A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES IN LEICESTER. July 31. 1679. BY JOHN CAVE, Rector of Cold-Overton in Leicestershire, and Chaplain to my Lord Bishop of Durham. Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psal. cxxiv. 8. LONDON: Printed by M. clerk, for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-Yard. 1679. To the Right Worshipful ROWLAND BROWN Esq; High Sheriff of the County of LEICESTER. SIR, THIS Sermon which was Preached at your request, is by the kind acceptance of my Lords the Judges, and of yourself encouraged to become more public. God knows my chief end both in Preaching and Printing it, is to engage all men, but more especially men of Place and Office, not only in a diligent and exemplary practise, but also in a zealous and resolute defence of Religion, of the established Protestant Religion, a Religion which above all other teacheth us not only to be Godly, but to be Honest; a Religion not only pure but peaceable, full of the good fruits of Loyalty, Justice, Charity, without Partiality and without hypocrisy: And sure all sober and good men cannot but look upon it as their greatest interest, as well in respect of this life, as of that which is to come, to uphold the power and honor of this Religion, which is so true a friend of Order and Government, so sure a defence of our Civil Rights, and which, if we submit to its Laws, and cherish its Influences, will make us truly happy, both here and hereafter. Sir, if you had not been otherwise entitled to this Sermon, your practise and Patronage of its Doctrine would have made it yours, for indeed your affection to so good a Cause, in very difficult and discouraging Circumstances hath been generally taken notice of, for your Honour; and your Zeal hath been so well tempered and governed by your prudence, that our most notorious defamers have not yet had the confidence to touch your reputation. That you may continue to walk in that name which will advance and secure yours, and give you a Renown more solid and durable than any conveyance from Ancestors, or any dignity which is derived from an Office of Trust or Power, is the Prayer of SIR, Your most faithful and obliged friend and servant JOHN CAVE. A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES IN LEICESTER, July 31. 1679. MICAH iv. 5. For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God, for ever and ever. GOD having in the foregoing Chapter by his Prophet denounced severe threatenings against his people, and even an utter desolation to his own mountain, that place of his habitation which he had chosen for himself, which he had furnished and beautified with so many signs of his Majesty and his Gracious presence( to show how much he delights to remember mercy even in the midst of judgments) In the beginning of this Chapter he relieves their despair by discovering to them a Sun behind their Cloud, and giving them a comfortable prospect into better times: In the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, &c. Which prophesy though it chiefly respects the coming of the Messiah, and the exalted state of the Gospel, made illustrious not by outward pomps but by spiritual privileges, yet it seems to have regard also to a time not so remote, viz. the time of their return from the Babylonish Captivity, that then together with their Liberty they should have their Religion restored, and reformed, they should worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness; and the house of the Lord should overtop all the high places of the false Gods. None of the Hills wherein the Pagans worship their Idols shall be any way compared with the transcendent glory of Mount Moriah, or honoured with so general a Devotion: For hither shall flock the true worshippers from several parts of the world, and many Nations shall come and say; Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob,( which was a Type of the Church or Kingdom of Christ) and he will teach us( viz. by his Priests and Prophets what is fittest for us to learn) out of his ways, that we may walk in them: For from thence only must we look for the knowledge of the true God, whose Law( especially in the days of the Messiah) shall go forth of Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, from whence it shall be derived and promulged to the rest of the world: To make their condition still more happy and to endear their Religion to them by a concomitance of earthly blessings, such as Liberty and Peace, &c. Their great and good God will for their sakes judge among many People, and rebuk strong Nations after of such as were too mighty and puissant for them to grapple withal: by the sweet yet most prevalent force of his word and spirit he will quiet the most turbulent and quarrelsome tempers, persuade them out of all their animosities, and so thoroughly pacify them that they shall turn their weapons of war into the Utensils of peaceful times: Their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning books, Then shall every man sit quietly under his own vine and under his own fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid: These were the blessings promised more immediately in some kind to the Jews upon their return from Babylon, but more amply and in the best sense enjoyed by us under the Gospel, who have the substance of their Type. The words of my Text give us an account of the motive of this great mercy of God, namely his peoples sidelity and constancy in his service, for upon this they seem to ground their confidence and assurance of the Divine Blessing: viz. the sincerity and steadfastness of their resolution to adhere to his worship, and keep his Commandments. We will walk in the name of the Lord our God: and because we are resolved to serve him and to trust in him, we doubt not of his Favour and Patronage, we doubt not of the fulfilling of all his gracious promises, and that he will be with us while we are with him, and will never forsaks us unless we depart from him; which we are resolved now to do no more, our Heads or Magistrates shall no more judge for reward, nor our Priests teach for hire, nor our People fight for Religion, build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity; we are resolved no more to follow vain Idols, but to be as diligent and zealous in the service of the true God, as the most Superstitious Heathens are in the worship of their false Deities, and in so doing we promise ourselves the benefits of his Providence and Protection. And indeed what need we fear who adhere to the God of Israel, against whom neither the subtlety, malice, power of our Enemies, nor any other Gods can prevail? This seems to be the ground of the inference whereby these words are connected with the foregoing verses. For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. Some of the