Firft Commandment. lhould hazard their Health, inltead ofgaining their Salvation•. What !hall I fay to fuch Bnucs and Heathens as thefc are, who not only deny the Power, but the very Form of Godlinefs, (fame few of them may perhaps be now prefent to hear me, and may my W ord, nay, not mine, but the Word of the Living God ltrike them:) God wiU pour out his wrath upon the heathen, and upon the families that call not on his name. Second~y, Some aga in are humourfomly Prophanc, who withdraw thc~1fclycs f:om 2. the pnblick Worllup of God, meerly upon pretended Scruple and DtffatiSfuchon. ~ I think it is no Uncharitahlenefs to .fay, That where fcruplc at the Adminiftration of Ordinances, is only pretended to colour Contempt of the Ordinances, there ReJi... gion is only made a Mafque and Vizer for Hypocrific: for he that fhall fcrnple to pray by a Set Form, and yet not fcruple to fwear Extempore~, he that fhall fcruple to eat and drink at the Lord's Table kneeling, and yet not fcruple to drink at his own Table, or at an Ale.hench, till he cannot ftand; he that fuall fcruple the Crofs in Baptifrn, and yet not fcruple t~e breaking his Baptifinal Vow; he th:tt !hall Scrn~ plc Obedience to Man's ~ws, and yet not fcruple Di fobc;~ience to Go.d1~, but fha!l lie, and defraud, and pcqurc, and opprefs, and look upon Jt as the pnvtlege of h1s Pervcrfencfs and ContradiCtion, to do fo; I !hall make no fcruplc to call fuch a fcrupulous Swearer, or Drunkard, or Che1t, a grofs <lnd prophane H ypocrite. I do not, I dare not fay, that all thofe that feparatc from our Communion, :tre of this N'>tc, no more than that all who joyn with us, are free from thefe Crimes: no, 1 believe, and know the contrary; and that very m:tny who have in the fimplici · t y of their hearts followed Abfalom in a Rebellion, do now likcwife follow Corah in 1 Sam.1~. a Schifin. Towards fitch I would take up words of Mecknefs, and in the bowels of1 1 • Love cxpoftnlate with them; but, alas! they do not, they will not hear me: I would bcfeech them to account of us as Minifters of Chrifr, and Stewards of the Mylteries of God, as well as others: And if they cannot deny that we are fa, will they de ny us Audience when we come as Ambaffadours from the great King of Heaven, to deliver his Mcffage to them in his. Name? Do we not preach the fame Truths, and exhort you as fa r as we arc able, to the pratl:ice of the fame Holinefs? Do we not Adminifrer the fame Sacramentswhereinarereprefented and fe:tled to all believing Partakers., the Benefits of the Death of onr Lord Jefus Chrift? What is it then? Are we therefore re jetted becaufc as We hav~ our Commiflion from God.,fo we have our Miffion by Law, and Authority from Men? If it be fo, thiS is not Zeal, but Contumacy and Pervcrfcnefs; or arc they our own Perfonal Faults and Mifcarriages; the negletr of our Minifrcry, or the H::anda;l of our Lives, that makes Mc11 to abhor the Offerings of the Lot·d, and forfake his Tabern.'lcle? Indeed, I had much rather deplore than excnfc them. Yet fi ne~ this Imput.<It ion cannot without great Wrong and Injufrice be laid upon all, why is the DefeCtion fi·om all? Why are godly, laborious, :tndconfciendous Min ifters forfakcn and defpifed as well as the refl:? But fhppofe they were .all as black as Afj:>erfions and.C:1lumnics wonld render them; yet certainly they cannot be thought worfe th:1n the Scribes and Pharifees, who were not only vicious in their Lives, hut cort;"llpt in many principal parts of their DoCtrine; yet fuch was the Authority and Reverence of .A.fo[e/s Chair, tha t .our Lord Chrift himfelf, who was the groat Teacher of the World, fends his own Scholars to learn of them; only bccaufc they were the allowed and authorized Inftrufrers of the People, M:ttth. 23. 2. The Scribes and the Pharifccs fit in Mofes feat. .All thercfoye whatfoeVcr thty bid you obfeYve, ~h"!t obferue and , ~; but do not :-;e after. their works: for thcy_fay, and do n.ot. Or finally, IS It that the Or<Unancws of Jefits Cbnft are (as they flq) hurthened wtth fame Obferv4nces which they cannot fo well · digeft and comply with? Not now to defend thefc Things in particular, let meonly.fay, That they no thing hinder the Enet·gy of the Cofpel, where itisattcnded on with an humb~e fitbmifs Squl, and traCtable and docile Affections: .A.nd what flight Opinions foever the over~weening· Fa1icics of the Men of this GeneratiO)l may have taken upconcerning onr way of Worihip, yet I am fit re that many thon.fands of Souls h::tve · been converted and faved fince our happy and blelfed Reformation from Popery, by the Ordinances of Jefus Chrilt, adminiltred Wlth a\l the fame Obfervanccs which are now fo much vilified and condemned. And I pray God Prophanenefs 'be not laid to the charge of a great many who not only negleCt, but deride and defpife that Worlhip whith God hath accepted and rewarded ; an~ that way of Adminiftration which he hath fanctified. in theConverfion, and fealcd m the Salvation of many bleffed and·glorious Saints now in Heaven. Yet l do not think all thofe wlto do as yet r~frain from our publick Afiemblies ' meerly out of the DtfiattsfuCtton of thetr Confctcnces, who do detire and endeavou r to
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