in this World which considering the Goodness of God and his gracious Providence and Care of Good Men is a thing of it self extremely credible Having thus as briefly as I could dispatched the Two Particulars which I propounded to speak to for the Explication of the Text I should now shew what Influence these Considerations ought to have upon our Lives and Practice And if this be our Condition in this World and these our Hopes and Expectations as to another Life if we be Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth and look for a better Country that is an Heavenly this ought to have a great Influence upon us in these following respects which I shall at present but very briefly mention 1. Let us intangle and incumber our selves as little as we can in this our Pilgrimage let us not ingage our Affections too far in the Pleasures and Advantages of this World for we are not to continue and settle in it but to pass through it A little will serve for our Passage and Accommodation in this Journey and beyond that why should we so earnestly covet and seek more 2. If we be Pilgrims and Strangers then it concerns us to behave our selves blamelesly and inoffensively remembering that the Eyes of People are upon us and that those among whom we live will be very curious and observant of our Manners and Carriage 3. Let us be chearful and patient under the Troubles and Afflictions of this present Life They who are in a strange Country must expect to encounter many Injuries and Affronts and to be put to great Difficulties and Hazards which we should endeavour to bear with that Chearfulness as Men that are upon a Journey use to bear foul Ways and bad Weather and inconvenient Lodging and Accomodations 4. The Consideration of our present Condition and future Hopes should set us above the Fondness of Life and the slavish Fear of Death For our Minds will never be raised to their true Pitch and Hight till we have in some good measure conquered these two Passions and made them subject to our Reason As for this present Life and the Enjoyments of it What do we see in them that should make us so strangely to dote upon them Quae Miseri lucis tam dira cupido This World at the best is but a very indifferent Place and he is the wisest Man that bears himself towards it with the most indifferent Affection that is always willing to leave it and yet patient to stay in it as long as God pleases 5. We should always prefer our Duty and a good Conscience before all the World because it is in truth more valuable if our Souls be Immortal and do survive in another World For as our Saviour argues What is a man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul And thus St. Paul reasoned with himself from the Belief of a Resurrection of the Just and Unjust For this cause saith he I exercise my self alway to have a Conscience void of offence both toward God and toward Man Lastly If we be Sojourners and Travellers we should often think of our End and carefully mind the Way to it Our End is Everlasting Happiness and the Way to it is a constant and sincere and universal Obedience to the Commandments of God When the Young Man in the Gospel enquired of our Saviour the way to Eternal Happiness saying Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit Eternal Life His Answer to him was If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments We may easily mistake our way For strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way that leads to Life and few there be that find it Therefore we should often pray to God as David does Psalm 119. 19. I am a Stranger in the Earth hide not thy Commandments from me And Psalm 139. 23 24. Search me O God and know my Heart try me and know my Thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the Way Everlasting A SERMON On HEB. XI 13. And confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims in the Earth The whole Verse runs thus These all died in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they c. I Have lately in this Place upon a particular Day and Occasion begun to handle these Words I shall briefly give you the Heads of what hath been already delivered and proceed to what remains And that which I designed from this Text was To represent to us our present Condition in this World and to awaken us to a due Sense and Consideration of it It is the same Condition that all the Saints and Holy Men that have gone before us were in in this World and we may all of us say with David Psal. 39. 12. I am a Stranger with Thee and a Sojourner as all my Fathers were It is very frequent not only in Scripture but in other Authors to represent our Condition in this World by that of Pilgrims and Sojourners in a far Country For the Mind which is the Man and our Immortal Souls which are by far the most noble and excellent Part of our selves are the Natives of Heaven and but Pilgrims and Strangers here on the Earth and when the Days of our Pilgrimage shall be accomplished are designed to return to that Heavenly Country from which they came and to which they belong And for the Explication of this Metaphor I insisted only upon Two Things which seem plainly to be designed and intended by it 1. That our Condition in this World is very troublesom and unsettled They confessed that they were Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth II. It implies a tendency to a future Settlement and the Hopes and Expectation of a happier Condition into which we shall enter when we go out of this World And these I told you are Two very Weighty and Useful Considerations That we should both understand our present Condition in this World and our future Hopes and Expectation after our Departure out of it that so we may demean our selves suitably to both these Conditions both as is fit for those who look on themselves as Pilgrims and Sojourners in this World and likewise as it becomes those who seek and expect a better Country and hope to be Partakers of a Blessed Immortality in another World I. That our Condition in this World is very Troublesom and Unsettled and this is principally intended by the Metaphor of Pilgrims and Strangers Such was the Life of the Patriarchs here spoken of in the Text they had no constant Abode and fixt Habitation but were continually wandering from one Kingdom and Country to another in which Travels they were exposed to a great many Dangers and Sufferings Affronts and Injuries as we read at large in the History of their Travels
among whom we should shame as Lights The same Argument St. Peter useth 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. I beseech you as Pilgrims and Strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that is Considering that you are among Strangers and Enemies and therefore ought to be very careful to bring no Scandal upon your Holy Profession among those who will be ready to take all advantages against you Particularly we who pretend to the same Heavenly Country must be kind to one another and whilst we live among Strangers have no Quarrels amongst our Selves In a Strange Country it useth to be a Mighty Endearment of Men to one another that they are of the same Country and Fellow Citizens and this alone is commonly sufficient to unite their Affections and to link their Interests together But how little of this is to be seen among Christians how shamefully do they Quarrel among themselves in the midst of Enemies and Strangers as if they had no Relation to one another and never expected to meet at last in the same Country and there to live together for ever III. Let us be as Patient and Chearful as we can under all the Troubles and Afflictions which we meet with in this Life They who are in Strange Countries must expect to encounter many Injuries and Affronts and to be put to great Difficulties and Hardships Those which are lighter and more tolerable we must bear with Chearfulness Upon a Journey Men use to put on all the Pleasantness they can and to