dangerous lurking Sect of Miscreants by taking care to send them all into perpetual Banishment and ordaining withall let them pretend themselves Penitents as much as they would that they should never any more be admitted to the Communion of the Church unless when they apparently Baron Annal v. 4613 614. lay a dying After the same manner a great many of the Jewish Race very considerable for Wealth and Power and dispersed all over the Dominians of Ferdinand King of Castile having been plainly discovered to have play'd the Hypocrites in that though they openly professed the Christian Faith they did yet secretly retain and observe the Jewish Law and Ceremonies That King did not only cause many of them who still continued obstinate in the Crime to be burnt alive but commanded the dead Bodies also Camp Fulgos rerum memorabilium lib. 1. p. 33. to be taken out of the Graves of such others of them who died guilty of the same Wickedness Tho' at the same time he suffered a very great Multitude of other Jews to continue safe and undisturbed in Spain because they fairly and openly observed the Jewish Institution without any such Hypocrisy or Violation of the Christin Religion Nor is it at all strange to find Christian Magistrates thus affected when even some Hereticks themselves have shewn a like just Indignation against such flattering Time-servers and dangerous Dissemblers To which purpose we have a very memorable Example in Theuderichus or Theodoric King of the Goths one of whose Servants before greatly beloved and respected by him supposing by this means that he should still purchase more Favour with that Prince deserted the Orthodox Faith and turned of the Arian Profession But Theuderic Instead of being better pleased with him presently commanded his Head to be cut off saying Thou that hast not kept thy Faith towards God how wilt thou ever behave thy self Conscienciously towards a Man To proceed the very Turks themselves in this respect are very Wise and Politick who though they grant a general sort of Indulgence and Toleration to the Exercise of all Religions yet as with them Atheists are put to Death so they are no less severe also against this fort of Hypocrites For whosoever is known by them to be barely present with them at their Devotions in one of their Mosquâ—… let the motive be what it will that carried him thither must become a Mosselman immediately and be Circumcised forthwith in order to it or else be sure to die for his prophane Hypocrisy and Affront But why should I alledge any of these Testimonies or Examples When several of the wiser and more considering sort even of Heathens themselves have sufficiently given us to understand what kind of Apprehensions they had concerning those Persons who either for meer fear or Favour could be induced to change their Religion or ashamed to own it For though it cannot be expected that those very Persons who could think fit to Persecure Christians as most of the Roman Emperours did on purpose to make them so play the Hypocrites should afterwards expresly reproach or condemn them for having done so since this would be no other than to reflect upon themselves and to cast dirt in their own Faces yet some few others of the Pagan Emperours as I shall anon shew who happened to be more mild and less of the Spirit of Persecution have plainly enough declared both how meanly they thought of such Dissemblers and how honourably of those who remained constant in their Profession And in the mean time that the most eager Persecutors themselves had also the same thoughts of them will I think be undeniable if we do but well consider what must be their very chief design in Persecuting Now to be sure they could not be so Foolish as once to hope by knocking out their Brains to enlighten their Understandings and that all the fears and torments in the World should really produce a different Perswasion of Mind or make them in their Hearts believe any otherwise than they did before And indeed as these cruel Wretches could not see so neither did they at all regard what Faith it was that Christians carried in their Hearts so they did but keep it there secretly to themselves as some of them you have heard expresly so advised and in the mean time deny the same with their Lips or be sure never to declare it either by Words or Actions This once effected the most raging Dioclesian would desist and require nothing farther Accordingly when Pliny Junior had consulted Trajan what he should do with the Christians the Emperour thus answers He that denies himself to be a Christian and makes this manifest indeed that is by Worshiping our Gods though he has been formerly suspected let him yet obtain Pardon upon Repentance Upon which account Tertullian in his Apology against the Gentiles thus smartly Expostulates with them You do not proceed with us according to the usual Form of Judging Criminals but whilst you apply Tortures to others who deny the Fact they are accused of to extort a Confession from them Christians alone you Torment to make them deny the same And again a little after The Man cries out saith he I am a Christian and he speaks therein truly what he is But still you desire to hear what he is not Thâ—… whose Business it is to force out the Truth from us alone endeavour to extort a Lye The Man saith I am that which whether or no he is you ask of him Why do you still Rack him to make him say the contrary I confess and you still Torment me What would you do if I should deny Others when they deny you do not very easily believe But to us if we once deny you presently give Credit Now what was the true Reason and Design of this Method of Proceeding Did they delight to hear a Lye merely for its own sake without any other Purpose or Advantage Or could they think that Pain alone should alter the Judgment and Understanding as well as the Will Either of these is certainly most unreasonable to suppose of them But the true reason why the Pagan Persecutors rested so fully satisfied herewith was because they were clearly sensible that in gaining of this Point they gained all that was possible for them to effect or could be well desired even so far the utter Ruin and Destruction of that Religion which they so endeavoured to root out and exstinguish For if they could once bring a Christian openly to deny his Faith and to continue to do so than which they well knew nothing was more contrary to the Nature of Christianity and all Religion then they had a perfect conquest over the Man's Will and Resolution and had brought him therein to forego all that 't was possible for him to part with for a Man's belief is not purely in his own Power tho' the Profession of what he Believes is all but only what he could not help
