and the promoting of charity. These, and others of the like kind, I call charitable customs, which of late years have very much obtained in this great and famous city. And it cannot but be a great pleasure and fatisfaction to all good men, to fee fo generous, fo humane, fo Chriftian a difpofition, to prevail and reign fo much amongst us. The strange overflowing of vice and wickedness in our land, and the prodigious increase and impudence of infidelity and impiety, hath of late years boded very ill to us, and brought terrible judgments upon this city and nation, and seems still to threaten us with more and greater. And the greatest comfort I have had, under thefe fad apprehenfions of God's difpleasure, hath been this, that though bad men were perhaps never worse in any age, yet the good, who I hope are not a few, were never more truly and fubftantially good. I do verily believe, there never were, in any time, greater and more effects of charity; not from a blind fuperftition, and an ignorant zeal, and a mercenary, and arrogant, and prefumptuous principle of merit, but from a found knowledge, and a fincere love and obedience to God; or, as the Apostle expreffeth it, out of a pure heart, and of a good confcience, and of faith unfeigned. And who that loves God and religion, can chufe but take great contentment, to fee fo general and forward an inclination in people this way? which hath been very much cherished of 'late years by this fort of meetings; and that to very good purpofe and effect, in many charitable contributions, difpofed in the best and wisest ways; and which likewife hath tended very much to the reconciling of the minds of men, and the allaying of those fierce heats and animofities which have been caufed by our civil confufions and religious distractions. For there is nothing many times wanting to take away prejudice, and to extinguish hatred and ill-will, but an opportunity for men to fee and understand one another; by which they will quickly perceive, that they are not fuch monsters as they have been reprefented one to another at a distance. We are, I think, one of the laft counties of England that have entered into this friendly and charitable kind of fociety: let us make amends for our late setting out, by quickening our pace, that so we may overtake and out G g 2 ftrip Let not our charity ftrip those who are gone before us. "O Lord, who haft taught us, that all our doings with out charity are nothing, fend thy Holy Ghoft, and pour "into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the 66 very bond of peace, and of all virtues; without which "whofoever liveth, is counted dead before thee. Grant "this for thy only Son Jefus Chrift's fake." Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jefus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlafting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleafing in his fight, through Jesus Christ : To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. SER RMON XXI. Of the trial of the spirits. Preached at Whitehall, April 4. 1679. I JOHN iv. I. Beloved, believe not every fpirit, but try the fpirits whether they are of God; becaufe many false prophets are gone out into the world. T His caution and counfel was given upon occafion of the falfe prophets and teachers that were rifen up in the beginning of the Christian church, who endeavoured to feduce men from the true doctrine of the gospel delivered by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour: and thefe teaching contrary things, could not both be from God; and therefore St. John calls upon Chriftians to examine the doctrines and pretences of those new teachers, whether they were from God, or not. Believe Believe not every fpirit; that is, not every one that takes upon him to be inspired, and to be a teacher come from God: but try the fpirits; that is, examine those that make this pretence, whether it be real or not; and examine the doctrines which they bring, because there are many impoftors abroad in the world. This is the plain sense of the words. In which there are contained these four propofitions. I. That men may, and often do, falfely pretend to infpiration. And this is the reafon upon which the Apoftle grounds this exhortation: Because many false prophets are gone out into the world, therefore we fhould try who are true, and who are falfe. This fol 2. We are not to believe every one that pretends to be infpired, and to teach a divine doctrine. lows upon the former: becaufe men may falfely pretend to infpiration, therefore we are not to believe every one that makes this pretence. For any man that hath but confidence enough, and confcience little enough, may pretend to come from God: and if we admit all pretences of this kind, we lie at the mercy of every crafty and confident man, to be led by him into what delufions he pleaseth. 