too apparently destructive of a good life And I begin 1. With their Doctrines And because I have no mind to aggravate lesser matters I will single out four or five points of Doctrine which they have added to the Christian Religion and which were neither taught by our Saviour and his Apostles nor own'd in the first ages of Christianity And the First which I shall mention and which being once admitted makes way for as many errors as they please to bring in is their Doctrine of Infallibility And this they are very stiff and peremptory in though they are not agreed among themselves where this Infallibility is seated whether in the Pope alone or a Council alone or in both together or in the diffusive body of Christians But they are sure they have it though they know not where it is And is this no prejudice against it can any man think that this priviledg was at first conferred upon the Church of Rome and that Christians in all Ages did believe it and had constant recourse to it for determining their differences and yet that that very Church which hath enjoyed and used it so long should now be at a loss where to find it Nothing could have fallen out more unluckily than that there should be such differences among them about that which they pretend to be the onely means of ending all differences There is not the least intimation in Scripture of this priviledg confer'd upon the Roman Church nor do the Apostles in all their Epistles ever so much as give the least direction to Christians to appeal to the Bishop of Rome for a determination of the many differences which even in those times happen'd among them And it is strange they should be so silent in this matter when there were so many occasions to speak of it if our Saviour had plainly appointed such an infallible Judg of controversies for this very end to decide the differences that should happen among Christians It is strange that the ancient Fathers in their disputes with Hereticks should never appeal to this Judg nay it is strange they should not constantly do it in all cases it being so short and expedite a way for the ending of controversies And this very consideration to a wise man is instead of a thousand arguments to satisfie him that in those times no such thing was believed in the world Now this Doctrine of Infallibility if it be not true is of so much the more pernicious consequence to Christianity because the conceit of it does confirm them that think they have it in all their other errors and gives them a pretence of assuming an Authority to themselves to impose their own fancies and mistakes upon the whole Christian world 2. Their Doctrine about Repentance Which consists in confessing their sins to the Priest which if it be but accompanied with any degree of contrition does upon absolution received from the Priest put them into a state of salvation though they have lived the most lewd and debauched lives that can be imagin'd than which nothing can be more plainly destructive of a good life For if this be true all the hazard that the most wicked man runs of his salvation is only the danger of so sudden a death as gives him no space for confession and absolution A case that happens so rarely that any man that is strongly addicted to his lusts will be content to venture his salvation upon this hazard and all the arguments to a good life will be very insignificant to a man that hath a mind to be wicked when remission of sins may be had upon such cheap terms 3. The Doctrine of Purgatory By which they mean a state of temporary punishments after this life from which men may be released and translated into Heaven by the prayers of the living and the sacrifice of the Mass That this Doctrine was not known in the primitive Church nor can be proved from Scripture we have the free acknowledgment of as learned and eminent men as any of that Church which is to acknowledg that it is a superstructure upon the Christian Religion And though in one sense it be indeed a building of gold and silver upon the foundation of Christianity considering the vast revenues which this Doctrine and that of Indulgences which depends upon it brings into that Church yet I doubt not but in the Apostles sense it will be found to be hay and stubble But how groundless soever it be it is too gainful a Doctrine to be easily parted withall 4. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation A hard word but I would to God that were the worst of it the thing is much more difficult I have taken some pains to consider other Religions that have been in the world and I must freely declare that I never yet in any of them met with any Article or Proposition imposed upon the belief of men half so unreasonable and hard to be believed as this is And yet this in the Romish Church is esteemed one of the most principal Articles of the Christian Faith though there is no more certain foundation for it in Scripture than for our Saviours being substantially changed into all those things which are said of him as that he is a rock a vine a door and a hundred other things But this is not all This Doctrine hath not only no certain Foundation in Scripture but I have a far heavier charge against it namely that it undermines the very foundation of Christianity it self And surely nothing ought to be admitted to be a part of the Christian Doctrine which destroys the reason of our belief of the whole And that this Doctrine does so will appear evidently if we consider what was the main argument which the Apostles used to convince the world of the truth of Christianity and that was this That our blessed Saviour the Author of this Doctrine wrought such and such miracles and particularly that he rose again from the dead And this they proved because they were eye-witnesses of his miracles and had seen him and conversed with him after he was risen from the dead But what if their senses did deceive them in this matter then it cannot be denied but that the main proof of Christianity falls to the ground Well! We will now suppose as the Church of Rome does Transubstantiation to have been one principal part of the Christian Doctrine which the Apostles preached But if this Doctrine be true then all mens senses are deceived in a plain sensible matter wherein 't is as hard for them to be deceived as in any thing in the world For two things can hardly be imagin'd more different than a little bit of water and the whole body of a man So that the Apostles perswading men to believe this Doctrine perswaded them not to trust their senses and yet the argument which they used to perswade them to this was built upon the direct contrary principle that mens senses are to
The most pleasant and delightful the most happy and glorious work in the world It is a work of a large extent and of an universal influence and comprehends in it all those ways whereby we may be useful and beneficial to one another And indeed it were pity that so good a thing should be confined within narrow bounds and limits It reacheth to the Souls of men and to their Bodies and is conversant in all those ways and kinds whereby we may serve the Temporal or Spiritual good of our neighbour and promote his present and his future happiness What our Blessed Saviour did in this kind and we in imitation of him ought to do I shall reduce to these two Heads First Doing good to the Souls of men and endeavouring to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness Secondly The procuring of their Temporal good and contributing as much as may be to their happiness in this present life 1. Doing good to the Souls of men and endeavouring to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness by good Instruction and by good Example First By good Instruction And under Instruction I comprehend all the means of bringing men to the knowledg of their duty and exciting them to the practice of it by instructing their Ignorance and removing their Prejudices and rectifying their Mistakes by Persuasion and by Reproof and by making lasting provision for the promoting of these Ends. By instructing mens Ignorance And this is a duty which every man owes to another as he hath opportunity but especially