the free will of Man work so in his mind and heart as to make him forsake and renounce the Object which he loves best and without which he cannot live This is harder to God if I may speak so than to create Heaven and Earth For when God would create all the things that are in this World he only said let there be such a thing and presently it was created But when he will convert a Sinner and will have him to forsake his wickedness what resistance and opposition does he not find notwithstanding the different means he makes use of For Oftentimes God willing to induce a Sinner to repent of his sins cherishes him as a Nurse does her Young sucking Child and as a good Husband his Faithful Wife Sometimes he threatens him as a careful Father threatens his disobedient Son as a good Master his unruled Servant and as a just Judge his guilty Prisoner And yet his cherishings and threatnings do very often prove vain and unprofitable The sinner remains in his Crimes and will not repent of them God according to his ordinary way in the Conversion of a Sinner must give him a preventing Grace and afterwards an assisting one and though these two Graces be sufficient for a true and sincere Conversion yet to pass from Power to Act he must needs give him another Grace which is called effectual This is the difficulty of Repentance considered in respect of God our Creator But it is more hard and difficult if we consider it in respect of the Creature For a Man who got a great store of Goods by an Unjust way is bound to restore them wholly to him they belong to for as saith St. Austin Non remittitur Peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum A Sensual and Carnal Man who wholly devoted himself to worldly Delights and Pleasures is obliged to forsake them for ever What Pain and what Difficulty does he not find when he takes resolution to leave them And this Difficulty is the greater if he be an old Sinner and got a bad Custom For can the Ethiopian change his Skin saith the Prophet Jeremiah or the Leopard his Spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil 13. 23. We see that every day by our own experience especially if a Man be accustomed either to Drunkenness or Impurity For then he will find a great difficulty to subdue and forsake his filthy and dishonest Passion If Grace invites him to abandon his Sins and truly Repent of them Nature presently opposes it self and gives him a quite contrary Mind There is a Fight in that Man between Nature and Grace And to speak otherwise there are two Men in that Man the Man of Grace and the Man of Sin The Man of Grace is willing to forsake his Sins and Repent of them and the Man of Sin is unwilling The Man of Grace speaks thus these many Years I have committed Sins I must now forsake them with all the guilty Pleasures of this World and I must wholly consecrate my self unto God And the Man of Sin saith what wilt thou forsake those Delights Pleasures Sports and Recreations which so many Men sigh after and with so great a Passion as if their soveraign Happiness were truly consisting in them The Man of Grace saith come I will Repent and the Man of Sin replies not yet not now stay a little longer I pray thee To make it short there is a wonderful Battel in this poor Man's Heart and Mind I look upon him as upon a Ship in a great and furious Storm For as this Ship by the violence of Waves goes sometimes as high as the Clouds and presently seems to go down into the bottom of the Sea so this Man Ascends into Heaven by Grace and Descends into Hell by Sin What strange Fight do we see in this poor and miserable Creature What difficulty does he not find when he is willing to forsake his Sins And when he delays from day to day that Difficulty encreases for two Reasons The first is taken from Grace and the Second from Sin The Reason taken from Grace is that being necessary to forsake Sins it goes away and forsakes the Creature that is delaying from day to day The other Reason taken from Sin is because it is compared unto a young Tree which grows every Month stronger and stronger and is hardly pluck'd out if we let it grow several Years For it is easie to a Hedge-hog to thrust out her Youngs before their Bristles be grown strong but if she stays too long she shall rather die then expel them out of their Hole Sin is like unto a Hedge-hog for it is easie to cast it out of our Hearts when it is Young I mean in its beginning but if we stay too long what difficulty shall we not find to pluck it out of them Such as the Ethiopian in changing his Skin and the Leopard his Spots Wherefore we must confess that Repentance is hard and difficult to Men whether considered in respect of the Creator or in respect of the Creature Nevertheless it is necessary unless we will all perish And this I am going to shew you in the second part of my Discourse 2. Part. This Man who was sent from God to bear witness of the Light that all Men through him might believe this Man I mean St. John the Baptist began his Sermons by this necessary Virtue And when Jesus Christ began to Preach he began with these Words Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand These two Examples would be sufficient to convince us of the necessity of Repentance But that I may remove all Doubts from your Minds I will prove that we are obliged to Repent of our Sins for two Reasons First because we have offended God who is our Father and secondly because if we do not Repent we shall all be unhappy for ever That God is our Father all Christians do acknowledge this Truth for as often as they say the Lord's Prayer they confess God to be their Father Yes certainly God is our Father since he made and Created us And to speak properly he only is our Father Call no man Father on earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven Matth. 