SONNETS BY MILTON. TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL. CROMWELL, Our chief of men, who through a cloud, To peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough'd, And on the neck of crowned fortune proud Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his work pursued, While Darwen stream with blood of Scots imbrued, And Dunbar field resound thy praises loud, And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains No less renown'd than war: new foes arise TO SIR HENRY VANE, THE YOUNGER. VANE, young in years, but in sage counsel old, Whether to settle peace or to unfold The drift of hollow states, hard to be spell'd, Then to advise how war may, best upheld, Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, In all her equipage: besides to know Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, What severs each, thou hast learn'd, which few have The bounds of either sword to thee we owe: [done: Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son. A SERMON, OR PARAPHRASE, UPON SEVERAL VERSES OF THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. COMPOSED IN THE STYLE OF THE LATE DANIEL BURGESS. BY THOMAS GORDON, ESQ. AUTHOR OF THE INDEPENDENT WHIG, Nihil rerum mortalium tam instabile ac fluxum est, quam fama potentiæ non sua vi nixæ.—TACIT. REPRINTED FROM THE SIXTH EDITION, 1742. LONDON: EFFINGHAM WILSON, 18, BISHOPSGATE STREET; SMALLFIELD & SON, 69, NEWGATE STREET. ADVERTISEMENT. What gave occasion to the following Sermon, was the threats of a most Reverend Prelate, and some of his brethren, to suppress the Independent Whig, which then came out weekly, by an inquisition very extraordinary, and unknown to our Constilution. To defeat, therefore, such a prelatical and unchristian design, and, if possible, to shame the authors of it, with other fierce and interested bigots, out of all methods of violence in matters of religion and opinion, this Sermon was composed and published, with no ill success. THE CRAFTSMEN: A SERMON, OR PARAPHRASE, UPON SEVERAL VERSES IN THE xixth CHAPTER OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. I SHALL not this day, my beloved, as the usual manner is, accost you with the scraps of a verse, or only with a whole verse, out of any part of the Gospel; which method is often made use of in such places as this, purely to avoid telling what goes before or comes after; but shall choose for my text the greatest part of the xixth chapter of the Acts; and in discoursing upon this portion of Scripture, so fruitful in good instructions and examples, I shall confine myself to the following method: I. First, I shall make some general observations upon the behaviour of the Apostle Paul in his ministry; II. Secondly, I shall discourse more particularly upon several verses in this chapter; and, III. Thirdly, and lastly, I shall draw from the whole some useful and seasonable inferences, and then conclude. I. I shall make some general observations upon the Apostle Paul. And first of all, my brethren, it is noteworthy that Paul made the greatest change that ever man did, even from a persecutor to an apostle-two characters as opposite as is that of Lucifer to an angel of light. As soon as light from the Lord fell upon him, he no longer breathes "threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," as he had in fore-time, nor puts in execution the orders he had about him from the highpriest or archbishop of the Jews, to bring the first Christians and Dissenters of those days bound to Jerusalem. On the contrary, though he was just before an hardhearted persecutor for the church by law established, on a sudden he becomes a lover of the saints; and now, "Behold, he prayeth!" (Acts ix. 11.) 1st, Let us learn a lesson from hence, dearly beloved, as we go along; namely, that as soon as the fear of the Lord entereth into a man's heart, the sword of persecution droppeth out of his hand. Peace, which is the badge of the Gospel, and Cruelty, which is the coat of arms of Satan, cannot dwell together. "Behold, he prayeth!" 2ndly, It is observable, that when a zealot leaves his party and turns Christian, how very apt the high party are ungratefully to forget all his former wicked merit, which made him dear to them, and to persecute him for apostatizing into mercy and grace. While Paul continued the fiery flail of the godly, the priests held him in high favour, and trusted him with their ecclesiastical commission. And for what? Why, to "bring bound to Jerusalem all those of this way.' Of what way? Why, all that forsook the established synagogue, and followed Christ. 3rdly, Observe, my brethren, that conscience and nonconformity had the powers of the world against them seventeen hundred years ago. Paul the blasphemer had a post; but Paul the convert, Paul the Saint, is allowed no toleration; yea, "they watched the gates day and night to kill him;" for, "Behold, he prayeth!" 4thly, It is observable from the whole history of Paul, that the grace of God makes a man both meek under sufferings and bold for Christ. Here our convert neither returns the injury nor slacks his pace in planting the Gospel-both hard tasks! He risked his life and laboured in the vineyard without pay-a rare thing in this our day, when the first motive for overseeing of souls is so much a year! The apostle drove no bargain about preaching, nor made a market of salvation. Oh! my beloved, how many dignified drones have we in our time, who set up for a likeness to the apostles, without any likeness; who take great sums for mock apostleship, when nothing thrives by their ministry but their bellies! This, my friends, is lamentable, but it is lamentably true. II. I haste now to my second general head, and will discourse particularly upon several verses in this chapter. I begin with verse the 8th: "And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God." |