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
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
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
Scripture Does our Saviour any-where speak one word concerning the worshipping of Her Nay does he not take all occasions to restrain all extravagant apprehensions and imaginations concerning the honour due to Her as foreseeing the degeneracy of the Church in this thing When he was told that his Mother and Brethren were without Who says he are my mother and my brethren He that doth the will of my Father the same is my mother and sister and brother And when the Woman brake forth into that rapture concerning the blessed Mother of our Lord Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps that gave thee suck Our Saviour diverts to another thing Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Does either our Saviour or his Apostles in all their particular Precepts and directions concerning Prayer and the manner of it and by whom we are to address our selves to God give the least intimation of praying to the Virgin Mary or making use of her Mediation And can any man believe that if this had been the practice of the Church from the beginning our Saviour and his Apostles would have been so silent about so considerable a part of Religion Insomuch that in all the Epistles of the Apostles I do not remember that her Name is so much as once mentioned And yet the worship of her is at this day in the Church of Rome and hath been so for several Ages a main part of their publick worship yea and of their private devotions too in which it is usual with them to say ten Ave Maries for one Pater Noster that is for one Prayer they make to Almighty God they make ten addresses to the blessed Virgin for that is the proportion observed in their Rosaries He that considers this and had never seen the Bible would have been apt to think that there had been more said concerning Her in Scripture than either concerning God or our blessed Saviour and that the New Testament were full from one end to the other of precepts and exhortations to the worshipping of Her and yet when all is done I challenge any man to shew me so much as one sentence in the whole Bible that sounds that way And there is as little in the Christian Writers of the first three hundred years The truth is this practice began to creep in among some superstitious people about the middle of the fourth century And I remember particularly that Epiphanius who lived about that time calls it the Heresie of the Women And thus I have given you some Instances of several Doctrines and Practices which the Church of Rome have built upon the Foundation of Christianity Much more might have been said of them but from what hath been said any man may easily discern how dangerous they are to the salvation of men I proceed now in the Second place II. To consider 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 sufficient argument and encouragement to any man to quit our Church and go to theirs And there is the more need to consider this because this is the great popular argument wherewith the emissaries and agents of that Church are wont to assault our people Your Church say they grants that a Papist may be saved Ours denies that a Protestant can be saved therefore it is safest to be of our Church in which salvation by the acknowledgment of both sides is possible For answer to this I shall endeavour to shew that this is so far from being a good argument that it is so intolerably weak and sophistical that any considerate man ought to be asham'd to be catch'd by it For either it is good of it self and sufficient to perswade a man to relinquish our Church and to pass over to theirs without entring into the merits of the cause on either side and without comparing the Doctrines and Practises of both the Churches together or it is not If it be not sufficient of it self to perswade a man to leave our Church without comparing the Doctrines on both sides then it is to no purpose and there is nothing got by it For if upon examination and comparing of Doctrines the one appear to be true and the other false this alone is sufficient inducement to any man to cleave to that Church where the true Doctrine is found and then there is no need of this argument If it be said that this argument is good in it self without the examination of the Doctrines of both Churches this seems a very strange thing for any man to affirm That it is reason enough to a man to be of any Church whatever her Doctrines and Practices be if she do but damn those that differ from her and if the Church that differs from her do but allow a possibility of salvation in her Communion But they who use this argument pretend that it is sufficient of it self and therefore I shall apply my self to shew as briefly and plainly as I can the miserable weakness and insufficiency of it to satisfie any mans conscience or prudence to change his Religion And to this end I shall 1. Shew the weakness of the principle upon which this argument relies 2. Give some parallel instances by which it will clearly appear that it concludes false 3. I shall take notice of some gross absurdities that follow from it 4. Shew how unfit it is to work upon those to whom it is propounded And 5. How improper it is to be urged by those that make use of it I. I shall shew the weakness of the principle upon which this argument relies And that is this That whatever different parties in Religion agree in is safest to be chosen The true consequence of which principle if it be driven to the head is to perswade men to forsake Christianity and to make them take up in the principles of natural Religion for in these all Religions do agree For if this principle be true and signifie any thing it is dangerous to embrace any thing wherein the several parties in Religion differ because that only is safe and prudent to be chosen wherein all agree So that this argument if the foundation of it be good will perswade further than those who make use of it desire it should do for it will not only make men forsake the Protestant Religion but Popery too and which is much more considerable Christianity it self II. I will give some parallel instances by which it will clearly be seen that this argument concludes false The Donatists denied the Baptism of the Catholicks to be good but the Catholicks acknowledged the Baptism of the Donatists to be valid So that both sides were agreed that the Baptism of the Donatists was good therefore the safest way for St. Austin and other Catholicks according to this argument was to be Baptized again by the Donatists
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