this Blessed State of Good Men in another World so hath he likewise assur'd us that greater Degrees of this Happiness shall be the Portion of Those who suffer for Him and his Truth Mat. 5. 10 11 12. Blessed are they which are persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you falsly for my Names sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven And nothing surely can be more Reasonable than to part with things of Small Value for things infinitely Greater and more Considerable to forego the Transient Pleasures and Enjoyments and the Imperfect Felicities of this World for the Solid and Perfect and Perpetual Happiness of a Better Life and to exchange a Short and Miserable Life for Eternal Life and Blessedness in a word to be content to be driven Home to be banisht out of this World into our own Native Country and to be violently thrust out of this Vale of Tears into those Regions of Bliss where are Joys unspeakable and full of Glory This Consideration St. Paul tells us supported the Primitive Christians under their sharpest and heaviest Sufferings 2 Cor. 4. 16. For this cause says he we faint not because 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 the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal So that our Sufferings bear no more Proportion to the Reward of them than Finite does to Infinite than Temporal to Eternal between which there is no Proportion All that now remains is to draw some useful Inferences from what hath been Discoursed concerning this great and difficult Duty of Self-denial for the sake of Christ and his Religion and they shall be these following 1. To acknowledg the great Goodness of God to us that all these Laws and Commands even the Hardest and Severest of them are so reasonable God as he is our Maker and gave us our Beings hath an Entire and Soveraign Right over us and by virtue of that Right might have imposed very Hard things upon us and this without the giving Account to us of any of his matters and without propounding any Reward to us so vastly disproportionable to our Obedience to him But in giving Laws to us he hath not made use of this Right The most Severe and Rigorous Commands of the Gospel are such that we shall be infinitely Gainers by our Obedience to them If we deny our selves any thing in this World for Christ and his Religion we shall in the next be considered for it to the Utmost not only far beyond what it can Deserve but beyond what we can Conceive or Imagine For this perishing Life and the transitory Trifles and Enjoyments of it we shall receive a Kingdom which cannot be shaken an uncorruptible Crown which fadeth not away Eternal in the Heavens For these are Faithful Sayings and we shall Infallibly find them true That if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him if we be persecuted for righteousness sake great shall be our reward in Heaven if we part with our Temporal Life we shall be made Partakers of Eternal Life He that is firmly persuaded of the Happiness of the next World and believes the Glory which shall then be revealed hath no Reason to be so much offended at the Sufferings of this Present time so long as he knows and believes that these Light afflictions which are but for a Moment will work for him a for more Exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory 2. Seeing this is required of every Christian to be always in a Preparation and Disposition of Mind to deny our selves and to take up our Cross if we do in good earnest resolve to be Christians we ought to fit down and consider well with our selves what our Religion will cost us and whether we be content to come up to the Price of it If we value any thing in this World above Christ and his Truth we are not worthy of him If it come to this that we must either renounce Him and his Religion or quit our temporal Interests if we be not ready to forego these nay and to part even with Life it self rather than to forsake Him and his Truth we are not worthy of him These are the Terms of our Christianity and therefore we are required in Baptism solemnly to renounce the World And our Saviour from this very Consideration infers That all who take upon them the Profession of his Religion should consider seriously beforehand and count the cost of it Luke 14. 28. Which of you says he intending to build a Tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it Or what King going to war with another King doth not sit down and consult whether with 10000 he be able to meet him that cometh against him with 20000. So likewise whosoever he be that forsaketh not all he hath cannot be my Disciple You see the Terms upon which we are Christians we must always be prepared in the Resolution of our Minds to deny our selves and take up our Cross tho we are not Actually put upon this Tryal 3. What hath been said is matter of great Comfort and Encouragement to all those who deny themselves and suffer upon so good an Account of whom God knows there are too great a Number at this Day in several parts of the World Some under actual Sufferings such