proceed rather to shew how justly infamous and detested the Heads of this cursed Sect were in the Judgment of the true Doctors and main Pillars of the Christian Church When that eminent Martyr and Bishop of Smyma the renowned Polycarp who had also been a Disciple of St. John happened being then at Rome to meet with the Heretick Marcion and was ask'd by him after a sawning manner whether or no he acknowledged him His Answer was like that of Ignatius to Simon I acknowledge thee saith he to be the First-born of Satan Cerinthus as Epiphanius affirms was one of those who murmured against St. Peter and resisted him for going in to Cornelius a Person uncircumcised tho' expresly commanded to do so from Heaven And both Irenaeus and Eusebius relate concerning St. John himself that when he was going to bath himself and had heard that Cerinthus was there presently he cried out let us be gone hence least we perish with him And tho' Epiphanius particularly applies this to Ebion yet both these Authors may be well enough consistent in this Matter since both those Hereticks might probabily be at that time there together who were observed to have been very seldom or never a sunder Nor is it at all to be wondred at that those Pests of Christianity should be so abominable to the true Apostles and Apostolical Men since by the other enormities of their Behaviour as well as by their joining indifferently upon occasion in all sorts of Religions they had rendred the Christian Name it self so odious in the sight of many of the very Heathen who happening to be less acquainted with the true nature of it stood perfectly astonished at the unaccountable Levity of these Men. For according to their Doctrine so likewise was the Conversation and Behaviour of all these Gnostick Sects in general who scrupled not in the least to Communicate in Worship either with Christians Jews or Pagans nor to say or do to profess or deny any thing in order to their Carcass preservation and that they might keep themselves in a whole Skin Upon this very occasion perhaps Flavius Vopiscus in the Life of Saturninus produceth out of the History of Phlegon an entire Epistle of the Emperour Adrian to Servianus the Conful in which speaking of the wonderful Inconstancy of some Christians he affirms of them That sometimes they used to Worship Serapis with the Egyptians sometimes Christ and sometimes one God with the Jews and sometimes with the Gentiles Where in the Opinion of Baronius we are to take it for certain that this is to be understood of those Heretical Christians who were of the School of Basilides and Carpocrates who were both Alexandrians and there opening the School of all Impurities were notorious for being neither firm nor constant in the Confession of Christs Name and for teaching their Followers that they might without any blame deny him and Worship the Gods of the Gentiles Concerning the Valentinians also who associated themselves to the Gnosticks Irenaeus and Tertullian thus informs us That they held there was no Necessity of openly Confessing Christ nor of suffering Martyrdom for the Christian Religion that they did eat of Meat offered to Idols as a thing indifferent not thinking themselves to be at all polluted by so doing or by any other Pagan Compliances when there was occasion That they used upon the same account to revile the Orthodox Christians because they made Conscience of such Matters as mere Idiots and simple Persons who understood nothing vaunting of themselves in the mean time as the only knowing and perfect ones and Vessels of Election And when this first Set of Diabolical Apostles were themselves in time extinguished their destructive Principle for some Ages afterwards still survived in their Impious Successors For Priscillian under the Reign of the Emperours Gratian and Valentinian Composing one Heretical Monster from the several Madnesses of the Manicheans and Gnosticks joined together among several other horrid Doctrines delivered That it was lawful to Lye and to Dissemble for the avoiding of Sufferings that the Truth was then to be retained in a Mans Heart only whilst the Confession of the Mouth was requisite to be made only before Neighbours and Friends and not before Strangers But the Emperour Theodosius as I shall more largely relate hereafter well nigh put an end to this dissembling and most persidious Sect by setting forth and punctually Executing the most severe Edicts against them as Enemies to Humane Society it self no less than to all Religion in general So that for a long time afterwards if I mistake not very few or none could be found who durst openly profess or propogate this Doctrine of Dissimulation For tho' it is not to be questioned but that almost every Age and Place can produce many Persons who may have prevailed with themselves outwardly to comply with such a sort of Worship as with which at the same time they could by no means inwardly join and heartily agree and so have been self Condemned in the very Action yet I think but few for some Ages before us