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TAE WORKS OF THE REV. ISAAC WATTS, D.D. IN NINE VOLUMES. VOL. V. CONTAINING AO HUMBLE ATTEMPT TOWARDS THE REVIVAL OF PRACTICAL RELIGION AMONG CHRISTIANS. A DISCOURSE ON THE WAY OPINSTRUC- TION BY CATECHISMS. A PRESERVATIVE PROM THE SINS AND FOLLIES OP YOUTH BY WAY OF QUESTION AND ANSWER. A LARGE CATALOGUE OF REMARKABLE SCRIPTPRE NAMES. A GUIDE TO PRAYER. PRAYERS FOR CHILDREN. A SHORT VIEW OP THE WHOLE SCRIP., TURD HIRTORY. QUESTIONS PROPER FOR STUDENTS IN DIVINITY; &C. db¡oai4eaacYie.eayÓ'P LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HERST, REES, ORME AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER - ROW ; RAINES, ROBINSON AND SON, HARDCASTLE, AND HEATON, LEEDS; HEEdward Baines, Leeds. 1813.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME V. PAGE. AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT TOWARDS THE REVIVAL OF PRAC- TICAL RELIGIONAMONGCHRISTIANS, continued from Vol. IV. containing An Address to the People, ,,, ,, 1 A GUIDE TO PRAYER, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 83 A DISCOURSE ON THE WAY OF INSTRUCTION BY CATE. CHISMS, .. 200 I. Catechism, ... ... 240 II. Catechism. 241 The Assembly's Catechism explained, 253 A PRESERVATIVE FROM THE SINS AND FOLLIE OF YOUTH BY WAY OF QUESTION AND ANSWER, ... ... 266 The Catechism of Scriptural Names, ... ... 280 The Historical Catechism for Children and Youth, 285 -A, LARGE CATALOGUE OF REMARKABLE SCRIPTURE ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 298 PRAYERS FOR CHILDREN, ... ... ... 314 A SHORT VIEW OF THE WHOLE SCRIPTUREHISTORY, 375 QUESTIONS PROPER FOR STUDENTS IN DIVINITY, &c. 585
AN IIUMBLE ATTEMPT TOWARDS THE REVIVAL OF PRACTICAL RELIGION AMONG CHRISTIANS, By a serious Address to Ministers and People. (Continued from Vol. 1V.) A SERIOUS ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. MAT. v. 57.-1Vhat do ye more than others? SECTION L The Text applied to the Disciples. THAT excellent sermom which our Lord preached on the mount, seems tobe addressed in a special manner to his disciples, though a mixed multitude might attend to hear it. The first verse of the chapter tells us that Jesusseeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain ; and when be was set, his disciples came unto him, and hi opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit : and there are several expressions in the ser- mon which plainly spews that the discourse was chiefly directed to the disciples ; Mat. v. 13, &c. Ye are the salt of the earth, ye are the light of the world ; Which he would never say to amulti- tude of mixed people that followed him, made up probably of Galilean Gentiles, as wellas Jews. The words I have chosen are a warm and pathetic question put to the consciences of the disciples, with regard to the great duty ofcharity and love, which our blessed Saviour, had been just preaching in sublimer degrees than the ancient prophets, Ifyou salute nonebut your brethren, if you law only those that loveyou , or as Luke vi. 33. If you do good' them that do good to you, what do youmore than others ? For the publicans and sinners do the same. Persons who Make no pretences to. godliness, and who neither enjoy the advantages with which you are blessed, nor lie under equal engagements ; they love their own friends as-well as you, and make grateful returns for benefits received ; they prac- tise many duties of morality, but I expect that you my disciples should far excel them, both in the duties you practise, and hi the manner of performance : I expect that you should love your ene- mies, and should bless them that curse you, and do good to them that hate you, as in verse 44. What is here spoken thus warmly by our Lord to his own disciples, concerning love and civility and kindness to our fellow-creatures, may with the same justicebe applied to most of the duties which we owe to God or man, VOL. v, A
I AN RUMBLE ATTEMPT, R.C. and give us ground to raise this general doctrine or theme of discourse : Doctrine. God requires and expects higher improvements in virtue and religion from persons who enjoy peculiar advantages, or lie under special obligations. Now to improve this thought, and press it upon all our consciences, ,I shall enquire,-1. What are the circumstancesunder which thedisciples of Christ then lay that obliged them to superior virtue and goodness ; and 2. I shall endeavour to apply this to ourselves, by enquiring what peculiar circumstances of advantage and obligation, all or any of us lie under to exceed others in any instances of duty, either to God or our neighbour, and whether we have answered these engage- ments or no. In answer to the first enquiry, What were the circunmstan- cesof the disciples at this tune? Wemay consider our Saviour in this sermon exhorting them to superior degrees of goodness, as. they appeared under these two characters ; (1.) as they were Jews and not heathens, as a part of the nation and church of Israel, in distinction from the men of other nations or Gentiles ; or (2.) as they were the disciples of Christ, and not of the scribes or pharisees ; as they were followers of a newpreacher, who was neither authorised nor acknowledged by their priests and doctors of the law, who had no countenance from the established national church, and who frequently worshipped in separate Assemblies*. And there is good reason for this twofold consider-. ation of them, if we remember that in my text Christ compares his discipleswith publicans, or the gatherers of thetaxes, whom the Roman governors appointed, and who were most of them heathens, and were often guilty of oppression and injustice, and therefore he demands of his disciples greater degrees ofgoodness than they ever practised : and in the 20th verse of this chapter' he compares them with the scribes and pharisees, the strict pre- tenders to religion, and the teachers of it among the Jews ; and assures them, that except their righteousness exceed that of the scribes and pharisees, they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ; Mat. v. 20. I. If we consider the disciples of Christ as Jews, as a part of the nation and church of Israel, they had many special advan- tages for religion above the heathen world, and many peculiar obligations. They are interested in those special marks of A It is granted indeed, that dur blessed Saviour did not separatehimself from the Jewish national church, so as to abstain from the worship of the temple, because that was expressly of God's own establishment i nor did he avoid the synagogues while they would suffer him to preach there, and to warn the people against their,traditions t yet there were so many corruptions in that day that had crept into the national church, that he found be could not fulfil his ministry, nor promote the salvation of souls according tohis desire, and bis heavenly commis aion, without holding separate assemblies.
