in these inveterate
hatreds. For they imagine, as I said, those whom they oppose to be
the causes or the instruments of all those evils that befall
them ; and so they employ their thoughts, and their desires,
and their tongues too against them, and not against the true
cause of ah their sins and iniquities, which escape without any
censure. Their minds are quite drawn from the consideration
how they provoke God, by the continual provocation they
receive one from another. They cannot return to him, because
they have turned ah their thoughts and cares another way,
from whence they will not be diverted.
So dangerous a thing it is to have our hearts fraught with
hatred, as they too commonly are, when men are engaged in
opposite factions : which is not only very wicked in itself, being
directly contrary to the Christian spirit, the very bane of

the clergy of Ely. 643
rehgion, nay, and of human society ; but (besides other mis
chievous consequences) it obstructs men's repentance, and
hardens them in their sins ; which are not observed or not
corrected while they are violently bent to prosecute other
men, whom they think more faulty than themselves.
Of this disease therefore we must seek . a cure, by such
serious thoughts as these : that nothing is so odious as sin and
wickedness, and above all other sins, this of hatred and malig
nity, bitter strife and debate, especially upon the score of
religion ; and these or any other sins are least to be endured
in ourselves, if we be guilty of them : and if we are guilty of
them, but do not see them, or are not sensible of them, we are
unfit judges of the faults of other men. But if men do see
them, and will not in the first study to amend themselves, how
can they reasonably hope that others should amend their
faults ? Or with what face can they accuse their neighbours,
when they lie under the sarae guilt which they charge on
them ; and have not such power over others as they have over
their own hearts and ways, and therefore must begin to reform
at home? Which if we would do, we have this comfortable
assurance from the Wise Man, that when a man's ways jylease
the Lord, he will make even his enemies to be at peace ivith
him h.
In the verse before which words, there is this remark made
by the same Wise Man, that by the fear of the Lord men
depart from evil. From whence I might take occasion to
observe, that on the contrary, men do not depart from evil,
because instead of cherishing an holy fear in their hearts, they
soothe themselves up with vain hopes. This I might allege as
another cause that men do not repent, even when they feel the
hand of God scourging them for their sins : they flatter them.-
selves very easily with a belief of better times, though they do
not grow better themselves. When a judgment is removed,
they hope the like whl not return again. And the more mer
ciful God is, in not letting it he long, (which by the way hath
been our own case,) the more confident men grow that they
are out of all danger. But if I should enlarge on this, I should
not leave room for that which I take to be more material.
h Prov. xvi. 7.
T t 2

644 An exhortation to
IV.
The next thing therefore to which, I think, men's impeni
tence may be justly ascribed is, that they are apt to think God's
mind may be altered and turned towards thera by some means
or other, though they do not turn to him. They may appease
him, they fancy, and keep off utter desolation, without a
thorough reformation. Their solemn prayers, for instance,
and supphcations, especially if joined with fasting and sorrowful
hurailiation of theraselves, will move him, they think, to lay
aside his anger, though it be ever so great.
And indeed these are such prevalent things, that I wish raen
were generahy more serious and frequent in the practice of
them : for they suppose we are sensible of our sin and of our
danger, and consequently that we are willing to do any thing
to obtain a pardon for the one, and a reraoval of the other.
They that are truly humbled are ready to submit to any
terms, and consent to every thing that is proposed to them.
But if we rest here, and go no further, if we have only some
good desires, inclinations, and purposes, and then fall into this
opinion, that God may be importuned hereby to be merciful to
us, without any further care to procure his favour ; this is such
a conceit, that where it prevails, there is no reason to expect a
change of men's life and manners.
This was it undid the Jews, and brought them to utter ruin.
For when their country was already desolate, when their cities
were burnt with fire, (as we read in Isaiah i. 7,) then they
thought to appease the Divine Majesty with a multitude of sacri
fices, with the fat of fed beasts, with their oblations and
incense, their new moons and soleran assemblies : though they
did not put away the evil of their doings from before his eyes,
as we read there, ver. 11, 12, 13, and those that follow.
Where he protests that all these things were an abomination,
that he loathed and abhorred those services, though of his own
institution, that he was weary to bear thera ; that they rather
more provoked than atoned him by these means.
And therefore he threatens to hide his eyes from them when
they spread forth their hands to him ; yea, when they made
many prayers, he would not hear them : the reason follows,
ver. 15, Your hand.s are full of blood. They did not lift up