have had the Confidence avowedly to maintain or publickly to justifie the so doing Till now of late with us to the shame and I fear the utter confusion too of this our native Country there unhappily sprang up one of Fore-head enough openly to revive even in Print this buried and forgotten Doctrine of those who have so long since dwelt with Devils for their deserved recompence The Man I mean is no other than that great Father of our Modern Atheists the execrable Author of the Leviathan who in that hellish Volume like a true Casuist of Lucifer thus states the Lev. c. 42. p. 234. Question and returns the Answer to it by most shamefully abusing this very Text. If it be asked saith he What if we be commanded by our lawful Prince to say That we do not believe must we obey him or no He Answers That a Christian Man in matters of this Nature if he does but believe on Christ in his Heart has the same liberty which the Prophet Elisha granted to Naaman the Syrian Naaman was converted to the God of Israel in his Heart and said 2 Kin. 5. 17. c. Naaman here believed with his Heart in the true God but by his outward Worship desired to seem as if he had not believed least he should offend his King To all which I need say no more at present but that you have heard of the Man and his Communication Who tho' he be gone sometime ago to his own Place or as himself is said to have Worded it when dying into the dark Abyss has yet also left behind him as but too many more secret Disciples here so one in another Country who seems as if he were his eldest Son to have taken Possession of all his Ills and to have become among the rest of his admirable Qualities Inheritour also of his haughty Spirit and singular Impudence For the
so without any offence at all to God or at least with confidence of his Pardon for the same And then from hence such Persons readily conclude in the general that all others also may easily obtain the same Licence and Indulgence of God for the like Compliances and Dissimulations and that for the securing of their temporal Interest and especially to avoid down right Persecution they may safely enough join with their outward Man in such Worship as they are perswaded is Sinful Superstitious or Idolatrous so they do but take care all the while to keep their inward Man rightly devoted and to direct the Intentions of their Hearts and Minds to the true God And indeed if from this Passage any such conclusion could be regularly inferred this would prove a most comfortable and the only precious place of Scripture to some Men. For then Light and Darkness might easily be made Friends Jehovah and Belial brought into a Communion with each other their several claims being soon accommodated and the Service of God and that of Mammon well enough consistent Then they whom the World usually accounts such would be indeed the only true Politicians who can side with every Wind and change or dissemble their Practice and Profession according to the most fashionable Religion of those who shall happen to sway the Scepter and can exalt or abase Men according to their Pleasure In a Word then must both the Apostles and all the Primitive Christians be reckoned for the greatest Fools and Mad-men in that they so slung away their Lives to no purpose whilst the Doctrine of Passive Obedience would be indeed as fond and to the full as Ridiculous as some Men have impiously and most prophanely endeavoured to represent it But alass the Case of Naaman here is very widely and perhaps no less wilfully mistaken by such Men as are glad to catch hold of any thing that may but seem to afford them any the most feeble Support or Countenance in their double-Dealings Who tho' they may for the present highly applaud their own Ingenuity in finding out such pretty Expedients and make a shift for a while to deceive both others and themselves thereby will yet be sure to find in the Conclusion that God is a most jealous God and cannot be so mocked or deceived by them but will prove at last a consuming Fire to all such double minded Hypocrites and most abominable Dissemblers And so I pass now to the second general thing which I am to endeavour to shew viz. CHAP. III. That this Passage of Scripture can by no means be taken in any such corrupt Sense as I have alread represented nor consequently afford any Foundation for any such Inferences to be made therefrom THat Naaman here in these Words cannot be understood to desire either really to Worship Rimmon or Saturn or any other Idol together with the true God nor yet to beg leave so much as to dissemble in the Case or to endeavour to be thought to do so may I think sufficiently appear from these following Arguments grounded upon the express Context For in the first Place for him to have desir'd this would have been directly contrary to the present Sense of his own Mind and the plain Convictions of his Conscience We may I confess meet with several in Scripture who Worshipped the true God in conjunction with false ones As we read of that mixed People whom the King of Assyria had planted in Samaria in the room of the Children of Israel * 2 King 17. 33. That they feared the Lord and serv'd their own Gods also And the Prophet Zephaniah likewise speaks of those who used to Worship and Swear by the Lord and to Swear by Malcham also Zeph. 1. 5. But yet they who stood thus affected did not at the same time believe that those whom they so Worshipped were meer Idols and false Gods and such as could not help them but were on the contrary tho' very falsly perswaded of their Ability to help and benefit those that Served them which was also generally the only Motive to their so Worshipping as is evident in the Case of King Ahab of whom we read * 2 Chron. 28. 