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as a Form of Godliness? there cannot be a greater disparagement cast upon them, than the very semblance of devotion. To say grace at meals, to bow a knee in prayer, to name God other than in an oath, to once mention religion, is a base, mortified, pusillanimous tenderness. What talk ye of a sermon? a play, if you will. What speak you of weeping for sins? Talk of drinking healths, singing of rounds, courting of dames, revels, matches, games; any thing, save goodness. What should we say of these men? even this, He, that hath but a form, is a Hypocrite; but he, that hath not a form, is an Atheist. I know not whether I should sever these two: both are human devils well met: a Hypocrite is a masked devil; an Atheist is a devil unmasked. Whether of them shall, without their repentance, be deeper in hell, they shall once feel, I determine not. Only let me assure them, that if the infernal Tophet be not for them, it can challenge no guests.

II. Thus much for the Form of Godliness, which is the Angel of Hypocrisy our speech descends to the Devil in Hypocrisy, which is the DENIAL OF THE POWER OF GODLINESS.

1. But, while I am about to represent unto you the ugly face of that wicked one, God meets us in the way; and stays my thoughts and speech upon the POWER of Godliness, ere we fall upon the Denial of that power.

What power then is this of Godliness? what doth it? what can it do? The weakness of it is too apparent.

If we look to the Author of it Christ Jesus, alas! he is ouaiov AVTIKEYópevov, a but or mark for opposition to shoot at; whereas true Power is an , that bars resistance, Prov. xxx. 31. If to the Means of Godliness, here is the foolishness of preaching; 1 Cor. i. 21. If to the Effects of Godliness, here is weak grace, strong corruption; Rom. vii. If to the Opposites of Godliness, here is a law fighting. Fighting? perhaps so it may be, and be foiled: nay, but here is aixuaλwτilwv, a conquering and captivating law; Rom. vii. 23. whereby I am not only made a slave, but sold for a save, Tεngaμέvos; Rom. vii. 14. So then, here is an opposed Saviour, a foolish preaching, a feeble grace, a domineering corrup tion; and where then is the Power of Godliness all this while? Know, O thou foolish man, that God is, the strong God: and yet there is a Devil. He could call in the being of that Malignant Spirit; but he will not: he knows how to magnify his power by an opposite. Christ will be spoken against; not for impotence to resist, but for the glory of his prevailing so we have seen a well-tempered target shot at, to shew the impenetrableness of it.

Preaching is foolishness; but, it is stultitia Dei; and the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. Grace is weak, where corruption is strong; but, where grace prevails, sin dares not shew his head, Sin fights and subdues his own vassals; but the Power of Godliness foils it in the Renewed: so as, if it live, yet it reigns not. Great then is the Power of Godliness: great every way; great in respect of our enemies, great in respect of ourselves.

(1.) Of our Enemies; the Devil, the World, the Flesh. So great, first, that it can resist the Devil; and it is no small matter to resist the powers and principalities of hell: whom resist, stedfast in the faith. Resist? Alas, what is this? The weak may perhaps resist the strong; the whelp, the lion: we may resistthe Spirit of God himself: Semper restitistis; saith St. Stephen of the Jews. Lo, here is resistance to God: and not for a brunt, but perpetual; ye have always resisted. So the ship resists the rock, against which it is shattered: so the crushed worm turns towards the foot, that treads it. Yea, but here is a prevalent resistance: Resist the Devil, and he shall flee from you; James iv. 7. Lo, Godliness can make a coward of the great Prince of Darkness. He shall flee. But if, Parthian-like, he shall shoot fleeing, as he doth; lo, this shall quench all the fiery darts of Satan; Eph. vi. 16. If he betake himself to his hold, this can batter and beat down the strong holds of sin about his ears: this can enter, and bind the strong man. Shortly, it can conquer Hell; yea, make us more than conquerors. Lo, to conquer is not so much as to make another a conqueror; but, more than a conqueror, is yet more. Is there any

of you now, that would be truly great and victorious? It is the Power of Godliness, that must do it. Pyrrhus's word concerning his soldiers was, Tu grandis, ego fortis. Surely, if our profession make us great, our faith must make us valiant and successful. I tell you, the conquest of an evil spirit is more than the conquest of a world of men. O then, what is it to conquer legions?

And, as it foils Satan, so the World. No marvel; for, if the greater, much more the less. The world is a subject, Satan a Prince; the Prince of this World. The world is a bigot, Satan is a God; the God of this World. If the prince, if the God be vanquished, how can the subject or suppliant stand out? What do we talk of an Alexander or a Casar conquering the world? Alas! what spots of earth were they, which they bragged to subdue? Insomuch that Rome, which, in two hundred forty three years, had gained but some fifteen miles about; in Seneca's time, when her condition was at the largest, had the neighbouring Germany for the bounds of it. Lo here a full conquest of the whole world. Mundus totus in maligno; "The whole world is set in evil." To conquer the whole material world, is not so happy, so glorious a work, as to conquer the malignant: and this the Power of Godliness only can do: This is the victory, that overcomes the world, even your faith.