the clergy of Ely. 645
pure hands unto him (as the apostle exhorts), and therefore,
to put them in the right way, he calls upon them, ver, i6, 17,
Wash you, make you clean, put away tlie evil of your doings
from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; learn to do well ;
seekjudgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead
the cause of the widow. And then adds. Come now, and let
us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool. As much as to say. Now
the business is done, now we are agreed, but not till now.
This is the thing that will turn away my wrath ; not prayers
alone, though ever so earnest ; not sacrifices, though ever so
rich ; not solemn days for divine service, though strictly
observed ; which are only the means, not the end ; and there
fore, we must not rest in them till they bring us to that for
which they are designed, the making us truly better. Which
we shall never be, till we settle this belief in our mind ; that it
is irapossible to prevail with God to cease his anger, till we
cease to do evil and learn to do well ; that is, till we cease to
provoke hira to anger.
This is the doctrine of that prophet, and the very same the
prophet A mos preached to the Israelites, which he did to the
Jews, V. 21, 22, &c. : / hate and despise your feast-days,
and I will not smell (or rehsh) your holy assemblies. Though
you offer me burnt-offerings, I will not accept them : neither
will I regard tlie peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take
away from me the noise of thy songs, or hymns ; for I will
not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment come
down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Till
we learn such lessons as this, and not trust merely to our
prayers and solemn days, we are in a ready way to destruction :
because these we would have God to accept, instead of repent
ance and amendment of life ; when without this he declares, he
is so far from accepting the other, that he wih have no regard
to them, nay, despises and hates them.
There is a solemn time now approaching (which we call
Lent) of fasting and humiliation, in which many of us, I hope,
wih make a conscience of perforraing some of the duties belong
ing to it ; that is, spend some time more than ordinary m
prayer, in reading, in calhng ourselves to an account, and

646 An exhortation to
reflecting on our former life : using likewise some kind of absti
nence, if not fasting, as we find it most profitable. But let us
not, I beseech you, content ourselves with the bare external
performance of these things ; which will very much increase
our guilt, if they breed in us such a mean opinion of God, that
we imagine he can be pleased with these outward exercises
alone, though there follow no inward change of our hearts, nor
any reformation of- life; which he expects should be wrought by
such means, because for that end they were ordained. Fasting,
for instance, is an excellent remedy for many sins ; but then it
must cure thera, or else it is good for httle.
Shall I desire you to hear part of a discourse of St. Chry
sostom upon this subject, in his third sermon to the people of
Antioch^. "He that defines fasting by mere abstinence from
food, he it is that dishonours fasting. For it is not mere absti
nence from food, but departing from evil. Dost thou fast?
Show it by thy works. If thou askest. What works? I answer,
If thou seest a poor man, relieve him ; if thou meetest an
enemy, be reconciled to him ; if thou seest a neighbour in
greater prosperity than thyself, do not envy him. Let not thy
stomach only fast, but thy eyes, thy ears, thy feet, thy hands,
and all the rest of the members of thy body. Let thy hands
abstain from extortion, rapine, covetousness, and violence : let
thy feet keep a fast, by stopping their course to unlawful spec
tacles. Let thy eyes abstain from wanton glances. Let thy
ears keep a fast by not listening to detraction, calumnies, accu
sations, but turning away from those that whisper them. Let
the mouth also fast from filthy communication, from reproaches,
from reviling, from raihng, evil speaking, lying and slandering.
" For what good doth it to abstain from eating fiesh, or from
fish either, if we bite and devour one another ? Now he that
detracts, he that backbites another, he eats his brother's flesh,
he bites his neighbour. From which St. Paul terrifies us when
he saith. If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye
be not consumed one of another^. Thou hast not fastened thy
teeth in a bit of flesh ah this Lent, but thou hast fastened a
false accusation, an evil surmise, an unjust suspicion, an
ungrounded jealousy, in the soul of another ; whereby thou
hast wounded that soul, and those whom thou hast falsely
" [Tom. ii. pp. 41, 42.] b Galat. v. 15.

