all the reason in the World we should abstain from And if men would but do this they would be kept from the practice of sin And so this imaginary notion of a boundless liberty will appear to be only one of the false colours that sin puts upon evil actions on purpose to tempt men to the commission of them But there is another Poison which more subtilly and dangerously insinuates it self into the hearts of men and by which sin gets the possession there and that is the love of pleasure I do not mean the pleasure of the mind or the pleasure of a good conscience for there is no danger in these but it is the love of sensual pleasure which is most apt to ensnare men in the practice of sin It is under this representation chiefly that sin deceives betrayes entangles bewitches destroyes the souls of men It is this which fills the imagination and darkens the understanding with filthy steams and vapours and hurries a man on with the impetuous violence of passions without considering the mischievous consequence which attends it either as to his honour in this World or his salvation in another This danger which attends the pleasures of sin was well represented in one of the Eastern Parables of a man violently pursued by Wild Beasts to the top of a Precipice where there was a Tree growing on the side of a great lake and at the foot of it a prodigious Serpent lying ready to devour him the man being in this astonishment gets upon the first branch of the tree he could reach but he was no sooner there but his horrour increased at the apprehension of his danger on every side of him and that which added the most to his consternation was that the very branch on which he stood was almost eaten off while he was in this terrible fright he looks up to the top of the tree and there sees some wild honey trickling down the body of the tree which he was so taken with and so pleased with the sweetness of it that he forgets his danger till of a sudden the branch breaks and down he drops into the lake without recovery This is the true representation of the pleasures of sin which men are so much entertained with that they never consider the hazard they run and scarce think of their danger till they drop into that state of misery from whence there is no redemption But besides these soft and voluptuous sinners who are easily deceived and hardly drawn out of the snares they fall into there are others of a more busie restless and designing temper and to these sin appears under another shape to deceive them with all the advantages of external Splendour and Greatness And thus they who possibly might escape the baits of pleasure are carryed away by the more plausible temptations of Riches and Honour It is supposed by some that when the Devil tempted Christ with the offers of the Kingdoms of this world if he would fall down and worship him he did not know who he was but had a mind to try him by the most probable way of discovering what was within him But surely the Devil thought him some extraordinary person or else he would never have made so large an offer at first viz. of no less than all the Kingdoms of the World whereas very much less than one of these hath served to corrupt and debauch the minds of many who have been great pretenders to Piety and Vertue It was indeed somewhat a hard condition the Devil joyned with his offer to fall down and Worship him because he then designed not only a Victory but a Triumph but with others he conceals the condition and draws them on by degrees still rising higher and higher in his temptations thereby feeding and enlarging their desires till the love of this World hath gotten such an entire possession of their hearts that they scarce ever in good earnest think of another till their souls are passing into it And then it may be they sadly reflect on their own folly in that they have preferred the deluding scenes and pompous shews of worldly greatness before the compleat and endless felicity of another life But it very often happens that it is not so long as till their leaving this World that men come to understand the restless folly of ambition For the things of this World are like Epicurus his Atoms alwayes moving and justling one against another and one mans ambition serves to supplant anothers and they who cannot raise themselves may yet help to ruine others and oft-times those very designs by which they most hoped to advance themselves prove the occasion of their fall and destruction The Mahumetans have a story to this purpose In the time of Iesus three men in a journey hapned to find a Treasure but being hungry they sent one of their number to buy provisions he consults how he might get this treasure to himself and for that end resolves to poison their meat the other two agreed to share it between them and to kill the third assoon as he returned which they did and themselves soon after dyed of the poisoned meat Iesus passing by with his disciples said This is the condition of this world see what the love of it hath brought these men to Wo be to him that looks for any other usage from it This is the first way whereby sin doth insinuate into the minds of them viz. by false colours and representations of things 2. But when sin hath so far insinuated it self to bring men to a better opinion of it it doth not presently hurry them on to the greatest height of wickedness but leads them gently and by easie steps and degrees lest they should start back presently with the fright of some dreadful sin Which will appear if we consider how one comes to be corrupted by sin that hath had the advantage of a modest and vertuous education if those who design to debauch him speak out at first in plain words what they aim at a sudden horrour seizes upon him at the apprehension of it and it may be he hates their company for ever after But there is so much a sense of shame left in humane nature that men dare not tempt others to sin at least at first in plain terms and the same temptation which being represented one way would affright appearing with greater art and dissimulation may easily prevail And sin is a thing that men hate to be forced but too much love to be cheated into the practice of it How doth a young sinner struggle with himself and would if it were possible get out of the noise of his own Conscience when he hath offered force and violence to it He is very uneasie to himself and wisheth a thousand times he had never committed the sin rather than to feel such horrour and disquiet in his mind upon the sense of it But if this doth not make him