Jewish Doctors, as the Learned Pocock hath observed, expound the words thus, Till that time all people shall walk in the name of their Gods, and shall not turn into the right way of Religion, until the King Messiah convert them into it; But we of the house of Israel will walk in the name of our God for ever, though the Temple be destroyed and we lead Captives out of our Land, yet we will never change our God, but continue faithful in his service. Another gives us this sense of the words: All people which now walk every one in the name of his God, and we also the sons of Israel, all of us, both we and they, in the Gospel days, will walk in the name of our God. And indeed I think we shall not much mistake ourselves if we understand the words to signify the resolution of Gospel Converts, both Jews and Gentiles, to renounce all irregular Worship, all heresy and Schism, and to be constantly and zealously devoted to the service of God, to the profession and practise of the Christian Religion, exciting themselves hereunto by the example of Idolaters who were so pertinacious and obstinate in a false way of Religion. For all men will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God. In my Discourse upon these words I shall endeavour to demonstrate these three things unto you. 1. That all people, the most ignorant and barbarous Nations will have a God and a Religion. 2. That those who are Educated or engaged in a Superstitious, Idolatrous, or any other false way of worship, are very hardly convinced of their errors and drawn off from them: All people will walk every one in the name of his God, of what he believes, nay of what he fancies to be so. 3. That we Christians who have so clear and full a knowledge of the true God, and such rational inducements and encouragements to serve him, are most strictly obliged to keep his holy will and Commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of our lives, to walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever: Of these in their order, and first of the first. 1. All People and Nations even the most ignorant and barbarous will have a Religion, every man will have a God to walk in his name, to advance himself by his Relation to a better being, and to perform such service and homage to him as he imagines will maintain his interest in his favour. Those who cannot attain to the right knowledge of the true God, will yet either receive from others or frame to themselves some Image of him. Omnibus de Diis opinio insita est, Seneca. nec ulla Gens adeo est extra leges moresque posita ut non aliquos, Deos credat: The notion of a God doth naturally arise out of the being of a man, neither is there any Nation so lawless and illbred as to believe there is no God. They will have many Gods rather than none at all, and worship any thing rather than want a Deity, which although it shewed their great stupidity: yet it argues for the being of one true God, because their would be no Counterfeit, but for the sake of something that is real: But seeing we want not their follies to serve our cause, but have many better arguments to evince the existence of one God: I think we may do them so much right as to acknowledge that they may almost, if not altogether, as fairly acquit themselves of Polytheism and Idolatry as our Roman Christians, and prove that they attributed no more Divinity to their Daemons and Heroes than these do to Angels and Saints, that they bowed with no more devotion, and no less reason, to any part of the inanimate world, than these do to an Image or Crucifix, nor in any of their fond Rites and Ceremonies exceeded the degrees of these mens Superstition. But without carrying on this Comparison any further, perhaps it might be made appear that not only every man hath owned a God: but that most, if not all men have owned the same God under several Titles, with respect to the several benefits they received from him, it was that one true God whom St. Paul Preached that the men of Athens ignorantly Worshipped, Acts xvii. 23. Lib. 1.8.3. Lactantius tell us that no wise man ever questioned the being of one God who made and governed all things, though they worshipped him under different names. And Paulus Orosious, Hist. l. 6. c. 1. who lived in St. Augustines time, assures us, that not only the Philosophers found out one God the maker of all things, but that the generality of the Pagans of their times, when the Christians disputed with them, did confess that there was but one great God who had several Ministers under him. But what have we more plain than that of a Philosopher of their own, Maximus Tyrius, Dissert. 1. Notwithstanding the variety of disputes, difference of Opinions, and modes of worship that are in several parts of the world, there is a catholic agreement in this: {αβγδ}, that there is one God the King and Father of all, and that the many Gods besides are the sons and substitutes of this one supreme. I cannot stay to produce more Testimonies of this Nature, and I hope enough hath been said to make good the first proposition, That all people do unanimously concur in this belief and persuasion, that there is a God. Every man will have a God, a Religion, he that hath not is scarce a man, he hath strangely degraded and debased his nature. For this seems to be the great essential difference between men and brutes that these have no knowledge of a God; Nullum est Animal praeter hominem quod habeat aliquam notitiam Dei-Solus enim sapientia instructus est, ut religionem solus intelligat,& haec est hoins atque brutorum vel praecipua vel sola distantia. Cic. lib. 1. de legibus. though they have some resemblance if not some degrees of Reason, yet they have nothing at all like Religion, hence it is that for the most part sensuality is the first step to Atheism, and the more brutish men become in their affections and practices, the less do they like to retain God in their knowledge. And therefore not to leave this Head without some practical reflection. To what can we impute the spreading of Atheism, and the worst sort of Infidelity among ourselves, but to the prevalency of 'vice, the debauchery of our lives, the general corruption and depravity of mens manners, their habitual intemperance in several kinds? We are naturally born to as good a stock of Reason as our Forefathers were, and we have had as good helps of improvement as any age hath afforded, besides a most clear and well-attested Revelation, and therefore it were impossible that we should fall so far short of their knowledge, and reason, at a rate so much below the men of the darkest times, if we had not first besotted ourselves by indulging our senses, and wasted the strength and vigour of our minds in the service of some infatuating Lust. For where Nature and Reason, as you have heard, can but hold their own, Religion