23. 9. He is more properly our Father than those that brought us into the World because he not only concurs with them in the Production of our Bodies but also because he alone Created our Souls and makes us partakers of his holy Grace whereby we become his Children If then it be true that God is our Father likewise it is certain we have Sinned against him two different ways positively when we have done those things which we ought not to have done and negatively when we have left undone those things which we ought to have done We have offended him in our Hearts in our Understandings by our Tongues by our Hands Feet Ears and Eyes In our Hearts and Understandings we have sinned
go unto another he should be very Imprudent Jesus Christ Matth. 11. 28. Speaks thus Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest We must not have then another Advocate beside him By him saith St. Paul we have an access to the Father and we do not read that we have it also by the blessed Virgin or by St. Peter St. Anthony or any other Saint St. Chrysostome Hom. 2. de Cananea speaking of this Woman who though she were a Sinner was bold to come unto Christ saith thus Behold the Wisdom of this Woman she doth not Pray to James she doth not beseech John she goes not to Peter she looks not to the company of the Apostles neither request any of them but for all this she takes Repentance for her Companion and goes to the very Fountain it self St. Ambrose in Rom. c. 1. speaks thus They are wont to use a pitiful Excuse saying that by the Saints they may have access unto God as by the Earls there is Access to Kings by Officers and Earls Access is made to the King because the King himself is a Man but to come to God from whom nothing is hid there is no need of a Spokesman but a devout Mind for wheresoever such a one speaks to him he will answer him The Souls of Men say Tertullian and St. Austin do not take care of the Affairs of the Living The Saints are not our Mediators we do praise the Martyrs because they fought for the Truth but we do not Worship them For what end then are these Solemnities That by them we may thank God for their Victories and encourage others to imitate them and be partakers of their Palms and Crowns But that we may obtain them shall we implore the Assistance of the Saints No but we shall implore the help of that true God who made them Martyrs de cura pro mortuis c. 13. cont Parm. l. 2. c. 8. de Civit. l. 8. c. 27. Hereunto I may add that which is written in Ecclesiastes 9. 5. That the dead knew not any thing neither have any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the Sun Wherefore I may say that the Church of Rome intreats in vain the help of the Saints for God alone does know our Thoughts And the most Learned Doctors of that Communion cannot say how they may hear the Prayers of Men for they confess it is not a Property of their Happiness and some say they see only the things which belong to them some say that God discovers to them the Prayers of Men some say they see in the Face of God as in a Looking-glass all things here below Some assure that the Faithful which are upon Earth give notice of their Desires and Minds to to the Saints as the Angels do Communicate their Thoughts one with another To make it short the Roman Church is so uncertain concerning the Saints that oftentimes she Worships and Prays to them that are now burning in an everlasting Fire The Origine of the Intercession of the Saints proceeds from those publick Penitents which for their Crimes were Condemned to be separated from the Church for some years For Martyrdom being in a great Honour amongst Christians and the Church having a particular esteem for those that were Prisoners for the Gospel the publick Penitents did Write to these Martyrs that they would be so kind as to Intercede for them towards the Church that they might be admitted in her Communion before the time of their Penance were expired Such was the Intercession of Saints at that time they knew then no other in the second Age as it may be seen in St. Cyprian Secondly I say that the Church of Rome adds to the Word of God when she teaches and will have us to believe that there is a Purgatory wherein the Souls of the Faithful departing this Life are Afflicted and Tormented some for a short time some for a hundred years some for a thousand and upwards and others to the end of the World For this Doctrine is not found in the Holy Scripture but it is quite contrary to it as it appears by these Words of the 14th Chapter of the Revelations Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them As also by those of the Book of Wisdom Canonized by the general Council of Trent wherein it is written that the Souls of the Righteous are in the hands of God and there shall no torment touch them This appears also by St. Paul when he saith in his Epistle to the Romans that there is now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Nevertheless Pope Pius the Fourth finding Purgatory very advantageous to his Kitchin speaks thus I certainly believe that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls