both There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men that is there is but one God and one Mediator But then they of the Church of Rome endeavour to avoid this plain Text by distinguishing between a Mediator of Redemption and a Mediator of Intercession But now if Christ's Mediation by way of Intercession be founded in the Virtue of his Redemption then if there be but one Mediator of Redemption then there is but one Mediator of Intercession in Heaven for us There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransome for all So that the Power and Prevalency of his Intercession is founded in his Ransome that is the Price of our Redemption in virtue whereof alone he intercedes with God for us as the Apostle to the Hebrews does most plainly assert So that all other Intercessors in Heaven for us are excluded from offering and presenting our Prayers to God besides our High Priest who is at the right hand of God and lives for ever to make intercession for us and by virtue of his Intercession is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him that is who put up their Prayers to God in the alone Virtue of his Mediation So that as there is no need of any other if his Intercession be available to save to the uttermost So there is great danger in applying to any other whether Saint or Angel or even the Blessed Virgin if the benefit of his Innercession be limited to those who come to God by him And thus I have shewn by what means Christ is the Author of our Salvation which was the first thing I propos'd to be consider'd I proceed to the Second thing I proposed to enquire into namely what Obedience the Gospel requires as a Condition and is pleased to accept as a Qualification in those who hope for Eternal Salvation And this I shall explain first Negatively and then Positively 1 st Negatively It is not a mere outward profession of the Christian Religion and owning of Christ for our Lord and Law-giver that will be accepted in this case Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord saith our Saviour shall enter into the Kingdom of God By which we may very reasonably understand all that profession of Religion which falls short of Obedience and a Holy Life as the profession of Faith in Christ being baptized into his Name and Religion the mere belief of his Doctrine and the ownig of him for our Lord and Saviour no nor the external Worship of him and profession of Subjection to him by Prayer and hearing his Word and communicating in the Holy Sacrament No though this be set off in the most glorious manner by prophesying and working Miracles in his Name for so it follows in the next words Many shall say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name have done many wondrous works We have eat and drank in thy presence and have heard thee preach in our Streets But he tells us that nothing of all this without Obedience to his Laws will be sufficient to gain us admission into Heaven 2 dly Positively That which God requires as a Condition and will accept as a Qualification in those who hope for Eternal Life is Faith in Christ and a sincere and universal Obedience to the Precepts of his Holy Gospel Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of God but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven And here in the Text it is expresly said That Christ is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them that hearken to him that is to them that do so hear and believe his Gospel as to obey it to them and no other he is the Author of Eternal Salvation And that we may the more clearly and distinctly understand what Obedience it is which the Gospel exacts as an indispensable Condition of Eternal Salvation and a necessary qualification in all those who hope to be made partakers of it we may be pleased to consider that there is a virtual and an actual Obedience to the Laws of God a perfect and a sincere Obedience to them the explication of these Terms will give us a distinct conception of the thing we are speaking of 1 st There is a virtual and there is an actual Obedience to the Laws of God By an actual Obedience I mean the Practice and Exercise of the several Graces and Virtues of Christianity and the course and tenor of a Holy Life when out of a good Conversation Men do shew forth their Works and by the outward actions of their Lives do give real Testimony of their Piety Justice Sobriety Humility Meekness and Charity and all other Christian Graces and Virtues as occasion is ministred for the Practise and Exercise of them By a virtual Obedience I mean a sincere belief of the Gospel of the Holiness and Equity of its Precepts of the Truth of its Promises and of the Terror of its Threatnings and a true Repentance for all our Sins This is Obedience in the Root and Principle for he who sincerely believes the Gospel and does truly repent of the Errors and Miscarriages of his Life is firmly resolved to obey the Commandments of God and to walk before him in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of his Life so that there is nothing that prevents or hinders this Man's actual Obedience to the Laws of God in the course of a holy and good Life but only the want of time and opportunity for it And this was the case of those who upon the hearing of the Gospel when it was first preached to them did heartily embrace it and turn from their Sins and the Worship of Idols to the true and living God but perhaps were cut off soon after as there were many who being but newly gained to Christianity were presently put to Death and suffer'd Martyrdom for that Profession There is no doubt to be made but that in this case a virtual Obedience was in such Persons a sufficient qualification for Eternal Life But where there is time and opportunity for the Exercise of our Obedience and the practice of the virtues of a holy Life there actual Obedience to the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel is necessary to qualify us for Eternal Happiness so that tho' a man do sincerely believe the Gospel and truly repent of his Sins and resolve upon a better Life yet if he do not afterwards in the course of his Life put this resolution in practice and bring forth fruits meet for Repentance and amendment of Life and persevere in a Holy Course his first Resolution of Obedience though it were sincere will not avail him to Salvation Nay if he should continue for some time in the Resolution