make Sport of all the Inconveniences of the Ways and Weather and little cross Accidents that befall them And thus if we had but the Art and Wisdom to do it many of the lesser Inconveniences of Humane Life might well enough be play'd off and made matter rather of Mirth and Diversion than of Melancholy and serious Trouble But there are some Evils and Calamities of Humane Life that are too heavy and serious to be Jested withal and require the greatest Consideration and a very great degree of Patience to Support us under them and enable us to bear them Decently as the Loss of Friends and dearest Relations as the Loss of an Only Son grown up to be well fixt and settled in a Virtuous Course and promising all the Comfort to his Parents that they themselves can wish These certainly are some of the Greatest Evils of this World and hardest to be born For Men may pretend what they will to Philosophy and Contempt of the World and of the Perishing Comforts and Enjoyments of it to the Extirpation of their Passions and an Insensibility of these things which the weaker and undisciplin'd part of Mankind keep such a Wailing and Lamentation about but when all is done Nature hath framed us as we are and hath planted in our Nature strong Inclinations and Affections to our Friends and Relations and these Affections are as naturally moved upon such Occasions and pluck every String of our Hearts as violently as extream Hunger and Thirst do gnaw upon our Stomachs And therefore it is foolish for any Man to pretend to love things mightily and to rejoyce greatly in the Enjoyment of them and yet to be so easily contented to lose them and to be parted from them This is to separate things which Nature hath strongly linked together Whatever we mightily love does thereby in some sort become part of our Selves and it cannot hand loose to us to be separated and divorced from us without Trouble no more than a Limb that is vitally and by strong Ligaments united to the Body can be dropt off when we please or rent from the Body without Pain And whoever pretends to have a mighty Affection for any thing and yet at the same time does pretend that he can contentedly and without any great Sense or Signification of Pain bear the Loss of it does not talk like a Philosopher but like an Hypocrite and under a grave Pretence of being a Wise is in truth an Ill-natured Man For most certainly in proportion to our Love of any thing will be our Trouble and Grief for the Loss of it So that under these great and heavier Strokes we had need both of Faith and Patience And indeed nothing but the firm Belief of a better Country that is an Heavenly another Life after this and a blessed Immortality in another World is sufficient to support a Man in the few and evil Days of his Pilgrimage and to sustain his Spirit under the great Evils and Calamities of this Life But This fully answers all That the Afflictions and Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us Nay that if we bear these Afflictions patiently and with a due Submission to the Will of God especially our Sufferings for his Truth and Cause it will certainly increase our Happiness in the other World and work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory IV. The Consideration of our Present Condition and of our Future Hopes should set us above the Fondness of Life and the slavish Fears of Death For our Minds will never be raised to their true pitch and hight till we have in some good measure conquered these two Passions and made them subject to our Reason As for this present Life and the Enjoyments of it What is it that we see in them that should make us so strangely to dote upon them Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido This World at the best is but a very Indifferent place and he is the wisest Man that bears himself towards it with the most Indifferent Mind and Affection that is always willing to leave it and yet patient to stay in it as long as God pleaseth And as for Death tho' the Dread of it be natural yet why should the Terrors of it be so very surprising and amazing to us after we have consider'd that to a good and pious Soul it is no other but the Gate of Heaven and an Entrance into Eternal Life We are apt to wonder to see a Man undaunted at the approach of Death and to be not only contented but chearful at the Thoughts of his Departure out of this World this Sink of Sin and Vale of Misery and Sorrow Whereas if all things be duly considered it is a greater Wonder that Men are so patient to Live and that they are not glad of any fair Excuse and Opportunity of getting out of this strange Country and retiring Home and of ridding themselves of the Troubles and Inconveniences of Life For considering the numerous Troubles and Calamities we are liable to in a long Pilgrimage there are really but Three Considerations that I can readily think of that can make this World and our present Condition in it in any good measure tolerable to a wise Man viz. That God governs the World That we are not always to stay in it That there is a Happiness designed
and reserved for us in another place which will abundantly recompense and make amends to us for all the Troubles and Sufferings of this Life And yet it is strange to see how fast most Men cling to Life and that even in Old Age how they catch at every Twig that may but hold them up a little while and how fondly they hanker after a miserable Life when there is nothing more of Pleasure to be enjoy'd nothing more of Satisfaction to be expected and hoped for in it When they are just putting in to the Port and one would think should rejoyce at their very Hearts that they see Land yet how glad would they be then of any cross Wind that would carry them back into the Sea again As if they loved to be tost and were fond of Storms and Tempests Nay the very best of us even after we have made that acknowledgment of David I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with thee as all my Fathers were are apt with him to be still importuning God for a little longer Life O spare me a little that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more And when God hath granted us this Request then we would be spared yet a little longer But let us remember that God did not design us to continue always in this World and that he hath on purpose made it so uneasie to us to make us willing to leave it and that so long as we linger here below we are detained from our Happiness While we are present in the Body we are absent from the Lord. This Consideration made St. Paul so desirous to be dissolved because he knew that when his Earthly House of this Tabernacle was dissolved he should have a much better Habitation a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens This was that which made him so full of Joy and Triumph at the Thoughts of his leaving the World 2 Tim. 4. 