the clergy of Ely. 647
accused, and affected thyself with innumerable evils." Which
he there reckons up, but I shah not mention, because it is time
to tell you how he concludes in these words :
" Though we should eat ashes, such severity will do us no
service, unless we abstain from detraction. For not those
things that enter into the mouth defile the man, but those
things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the
heart ; and they defile tlie man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, (i. e. designs,) murder, adultery, fornication,
theft, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which
defile the man"." And then he beseeches them not to think it
enough that they have been serious for a few days, but to look
upon themselves as bound to reform their life, if they expected
to be happy. For as they who are very sick, unless they alter
their way of living, will receive no benefit by the strictness of
their diet for a little time : so unless sinners," saith he, " will be
always sober, two or three days of fasting will do them no
good." V.
'And so I proceed to the last thing I shall mention as the
cause of men's not repenting ; no, not though they be loudly
awakened to it by terrible judgments ; which is the shghtness
of their thoughts, the want of serious consideration, which
makes God's word and all his works prove ineffectual. We
can allege no other cause of what I just now said, that they
make some part of their duty, and the least part, serve for the
whole. Of which they could not be guilty, did they consider
either the nature of God, or the nature of sin, or the nature of
those duties which they are willing to perform, or indeed any
thing else that belongs to religion.
I have not room to enlarge upon all these, and therefore
shall particularly confine myself to that which the text princi
pally relates unto, the Divine judgments ; which ought, above
all things, to awaken us to consideration ; without which they
leave no deep impression upon us. Of the necessity of this
the Wise Man admonishes us in that grave counsel which he
gives; In the day of adversity consider^. Consider what
you have done ; consider what God would have you to do ;
consider the reason why you should do it ; consider your dan-
¦= Matt. XV. i8. <* Eccles. vii. 14.

648 An exhortation lo
ger if you do it not ; yea, consider what it is that is wont to
keep you from consideration.
One thing, I am sure, is the love of the bodily life ; the de
sire of fleshly ease and delights. These are unwihing that a
man should grow serious. They are ah spoiled if he become
considerate. They tempt him to throw away all thoughts, that
so he may enjoy himself more sweetly, and not be disturbed in
his pleasures.
Let us beware therefore of these enchantments. Let us take
heed we be not lulled asleep in the lap of sensual enjoyments ;
for fear our ruin fall upon us when we are not aware of it.
Above all, in time of great distress by any public or private
calamity, we ought to shun voluptuousness, as we do shelves
and quicksands ; which men more especiahy dread in a storm.
Then it is most unseasonable to make ourselves merry when we
are in great danger. For that is the way to throw off all con
sideration ; even then when to consider is most necessary, and
will do us the greatest service. It is a sign men are void of all
sense, and have no more fear than the brutes ; which eat and
drink just as they used to do, when they see one of their fellows
slaughtered before their eyes. Read what the prophet Isaiah
writes about this matter in chap. xxii. 12, 13, 14 ; In that day
did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and mourning, to
baldness, and girding with sackcloth : and behold joy and
gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and
drinking wine : let us eat and drink ; for to-morrow we shall
die. And it was revealed in mine ears by tlie Lord of hosts.
Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die,
saith the Lord God of hosts. Purged from them ! No, how
was it possible, when they themselves opposed the means of
their cure ? God cahed for mourning ; and they, quite contrary,
betook themselves to merriment and pleasure. They were like
unto some sick persons, who, at that very time when they are
under the physician's hands, wiU not forbear their intemperance
or bad diet, which was the cause of their disease. Doth any
man expect his medicines whl work the effect he desires, when
he to whom they are administered wih not refrain from full
meals, or from his mushrooms and unwholesome diet ? He may
pray his heart out, who begs health of God while he does no
thing but disorder himself, even while he is confined to his

the clergy of Ely. 649
chamber for his recovery. And just so unsuccessful will all
those supplications prove which are made to God for the saving
of our souls or of our country from ruin, while we continue to
oppose his Divine methods from whom all salvation comes.
For it is altogether like to a man that calls for quarter, and
begs mercy of his enemy that hath him in his power ; though
at the same time he deals his blows round about him as thick
as ever, and shows no sign that he abates his hostihty. Such
supplications are perfectly ridiculous : they carry in themselves
their own denial ; they forbid that which they ask, and under
mine the very foundation of the request.
If then we would not be numbered with those stubborn rebels
who gave the occasion of this discourse, and after many vials of
God's wrath poured on them repented not to give him glory :
if you would not be like the old Samaritans whom Amos speaks
of, nor hear those sighs so often repeated of you, as they were
of them. Yet ye returned not unto me, saith the Lord : Yet ye
returned not unto me, Sj-c ; do not rely upon your prayers
alone, or the most passionate beseechings you can use, for
mercy from God ; but join therewith sober and considering
thoughts ; especially when he calls you to them in any kind of
trouble. In the day of adversity consider.
Consider, among other things, what I have now represented
to you. Consider the causes of the hardness of men's hearts ;
and then, if you have any fear of the Divine Majesty and of his
judgments, how can you choose but return to hira ?
Think that it is God who calls upon you to repent by every
affliction that befalls you.
Think that he bids you search and try your own ways, and
leave others to examine theirs.
Think that you are not so much concerned to persuade
others to be of your mind, as to persuade yourself to be of
God's. Set yourselves against men's notorious vices more than
against them.
Be not secure, nor flatter up yourselves with vain hopes.
Beheve that the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to
the Lord.
Do not imagine you should employ your time to move him ;
but to move yourselves to change your will.
PATEICK, VOL, VIII. ^ "