wrought in the Manners of Men we have clear and full Testimony from what the Apostles wrote concerning the several Churches which they planted in several Parts of the World What hearty Unity und Affection there was among Christians even to that Degree as to make Men bring in their private Estates and Possessions for the common Support of their Brethren we may read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles The City of Corinth by the Account which Strabo gives of it was a very vicious and luxurious place as most in the World and yet we see by St. Paul what a strange Reformation the Christian Religion made in the Lives and Manners of many of them 1 Cor 6.9 10 11. Be not deceived neither fornicators nor adulterers nor idolaters nor effeminate nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And such were some of you But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And surely it is no small matter to reclaim Men from such a profligate course of Life The Apostle instanceth in Crimes and Vices of the first Rate from which yet he tells us many were cleansed and purified by the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God that is by the Power and Efficacy of the Christian Doctrine together with the Co-operation of God's Holy Spirit After the Apostles the Ancient Fathers in their Apologies for Christianity give us a large Account of the great Power and Efficacy of the Christian Doctrine upon the Lives and Manners of Men. Tertullian tells the Roman Governors that their Prisons were full of Malefactors committed for several Crimes but they were all Heathens De vestris semper aestuat carcer Their Prisons were thronged with Criminals of their own Religion But there were no Christians to be found committed there for such Crimes Nemo illic Christianus nisi hoc tantùm c. There were no Christians in their Prisons but only upon account of their Religion Or if there were any Malefactors that had been Christians they left their Religion when they fell into those Enormities And afterwards he adds that if Christians were irregular in their Lives they were no longer accounted Christians but were banish'd from their Communion as unworthy of it And they appealed to the Heathens what a sudden and strange change Christianity had made in several of the most lewd and vicious and debauched Persons and what a visible Reformation there presently appeared in the Lives of the worst Men after they had once entertained the Christian Doctrine And these Testimonies are so much the stronger because they are Publick Appeals to our Adversaries which it is not likely they who were so persecuted and hated as the Christians were would have had the Confidence to have made if they had not been notoriously true even their Enemies themselves being Judges And that they were so we have the Confession of the Heathen themselves I shall produce two remarkable Testimonies to this Purpose and one of them from the Pen of one of the bitterest Enemies that the Christian Religion ever had Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan the Emperor gives him an Account That having examined the Christians setting aside the Superstition of their way he could find no Fault and that this was the Sum of their Error That they were wont to meet before Day and sing a Hymn to Christ and to bind themselves by Solemn Oath or Sacrament not to any wicked Purpose but not to steal nor rob nor commit Adultery nor break their Faith nor detain the Pledge So that it seems the Sum of their Error was to oblige themselves in the strictest manner against the greatest Vices and Crimes Which methinks is a great Testimony from an Enemy and a Judge one who would have been ready to discover their Faults and had Opportunity of enquiring into them My other Witness is Julian the Emperor and Apostate who in one of his Epistles tells us The Christians did severely punish Sedition and Impiety And afterwards exhorting the Heathen Priests to all Offices of Humanity and especially Alms towards the Poor he tells them they ought to be more careful in this particular and to mend this Fault Because says he the Galileans taking advantage of our Neglect in this kind have very much strengthned their Impiety for so he calls their Religion by being very intent upon these Offices and exemplary in their Charity to the Poor whereby they gained many over to them And in his 49th Epist to Arsacius the High-Priest of Galatia he recommends to him among other Means for the Advancement of Paganism the building of Hospitals and great Liberality to the Poor not only of their own Religion but others For says he it is a Shame that the impious Galileans should not only maintain their own poor but ours also wherefore let us not suffer them to outdo us in this Virtue Nothing but the force of Truth could have extorted so full an Acknowledgment of the great Humanity and Charity of the Christians from so bitter an Enemy of our Religion as Julian was If he owned it we may be sure it was very great and exemplary So that you see that the Christian Religion had a very great Power and Efficacy upon the Lives and Manners of Men when it first appeared in the World And the true Spirit and Genius of any Religion the Force of any Institution is best seen in the primitive Effects of it before it be weakned and dispirited by those Corruptions which in time are apt to insinuate themselves into the best things For all Laws and Institutions are commonly more vigorous and have greater Effects at first than afterwards and the best things are apt in time to degenerate and to contract Soil and Rust And it cannot in Reason be expected otherwise So that though it be a thing to be bewailed and by the greatest Care and Diligence to be resisted yet it is not so extremely to be wonder'd at if Christianity in the space of Sixteen Hundred Years hath abated much of its first Strength and Vigor Especially considering that there were several Circumstances that gave Christianity mighty Advantages at first especially the miraculous Powers which did accompany the first Publication of the Gospel which must needs be full of Conviction to those who saw the wonderful Effects of it The extraordinary Operation of the Spirit of God upon the Minds of Men to dispose them to the receiving of it The persecuted and suffering State that Christians were generally in which made those who embraced the Profession to be generally serious and in good earnest in it and kept up a continual Heat and Zeal in the Minds of Men for that Religion which cost them so dear and for which they suffer'd so much And the fury of their Enemies against it did naturally inflame their Love and Kindness to one