23. That he Sacrificed to the Gods of Damascus which smote him and he said because the Gods of the Kings of Syria help them therefore will I Sacrifice to them that they may help me Whilst on the contrary I 'm apt to believe we can scarce find the Example of any one who couâ—… ever yet find in his Heart really to Worship that Being from whom he could entertain no Hope at all of receiving any Advantage by his so doing What St. Paul affirms of those wâ—… adore God Almighty being no less true also concerning the Worshippers of Idols and false Gods viz. They that come unto them must however believe that they are and that they are Rewarders likewise of those that diligently seek unto them And accordingly we shall find that all which either the Prophets or Apostles thought requisite towards the reducing of the Superstitions Heathen was only by the most substantial Arguments to demonstrate to them that those whom they Worshipped were no true Gods nor had any the least Ability in them to help or succour their devoted Servants as rightly concluding that after they had once sufficiently convinc'd them of this Truth nothing further was then necessary to disswade them from their Idolatries But Naaman here was now so firmly perswaded of the Truth of these particulars that scarce any Words could more fully express his abundant Satisfaction herein than those which we find him use to that purpose in the 15 Verse of that same Chapter Behold saith he now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel So that should he after this have still desired to reserve to himself the Worship of any other besides the true God only he must have acted therein quite contrary to the plainest Convictions of his own Judgment directly against all Reason and without any of those Motives which alone can be the Foundation of any mans really giving any Religious Worship to any thing But still in the second Place we may also consider That this would have been no less contrary and repugnant to those firm Purposes and Resolutions which he immediately before signified about his abstaining from all Idolatrous Worship for the future For he does in these very words most solemnly declare and profess his Determination Thy Servant will henceforth offer neither Burnt-offerings nor Sacrifice unto other Gods but unto the Lord. Where under the words Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices as under the most signal and noble Species we are to understand comprehended all other Acts of external Worship whatsoever as we find the same frequently used according to this Latitude of Signification in several other Places So that now if we joyn all the several parts of his Speech together it must needs sound as if he had after
to Preach to them the word of Life But they refusing to hear the same presently commanded him to be run thorow with a Sword Nor let any one Object against the already produced Instances as some have done upon the like occasion That all these are Examples only of Bishops and other publick Ministers of the Christian Church upon whom they are ready to grant there does lie some Obligation in point of Credit as well as Interest to chuse to suffer rather than deny or dissemble their Belief And to this purpose the zealous Disciples even of that grand Atheistical Patron whom I had occasion not long ago to mention have thought fit to treasure up this in Print among the rest of his supposed witty posthumous Sayings viz. That none ought so justly to Die for their Religion as they that Live by it Whereas may they say there is not the same Reason that private Christians should be thus obliged nor is it easy perhaps amongst them to produce the like Examples Now to obviate this Objection as well as in regard of the great natural Usefulness of such Precedents to promote in others the like Zeal and Constancy I shall think it worth the while to give you still some farther Variety of the like Behaviour in all Sorts and Degrees of other Christian Professors Concerning whom in general Justin Martyr gives us this ample Testimony That they can never Just Mart. in Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. endure so much as to seem to Worship an Idol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but suffer all kind of Torments and Punishments even to the very last efforts of Death rather than either Worship Idols or eat of any thing Offered thereto And still in his second Apology to the Christians he thus describes the Christians of his Time We who formerly before our Conversion used to employ our selves in Butchering one another do now not only not resist our Enemies but rather than tell a Lye or deceive even those who inform against us willingly confess Christ to the loss of our very Lives Whereas would our Consciences permit we might as well as you Heathen are wont to do make use of and behave our selves according to your usual Proverb Swear with our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tongues remaining still unsworn in your Minds But descending now to particulars with whom can I better begin or more agreeably place in the fore Front than that noble and couragious Soldier Valentinian the Elder Afterwards Emperour of Rome but at that time an Officer only in the Army of the Emperour Julian who was so far from doing or suffering any thing which might give any just occasion of his being thought to comply with the Heathenish Superstition that he boldly struck the Aedile who had sprinkled him with lustral Water among the rest according to the Pagans Custome and cut out that part of his Garment even in the sight of Julian the Apostate After him shall follow tho' in time he went before him another Christian Soldier called Gordius of the City of Cesarea and no less magnanimous Whose Persecutors as St. Basil gives us the History after they could by no other means Basil Hom. in Mart. turn him aside from the Faith set upon him at last with some plausible Arguments persuading him that he should if he had still a mind retain Christ in his Heart only