And now, what can the Flesh do without the world, without the devil? Surely, were it not for the devil, the world and the Flesh were both good; and, if it were not for the devil and the world, the Flesh were our best friend: now they have debauched it, and turned it traitor to God and the soul: now this proud Flesh dares war against heaven. Godliness doth wider, beat it black and blue: yea, kill it dead; Mortify your earthly members; Col. iii. 5. so as it hath not a limb to stir, not a breath to draw. Anacharsis his charge was too hard for another, but performable by a Chris

tiam : γλώσσης, γαςρός, αδοίων κρατεῖν; “ He can rule his tongue, his gut, his lust." Sampson was a strong man, yet two of them he could not rule: the Power of Godliness can rule all.

Oh then the great Power of Godliness, that can trample upon the Flesh, the World, the Devil! Super aspidem, upon the asp, the dragon, the lion; or, as the Psalmist, Psalm xci. 13. upon that roaring Lion of Hell, upon that sinuous Dragon the World, upon that close-biting Asp the Flesh!

(2.) And, as great in respect of our enemies, so no less great in respect of Ourselves: great; and beneficial,

What wonders are done by Godliness!

Is it not a great wonder, to make a fool wise, to make the blind see? This, Godliness can do; Psalm xix. 7, 8. Let me be bold to say, we are naturally like Solomon's child, Folly is bound to our heart; Prov. xxii. 15. In things pertaining to God йμev avóntai, ήμεν ανόητοι, we were foolish, saith St. Paul; Titus iii. 3. Would any of us, that are thus born naturals (to God), be wise to salvation? That is the true wisdom indeed: all other is but folly, yea madness, to that. The Schools cannot teach us this: Philosophy, whether natural or moral or politic, can do nothing to it; if ye trust to it, it is but NEVY aτáтy rain deceit; as St. Paul; Col. ii. 8: Triobolaris et vilis; as Chrysostom. It is only Godliness must do it. Please yourselves how you list without this, ye great Politicians of the World, the wise God hath put the pyed coat upon your backs, and past upon you his papávyoav; Rom. i. 22. If ye were oracles to men, ye are ideots to God. Malitia occacat intellectum; "Wickedness blinds the understanding;" as he said: ye quick-sighted Eagles of the World, without this ye are as blind as beetles to heaven. If ye would have eyes to see him that is invisible, the hand of your Omnipotent Saviour must touch you; and, at his bidding, you must wash off your worldly clay, with the Siloam of Godliness..

Is it not a wonder, to raise the dead? We are all naturally not sick, not qualming, not dying, but dead in sin; Col. ii. 13: yea, with Lazarus, quatriduani, and ill-scenting; yea, if that will add any thing, as St. Jude's trees, or, as they say of acute Scotus, twice dead. Would ye arise? It is only Godliness, that can do it. Ye are risen up through the faith in the operation of God; Col. ii. 12. This only can call us out of the grave of our sins. Arise, thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life. Christ is the Author; Godliness is the means. All ye, that hear me this day, either ye are alive, or would be. Life is sweet: every one challenges it. Do ye live willingly in your sins? Let me tell you, ye are dead in your sins: this life is a death. If you wish to live comfortably here and gloriously hereafter, it is Godliness, that must mortify this life in sin, that must quicken you from this death in sin. Flatter yourselves how you please, ye great Gallants of both Sexes: ye think yourselves goodly pieces; without Godliness ye are the worst kind of carcasses: for, as death or not-being is the worst condition that can befal a creature; so death in sin is so much the worst kind of death, by how much grace is better than nature.

A living dog or toad is better than a thus-dead sinner. Would ye rise out of this loathsome and woeful plight? it is Godliness, that must breathe grace into your dead limbs; and that must give you the motions of holy obedience.