6. I am now ready says he to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which God the righteous Judge shall give me in that day Nay the Consideration of this tho but obscurely apprehended by them did raise the Spirits of the wiser and better Heathen and fill them with great Joy and Comfort at the Thoughts of their Dissolution With what Constancy and Evenness of Mind did Socrates receive the Sentence of Death And with what excellent Discourse did he entertain his Friends just before he drank off the Fatal Cup and after he had taken it down whilst Death was gradually seizing upon him One can hardly without a very sensible Transport read Cato's Discourse concerning his Death as it is represented by Tully in his Book of Old Age. I am says he transported with a Desire of seeing my Fore-fathers those Excellent Persons of whom I have Heard and Read and Written and now I am going to them I would not willingly be drawn back into this World again Quod si quis Deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam in cunis vagiam valde recusem If some God would offer me at this Age to be a Child again and to cry in the Cradle I would earnestly refuse it and upon no terms accept it And now that my Race is almost run and my Course just finished how loth should I be to be brought back and made to begin again For what Advantage is there in Life Nay rather what Labour and Trouble is there not in it But let the Benefit of it be what it will there is certainly some Measure of Life as well as of other things and Men ought to know when they have enough of it O praeclarum diem cum in illud animorum consilium caetumque proficiscar cum ex hac turbâ colluvione discedam O Blessed and Glorious Day when I shall go to that great Council and Assembly of Spirits and have got out of this Tumult and Sink And if a Heathen who had but some obscure Glimmerings of another Life and of the Blessed State of departed Souls could speak thus chearfully of Death how much more may We who have a clear and undoubted Revelation of these things and to whom Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel V. We should alway prefer our Duty and the keeping of a good Conscience before all the World because it it is in truth infinitely more valuable if so be our Souls be immortal and do survive in another World and we must there give a strict Account of all the Actions done by us in this Life and receive the Sentence of Eternal Happiness or Misery according to the things done in the Body whether they be Good or whether they be Evil. For as our Saviour argues concerning the case of denying him and his Truth to avoid temporal Suffering and Death What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul When we are tempted by temporal Interest and Advantage or by the Fear of present Loss and Suffering to deny or dissemble our Religion to do any thing that is sinful in any kind and contrary to our Duty and Conscience let us ask our selves What will be the Profit and Advantage of it What if for fear of Men and what they can do to me I incur the Wrath and Displeasure of Almighty God This is infinitely more to be dreaded and these Frowns are a thousand times more terrible than the bitterest Wrath and cruelest Malice of Men. What if to preserve this frail and mortal Body I shall evidently hazard the Loss of my Immortal Soul and to escape a Temporal Inconvenience I forfeit Everlasting Happiness and plunge my self into Eternal Misery and Ruine Would not this be a wild Bargain and a mad Exchange for any Temporal Gain and Advantage to lose the things that are Eternal And for the pleasing of our selves for a little while to make our selves miserable for ever If we confess our selves to be Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth and are perswaded of the Promises of God concerning an Heavenly Country where we hope to arrive after the few and evil days of our Pilgrimage are over let us not by complying with the Humours of Strangers and the vitious Customs and Practices of an Evil World bar our selves of our Hopes and banish our selves from that happy Place to which we all profess we are going We pretend to be travelling towards Heaven but if we make shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience we destroy our own Hopes of ever arriving at that happy Port. We do not live up to our Expectation of a future Happiness if the unseen Glories of another World do not raise us above all the Temptations
great and conspicuous were we verily persuaded that all the Precepts of our Religion are the express Laws of God and that all the promises and threatnings of the Gospel will one day be verified and made good What manner of persons should we be in all holy conversation and godliness How would the lively thoughts of another world raise us above the vanities of this present life and set us out of the reach of the most powerful temptations that this world can assault us withall and make us to do all things with regard to Eternity and to that solemn and dreadful account which we must one day make to God the Judge of all It is nothing but the want of a firm and steady belief of these things that makes our Devotion so dead and heartless and our resolutions of doing better so weak and inconsistent This it is that makes us so easie a prey to every temptation and the things of this world to look so much bigger than they are the enjoyments of it more tempting and the evils of it more terrible than in truth they are And in all disputes betwixt our Conscience and our Interest to hold the balance so unequally and to put our foot upon the lighter Scale that it may seem to weigh down the other In a word in proportion to the strength or weakness of our Faith our obedience to God will be more or less constant uniform and perfect because Faith is the great source and spring of all the Virtues of a good life 5. We have great reason to submit to the ordinary strokes of God's Providence upon our selves or near relations or any thing that is dear to us Most of these are easily compared with Abraham's case it requires a prodigious strength of Faith to perform so miraculous an act of obedience 6. And lastly We are utterly inexcusable if we disobey the easie Precepts of the Gospel The yoke of Christ is easie and his burden light in comparison of God's former dispensations This was a grievous Commandment which God gave to Abraham to sacrifice his only Son It was a hard saying indeed and which of us could have been able to hear it But if God think fit to call us to the more difficult duties of self-denial and suffering for his truth and righteousness sake we must after the example of faithful Abraham not think much to deny or part with any thing for him no not life it self But even this which is the hardest part of Religion is easier than what God put upon Abraham For it doth not offer near the violence to nature to lay down our life in a good cause as it would do to put a Child to death with our own hands Besides the consideration of the extraordinary comfort and support and the glorious rewards that are expresly promised to our obedience and self denial in such a case encouragement enough to make a very difficult duty easie And whilst I am perswading you and my self to resolution and constancy in our Holy Religion notwithstanding all hazards and hardships that may attend it I have a just sense of the frailty of humane nature and of humane resolution But with all a most firm persuasion of the goodness of God that he will not suffer those who sincerely love him and his Truth to be tempted above what they are able I will add but one consideration more to shew the difference betwixt Abraham's case and ours God commanded him to do the hardest thing in the world to sacrifice his only Son but he hath given us an easie commandment and that he might effectually oblige us to our duty he hath done that for us which he required Abraham to do for him he hath not spared his own Son his only Son but hath given him up to death for us all And hereby we know that he loveth us that he hath given his Son for us What God required of Abraham he did not intend should be executed but one great design of it was to be a Type and Figure of that immense love and kindness which he intended to all mankind in the Sacrifice of his Son as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world And as the most clear and express promise of the Messias was made to Abraham so the most express and lively Type of the Messias that we meet with in all the old Testament was Abraham's offering up his Son And as St. Hierom tells us from an ancient and constant Tradition of the Jews the Mountain in Moriah where Abraham was commanded to Sacrifice Isaac was Mount Calvary where our Lord also was Crucified and offered up that by this one sacrifice of himself once offered he might perfect for ever them that are sanctified and obtain eternal redemption for us Now to him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb that was slain to God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ the first begotten from the dead to the Prince of the Kings of the Earth to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood to him be Glory and honour thanksgiving and power now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL MDCLXXXVII Before the Princess ANN. HEB. XI 24 25. By Faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season THE Text sets before us a great pattern of self-denial for our better understanding whereof I will give a brief account of the History of Moses to which our Apostle in this passage doth refer When Moses was born his Parents for fear of the cruel law which Pharaoh had made That all the male Children of the Hebrews so soon as they were born should be put to death after they had hid him three months did at last expose him in an Ark of Bulrushes upon the River Nile and committed him to the providence of God whom they despair'd to conceal any longer by their own care Pharaoh's Daughter coming by the River side espied him and had compassion on him and guessing him to be one of the Hebrew Children called for an Hebrew Nurse to take care of him who as the Prviodence of God had ordered it proved to be the Child 's own Mother As he grew up Pharaoh's Daughter took care of his Education in all Princely qualities and adopted him for her Son and Pharaoh as Josephus tells us being without Son designed him Heir of his Kingdom Moses refused this great offer But why did he refuse it when it seem'd to be presented to him by the providence of God and was brought about in so strange a manner and when by this means he might probably have had it in his power to have eased the Israelites of their cruel bondage and perhaps have had the oportunity of reducing that great Kingdom from the worship of Idols to the true God
word with joy and endure for a while but when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word presently they are offended not that they did not believe the Word but their Faith had taken no deep root and therefore it withered The weakness and wavering of Mens Faith makes them unstable and inconstant in their course because they are not of one mind but divided betwixt two interests that of this world and the other and the double minded man as St. James tells us is unstable in all his ways It is generally a true rule so much wavering as we see in the actions and lives of Men so much weakness there is in their Faith and therefore he that would know what any Man firmly believes let him attend to his actions more than to his professions If any Man live so as no Man that heartily believes the Christian Religion can live it is not credible that such a Man doth firmly believe the Christian Religion He says he does but there is a greater evidence in the case than words there is Testimonium rei the Man's actions are to the contrary and they do best declare the inward sense of the Man Did Men firmly believe that there is a God that governs the world and that he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge it in righteousnes and that all mankind shall shortly appear before him and give an account of themselves and all their actions to him and that those who have kept the Faith and a good Conscience and have lived soberly and righteously and godly in this present world shall be unspeakably and eternally happy but the fearful and unbelieving those who out of fear or interest have deserted the Faith or lived wicked lives shall have their portion in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone I say were Men firmly persuaded of these things it is hardly credible that any Man should make a wrong choice and forsake the ways of Truth and Righteousness upon any temptation whatsoever Faith even in temporal matters is a mighty principle of action and will make Men to attempt and undergo strange and difficult things The Faith of the Gospel ought to be much more operative and powerful because the Objects of Hope and Fear which it presents to us are far greater and more considerable than any thing that this world can tempt or terrifie us withall Would we but by Faith make present to our minds the invisible things of another world the happiness of Heaven and the terrors of Hell and were we as verily persuaded of them as if they were in our view how should we despise all the pleasures and terrors of this world And with what ease should we resist and repel all those temptations which would seduce us from our duty or draw us into sin A firm and unshaken belief of these things would effectually remove all those mountains of difficulty and discouragement which Men fancy to themselves in the ways of Religion To him that believeth all things are possible and most things would be easie 2. Another reason of this wrong choice is want of consideration for this would strengthen our Faith and make it more vigorous and powerful And indeed a Faith which is well rooted and establishould doth suppose a wise and deep consideration of things and the want of this is a great cause of the fatal miscarriage of Men that they do not sit down and consider with themselves seriously how much Religion is their interest and how much it will cost them to be true to it and to persevere in it to the end We suffer our selves to be governed by sense and to be transported with present things but do not consider our future and lasting interest and the whole duration of an immortal Soul And this is the reason why so many men are hurried away by the present and sensible delights of this world because they will not take time to think of what will be hereafter For it is not to be imagined but that the Man who hath seriously considered what sin is the shortness of its pleasure and the eternity of its punishment should resolve to forsake sin and to live a holy and virtuous life To conclude this whole Discourse If Men did but seriously believe the great principles of Religion the Being and the Providence of God the immortality of their Souls the glorious rewards and the dreadful punishments of another world they could not possibly make so imprudent a choice as we see a great part of mankind to do they could not be induced to forsake God and Religion for any temporal interest and advantage to renounce the favour of Heaven and all their hopes of happiness in another world for any thing that this world can afford nay not for the whole world if it were offered to them For as our Saviour reasons in this very case of forsaking our Religion for any temporal interest or consideration what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul When ever any of us are tempted in this kind let that solemn declaration of our Saviour and our Judge be continually in our minds he that confesseth me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven but whosever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father with his holy Angels And we have great cause to thank God to see so many in this day of tryal and hour of temptation to adhere with so much resolution and constancy to their Holy Religion and to prefer the keeping of Faith and a good Conscience to all earthly considerations and advantages And this very thing that so many hold their Religion so fast and are so loth to part with it gives great hopes that they intend to make good use of it and to frame their lives according to the holy rules and precepts of it which alone can give us peace whilst we live and comfort when we come to die and after death secure to us the possession of a happiness large as our wishes and lasting as our Souls To which God of his Infinite Goodness bring us all for his mercy's sake in Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised THE main Scope and design of this Epistle to the Hebrews is to persuade the Jews who were newly converted to Christianity to continue stedfast in the profession of that Holy and Excellent Religion which they had embraced and not to be removed from it either by the subtile insinuations of their Brethren the Jews who pretended that they were in possession