will keep its footing, and every man will have a God, in whose name to walk. But to proceed; Ut omnes Religione moventur, as Tully speaks, as all men, all sorts of men, nor only Grecians and Romans, but the most rude and uncultivated people have some sense of Religion: Ita, as he goes on, Deos Patrios quos acceperunt à majoribus suis colendos sibique retinendos arbitrantur: So they think themselves not only bound to honour their Country Gods, the Gods of their Fathers, with some pious rites, such as Sacrifice, Prayer, &c. but also to be constant in their superstition: and not to change their Gods, or to vary in their worship, upon any consideration which is in effect my second 2. Proposition, viz. That those who are educated or engaged in a Superstitious Idolatrous or any false or factious way of worship, are hardly convinced of their errors and drawn off from them, All men will walk every man in the name of his God, of what he fancies to be so. This is strongly affirmed in that interrogation of the Prophet. Jer. ii. 11. Hath a Nation changed their Gods, which yet are no Gods? Clemens of Alexandria observes that this was the great hindrance of the Heathens Conversion to Christianity {αβγδ}, &c. They thought it a very unseemly and unreasonable thing to recede from the Traditions of their Fathers, and the Religious Ceremonies and observances they had been accustomend to from their youth. And he goeth on to show that nothing else could so much obstruct the entertainment and esteem of Christian Religion as this pestilent and stubborn humour of retaining old Laws and Customs, though never so absurd and ridiculous. From this dotage, and most wretched influence of Custom, ariseth a hatred of the best Religion: It could not be that they should distaste, and refuse the greatest blessing which God ever offered them, if their Palates were not habituated to worse fare, and their affections taken up for some Old Guests. Unpon which account Athenagoras might well wonder that among all the Laws which were yearly Enacted at Rome, there was never a one made, {αβγδ}, to abate the force of Education, to Establish a liberty of distinguishing between Old and Good, and to renew that great and universal Charter which allows us to judge and choose for ourselves. For he makes it evidently appear, that if the prevalency of ridiculous Customs were once disannulled, their Idol Temples would be no more througed with Votaries: Reason would bear sway, and Christianity triumph over all its superstitious opposers. Yea, It is plain that this was the great and unmovable prejudice against St. Pauls Doctrine, Acts xvii. 18. Acts xvi. 21. when he Preached Jesus and the Resurrection, that it was new and strange, as he and Silas were before accused for teaching customs which were not lawful for them to receive, being Romans: For the Romans then pleaded as much for Antiquity as they do now: they were impatient of any Reformation in Religion, however reasonable and necessary, because as Dio Chrysostom observes {αβγδ} they knew this would alter their Laws too, which Rome Imperial could not brook, she must and will be infallible and supreme, merely because she hath been long reputed so. This was it which confirmed the Samaritans in their Superstition, John iv. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain. The vain Conversation of those to whom St. Peter wrote, 1 Pet. i. 18. was received by Tradition from their Fathers. The same was observed long before by the Prophet of the Jews, they have walked after the imagination, or as it is in the Margin, after the stubbornness of their own hearts, Jer. ix. 14. and after Baalim which their Fathers taught them. And we will burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven: Jer. xliv. 17. But why so resolute and obstinate in this gross Idolatry? We can expect no good reason for it, Custom was their only Rule and Law. We have done so, and our Fathers before us, our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. I know in another place it is made a matter of reproach to the Jews, ye. xiv. 3. Deut. xxxii. 17. 2 Kings xv. 3. and an aggravation of their sin, that they served other Gods whom they knew not, neither they nor their Fathers: That they served new Gods, newly come up. And this is noted to the praise of Azariah and Jotham, that they did uprightly in the sight of the Lord, according to all that their Fathers did. We do also acknowledge that the Religious Customs and observations of the places wherein we live are not lightly to be despised and violated. St. Paul allegeth the Custom of the Church to stop the mouth of contentious Separatists. And we have as great a veneration for Antiquity, which is truly such, as the Church of Rome can pretend to: For it is not the continuance of a thousand years( and few of their Errors are so old) that can make any thing in Religion truly Ancient, if it was not so from the beginning. Deceit and falsehood will lay claim to all other parts of Antiquity as well as Truth. Though we cannot tell of any of our own Ancestors, beyond the fourth or fifth Generation, that professed the same Religion in all parts that we do, yet whilst we can make it appear, that the Religion which we profess was the Religion of our Lord Christ, of his Apostles, and of the Holy men who lived in the next Ages to them, we cannot justly be taxed with Novelty, or charged with forsaking the God of our Fathers: No Doctrine is new which is taught and confirmed by the Authority of Gods word, but whatsoever Doctrine or Custom is contrary thereunto, though it hath had a general reception and a long continuance in the Church, yet it hath nothing of true Antiquity to commend it unto us; but I must not pursue this here; having only undertaken to prove that mens immoderate zeal for Custom, and the example of their Ancestors, doth oftentimes so blind and bias them that they cannot( or at least will not) discern the true nature and reason of things, or make an impartial judgement of Doctrines and Practices in Religion, by which means it comes to pass that they are very obstinate and irreclaimable in their erroneous ways. They will walk every man in the name of his God, in the practise of that Religion they have been taught, or bread up in. And indeed where Error hath but once taken possession, it rules and bears sway, it influences and governs the practices of men with the same absolute and unlimited power, as Truth itself doth pretend to: this {αβγδ} as the stoics call it, this preoccupation of mind, which is the spring and principle of all the Actions of our life, moves with an equal force when we mistake, and when we think aright; and a false persuasion, will make men as resolute in their Religious doings and sufferings as a true one. Saul was as zealous for the Law, as Paul for the Gospel: And while