forget God lest he tear them in pieces and there be none to deliver 2. Men are hardned by the deceitfulness of sin from the hopes of their future repentance For that is one of the great cheats of sin that every one thinks he can repent and shake off his sins when he hath a mind to do it Sin doth not lye like a heavy weight upon their backs so that they feel the load of it and therefore they think it is easily removed if they would set themselves to it Most of those that believe a God and a judgement to come and yet continue in sin do it upon this presumption that one time or other they shall leave their sins and change the course of their lives before they go out of this world They have not only thoughts of repentance but general purposes of doing the acts of it at one time or other but that time is not come and God knows whether it ever will or no. For sin entices them and draws them on still and when any motions towards repentance come into their minds that presently suggests It is time enough yet why so much haste there will be trouble enough in it when you must do it what need you bring it so fast upon you Are not you likely to hold out a great many years yet what pitty it is to lose so much of the pleasure of life while you are capable of enjoying it There is old Age coming and when you will be good for nothing else then will be time enough to grow wise and to repent But O foolish sinner who hath bewitched thee to hearken to such unreasonable suggestions as these are For 3. In the last place it ought to be our present our constant our greatest care to prevent being hardned by the deceitfulness of sin For to this end it is not enough to consider of it at one time or other in our lives but we must be exhorting one another daily while it is called to day lest any of us be hardned through the witchcraft and deceitfulness of sin And if it be so much the duty of others to shew that regard to one anothers souls how much more doth it become us to do it who expect to be called to an account at the great day for the discharge of our trust in this matter It is a dreadful passage we read of in the Prophet Ezekiel and enough to make our ears to tingle at the repeating it When I say unto the wicked O wicked man thou shalt surely dye if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked man shall dye in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand We would fain believe this to have been some particular and extraordinary commission given to the Prophet by God himself which doth not concern us for what will become of us if not only our own faults which God knows are too many but other mens shall be charged upon us when either through neglect or flattery or fear of displeasing or for any mean and unworthy ends we betray our trust and instead of preventing prove the occasion of mens being too much hardned through the deceitfulness of sin But although we neither pretend to be Prophets nor Apostles yet it is our Office to take care of the Souls of men and can we discharge that as we ought to do if we do not with all faithfulness warn men of the danger they run into through the deceitfulness of sin It were happy for us if we could say that all the Lords people are holy for then we should have nothing to do but to praise and commend their Vertues which were an easie and a delightful task but what pleasure is it to rake into the sores or to reprove the Vices of a degenerate age to be thought troublesome and impertinent if we do our duty and men of no conscience if we do it not But our work is neither to libel our Auditors nor to flatter them neither to represent them as better nor worse than they are nor to charge them with more guilt than their own consciences do charge them with but our business is to beseech and exhort them by the mercies of God by the sufferings of Christ by the love and tenderness they have for their immortal souls that they would to day while it is called to day take heed lest they be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin And that will appear to be very reasonable on these considerations 1. That none are out of the danger of it while they live in this tempting World What need have we to take care of being deceived by that which hath been too hard for the best the wisest and the greatest of men Man in his best state even that of Innocency was deceived by the insinuations of sin when there was no matter within for the temptation to work upon no reason suggested that could move a common understanding no interest or advantage that could sway him no other moving cause appears to us of that fatal Apostasie of Adam but either the imagination of some unknown pleasure or the bare curiosity of trying an experiment what the effects would be of tasting the forbidden fruit And ever since so general hath the corruption of mankind been so successful have the artifices and deceits of sin been in the World that the best of men have not wholly escaped them but have sometimes fallen in those very Graces which have been most remarkable in them as Abraham in his trust in God Moses in his meekness Iob in his patience Peter in his zeal for Christ. What cause then have others to look to themselvs If wisdom and experience would have secured men we should have thought of all men in the World Solomon the least in danger of being deceived by the insinuations of sin who had given such excellent cautions against those very snares he fell into himself and that to such a degree that his case is left disputable to this day whether he ever recovered by repentance or no. What numbers are there upon record of those mighty men who have made the earth to tremble at the noise of their Armies who have led Kings in chains after their Triumphal Chariots and have been served by those whom others have adored yet have notwithstanding all this been enslaved themselves by some mean lust and destroyed by the power of an effeminate passion What can be strong enough to resist those charms which neither innocency nor wisdom nor power are sufficient security against Nothing but the Grace of God and continual care of our selves 2. The less men suspect their danger the more cause they have to be afraid of it None are more fatally deceived by sin than those who apprehend no danger in it or think they can escape it when they please How strangely infatuated are those through the deceitfulness of sin who think with themselves that after they