Is it not a wonder, to cast out Devils? I tell you, the corporal possession of ill spirits is not so rare, as the spiritual is rife. No natural man is free. One hath the spirit of error; 1 Tim. iv. 1: another, the spirit of fornications; Hos. iv. 12: another, the spirit of fear; 2 Tim. i. 7: another, the spirit of slumber: another, the spirit of giddiness: another, the spirit of pride: all have spiritum mundi, the spirit of the world; 1 Cor. ii. 12. Our story in Guliel. Neubrigensis tells us of a countryman of ours, one Kettle of Farnham, in King Henry the Second's time, that had the faculty to see spirits; by the same token, that he saw the devils spitting over the drunkards' shoulders into their pots: the same faculty is recorded of Antony the Eremite; and Sulpicius reports the same of St. Martin. Surely, there need none of these eyes, to discern every natural man's soul haunted with these evil angels. Let me assure you, all ye, that have not yet felt the Power of Godliness, ye are as truly, though spiritually, carried by evil spirits into the deeps of your known wickedness, as ever the Gadarene hogs were.carried by them down the precipice into the sea. Would you be free from this hellish tyranny? only the Power of Godliness can do it. 2 Tim. ii. 26, 27; If peradventure God will give them repentance, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil: and repentance is, you know, a main part of Godliness. If ever, therefore, ye be dispossessed of that Evil One, it is the Power of Godliness that must

do it.

What speak I of Power? I had like to have ascribed to it the acts of Omnipotency. And if I had done so, it had not been much amiss: for what is Godliness, but one of those rays, that beams forth from that Almighty Deity? what, but that same Dextra Excelsi, the right hand of the Most High, whereby he works mightily upon the soul? Now, when I say the man is strong, is it any derogation to say his arm is strong? Faith and prayer are no small pieces of Godliness: and what is it, that God can do, which prayer and faith cannot do?`

Will ye see some instances of the further acts of Godliness?

Is it not an act of Omnipotence, to change nature? Jannes and Jambres, the Egyptian sorcerers, may juggle away the staff, and bring a serpent into the room of it; none, but a Divine power, which Moses wrought by, could change the rod into a serpent, or the serpent into a rod. Nothing is above nature, but the God of Nature: nothing can change nature, but that which is above it: for nature is regular in her proceedings, and will not be crost by a finite power; since all finite agents are within her command. Is it not a manifest change of the nature of the wolf, to dwell quietly with the lamb; of the leopard, to dwell with the kid, of the lion, to eat straw with the ox; of the asp, to play with the child? How shall this be? It is an idle conceit of the Hebrews, that savage beasts shall forego

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their hurtful natures under the Messiah. No; but rational beasts shall alter their dispositions. The ravenous Oppressor is the wolf: the tyrannical Persecutor is the leopard: the venomous Heretic is the asp: these shall turn innocent and useful, by the Power of Godliness: for then the carth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord; Isaiah xi. 6, &c. Is it not a manifest change of nature, for the Ethiopian, to turn white; for the leopard, to turn spotless? This is done, when those do good which are accustomed to evil; Jer. xiii. 23. And this Godliness can do. Is it not a manifest change of nature, for the camel to pass through a needle's eye? This is done, when, through the Power of Godliness, ye Great and Rich Men get to hea ven. Lastly, it is an easy thing to turn men into beasts; a cup too much can do it: but, to turn beasts into men, men into saints, devils into angels, it is no less than a work of Omnipotency. And this Godliness can do.

But, to rise higher than a change: Is it not an act of Omnipotency, to create? Nature can go on in her track, whether of continuing what she actually finds to be, or of producing what she finds to be potentially in pre-existing causes; but, to make new matter transcends her power. This, Godliness can do: here is xavỳ tío, a new creature; 2 Cor. v. 17. There is in nature no predisposition to grace: the man must be no less new, than when he was made first of the dust of the earth, and that earth of nothing: Novus homo; Eph. iv. 24. How is this done? by creation: and how is he created? in righteousness and holiness; holiness to God, righteousness to men: both make up Godliness. A regeneration is here a creation. Progenuit is expressed by creavit; James i. 18: and this, by the word of truth. Old things are passed; saith the Apostle: all must be new. If we will have ought to do with God, our bodies must be renewed by a glorious resurrection, ere they can enjoy heaven; our souls must be renewed by grace, ere we can enjoy God on earth. Are there any of us pained with our heart of stone? We may be well enough: the stone of the reins or bladder is a woeful pain, but the stone of the heart is more deadly. He can by this power take it out, and give us a heart of flesh; Ezek. xi. 19. Are there any of us weary of carrying our old Adam about us? a grievous burden I confess, and that which is able to weigh us down to hell: do we groan under the load, and long to be eased? none but the Almighty Hand can do it, by the power of Godliness creating us anew to the likeness of that Second Adam which is from heaven, heavenly; without which, there is no possibility of salvation: for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In a word, would we have this earth of ours translated to heaven? it is only the Power of Godliness can do it.

And, as this Power of Godliness is great, so no less beneficial: beneficial every way, both here and hereafter. Here, it frees us from evil, it feoffs us in good. Godliness is an antidote against all mischief and misery: yea, such is the power of it, that it not only keeps us from evil, but turns that evil to good: All things work to Fether to the best to them that love and fear God; saith the Apos

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