detained therein are relieved by the Prayers of the Faithful And the Council of Trent Sess 25. gives Order to all Bishops to take care that the sound Doctrine of Purgatory which was delivered to us by the holy Fathers and sacred Councils be Believed and Taught and Preached every where And though Mr. Amelot who was a Papist and translated into French the History of the Council of Trent does confess that Purgatory cannot be prov'd and though the Church of Rome cannot declare whether this Purgatory be in the Air or in the Earth or in the place wherein Sins are committed yet she saith that the Pope with an Indulgence laid unto a Bead or Cross or Medal or with a Mass Celebrated upon certain days of the Week gives Power to deliver from this Purgatory whom he pleases and when he thinks it fit I say then in the first place since this Doctrine is not found in the holy Scripture the Roman Church addeth to the Word of God and thinks above that which is written 2ly I shew she does destroy her self when she will have us to believe under the Pain of Damnation that there is a Purgatory For if there be a Purgatory either it is to purge Sins or to purge the Pain due unto them It is not for the former because the Roman Church believes that Jesus Christ did by himself purge all our sins according to these words of St. John His Blood cleanses us from all sins and because they are to be purged before we be separated from this World it is then for the purgation of the Pain but the Pain is punished and not purged for a Gallows is not for the purgation of a Murder but for the punishment of it Therefore since Purgatory according to the Papists is only for the Pain due to sins they destroy themselves when they call it Purgatory It has no warrant in the holy Scripture for Jesus Christ shews but two places Heaven and Hell when he saith that the Rich Man's Soul which was unmerciful to Lazarus went
Peter after he had confessed him to be that Christ and the Son of the Living God Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church But these words give no Superiority to St. Peter above the other Apostles only they shew that the Church is builded not upon the Person of Peter but upon the Rock namely upon Christ whom St. Peter confesses to be the Son of the Living God For as saith St. Paul 1. Cor. 3. 11. That Rock was Christ and other foundation can no man lay but that which is laid already namely Jesus Christ And in the second Chapter to the Ephesians he saith That the Church is built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the head stone in the corner Where then can they find that St. Peter was made Prince of the Apostles and had Pre-eminence or Authority over them They say it is when Jesus Christ gave unto Peter the Keys of Binding and Loosing I answer that Christ therein gave no more Authority to St. Peter than to the rest of the Apostles for he doth not say I give unto Thee but I will give unto Thee which Promise was afterwards perform'd and when it was perform'd the Keys or the Power of Binding and Loosing was given not only to St. Peter but also unto all the rest together Go ye saith Jesus Christ Matth. 28. 19. unto all nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And in the twentieth Chapter of St. John he speaks thus Receive ye the holy Ghost whatsoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whatsoever sins ye retain they are retained By these words ye may clearly see that Jesus Christ speaks unto all the Apostles and not to Peter only And so it is evident that St. Peter receives no more Power than the rest of the Apostles I grant that St. Peter may be called the first of the Apostles in the way of reckoning or as it is commonly seen amongst Men who though they be equal do notwithstanding determine one amongst themselves to whom without being greater than the others leave is given to speak first St. Matthew 10. 2. did mean nothing else when he said Now the names of the twelve Apostles are these the first Simon who is called Peter He doth not distinguish him from the others but by the order of counting If he be then the first of the Apostles it is only by the way of reckoning For the Scripture tells us Ephes 2. 20. That the Church is no less builded upon the others than upon him when she saith that the Faithful are builded upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and that there is no other Foundation nor other Head-stone to prop the Church but Jesus Christ on whom the whole Edification is laid He is the chief and principal Foundation all the others are only subalterne and dependent It is then impossible that St. Peter be the Foundation of the Church more than are the other Apostles and consequently have more Authority For as I have already made it appear Jesus Christ spake to all his Disciples gathered together when he said Matth. 18. 18. Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven He sends them all as his Father had sent him He equally makes them his Ambassadors and gives no more Power or Authority to one than to the other Where was Peter's Supremacy or Authority when St. Paul Gal. 2. 11. withstood him to the Face because he was to be blamed And where was Peter's Pre-eminence when in the Council held at Hierusalem where the Apostles were present St. James and not St. Peter did Rule in the Action And when there was a dispute among the Apostles which of them should be accounted the greatest Luke 22. 