650 An exhortation to
Consider that he is always the same ; and that it is we who
must alter and turn, not he : that he is ever an enemy to the
bad, and a friend to the good ; and that nothing can alter this
eternal reason and law : that we do but spend our breath in
vain, if we seek to incline him unto us, without more than an
inchnation unto him ; that is, without actual amendment of our
wicked life.
In conclusion, beheve that the greatest bane of all good
thoughts and desires is a voluptuous life. This extinguishes ah
the sparks of grace that are in men's souls : it chokes and
stifles all virtuous motions : and therefore let us avoid it as we
would everlasting damnation.
Consider these things frequently ; and consider withal how
by taking this course you will glorify God : for St. John here
supposes, that to repent is to give him glory.
APPLICATION.
Would you not, before you leave this world, do some honour
unto him who brought you hither ? Repent then, alter the
course of your life, for that is an effectual acknowledgment of
God in all the perfections belonging to his divine nature ;
which the Scripture raeans by giving him glory.
By this we hurably acknowledge the authority he hath' over
us, and confess his right to give us laws, whereby we ought to
be ruled and governed.
These laws also we acknowledge to be equal, just, and good,
when, forsaking all other ways, we return to their obedience.
Whereby we acknowledge also his wisdom ; that we are in
the wrong, and he in the right ; that we have played the fool,
and followed after lies, and he alone can make us wise unto
salvation. The truth also of his threatenings is acknowledged by re
pentance, which gives hira the glory of his veracity in what he
hath denounced against sinners.
And so it doth also glorify his power, which conquers souls,
and subdues hearts, and turns about men's obstinate wills, and
carries them captive to the obedience of faith.
For repentance is a yielding the victory to God, who hath
long strove with us. It is a throwing down our arms, and

the clergy of Ely. 651
professing ourselves overcome by the force of his conviction, by
the strength of his truth, by the mightiness of his love, and by
the power of his holy Spirit.
What need 1 speak of the honour it doth to his hohness ? It
being an open declaration, that he cannot be in love with sin,
nor by any means be reconciled to it, though his love be ever
so great unto us.
His unchangeableness is hkewise hereby acknowledged :
that we must turn and become like unto him, but he cannot
turn and become like unto us.
I omit the rest, and only put you in mind how hereby we
acknowledge that he is the fountain of true bliss ; that the
felicity of our souls lies in his favour and love ; that after we
have tired ourselves with a fond long pursuit of happiness in
other things, we can find no rest to our souls but in him
alone, whose will is the rule of righteousness, whose nature is
to be happy.
We flee therefore to him by repentance, as the only comfort
of reasonable beings ; as the rest and repose of human souls, as
the solid and immortal joy of our minds, in conjunction with
whom we cannot but be happy, and in separation from whom
we must needs be inconceivably miserable.
If all these be too much to remember, keep in mind only the
first and the last of them, and you will be sufficiently satisfied
of the glory you give to God by repentance. For it is an
acknowledgment of him to be both our sovereign Lord and
our sovereign Good, our Ruler and our Re warder, as having
supreme authority and supreme felicity : or in the apostle's lan
guage, the blessed and one Potentate, who only hath immor
tality. We disclaim hereby all other governors ; and we protest we
have no other good. We resign ourselves to his holy will and
pleasure, and profess that our highest pleasure and contentment
is in pleasing him, in loving him, and hoping he will be well
pleased with us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Who hath told us, that there is joy in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth. This he repeats twice in the same place,
Luke XV. 7,10. Which cannot but suggest to our thoughts
what an exceeding great joy there would be in the presence of

652 An exhortation to the clergy of Ely.
God if a whole nation did repent, or if the generality of men
among us did grow better.
This God expects should be the fruit of his blessed Gospel,
which we have long enjoyed ; and the fruit of his many severe
chastisements which he hath inflicted on us for our sins. Upon
which if we did seriously and frequently reflect, and consider
such things as I have laid before you in this discourse, instead
of such complaints as Amos and St. John make, we might say
with the prophet Ezekiel, xvhi. 27, 28 :
When the wicked turneth from his wickedness that he hath
committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall
save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth
away from his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall
surely live, and not die. Amen.

END OF VOL. VIII.

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