1 SECTION r. 3 honour aid love that God hath set upon the Jewish nation, they were chosen to be a peculiar people to the Lord, and were devoted to him from their infancy : they had their laws given them by God himself, as their King and Governor, and could have no doubt of the wisdom and justice antÌ equity of them they had a multitude of special revelations both of duty and grace from God as their King and their God ; from God as the object of their worship and their everlasting Rewarder ? they had the living oracles committed to them for their instruction, wherein diviné truths and duties were written down in plain lan- guage, as the lessons of their faith and the rules of theirprac- tice : they had many institutions of religion and worship dictated by Godhimself, and they were not left to the wild and uncertain fancies of men to invent ceremonies of their own which God will never approve they had the gospel preached to them under types and shadows, and there were many clear discoveries of the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to God to be obtained for sinners who return to God by repentance, andwho rely on the pro- mises of his grace. Well might our Saviour say, I expect from you superior degrees of religion and virtue above the heathen and the publican, above the Roman tax - gatherers that dwell amongst you, and even those of your own nation who make no strict profession of piety or goodness. Think with yourselves therefore, examine your hearts and practice, what do you more than they ? And let your consciences be able to give an honoura- ble answer. II. Let the disciples of Christ be considered as thefollowers of a new preacher, in a way of distinction from the disciples of the scribes and the Jewish doctors of the law. They sat under the ministry of a rising prophet Jesus of Galilee, the supposed sonof a carpenter, who had no approbation nor authority nor countenance from the established church, who held separate as- semblies for praying and preaching, and who taught the people sometimes on a mountain, sometimes in the wilderness, some- times on the sea-shore, and at other times in private houses ; and here we shall find that the disciples lay under farther circumstan- ces of engagement to greater purity and a higher perfection in holiness. They had the Son of God himself for their preacher, who spoke so as never Haan spoke, who had all his doctrines and his messages from heaven, and spoke what his Father commanded hico; a preacher, who explained the law in a more perfect man- ner, and raised it to sublimer degrees of virtue even than Moses himself, who received it from God ; and he purified it also from the false and corrupt glosses which the scribes and doctors of that degenerate age had put upon it ; an ambassador from heaven, who published the tidings of rich grace and pardon and salvation in a clearer manner, and gave them stronger encouragements to A 2 '
4 AN HICMDLE ATTEMPT, &C. repentance and faith and piety and brotherly love, than the world had ever known before. They had miracles wrought to convince them of the truth of the commission of Christ from heaven ; Mat. iv. 24. The God of nature spoke often to them in some work' of wonder, which was superior to all the powers of nature, to assure them that Jesus was the minister of his le'ather's grace to the sons of men. They had seen some of the prophecies fulfilled in him, and some of the charactersof the Messiah exemplifiedin his person, in his doctrine and his conduct ; for though this sermon stands near the beginningof St. Matthew's history, yet it was by no means the first sermon that he preached, nor the very beginning of his ministry, as will easily appear if we consult Mat. iv. and Luke iv. where we have several accounts of his preaching before this. Let us consider another great advantage they enjoyed above others ; they had the ablest and most sublime pattern of holiness always before them, who practised self denial, humility, zeal for the honour of God, mortification to the world, resistance oftemp- tations, and retired devotion, in a superior manner to whatever any mere mortal attained or practised. And besides all this, they made a profession of greater strictness rod purity by their adherence to Christ and his preaching, woo appeared in the world as a new teacher, to reform the vices of men, and found fault with the preachers of the established church, forthe many corruptions both of doctrine and practice that reigned amongst them. Now, " TO what purpose (might our Lord say) and for what end are all these advantages given you, ifnot to make you wiser and better than the rest of the nation ? And what is it you pretend in following my sermons and attending upon my minis- try in separate assemblies ? Is it not that you maybecome moré strictly religious, and that your virtue and your goodness may exceed your neighbours ? If the teachings of the scribes and the doctors of the law are sufficient for your instruction, and equal to your wishes and your hopes, why do ye follow me from town to town, and from one part of the nation to the other ? Does not your own profession of beingmy disciples oblige youto greater degrees of piety ? And have you not peculiar advantages for this end, by attending on my ministrations ? I expect therefore that you should live, and speak, and act to the honour of God and the good of men, in a degree and manner far superior to what the sinners and publicans can pretend to, and that you exceed in rightausness all the pretences and the practices ofthe pharisees and the scribes.