in the latter part of the Text that many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able I proceed now to the Second part of the Text the Reason or Argument whereby this Exhortation is enforced Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Every seeking to enter in will not gain our admission into Heaven therefore there must be striving For Men may do many things in Religion and make several faint Attempts to get to Heaven and yet at last fall short of it for want of that earnest Contention and Endeavour which is necessary to the attaining of it We must make Religion our business and set about it with all our might and persevere and hold out in it if ever we hope to be admitted to Heaven for many shall seek to enter that shall be shut out Now what this seeking is which is here opposed to striving to enter in at the strait gate our Saviour declares after the Text v. 25. When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence ye are Then shall ye begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets but he shall say I tell you I know you not whence ye are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity St. Matth. mentions some other Pretences which they should make upon which they should lay claim to Heaven Mat. 7.21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that Day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity After all their seeking to enter in and notwithstanding all these Pretences they shall be shut out and be for ever banisht from the Presence of God This shall be their doom which will be much the heavier because of the disappointment of their confident expectation and hope So St. Luke tells us v 28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and ye your selves thrust out And they shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God To which St. Matthew adds Chap 8. v. 12. But the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And then our Saviour concludes Luke 13.30 Behold there are last that shall be first and first which shall be last From all which it appears with what Confidence many Men upon these false Pretences which our Saviour calls seeking to enter in shall lay claim to Heaven and how strangely they shall be disappointed of their expectation and hope when they shall find themselves cast out of Heaven who they thought had out done all others in Religion and were the only Members of the true Church and the Children and Heirs of the Kingdom and shall see others whom they thought to be out of the Pale of the true Church and excluded from all terms of Salvation come from all Quarters and find free Admission into Heaven and shall find themselves so grosly and widely mistaken that those very Persons whom they thought to be last and of all others farthest from Salvation shall be first and they themselves whom they took for the Children of the Kingdom and such as should be admitted into Heaven in the first place shall be rejected and cast out So that by seeking to enter we may understand all those things which Mâ—n may do in Religion upon which they shall pretend to lay claim to Heaven nay and confidently hope to obtain it and yet shall be shamefully disappointed and fall short of it Whatever Men think and believe and do in Religion what Privileges soever Men pretend what Ways and Means soever Men endeavour to appease the Deity and to recommend themselves to the Divine Favour and Acceptance all this is but seeking to enter in and is not that striving which our Saviour requires If Men do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity it will all signify nothing to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness Our Saviour here instanceth in Mens Profession of his Religion calling him Lord Lord in their personal Familiarity and Conversation with him by eating and drinking in his Presence and Company in their having heard him preach the Doctrine of Life and Salvation Thou hast taught in our streets in their having prophesied and wrought great Miracles in his Name and by his Power Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works These were great and glorious Things which they boasted of and yet nothing of all this will do if Men do not the Will of God notwithstanding all this he will say unto them I know ye not whence ye are depart from me ye workers of Iniquity And by a plain Parity of Reason whatever else Men do in Religion what Attempts soever Men may make to get to Heaven upon what Priviledges or Pretences soever they may lay claim to eternal Life they will certainly fall short of it if they do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity My business therefore at this time shall be to discover the several false Claims and Pretences which Men may make to Heaven and yet shall never enter into it And to this purpose I shall instance in several Particulars by one or more of which Men commonly delude themselves and are apt to entertain vain and ill-grounded hopes of eternal Salvation 1 st Some trust to the external Profession of the true Religion 2 dly Others have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they rely much upon that 3 dly There are others that find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Doctrines contained it it 4 thly Others are very strict and devout in the external Worship of God 5 thly Others confide much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Privileges and Advantages which therein they have above others of getting to Heaven 6 thly Others think their great Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them 7 thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion 8 thly Others rely much upon the Sincerity of their Repentance and Conversion whereby
