put a period to the being of them. In order whereunto, I
thought it my duty, as a minister of the gospel of peace,
and a servant to our great Lord, whose work it was to "heal
and recover" (Luke iv. 18) humbly to set before you, the
author and the object; and on the Monday following, be-
fore the Right Honourable the House of Peers, the means
and method of God's healing a sick nation; and thereupon
to beseech you, so to imitate the example of Christ, who is
"the Lord that healeth us," so to promote the fear of his
name and the great work of humiliation, supplication, and
reformation amongst us, as that you might comfortably
plead his promise, to "hear, forgive, and heal the land:"
for the Lord will be with you, while you are with him; and
if you seek him, he will be found of you.
And for this work of setting up the fear of God, and real
conversion unto him, though godliness have as many ene-
mies as there be devils in hell, or wicked men in the world;
yet profaneness is in itself so shameful, and holiness so
amiable, that endeavours in this most weighty work will, I
am confident, meet with no prevalent opposition or ob-
struction among you. All sober men of every persuasion,
however otherwise divided, acknowledge the necessity, and
professing their desires, that the name of the Lord may, in
purity of doctrine, and in holiness of life, be magnified
You have made a happy entrance unto this healing work:
(for certainly the great sufferings of our princes have had a strong causality upon our distractions; it can never be well with the body, while it is ill with the head :) and you have hereby blasted the projects and attempts of any, whose am- bition might animate them to awaken old, or kindle new, flames amongst us. If, together with this noble act of jus- tice and of loyalty, you proceed to secure the interest of Jesus Christ, by establishing the true reformed religion, and orthodox, learned, and painful ministry, pure worship, and the omer of godliness, suppressing and putting to shame all profane practices, whereby the wrath of the Lord may be kindled against us; you shall thereby greatly blast the de- sires of evil and licentious men; and comfort the hearts, and give evidence of the answer of God to the prayers of
I. The discriminating grace of God between a remnant that feared his
name, and the body of a corrupt people, 251–255.
II. That the holiest men want healing, 255.
III. The Author of this healing is the Sun of Righteousness, 257.
IV. The means by which Christ heals. His rising denotes his incarna-
tion, 258; manifestation in spirit and power; rousing men out of
ignorance and security; his heavenly conduct and direction, 258.
His light consists in his heavenly doctrine, and in the influence of
his Spirit, 259. His wings are his word and ordinances; any illus-
trious providence, 259; his more immediate servants; his own holy
Spirit.
V. The subject of this healing; they that fear his name, 261.
VI. Effects and consequences of this healing: courage unto duty; growth
in grace; and victory over enemies, 262.
From the metaphor, which represents Christ as light, let us infer the
freeness and fulness of his grace; the dependence of the Church
upon his fulness, 263; and the conjunction between the righteous-
ness of Christ and his healing, 264.
Application of the subject, to the Parliament, 264, &c.
THE MEANS AND METHOD OF HEALING IN THE CHURCH.
2 Chron. vii. 13, 14. If I shut up heaven, &c.
These words contain three particulars.
I. A supposition of judgements; which light not upon a people casu-
ally; and are various in their nature, 273–277.
II. A direction unto duties, 278, whereby judgements may be removed :
humiliation, 281; prayer, 289; reconciliation, 290; conversion, 290.
III. A gracious promise of mercy, 291.
I. We are not our own: we are God's. We hold nothing by original
propriety, 298; but by derivative, 299.
A man acts, as if he were his own, when he makes his reason his supreme
rule, 301; or makes his own will, his chief law, 304; or makes his
own interest, his ultimate end, 304; or his own performances, his
chief ground of hope, 305.
II. God hath bought us with a price. This purchase implies our pre-
vious alienation from God, voluntarily and penally, 307.
Christ claims his people by right of his divine nature, 308; and by his
mediatorship, 309. The right of Christ is founded on his authority
and power, 309. He has purchased us, by way of ransom, 310; and
of acquisition, 312.
III. Let us glorify God, 342, by adoring this mystery, 313; by admiring the severity of divine justice, and by applying to ourselves the com- fort of so precious a doctrine, 374.
SERMON XXII. (page 322.) 316
- DIVINE EFFICACY WITHOUT HUMAN POWER. Zech. iv. 6. This
is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, &c.
I. Great care of the Lord to remove the discouragements of his servants, 322-327.
II. The means of God's encouragements in his word, 327, which is
1 true, authoritative, 327, and efficacious, 328.
III. The vehiculum of that word, is Christ, 330.
IV. The subject of the encouragement is Zerubbabel; who shows, in a
type, that magistrates should build the Church, by the aid of God's
word, 332, 335.
V. The matter of the comfort is the Spirit of God, 335-338.
Particular application, to the House of Commons.