A SERMON Preach'd before the KING Feb. 24. 1674 5. BY ED. STILLINGFLEET D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Printed by His Majesties special Command LONDON Printed by Rob. White for Hen. Mortlock at the Phoenix in S t. Paul's Church-yard and at the White Hart in Westminster Hall 1675. HEB. iii. 13. Lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin WHen the Iewish Christians had formed themselves into an established Church and were become considerable for their number as well as for their zeal and devotion their obstinate Brethren thought it high time for their own security at least to weaken and divide them if they could not wholly suppress and destroy them For this end they made use of different instruments and means according to the different seasons and dispositions of men Sometimes when they had any encouragement or connivence from the Roman Power they set upon them with rage and fury spoiling their goods and threatning their lives But this hard usage did only heighten the courage and unite the affections of the more zealous Christians Sometimes they suggested to them the mighty veneration which their whole Nation alwayes had for Moses and the Law and what an infinite scandal and dishonour it would be to them all to have that Law which was delivered by Angels confirmed by Miracles established by Prophets admired by the Gentiles and had continued among them for so many Ages now of a sudden to be laid aside for the sake of a new institution that expressed no more regard to them than to any other Nation in the World And so great was the love which the Iews had to their own Countrey and Religion such an opinion was generally received among them of the peculiar favour of God towards them that they who could not be shocked by persecution were in danger of being overcome by flattery From hence the Author of this Epistle make it his business to shew the excellency of Christ above Moses and of his institution above that of the Law in respect of the Priesthood and Sacrifices and the benefits which come by them and that although this new and living way were but lately discovered yet it was that which was alwayes designed by God foreseen by the Patriarchs foretold by the Prophets and longed for by good men as the Consolution of Israel and it could be no more disparagement to Moses and the Prophets to yield to the Glories of the Kingdom of the Messias than it is to the Stars not to be seen when the light of the Sun appears But besides these there were some among them capable of being wrought upon by other kind of arguments such I mean who out of a sudden transport of zeal and being convinced by the miraculous operations of the Holy Ghost had declared themselves Christians but yet retained a secret love to their sins and the pleasures of this World these were the Persons whom the Apostle not without reason expresses the greatest jealousie of as in danger of Apostasie and therefore in many places of this Epistle he represents to them the dreadful consequences of such an Apostasie for it was no less than crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to an open shame it was counting the blood of the Covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing and doing despight unto the spirit of Grace nay it was not only crucifying but treading under foot the Son of God and therefore he bids them consider what punishment such persons would deserve at the hands of God into which they must fall and what hopes there could be of pardon for those who so openly rejected the only means of obtaining it For if they did herein sin wilfully after they had received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries But he not only sets before them the sad effects of Apostasie but as one that loved their souls and designed to prevent their ruine he gives them the best advice and counsel against it He knew well enough it was not the dissatisfaction of mens reason which was the ground of their infidelity but as mens more open designs are governed by such springs which are least discovered so whatever these warping Christians might pretend as to zeal for the Law and their ancient Religion the bottom of all was a principle of infidelity not arising from want of sufficient reason to convince them but from a close and secret love of sin which made them willing to quarrel with what ever was so repugnant to it as the doctrine of Christ. To this end he puts them in mind of the case of their Fore-fathers in the Wilderness who wanted no arguments to convince them of Gods Goodness and Providence yet nothing would satisfie them but they were still murmuring and complaining till at last God sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest And since you all acknowledge they had reason enough to be satisfied but out of an obstinate and stubborn humour hardned their hearts in the day of temptation in the Wilderness take heed Brethren saith the Apostle lest there be in any of you such an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God and do not look upon this advice as vain and needless to you that are called the believing Iews but you have cause to be very watchful over one another especially in this Tempting Age exhorting one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin As though he had said to them You who now glory in the name of Believers and are hitherto as forward as any in the profession of Christianity do not think your selves to be above the need of any helps to confirm your faith and to arm you against the assaults of temptations for your very security may betray you but consider the sin that doth so easily beset you on every side the various artifices it makes use of to deceive men and when it hath once gotten admission how strangely it bewitches and infatuates the minds of men how unwilling they are to be convinced of their sins how much more unwilling to part with them and how naturally the love of sin brings men to infidelity and then you will see how great reason there is why you should be exhorting one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin In which words are these three things considerable 1. The danger they are in of being hardned through the deceitfulness of sin who have the most powerful motives and engagements against it 2. The manner whereby sin doth prevail upon men to harden them through the Deceitfulness of sin 3. The care that all Christians ought to have to prevent being hardned through the Deceitfulness of