they are put into a state of Grace and become the Children of God and Heirs of everlasting Life and being once truly so they can never fall from that State so as finally to miscarry Lastly Others venture all upon a Death-bed Repentance and their Importunity with God to receive them to Mercy at the last I shall briefly go over these particulars which are the several ways whereby Men seek to enter into Heaven and hope to get thither at last and shall shew the Insufficiency of them and that there is something beyond all this necessary to be done for the attainment of Everlasting Salvation 1 st Some trust to the mere external Profession of the true Religion and think it enough to call Christ Lord Lord to be baptized in his Name and thereby to be admitted Members of the Christian Church What the Apostle says of the Profession of the Jewish Religion and the outward Badge of it Circumcision may be applied to the Profession of Christianity made in Baptism Rom. 2.17 25 28 29. Behold thou art called a Jew and restest in the Law and makest thy boast of God Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made Vncircumcision For he is not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter The Case is the same of those who make only an outward Profession of Christianity Baptism verily profiteth if we perform the Condition of that Covenant which we entred into by Baptism but if we do not our Baptism is no Baptism For he is not a Christian which is one outwardly nor is that Baptism which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Christian which is one inwardly and Baptism is of the Heart in the Spirit and not in Water only So St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 3.21 that Baptism is not only the washing of the Body with Water and the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God The Promise of eternal Life and Happiness is not made to the external Profession of Religion without the sincere and real Practice of it Why call ye me Lord Lord says our Saviour and do not the things which I say The Scripture hath no where said he that is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth and is baptized he that repenteth and is baptized shall be saved This deserves to be seriously considered by a great many Christians who have nothing to shew for their Christianity but their Names whose best Title to Heaven is their Baptism an Engagement entred into by others in their Name but never confirmed and made good by any Act of their own a thing which was done before they remember and which hath no other effect upon their Hearts and Lives than if it were quite forgotten 2 dly There are others who have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they hope that will save them But if our Knowledge in Religion though never so clear and great do not descend into our Hearts and Lives and govern our Actions all our hopes of Heaven are built upon a false and sandy Foundation So our Saviour tells us Matth. 7.26 Every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his House upon the Sand. And John 13.17 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them There is not a greater Cheat in Religion nothing wherein Men do more grosly impose upon themselves than in this matter as if the Knowledge of Religion without the Practice of it would bring Men to Heaven How diligent are many in reading and hearing the Word of God who yet take no care to practise it in their Lives Like those in the Prophet Ezek. 33.31 of whom God complains They come unto thee as the People cometh and they sit before thee as my People and they hear my words but they will not do them None do so foolishly and yet so deservedly miss of Happiness as those who are very careful to learn the way to Heaven and when they have done will take no pains at all to get thither 3 dly There are others who find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Preaching of it and this they take for a very good Sign that it hath its due effect upon them And this happens very frequently that the Word of God makes considerable Impressions upon Men for the present and they are greatly affected with it and troubled for their Sins and afraid of the Judgments of God and the terrible Vengeance of another world and upon this they take up some Resolutions of a better Course which after a little while vanish and come to nothing This was the Temper of the People of Israel they delighted to hear the Prophet speak to them in the Name of God Ezek. 33.32 And lo thou art unto them as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant Voice and can play well upon an Instrument for they hear thy words but they do them not Mark 6.20 it is said that Herod had a great reverence for John the Baptist that he observed him and heard him gladly but yet for all that he continued the same cruel and bad Man that he was before And in the Parable of the Sower Matth. 13.20 there are one sort of Hearers mention'd who when they heard the word received it with joy but having no root in themselves they endured but for a while and when Tribulation or Persecution ariseth because of the Word presently they are offended There are many Men who have sudden Motions in Religion and are mightily affected for the present but it must be a rooted and sixt Principle that will endure and hold out against great Difficulties and Opposition Acts 24.25 it is said that when St Paul reasoned of Righteousness and Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled and nothing is more frequent than for Men to be mightily startled at the Preaching of the Word when their Judgments are convinced and born down and their Consciences touched to the quick a lively representation of the Evil of Sin and the infinite Danger of a sinful Course may stir up the Passions of Grief and Fear and dart such stings into the Consciences of Men as may make them extremely restless and unquiet and work some good Thoughts and Inclinations in them towards a better Course and yet like Metals when the heat is over they may be the harder for having been melted down 4 thly Others shew great Strictness and Devotion in the Worship of God and this they hope will be accepted and cannot sail to bring them to Heaven and yet some of the worst of Men have been very eminent for this The Pharisees