as cannot but move Compassion and Horror in all that hear of them Others who are fled hither and into other Countries for Refuge and Shelter from one of the sharpest Persecutions that perhaps ever was if all the Circumstances of it be duly considered But not to enlarge upon so unpleasant a Theam they who suffer for the Truth and Righteousness sake have all the Comfort and Encouragement that the best Example and the greatest and most glorious Promises of God can give They have the best Example in their view Jesus the Author and Finisher of their Faith who endured the Cross and despised the Shame So that how great and terrible soever their Sufferings be they do but tread in the Steps of the Son of God and of the best and holiest Man that ever was and He who is their great Example in Suffering will likewise be their Support and their exceeding great Reward So that tho Suffering for Christ be accounted great Self-denyal and he is graciously pleased so to accept it because in denying things Present and Sensible for things Future and Invisible we do not only declare our Affection to him but our great Faith and Confidence in him by shewing that we rely upon his Word and venture all upon the Security which he offers us in
names sake by all which it appears that this Self-denyal which our Saviour here requires of his Disciples is to be extended no farther than to a readiness and willingness when ever God shall call us to it to quit all our Temporal Interests and Enjoyments and even Life it self the dearest of all other and to submit to any Temporal inconvenience and suffering for his sake And thus much for the Explication of the Precept here in the Text. I proceed in the Third Place to consider the strict and indispensible Obligation of this Precept of Self-denyal and suffering for Christ and his Truth rather than to forsake and renounce them If any man will come after me or be my Disciple let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me that is upon these Terms he must be my Disciple in this manner he must follow me and in the Text I mention'd before he declares again that he that is not ready to quit all his Relations and even Life it self for his sake is not worthy of him and cannot be his Disciple and whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple so that we cannot be the Disciples of Christ nor be worthy to be called by his Name if we be not ready thus to deny our selves for his sake And not only so but if for fear of the Cross or of any temporal sufferings we should renounce and deny him he threatens to deny us before his Father which is in Heaven i. e. to deprive us of Eternal Life and to Sentence us to Everlasting Misery Matth. 10. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men him will I confess before my father which is in Heaven But whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my father which is in Heaven And Mark 8. 38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with his holy Angels that is when he cometh to Judge the World they shall not be able to stand in that Judgment for that by his being ashamed of them is meant that they shall be condemned by him is plain from what goes before V. 26 27. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul and then it follows Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words But because some have had the Confidence to tell the World that our Saviour doth not require thus much of Christians but all that he obligeth us to is to believe in him in our Hearts but not to make any outward Profession of his Religion when the Magistrate forbids it and we are in danger of suffering for it I shall therefore briefly examine what is pretended for so strange an Assertion and so directly contrary to the whole Tenor of the Gospel and to the express Words of our Saviour The Author of the Book called the Leviathan tells us That we are not only not bound to confess Christ but we are obliged to deny him in case the Magistrate require us so to do His Words are these What if the Soveraign forbid us to believe in Christ He answers Such forbidding is of no effect because Belief and Vnbelief never follows Mens Commands But what says he if we be commanded by our lawful Prince to say with our Tongues we believe not must we obey such Commands To this he answers That Profession with the Tongue is but an External thing and no more than any other Gesture whereby we signifie our Obedience and wherein a Christian holding firmly in his Heart the Faith of Christ hath the same Liberty which the Prophet Elisha allowed to Naaman But what then says he shall I answer to our Saviour saying Whosoever denieth me before Men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven His Answer is This we may say that whatsoever a Subject is compell'd to in obedience to his Soveraign and does it not in order to his own Mind but the Law of his Country the Action is not his but his Soveraign's nor is it he that in this Case denies Christ before Men but his Governour and the Laws of his Country But can any Man that in good