SECTION Il. , 3 SECT. II.The Application of the Words of the Text to our own Age and Circumstances. Thus having shewn how reasonable was this demand of Christ upon his own disciples, we come in the next place to apply all this to our own ease, to our own age and circumstances. Awl here in order to enforce 'Vs enquiry upon our consciences, what do we more than others 2 We shall consider our character and our privileges ; (1.) That we are Christians, and not Jews nor heathens. (2.) That we are protestants and not papists. (3.) That we are protestant dissenters, who worship God in separate assemblies, and follow the teachings of men who have no com- mission from the established and national church; and under each of these characters we shall enquire how much our cir- cumstances of advantage and obligation are'superior to those of the rest of the world from whom we are distinguished, and whether our behaviour has been answerable to these special en- gagements. I. We are ehristians, and not Jews nor heathens. Let me speak to each of these apart : 1st, We are not born in a land of heathenism, in gross darkness and in the shadow of death, and therefore our, piety and virtue should far exceed all the practices of the heathen world. We are not left to the teachings of the book of nature, and to the silent lectures which the sun, moon and stars can read us : nor are we abandoned, merely to the instructions of religion that we may derive from as the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the heaven," or any of the works of God the Creator. We are not given up in the things of religion merely to the wandering and uncertain conduct of our reason, feeble as it is in itself, corrupted by the fall of Adam our first.father, beset with many sins and prejudices, and turned asidefrom the truth by a thousand false lights of .sense and appetite, fancy and passion, by the vain customs of the country, and the corruptions of our sinful hearts. We are not bewildered among the poor remains of divine tradition delivered down from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to-his posterity in the several nations of the earth ; we are not left to spell out our duty from those sorry broken fragments of revelation, which are so lost and defaced amongst most of the nations, and so mingled with monstrous folly and delusion, that it is hard to find any reliques of truth or goodness in them. We are not given up to foul idolatry and wild super- stition, nor to the slavish and tyrannical dictates of priests and kings, who contrive what ceremonies they please, and impose them Oil the people, which is the case of a great part of the hea- then world. A 3
6 AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT, &C. Poor and deluded creatures! feeling about in the dark for the way to happiness, in the midst of rocks and precipices and endless dangers, and led astray into many mischiefs and miseries by those whom they take for guides and rulers. And what an infamous and shameful thing would it be for us, who have the divine light of the gospel shining among us to direct our paths, if we should read among the records of the heathen nations, that any of them have behaved better than we have done, either in duties to God or man, and exceeded us either in personal or in social virtues ? Nay, what a scandal would it be to our profession, if we should not abundantly exceed all the shining virtues of the heathen nations, since the divine light that shines upon us, and the divine lessons that are published amongst us, are so infinitely superior to all that the heathen world has en- joyed ? And yet, to our shame and reproach, there are several single examples found in ancient history of some of their moral and social virtues, beyond what most of us have arrived at. What patience under injuries and cutting reproaches is ascribed to Socrates ? What a contentment of soul under great poverty, what calmness under oppression'and pain, and what a noble dis- interestedness in the comforts or eaiamities ofthis life was found in Epictetus the Stoic philosopher ? What a friendly and forgiving spirit in Antonius the emperor ? What a moderation in the en- joyments of life, what a brave contempt of present death, and what a generous love of their country and self-denial for the public good do we read of in some of the ancient Romans, be- fore the ages of splendor and luxury bad corrupted them ? It is granted indeed these instances are but few and rare, and we have good reason to hope and believe that the virtues which are practised in the christian world are abundantly more common and numerous, and therefore they pass without such public notice and renown : but is it not a shame there should be any one instance of heathen virtue transcending the practice of christians ? And if we consult thehistories of their religiousaffairs, we shall find several examples of their zeal for sorry superstitions and ridiculous idolatries, rising higher than ours has done in the practice of our divine religion : how far have their self. denial and sufferings, their fatigues and fervency in the worship of their idols, transcended our devotion to the living and tune God? What costly honours have they done to some of their mediator gods and goddesses, beyond what we have a heart to do for our Jesus, the only true Mediator between God and m n ? With what curiosity and exactness and unwearied diligence have the votaries of those false deities, in tome of the eastern and west- ern nations, in ancient and later times, fulfilledtheir washings,
SECTION IL 7 and scourgings, and painful abstinences, and practised all the austere rites of their religions, while we are cold and indif- ferent, sluggish and indolent in paying the sacred worship we owe to the great and blessed God and to his Son Jesus ? Lord, will not this heathen zeal condemn our shameful sloth and neg- ligence? Again 2dly, We are christians and not Jews : how much should our practices of piety exceed theirs ? Our gospel is not hidden under types and figures, nor veiled under the smoke of incense and sacrifice, as it was in the religion of Moses: how cheerfully should we receive and study and rejoice in this gospel of salvation, which shines amongst usin its fullest light ? And while we remember that we are freed from the bondage of numerous ceremonies, how diligently should we at- tend to thè two sacred institutions of baptism and the Lord's- supper, which Christ has given us, and take care that all the spiritual designs of them be attained in us and upon us ? We are not waitingfor a Messiah yet to come, which was the case of many prophets and kings and righteous men under the Jewish dispensation : blessed are our eyes and our ears, for they have read and heard those glorious transactions and doctrines relating