Obedience and Self-denyal He begins with the Patriarchs before the Flood but insists chiefly upon the examples of two eminent Persons of their own Nation as nearest to them and most likely to prevail upon them the Examples of Abraham and Moses the one the Father of their Nation the other their great Lawgiver and both of them the greatest Patterns of Faith and Obedience and Self-denyal that the History of all former Ages from the beginning of the World had afforded I shall at this time by God's assistance treat of the first of these the Example of Abraham the Constancy of whose Faith and the cheerfulness of whose Obedience even in the difficultest Cases is so remarkable above all the other Examples mentioned in this Chapter For at the Command of God he left his Kindred and his Country not knowing whither he should go By which eminent Act of Obedience he declared himself to be wholly at God's Disposal and ready to follow him But this was no tryal in comparison of that here in my Text when God commanded him to offer up his only Son But such was the immutable stedfastness of his Faith and the perfect submission of his Obedience that it does not appear that he made the least check at it but out of perfect Reverence and Obedience to the Authority of the divine Command he went about it as readily and cheerfully as if God had bid him do some small thing By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac For the explication of which Words it will be requisite to consider two things First The Tryal or Temptation in general Secondly The Excellency of Abraham's Faith and Obedience upon this Tryal First The Tryal or Temptation in general It is said that Abraham when he was tryed the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being Tempted That is God intending to make Tryal of his Faith and Obedience and so it is exprest Gen. 22. 1. Where it is said that God did Tempt Abraham and said unto him take now thy Son thine only Son Now there are two difficulties concerning this matter It seems contrary to Scripture that God should Tempt any Man and contrary to Reason because God who knows what every Man will do needed not to make tryal of any Man's Faith or Obedience First It seems contrary to Scripture which say's God Tempts no Man and 't is most true that God Tempts no Man with a design to draw him into Sin but this doth not hinder but he may try their Faith and Obedience with great difficulties to make them the more illustrious Thus God Tempted Abraham and he permitted Job and even our Blessed Saviour himself to be thus Tempted Secondly It seems contrary to Reason that God who knows what any Man will do in any Circumstances should go to make Tryal of it But God does not try Men for his own information but to give an illustrious Proof and Example to others of Faith and Obedience And tho after this Tryal of Abraham God says to him now I know that thou lovest me because thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me Yet we are to understand this as spoken after the manner of Men As God elsewhere speaks to Abraham concerning Sodom I will go down now to see whether they have done altogether aecording to the cry which is come up unto me and if not I will know I proceed to the Second thing I proposed The Excellency of Abraham's Faith and Obedience upon this Tryal By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac God accepts of it as if he had done it because he had done it in part and was ready to have performed the rest if God had not countermanded him And this act of Faith and Obedience in Abraham will appear the more illustrious if we consider these three things First The firmness and stedfastness of his Faith notwithstanding the objections against it Secondly The constancy of his resolution notwithstanding the difficulty of the thing Thirdly The reasonableness of his Faith in that he gave satisfaction to himself in so hard and perplext a Case First The firmness and stedfastness of his Faith will appear if we consider what objections there were in the case enough to shake a very strong Faith There were three great objections against this Command and such as might in reason make a wise and good Man doubtful whether this Command were from God The horrid nature of the thing commanded The grievous scandal that might seem almost unavoidably to follow upon it And the horrible consequence of it which seemed to make the former promise of God to Abraham void First the horrid nature of the thing commanded which was for a Father to kill his own Child this must needs appear very barbarous and unnatural and look liker a Sacrifice to an Idol than to the true God It seemed to be against the Law of Nature and directly contrary to that kindness and affection which God himself had planted in the hearts of Parents towards their Children And there is no affection more natutural and strong than this for there are many persons that would redeem the Lives of their Children with the hazard of their own Now that God hath planted such an affection in Nature is an argument that it is good and therefore it could not but seem strange that he should command any thing contrary to it And in this case there were two circumstances that increased the horrour of the fact That his Son was innocent and that he was to Slay him with his own hands First That his Son was Innocent It would grieve the heart of any Father to give up his Son to Death tho he were never so undutiful and disobedient So passionately was David affected with the death of his Son Absolom as to wish he had dyed for him tho he dyed in the very act of Rebellion and tho the saving of his Life had been inconsistent with the Peace of his Government How deep then must it sink into the heart of a Father to give up his innocent Son to death And such a Son was Isaac for any thing appeared to the contrary God himself gave him this testimony that he was the Son whom his Father loved and there is no intimation of any thing to the contrary Now this could not but appear strange to a good Man that God should command an innocent person to be put to death But Secondly That a Father should be commanded not only to give up his Son to death but to slay him with his own Hands not only to be a Spectator but to be the Actor in this Tragedy What Father would not shrink and start back at such a Command What good Man especially in such a case and where Nature was so hard prest would not have been apt to have looked upon such a Revelation as this rather as the suggestion and illusion of an evil Spirit than a Command of God And yet Abraham's Faith was
to give satisfaction to himself in so intricate and perplext a case The constancy of Abraham's Faith was not an obstinate and stubborn Persuasion but the result of the wisest reasoning and soberest consideration So the Text says that he counted the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he Reasoned with himself that God was able to raise him up from the Dead so that he debated the matter with himself and gave himself satisfaction concerning the Objections and Difficulties in the case and being fully satisfied that it was a Divine Command he resolved to obey it As for the Objections I have mentioned 1. The horrid appearance of the thing that a Father should Slay his Innocent Son Why should Abraham scruple the doing this at the Command of God who being the Author of Life hath power over it and may resume what he hath given and take away the Life of any of his Creatures when he will and make whom he pleaseth instruments in the execution of his Command It was indeed a hard case considering natural affection and therefore God did not permit it to be executed But the question of God's Right over the lives of Men and of his authority to command any Man to be the instrument of his pleasure in such a case admits of no dispute And the God hath planted strong