and with his Mouth deny him For God say the does not look upon Words but upon the Mind it self of the Speaker This is the only way to appease the angry Judge and to keep God himself propitious too But he remaining firm and immovable answered them after this manner I can by no means yield to let that Tongue the benefit of which is wholly owing to Christs Favour so shamefully deny its Author For with the Heart we believe unto Righteousness and with the Mouth we make Confession unto Salvation Do not err God cannot be mocked Out of our own Mouthes he Judges and from our Words he will either Save or Damn us Did you never hear of that dreadful Sentence of our great Lord viz. He that denieth me before Men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven c. You Counsel me that I should at present dissemble the Knowledge which I have of God Wherefore I pray Is it that I may prolong this Life add to my Days and while off the bitterness of Death But shall I then be contented to loose the Eternal Years of the heavenly Life Shall I to avoid a little present pain forego forever that future Crown of Righteousness and exceeding weight of Glory Thus deliberately to choose to damn my self and by such shameful Deceit and Fraud to purchase to my self the Eternal Torments of Hell can be no other than down right Madness Let me therefore rather give you this Advice That if hitherto you have been mistaken you would now at length learn Truth and Wisdom but if you dissemble your Faith and serve the present time I earnestly exhort and intreat you that laying aside Lying you would boldly speak the Truth For every Tongue is to confess the Glory of Christ as well as every Knee to bow at his Name After these two great Leaders I am still enabled to present to your view all at once a whole little Army of the same Profession who also shewed themselves to be no less Christs faithful Soldiers Tho' the Story be somewhat large yet I shall give you it in full with all its material and more considerable Circumstances because the same will help us so much the better to understand both the great Subtilety of the Heathen to ensnare and what was the chief thing they drove at and how extreamly careful likewise the then Christians were to avoid giving any just occasion of Scandal and to abstain from all Appearance of Evil especially in such tender Cases Now Julian the Apostate being fully satisfied by many fruitless Attempts of that kind and Experiments so often in vain repeated that nothing was to be done on the Christians no prevailing upon them to comply with his Purpose by the more common and open ways of down right Force or Threatnings thought fit at last to betake himself to the courses of Fraud and Subtilety to trap them if possible as it were by way of Ambush or Surprize and to overcome them by cunning Artifices and Contrivances And accordingly altering the Standards or Ensigns of the Emperour which were before in use caused to be expressed thereon together with his own the Images of the Pagan Gods so that when his Christian Subjects came to signifie their Reverence thereto as 't was both usual and generally concluded Innocent for them that way to shew their respect to the Emperour they might be at the same time forced Ignorantly or indeliberately to Worship or at least seem to Worship the Pagan Idols also or else be punished as Traitors and Contemners of him for their Refusal Which yet
giving also a reason of the Second And as impossible to give any Reason or Account at all of either without making a plain confession and acknowledgment thereof To Conclude In the Revelations of St. John amongst other hainous Criminals Idolaters and all that love or make a lie are perfectly excluded the holy City and have their Portion allotted them in the lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstâ—ne which is the second Death Whereas he that overcometh that is by a constant confession is there promised the Inheritance of all things Rev. 21. 7 8. and Rev. 22. 15. And in the Epistle to the Church of Pergamos our Lord himself highly approves of Antipas by name for his dying for the Faith and commends that Church also for her constancy therein in these Words Thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my Faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithfull witness who was slain among Rev. 2. 13. you where Satan dwelleth I have here all along you see confined my self only to Express commands and prohibitions in the Case together with the Rewards and Penalties the Divine Approbation or Dislike no less expresly signify'd and annexed upon the performance or Neglect of what is so required All which are so many direct Proofs of the absolute Necessity of this Duty of confession But should I also undertake particularly to insist upon all those other numerous places in holy writ which either suppose or imply the same obligation by a most natural and unavoidable Consequence I should then oblige my self to transcribe well nigh the greater part of the whole New Testament For indeed the very Nature and Genius the whole Tenour and Current of rhe Gospel runs this way All those multiply'd Precepts and Doctrines about Patience and Self-denial obout Suffering and Taking up the Cross about our Readiness to lay down our Lives and not to fear those who can kill the Body about Christian Simplicity and Love without Dissimulation Giving no Offence and abstaining from all Appearance of Evil All these Precepts Cautions and Exhortations and innumerable more of the like kind are either chiefly for the sake of or most closely imply the Absolute Necessity of this prime Duty which we are discoursing of since otherwise they must needs be either wholly in vain or to very little purpose so much inculcated So that did it not so apparently gratify the sinful Inclinations of corrupt Flesh and Blood in delivering Men all at once from