to the Messiah the great prophet, the king of Israel, and the Saviour of theworld, for which the fathers waited from age to age. With what zeal and joy, with what holy exercises and raptures of faith and love should we receive Jesus the Son of God, the great Messiah, who has all the characters of this divine prophet and this promised saviour found in him ? With what a firm and steady soul shouldwe receive the doctrines, and main- tain the articles of the religion of Jesus, in opposition to all the snares of infidelity, and the artifices of every deceiver. Again, we are not left, as theJewswere, to theobscure lan- guage of prophecy, to inform us of the grace and blessings of the Messiah's kingdom; nor are we put to spell out our faith by such weak and idle:commentaries of men as the Jewish rabbins have left us, whereby to understand the law of Moses : we have the New Testament given us to explain the Old ; Christ and his apostles are sent to us as interpreters of the ancient prophets : theveil is taken away while the books of Moses are read among us, and many of the dark figures and the'typical scenes of provi- dence that belonged to theJewish dispensation, are now unfolded and explained in a divine light. How should our hearts burn within us under an evangelical ministry, in imitation of the two disciples ; Luke xxiv. 32. while Christ was unfolding to them the spiritual gloriesand graces of his kingdom, which were deli- vered by Moses and the prophets in more obscure language ? How delightfully should we converse with the two books of God, the Old Testament and New, when we understand the scrip. ture so far beyond what the best of the Jews could do, who had
AN BUMBLE ATTEBtrr, Ac. only the first of these divine writings given them, without a se- cond to explain it : how much therefore should our faith and our hope, our loveand our holiness transcend the virtu-es and graces of a Jew. And yet,' alas ! how greatly does our piety, our zeal, our self- government, our single and social virtues, and our universal holiness fall short ofthose degrees to which some of those Jewish saints attained ?. Which of' us can compare with the first of their leaders, Moses, the servant of God, in an unwearied attendance upon the commands of his Lord, in opposition to all the threaten - ings of the King of Egypt and the murmurings of his own peo- ple Israel ? Which of us would have shewn such meekness in bearing so many indignities and alhionts from au ungrateful race of men, whom he had rescued from the brick kilns and task- masters and cruel bondage? Which of us follow God so fully as Caleb and Joshua did, and could bear such an undaunted testimonyto the truth of his word, and the excellency of the pro- mised blessings, in opposition to the clamours of a whole nation, and the danger of being stoned upon the spot? How few are there in the present age of christians who are so well acquainted with the efficacy and success of prayer as Hannah the mother of Samuel, who poured out her petitions before God, and left her cares and her burthens there, and went away and was no more sad? When shall any of us arise to the blessed-experiences of David ? When shall we live so much by faith as he did, and tri- umph over all our fears, even in the midst of enemies, dangers and distresses ? When shall we arrive at such a humble, holy intimacy with God, as to walk with him all the day long, and communicate with him all our concerns, our comforts, our dan- gers and our, difficulties, and be able to rejoice in hope as he did? How far are the ways of his faith and love above ours, like the way of an eagle in the air, too high and too hard for us? When shall our zeal for the Mouse of God carry us to sùéh a pious solicitude about it as his did ? And when shall we feel such longing desires and insatiable thirstings after the presence of God in holy ordinances as he found ? Which of us can say with the humble sph it of Micah, vii, 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he arise andplead my cause ? Or where is the christian that can assume the words of Habakkuk, iii. 17. with the same spirit of faith ? Though there be nofruit in the field, nor herds in the stall, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, andjoy in the God of my salvation. But it is time to proceed to some other characters that belong to us, and wherein we enjoy advantages for holiness superior to others ; for it is a most evident andheavy reproach upon us, that either Jews or heathens should exceed us in any instances of the religious or civil life. II. We are prolestants and not papists; and what progress
SECTIOí't Ít. g have we made in devout religion, and in real piety, beyond what some of the poor deluded people have done under the power of popish darkness, superstition and tyranny, notwithstandingour transcendent advantages? We are not withheld from the pure and perfect instructions of the word of God in our own lan- guage, nor imposed upon by the traditions of men as the papists are, who are generally forbid to keep bibles in their own custody in most of the popish nations, nor are they suffered to acquaint themselves with the-scriptures in their mother tongue. We can see the doctrines with our own eyes which we are required to believe; we can read the duties which we are commanded to practise ; we can learn the whole counsel of God for our salva- tion, and be instructed in all the articles of faith and manners from the word of God itself. We are not deprived of this key of knowledge that leads us into the treasures of heaven and eter- nity : We have the bible in our hands, we read it inour families, it is open before us in our retirements : how diligently should we search and enquire into every truth and duty that is proposed to us, as the noble Bereans did ; Acts xvii. 11. With what zeal and fervency should we practise every divine appointment, whets the obligations come upon our consciences more immediately front the word of God ? And, how careful should we be to worship God more exactly according to his own appointments, since we have his own word to instruct us? How great and unspeakable are our advantages beyond those who dwell under popish governments ? Alas for those poor benighted and imprisoned creatures, held in the chains of dark mess! How wretchedly are their consciences governed by blind leaders, -and they are not suffered to believe any thing but what the church teaches them, i. e. the priests, who are made the directors of their faith and practice ? Their belief is founded on the word of poor fallible men, and sometimes of wicked and deceitful men too, instead of the dictates of heaven and the words of the true and living God. They must believe nóthing contrary to what the church believes, though it be never so plainly written in scripture ; for if the church has determined against the plainest doctrines of the bible, they must be construed to another sense, according as the church from time to time shall please to interpret the word of God. What a wonder is it if any of these miserable mortals under such wretched disadvan- tages should attain to the practice of true religion and the faith and holiness of the gospel ? But how much more shameful would it be to us, if any of them under these disadvantages should be.fontad to exceed and out shine our -character and our practice ? We are not taught to repeat our prayers like parrots in an unknown tongue: Oh, what a mockery of heaven is this ! What