affections in Parents towards their Children yet he hath written no Law in any Man's heart to the prejudice of his own Soverign Right This is a case alwaies excepted and this takes away the objection of Injustice 2. As to the scandal of it that could be no great objection in those times when the absolute power of Parents over their Children was in it's full force and they might put them to Death without being accountable for it So that then it was no such startling matter to hear of a Father putting his Child to Death nay in much later times we find that in the most ancient Laws of the Romans I mean those of the 12 Tables Children are absolutely put in the power of their Parents to whom is given jus vitae necis a power of Life and Death over them and likewise to sell them for Slaves And tho amongst the Jews this paternal power was limited by the Law of Moses and the judgment of Life and Death was taken out of the Fathers hands except in case of Contumacy and Rebellion and even in that case the Process was to be before the Elders of the City yet it is certain that in elder times the paternal power was more absolute and unaccountable which takes off much from the horror and scandal of the thing as it appears now to us who have no such power And therefore we do not find in the History that this Objection did much stick with Abraham It being then no unusual thing for a Father to put his Child to Death upon a just account And the Command of God who hath absolute Dominion over the Lives of his Creatures is certainly a just reason and no Man can reasonably scruple the doing of that upon the Command of God which he might have done by his own Authority without being accountable for the Action to any but God only 3. As to the Objection from the horrible consequence of the thing Commanded that the Slaying of Isaac seemed to overthrow the Promise which God had made before to Abraham That in Isaac his Seed should be called This seems to him to be the great difficulty and here he makes use of Reason to reconcile the seeming Contradiction of this Command of God to his former Promise So the Text tells us that he offered up his only begotten Son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Reasoning that God was able to raise him up from the Dead So that tho' Isaac were put to Death yet he saw how the Promise of God might still be made good by his being raised from the Dead and living afterwards to have a numerous Posterity There had then indeed been no Instance or Example of any such thing in the World as the Resurrection of one from the Dead which makes Abraham's Faith the more wonderful but he confirmed himself in this Belief by an Example as near the case as might be He Reasoned that God was able to raise him from the Dead from whence also he had received him in a Figure This I know is by Interpreters generally understood of Isaac's being delivered from the Jaws of Death when he was laid upon the Altar and ready to be Slain But the Text seems not to speak of what happend after but of something that had passed before By which Abraham confirmed himself in this peruasion that if he were Slain God would raise him up again And so the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be rendred in the past time from whence also he had received him in a Figure So that this Expression plainly refers to the miraculous Birth of Isaac when his Parents were past the Age of having Children which was little less than a Resurrection from the Dead And so the Scripture speaks of it Rom. 4. 17. Abraham believed God who quickeneth the Dead and calleth the things which are not as if they were and not being weak in Faith he considered not his own Body which was Dead and a little before the Text speaking of the miraculous Birth of Isaac and therefore sprang there of one and him as good as dead as many as the Stars of Heaven From whence as the Apostle tells us Abraham Reasoned thus That God who gave him Isaac at first in so miraculous a manner was able by another miracle to restore him to life again after he was Dead and to make him the Father of many Nations He Reasoned that God was able to raise him up from the Dead from whence also he had received him in a Figure Thus you see the reasonableness of Abraham's Faith he pitched upon the main difficulty in the Case and he answered it as well as was possible And in his reasoning about this matter he gives the utmost weight to every thing that might tend to vindicate the Truth and faithfulness of God's Promise and to make the Revelations of God consistent with one another and this tho' he had a great Interest and a very tender concernment of his own to have biassed him For he might have argued with great appearance and probability the other way But as every Pious and Good Man should do he reasoned on God's side and favoured that part Rather than disobey a Command of God or believe that his promise should be frustrate he will believe any thing that is credible and possible how improbable soever Thus far Faith will go but no farther From the believing of plain Contradictions and Impossibilities it alwayes desires to be excused Thus much for explication of the Words which I hope hath not been altogether unprofitable because it tends to clear a point which
this case of Renouncing our Religion unless it be very sudden and surprizing out of which a Man recovers himself when he comes to himself as St. Peter did or the Suffering be so extream as to put a Man besides himself for the time so as to make him say or do any thing I say in this case of Renouncing God and his Truth God will not admit Fear for a just excuse of our Apostacy which if it be unrepented of and the Scripture speaks of Repentance in that case as very difficult will be our Ruin And the Reason is because God has given us such fair Warning of it that we may be prepared for it in the Resolution of our Minds And we enter into Religion upon these Terms with a professed Expectation of Suffering and a firm Purpose to lay down our Lives for the Truth if God shall call us to it If any Man will be my Disciple says our Lord let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me And again He that loveth Life it self more than me is not worthy of me And if any Man be ashamed of me and of my Words in this unfaithful Generation of him will I be ashamed before my Father and the Holy Angels And therefore to master and subdue this Fear our Saviour hath propounded great Objects of Terror to us and a Danger infinitely more to be dreaded which every Man runs himself wilfully upon who shall quit the Profession of his Religion to avoid Temporal Sufferings Luke 12. 4 5. Fear not them that can kill the Body but after that have nothing that they can do But I will tell you whom you shall fear Fear him who after he hath killed can destroy both Body and Soul in Hell Yea I say unto you Fear him And to this dreadful Hazard every Man exposeth himself who for the Fear of Men ventures thus to offend God These are the Fearful and Vnbelievers spoken of by St. John Who shall have their Portion in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death Thus you see how we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against all Temptations and Terrors of this World I should now have proceeded to the next Particular namely that we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith against all vain Promises of being put into a safer Condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier Terms in some other Church and Religion But this I shall not now enter upon A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised IN these Words I have told you are contained these Two Parts I. An Exhortation To hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering II. An Argument or Encouragement thereto Because he is faithful that hath promised I am yet upon the First of these the Exhortation to Christians to be Constant and Steady in the Profession