to those who are under our care and charge our Children and Servants and near Relations those over whom we have a special authority and a more immediate influence This our Blessed Saviour made his great work in the world to instruct all sorts of persons in the things which concerned the Kingdom of God and to direct them in the way to eternal happiness by publick teaching and by private conversation and by taking occasion from the common occurrences of humane life and every object that presented it self to him to instil good counsel into men and to raise their minds to the consideration of divine and heavenly things And though this was our Saviour's great Employment and is theirs more particularly whose office it is to teach others yet every man hath private opportunities of instructing others by admonishing them of their duty and by directing them to the best means and helps of knowledg such as are Books of Piety and Religion with which they that are rich may furnish those who are unable to provide them for themselves And then by removing mens Prejudices against the Truth and rectifying their Mistakes This our Saviour found very difficult the generality of those with whom he had to do being strongly prejudiced against Him and his Doctrine by false Principles which they had taken in by education and been trained up to by their Teachers And therefore he used a great deal of meekness in instructing those that opposed themselves and exercised abundance of patience in bearing with the infirmities of men and their dulness and flowness of capacity to receive the Truth And this is great Charity to consider the inveterate Prejudices of men especially those which are rooted in education and which men are confirmed in by the reverence they bear to those that have been their Teachers And great allowance is to be given to men in this case and time to bethink themselves and to consider better For no man that is in an Errour think he is so and therefore if we go violently to rend their Opinions from them they will but hold them so much the faster but if we have patience to unrip them by degrees they will at last fall in pieces of themselves And when this is done the way is open for Counsel and Perswasion And this our Saviour administred in a most powerful and effectual manner by encouraging men to Repentance and by representing to them the infinite advantages of obeying his Laws and the dreadful and dangerous consequences of breaking of them And these are arguments fit to work upon mankind because there is something within us that consents to the equity and reasonableness of God's Laws So that whenever we perswade men to their duty how backward soever they may be to the practice of it being strongly addicted to a contrary course yet we have this certain advantage that we have their Consciences and the most inward sense of their minds on our side bearing witness that what we counsel and perswade them to is for their good And if need be we must add Reproof to Counsel This our Saviour did with great freedom and sometimes with sharpness and severity according to the condition of the persons he had to deal withal But because of his great Authority being a Teacher immediately sent from God and of his intimate knowledg of the hearts of men he is not a pattern to us in all the circumstances of discharging this duty which if any other requires great prudence and discretion if we intend to do good the only end to be aimed at in it For many are fit to be reproved whom yet every man is not fit to reprove and in that case we must get it done by those that are fit and great regard must be had to the time and other circumstances of doing it so as it may most probably have its effect I will mention but one way of Instruction more and that is by making lasting provision for that purpose as by founding Schools of learning especially to teach the poor to read which is the Key of knowledg by building of Churches and endowing them by buying or giving in Impropriations or the like These are large and lasting ways of teaching and instructing others which will continue when we are dead and gone as it is said of Abel that being dead he yet speaks And this our Saviour virtually did by appointing his Apostles after he had left the World to go and teach all Nations and ordering a constant Succession of Teachers in his Church to instruct men in the Christian Religion together with an honourable Maintenance for them This we cannot do in the way that he did who had all power in heaven and earth but we may be subservient to this Design in the ways that I have mentioned Which I humbly commend to the consideration of those whom God hath blessed with great Estates and made capable of effecting such great works of Charity Secondly Another way of doing good to the Souls of men is by good Example And this our Blessed Saviour was in the utmost perfection For he fulfilled all righteousness had no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And this we should endeavour to be as far as the frailty of our nature and imperfection of our present state will suffer For good Example is an unspeakable benefit to mankind and hath a secret power and influence upon those with whom we
weakness of this argument which is so transparent that no wise man can honestly use it and he must have a very odd understanding that can be cheated by it The truth is it is a casual and contingent argument and sometimes it concludes right and oftner wrong and therefore no prudent man can be moved by it except only in one case when all things are so equal on both sides that there is nothing else in the whole world to determine him which surely can never happen in matters of Religion necessary to be believed No man is so weak as not to consider in the change of his Religion the merits of the cause it self as not to examine the Doctrines and Practices of the Churches on both sides as not to take notice of the confidence and Charity of both Parties together with all other things which ought to move a conscientious and a prudent man And if upon enquiry there appear to be a clear advantage on either side then this argument is needless and comes too late because the work is already done without it Besides that the great hazard of salvation in the Roman Church which we declare upon account of the Doctrines and Practices which I have mentioned ought to deter any man much more from that Religion than the acknowledged possibility of salvation in it ought to encourage any man to the embracing of it Never did any Christian Church build so much hay and stubble upon the foundation of Christianity and therefore those that are saved in it must be saved as it were out of the fire And though Purgatory be not meant in the Text yet it is a Doctrine very well suted to their manner of building for there is need of an ignis purgatorius of a fire to try their work what it is and to burn up their hay and stubble And I have so much Charity and I desire always to have it as to hope that a great many among them who live piously and have been almost inevitably detain'd in that Church by the prejudice of education and an invincible ignorance will upon a general repentance find mercy with God and though their work suffer loss and be burnt yet they themselves may escape as out of the fire But as for those who have had the opportunities of coming to the knowledg of the truth if they continue in the errors of that Church or apostatize from the truth I think their condition so far from being safe that there must be extraordinary favourable circumstances in their case to give a man hopes of their salvation I have now done with the two things I propounded to speak to And I am sorry that the necessary defence of our Religion against the restless importunities and attempts of our adversaries upon all sorts of persons hath engaged me to spend so much time in matters of dispute which I had much rather have employed in another way Many of you can be my witnesses that I have constantly made it my business in this great Presence and Assembly to plead against the impieties and wickedness of men and have endeavour'd by the best arguments I could