ever tasting the unpleasing Severities of the Cross one would think it impossible that it should ever enter into the Heart of any to affirm That concealing their Faith within their own Breast they might innocently deny the same with their Mouth or any other way dissemble it by their Actions Since 't is most evident there 's no other Crime whatsoever the Lawfulness of which they could contrive to maintain with greater defyance of the most broad-faced Light of Scripture to the contrary When in the mean time they have nothing to colour over or disguise the deadly Poyson but one or two passages only in all the Bible and those too most miserably wrested and abused by them Which again carries me onstill to the distinct Task of a sixth Enquiry or Consideration viz. CHAP. XII How false and foolish are the pretended Grounds and Reasons upon which such Dissemblers endeavour to Justify and establish their contrary Opinion and Practice together with the many absurd consequences and most monstrous Inconveniences of diverse kinds necessarily following thereupon NOW after that of their most beloved Naa-man their only place seems to be that of Prov. 23. 26. or some other such like it wherein we have it signify'd That God sees and chiefly regards Men's Hearts From whence they boldly infer That if they do but take Care to keep their Hearts for God by safely wrapping up a right belief therein they may then venture with their Mouths or by any other action of their outward Man securely to deny the same Or else provided they can but secretly keep up in their Hearts a rectify'd Intention they may then very safely both be present at and with their lips join or at least seem to join with others in such Prayers the matter of which is otherwise acknowledged to be directly against their Duty and the Divine command Now they who thus teach the Lawfulness of Dissimulation seem even in their very so doing actually to Dissemble with us whilst they teach that which they themselves do no way really believe and yet would be thought to do so merely out of a design the better to secure their Reputation to cover the shame of their own base Actions so agreeable thereto and as the only expedient to excuse and take off the odium of their foul Hypocrisie among their friends when they happen to be reproved for it by them So that we have great reason to suspect that such Men do not say as they think when they say they think it lawful to deny what they think However this Assertion seems in the natural consequence thereof to contradict fall foul upon and even overturn its own self at least to take away the very foundation of its finding Credit with any other Person whom they can never reasonably induce to think That they say true in what they affirm when they affirm That they believe it lawful for them so to deny their belief Since how can we ever be secure according to their own Principles that they may not as well lie and in this very Case falsely say that they do believe what they really do not as in the other Case falsely deny their belief of what they really do believe But passing from the Persons to the thing it self and leaving them to believe or not believe as they will the pretended ground and main reason for what they so maintain I 'm sure is altogether false and frivolous For in the first place it is by no means true That God has Mens Hearts in such Cases or that they do or can therewith at the same time truly serve him Which I 'm confident will very easily appear to any one who not resting in the mere empty sound of Words without any sense at all shall only well consider what that phrase does truly signify and import Now God is then and can only then be truely said to have our Hearts when he has the Affections thereof in such a due Fear Reverence and Love of him above all things as may effectually dispose us to endeavour to please him in all the ways of his own direction to that purpose that is in one Word by keeping of His Commandments whatsoever present loss or hardship it may cost us for so doing So that when we can knowingly venture to displease him by acting contrary thereto it must be alwaies for the sake of something else which we at the same time really more fear love and prefer before our Maker and which therefore
whatsoever we may pretend to the contrary has our Hearts in good earnest and not the Living Lord who searcheth them Such Hypocrites indeed do allow God what they cannot help something of their Heads since their Understandings seem rightly enough informed concerning what they ought to do But their Hearts he is far enough from having whilst they can find in their Hearts to act so quite contrary to that Knowledge Unless we can suppose That they who sin most against their own Knowledge or Conscience may be said therein the most to give God their Heart Besides the very reason why God so chiefly requires the heart is because whensoever he has that truely he must of necessity have therewith also the whole Man whilst every Thought Word and Action is naturally reduced thereby into a suitable Obedience So that 't is wholly impossible to separate or put asunder what God and Nature have so closely conjoined Wheresoever there is really the Heart of a Sincere Disciple there will also be the Lips of a confessour upon occasion the Observation of our Blessed Saviour being no less true in the good than in the bad Sense That out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh But still in the Second place were it possible in such Cases That God could truly have the Heart yet that alone by no means would be sufficient For tho' we may indeed find that this upon the grounds already specify'd is the main thing regarded by him yet where do we read that this is the only thing requisite Who is it that hath exempted the outward Man from the Jurisdiction of him who equally Created both Parts for his own Glory We find its true some persons and what kind of ones withal they were whom the Psalmist brings in paunting it to this purpose yet who can justly say or without the highest Presumption That his Tongue is his own to do with it what he pleaseth Did we indeed consist of nothing else but naked Spirit it might then be perhaps sufficient to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts only But since we are cloathed with Flesh and he hath given us a body as it hath pleased him he justly expects as well as expresly requires That we should glorify him in our body no less than in our spirit which are 2 Cor. 6. 