were the most exact People in the world in matter of external Ceremony and Devotion and yet for all this our Saviour plainly tells them that they were farther from the Kingdom of God than those who seemed to be farthest than Publicans and Harlots and that because they were so very bad under so great a pretence of Devotion therefore they should receive the greater Damnation Not but that External Devotion is a necessary expression of Religion and highly acceptable to God when it proceeds from a pious and devout Mind and when Men are really such in their Hearts and Lives as their external Devotion represents them to be But when the outward Garb of Religion is only made a Cloak for Sin and Wickedness when there is nothing within to answer all the Shew that we see without nothing is more odious and abominable to God These are mere Engines and Puppits in Religion all the Motions we see without proceed from an artificial Contrivance and not from any inward Principle of Life and as no Creature is more ridiculous than an Ape because the Beast makes some pretence to human Shape so nothing is more fulsome than this hypocritical Devotion because it looks like Religion but is the farthest from it of any thing in the World 5 thly Others confide very much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Privileges and Advantages which they have thereby above others of getting to Heaven Thus the Jews confined Salvation to themselves and looked upon all the rest of the World as excluded from it And not only so but they believed that by one means or other every Israelite should be saved So that they were the Jewish Catholick Church out of which there was no hope of Salvation for any The same Pretence is made by some Christians at this day who engross Salvation to themselves and will allow none to go to Heaven out of the Communion of their Church and have so ordered the matter that hardly any that are in it can miscarry They are Members of an infallible Church which cannot possibly err in Matters of Faith they have not only eat and drunk in Christ's presence but have eat and drunk his very Corporal Presence the natural Substance of his Flesh and Blood they have not only our blessed Saviour but innumerable other Intercessors in Heaven they have not only their own Merits to plead for them but in case they be defective they may have the Merits of others assigned and made over to them out of the infinite Stock and Treasure of the Church upon which they may challenge Eternal Life as of right and due belonging to them and by a due course of Confession and Absolution may quit scores with God for all their Sins from time to time Or if they have neglected all this they may after the most flagitious course of Life upon Attrition that is upon some Trouble for Sin out of fear of Hell and Damnation joined with Confession and Absolution get to Heaven at last provided the Priest mean honestly and do not for want of Intention deprive them of the saving Benefit and Effect of this Sacrament But is it possible Men can be deluded at this Rate as to think that Confidence of their own good Condition and want of Charity to others will carry them to Heaven That any Church hath the Privilege to save impenitent Sinners And they are really impenitent who do not exercise such a Repentance as the Gospel plainly requires and if Men dye in this state whatever Church they are of the great Judge of the World hath told us that he will not know them but will bid them to depart from him because they have been Workers of Iniquity 6 thly Others think that their Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them But Zeal if it be not according to Knowledge if it be mistaken in its Object or be irregular and excessive in the degree is so far from being a Virtue that it may be a great Sin and Fault and tho' it be for the Truth yet if it be destitute of Charity and separated from the Virtues of a good Life it will not avail us So St. Paul tells us that tho' a Man should give his Body to be burnt yet if he have not Charity it is nothing 7 thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion and this sure will do the business And it is very true and certain in experience that Religion may have a considerable Awe and Influence upon Men's Hearts and Lives and yet they may fall short of Happiness Men may in many considerable Instances perform their Duty to God and Man and yet the retaining of one Lust the practice of any one known Sin may hinder them from entring in at the strait Gate Herod did not only hear John gladly but did many things in Obedience to his Doctrine and yet he was a very bad Man The Pharisee thanked God and it may be truly that he was not like other Men an extortioner or unjust or an adulterer and yet the penitent Publican was justified before him The young Man who came to our Saviour to know what he should do to enter into Life and of whom our Saviour testifies that he was not far from the Kingdom of God and that he wanted but one thing yet for want of that he miscarried And St. James assures us that if a Man keep the whole Law and yet fail in one point he is guilty of all If we be workers of Iniquity in any one kind Christ will disown us and bid us depart from him 8 thly Others rely upon the Sincerity of their Repentance and Conversion whereby they are put into a state of Grace from whence they can never finally fall They did once very heartily repent of their wicked Lives and did change their Course and were really reformed and continued a great while in that good Course And all this may be certainly true but it is as certain that they are relapsed into their former evil Course And if so the Prophet hath told us their Doom that if the righteous man forsake his Righteousness his Righteousness shall not be remembred but in the Sin that he hath sinned in that shall he die So that a Righteous Man may turn from his Righteousness and commit Iniquity and dye in it For the Prophet doth not here as some vainly pretend put a case which is impossible in Fact should happen unless they will say that the other Case which he puts together with it of the wicked Mans turning away from his wickedness and doing that which is lawful and right is likewise impossible which God forbid And that Men may fall from a state of Grace is no matter of Discouragement to good Men but a good caution against Security and an Argument to greater Care and Watchfulness according to that of the Apostle