think of to gain men over to a firm belief and serious practice of the main things of Religion And I do assure you I had much rather perswade any one to be a good man than to be of any party or denomination of Christians whatsoever For I doubt not but the belief of the ancient Creed provided we entertain nothing that is destructive of it together with a good life will certainly save a man and without this no man can have reasonable hopes of salvation no not in an infallible Church if there were any such to be found in the world I have been according to my opportunities not a negligent observer of the genius and humour of the several Sects and Professions in Religion And upon the whole matter I do in my conscience believe the Church of England to be the best constituted Church this day in the world and that as to the main the Doctrine and Government and Worship of it are excellently framed to make men soberly Religious Securing men on the one hand from the wild freaks of Enthusiasm and on the other from the gross follies of Superstition And our Church hath this peculiar advantage above several Professions that we know in the world that it acknowledgeth a due and just subordination to the civil Authority and hath always been untainted in its loyalty And now shall every trifling consideration be sufficient to move a man to relinquish such a Church There is no greater disparagement to a mans understanding no greater argument of a light and ungenerous mind than rashly to change ones Religion Religion is our greatest concernment of all other and it is not every little argument no nor a great noise about infallibility nothing but very plain and convincing evidence that should sway a man in this case But they are utterly inexcusable who make a change of such concernment upon the insinuations of one side only without ever hearing what can be said for the Church they were baptized and brought up in before they leave it They that can yield thus easily to the impressions of every one that hath a design and interest to make Proselytes may at this rate of discretion change their Religion twice a day and instead of morning and evening Prayer they may have a morning and an evening Religion Therefore for Gods sake and for our own Souls sake and for the sake of our Reputation let us consider and shew our selves men Let us not suffer our selves to be shaken and carried away with every wind Let us not run our selves into danger when we may be safe Let us stick to the foundation of Religion the Articles of our common belief and build upon them gold and silver and precious stones I mean the virtues and actions of a good life and if we would do this we should not be apt to set such a value upon hay and stubble If we would sincerely endeavour to live holy and virtuous lives we should not need to cast about for a Religion which may furnish us with easie and indirect ways to get to Heaven I will conclude all with the Apostles Exhortation Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord. Now the God of peace which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom he Glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL IN LENT March 20 th 1673· Psal CXIX 156 Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them IN these words there are two things contained The Description of a good man and
favour of God And nothing can be more for the comfort of such persons than to understand aright what the nature of this sin was and wherein the heinousness of it doth consist which I have endeavoured to manifest And if this be the Nature of it which I have declared as it seems very plain that it is then I cannot see how any person now is likely to be in those circumstances as to be capable of committing it And being a sin of so heinous a nature and declared by our Saviour to be absolutely unpardonable there is no reason to extend it beyond the case to which our Saviour applies it which was the resisting of the evidence of the miracles which were wrought for the truth of Christianity by those who were eye-witnesses of them that is by those who had the utmost assurance of them that humane nature is capable of And not only a bare resistance of that evidence but with a very malicious circumstance so as to impute those works which were wrought by the Holy Ghost to the power of the Devil This was the case of the Pharisees whom our Saviour chargeth with this sin And no body hath warrant to extend this sin any further than this case and without good warrant it would be the most uncharitable thing in the world to extend it any further That which comes nearest to it both in the heinousness of the crime and the unpardonableness of it is total Apostasie from Christianity after the embracing of it and full conviction of the truth of it And this the Scripture seems to place if not in the same rank yet very near to it And of this the Apostle speaks very often in the Epistle to the Hebrews under the name of unbelief and sin by way of eminence as being the great sin that Christians were in danger of falling into call'd in that Epistle Heb. 12.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin which Christians by reason of the circumstances they were then in were especially subject to And he parallels it with the case of the Jews in the wilderness concerning whom God sware that they should not enter into his rest namely the earthly Canaan which was a type of Heaven Chap. 3. ver 18. And Chap. 6. ver 4 5 6 more expresly For it is impossible that those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they should fall away to renew them again to repentance Where by impossible the least that can be meant is that it is extremely difficult for such persons to recover themselves by repentance And 't is observable that those persons are said to have been partakers of the Holy Ghost by which is meant that they were either endued with a power of miracles by the Holy Ghost or were under the conviction of them as having seen them wrought by others So that this Apostasie may be said in that respect to be a sin against the Holy Ghost So likewise Chap. 10. ver 26 If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledg of the truth that is if we apostatize from Christianity after we have embraced the profession of it as appears plainly from the scope of the Apostles discourse there remains no more sacrifice for sin which expression declares this sin either to be unpardonable or something very like it And at the 29. vers Those persons are said to tread under foot the Son of God and to do despite unto the Spirit of Grace Which signifies that the sin there spoken of is more immediately committed against the Holy Spirit of God St. Peter likewise declares the great danger of this sin 2 Pet. 2.20 If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning St. John likewise seems to speak of this sin of Apostacy and to call it a sin unto death Discouraging Christians rather from praying for those who were fallen into it which gives great suspicion that he looked upon it as hardly pardonable 1 Joh. 5.16 If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for those that sin not unto death There is a sin unto death I do not say that he shall pray for it Now that by the sin unto death the Apostle here means Apostacy from the Christian Religion to the Heathen Idolatry seems extremely probable from what follows ver 18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not but keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not that is he preserveth himself from Idolatry which the Devil had seduced the world into ver 19 And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the wicked one that is is under the power of the Devil And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us understanding to know him that is true that is to distinguish between the true God and Idols And then it follows this is the true God and eternal life Little children keep your selves from Idols Which last caution is a key to the understanding of all the rest and makes it very probable that the sin unto death is Apostacy from Christianity unto Idolatry Otherwise it is hard to imagine how