Serm. CLIV. Of the Necety ofgood Works. 3 5'7 they reje&ed his Law. And Chap. 7. 4, g, 6. Trill ye not in lying words, faying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are thefé. For ifye thoromly amendyour ways, andyour doings ; ifye thorowy execute judg- ment between a man and his neighbour; ifye opprefs not the franger, thefatherlefs, and the widow, and fhed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other Gods to your hurt : Then will I taufe you to dwell in this place. And ver. 8, g, io. Behold, ye trufl in lying words that cannot profit. Will ye fleal, murder, and commit adultery, and (wear frilly, andburn incenfe unto Baal, and walk after other Gods whomye know not : andcome andfiend before me in this houfe, which is called by myName, and fry, we are delivered to do all theft abominations ? This was to add impudence to all their other impieties, to think that the worfhip of God, and his holy Temple did excufe theft grofs Crimes and Immoralities. Micah 6. 6, 7, 8. There God reprefents the Jems, as defirous to pleafe God at any rate, provided their Lulls and Vices might be fpared, and they might not be obliged to amend and reform 'their lives ? Wherewith (hall I come before the Lord, and bow my felfbe- fore the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of ayear old ? Will the Lord he pleated with thoufands Of Rams, or with ten thou- fend rivers of Oyl ? (ball Igive my fir/i-born for mÿ tran/greJons, the fruit of ny, body fòr the fin of my foul ? All this they would willingly do : but all this will not do Without real Virtue and Goodnefs, He bath 'hewed thee, Oman, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do ji(fly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? And in the time ofour bleffed Saviour, thofe who pretended to be moll devout among the Jews, were wholly bufied about their pretended traditions of wafting of hands, and the outfndes of their cups and dittes, and about the external and leffer things of the Law, the tything of Mint, and Anife, and Cumin and all manner ofHerbs, omitting in the mean time the weightier matters of the Lam, Judgment, Mercy, and Faith, and the Love of God, as our Saviour defcribes their Religion, Matth. 23. 23. And after the clear revelation, of the Gofpel, the belt and moft perfect inftitu- tion that ever was, in the very beginning ofChriftianity, what licentious Doétrines did there creep in, turning the grace ofGod into lafcivionfnefs, and releafingMen from all moral Duties, and thevirtues ofa good life? by reafon whereof the way of truth was evilfpoken of, as St. Peter, and St. Jude exprefly tell us concer- ning the Sell of the Gnoflicks. And St. John likewife defcribes the fame Sect by their arrogant pretences to extraordinary knowledge and illuminations whilft they walkedin darknefs, and allowed themfelves in all mannerof wickednefs of life ; they pretended to perfe&ion and righteoufnefs, without keeping the Com- mandments ofGod. And in the next following Age of Chriftianity, howwas it pefter'd with a tri= fling controverfie about the time of the obfervation of Eager, and with endlefs difputes and niceties about the Do/Trine of the Trinity, and the two natures and wills of Chrift ! by which means the pra&ice of Chriftianity was greatly negle- Red, and the main end anddeign of that excellent Religion almoft quite defeated and loft. After this, when the myflery of iniquity began to thew it felt, in the degeneracy ofthe Roman Church from her primitive facility and purity, and in the affeRa- tiou of an undue and boundlefs power ever other Churches, the Chriftian Reli- gion began to be over-run withSuperftition, and the primitive fervourof piety and devotion was turn'd into a fierce zeal and contention about matters of no moment and importance; of which we have a molt remarkable inftance here in our own Nation, when Auflíne the Monk arrived here to convert the Nation, and preach the Gofpel amongft us, as the Church of Rome pretended g but again(} all Faith and truth ofHiflory, which affures us that Chrittianity was planted here among the Britain: feveral Ages before, and perhaps fooner than even at Rome it felf and not only fo, but had got confiderable footing among the Saxons before Aufline the Monk ever fet foot amongft us ; I fay, when Azjiine the Monk arrived here, the
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