he was under the dominion of a false principle, he was as ready to persecute the Disciples of our Lord, as he was afterwards to suffer for that name. And it is observable that nothing could show him his error but a light from heaven shining round about him. Neither can we hope for the Conversion of any Religious Zealot without many degrees of St. Pauls evidence, without an extraordinary, if not a miraculous conviction. Indeed the generality of men are in nothing more tenacious than in their Religious persuasions, and there is this rational account to be given why it should be so; because that which is conceived to be their best interest, will justify their most intent, vigorous and constant prosecution of it: Here tis true, there is the greatest danger of mistaking our methods which should make us examine them well, but when once they are vouchsafe and approved, we are in point of Prudence and Honesty, as well as in point of Honor and Reputation, bound to proceed in them, which brings me to the third particular, which was this, viz. That 3. We Christians are under the strictest obligation of all men to walk in the name of the Lord our God. In my ensuing Discourse upon this Head, I shall endeavour to show you, ( 1.) What it is to walk in the name of the Lord our God. ( 2.) What our Obligations are to be diligent and constant in so doing, wherein I shall proceed by these degrees; first 1. To show how much we Christians are obliged thereunto more than any other men. 2. How much more we Protestants than any other Christians. 3. How much more we of the Church of England, in our present Circumstances, than any other Protestants. ( 1.) I begin with the first, to show you what it is to walk in the name of God. The name of God in Scripture frequently signifies that Doctrine and Religion whereby the true God is made known, and distinguished from all others, So Psal. xxii. 22. I will declare thy name unto my Brethren. John xvii. 6. That of our Saviour can intend nothing else, I have manifested by name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: That is, I have declared thy will, and published thy Religion to them. So that in the general, to walk in the name of the Lord our God, denotes 1. An owning and profession of his Religion, in opposition to Infidels and heretics. 2. A sincere practise of what we profess in opposition to Hypocrites, and careless livers. First, I say, 1. It denotes an owning and profession of the true Religion in opposition to all Infidels and heretics, Isaiah xliv. 5. which is well expressed by the Evangelical Prophet. One shall say, I am the Lords, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and Surname himself by the name of Israel, that is, both believing Jews and Gentiles shall acknowledge God for their only Lord and Master, and glory in their Relation to him. It consists in an owning of our Religion when it is most maligned and persecuted, professing Christs name when it is every where spoken against, not falling away in a time of temptation. But then especially confessing our Saviour before men, when by so doing we bring ourselves into disgrace and danger. For which the Christian courage of St. Peter and John stands upon honourable Record. When they were commanded not to speak at all, nor to teach in the name of Jesus, no threatenings could silence them, Acts iv. 18, 19. we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. And we also may properly be said to walk in Gods name, if in these difficult and perilous times we do not only with the heart believe unto righteousness, but with the mouth make confession unto salvation. But seeing our actions profess better for us than our words, and our light shines most brightly before men when they see our good works: therefore though we may be said to have entered upon this walk, to have begun well our Christian course by the profession of the true Religion, and a subscription to the Articles of the Church in opposition to Infidels and Heretical dissenters, yet then only in a 2. Place are we said to proceed and walk on in this name when we add sincerity and perseverance of practise to this Profession, in opposition to Hypocrites or loose livers. Many that did not only profess Christs name, but also Prophesied in it, and in that name did many wonderful works( as wonderful perhaps as any of those the Church of Rome boasts of) Yet our blessed Saviour disowns them, and casts them off for their hypocrisy. John vii. 23. I never knew you, depart from me ye workers of iniquity. We cannot in the sense of my Text be said to walk in the name of God, or of Christ, merely because we call him Lord, Lord, or have his name name upon us, and are called Christians; unless we depart from iniquity, unless we do the will of our Father, unless we tread in our Saviours steps, do the things which he commands us, and walk as we have had him for an example. I know none more faulty and defective herein than those men who pretend most to perfection, I mean our modern Romans who affect not only their Praenomina but Cognomina in Religion, who, as if it were not enough to be called Christians, will lay claim to the other name of our Lord, and be jesuits too; how well they walk in this name let their mercy, their meekness, their gentleness towards all men, their subjection to Princes, and those that are in Authority, their quiet and peaceable behaviour testify. Or rather let their hellish Conspiracies, their turbulent disordering of all Christian Kingdoms, their cruel and barbarous Massacres and Assassinations, their dissembled Friendships and real Perfidiousness, shane their hypocrisy. For how grossly have these bloody and deceitful men belied their Masters best name, and by their Practices told the world that he was therefore called Jesus, not because he came to save mens lives, but to destroy them. And if I had time, I might justly reflect upon some Hypocrites of another Denomination( though acted, I doubt not, by these mens influence and instigation) who have boasted themselves as much in the name of the Lord, and as much dishonoured it, who have first lifted up their hands to God in prayer, and Covenanting, and then lifted them up against his Servants, against his Anointed, against his King and his Priests, in acts of the most unnatural Rebellion and inhuman Cruelty, but I shall conclude this Head in a more general reflection, relating in some degree to us all: We all go thus far in the way of the Lord, we all profess the Christian Faith in opposition to Jews, Turks and Pagans, and the Christian Protestant Faith in distinction from Papists, and the Christian Protestant Holy Faith, in distinction from Hypocrites and Protestants at large: but this will not denominate us upright walkers in Gods name, unless we show forth out of a good Conversation our works with meekness of wisdom. Our Profession, nay our Faith, will do us no good unless it make us good, good Magistrates, good Subjects, good men, unless it work upon the heart and make that sound and good, unless it work upon the life and make that regular and good, unless it be the soul of obedience; the reason or internal Law of the mind, which sets all our faculties and members on work, and presents unto us the whole Royalty of the Law, breaks the sway of inordinate affections, rebates and turns the violence of corrupt inclinations, and persuades us above all Oratory to take up the Yoke and the across of Christ. But to be a little more particular, Our walking in the name of the Lord our God, may be reduced to these three Instances, 1. Our affiance in his Power and Goodness. 