25. Jesus Christ said unto them The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise authority upon them are called Benefactors but ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve If the greatest ought to be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve what Authority has he over the rest Since then the Pope's Authority over the other Bishops is grounded by the Church of Rome upon St. Peter's Authority over the other Apostles and since St. Peter has no such Authority over them it follows that the Popes have none over the other Bishops This is confirmed by the Popes themselves For John Bishop of Constantinople aiming to be the first and have the Title of Universal Bishop Gregorius Bishop of Rome withstood him and in his 54th Epistle to the Empress speaks thus of him By this Pride and Vanity what is foretold but that the time of Antichrist is at hand and art like Lucifer who making no account of that Happiness he had in common with the whole Army of Angels aspired to a singularity over all the others saying as it is written in Isaiah I will raise my Throne above the stars of Heaven And in 28 Epistle he affirms That whosoever takes the Title of Universal Bishop to himself he cannot be less than Antichrist And St. Hierome ad Evag. saith That the Bishop of Eugubium or any other the least See is equal to the Bishop of Rome For they are all joyned in the same Commission they must serve in the Church and be diligent to discharge that great Charge which their Master Jesus Christ has eaqually laid upon them 3. I say that the Popes have no Power to Depose Kings and Princes from their Thrones and are not above them For the pulling down of Princes God has reserved to himself alone that Power for it is he that putteth down the Mighty from their Seats and Exalteth them of low Degree By me saith he the Kings Reign and Princes bear Dominion He removes Kings and setteth up Kings wherefore since it is God that has this Authority proper to himself which way can the Popes claim it without Injury to the Power of God and to that of Kings whereunto they ought to be submitted They say it is by reason of their Keys as it appears in the Bull of Excommunication which the Pope Sixte the fifth thundered in the year 1585 against Henry King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde wherein he saith That the Authority given to St. Peter and his Successors by the infinite Power of God is above all Powers upon Earth that it belongs to that Authority to cause the Laws to be observ'd and punish the Offenders by pulling them down from their Seats how Powerful soever they be This is the Origine and the Ground of the Popes Authority over all Men and of Deposing Kings and Princes from their Thrones But
they are deceived for they ought to remember that the Keys given were the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and consequently by this Authority of the Keys he cannot meddle with Terrestrial Kingdoms to shut out those that are in them And they ought also to remember that he has no more Authority by the Power of his Keys or of Binding and Loosing than any other Bishop for the Keys were given to all the rest of the Apostles as well as to St. Peter For Christ speaks thus Receive ye the Holy Ghost whosoever Sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosoever Sins ye retain they are retained It is then manifest that it is contrary to the Will of Jesus Christ that any Minister of the Gospel should claim Authority above another for they are all indifferently joyned in one Commission and consequently have all equal Authority And therefore the Pope has no more Authority by the Vertue of his Keys than any other Bishop that is to say none at all to Depose Kings and Princes from their Thrones His Duty is rather to obey them and teach the same Obedience to others as the Apostles of Christ did For in the first Epistle of St. Peter 2. 13. It is Written thus Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Men for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme And St. Paul to the Romans 3. 1. saith Let every Soul be Subject to the higher Powers And Jesus Christ himself said that his Kingdom was not of this World He refused to be made a King he payed Tribute to Caesar and commanded others to do the same If then Christ were Subject to Caesar is it not a great shame to the Pope to exalt himself above Caesar I mean above Kings Some Papists do Answer that he got this Sovereign Authority by Donation from the Emperor Constantine but let it be granted that some Christian Emperor was so foolish as to give his Empire which is neither likely nor credible yet I say it was not Lawful for him to take it if he will be a true Minister of the Gospel or lawful Successor of the Apostles For Christ has expresly forbidden his Apostles and in them all the Ministers of the Gospel all such Dominions when he told them Matth. 20. 26. Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them but it shall not be so among you Which words being prohibitory shew that they must not Reign like Kings of Nations but must serve in the Church and be diligent in the great Charge that Jesus Christ has laid upon them It is then evident by what I have said here before that the Pope has no Authority over Kings and Princes and is not above them This may be seen by these Words of Tertullian in Apolog. We Honour saith he the Emperor as the next Man to God and Inferior to god only And in another place he saith that the King iâ— the second to God the first next after God and before and over all Men. Optatus Cont. Parmen l. 13. saith that there is none above the Emperor but God only which made the Emperor And St. Chrysostome ad Pop. Anthio hom 2. saith He has no equal on Earth And Gregory Bishop of Rome himself affirms that Power is given to Princes from Heaven not only over Souldiers but Priests also Which is confirmed by St. Peter when he saith in his first Epistle 2. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supream It is then evident that the Popes are not Infallible that they have no Authority to Depose Kings and Princes from their Thrones and that they are not above them And therefore that the Church of Rome does add to the Word of God when she holds and teaches such a Doctrine Secondly I say and shall endeavour to make it appear that the Roman Church diminishes from the Word of God several Points of Faith and Practice 1. Because she Prays Sings and gives Thanks to God in the Church in an unknown Tongue 2. Because she forbids the Reading of the Holy Scriptures to the common People 3. Because in the Lord's Supper she takes away the Cup from them and from the Clerks that are not Priests 4. Because she forbids every one to eat Flesh in certain Time and Days and all Priests Monks and Nuns to Marry 1. I say that the Roman Church diminishes from the Word of God when she Prays Sings and gives thanks to God in the Church in a Tongue unknown to the common People For St. Paul will not only have us to speak in the Church with a known Tongue but also he shews the Confusion of them that speak in an unknown Tongues Except Pipe or Harp saith he 1 Cor. 14. give distinction in the sound how shall it be known what is Piped or Harped If the Trumpet gives an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself to the Battle So likewise you except ye utter by the Tongue Words easie to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken For ye shall speak into the Air. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the Voice I shall be unto him that speaketh a Barbarian and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me Object St. Paul saith the Church of Rome thereby speaketh concerning Sermons and consequently doth not speak against her because she Preaches in a known Tongue I answer that St. Paul speaks concerning Prayers Psalms and Thanksgivings If I Pray saith he in an unknown Tongue my Spirit Prayeth but my Understanding is Unfruitful What is it then I will Pray with the Spirit and I will Pray with the Understanding also I will Sing with the Spirit and I will Sing with the Understanding also else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit 〈◊〉 shall â—e that occupyeth the Room of the Unlearned say Amen at thy giving of Thanks seeing he understands not what thou sayest And notwithstanding this Ordinance of St. Paul and the Confusion of them which go against it as it is declared by the Comparisons of the Pipe Harp and Trumpet the Roman Church Prays Sings and gives Thanks in the Church in a Tongue unknown to the common People And though in the Primitive Church all Prayers were made in the vulgar Tongue Linguâ auditoribus non ignotâ omnia peragebantur consuetudo ita ferebat ut tota Ecclesia simul pssalleret And though St. Austin says Deus vult ut quod Canimus intelligamus humana ratione non quasi Avium voce canamus God will have us to understand what we Sing and not be like Parrots which do not understand what they say Yet the Church of Rome doth not obey this Commandment but continue still in that Error The Origine of this Error proceeds from the Popes of Rome who being exalted in an eminent degree of Grandeur could not be contented until they had set up Laws though very irregular and unreasonable and
Tears and did wipe them with the Hairs of her Head and kissed his Feet and Anointed them And what did happen unto her She heard Christ saying thy Sins which are many are forgiven What happened to David and Mary Magdalen will certainly befall us if we do imitate them in their Repentance Though your Sins be as Scarlet saith the Prophet Isaiah they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as white as wool Secondly Repentance is useful because thereby we obtain the Grace of God Indeed there is nothing more advantageous to Man than God's Grace For thereby we are made the Children of God not by Nature but by Adoption Thereby we are made Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. And thereby we are made Partakers of all the Treasures and Riches which are found in the Kingdom of Heaven It is then certain that by Repentance we obtain the Grace of God For according to all Divines it is a Motion from Sin unto Grace In a Motion there are two ways the way whence we depart and that which we go to The way whence we depart and which we forsake is Sin and that which we go to and which we obtain is Grace The Publican whom it is spoken of in St. Luke 18. 