3. Neither are we to reject all that pretend to come from God. This is fufficiently implied in the text: for when the Apostle fays, Believe not every fpirit, he fuppofeth we are to believe fome; and when he faith, Try the Spirits whether they be of God, he fuppofeth fome to be of God; and that thofe which are fo, are to be believed. These three obfervations are fo plain, that I need only to name them, to make way for the to 4. Fourth, which I defigned principally to infift upon from these words; and that is this, That there is fome way difcern mere pretenders to infpiration, from those who are truly and divinely inspired. And this is neceffarily implied in the Apoftfe's bidding us to try the fpirits whether they are of God: for it were in vain to make any trial, if there be no way to discern between pretended and real infpiration. Now, the handling of this will give occafion to two very material inquiries, and useful to be refolved. 1. How we may difcern between true and counterfeit, doctrines; Gg3 doctrines; those which really are from God, and thofe which only pretend to be fo? 2. To whom this judgment of difcerning doth apper tain ? I. How we may difcern between true and counterfeit doctrines and revelations? For the clearing of this I fhall lay down these following propofitions. what not. 1. That reafon is the faculty whereby revelations are to be difcerned; or, to use the phrafe in the text, it is that whereby we are to judge what fpirits are of God, and For all revelation from God fuppofeth us to be men, and to be endued with reafon; and therefore it does not create new faculties in us, but propounds new objects to that faculty which was in us before. Whatever doctrines God reveals to men, are propounded to their understandings; and by this faculty we are to examine all doctrines which pretend to be from God, and, upon examination, to judge whether there be reason to receive them as divine, or to reject them as impoftures. 2. All fupernatural revelation fuppofeth the truth of the principles of natural religion. We must first be affured that there is a God, before we can know that he hath made any revelation of himself: and we must know that his words are true; otherwise there were no fufficient reafon to believe the revelations which he makes to us and we must believe his authority over us, and that he will reward our obedience to his laws, and punish our breach of them; otherwise there would neither be fufficient obligation nor encouragement to obedience. Thefe, and many other things, are fuppofed to be true, and naturally known to us, antecedently to all fupernatural revelation; otherwise the revelations of God would fignify nothing to us, nor be of any force with us. 3. All reafonings about divine revelations must neceffarily be governed by the principles of natural religion; that is, by thofe apprehenfions which men naturally have of the divine perfections, and by the clear notions of good and evil which are imprinted upon our natures: becaufe we have no other way to judge what is worthy of God, and credible to be revealed by him, and what not, but by the natural notions which we have of God, and of his effential perfections; which, because we know him to to be immutable, we have reafon to believe he will never contradict. And by thefe principles likewife we are to interpret what God hath revealed; and when any doubt arifeth concerning the meaning of any divine revelation, (as that of the holy fcriptures), we are to govern ourfelves, in the interpretation of it, by what is most agreeable to those natural notions which we have of God; and we have all the reason in the world to reject that sense which is contrary thereto. For inftance: When God is represented in fcripture as having a human fhape, eyes, ears, and hands; the notions which men naturally have of the divine nature and perfections, do fufficiently direct us to interpret thefe expreffions in a fenfe worthy of God, and agreeable to his perfection: and therefore it is reasonable to understand them as rather spoken to our capacity, and in a figure, than to be, literally intended. And this will proportionably hold in many other cafes. 4. Nothing ought to be received as a revelation from God which plainly contradicts the principles of natural religion, or overthrows the certainty of them. For instance: It were in vain to pretend a revelation from God, That there is no God, because this is a contradiction in terms. So likewife to pretend a command from God, That we are to hate and despise him; because it is not credible, that God fhould require any thing of reasonable creatures fo unfuitable to their natures, and to their obligations to him befides that fuch a law as this does tacitly involve a contradiction; because, upon fuch a fuppofition, to defpife God, would be to obey him; and yet, to obey him, is certainly to honour him. So that in this case, to ho nour God, and to defpife him, would be the fame thing, and equal contempts of him. In like manner it would be vain to pretend any revelation from God, That there is no life after this, nor rewards and punishments in another world; because this is contrary to those natural apprehenfions which have generally poffeffed mankind, and would take away the main force and fanction of the divine laws. The like may be faid concerning any pretended revelation from God, which evidently contradicts those natural notions which men have of good and evil; as, That God should command or allow fedi |