2. Our submission to his Authority. 3. Our zeal for his Glory. 1. Isaiah l. 10. Psal. xx. 5. Our affiance in his power and goodness: When in our greatest distresses we can trust in the name of the Lord, and stay ourselves upon our God, when after our deliverances, we can rejoice in his salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners: When under the most unjust oppressions we can commit our cause to God who judgeth righteously, and in the prosperity of our affairs, boast in God all the day long, Psal. xliv. 8. and praise his name for ever: When neither the hope of honour nor fear of disgrace, when neither threatenings nor solicitations can move us from our steadfastness in Religion, or tempt us to falter in our Christian Conformity: we hereby make it appear that we do indeed believe an over-ruling Providence, and confided in Almighty goodness, which is one way of walking in the name of the Lord. We may be said to do so in a second place: 2. When we submit to his Authority, not going beyond the word of the Lord our God to do less or more, not daring to reject any of his Commands, nor to receive any other in opposition to them. To break Gods Laws in the Popes name, relying either upon his Dispensation in hand, or his Pardon in Reversion. When we so own Gods Sovereignty as to shake off the Dominion of all Usurpers, not suffering sin to reign in our mortal bodies or the Man of sin to give law to our Consciences, and captivated us in a blind obedience to all the Dictates and Decrees of his Chair; in a word when we call no Man Master upon earth, nor do the will of the flesh, but in all things show a ready, constant and uniform compliance with the Divine Will, then do we take the Lord for our God, and walk in his name by owning his Supremacy, and submitting to his Authority. But there is something more meant by walking in Gods name; not the exercise of a distinct virtue, but the improvement of those we have name already. The Heroical degree or perfection of them which in a third. 3. Place we called Zeal for Gods glory, the honor of his Religion, the interest of his Church; and the necessity of this Zeal, to our good proceeding and perseverance in our Christian course, is implied in these words of Resolution, We will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. They found it needful to warm and inflame their affections, to excite and carry on their endeavours in Gods service by reflecting upon the most proper motives, that they might raise in themselves an holy emulation by observing other mens practices, and attain a real excellency by striving to out do those who most eagerly pursued an inferior, if not an imaginary good, Every man will walk in the name of his God, and we will not for shane come short of Idolaters, but if possible exceed and outstrip them in the most fervent Acts of their Devotion. We serve the true God who deserves, and can requited our most exact, our most painful and costly obedience. By such Arguments as these, we may suppose they thought it necessary to kindle such a Holy Zeal in their hearts as might confirm and keep up their Pious Resolutions, and enable them to walk in the name of the Lord for ever: And without some good degrees of this Zeal we shall make but a very heavy and flow progress in Religion, we shall do no great things for God, for his name, his house, his servants, nor for our own fouls, and therefore the Apostle observes, that it is good to be zealously affencted always in a good thing. Zeal in itself is one of those things which the Philosopher calls {αβγδ} of a middle nature, Gal. iv. 18. neither good nor evil, but may become either as it is differently circumstantiated, by the Heathen Writers it is usually taken in a bad sense, and signifies Emulation, and that sort of it which proceeds from Envy, and breaks out in too eager contention: But when we take it in a good sense, as it is often taken in Scripture, it signifies an intention of Holy affections, a strong bent of the mind, a restless motion of soul, after Heaven and Heavenly things: More particularly it denotes three things. 1. A vehement love and affection to the things of God: such as David expressed upon all occasions, Psal. cxix. 167. Psal. xvi. 2. Psal. lxxxiv, 10. I have kept thy Commandments, and I love them exceedingly. All my delight is in thy Saints which excel in virtue. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 2. It imports extreme grief and indignation to see that which we love despised, and injured, this we see also exemplified in the forementioned Holy man, Rivers of tears, saith he, run down mine eyes, Psal. cxix. 136. because the wicked forsake thy Laws. 3. It imports earnestness and forwardness in maintaining and vindicating the Laws, the Worship, the Glory of God, when they are reproached, corrupted, or any ways endangered; this Zeal was remarkable in Hezekiah and Josiah, those truly good and sincere reformers: And in Christ our Saviour when he purged the Temple. The Apostle St. Paul calls it, Phil. i. 27. a striving for the Faith of the Gospel. Stand fast in one spirit, in one mind, striving together for the Faith of the Gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of Perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God. judas 4. The Apostle judas calls it a contending for the faith that was once delivered to the Saints. So that you see a zeal for Gods Glory implies a vehement affection to the Ways, the Worship, the Ordinances, the Servants of God, a Holy indignation at any contempt or abuse of them, an earnest contention in our proper places to maintain and vindicate them. We must confess Gods name hath by no one thing been more dishonoured, the beauty of Religion defaced, the Peace of the Church disturbed, than by the heats, the hurries, and violences of some mens spirits, who would pass for holy zealots, stout promoters and defenders of Gods Cause; we have known too well the ill effects of a turbulent and inordinate Zeal, when too many under a pretence of acting for the Glory of God have despised and