IO AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT, &C. an high affront to God and to the reason of man, to chatter over words and syllables before the God of heaven, and to address him about the important things of graceand salvation and eternal life, and yet know nothing of our wants or our petitions ! How serious, how fervent, how spiritual should our devotion be, in comparison of theirs who are taught to pronounce a little gibbe- rish in Latin instead of serious devotion ? Whenever I read of any instances of religious and devout Papists, and especially if they are persons of the lower rank of life, who have not the advantages of the men of learning among them ; and when I reflect to what heights here and there one of them have risen in the spiritual parts of religion, I blush and am ashamed of myself, who enjoy so much superior advantages, and sink so far below them in these divine exercises. We are not brought up in the superstitions and idolatries of the church of Rome ; we are not taught to worship saints and an- gels, nor requiredto bow down before a piece of bread in the hand of a priest, nor to pay religious honours to images of wood and stone, ofgold and silver ; we arenot taught to address ourselves to departedsaints and angels for mediators, to apply to the Virgin mother instead of Christ her Son, nor to address the apostles instead of their Master : we are directed only to the one Medi- ator, Christ the Son of God, who is all sufficient, to reconcile us to God, and to make our persons and our prayers acceptable before the throne ; whereas the disciples of the Pope distribute the care of their best interests amongst many mediators, and re- commend themselves to the protection of many saints and savi- ours. Well, let us enquire then, are our hearts united in the faith and love of. Jesus, the only Mediator, more than theirs? Are we better acquainted with Jesus the Son of God, to whom we have committed all our immortal concerns, since our thoughts and hopes, our wishes and prayers, are not divided amongst many intercessors ? Do we pay more honour to Jesus our only Saviour than they do, who have so many objects of their trust and worship to divide their hearts and devotion into slender streams ? What shall I say for our own excuse, if I should find some papists exceedingus in their love to God, in their devotion to Christ, and in their benevolenceto men ? I believe indeed their number is but small, but methinks it is a shame and reproach to us under our superior advantages, if there should be found any of that corrupt and superstitious church practising the christian religion, in the substantial duties of it, better than we. When I read Thomas a Kempis resigning himself to hisLord and Sa- vieur in such pious language, Giveme what thou wilt, and as in lick or little as thou wilt, and when thou wilt. Deal with me as thou hoarsest to be most proper, and as may bring thee most
SECTION II; IL glory; place me where thou pleasest, Iam in thy hand; turn me and toss me from side to side : behold thy servant ready to be and bear every thing, for my desire is not to live to myself, but to thee. When I hear that excellent man the Archbishop of Cam- bray lifting up his devout heart thus to heaven, in the same strains of pious resignation, I am for thee, O my God, against myself; none cenid have thus divided me from myself but thy hand only. I leave myself in thy hand, O my God, mould this clay of mine, and turn it up, and turn it down again, give it a. form, then break it and new mould it ; it is entirely thine, it has nothing to reply, it is enough for me that this being ofmine serves thy purposes and thy good pleasure ; command, appoint, forbid, what I shall do, or what I shall not do : elevated, abased, com- forted, suffering, I for ever adore thee : in sacrificing all my own will to thine : when I hear this language of a papist, how am I ashamed of my own restive and unpliable heart ? How much do I want of such an entire resignedness to toy Maker's will ? With what pleasure do I read Monsieur de Beaty in the zeal of his inward piety running counter to the practices of his own communion, and declaring that, If we know not our own devotion rather by the mortificationand denial of ourselves, than by the multiplication of our devont exercises, it is to be feared they will be rather practices of condemnation than of sanctifica- tion : and yet we see the work of Jesus Christ is almost'reduced to this pass among the spiritual persons of our times. But it is with a sacred regret and self displicency I would look upon my- self, while I review other parts of his life, where he took upon him all the mean and laborious figures of service to his fellow- creatures,, and conformed himself to all inconveniences for the good of his neighbour : Methinks, says he; my soul is all charity, and I am not able to express with what ardency and strange expansion I find my heart to be renewed in the divine life of my new-born Saviour, burning all in love towards mankind. How do I wish that I could repeat from my heart the words of that poor servant maid Armelle Nicholas in France in the last century, Godhas not sent me into this world but to love him, and by his great mercy I have loved him so much, that I cannot do it more in the way of mortal creatures ; I must go to him, that I may love him in the way of the blessed. But before I dismiss this head entirely, I would take notice of one advantagemore which the protestants of Great -Britain enjoy toward the practice of charity and love to their fellow- creatures, above and beyond what the papists generally enjoy ; and yet even in this very grace of charity there have been in- stances, as you see, wherein some of them exceed us. Let us remember that we are not educated in such a cruel and bloody religionas the papists, which cruelty, though it is not practised
