in a way of propitiation, 212; of probation, 212; of punishment,

either personal or publick, 213, 214. God's departure from a people

denotes a subduction of peace, of presence in ordinances, of gifts

and graces, 215; of protection; a judiciary tradition, 216; cuts off

all relation and communion with God, 216; cuts off the glory of a

people, 217; seals up under wrath, &c. 217, 218.

Justice of God, in forsaking a nation, 218.

What sins provoke God's departing, 220.

What are the symptoms of his departure, 221, 222.

Particular application of the subject, 222-228.

SERMON XVIII. (page 231.)

THE WALL AND GLORY OF JERUSALEM. Zech. ii. 5. I will
be unto her a wall of fire, and the glory, &c.

1. God is a wall of fire. He is a wall of partition to separate the Church

from the world, 234; a wall of conjunction in uniting the parts in

one common interest, 234; a wall of protection, in a way of promise,

power, and providence, 236; in a way of grace, 237 ; and as a near

and adequate defence, 238.

His protection is like fire, by being terrible and conspicuous, impregnable,

perpetual, and active, 239.

II. God is the glory of his Church, by his spiritual presence, 242; by his

ordinances, 242; by Christians being translated into a relation of

righteousness and of sonship, 243, 244.

Let us, therefore, see the folly of persecuting the Church, 245; or of

using sinful means of protecting it, 245. Let us not envy the glory

of the world, 246; but, above all things, hold fast God, 246; and

place our glory not in our own powers, but in God alone, 247.

SERMON XIX. (page 248.)

THE AUTHOR AND SUBJECT OF HEALING IN THE CHURCH.

To the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons, assembled

in Parliament.

RIGHT HONOURABLE,

WHEN I was commanded, by the Council of State, to

preach before you on the day of the Parliament's assembling,

I could not but reflect on the woful and never enough to be

lamented confusions, under which these nations were ready

to sink and perish, till the Lord was pleased, as it were,

and μnxams, to raise up an honourable instrument, by his

wisdom and valour, to put a stop to the progress, and to

open a way, that you, by your counsel and authority, might

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

amongst us.

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

good men. Which that you may be enabled and assisted to

do by the power of divine grace, is the most earnest prayer

of

May 5, 1660.

Your Honours' most humbly devoted

in the Lord,

EDWARD REYNOLDS.

Text:-But unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of Righteous-

ness arise, &c.

The text presents six particulars.

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.

SERMON XX. (page 271.)

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.

SERMON XXI. (page 295.)

THE LORD'S PROPERTY IN HIS REDEEMED PEOPLE.

Ye are

not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify, &c.

The text implies three particulars.

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, 312, 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.)

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

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.

SERMON XXIII. (page 343.)

PREACHING OF CHRIST.

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

a

• Quintilian.

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-