vilified the Ordinances of God, Civil and Ecclesiastical, diminished the reputation of their Governours both in Church and State, advancing their slanders and calumnies, which is worst of all from their Persons to their Place and Office. Nay it would be well in comparison if they went no farther than diminution and calumnies. But, alas, the dint of their Religious fury hath gone much deeper in many direful attempts heretofore, and in the late most barbarous and horrid murder of the Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews, the story is so fresh that I need not mention here the aggravating circumstances of it. I confess the excursions and outrages of this wild Zeal, in many persons and in some societies, is a subject that we can hardly speak of with that temper and sobriety of mind we ought to preserve; whilst we condemn their excesses, it will be hard to avoid all degrees of transport in ourselves: Therefore I leave the Argument; I have no time to show to you at large how our Zeal must be bounded and regulated, that it may become truly pious. I can only observe to you very briefly, that our Zeal must 1. Be grounded in knowledge. 2. It must be managed with Prudence. 3. It must be attended with Charity. 1. It must be a Zeal according to knowledge, we must be sure that it be always employed in a good thing, not only that the end we aim at be good, but that the means we use for the obtaining of that end be so too. We must not speak, much less act, wickedly for God, or talk deceitfully for him: our Zeal must take light from the Word, fire from the Sanctuary, we must be sure that we have a calling, a warrant, and a good ground to go upon, and whatever the Jus zelotarum was among the Jews, it will concern us to know this especially, that neither the Laws of our Land, nor the Law of Christ, doth allow any private person out of any pretended zeal for God, to do execution immediately upon a Malefactor, without expecting the Sentence of a Court of Judicature. 2. Our zeal must be guided by prudence and discretion, it must be wise, as well as warm, we must observe time and judgement as Solomon speaks, moderating ourselves according to the occasion, raising the degrees of our zeal proportionably to the value of the things it is exercised about, not spending all our indignation about a trifle, nor putting forth our whole strength to that which we may remove with a little finger: Zeal must be like the fire which we keep upon our Hearths, but enlarge or lessen it according to the occasions of the house, we must be always zealously affencted, always have that holy fire alive in our hearts, but blow it up, or abate it, according as the Cause, wherein we have to deal, doth require. 3. Our Zeal must be attended with Charity, our hatred of sin must not proceed to malice against the sinner, neither must our zeal, for truth, destroy our good will and love to our Neighbour, no not to our very Enemies, not to the Enemies of our Religion. There is nothing of Bitterness, Cruelty, or Revenge in the true Christian temper, as appears by that notable rebuk which our Saviour gave to his Disciples, when they desired him to command fire from Heaven to consume the Samaritans; Luke ix. 55. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. Those Samaritans were persons as obnoxious and ill-deserving, as great heretics and schismatics in Religion as any again; their behaviour towards our Saviours person very unworthy and affronting, and their disrespect to Jerusalem, the place of his worship, no less remarkable; yet our Saviour disallows of cruelty even towards them, because that in any case is inconsistent with the design of his Religion, and the great end of his coming into the world. The son of man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them. Dr. Sprat. Too many indeed, as an excellent person expresses it, believe no Religion to be pure but what is intemperately rigid, no Zeal to be spiritual but what is censorious or vindicative, whereas no Religion is true that is not peaceable, as well as pure. No Zeal is Spiritual that is not also Charitable, nay chiefly so. I have shewed you now what it is to walk in the name of the Lord our God, viz. to trust in his Power and Goodness, to submit to his Authority, and to be zealously affencted always in a good thing. I proceed to show that we Christians are more obliged to Diligence, Zeal, Constancy in the practise of our Religion than any other. Here I proposed to proceed by these degrees, viz. to show 1. How much more Christians, as such, are obliged than any other sort or sect of men. 2. How much more we Protestants, than any other Christians. 3. How much more we of the Church of England, in our present circumstances, than any other Protestants. 1. I say we Christians are under more powerful obligations to Diligence, Seriousness, and steadfastness in our Religion, than any other men in theirs. Never any Religion or Institution in the world, made such clear and full discoveries of mens Duties, or afforded more considerable helps to practise than the Christian doth. The Apostles thought it the greatest contradiction to their Profession, for any men to be called Christians and yet to live in the practise of their former sins. 1 Pet. iv. 3. Let the time past of your life suffice you, saith St. Peter, to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, that is, that time past when you were no Christians. Let us who are of the day be sober, 1 Thes. v. 8. saith St. Paul: intimating to them the powerful influence that the Gospel hath upon a Pious, virtuous, and Sober Conversation, in regard of the clearness of the Revelations therein contained, which may more fully appear to us, if we compare this day, either to the glimmering light of nature, or that which God was pleased to vouchsafe to his own People, the Jews. Our understanding, saith Solomon, is the Candle of the Lord, but as the light of the Sun will put out a Candle, so that faint and weak light of Nature, by which the Heathens groped after God in the night of Ignorance, must disappear when compared to the brightness of the Sun of Righteousness. For thus the Prophet describes our Condition, Isai. viii. 27. when Christ came among us. He shall look upon the Earth, and behold darkness and dimness, and the shadow of death, and 2. The light of the Mosaical dispensation was not without a great Alloy, or mixture of darkness, the Points of our Salvation were but obscurely shadowed in the Typical or Ceremonial Law, but are now made manifest, fully revealed by him who brought life and immortality to light in the Gospel. It would be easy and pertinent to enlarge upon these Heads, if I had time, as also to show you that the Christian Religion doth furnish us with the most prevalent motives and inducements to Piety and virtue, as giving us the