20. both the Lord 's And still as this perficious Heresie is you see thus utterly false and groundless in what it pretends to for its support so the absurd consequences and inconveniences thereof are prodigiously both great and numerous For first were what is so pretended indeed sufficient for the purpose as I have already proved it far enough from being so yet where the Love of the Truth is so very feeble and that of the World so strong that the Man can prevail with himself totally to deny his Faith in his Words and outward Actions the faint remainders thereof still secretly retained in his Heart or head rather must needs have so slender a hold in either that they are very unlikely to be long-lived with him in so unsuitable an Habitation Nay they who can afford to make it once their Custom with the outward Man to join or but so much as to seem to join with others in publick in such Service or Prayers any part whereof they verily believe to be as to the matter thereof unlawful and which in their Hearts they inwardly detest there is very great danger of such persons coming by degrees to be also inwardly reconciled thereto and at last fully and totally to join with them in good earnest What befell Genesius who by order of the Emperour Dioclesian acting on the Theatre the part of a Christian with an intent to ridicule and expose that holy Profession was so suddenly changed that instead of so doing he seriously professed and dyed for that Religion as also what happen'd of the same nature to one Porphyry another famous Actor alike employed by Julian to the same purpose These indeed are to be look'd upon as Events very extraordinary and miraculous But that of the Wretch spoken of by Lucian who acting the part of mad Ajax was so forcibly carry'd away with the Affection that himself became ever afterwards really distracted is a thing far less strange and perhaps even in a natural way fairly enough accountable And however in a Moral sense there is no mere counterfeiting of an ill Man without being so also in down-right earnest He that can once take upon him or make it his business only to act the part of an Infidel will easily learn to be an Original and acting the part to the very Life will at last naturally become such in reality to all intents and purposes 'T is possible for a man to tell a lie so often till at length forgetting it to be so he comes no less than others to give a real Credit thereto besides they are easily perswaded to a total desertion thereof who never yet tasted any thing of the pleasures of Religion which yet can never be truly relished without Sincerity So that what wonder is it that they should in the conclusion be given over to believe a lie who at first received not the Truth in the love thereof For 't is difficult long to hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness But having once put away a good Conscience by such shameful Tricks and Artifices Men come naturally at length to make Shipwrack of their right Faith which whilst indeed they had it could serve for no other purpose but only to make them extremely restless and uneasy by continually upbraiding them with their quite contrary Hypocritical Practices But still in the second place could such Men be sure that they should never proceed any farther yet to endeavour to seem what they are not and not to seem what they are being no other in it self than formal down-right Hypocrisie To conclude therefore that they may go thus far safely must necessarily imply their Belief of the no Necessity of that Sincerity which the Gospel every where so strictly urges and requires above all things and that Hypocrisie it self is far from being really a thing so displeasing to God as 't is there pretended and represented Nay whereas God has so expresly declar'd That our very best Performances are with him nothing at all worth unless they proceed from and be accompanied with Sincerity What height then of Presumption and Blasphemy must it needs be to expect That the grossest Dissimulation alone should so effectually recommend Men to the Favour of the God of Truth as that he should pardon and excuse them for the very worst Crime they could possibly contrive to commit merely for the sake of and because it is Accompanied with the most shameful Lying and Hypocrisie Besides This cursed Practice and Opinion seems to be founded in secret Atheism and tacitly implies this other distinct Blasphemy That God is either not endued with sufficient Power or else not Good or Wise