jy AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT, &c. by all of them,' yet is taught by their leaders. Their religion encourages and Inspires men to murder and destroy their fellow- creatures for God's sake, as our Saviour himself foretold ; John xvi. 2. They first call us heretics, and then condemn, torment and murder us, and blindly imagine they aredoing, God service. O bless the name of the Lord for your freedom from the hand and power of those whose religion itis to do mischief in the name of God, and to destroy those that the priests and the inquisitors shall pronounce guilty of any opinions which they are pleased to call heresy ! Ilow often do they dress up a protestant as it were in a wolf's or a bear's skin, and send out all their dogs todevour him ? Bless God with all the powers of your souls that you are not bred up in these barbarous sentiments ; nor should you think yourself worthy of the name of a protestant, if you do not make the bible the rule of your faith and practice, and give others leave to find out their duty also in that holy book, according to their own best sense of it, as well as yourselvees. But if you reproach and persecute the sincere enquiries .after the truth, if you bite and devour those who differ from you in their religious sentiments, who are humble and sincere enquirers, What do you more than others ? What are you better than thebloody papists ? And indeed how much worse are you than some few of them whose souls abhor this cruel anti-christian tyranny ? This barbel rous temper of yours would run all the lengths of persecution even to blood and burning, if the sword and the fire were en- trusted in your hands. Shew therefore that you live in a land of protestantprinciples and an age of liberty, and that the spirit of the gospel, the spirit of charity and'love, dwells in you, by allowing to all men the freedom of their own opinions, while they maintain the public peace : and as you profess to follow the divine rule of scripture, and the dictates of your own consciences with honesty and sincere zeal, believe charitably that your fel- low-christians of a different party may seek after the truth with as much zeal and with equal sincerity, though they may not happen to see all things in the same light, nor embrace the same principles. Let not your accusations and censures grieve their spirits. Make it appear that you love your neighbours, your fellow- christians, and even the enemies of your person and your religion better than the papists, from whom you would distin- guish yourselves with honour. But this shall suffice for the general distinction between papists and protestant. III. We are come in-the next place to consider ourselves as protestant dissenters: hereby we are distinguished from our fel- low-christians who belong to the national church of England, in our choice of different modes of worship and ministrations of holy things. Permit me here to address you who aremy hearers under this character, and enquire what do you more than others ?
SECTION 11. 13 You who attend upon the worship of God in separate assemblies, and sit under the ministrations of those, who have no commis- sion from the spiritual guides of the nation and rulers of the church ; you who in this respect are placed under such a sort of providence as to be imitators of the disciples of Christ when he maintained separate assemblies, and preached to the people with- out receiving any public authority, or so much as countenance and approbation from the rulers of the national church in his day. Surely this is a question óf very awful importance, and very necessary, while we continue our separation, what higher degrees of piety or virtue do we practise ? What sublimer ad- vances in religion are we arrived at? Wherein are we better by all our nonconformity than those who constantly conform to the church of England as by law established ? What do all our pre- tences to separation mean, if we ascend to no superior degrees of godliness ? But before I enter into so nice a subject as a comparison between the advantages and obligations to strict religion, which are found amongst the dissenters, or amongst the church of England, and their different improvements under them, I desire to lay down this one caution, viz. That nothing which I ant going to speak should be construed to relate to any of those holy souls who are of the first rank in the school of Christ, who are the most pious and the most strictly religious, either among the members of the church of England, or among protestant dissen- ters; for I am not going to speak to or of these persons, or would I make comparison between them : I would set them all before me as examples for my humble imitation and yours, and not for the subjects of my comparison. I am verily persuaded there, are many persons of both communities who are dear to God, whose names have an honourable place in the book of life, who walk humbly and closely with God in all the known duties of the christian state, whose sobriety in what relates to them- selves, whose justice and charity in what relates to their neigh- bours, and whose devotion in what belongs to God, is glorious and exemplary indeed ; who are taught and led by the same spirit of holiness, and are largely interested in the favour of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. To those holy souls on both sides I would only ask leave to say, Go on in your illus- trious course of christianity ; rival each other in the swiftness of your race, in your pious and divine progress toward heaven; and may each of you run so Jar, as to obtain one of the larger and fairer crowns of righteousness that shall never fade away. Yet I can hardly withhold myself from pronouncing this one word of justice, That if any of the members .of the established church in this most pious rank of men, are superior to those of our dissenting churches, I think they ought to have the honour
14 AN QCMBLE ATTEMPT, &c of this superiority ; and some degree of shame will belong to the best of us, if we are found inferior to them either in virtue to- wards men, or piety towards God, because of our superior ad- vantages and obligations. Having laid down this caution, I come to declare that, the persons whom I would atthis time compare together, are the common professors of religion in the church of England, and the common professors among the dissenters, the bulk of the people both on the one side and on the other; and I would fain excite you who hear me this day, who are professors of religion, and call yourselves protestant dissenters, to bethink yourselves a little concerning the sensible decay of real goodness that is found amongst you, in order to awaken you to the warmest zeal and utmost endeavours to revive languishing and dying religion. Give me leave, while 1 have the honour tobe a preacher amongst you in this congregation, to address you in the words of our blessed Saviour, who was in his day a divine teacher to a con, gregation meeting upon a mountain, and in the pathetic lan- guage