knowledge of the Divine Nature, his Providence and Goodness, the knowledge of the beauty, and of the rewards of virtue, and also of the Doctrine of Remission of sins, which things were never so fully and fairly represented by any as by our Saviour and his Apostles. But I cannot stay to consider them. I would only observe in the general, that the service required of us, is much more easy, and reasonable, than what was expected under the legal dispensation. Under the Gospel we have no costly Sacrifices, no bloody Sacraments, no burdensome Ceremonies: all the Laws and Institutions of Jesus Christ are in a high degree reasonable and useful, there is nothing commanded by him which is not really good, becoming the Wisdom of God, and agreeable to the Reason of man: nothing forbidden by him but what debaucheth our understanding, pollutes our minds, disturbs our quiet, impairs our bodily strength and vigour, and some way or other impedes the Welfare, the Peace, the Health, and Comfort of mankind. For what is that he would have us learn of him? Or what did He and his Apostles Preach and Press upon his followers, but the exercise of those virtues that do perfect and ennoble our natures, make us like unto God, happy in ourselves, and public blessings to others? What an aggravation then of folly and wickedness, is it in Christians to be disobedient to so good a Master? To refuse so profitable and pleasant a service, wherein duty and interest, work and wages meet together: Subjection and honour, righteousness and peace, sweetly combine and kiss each other. But 2. As the advantages of Protestants, so their obligations are greater than any other Christians, than any of the Romish Communion, those whose eyes, he who rivals that title of the Devil, the God of this world, hath blinded, locking up the Scriptures from them in an unknown tongue, not instructing them in any other Doctrines, so much as those of implicit Faith and blind Obedience: Many errors and imperfections may easily be excused in that Devotion, which is the Child of Ignorance: Any sin will be adventured on, where men are taught the pardon will be as easy, and we know those that are committed in the Cause and for the Interest of holy Church, how great soever, are wiped off with a gentle Pennance, if not with a free and absolute forgiveness, yea if it be a bold and daring Crime, such as Treason or Murder, tis by one of Romes miraculous transmutations, not only made a virtue, but a meritorious one too. No wonder if they Pray short and seldom to God the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, when the Worship and Invocation of Saints and Angels, particularly of the Virgin Mother( though without any reason, or the least show of Authority from Scripture) is made the principal part of their Religion: no wonder that the common people do not scruple the worshipping of Images, seeing their Teachers have made them Ten Commandments without the Second, by dividing the Tenth into Two. No wonder that so many forswear themselves against the Third Commandment, whilst they believe the Popes power of relaxing Oaths. The Lords-day must needs lose much of its regard and due observation in such a number of other Festivals; nor can the Fifth Commandment keep any good order in Families or Kingdoms, whilst the Pope takes upon him to depose Princes, and absolve Subjects from their Allegiance: And since the Doctrine of putting heretics to death, the Sixth Commandment hath been but a weak lifeguard. Nor can the Seventh hinder incestuous marriages, or continue lawful ones, if Rome think fit to dispense or to divorce: And we know Princes under the same Authority have leaped over the Eighth to invade the just rights of their Neighbours, and the Ninth must signify as little, since Equivocation was tolerated, and some think they have quiter disannulled the Tenth, by teaching that Concupiscence is no sin. No wonder if a Religion thus corrupted, Commandments thus weakened and perverted, have little force and efficacy in the government of mens lives, nay I must declare to you thatsome of their principles have such a direct tendency to deprave mens manners, that if they can be so unreasonable as to believe them, it is next to impossible they should hold honest and good in their practices. It is the great mercy of God that hath disentangled us from such a Yoke, that hath brought us out of their darkness into a marvellous light, that we are allowed to red and hear Gods word in a language we all understand: that we are permitted to try the spirits, and to examine the doctrines of Religion, which are delivered to us. That we are required to believe nothing without Scripture Authority: nothing against the evidence of Reason and Sense, that we have a reasonable service without bodily and unprositable exercises, without a multitude of fond and Superstitious Rites and Ceremonies. By these and many other blessed advantages of the Protestant Religion are our obligations strengthened to abound in Gods service, to be fruitful in every good word and work, to do the will of God from the heart, and to walk in his name for ever and ever. 3. We especially of the Church of England ought to be very exact and exemplary in our obedience, for certainly our Church hath some advantages above any other: if not in her Doctrines, yet in her Government and Worship, forasmuch as in it that order and discipline is upheld, which is best fitted to preserve an even and sober temper in Religion, between the extravaganties of Enthusiasm and the follies of Superstition. The doctrines contained in our Articles of Religion are so warily expressed, and in such a latitude, that differing parties will subscribe to them. There is no Protestant Church in the world but will say Amen to all our Prayers. Our Ceremonies are but few and those very decent, and we use them not as necessary in themselves, but in obedience to that Authority which every Church hath over its own Members. Our Ministers of Holy things are Consecrated and Ordained according to the Scripture and the Canons of the Universal Church. In a word, so excellent is the temper of our present Settlement, that there is no such Church in the world, with which men of differing persuasions may more safely Communicate, under which Dissenters, if they be peaceable, may live more happily: much more might be said of the good Constitution of this Church, and if I had time I might recount many singular blessings and deliverances, which do oblige and ought to encourage us above others to an extraordinary diligence in Gods service. Our numbness and indifferency in Religion will be more intolerable than other mens profaneness and total neglect of it. And great mercies, if abused, will end in as signal judgments. You only have I known of all the families of the Earth, Amos ii. 2. says God, by