of their Religion Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering And that we might the better comprehend the true and full meaning of this Exhortation I shewed I. Negatively what is not meant and intended by it And I mentioned these Two Particulars 1. The Apostle doth not hereby intend that those who are capable of enquiring into and examining the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion should not have the liberty to do it Nor 2. That when upon due Enquiry and Examination Men are settled as they think and verily believe in the True Faith and Religion they should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason that can be offered against their present Persuasion for Reason when it is fairly offered is always to be heard I proceeded in the Second Place Positively to explain the Meaning of this Exhortation And to this purpose I proposed to consider 1. What it is that we are to hold fast viz. the Confession or Profession of our Faith The Ancient Christian Faith which every Christian makes Profession of in his Baptism Not the Doubtful and Uncertain Traditions of Men nor the Imperious Dictates and Doctrines of any Church which are not contained in the Holy Scriptures imposed upon the Christian World though with never so confident a Pretence of the Antiquity of the Doctrines or of the Infallibility of the Proposers of them And then I proceded in the Second Place to shew how we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering And I mentioned these following Particulars as probably implied and comprehended in the Apostles Exhortation 1. That we should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to plain Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind under both which Heads I gave several Instances of Doctrines and Practices imposed with great Confidence upon the World some without and others plainly against Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind 3. Against all the Temptations and and Terrours of the World the Temptations of Fashion and Example and of worldly Interest and Advantage and against the Terrours of Persecution and Suffering for the Truth Thus far I have gone I shall now proceed to the Two other Particulars which remain to be spoken to 4. We are to hold fast the profession of our Faith against all vain Promises of being put into a safer Condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier Terms in some other Church and Religion God hath plainly declared to us in the holy Scriptures upon what Terms and Conditions we may obtain Eternal Life and Happiness and what will certainly exclude us from it That except we repent i. e. without true Contrition for our Sins and forsaking of them we shall perish That without Holiness no man shall see the Lord That no Fornicator or Adulterer or Idolater or Covetous Person nor any one that lives in the practice of such sins shall have any Inheritance in the Kingdom of God or Christ. There is as great and unpassable a Gulf fixt between Heaven and a wicked Man as there is betwixt Heaven and Hell And when Men have done all they can to debauch and corrupt the Christian Doctrine it is impossible to reconcile a wicked Life with any reasonable and well-grounded Hopes of Happiness in another World No Church hath that Priviledge to save a Man upon any other Terms than those which our Blessed Saviour hath declared in his holy Gospel All Religions are equal in this That a bad Man can be Saved in none of them The Church of Rome pretends their Church and Religion to be the only safe and sure way to Salvation and yet if their Doctrine be true concerning the Intention of the Priest and if it be not they are much to blame in making it an Article of their Faith I say if it be true that the Intention
them by Faith for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen And he resumes the same Argument again at the beginning of this Chapter for we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God a House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens that is we are firmly perswaded that when we die we shall but exchange these Earthly and Perishing Bodies these Houses of Clay for a Heavenly Mansion which will never decay nor come to ruine from whence he concludes Verse 6. Therefore we are always confident 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore what ever happens to us we are always of good courage and see no reason to be afraid of Death knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord that is since our continuance in the Body is to our disadvantage and while we live we are absent from our Happiness and when we die we shall then enter upon the Possession of it That which gives us this confidence and good courage is our Faith for tho' we be not actually possest of this Happiness which we speak of yet we have a firm perswasion of the reality of it which is enough to support our Spirits and keep up our Courage under all afflictions and adversities whatsoever Verse 7. for we walk by Faith not by Sight These words come in by way of Parenthesis in which the Apostle declares in general what is the swaying and governing Principle of a Christian life not only in case of persecution and affliction but under all events and in every condition of Humane life and that is Faith in opposition to Sight and present Enjoyment we walk by Faith and not by Sight We walk by Faith what ever Principle sways and governs a Mans life and actions he is said to walk and live by it And as here a Christian is said to walk by Faith so elsewhere the just is said to live by Faith Faith is the Principle which animates all his resolutions and actions And not by Sight The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the thing it self in present view and possession in opposition to a firm perswasion of things future and invisible Sight is the thing in Hand and Faith the thing only in Hope and Expectation Sight is a clear view and apprehension of things present and near to us Faith an obscure discovery and apprehension of things at a distance So the Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 13. 12. Now we see through a Glass darkly this is Faith but then face to face this is present sight as one Man sees another face to face and thus likewise the same Apostle distinguisheth betwixt Hope and Sight Rom. 8. 24. 25. Hope that is seen is not Hope for what a Man sees why doth he yet Hope for it but if we Hope for that which we see not then do we with patience wait for it Sight is possession and enjoyment Faith is the firm perswasion and expectation of a thing and this the Apostle tells us was the governing principle of a Christian's life for we walk by Faith and not by Sight from which words I shall observe these Three things I. That Faith is the Governing Principle and that which bears the great sway in the Life and Actions of a Christian we walk by Faith that is we Order and Govern our Lives in the Power and Virtue of this Principle II. Faith is a degree of assent inferiour to that of Sense This is sufficient-intimated in the opposition betwixt Faith and Sight He had said before that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord and gives this as a Reason and Proof of our absence from the Lord for we walk by Faith and not by Sight that is whilst we are in the Body we do not see and enjoy but believe and expect if we were present with the Lord then Faith would cease and be turned into Sight but tho' we have not that assurance of another world which we shall have when we come to see and enjoy these things yet we are firmly perswaded of them III. Notwithstanding Faith be an inferiour degree of Assurance yet 't is a Principle of sufficient power to govern our Lives we walk by Faith it is such an Assurance as hath an influence upon our Lives I. That Faith is the Governing Principle and that which bears the great sway in the Life and Actions of a Christian We walk by Faith that is we