earnest pays any degree of Reverence to our Blessed Saviour and his Religion think to baffle such plain Words by so frivolous an Answer There is no Man doubts but if the Magistrate should command Men to deny Christ he would be guilty of a great Sin in so doing but if we must obey God rather than Men and every Man must give an account of himself to God how will this excuse him that denies Christ or breaks any other Commandment of God upon the Command of the Magistrate And to put the matter out of all doubt that our Saviour forbids all that will be his Disciples upon pain of Damnation to deny him tho the Magistrate should command them to do so it is very observable that in that very place where he speaks of confessing or denying him before Men he puts this very Case of their being brought before Kings and Governours for confessing him Matth. 10. 17. Beware says he of Men for they will deliver you up to the Council and they will scourge you in their Synagogues and ye shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my sake for a testimony against them and the Gentiles But what Testimony would this be against them if Christians were bound to deny Christ at their Command But our Saviour goes on and tells them how they ought to demean themselves when they were brought before Kings and Governours v. 19. But when they shall deliver you up take ye no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in that very hour what ye shall speak But what need of any such extraordinary Assistance in the case if they had nothing to do but to deny him when they were required by the Magistrate to do it And then proceeding in the same Discourse he bids them v. 28. Not to fear them that can kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do that is not to deny him for fear of any Temporal Punishment or Suffering the Magistrate could inflict upon them but to fear and obey him who can destroy Body and Soul in Hell And upon this Discourse our Saviour concludes v. 32 33. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in Heaven but whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven And now can any thing be plainer than that our Saviour requires his Disciples to make Confession of him before Kings and Governours and not to deny him for fear of any thing which they can do
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
Virtues doth in its own Nature tend both to the Welfare of Particular Persons and to the Peace and Prosperity of Mankind But that which ought to weigh very much with us is That we have abundantly more Assurance of the Recompence of another World than we have of many things in this World which yet have a greater Influence upon our Actions and govern the Lives of the most prudent and considerate Men. Men generally hazard their Lives and Estates upon Terms of greater Uncertainty than the Assurance which we have of another World Men venture to take Physick upon probable Grounds of the Integrity and Skill of their Physician and yet the want of either of these may hazard their Lives and Men take Physick upon greater Odds for it certainly causeth Pain and Sickness and doth but uncertainly procure and recover Health the Patient is sure to be made sick but not certain to be made well and yet the Danger of being worse if not of dying on the one Hand and the Hope of Success and Recovery on the other make this Hazard and Trouble reasonable Men venture their whole Estates to Places which they never saw and that there are such Places they have only the concurrent Testimony and Agreement of Men nay perhaps have only spoken with them that have spoken with those that have been there No Merchant ever insisted upon the Evidence of a Miracle to be wrought to satisfie him that there were such Places as the East and West-Indies before he would venture to Trade thither And yet this Assurance God hath been pleased to give the World of a state beyond the Grave and of a blessed Immortality in another Life Now what can be the Reason that so slender Evidence so small a degree of Assurance will serve to encourage Men to seek after the things of this World with great Care and Industry and yet a great deal more will not suffice to put them effectually upon looking after the great Concernments of another World which are infinitely more considerable No other Reason of this can be given but that Men are partial in their Affections towards these things It is plain they have not the same Love for God and Religion which they have for this World and the Advantages of it and therefore it is that a less degree of Assurance will engage them to seek after the one than the other and yet the Reason is much stronger on the other side For the greater the Benefit and Good is which is offered to us we should be the more eager to seek after it and should be content to venture upon less Probability Upon excessive Odds a Man would venture upon very small Hopes for a mighty Advantage a Man would be content to run a great Hazard of his Labour and Pains upon little Assurance Where a Man's Life is concern'd every