them upon the publick Altar Which tho' it confutes that common opinion of his Dying a Martyr for the Belief of one God does yet no less plainly demonstrate how far he was from the late Doctrine of the Leviathan and how abominable a thing he concluded it for a Man to dissemble in Religion How extremely brave likewise and altogether free from Slavish Fear and Flattery was that of Calanus the Indian Philosopher in his Letter to Alexander the Great extant in Philo Judaeus I hear saith ne That your Friends advise you to apply Force and lay Violent Hands upon the Indian Philosophers who were never yet acquainted so much as in a Dream with any thing of our matters For you may indeed remove our Bodies from one place to another But you cannot force our Souls to do what they have no mind to You may sooner make Stones and Logs of Wood to Speak There is no King or Emperour in the whole World that can compel us to do what we our selves have not decreed Nay still in the last place to insist no more upon Pagans much less Philosophers of that kind so naturally base and ignoble is it for a Man to Lie or to Dissemble that some of those who one would think should of all others be most void of all sentiments of Honour in such cases yet retaining some faint shadows thereof in Vain glory have had that Principle strong enough in them to hurrie them out of the World rather than seem to incur so shameful an Imputation For even dull Atheism it self as it has had but too many Confessors so has it not wanted also some few Martyrs who have chosen to Die rather than profess with their Lips what they obstinately pretended they could no waies in their Hearts Believe For this was the very case of Vaninus who was Burnt to Death at Tholouse upon that Score we Read likewise of another amongst the Turks who chose to Die upon the same account Of whose Tragedy we have the particular relation in the worthy Authour of THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TVRKS Which examples of astonishing Govern Turks p. 119. Madness are yet not onely parallel'd but quite out done by those who believing Christianity and the unspeakable eternal Rewards and Punishments it acquaint us with can yet find in their Hearts to Dissemble or deny their Faith rather than undergo the short present Sufferings of a moment upon that account Thus you see what the Opinion has been concerning this Matter of all sorts of the more impartial whether Jews or Christians whether Hereticks Turks or Pagans nay partly and upon supposition even of some Atheists And as it is the sense of all the World besides so I am perswaded 't is sometimes so also in the Self-condemned Minds of these very Hypocrites themselves However the time is most certainly a coming when they shall be thorowly wakened into a quick and never-ending Sense of Shame and of Confusion upon this account Which advances me to my Eighth and last Consideration viz. CHAP. XIIII The unavoidableness of that infinite Shame and Misery which according to the Eternal and unalterable Nature of Things themselves must needs be the dreadful Portion of all such abominable Hypocrites and Dissemblers in the World to come HOW naturally sad must needs be the Condition of those who depart hence unmortify'd and full of the love of the World and cannot tell how to part with such Desires and Affections even in a State in which there will be no more World for them to enjoy The same Persons also being as I have already shewn wholly void of all true Love of God and of their Neighbours How is it possible for them to enjoy any thing of the Heavenly State even tho' we could suppose them in such a Place as Heaven where there is nothing else for them to Love besides God himself and those that love him and are like him So that ardent Love is the pure Air and very Life of Heaven without having our Hearts thorowly endued with which blessed Habit and Affection we are no more capable of that heavenly State than it is here possible for us to live without Breathing or to breath without Air. Upon which account according to the very nature of Things What good can they ever expect who leave this World being themselves wholly unfurnished with all those Divine Qualifications which are so absolutly necessary to capacitate Men for their entrance into the State of true Happiness and to make them meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light As the Apostle speaks Col. 1. 12. The ill Habits we pass hence with and want of the contrary Graces will like natural Incapacities be sure to consign us over to our proper Stations and place us without any more adoe on the left Hand with the Goats Every wicked Man and Dissembling Hypocrite carries with him a whole Legion of Devils of tormenting Sins and unmortify'd Lusts any one of which is enough to unheaven Paradise and to turn Abraham's Bosom it self into a place of no rest Ill dispositions establish Hell within Men and naturally lay the Foundation of their perpetual Misery whilst they shall find such cursed Habits will prove those eternal Chains of Darkness to fetter them below amongst Devils where Sin shall be no more as here distinguished but known by its true proper Name Misery It is impossible that he should be finally miserable who does not love something more than God and 't is no less impossible that he who does prefer any thing before God should not be miserable if he be continued at all in being For to love God with all our Hearts is our only Duty and our greatest Happiness and not so to love him at once our greatest Sin and Misery And 't was certainly the deepest Sense of the true nature of Religion and a strong effect of the great Sincerity of the Man himself that made a Divine Poet of our own break out into this Pious and most Pathetick Ejaculation My God let me not love thee if I love thee not And indeed our future Bliss it self will consist chiefly in our extatic love of God and in perceiving how we love him and are beloved by him Gratitude and Thankfulness and endless Love for Love will be the Life of Heaven And without attaining here to some eminent degree of this Love and Gratitude our Souls can never be winged thither Our Saviour therefore who designed our everlasting Happiness did in order to it contrive the most effectual way to excite our Love by loving us first so well as to lay down his Life for our sakes that by his Precedent and Example we might be even constrained so to love him again and to express our Gratitude in such a degree as to be at least willing and prepared to die for his Honour rather than deny or dissemble our Faith And as even now any good Man cannot reflect upon his own willingness thus