the last clause comes in Little children keep your selves from Idols And this is that sin which of all other approacheth nearest to this sin against the Holy Ghost which our Saviour speaks of and concerning the pardonableness of which the Scripture seems to speak very doubtfully But if it were of the same unpardonable nature yet this can be no trouble to those persons I am speaking of who cannot but know themselves to be far enough from the guilt of this sin As for those other sins which by some are taken to be the sins against the Holy Ghost they are either such as no man is capable of committing as a malicious opposition to the truth when I am convinced and know it to be the truth For this is a contradiction Because to know any thing to be the truth is to believe it to be so and therefore no man can disbelieve it while he believes it to be truth Or else they are such as no man can know he is guilty of in this life as final impenitency which supposeth a man to live and die without repentance Or else such as I think not good man is incident to as a malicious and perverse opposing of the truth after sufficient means of conviction However none of these are that which the Scripture descrihes to be the sin against the Holy Ghost as I have already shewn But still there are two things which usually trouble honest and well-meaning
Gods mercy is great and he will be pacified for the multitude of my sins For mercy and wrath is with him he is mighty to forgive and to pour out displeasure And as his mercy is great so are his corrections also Therefore make no tarrying to turn to the Lord and put not off from day to day For suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed Humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time and defer not till death to be justified A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL In April 1672. 1 Cor. III. 15 But he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire THE Context is thus According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise Master-builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid Jesus Christ Now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every mans work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is If any mans work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward If any mans work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss But he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire In these Words the Apostle speaks of a sort of persons who held indeed the foundation of Christianity but built upon it such doctrines or practices as would not bear the trial which he expresses to us by wood hay and stubble which are not proof against the fire Such a person the Apostle tells us hath brought himself into a very dangerous state though he would not absolutely deny the possibility of his salvation He himself shall be saved yet so as by fire That by fire here is not meant the fire of Purgatory as some pretend who would be glad of any shadow of a Text of Scripture to countenance their own dreams I shall neither trouble you nor my self to manifest since the particle of similitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly shews that the Apostle did not intend an escape out of the fire literally but such an escape as men make out of a house or Town that is on fire Especially since very learned persons of the Church of Rome do acknowledg that Purgatory cannot be concluded from this Text nay all that Estius contends for from this place is that it cannot be concluded from hence that there is no Purgatory which we never pretended but only that this Text does not prove it It is very well known that this is a Proverbial phrase used not only in Scripture but in prophane Authors to signifie a narrow escape out of a great danger He shall be saved yet so as by fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the fire Just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used 1 Pet. 3.20 where the Apostle speaking of the eight persons of Noah's family who escap'd the flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they escaped out of the water So here this phrase is to be rendred in the Text he himself shall escape yet so as out of the fire The like expression you have Amos 4.11 I have pluckt them as a firebrand out of the fire And Jude 23 Others save with fear plucking them out of the fire All which expressions signifie the greatness of the danger and the difficulty of escaping it as one who when his house at midnight is set on fire and being suddenly wak'd leaps out of his bed and runs naked out of the doors taking nothing that is within along with him but imploying his whole care to save his body from the flames as St. Chrysostome upon another occasion expresseth it And so the Roman Orator who it is likely did not think of Purgatory useth this phrase Quo ex judicio velut ex incendio nudus effugit From which Judgment or Sentence he escaped naked as it were out of a burning And one of the Greek Orators tells us That to save a man out of the fire was a common proverbial speech From the words thus explained the Observation that naturally ariseth is this That men may hold all the Fundamentals of Christian Religion and yet may superadd other things whereby they may greatly endanger their salvation What those things were which some among the Corinthians built upon the foundation of Christianity whereby they endanger'd their Salvation we may probably conjecture by what the Apostle reproves in this Epistle as the tolerating of incestuous marriages communicating in Idol-feasts c. And especially by the doctrine of the false Apostles who at that time did so much disturb the peace of most Christian Churches and who are so often and so severely reflected upon in this Epistle And what their Doctrine was we have an account Act. 15. viz. that they imposed upon the Gentile Christians Circumcision and the observation of the Jewish Law teaching that unless they were circumcised and kept the Law of Moses they could not be saved So that they did not only build these Doctrines upon Christianity but they made them equal with the Foundation saying that unless men believed and practised such things they could not be saved In speaking to this Observation I shall reduce my discourse to these two Heads 1. I shall represent to you some Doctrines and Practices which have been built upon the Foundation of Christianity to the great hazard and danger of mens salvation And to be plain I mean particularly by the Church of Rome 2. I shall enquire whether our granting a possibility of salvation though with great hazard to those in the communion of the Roman Church and their denying it to us be a reasonable argument and encouragement to any man to betake himself to that Church And there is the more reason to consider these things when so many seducing Spirits are so active and busie to pervert men from the truth and when we see every day so many and their Religion so easily parted For this reason these two Considerations shall be the subject of the following Discourse I. First We will consider some Doctrines and Practices which the Church of Rome hath built upon the foundation of Christianity to the great hazard and danger of mens salvation It is not denied by the most judicious Protestants but that the Church of Rome do hold all the Articles of the Christian Faith which are necessary to salvation But that which we charge upon them as a just ground of our separation from them is the imposing of new Doctrines and Practices upon Christians as necessary to salvation which were never taught by our Saviour or his Apostles and which are either directly contrary to the Doctrine of Christianity or