his Prophet, to that people, as he might say unto us, and we should be apt to think he had a great blessing for those he takes such notice of, but it seems they had slighted his goodness: whereupon it follows, therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities. Let us not boast of our privileges, The Temple of the Lord are these. Let us not think over-well of ourselves, because we are members of the best Church in the world, and because God hath owned us by as gracious and wonderful preservations and deliverances, as perhaps he ever did any people. But let us endeavour to improve these privileges, and walk worthy of so great benefits, and to secure them to ourselves by our Diligence, our Zeal, our Constancy in Gods service, not glorying, but walking in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever, that we may make it appear that we who are of the true Church, are true Christians, a peculiar people zealous of good works. The Policy and Power of our Enemies we know at this time is very active and menacing, yet nothing bodes greater evil to us than our own Unchristian, our own Unprotestant lives, the general declension of Holy Zeal in all sorts and degrees of men. Wherefore that we may be Friends to ourselves in the midst of so many Enemies, true to our own interest, when so many have combined against it, that we may keep God our friend when men rise up against us: Let me in the close of all humbly entreat and exhort you, both Magistrates and others, in your several places to do the work of God, and of Religion, with all your might, with the greatest intention and fervency of spirit, to imitate the Zeal of Primitive Christianity, and to retrieve that seriousness in Religion, which hath been observed to be the particular Genius of this Nation, even at such times when it fell infinitely short of those great advantages which it now enjoys. I would exhort you to be Zealous for, 1. the Established Protestant Religion of our Country, against all Heretical and Schismatical opposers. 2. That you would express that Zeal especially in the practise and promotion of the plain and indisputable duties in our Common Christianity. 1. I say it concerns us very much at this time to be zealous for the Protestant Religion, not only in regard of its truth and excellency, but also in regard of the manifold oppositions that are made against it, insomuch that we are in great danger of losing it, unless every man in his place appear with Christian Courage and Zeal for its preservation, and we betray the best Cause in the world, if we do not act in it with a heat and resolution proportionable to theirs that seek to destroy it; shall every man walk in the name of his God, and sacrifice his All to a fond opinion? Shall Papists be Zealous for their Images, fanatics for their Imaginations, and shall we only esteem it the goodness and wisdom of our moderation, not to concern ourselves too far for the honor of the true God, and for the defence of that Religion whose worth we have proved and known so well? Or do we think to secure ourselves by a faint resistance when our Enemies bear up so powerfully against us? No, Magistrates must employ all the strength of Law and Justice, Ministers must reprove, rebuk, exhort, with all long-suffering and Doctrine, and every man must do all that he lawfully can for the honor and safety of his Religion; and consider I beseech you, that if we will contend for the truth as we ought, whilst the brunt is not so sharp, whilst the duty of contending is upon easier terms than blood, we may be excused from the necessity of a more fiery contention, our devout Prayers, our exemplary Conversations, our Godly Sorrow for sin past, and our diligent care to avoid it for the future, may possibly excuse our Lives and save our Estates: Which minds me to Exhort you in a second place, though but in a word, to express your Zeal for Religion especially in the practise and promotion of the plain and indisputable duties of our Common Christianity, we are all agreed that Righteousness, Sobriety, Mercy, Meekness, Humility, Purity, &c. are virtues recommended to us by the common dictates of natural light, and powerfully enforced by the Life and Doctrine of our great Master and his Apostles. Let us then, I beseech you, in the fear of God apply ourselves to the serious and affectionate practise of these virtues and graces. I have not time to propound the motives that offer themselves to quicken and raise our sluggish spirits. It is enough that we cherish hopes of everlasting happiness, that we look for a reward from our Heavenly Master, for if so, why are we not about his Work? why do we not endeavour to live up to the Rules of his Religion? To purify ourselves as he is pure, to be merciful as he is merciful, to be filled with all the fruits of Righteousness which are by Christ Jesus, unto the glory and praise of God. Would to God I could speak to you with the spirit and bowels, as well as the words of that great Apostle: My dearly beloved brethren, 1 Cor. xv. 58. be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord: and again, Let us not be weary of well doing, Gal. vi. 9. for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. How can an exhortation commenced with so much love, pursued with so much earnestness, sweetened with such gracious promises possibly miscarry? In the same breath that we hear of our Work we hear of our Reward too, a little short Work, a great and eternal Reward. What a powerful invitation is this to all that believe, to turn from every evil way, and to be Holy as he that hath called us is holy in all manner of conversation? If any temptation assault us, and begin to shake the constancy of our Christian Resolution, what considerations more likely to settle us? to make us steadfast and unmovable in the work of the Lord? As we know that the temptations which flatter us are very moving, as we feel the allurements of the pleasures and advantages of this world, so we are assured that if we persevere in holiness, and walk in the name of the Lord for ever and ever, there are infinitely better things to counterbalance and outvie the fairest of all the temptations that solicit us. Wherefore the rather, brethren, 2 Pet. i. 10. give all diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if ye do these things ye shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be administered to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom with the eternal Father and ever blessed Spirit of Grace, be ascribed of us, and all his servants all honor, glory, power, and praise henceforth and for evermore. Lord of all power and might, who art the Author and giver of all good things: graft in our hearts the Love of thy name, increase in us true Religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. FINIS.