Suspicion of Danger will make a Man careful to avoid it And will nothing affright Men from Hell unless God carry them thither and shew them the place of Torments and the Flames of that Fire which shall never be quenched I do not speak this as if these things had not abundant Evidence I have shewn that they have but to convince Men how unreasonable and cruelly partial they are about the Concernments of their Souls and their Eternal Happiness 2. Supposing these things to be real and certain they are of infinite Concernment to us For what can concern us more than that Eternal and Unchangeable State in which we must be fixt and abide for ever If so vast a Concern will not move us and have no Influence upon the Government of our Lives and Actions we do not deserve the Name of Reasonable Creatures What Consideration can be set before Men who are not touched with the Sense of so great an Interest as that of our Happy or Miserable Being to all Eternity Can we be so solicitous and careful about the Concernment of a few Days and is it nothing to us what becomes of us for ever Are we so tenderly concerned to avoid Poverty and Disgrace Persecution and Suffering in this World and shall we not much more flee from the wrath which is to come and endeavour to escape the damnation of Hell Are the slight and transitory Enjoyments of this World worth so much Thought and Care And is an Eternal Inheritance in the Heavens not worth the looking after As there is no Proportion betwixt the things which are Temporal and the things which are Eternal so we ought in all Reason to be infinitely more concerned for the One than for the Other The proper Inference from all this Discourse is That we would endeavour to strengthen in our selves this great Principle of a Christian Life the Belief of another World by representing to our selves all those Arguments and Considerations which may confirm us in this Perswasion The more reasonable our Faith is and the surer grounds it is built upon the more firm it will abide when it comes to the tryal against all the impressions of temptations and assaults of Persecution If our Faith of another World be only a strong imagination of these things so soon as tribulation ariseth it will wither because it hath no root in it self Upon this account the Apostle so often exhorts Christians to endeavour to be establisht in the Truth to be rooted and grounded in the Faith that when Persecution comes they may continue stedfast and unmovable The firmness of our Belief will have a great influence upon our Lives if we be stedfast and unmovable in our perswasion of these things we shall be abundant in the work of the Lord. The Apostle joins these together 1 Cor. 15. 58. Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Stedfast and unmovable in what In the belief of a blessed Resurrection which the more firmly any Man believes the more active and industrious will he be in the Work and Service of God And that our Faith may have a constant and powerful influence upon our Lives we should frequently revolve in our Minds the thoughts of another World and of that vast Eternity which we shall shortly launch into The great disadvantage of the Arguments fetcht from another world is this That these things are at a distance from us and not sensible to us and therefore we are not apt to be so affected with them Present and sensible things weigh down all other Considerations And therefore to balance this disadvantage we should often have these Thoughts in our Minds and inculcate upon our selves the certainty of these things and the infinite concernment of them we should reason thus with our selves if these things be true and will certainly be why should they not be to me as if they were actually present Why should not I always live as if Heaven were open to my view and I saw
another World yet according to a right Estimate of things and to those who walk by Faith and not by Sight this which we call Self-denyal is in truth and reality but a more commendable sort of Self-love because we do herein most effectually consult and secure and advance our own Happiness 4. And Lastly Since God hath been pleased for so long a time to excuse us from this hardest part of Self-denyal let us not grudge to deny our selves in lesser Matters for the sake of his Truth and Religion to miss a good Place or to quit it upon that account much less let us think much to renounce our Vices and to thwart our evil Inclinations for his sake As Naaman's Servant said to him concerning the means prescribed by the Prophet for his Cure If he had bid thee do some Great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much more when he hath only said Wash and be clean So since God imposeth no harder Terms upon us than Repentance and Reformation of our Lives we should gladly and thankfully submit to them This I know is difficult to some to mortifie their earthly Members to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts of it 't is like cutting off a right Hand and plucking out a right Eye Some are so strongly addicted to their