bodies indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil So that if these pleasures were greater than they are a man had better be without them than purchase them at such dear rates To the second That Religion imposeth many harsh and grievous things which seem to be inconsistent with that pleasure and satisfaction I have spoken of As the bearing of persecution repentance and mortification fasting and abstinence and many other rigours and severities As to persecution This Discourse doth not pretend that Religion exempts men from outward troubles but that when they happen it supports men under them better than any thing else As for Repentance and mortification this chiefly concerns our first entrance into Religion after a wicked life which I acknowledged in the beginning of this discourse to be very grievous But this doth not hinder but that though Religion may be troublesome at first to some persons whose former sins and crimes have made it so it may be pleasant afterwards when we are accustomed to it And whatever the trouble of repentance be it is unavoidable unless we resolve to be miserable for except we repent we must perish Now there is always a rational satisfaction in submitting to a less inconvenience to remedy and prevent a greater As for Fasting and abstinence which is many times very helpful and subservient to the ends of Religion there is no such extraordinary trouble in it if it be discreetly managed as is worth the speaking of And as for other rigours and severities which some pretend Religion does impose I have only this to say that if men will play the fool and make Religion more troublesome than God hath made it I cannot help that And that this is a false representation of Religion which some in the world have made as if it did chiefly consist not in pleasing God but in displeasing and tormenting our selves This is not to paint Religion like her self but rather like one of the Furies with nothing but whips and snakes about her To the third That those who are religious are many times very disconsolate and full of trouble This I confess is a great Objection indeed if Religion were the cause of this trouble but there are other plain causes of it to which Religion rightly understood is not accessary As false and mistaken principles in Religion The imperfection of our Religion and obedience to God And a melancholly temper and disposition False and mistaken principles in Religion As this for one That God does not sincerely desire the salvation of men but hath from all eternity effectually barr'd the greatest part of mankind from all possibility of attaining that happiness which he offers to them and every one hath cause to fear that he may be in that number This were a melancholly consideration indeed if it were true but there is no ground either from Reason or Scripture to entertain any such thought of God Our destruction is of our selves and no man shall be ruined by any decree of God who does not ruin himself by his own fault Or else the imperfection of our Religion and obedience to God Some perhaps are very devout in serving God but not so kind and charitable so just and honest in their dealings with men No wonder if such persons be disquieted the natural consciences of men being not more apt to disquiet them for any thing than for the neglect of those moral duties which natural light teacheth them Peace of conscience is the effect of an impartial and universal obedience to the laws of God and I hope no man will blame Religion for that which plainly proceeds from the want of Religion Or lastly A melancholly temper and disposition which is not from Religion but from our nature and constituion and therefore Religion ought not to be charged with it And thus I have endeavoured as briefly and plainly as I could to represent to you what peace and pleasure what comfort and satisfaction Religion rightly understood and sincerely practised is apt to bring to the minds of men And I do not know by what sort of Argument Religion can be more effectually recommended to wise and considerate men For in perswading men to be religious I do not go about to rob them of any true pleasure and contentment but to direct them to the very best nay indeed the onely way of attaining and securing it I speak this in great pity and compassion to those who make it their great design to please themselves but do grievously mistake the way to it The direct way is that which I have set before you a holy and virtuous life to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world A good man saith Solomon is satisfied from himself He hath the pleasure of being wise and acting reasonably the pleasure of being justified to himself in what he doth and of being acquitted by the sentence of his own mind There is a great pleasure in being innocent because that prevents guilt and trouble It is pleasant to be virtuous and good because that is to excel many others and it is pleasant to grow better because that is to excel our selves Nay it is pleasant even to mortifie and subdue our lusts because that is Victory It is pleasant to command our appetites and passions and to keep them in due order within the bounds of Reason and Religion because this is a kind of Empire this is to govern It is naturally pleasant to rule and have power over others but he is the great and the absolute Prince who commands himself This is the Kingdom of God within us a dominion infinitely to be preferred before all the Kingdoms of this world and the glory of them It is the Kingdom of God described by the Apostle which consists in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost In a word The pleasure of being good and of doing good is the chief happiness of God himself But now the wicked man deprives himself of all this pleasure and creates perpetual discontent to his own mind O the torments of a guilty conscience which the sinner feels more or less all his life long But alas thou dost not yet know the worst of it no not in this World What wilt thou do when thou comest to die What comfort wilt thou then be able to give thy self or what comfort can any one else give thee when thy conscience is miserably rent and torn by those waking furies which will then rage in thy breast and thou knowest not which way to turn thy self for ease then perhaps at last the Priest is unwillingly sent for to patch up thy conscience as well as he can and to appease the cryes of it and to force himself out of very pity and good nature to say peace peace when there is no peace But alas man what can we do what comfort can we give thee when thine
defer his repentance and the change of his life for one moment I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments This day this hour for ought we know may be the last opportunity of making our peace with God Therefore we should make haste out of this dangerous state as Lot did out of Sodom lest fire and brimstone overtake us He that cannot promise himself the next moment hath a great deal of reason to seize upon the present opportunity While we are lingering in our sins if God be not merciful to us we shall be consumed Therefore make haste sinner and escape for thy life lest evil overtake thee 6. Lastly An apprehension of the possibility of making this change God who designed us for happiness at first and after we had made a forfeiture of it by sin was pleased to restore us again to the capacity of it by the Redemption of our blessed Lord and Saviour hath made nothing necessary to our happiness that is impossible for us to do either of our selves or by the assistance of that grace which he is ready to afford us if we heartily beg it of him For that is possible to us which we may do by the assistance of another if we may have that assistance for asking And God hath promised to give his holy Spirit to them that ask him So that notwithstanding the great corruption and weakness of our natures since the grace of God which brings salvation hath appeared it is not absolutely out of our power to leave our sins and to turn to God For that may truly be said to be in our power which God hath promised to enable us to do if we be not wanting to our selves So that there is nothing on Gods part to hinder this change He hath solemnly declared that he sincerly desires it and that he is ready to assist our good resolutions to this purpose And most certainly when he tell us that he hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live that he would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the truth that he would not that any should perish but that all should come to repentance He