he is episcopal, presbyterian, independent, no, nor anabaptist; or because he readeth not his prayers, or such like; but I read that no man shall see God without holiness. (Heb. xii. 14.) " It will not serve your turn in judgment to say that you were for this side, or that side, and, therefore, you hearkened not to the other side, as long as all those sides agree in the necessity of holiness, which you neglect. Why did you not learn of your own side, at least to forsake your tippling, and swearing, and worldly-mindedness, and to make it the daily trade of your lives to provide for life everlasting, and make sure work in the matter of your salvation? If you had learnt but this much of any side, you would cast away your siding more, and have loved and honoured them that feared the Lord, of what side soever, (Psalm xv. 4,) and have contemned the ungodly as vile persons, though they had been of your side. The Catholic church is one, and containeth all that heartily and practically believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, and live a holy, heavenly life. Leave off your siding, and keep this blessed, simple unity, and you will then be wiser than in a passion to cast yourselves into hell, because some fall out in the way to heaven. Nor will it serve your turn at the bar of God to talk of the miscarriages or scandals of some that took on them to be godly, no more than to run out of the ark for the sake of Ham, or out of Christ's family for the sake of Judas. Whatever men are, God is just, and will do you no wrong; and you are called to believe in God, and to serve him, and not to believe in men. Nothing but wickedness could so far blind men as to make them think they may cast off their love and service to the Lord, be→ cause some others have dishonoured him; or that they may cast away their souls by carelessness, because some others have wounded their souls by particular sins. Do you dislike the sins of professors of godliness? So much the better. We desire you not to agree with them in sinning. Join with them in a holy life, and imitate them so far as they obey the Lord; and go as far beyond them in avoiding the sins that you are offended at as you can; and this it is that we desire. Suppose they were covetous, or liars, or schismatical, imitate them in holy duties, and fly as far from covetousness, lying, and schism, as you will. You have had learned and godly bishops of this city; search the writings of those of them that have left any of their labours to posterity, and see whether they speak for the same substantials of faith and godliness, which are now preached to you by those that you set so light by. Bishops Latimer, Parrey, Babington, &c., while they were bishops; and Robert Abbot, Hall, &c., before they were bishops, all excellent, learned, godly men, have here been preachers to your ancestors. Read their books, and you will find that they call men to that strictness and holiness of life which you cannot abide. Read your Bishop Babington on the Commandments, and see there how zealously he condemneth the profaners of the Lord's-day, and those that make it a day of idleness or sports. And what if one man think that one bishop should have hundreds of churches under his sole jurisdiction, and another man think that every full parish-church should have a bishop of their own, and that one parish will find him work enough, be he what he will (which is the difference now amongst us,) is this so heinous a disagreement as should frighten you from a holy life, which all agree for? To conclude, remember, this is the day of your salvation. Ministers are your helpers; Christ and holiness are your way; Scripture is your rule; the godly must be your company; and the communion of saints your desire. If now any scandals, divisions, displeasures, or any seducements of secret or open adversaries of the truth, or temptations of Satan, the world, or flesh whatsoever, shall prevail with you to lose your day, to refuse your mercies, and to neglect Christ and your immortal souls, you are conquered and undone, and your enemy hath his will; and the more confidently and fearlessly you brave it out, the more is your misery, for the harder are your hearts, and the harder is your cure, and the surer and sorer will be your damnation. damnation. I have purposely avoided the enticing words of worldly wisdom, and a style that tends to claw your ears, and gain applause with airy wits, and have chosen these familiar words, and deal thus plainly and freely with you, because the greatness of the cause persuaded me I could not be too serious. Whether many of you will read it, and what success it shall have upon them, or how those that read it will take it, I cannot tell; but I know that I intended it for your good; and that whether you will hear, or whether you will forbear, the ministers of Christ must not forbear to do their duty, nor be rebellious themselves; but our labours shall be acceptable with our Lord, and you shall know that his ministers were among you. (Ezek. ii. 3-8.) "Yet a little while is the light with you: walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." (John xii. 35.) Oh, take this warning from Christ, and from An earnest desirer of your everlasting peace, A TREATISE OF DEATH, THE LAST ENEMY TO BE DESTROYED. 1 CORINTHIANS xv. 26. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. DEATH is the occasion of this day's meeting; and death must be the subject of our present meditations. I must speak of that which will shortly silence me, and you must hear of that which will speedily stop your ears: and we must spend this hour on that which waits to cut our thread, and take dowu our glass, and end our time, and tell us we have spent our last. But as it hath now done good by doing hurt, so we are to consider of the accidental benefits, as well as of the natural evil, from which the heavenly wisdom doth extract them. Death hath now bereaved a body of its soul, but thereby it hath sent that soul to Christ, where it hath now experience how good it is to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. (2 Cor. v. 8.) It hath separated a faithful wife from a beloved husband; but it hath sent her to a husband more dearly beloved, and taught her now, by experience, to say, that to be with Christ is best of all. (Phil. i. 23.) It hath deprived a sorrowful husband of a wife, and deprived us of a faithful friend: but it hath thereby brought us to the house of mourning, which is better for us than the house of feasting; (a paradox to the flesh, but an undoubted truth ;) for here we may see the end of all men, and we who are yet living may lay it to our hearts. (Eccles. vii. 2, 3.) Yea, it hath brought us to the house of God, and occasioned this serious address to his holiness, that we may be instructed by his word, as we are warned by his works; and that we may be wise to understand, and to consider our latter end. (Deut. xxxii. 29.) |