Lusts and Vices that they could with more ease despise Life in many cases than thus Deny themselves But in Truth there is no more of Self-denyal in it than a Man denies himself when he is mortally Sick and Wounded in being content to be Cured and willing to be Well This is not at all to our Temporal Prejudice and Inconvenience and it directly conduceth to our Eternal Happiness for there is no Man that lives a holy and virtuous Life and in Obedience to the Laws of God that can lightly receive any Prejudice by it in this World Since God doth not call us to Suffer we should Do so much the more for him Since he doth not put us to testifie our Love to him by laying down our Lives for him we should shew it by a greater Care to keep his Commandments God was pleased to exercise the first Christians with great Sufferings and to try their Love and Constancy to him and his Truth in a very Extraordinary manner by Severity and Contempt by the spoiling of their Goods and the loss of all things by bonds and imprisonments by cruel mockings and scourgings by the extremity of torments and by resisting even unto blood by being kill'd for his sake all the day long and appointed as Sheep for the slaughter God was pleased to make their way to Heaven very sharp and painful and to hedge it in as it were with thorns on every side so that they could not but through many tribulations enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus we ought all to be in a Readiness and Resolution to submit to this Duty if God should think fit at any time of our Lives to call us to it But if he be pleased to excuse us from it and to let this Cup pass from us which may lawfully be our earnest Prayer to God since we have so good a Pattern for it there will be another Duty incumbent upon us which will take up the whole Man and the whole time of our Life and that is to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives A SERMON PREACHED At Whitehall before the Family Nov. 1. 1686. HEB. XI 13. And confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on 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 were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth THE Apostle having declared at the latter end of the foregoing Chapter that Faith is the great Principle whereby Good Men are acted and whereby they are supported under all the Evils and Sufferings of this Life Verse 38. Now the Just shall live by Faith In this Chapter he makes it his main business to set forth to us at large the Force and Power of Faith and to this Purpose he first tells us what kind of Faith he means viz. a firm Persuasion of things not Present and Visible to Sense but Invisible and Future Ver. 1. Now Faith saith he is the confident expectation of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Faith represents to us the Reality of things which are Invisible to Sense as the Existence of God and his Providence and of things which are at a great distance from us as the Future State of Rewards and Punishments in another World And then he proceeds to shew by particular and famous Instances that the firm Belief and Persuasion of these things was the great Principle of the Piety and Virtue of the Saints and and Good Men in all Ages of the World by this Abel and Enoch and Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob Joseph and Moses and all the Famous Heroes of the Old Testament obtained a good Report and pleased God and did all those eminent Acts of Obedience and Self-denyal which are recorded of them They believed the Being of God and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him They dreaded his Threatnings and relyed upon his Promises of Future and Invisible Good things They lived and died in a full Persuasion and Confidence of the Truth of them tho they did not live to see them actually fulfilled and accomplisht All these saith he speaking of those Eminent Saints which he had instanced in before All these died in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them This is spoken with a more particular regard to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to whom the Promises of the Conquest and Possession of a Fruitful Land were made and of a Numerous Offspring among whom should be the Messias in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed These Promises they did not live to see accomplisht and made good in their Days but they heartily believed them and rejoiced in the Hope and Expectation of them as if they had embraced them in their Arms and been put into the actual Possession of them And they confessed that they were Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth This Saying and Acknowledgment more particularly and immediately refers to those Sayings of the Patriarchs Abraham and Jacob which we find recorded Gen. 23. 4. where Abraham says to the Sons of Heth I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with you And Gen. 47. 9. where Jacob says to Pharaoh The days of the years of my Pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years few and evil have the days of the years of my Life been These Good Men were Strangers and Sojourners in a Land which was promised to be theirs afterwards They dwelt in it themselves as Strangers but