means plainly as he saith and doth not speak to us with any private reserve or nice distinction between his secret and revealed will that is he doth not decree one thing and declare the contrary So far is it from this that if a sinner entertain serious thoughts of returning to God and do but once move towards him how ready is he to receive him This is in a very lively manner described to us in the Parable of the Prodigal Son who when he was returning home and was yet a great way off what haste doth his Father make to meet him he saw him and had compassion and ran And if there be no impediment on Gods part why should there be any on ours One would think all the doubt and difficulty should be on the other side Whether God would be pleased to shew mercy to such great offenders as we have been But the business doth not stick there And will we be miserable by our own choice when the Grace of God hath put it into our power to be happy I have done with the first thing The course which David here took for the reforming of his life I thought on my ways I proceed to the II. The success of this course It produced actual and speedy reformation I turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments And if we consider the matter throughly and have but patience to reason out the case with our selves and to bring our thoughts and deliberations to some issue the conclusion must naturally be the quitting of that evil and dangerous course in which we have lived For sin and consideration can not long dwell together Did but men consider what sin is they would have so many unanswerable objections against it such strong fears and jealousies of the miserable issue and event of a wicked life that they would not dare to continue any longer in it I do not say that this change is perfectly made at once A state of sin and holiness are not like two Ways that are just parted by a line so as a man may step out of the one full into the other but they are like two Ways that lead to two very distant places and consequently are at a good distance from one another and the farther any man hath travelled in the one the further he is from the other so that it requires time and pains to pass from the one to the other It sometimes so happens that some persons are by a mighty conviction and resolution and by a very extraordinary and over-powering degree of Gods grace almost perfectly reclaimed from their sins at once and all of a sudden translated out of the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son And thus it was with many of the first Converts to Christianity as their prejudices against the Christian Religion were strong and violent so the holy Spirit of God was pleased to work mightily in them that believed But in the usual and setled methods of Gods grace evil habits are mastered and subdued by degrees and with a great deal of conflict and many times after they are routed they rally and make head again and 't is a great while before the contrary habits of grace and virtue are grown up to any considerable degree of strength and maturity and before a man come to that confirmed state of goodness that he may be said to have conquered and mortified his lusts But yet this ought not to discourage us For so soon as we have seriously begun this change we are in a good way and all our endeavours will have the acceptance of good beginnings and God will be ready to help us and if we pursue our advantages we shall every day gain ground and the work will grow easier upon our hands and we who moved at first with so much slowness and difficulty shall after a while be enabled to run the ways of Gods commandments with pleasure and delight I have done with the two things I propounded to speak to from these words The course here prescribed and the success of it And now to perswade men to take this course I shall offer two or three Arguments 1. That Consideration is the proper act of Reasonable creatures This argument God himself uses to bring men to a consideration of their evil ways Isa 46.8 Remember and shew your selves men bring it again to mind O ye transgressors To consider our ways and to call our sins to remembrance is to shew our selves men 'T is the great fault and infelicity of a great many that they generally live without thinking and are acted by their present
to it but they hope hereafter to be in a better temper and disposition and then they resolve by Gods grace to set about this work in good earnest and to go through with it I know not whether it be fit to call this a Reason I am sure it is the greatest cheat and delusion that any man can put upon himself For this plainly shews that thou dost not intend to do this which thou art convinced is so necessary but to put it off from day to day For there is no greater evidence that a man doth not really intend to do a thing than when notwithstanding he ought upon all accounts and may in all respects better do it at present than hereafter yet he still puts it off Whatever thou pretendest this is a meer shift to get rid of a present trouble It is like giving good words and making fair promises to a clamorous and importunate creditour and appointing him to come another day when the man knows in his conscience that he intends not to pay him and that he shall be less able to discharge the debt then than he is at present Whatever reasons thou hast against reforming thy life now will still remain and be in as full force hereafter nay probably stronger than they are at present Thou art unwilling now and so thou wilt be hereafter and in all likelihood much more unwilling So that this reason will every day improve upon thy hands and have so much the more strength by how much the longer thou continuest in thy sins Thou hast no reason in the world against the present time but only that 't is present why when hereafter comes to be present the reason will be just the same So that thy present unwillingness is so far from being a just reason against it that 't is a good reason the other way because thou art unwilling now and like to be so nay more so hereafter if thou intendenst to do it at all thou shouldst set about it immediately and without delay 2. Another reason which men pretend for the delaying of this work is the great difficulty and unpleasantness of it And it cannot be denied but that there will be some bitterness and uneasiness in it proportionably to the growth of evil habits and the strength of our lusts and our greater or less progress and continuance in a sinful course So that we must make account of a sharp conflict of some pain and trouble in the making of this change that it will cost us some pangs and throws before we be born again For when nature hath been long bent another way it is not to be expected that it should be reduced and brought back to its first strenghtness without pain and violence But then it is to be considered that how difficult and painful soever this work be it is necessary and that should over-rule all other considerations whatsoever that if we will not be at this pains and trouble we must one time or other endure far greater than those which we now seek to avoid that it is not so difficult as we imagine but our fears of it are greater than the trouble will prove if we were but once resolved upon the work and seriously engaged in it the greatest part of the trouble were over it is like the fear of children to go into the cold water a faint trial increaseth their fear and apprehension of it but so soon as they have plunged into it the trouble is over and then they wonder why they were so much afraid The main difficulty and unpleasantness is in our first entrance into Religion it presently grows tolerable and soon after easie and after that by degrees so pleasant and delightful that the man would not for all the world return to his former evil state and condition of life We should consider likewise what is the true cause of all this trouble and difficulty 'T is our long continuance in a sinful course that hath made us so loth to leave it 'T is the custom of sinning that renders it so troublesome and uneasie to men to do otherwise 'T is the greatness of our guilt heightned and