GOD having in the foregoing Chapter by his Prophet denounced severe threatnings 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 [Page 2]Majesty and his Gracious presence (to shew 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 Prophesie 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 priviledges, 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 knowledg 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 [Page 3]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 judg among many People, and rebuke strong Nations after of such as were too mighty and puissant for them to graple withal: by the sweet yet most prevalent force of his word and spirit he will quiet the most turbulent and quarrelsom tempers, persuade them out of all their animosities, and so throughly pacifie 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 injoyed 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 stedfastness 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 judg for reward, nor our Priests teach for hire, nor our People fight [Page 4]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 our selves 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 led Cap­tives out of our Land, yet we will never change our God, but continue faithful in his service. Another gives us this sence 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 our selves if we understand the words to signifie the reso­lution of Gospel Converts, both Jews and Gentiles, to renounce all irregular Worship, all Heresie and Schism, and to be constantly and zealously devoted to the ser­vice [Page 5]of God, to the profession and practice 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 ingaged 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 knowledg 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 knowledg 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 [Page 6]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 som­thing 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 acknowledg 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 [Page 7]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 Catholick agreement in this: [...], 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 supream. 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 knowledg of a God;Nullum est Ani­mal praeter ho­minem quod ha­beat aliquam notitiam Dei-Solus enim sa­pientia instru­ctus est, ut reli­gionem solus in­telligat, & haec est hominis 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 knowledg. 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 our selves, 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 [Page 8]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 knowledg, and reason, at a rate so much below the men of the darkest times, if we had not first besotted our selves 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; Ʋt 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 ingaged 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 hinderance of the Heathens Conversion to Christianity [...], [Page 9]&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 accustomed to from their youth. And he goeth on to shew 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 distast, 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, [...], 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 judg and chuse for our selves. For he makes it evidently appear, that if the prevalency of ridiculous Customs were once disanulled, 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 unmove­able 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 [Page 10]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 [...] they knew this would alter their Laws too, which Rome Imperial could not brook, she must and will be infallible and supream, 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, Je. 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 acknowledg that the Religious Customs and ob­servations of the places wherein we live are not light­ly to be despised and violated. St. Paul alledgeth 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 judg­ment 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 practice of that Religion they have been taught, or bred 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 [Page 12] unlimited power, as Truth itself doth pretend to: this [...] as the Stoicks 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 shew 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 justifie 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 vouched 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 insuing Discourse upon this Head, I shall en­deavour to shew you,

[Page 13] (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 shew 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 shew 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 Hereticks.

2. A sincere practice 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 Hereticks, 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 [Page 14]and Gentiles shall acknowledg 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 our selves into disgrace and danger. For which the Chri­stian courage of St. Peter and John stands upon honor­able Record. When they were commanded not to speak at all, nor to teach in the name of Jesus, no threatnings 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 perillous 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 Practice 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 Hy­pocrisie. 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, meerly because we call him Lord, Lord, or have his name named 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 Jesuites 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 testifie. 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, shame their Hypocrisie. For how grosly 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 [Page 16]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 shew 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 Cross 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 our selves upon our God, when after our deliverances, we can rejoyce 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 [Page 17]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 threatnings nor so­licitations can move us from our stedfastness in Religi­on, or tempt us to faulter in our Christian Conformity: we hereby make it appear that we do indeed believe an over-ruling Providence, and confide 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 Ʋsurpers, not suffering sin to reign in our mortal bodies or the Man of sin to give law to our Consciences, and Captivate 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 shew 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 somthing more meant by walking in Gods name; not the exercise of a distinct vertue, but the improvement of those we have named 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 [Page 18]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 shame 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 requite 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 affected always in a good thing.

Zeal in itself is one of those things which the Phi­losopher calls [...] 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 fignifies 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 [Page 19]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 vertue. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

2. It imports extream 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. Jude 4. The Apostle Jude 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, [Page 20]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 our selves: Therefore I leave the Argument; I have no time to shew 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 Knowledg.
• 2. It must be managed with Prudence.
• 3. It must be attended with Charity.

1. It must be a Zeal according to knowledg, we must be sure that it be always imployed in a good thing, not [Page 21]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 judgment as Solomon speaks, mode­rating our selves 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 inlarge or lessen it according to the occasions of the house, we must be always zealously affected, 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 [Page 22]rebuke 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 Hereticks and Schismaticks 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 affected always in a good thing.

I proceed to shew that we Christians are more obliged to Diligence, Zeal, Constancy in the practice of our Religion than any other. Here I proposed to proceed by these degrees, viz. to shew

• 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.

[Page 23] 1. I say we Christians are under more powerful obligations to Diligence, Seriousness, and stedfast­ness 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 practice 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 practice 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, Vertuous, 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 [Page 24]made manifest, fully revealed by him who brought life and immortality to light in the Gospel. It would be easie and pertinent to enlarge upon these Heads, if I had time, as also to shew you that the Christian Reli­gion doth furnish us with the most prevalent motives and inducements to Piety and Vertue, as giving us the knowledg of the Divine Nature, his Providence and Goodness, the knowledg of the beauty, and of the rewards of Vertue, 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 easie, and reasonable, than what was expected under the legal dispensation. Under the Gospel we have no costly Sacrifices, no bloody Sacraments, no burdensom 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 vertues that do perfect and en­noble our natures, make us like unto God, happy in our selves, and publick 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 [Page 25]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 Implicite 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 easie, 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 Vertue, 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 shew 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; [Page 26]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 Here­ticks to death, the Sixth Commandment hath been but a weak Life-Guard.

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 signifie as little, since Equivocation was tolerated, and some think they have quite disanulled the Tenth, by teaching that Concupiscence is no sin.

No wonder if a Religion thus corrupted, Command­ments thus weakned 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 disintangled us from such a Yoke, that hath brought us out of their darkness into a marvelous light, that we are allowed to read and hear Gods word in a language we all un­derstand: that we are permitted to try the spirits, and to examine the Doctrins 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 strengthned 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 Doctrins 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. [Page 28]Our Luke-warmness and indifferency in Religion will be more intolerable than other mens Profaness 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 priviledges, The Temple of the Lord are these. Let us not think over-well of our selves, 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 priviledges, and walk worthy of so great benefits, and to secure them to our selves 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 Ʋnchristian, our own Ʋnprotestant lives, the general declension of Holy Zeal in all sorts and degrees of men. Wherefore that we may be Friends to our selves 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 [Page 29]places to do the work of God, and of Religion, with all your might, with the greatest intension 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 practice 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, Phanaticks for their Ima­ginations, and shall we only esteem it the goodness and wisdom of our moderation, not to concern our selves 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 our selves by a faint resistance when our Enemies bear up so powerfully against us? No, Magistrates must im­ploy all the strength of Law and Justice, Ministers must reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and Do­ctrine, [Page 30]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 practice 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 vertues 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 our selves to the serious and affectionate practice of these vertues 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 endeavor to live up to the Rules of his Religion? To purifie our selves 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 stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord: [Page 31]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, sweetned 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 stedfast and unmoveable 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 solicite 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 administred 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.