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
and Terrors of Sense Our Faith and Hope have not their due and proper Influence upon us if they do not govern our Lives and Actions and make us stedfast in the Profession of our Holy Religion and in the Conscientious Practice of it St. Paul reason'd himself into this Holy Resolution from the Hopes of a blessed Resurrection Acts 24. 15 16. I have Hope says he toward God that there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Vnjust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause therefore I exercise my self always to have a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men. VI. And Lastly If we be Sojourners and Travellers in this World we should often think of our End and carefully mind the Way to it Our End is Everlasting Happiness and the direct Way to it is by a constant and sincere and universal Obedience to the Laws and Commandments of God And this in it self is so plain a way that a sincere and honest Man can hardly err in it And therefore we must not suffer our selves to be led and trained out of it upon any Pretence whatsoever not by the Wild-fire of pretended Illuminations and Enthusiasms nor by the confident Pretence of an Infallible Guide that will needs shew us another way and perswade us to follow him blindfold in it Let us not quit the Infallible Rule of God's Word to follow any Guide whatsoever If an Apostle or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Doctrine and Way to Heaven let him be accursed He who is the Way and the Truth and the Life when he was consulted with about the Way to Eternal Happiness knew no other but this For when the Young Man ask'd him Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit Eternal Life His Answer was If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments 'T is true indeed that by reason of our corrupt Inclinations within and powerful Temptations without this Way especially at our first setting out is rugged and difficult So our Lord hath forewarned us telling us That strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way that leadeth to Life and that there be few that find it Therefore we should strive to enter in take great Care and Pains to discern the Right Way and to overcome the Difficulties of our first Entrance into it and should often pray to God as David did 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 Thus if we would always have our End in our Eye it would both be a Direction to us in our Way and an Encouragement to quicken our Pace in it there being no more powerful Motive to a good Life than to be assured that if we have our Fruit unto Holiness our End shall be Everlasting Life FINIS ERRATA PAge 16. l. 26. r. Complement p. 28. l. 6. r. Nathanael p. 63. l. 20. after so dele p. 78. l. 19. r. Providence p. 80. l. 4. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 88. l. 11. after Comparison put p. 97. l. 26. r. farther p. 98. l. 16. r. fared p. 104. l. 15. r. established p. 110. l. ult dele p. 130. l. 15. r. sleight p. 142. l. 13. r. against p. 292. l. 1. r. infinitely p. 295. l. 18. after Confession dele p. 298. l. 24. after World put l. ult after Men put a Full Point p. 299. l. 21. r. distrust p. 303. l. 9. after God put l. 11. after us put a Full Point p. 313. l. 8. r. sufficiently p. 426. l. 7. r. goes off BOOKS Printed for Richard Chiswell DR THOMAS TENISON now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his Sermon concerning Discretion in giving Alms. 1668. His Sermon against Self-love before the House of Commons 1689. His Sermon of doing Good to Posterity before Their Majesties 1690. His Sermon concerning the Wandring of the Mind in God's Service before the Queen Feb. 15. 1690. His Sermon of the Folly of Atheism before the Queen Feb. 22. 1690. His Sermon preached at the Anniversary Meeting of the Clergy-mens Sons Decemb. 3. 1691. His Sermon concerning the Celestial Body of a Christian before the Queen on Easter-Day 1694. His Sermon concerning Holy Resolution before the King at Kensington Decemb. 30. 1694 on Psal. 119. 106. His Sermon at the Funeral of the Queen in the Abby-Church in Westminster March 5. 1694 5. Dr. BVRNET Lord Bishop of Sarum his Discourse of the Pastoral Care 8vo His Four Discourses delivered to the Clergy of the Diocess of Sarum Concerning I. The Truth of the Christian Religion II. The Divinity and Death of Christ. III. The Infallibility and Authority of the Church IV. The Obligations to continue in the Communion of the Church 8vo 1694. His Sermon at the Funeral of Archbishop Tillotson 1694. His Sermon Preach'd before the King at St. James's Chappel on the 10th of February 1694 5 being the first Sunday in Lent on 2 Cor. 6. 