inflamed by many and repeated provocations that doth so gall our consciences and fill our souls with so much terror 'T is because we have gone so far in an evil way that our retreat is become so difficult and because we have delayed this work so long that we are now so unwilling to go about it and consequently the longer we delay it the trouble and difficulty of a change will encrease daily upon us And all these considerations are so far from being a good reason for more delays that they are a strong argument to the contrary Because the work is difficult now therefore do not make it more so and because your delays have encreased the difficulty of it and will do more and more therefore delay no longer 3. Another pretended encouragement to these delays is the great mercy and patience of God He commonly bears long with sinners and therefore there is no such absolute and urgent necessity of a speedy repentance and reformation of our lives Men have not the face to give this for a reason but yet for all that it lies at the bottom of many mens hearts So Solomon tells us Eccles 8.11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil But it is not always thus There are few of us but have seen several instances of Gods severity to sinners and have known several persons surprized by a sudden hand of God and cut off in the very act of sin without having the least respite given them without time or liberty so much as to ask God forgiveness and to consider either what they had done or whither they were a-going And this may be the case of any sinner and is so much the more likely to be thy case because thou dost so boldly presume upon the mercy and patience of God But if it were always thus and thou wert sure to be spared yet awhile longer what can be more unreasonable and disingenuous than to resolve to be evil because God is good and because he suffers so long to sin so much the longer and because he affords thee a space of repentance therefore to delay it and put it off to the last The proper design of Gods goodness is to lead men to repentance and he never intended his patience for an encouragement to men to continue in their sins but for an opportunity and an argument to break them off by repentance These are the pretended reasons and encouragements to men to delay their repentance and the reformation of their lives and you see how groundless and unreasonable they are which was the first thing I propounded to speak to II. I shall add some farther considerations to engage men effectually to set about this work speedily
take away his life Whatever he said or did though never so innocent never so excellent had some bad interpretation put upon it and the great and shining Vertues of his life were turned into Crimes and matter of accusation For his casting out of Devils he was called a Magician for his endeavour to reclaim men from their vices a friend of Publicans and Sinners for his free and obliging conversation a wine-bibber and a glutton All the benefits which he did to men and the blessings which he so liberally shed among the people were construed to be a design of Ambition and Popularity and done with an intention to move the people to Sedition and to make himself a King Enough to have discouraged the greatest goodness and have put a damp upon the most generous mind and to make it sick and weary of well-doing For what more grievous than to have all the good one does ill interpreted and the best actions in the world made matter of calumny and reproach And then Lastly If we consider how chearfully notwithstanding all this he persevered and continued in well-doing It was not only his business but his delight I delight says he to do thy will O my God The pleasure which others take in the most natural actions of life in eating and drinking when they are hungry he took in doing good it was his meat and drink to do the will of his Father He plyed this work with so much diligence as if he had been afraid he should have wanted time for it I must work the work of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work And when he was approaching towards the hardest and most unpleasant part of his Service but of all others the most beneficial to us I mean his Death and Sufferings he was not at ease in his mind till it was done How am I straitned says he till it be accomplished And just before his Suffering with what Joy and Triumph does he reflect upon the good he had done in his life Father I have glorified thee upon earth and have finished the work which thou hast given me to do What a blessed Pattern is here of diligence and industry in doing good how fair and lovely a copy for Christians to write after And now that I have set it before you it will be of excellent use to these two purposes To shew us our Defects and to excite us to our Duty I. To shew us our Defects How does this blessed Example upbraid those who live in a direct contradiction to it who instead of going about doing good are perpetually intent upon doing mischief who are wise and active to do evil but to do good have no inclination no understanding And those likewise who though they are far from being so bad yet wholly neglect this blessed work of doing good They think it very fair to do no evil to hurt and injure no man but if Preachers will be so unreasonable as to require more and will never be satisfied till they have persuaded them out of their estate and to give to the poor till they have almost impoverish'd themselves they desire to be excused from this importunity But we are not so unreasonable neither We desire to put them in mind that to be charitable according to our power is an indispensable duty of Religion that we are commanded not only to abstain from evil but to do good and that our Blessed Saviour hath given us the example of both he did not only do no sin but he went about doing good And upon this nice point it was that the young rich man in the Gospel and his Saviour parted He had kept the Commandments from his youth Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steal he had been very careful of the negative part of Religion But when it came to parting with his Estate and giving to the poor this he thought too hard a condition and upon this he forsook our Saviour and forfeited the Kingdom of heaven And it is very considerable and ought to be often and seriously thought upon that our Saviour describing to us the Day of Judgment represents the great Judg of the world acquitting and condemning men according to the good which they had done or neglected to do in ways of mercy and charity for feeding the hungry and cloathing the naked and visiting the sick or for neglecting to do these things Than which nothing can more plainly and effectually declare to us the necessity of doing good in order to the obtaining of eternal Happiness There are many indeed who do not altogether neglect the doing of this work who yet do in a great measure prevent and hinder themselves from doing it as they ought under a pretence of being employed about other Duties and parts of Religion They are so taken up with the exercises of Piety and Devotion in private and publick with Prayer and reading and hearing Sermons and preparing themselves for the Sacrament that they have scarce any leisure to mind the doing of good and charitable offices to others or if they have they hope God will pardon his servants in this thing and accept of their Piety and Devotion instead of all But they ought to consider that when these two parts of Religion come in competition Devotion is to give way to Charity Mercy being better than Sacrifice that the great End of all the Duties of Religion Prayer and reading and hearing the Word of God and receiving the holy Sacrament is to dispose and excite us to do good to make us more ready and forward to every good work and that it is the greatest mockery in the world upon pretence of using the means of Religion to neglect the end of it and because we are always preparing our selves to do good to think that we are for ever excused from doing any Others are taken up in contending for the Faith and spend all their zeal and heat about some Controversies in Religion and therefore they think it but reasonable that they should be excused from those meaner kind of Duties because they serve God as they imagine in a higher and more excellent way as those who serve the King in his Wars use to be exempted from Taxes and Offices But do those men consider upon what kind of Duties more especially our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles lay the great weight and stress of Religion that it is to the Meek and Merciful and Peaceable that our Saviour pronounceth Blessedness that pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction that the wisdom which is from above is full of mercy and good works These are the great and weighty things of Religion which whatever else we do ought not to be left undone Do they consider that a right Faith is wholly in order to a good Life and is of no value any farther