3. Does verifie the Truth of my Proposition He comes unjust into the Temple and standing afar off would not lift up so much as his Eyes unto Heaven but smote upon his Breast saying God be merciful unto me a Sinner and he obtained Grace for he went down to his House justified Is any one of us a Swearer or Drunkard Slanderer Proud or given to any other Vice He has lost the Grace of God Is he willing to recover it Let him humble himself before God let him fall upon his Knees let him sigh weep confess his Sins Repent of them and like the Publican let him smite upon his Breast and say God be merciful to me a Sinner and then he will recover the Grace of God and go into his Cabine justified Thirdly Repentance is useful because therein consists the Salvation of all Men. Man was lost twice First by the original Sin which is nothing but the Crime of Adam and called ours because our Will was inclosed in his Secondly by personal or actual Sin so called because it was committed by our own Will The Sacrament of Baptism according to the common opinion was ordered by Jesus Christ to save Mankind from that first Ship-wrack and Repentance was Established by God to save them from the second Therefore it is called the second plank after Ship-wrack and for that Reason therein consists the Salvation of all Men. Certainly we cannot hope to be Saved without that most excellent and necessary Virtue If all the Angels and Saints in Heaven would pray for the Salvation of an unrepenting Soul their Prayers would be vain and without any good Effect And Jesus Christ himself saith Thomas Aquinas cannot make happy and save an unrepenting Soul ut sic that is whilst she remains in Sin for there is a contradiction between to be happy and remain in Sin between to be saved and to be unrepenting Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Therefore by a contrary consequence if ye repent ye shall be saved and therefore in a true and sincere Repentance consists the Salvation of all Men. Dear Friends have mercy upon your Souls be careful to preserve them for they are infinitely more to be valued than all the things in the World besides because they are made after the Image of God For it was God that breathed into Man the Breath of Life as ye may read in the 2. Ch. of Genesis Now God being of the greatest excellency the more any thing is like him the more it is to be valued But it is certain that no Creature upon Earth is at all like God but the Soul of Man and therefore nothing ought to have so much of your care As for your Bodies ye ought to imploy them for His Majesty's Service for the defence of your Country for the maintainance of your Wives and Children for the Glory of your Nation and for the preservation of your Properties and Liberties and especially of your Religion which ought to be dearer to you than your Lives ye ought not to be afraid to be wounded nor even to be killed for it is appointed to all men once to die and there is nothing more glorious than to die for these aforesaid considerations Horatius Scevola and several others brave and generous Men so much renowned in the Roman History did willingly give their Lives for the Service of their Princes and for the preservation of their Country I speak only of your Souls and of the great care ye are to take of them for if ye once lose them they are lost for ever If ye had two Souls in losing one ye could save the other but ye have but one and if ye be so unhappy as to lose it this loss cannot be recovered I grant ye cannot lose your Souls in one sense that is so lose them that they shall cease to be but ye may lose them in another that is ye may lose that happy Estate to which they were created and plunge them into the extremest misery In a word ye may lose them in Hell whence there is no fetching them back and so they are lost for ever Take then care of your Souls at least as much as ye do of your Bodies For when your Bodies are out of Order as soon as ye are sick or wounded presently ye call for the Physician and Surgeon But when your Souls are sick wounded by Sin and infected with several spiritual Distempers ye do not care to cure them by repenting of your Sins Nevertheless if ye do not repent ye shall perish for ever ye look upon Death as if it was very far from you and perhaps at this very moment in one of these Ships that are here at anchor there is some body dead without repenting of his Sins and if so his Soul is lost for ever Think seriously of this and make a good use of this first instruction I give you to day obey the exhortations threatnings and commandments of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer Behold saith St. Austin with what care and diligence an unhappy Lover obeys his Mistresses Commandments He had rather disoblige every body than displease her The only thing he fears is to hear these dreadful words be gone I will see thee no more A naughty Woman saith I will see thee no more if thou doest not what I command thee and that frights him so much that he is forced to obey And Jesus Christ who gave his life for our Salvation saith unto us if ye do not repent of your Sins ye shall be separated from my face ye shall eternally perish and be cast into Hell-fire for ever and we will not obey Are we