To the Reverend my dearly beloved Brethren, the Dean, Pre- bendaries, and the rest of the Clergy, of the Cathedral Church and City of Norwich.
REVEREND AND BELOVED BRETHREN,
EVER since the preaching of this plain sermon, I have been importuned 'quotidiano convicio' (if I may use the orator's expression) to make it publick. I have, at last, suffered myself to be overcome by the persuasions of my
friends. My chief end therein hath been, that I might provoke my younger brethren to make it the main design of their ministry, to render the Lord Jesus, his divine person, his sacred offices, his heavenly doctrine, his blessed ex- ample, his spiritual graces, the fellowship of his sufferings, (Philip. iii. 8, 10) the power of his resurrection, the ex- cellency of his knowledge, the unsearchable riches of his love, (Eph. iii. 8, 18, 19.) and all the mysteries of his kingdom, amiable in the eyes of their hearers; as it was foretold of him, that he should be the Desire of all nations, (Hag. ii. 7.) the Chiefest of ten thousand and altogether lovely (Cant. v. 10, 16.) That, in preaching the Law, they may lead men to Christ for mercy to pardon the transgres- sions, and for grace to obey the commands of it:-That, in preaching the Gospel, they may direct men unto Christ for faith, to believe the promises of the covenant; for he is the author of our faith; (Hebr. xii. 2) for hope, to wait for the fulfilling of them; for he is unto us the Hope of glory; (Col. i. 27.) and for love to inflame that purity and holiness, which they are intended to kindle in us; for "the love of Christ constraineth us." (2 Cor. v. 14.) That by the awe and dread of the name of Christ, in whose stead they speak (2 Cor. v. 20); and unto whom, as the "chief Shepherd" of the sheep (1 Pet. v. 4) they must give an account, (Heb. xiii. 17), they may be deterred from all those ways of pas- sion, ostentation, and vanity, whereby men are sometimes transported to preach themselves rather than Christ, and the conceptions of their own heart rather than his counsel (Jer. xxiii. 16, 22, 26); and thereby provoke the people (1 Sam. ii. 17) to abhor the offering of the Lord. I have taken the liberty of dedicating it unto you, that I might thereby tes tify the love and honour I owe your persons, the value I set upon your learned and pious labours, and the real thanks which I return unto you, for the great love which you have expressed towards my person, and assistance which you have afforded me in mine attendance on the service of that diocess. And, I hope, it will not be grievous unto you, or offensive unto any, if, after the example of the ancient bishops in the primitive and purer ages of the Church, who were wont to sit with their clergy, and preside in an eccle-
siastical senate, I shall, in matters of weight and difficulty,
entreat the advice and assistance of you, who are Pres- byteri urbis,' in order to the more safe, judicious, regular, and inoffensive determining of them. And so I commend you to the grace of God, and remain
Your most loving brother and fellow-labourer,
in the service of Christ and his Church, ED. NORWICH.
2 Cor. iv. 5. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
The words comprise: I. a duty, to preach; II. the subject of the duty;
not ourselves, but Christ.
I. The duty, preaching. Its dignity, 343, and difficulty, 344. Necessity
of preaching, in regard to Christ, 344; in regard to the ends of the
Gospel, 345; in regard to ourselves, preaching should be attended
with demonstration, 347; wisdom, sincerity, spiritual authority,
meekness, 348; boldness, and piety of life, 349.
II. Matter of preaching. Men preach themselves, by lording over the
flock, 349; by making themselves the authors of their own minis-
try, the matter of their own preaching, 350, and the end of it, 351.
Christ is the author of preaching, 352, by giving a mission, and call in-
ternal and external, 353, 354; by being the matter and substance of
preaching, 355-358; by being the end of preaching, 358.
Exhortation to ministers, and to candidates for the ministry, 359, &c.
have been in pain, &c.; thy dead men shall live, &c.
General exposition of the context, 363-366.
The words contain two parts: I. complaint, II. triumph, of the Church.
I. The complaint intimates the greatness of the affliction, 367; con-
trivances used to procure deliverance, 368; disappointment of
them, 369.
II. The triumph. The matter of it, deliverance from the lowest to the
best condition, 370-372. Reasons of the triumph refer to the
subject of it, the Church's dead body, 378; and to the author of it,
the Spirit of God, 381.
Funeral eulogy on the Lady MARY Langham, 383.
• Ἱερὸν σύστημα, συνέδριον Θεοῦ, Ignat. Σύστημα ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει, Origen.
Consessus Cleri, Cyprian. Senatus Ecclesiæ, Hieron. Vid. Cyprian. passim,
Epist. 6, 18, 19, 24, 28, 31, 32, 33, 35, 40, 46, 58, 66, 71, 72.
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