at last upon this as the greatest felicity of humane life and the only good use that is to be made of a prosperous and plentiful fortune Eccl. 3.12 I know that there is no good in them but for a man to rejoyce and do good in his life And a greater and a wiser than Solomon hath said that it is more blessed to give than to receive Thirdly To employ our selves in doing good is to imitate the highest Excellency and Perfection It is to be like God who is good and doth good and to be like him in that which he esteems his greatest glory and that is his Goodness It is to be like the Son of God who when he took our nature upon him and lived in the World went about doing good It is to be like the blessed Angels whose great employment it is to be ministring spirits for the good of others To be charitable and helpful and beneficial to others is to be a good Angel and a Saviour and a God to men And the Example of our blessed Saviour more especially is the great Pattern which our Religion propounds to us And we have all the reason in the World to be in love with it because that very Goodness which it propounds to our imitation was so beneficial to our selves when we our selves feel and enjoy the happy effects of that good which he did in the World this should mightily endear the Example to us and make us forward to imitate that love and kindness to which we are indebted for so many blessings and upon which all our hopes of happiness do depend And there is this considerable difference between our Saviour's charity to us and ours to others He did all purely for our sakes and for our benefit whereas all the good we do to others is a greater good done to our selves They indeed are beholden to us for the kindness we do them and we to them for the opportunity of doing it Every ignorant person that comes in our way to be instructed by us every sinner whom we reclaim every poor and necessitous man whom we relieve is a happy opportunity of doing good to our selves and of laying up for our selves a good treasure against the time which is to come that we may lay hold on eternal life By this principle the best and the happiest man that ever was governed his life and actions esteeming it a more blessed thing to give than to receive Fourthly This is one of the greatest and most substantial Duties of Religion and next to the love and honour which we pay to God himself the most acceptable service that we can perform to him It is one half of the Law and next to the first and great Commandment and very like unto it like to it in the excellency of its nature and in the necessity of its obligation For this commandment we have from him that he who loveth God love his brother also The first Commandment excels in the dignity of the object but the Second hath the advantage in the reality of its effects For our righteousness extendeth not to God we can do him no real benefit but our charity to men is really useful and beneficial to them For which reason God is contented in many cases that the external Honour and Worship which by his positive commands he requires of us should give way to that natural duty of Love and Mercy which we owe to one another And to shew how great a value he puts upon Charity he hath made it the great testimony of our Love to himself and for want of it rejects all other professions of love to him as false and insincere If any man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Fifthly This is that which will give us the greatest comfort when we come to die It will then be no pleasure to men to reflect upon the great estates they have got and the great places they have been advanced to because they are leaving these things and they will stand them in no stead in the other world Riches profit not in the day of wrath But the conscience of well-doing will refresh our Souls even under the very pangs of death With what contentment does a good man then look upon the good he hath done in his life and with what confidence doth he look over into the other world where he hath provided for himself bags that wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not For though our estates will not follow us into the other world our good works will though we cannot carry our riches along with us yet we may send them before us to make way for our reception into everlasting habitations In short works of Mercy and Charity will comfort us at the hour of death and plead for us at the day of Judgment and procure for us at the hands of a merciful God a glorious recompence at the resurrection of the just Which leads me to the Last consideration I shall offer to you which is the reward of doing good both in this world and the other If we believe God himself he hath made more particular and encouraging promises to this grace and virtue than to any other The advantages of it in This World are many and great It is the way to derive a lasting blessing upon our estate Acts of charity are the best Deeds of Settlement We gain the prayers and blessings of those to whom we extend our charity and it is no small thing to have the blessing of them that are ready to perish to come upon us For God hears the prayers of the destitute and his ear is open to their cry Charity is a great security to us in times of evil and that not only from the special promise and providence of God which are engaged to preserve from want those that relieve the necessities of others but likewise from the nature of the thing which makes way for its own reward in this world He that is charitable to others provides a supply and retreat for himself in the day of distress For he provokes mankind by his example to like tenderness towards him and prudently bespeaks the commiseration of others against it comes to be his turn to stand in need of it Nothing in this World makes a man more and surer friends than charity and bounty and such as will stand by us in the greatest troubles and dangers For a good man says the Apostle one would even dare to die 'T is excellent counsel of the Son of Sirach Lay up thy treasure according to the Commandment of the Most high and it shall bring thee more profit than gold Shut up thy alms in thy store-house and it shall deliver thee from all affliction It shall fight for thee against thine enemies better than a mighty shield and strong spear It hath sometimes happened that the obligation that men have laid upon others by their Charity hath in case of danger and extremity done them more kindness than all the rest of their Estate could do for them and their Alms have literally delivered them from death But what is all this to the endless and unspeakable Happiness of the Next life where the returns of doing good will be vastly great beyond what we can now expect or imagine For God takes all the good we do to others as a debt upon himself and he hath estate and treasure enough to satisfie the greatest obligations we can lay upon him So that we have the Truth and Goodness and Sufficiency of God for our security that what we scatter and sow in this kind will grow up to a plentiful harvest in the other World and that all our pains and expence in doing good for a few days will be recompensed and crowned with the Joys and Glories of Eternity FINIS Bishop Sanderson Juven Vell. Patere Seneca * Tully * Aristides Antonin lib. 10.