1. Dr. PATRICK now Lord Bishop of Ely his Hearts-Ease or a Remedy against all Troubles With a Consolatory Discourse particularly directed to those who have lost their Friends and Relations To which is added two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The sixth Edition corrected 12mo 1695. His Answer to a Book spread abroad by the Romish Priests Intituled The Touch-Stone of the Reformed Gospel wherein the true Doctrine of the Church of England and many Texts of the Holy Scripture are faithfully explained 8vo 1692. His Eight several occasional Sermons since the Revolution 4to His Exposition of the Ten Commandments 8vo A Vindication of their Majesty's Authority to fill the Sees of deprived Bishops In a Letter occasioned by Dr. B 's refusal of the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells 4to Rushworth's Historical Collections The Third Part in Two Volumes Containing the Principal Matters which happened from the meeting of the Parliament Nov. 3. 1640. to the end of the Year 1644. Wherein is a particular Account of the Rise and Progress of the Civil War to that Period Fol. 1692. The Letters of the Reverend Father Paul Counsellor of State to the most Serene Republick of Venice and Author of the Excellent History of the Council of Trent 1693. An Impartial History of the late Wars of Ireland In Two Parts From the time that Duke Schomberg landed with an Army in that Kingdom to the 23d of March 1692. when their Majesty's Proclamation was published declaring the War to be ended Illustrated with Copper Sculptures describing the most important Places of Action Written by George Story an Eye-witness of the most remarkable Passages 4to 1693. Dr. John Conant's Sermons Publish'd by Dr. Williams 1693. 8vo Of the Government of the Thoughts The Second Edition By Geo. Tully Sub-Dean of York 8vo 1694. Origo Legum Or A Treatise of the Origine of Laws and their Obliging Power as also of their great Variety and why some Laws are immutable and some not but may suffer change or cease to be or be suspended or abrogated In Seven Books By George Dawson Fol. 1694. A brief Discourse concerning the Lawfulness of Worshipping God by the Common-Prayer in Answer to a Book intituled A Brief Discourse of the Vnlawfulness of Common-Prayer-Worship By John Williams D. D. 4to 1694. A true Representation of the absurd and mischievous Principles of the Sect commonly known by the Name of Muggletonians 4to 1694. Memoirs of the most Reverend THOMAS CRANMER Archbishop of Canterbury Wherein the History of the Church and the Reformation of it during the Primacy of the said Archbishop are greatly illustrated and many singular Matters relating thereunto now first published In Three Books Collected chiefly from Records Registers Authentick Letters and other Original Manuscripts By John Strype M. A. Fol. 1694. A Commentary on the First Book of Moses called Genesis By the Right Reverend Father in God Simon Lord Bishop of Ely 4to 1695. The History of the Troubles and Tryal of the Most Reverend Father in God WILLIAM LAVD Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Wrote by himself during his Imprisonment in the Tower To which is prefixed the Diary of his own Life faithfully and entirely published from the Original Copy And subjoyned a Supplement to the preceding History the Arch-Bishop's Last Will His Large Answer to the Lord Say's Speech concerning Liturgies His Annual Accounts of his Province deliver'd to the King and some other Things relating to the History Publish'd by Henry Wharton Chaplain to Archbishop Sancroft Fol. The Possibility and Expediency and Necessity of Divine Revelation A Sermon preach'd at St. Martin's in the Fields January 7. 1694 5. at the beginning of the Lecture for the ensuing Year Founded by the Honourable Rob. Boyle Esq by John Williams D. D. The Certainty of Divine Revelation being his Second Sermon preach'd at the said Lecture Feb. 4. 1695. His Vindication of the Sermons of his Grace John Archbishop of Canterbury concerning the Divinity and Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour and of the Lord Bishop of Worcester's Sermon on the Mysteries of the Christian Faith from the Exceptions of a late Socinian Book Intituled Considerations on the Explications of the Doctrine of the Trinity To which is annexed a Letter from the Lord Bishop of Sarum to the Author of the said Vindication on the same Subject 1695. 4to Historia de Episcopis Decanis Londinensibus necnon de Episcopis Decanis Assavensibus à prima utriusque fundatione ad Annum MDXL. Accessit Appendix instrumentorum quorundam insignium duplex Autore Henrico Whartono A. M. 8vo 1695. An Essay on the Memory of the late QUEEN By Gilbert Bishop of Sarum 8vo Advertisement THere will be published several Sermons and Discourses of the most Reverend Dr. JOHN TILLOTSON late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury by order of his Administratrix faithfully transcribed from his own Papers by Dr. Ralph Barker Chaplain to his Grace Which are disposed of to Richard Chiswell and his Assigns If any Person Print any others except those published in the Author's Life-time they are to be look'd upon as Spurious and False And the Publishers will be proceeded against according to Law