of admonition and love I would say to my-hearers as he did to his disciples, What do yon more than others ? What is there of duty to God or man, wherein you separatists from the public establishment, exceed the rest of the nation ? And to en- force this exhortation, I shall here consider : I. What real advantages for religion you enjoy above your brethren of the church of England, according to your own com- mon sense of things. II: What superior obligations lie upon :you, by your particular profession of religion in a separate way. And under each of these two general heads, I shall run through various particulars. SECT. III.The Advantages of Protestant Dissenters in mat- ters of Religion. The first question that offers itself to our consideration is this, What are the real and special advantages for improvement -in religion whichyou protestant dissenters enjoy, or suppose you enjoy, above your brethren of the church of England? And here I desire my readers to observe, that I neither design to be- gin nor maintain any controversy with my brethren of the estab- lished church in these papers, which are written purely to revive practical godliness amongst us ; nor would I willingly give them any uffnce. I confess indeed, that it may not be improper in some parts of our ministrations, to enter into the merits of the cause, and modestly togive our people an account of the reasons why we separate from the public worship of the parish ; and yet this we have almost universally declined for many years out of respect to the church, nor is this mypresent business or intent in this place ; nor shall I stand to enumerate all our differences,
SECTION III. 15 nor insist upon a vindication of our conduct in the several parti- culars, that go to make up the grounds of non- conformity. You may find them put together and well -supported by other wri- ters, and particularly by Dr. Calamy in his three volumes of Moderate Non-conformity; and the chief heads of them, so far as they relate to the people, are well abridged in a very little ,book called Lay-non -conformity Justified, to which I refer my readers, who desire to take a more particular notice of the rea- sons of our separation. My only design in this place, is to mention some of those advantages, which you protestant dissenters are generally sup- 'posed to enjoy above your neighbours in the affairs of religion ; and even these I shall cite and borrow from those books which were written several years ago, to make it appear that I design no contention ; and if I am necessitated to speak of some of the differences that lie between us, the reader will see that I repre- sent them not in the language of dispute, nor pursue them any farther than to chew mere matter of fact, that I may thence de- rive more forcible and pungent warnings and reproofs to those of our own communion, who are negligent of piety and virtue under all their supposed advantages. Advantage L You are not in so much danger of taking up with the outward forms of 'religion, instead of the inwardpower and more spiritualpdrts of it, as your neighbours may be, and that particularly in the two following instances : First, You are in no such danger of mistakingbaptism for inward and real rege- neration5, as those who are educated in the established church. You are not in the least tempted or encouraged in any of our ministrations to suppose, that your souls are regenerated by the outward ceremony of baptism, or that you are really bornagain, and made new creatures by being baptized with water ; to which unhappy and dangerous mistake, the office of baptism in the church of England, has been thought to give too much counte- nance, in the plain sense of the expressions, and without any sufficient guard or caution ; and the answer in the catechism which children are taught, sloes but too much confirm and estab- lish them in this mistake : read the second question in the church catechism; Quest. Who gave you this name? lln.s. Illy God- fathers and Godmothers in my baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, a childof God, and an inheritor of theking- dom of heaven. And when their parents hear it mentioned so expressly at the baptism, that the child, after it is baptised, is regenerate andgrafted into the body of Christ's church, and that this infant is regenerated with the Holy Spirit, it is no wonder, if they encourage children to believe in a most literal sense what their catechism expressly teaches them, that they are all' born t, See Dr. Calamy of Moderate Noncoof. Vol. II. p. 1St.
AN IItiñTHLE ATTEMPT, &C. again so as to become the children of God, members of Christ, and heirs of heaven by baptism. I readily grant, that many of the ministers of the church and the wiser christians do know and believe, that there is no such inward grace and salvation really communicated by baptismal water : yet almost all the expressions in the offices relating both to public and private baptism, and to the baptism of those of riper years, establish persons in the-same mistake, and that as I hinted before without any manifest caution to secure them from it. But you, ,my friends, who separate from the national forms of worship, are afraid of receiving this doctrine, for you think it a matter of dangerous consequence both with regard to your- selves and your children. You havebeentaught and have learn- ed that regeneration is agreat and holy change, wrought in the posers of your soul, Jour understanding, will and affections by the Spirit of God, whereby you come to see the evil and defil- ing nature of sin, and the dreadful consequences of it, beyond whatever you saw before ; whereby you learn the excellency and necessity of holiness; whereby your ,sensual, vain and earthly temper of mind is altered, and your heart set upon the things of God and heaven and eternity instead of the perishing enjoy- ments of this life ; whereby your sinful nature is renewed by di- vinegrace, and you are brought to love God and fear him, to Lope and trust in him, as he has manifested his grace in Christ Jesus his Son ; and whereby you are inclined to practiseall the duties of piety towards God, and justice and charity towards your fellow- creatures. You are taught also, that though bap- tism or washing with water be a sign or figure or; emblem of this great and holy change,this purification from the defilement of sin, and this renovationof your natures to holiness, yet it is not the thing itself, it is not the real spiritual blessing ; nor does this olivine blessing always attend it; and it is often administered to persons who are never truly regenerate, who never have this di- vine change or purification passing upon them. You lie therefore under the strongest obligationsto see to it, that you have better evidences of regeneration than your mere baptism with eater; you are bound by your own principles to seek this divine change of your heart, this spiritual and import- ant blessing with theutmost care, diligence, devotion and prayer. You are exhorted in the ministry of the word, to labour with your own hearts to convince them of the evil of sin, Of the beauty and necessity of holiness, of the excellency of true religion and the divine life ; to impress your spirits by all proper motives that they. may repent of all sin, that your will may be turned away from it with hatred ; that your love and fear and hope may be used upon better objects than they are by nature, even upon God and Christ, ant things spiritual and eternal; you are ire-