Order and Govern our Lives in the Power and Virtue of this Principle A Christian's Life consists in obedience to the will of God that is in a readiness to do what he commands and in a willingness to suffer what he calls us to and the great Arguments and Incouragements hereto are such things as are the Objects of Faith and not of Sense such things as are absent and future and not present and in possession for Instance the Belief of an invisible God of a secret Power and Providence that Orders and Governs all things that can bless or blast us and all our Designs and Undertakings according as we demean our selves towards him and endeavour to approve our selves to him the Perswasion of a secret aid and influence always ready at hand to keep us from Evil and to strengthen and assist us to that which is good more especially the firm Belief and expectation of the Happiness of Heaven and the glorious Rewards of another world which tho' they be now at a distance and invisible to us yet being grounded upon the Promise of God that cannot lie shall certainly be made good And this Faith this firm Perswasion of absent and invisible things the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us was the great Principle of the Piety and Virtue of good Men from the beginning of the World This he calls Ch. 11. verse 1. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the confident expectation of things hoped for and the proof or evidence of things not seen viz. a firm perswasion of the Being and Providence of God and of the Truth and Faithfulness of his Promises Such was the Faith of Abel he believed that there was a God and that he was a rewarder of those that faithfully serve him Such was the Faith of Noah who being warned of God of things at a great distance and not seen as yet notwithstanding believed the Divine Prediction concerning the Flood and prepared an Ark Such also was the Faith of Abraham concerning a numerous Posterity by Isaac and the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan and such likewise was the Faith of Moses he did as firmly believe the invisible God and the recompence of reward as if he had beheld them with his eyes And of this Recompence of Reward we Christians have
for the Jews used to call the Age of the Messias Seculum Futurum or the World to come it is impossible for those to be renewed again unto repentance where the least we can understand by impossible is that it is extreamly difficult for so the word impossible is sometimes used as when our Saviour says it is impossible for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And Ch. 10. 26. the Apostle speaking of the same thing says if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for sins that is they who renounce Christianity since they reject the only way of expiation there remains no more Sacrifice for their Sins St. Peter likewise expresseth himself very severely concerning this sort of Persons 2 Epist. 2. 20 21. For if after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that is after they have been brought from Heathenism to Christianity they are entangled therein again and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning He seems loth to say how sad the Condition of such Persons is but this he tells them that it is much worse than when they were Heathens before and he gives the Reason for it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them And St. John calls this Sin of Apostasie the Sin vnto Death and tho he do not forbid Christians to pray for them that are guilty of it yet he will not say that they should pray for them 1 Epist. 5. 16. If any Man see his Brother sin a Sin which is not unto Death he shall ask and he shall give him Life for them that sin not unto Death there is a sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it Now that by this sin unto Death the Apostle means Apostasie from the Christian Religion to Idolatry is most probable from what follows Verse 18. we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not that is this Sin unto Death but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not that is he is preserved from Idolatry unto which the Devil had seduced so great a part of Mankind and we know that we are of God and the whole World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is under the dominion of that wicked one viz. the Devil whom the Scripture elsewhere calls the God of this World and we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true that is hath brought us from the Worship of false Gods to the knowledge and Worship of the true God and then he concludes little Children keep your selves from Idols which caution hath no manner of dependence upon what went before unless we understand the Sin unto Death in this Sense and it is the more probable that it is so to be understood because Apostasie is so often in this Epistle to the Hebrews called the Sin by way of Eminency as it is here by St. John whosoever is born of God sinneth not So that at the very best the Scripture speaks doubtfully of the pardon of this sin however that the punishment of it unrepented of shall be very dreadful It seems to be mildly exprest here in the Text If any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him But it is the more severe for being exprest so mildly according to the intention of the Figure here used and therefore in the next words this expression of Gods taking no pleasure in such Persons is explained by their utter Ruin and Perdition But we are not of them that draw back unto Perdition And in several parts of this Epistle there are very severe passages to this purpose Ch. 2. 2 3. If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation And Ch. 10. 26 27. If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversary he that dispised Moses law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy that hath trodden under foot the Son of God! c. For we know him who hath said Vengeance is mine I will recompence saith the Lord And again The Lord shall judge his People it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God What can be more severe and terrible than these expressions I will mention but one Text more and that is Rev. 21. 8. where in the Catalogue of great Sinners those who Apostatize from Religion out of fear do lead the Van He that overcometh shall inherit all things which is elsewhere in this Book exprest by continuing faithful unto the Death He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death The fearful and unbelievers and lyars that is they who out of fear relapse into infidelity and abide not in the Truth shall be reckoned in the first rank of Offenders and be punished accordingly And thus I have done with the Four things I propounded to speak to from these words the Nature of Apostasie the several steps and degrees of it the heinous Nature of this Sin the danger of it and the terrible punishment in exposeth Men to And is there any need now to exhort men to hold fast the profession of Faith when the danger of drawing back is so evident and so terrible or is there any reason and occasion for it Certainly there is no great danger amongst us of Mens Apostatizing from Christianity and turning Jews or Turks or Heathens I do not think there is but yet for all that we are not free from the danger of Apostasie there is great danger not of Mens Apostatizing from one Religion to another but from Religion to Infidelity and Atheism and of this worst kind of Apostasie of all other I wish the Age we live in had not afforded us too many instances It is greatly to be lamented that among those who have profest Christianity any should be found that should make it their endeavour to undermine the great Principles of all Religion the Belief of a God and his Providence and of the Immortality of the Souls of Men and a state of Rewards and Punishments after this Life and to bring the most serious matters in the World into contempt and