VINDICIARUM VINDEX: Or, A Refutation of the weak and impertinent Rejoinder of Mr. PHILIP CARY. Wherein he vainly attempts the defence of his abfurd THESIS, to the great abuse and injury of the laws and covenants of God, A Poftfcript to Mr. CARY, The SECOND APPENDIX: Giving a brief Account of the Rife and Growth of ANTINOMIANISM; the Deduction of the principal Errors of that Sect: With modeft and feasonable Reflections upon them, Pag. GOSPEL-UNITY recommended to the Churches of CHRIST. A SERMON. 1 Cor. i. 10. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that ye all speak the fame thing, and that there be no divifions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the fame mind, and in the fame judgment, 273 329 333 377 ENGLAND's GOSPE LLIBERTY. An Epiftle to the Reader, A LETTER to the dearly beloved Minifters of the Gofpel, (much to be reverenced in Chrift) now at length, by the wonderful Providence of GoD, restored to Liberty: Addreffed as a humble Supplication to the more aged, and as an Exhortation to younger Minifters and Candidates, 398 395 To the Reader, Pag. SERMON II. Rev. iii. 20. Behold [1] ftand at the door, &c. 409 SERMON L Rev. iii. 20. [Behold] I ftand at the door, and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and fup with him, and he with me, 416 424 SERMON III. Rev. iii. 20. Behold I [ftand] at the door, and knock, &c. 436 SERMON IV. Rev. iii. 20. Behold Iftand] at the door, and knock, &c. 459 SERMON V. 1 Rev. iii. 20. Behold I ftand at the door, [and knock,] &c. 486 A PRACTICAL TREATISE O F F E A R. Wherein the various kinds, ufes, caufes, effects and reme dies thereof are diftinctly opened and prescribed, for the relief and encouragement of all thofe that fear God in these doubtful and distracting times. To the Right Worshipful Sir JOHN HARTOP, Knight and Baronet. SIR, AM MONG all the creatures God hath made (devils only excepted) man is the most apt and able to be his own tormentor; and of all the scourges with which he lasheth and afflicteth both his mind and body, none is found fo cruel and intolerable as his own fears. The worse the times are like to be, the more need the mind hath of fuccour and encouragement, to confirm and fortify it for hard encounters; but from the worst profpect, fear inflicts the deepest and most dangerous wounds upon the mind of man, cutting the very nerves of its paffive fortitude and bearing ability. The grief we fuffer from evil felt, would be light, and easy, were it not incenfed by fear; reafon would do much, and religion more, to demulce and lenify our forrows, did not fear betray the fuccours of both. And it is from things to come that this profpecting creature raiseth up to himself vast hopes and fears: if he have a fair and encouraging profpect of ferene and profperous days, from the fcheme, and pofition of fecond caufes, hope immediately fills his heart with chearfulness, and difplays the fignals of it in his very face, anfwerable to that fair, benign afpect of things: but if the face of things to come, be threatening and inaufpicious, fear gains the afcendant over the mind; an unmanly, and unchriftian faintnefs pervades it, and, among the many other mifchiefs it inflicts, this is not the leaft, that it brings the evil of to-morrow / VOL. IV. A (2) upon to-day, and fo makes the duties of to-day wholly unferviceable to the evils of to-morrow; which is as much as if man having an intricate, and difficult bufinefs cut out for the next day, which requires the utmost intention, both of his mind and body, and (haply) might be profperoufly managed, if both were duely prepared, fhould lie, all the night, reftlefs and difquieted about the event, torturing and spending himself with his own prefaging fears, fo that when the day is come, and the bufinefs calls for him, his ftrength is no way equal to the burden of it, but he faints, and fails under it. : There is indeed an excellent ufe that God makes of our fears, to ftimulate our flothful hearts, to greater vigilance and preparation for evils; and there is a mischievous ufe Satan makes of our fears, to caft us under defpondency and unbecoming pufillanimity and I reckon it one of the greatest difficulties of religion, to cut, by a thread, here, and fo to manage ourselves under threatning or doubtful providences, as to be touched with fo much fense of those approaching evils, as may prepare us to bear them; and yet to enjoy that conftancy and firmness of mind, in the worst times, that may answer the excellent principles we are profeffedly governed by. These last times are certainly the most perilous times; great things are yet to be acted upon the ftage of this world, before it be taken down; and the fcena antepenultima, latter-end, I fay not the last, will be a tragedy. There is an ultima clades adhuc metuenda, a dismal flaughter of the witnesses of Chrift yet to be expected: the laft bite of the cruel beaft will be deadly, and if we flatter not ourselves, all things feem to be difpofing themfelves in the course of providence towards it. But, Sir, If our union with Chrift be fure in itself, and fure to us alfo; if faith give us the daily vifions and praelibations of the world to come, what well-compofed fpectators shall we be of these tragedies! Let things be toffed fufque, deque, and the mountains caft into the midst of the fea, yet then Pfal. xlvi. the affured Chriftian may fing his fong upon Alamoth, A fong compofed for God's hidden ones. This fo poifeth and fteddies the mind, that we may enjoy the comfort and tranquillity of a refigned will, when others are at their wit's end. With defign to promote this bleffed frame, in my own and others hearts, in these frightful times, I meditated, and now publish this small tract, to which a dear friend (from whom I have often had the fair idea and character of your excellent fpirit) hath occafioned the prefixing of your worthy name; I beg |