SECTION TIf. 17 quently called Upon to strive and seek, that your inward dispo- sition of soul toward your neighbour may be kind and just and faithful, such as God requires; that you may be delivered from the power of sin reigning in you, and that you may be reformed and made fit for the business and blessedness of heaven, where nothing shall enter that defileth. You are exhorted and obliged to pray earnestly to God for the assistance of his Spirit in this di- vine work, for unless we are born of the Spirit as well as washed with water, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God; John iii. 3, 5, 6. Now has this been your solemn care ? Has this been your zealous desire, and the matter of your labour withyour own heart in secret, and of your fervent prayer to God ? Do you give yourselves no rest till you find such achange wrought in your souls, whereby you are become new creatures, wherebyyou hate every thing that is offensive to God, and love and delight in the practice of your duty toward God and man ? What clear and . convincing evidences have you, that you have entered into this new state, and obtained this divine blessing? That in- stead of being a child of sin and wrath (as you are by na- ture) yon are become a childof grace, and a son or daughter of the Most High God? Again, as you profess this doctrine of inward regenera- tion, and the necessity of it in order to eternal life, do you take due care to impress the sense of it on your children ? Do you let them know, that though they are baptizedwith water, which is designed to he a type or figure of regenerating grace, and of your duty of purification from sin, yet this is not a sufficient evi- dence of it, unless they find that their hearts are inwardlychang- ed ? Do you inform them at proper seasons, and by all gentle and convincing means, that they are early sinners before God, that their hearts and lives are corrupt and unholy, that washing with water can never make them christians any farther than a bare profession goes, that they must be born again, i. e. they must become new creatures, and have their hearts and inclina- tions and desires and passions altered from what they are in a sinful state, and formed unto holiness, if ever they would be saved ? Jelin iii. 3. What profit is it to yourselves or your children, to avoid this unhappy mistakeof inward regeneration by baptismal water, if you never concern yourselves to seek after such a real divine change of heart and life, in yourselves or in them, as may make it appear that you are born again ? What advantage is' it to your offspring to guard them from this error, if you never take care to convince them of their corrupt nature and sinful inclinations ? If you never teach them plainly that it is their duty to be con- verted and turned from sin 'to God, and beseech them earnestly to set about the work of conversion with all holy diligence ? What signifies it to keep them from this mistake about regene. VOL. V. B
IS AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT, RC. ration, if you never pray for them, nor teach them to pray for themselves, that Godwould renew their hearts by his Spirit, that he would work this glorious and divine change in them, that he would really translate them out of the family of Satan, and make them his sons and his daughters? What ! do you take care to let them know that the outward washingof baptism does not, cannot make them really the children of God, members of Christ, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven, and yet have you no soli- citude, nor take pains to spew them, how they may become the children of God and inheritors of his kingdom ? Do you let them grow up from the day of their baptism, wherein the figure and emblem of renewing grace past upon them, until they are be- come men and women, without ever instructing and exciting them, to seek after the substance of this heavenly blessing? Fa- thers, mothers, elder kindred, do you never concern yourselves that your children shouldobtain this divine favour, and give good evidence of the work of the renewing Spirit of God in them, by a holy behaviour and a heavenly conversatien ? It is but a poor pretence for separating from the established church, that you or your children are in danger of being led into mistaken opinions there, if you are not deeply solicitous, that both they and you mad avoid the mischief as well as the error, and that you prac- tice as well as learn the truth. But leaving this mistake about baptism, there is another thing also, wherein you protestant dissenters, are free from the danger of taking upwith outward forms instead of spiritual bles- sings, and that is theceremony of confirmation*. You have no such rite performed among you, as the solemn imposition of the hand of the bishop on your head, to become a token or sign of the favour of God toward you, as is found in the offices of the established church. See the office of confirmation in the coin- mon prayer. So soon as children are come to a competent age, and can say in their mother tongue their creed, and Lord's-pray- er, and the ten commandments, and also can answer to other ques- tions of this short catechism, they shall be brought to the bishop. And everyone shall have agodfather or a godmother di a witness of their confirmation. Then the first prayer begins, Almighty and ever-living God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these thy servants by water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins, Bic. And in a following collect the bishop saysThese thy servants upon them (after the exam- ples of thy holy apostles) we have now laid our hands, to certify then (by this sign) of thy fhrour and gracious goodness towards them. But you declare to the world that you cannot find that God has given to his ministers any such authority to certify per- sons, of the favour and gracious goodness of God toward them, by any such sign as this. But since you reject this sign, are you 'r Dr. Calamr'c Moderate Noacanf. Vol. 11. p. 271.
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