not afraid to hear him saying Be gone I will see you no more depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels That we may not hear these terrible and dreadful words let us obey Jesus Christ and repent of our Sins for except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish The End of the First Sermon Second Sermon against Swearing Above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation James 5. 12. IF any Man offends not in Words saith St. James the same is a perfect Man and able also to bridle the whole Body Behold we put Bridles in the Horses Mouth that they may obey us and we turn about their whole Body Behold also the Ships which though they be so great and driven of fierce Winds yet are they turned about with a very small Helm whether soever the Governour listeth Even so the Tongue is a little Member and boasts great things behold how great a matter a little Fire kindles and the Tongue is a Fire a World of Iniquity it is an unruly Evil full of deadly Poison therewith we bless God and therewith we curse Men made after the Similitude of God out of the same Mouth proceeds Blessing and Cursing Divine Providence confined us together within the narrow Limits of a Ship wherein we have time enough to edifie one another by our Tongues God does daily present us with several Subjects of Godly Discourse for how many Experiences of extraordinary Mercies and Preservations have we to relate one to another and bless the Lord for What Heavenly Imployment is there for our Tongues We should call upon one another and say as David come hither and I will tell you what God has done for my Soul at such a time and in such an extremity We should call upon one another to pay the Vows our Lips have uttered in our Distress Thus we should provoke one another as one lively Bird sets the whole Flock a Chearping But if a Man should come aboard and ask of us as Christ did of these two Disciples going to Emmaus what manner of Communication is this that ye have in your Ship one with another What sad account would he have from most of us It may be he should find one Jesting another Swearing another reviling Godliness and even the Professors of it This is the case with most of Seamen I say most of Seamen for there are some mongst them that live Soberly and Godly and know how to rule their Tongues Above all things my Brethren Swear not neither by Heaven neither by the Earth neither by any other Oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation These words will give me occasion to shew you two things which shall make the two parts of my Discourse that there are two sorts of Oaths or Swearing one Lawful whereby God is Glorified and which sometimes we ought to make use of and another Profane whereby â—od is highly offended and which we ought to avoid The lawful Oath will be the first part of my Discourse and the Profane will be the second First Part An Oath is an Invocation to God or an Appeal to him as a Witness of the Truth of what we say So that in case that which we Swear be not True we if not expresly at least virtually invoke God as a Judge and Avenger There are two sorts of Oaths one Assertory and the other Promissory an Assertory Oath is when we Swear and Certifie that that thing which is in question is so as we say and a Promissory Oath is when we promise by Oath some thing that is future and if our Promise be made directly and immediately to God 't is called a Vow if to a Man an Oath This being supposed and very true I say with Dr. Tollotson late Archbishop of Canterbury that an Oath is not only Lawful but also is sometimes necessary as when Men's Estates are concerned and no Evidence can be had to decide and clear the matter but what is assured by Oath Then it is necessary to make an end of and decide the Controversie as it appears by these Words of St. Paul in the sixth Chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews an Oath saith he for Confirmation is an end of Strife And its Lawfulness appears by several Texts of the Holy Scripture wherein God who is Truth it self and cannot lye and consequently might be believed of Men upon his bare Word and without necessity of making an Oath yet to confirm his Promises is willing to take it For when God made his promises to Abraham because he could not swear by a greater he swore by himself God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath Heb. 6. 17. Therefore if God himself Swears and takes an Oath why shall it not be Lawful to Men to take an Oath in dubious Matters and of great Concerns and when no Evidence can be had to decide and clear them Was not Mephibosheth spared because of the Lord's Oath that was between them between David and Jonathan the Son of Saul as ye may read 2 Sam. 21. 17. Did not the Law of Moses in many cases require them Does not Moses make use of them when he speaks thus I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over Jordan to possess it Does not St. Paul use them oftentimes As when he saith God is my Witness I call God for a Record upon my Soul before God I lie not which Oath St. Paul who was to teach the Precepts of Christ to others should not have used if they had been unlawful and forbidden in the Holy Scriptures And Christ himself as we may Read in the 26th Chap. of St. Matthew did not refuse it when the High Priest asked him to answer upon his Oath whether he was the Son of God I adjure thee saith the High Priest by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God And Jesus said unto him thou hast said Therefore since Jesus Christ himself does Answer when he is adjured upon Oath and St. Paul oftentimes called God to witness for the Confirmation of what he saith seeing David and several others in the Old Testament and God himself who cannot give us a bad Example used it for the Confirmation of his Promises it is a clear and evident Sign that it is Lawful and that we are to explain these Words of St. Matthew swear not at all as also those of my Text above all things my brethren swear not They ought to be interpreted not generally but in a limited Sense as only forbidding Swearing in common Conversation and in our ordinary Commerce and