That these two sorts of Persons are most extremely soâ—…tish 1 Such as expect to have their share in the Salvation of the Gospel without true Holiness 2. Such much more as encourage themselves by the grace of the Gospel in unholiness pag. 213. Chap. 19. The fourth Inference That a right understanding of the Design of Christianity will give satisfaction concerning the true Notion 1. Of Justifying Faith 2. Of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness pag. 221. Chap. 20. The fifth Inference That we learn from the Design of Christianity the great measure and standard whereby we are to judge of Doctrines How we are to judge of the Truth of Doctrines pag. 227. Chap. 21. How we are to judge of the Necessity of Doctrines either to be embraced or rejected A brief discourse of the Nature of Points Fundamental How we may know whether we embrace all such and whether we hold not any destructive and damnable Errours pag. 233. Chap. 22. The sixth Inference That the Design of Christianity teacheth us what Doctrines and Practices we ought as Christians to be most Zealous for or against pag. 237. Chap. 23. The seventh Inference That the Design of Christianity well considered will give us great light into the just bounds and extent of Christian Liberty Of complying with the customes of our Country and the will of our Governours The great difference between the Mosaical Law and the Gospel as to its Preceptive part pag. 240. Chap. 24. The eighth Inference That it is the most unaccountable thing to do that which is essentially evil in defence of the Christian Religion or of any opinions presumed to be Doctrines relating thereunto The Pope and Church of Rome most prodigiously guilty in this particular And not a few of those that profess enmity against Popery too lyable also to the same charge pag. 246. Chap. 25. The Ninth Inference That it is a most unwarrantable thing for those that are the Ministers of Christ to prefer any other Design before that of making men really Righteous and Holy That this ought to be the whole Design of their Preaching That it is of as great concernment that they promote the same business by their Conversations as that they do it by their Doctrine Infinite mischiefs occasioned by the loose lives of Ministers Several Instances of Practices extremely blame worthy in Preachers of the Gospel That they ought to have a regard to the Weaknesses of Persons so far as lawfully they may That the Promoting of Holiness ought to be onely Design of Ecclesiastical Discipline pag. 252. Chap. 26. The tenth Inference That an obedient temper of mind is an excellent and necessary qualification to prepare men for a firm belief and right understanding of the Gospel of Christ. That it is so by virtue of Christ's promise That it is so in its own Nature This shewed in three Particulars viz. in that 1. It will help us to judge without prejudice concerning the Doctrines contained in the Gospel 2. It will give satisfaction concerning the main Doctrines of Christianity far excelling any that can arise from mere speculation 3. It will secure from the causes of Errour in those Points that are of weightiest importance Six causes of such Errours laid down and an Obedient Disposition of mind shewed to secure from each of them pag. 267. Chap. 27. The last Inference That we are taught by the Design of Christianity wherein the Essence Power and Life of it consisteth Instances of what kind of things it doth not consist in For what ends the several Exercises of Piety and Devotion are injoyned How God is glorified by men and by what means Whom it is our duty to esteem and carry our selves towards as true Christians That by following the Example of Christ and making his Life our Pattern we shall assure our selves that the Design of Christianity is effected in us and that we are indued with the Power of it pag. 281. The Introduction THE Accusation that Celsus and Iulian the Grand Adversaries of the Christian Religion had the impudent confidence to fasten upon it namely That it indulgeth men in and encourageth them to the practice of immorality and wickedness is so notoriously false and groundless that there is nothing truer or more perspicuously held forth in the Books that contain Christianity than that the perfectly contrary is the Great Design of it But yet notwithstanding those that shall heedfully observe the lives and actions of an Infinite number of such as call Christ their Master would be very shrewdly tempted undoubtedly to conclude that they secretly think what those Heathens had the face to publish And as for I fear I may say even most of those Professours of Faith in Christ which have escaped the scandalous and more gross pollutions of the world that man that shall take an exact survey of their conversations also and consider what matters they most busie themselves about what the designs are which they chiefly prosecute and that not onely as Men but as Christians too what things they are that exercise most of their Deal and for and against which is spent the greatest part of their Religious Heat will be strongly enclined to suspect that though they have not entertained so highly dishonourable an opinion of their Saviour as to esteem him a Patron of Vice and Wickedness yet they think so undervaluingly of Him as to judge him so mean a Friend to Holiness as that the promoting it in mens hearts and lives if it was at all a Design of His coming into the world and of the Religion He left behind Him yet it was at best but a Bye-one and that some other matters were much more in his Eye and principally intended by Him Though I will not say that the greater part of our most forward Professors have their Heads Leavened with such thoughts yet any one may dare to affirm that they behave themselves exactly as if they had And moreover I am absolutely certain that it is utterly impossible men should make such a Bustle and Stir about matters of none or but small importance to the serving or prejudicing the real Interest of their Souls and on the other hand be as Lukewarm unconcern'd and Careless in diverse things that have the most immediate and direct tendency to their Eternal Wellfare if they duly considered and had a quick sense of what was now intimated viz. That the Business that brought the Blessed Iesus by the appointment of God the Father down from Heaven and the End of His making us the Objects of such Rich and Transcendent Kindness was the destroying of Sin in us the Renewing of our depraved Natures the Ennobling our Souls with Virtuous Qualities and Divine Dispositions and Tempers and in one word the making us partakers of His Holiness And so long as there are but few that either believe or Consider that this is The End of Christianity and that alone which it directly drives at it cannot be matter of Wonder
of Conscience as there may be in it For Superstition implyeth a frightful and over-timorous apprehension of the Divine Nature and consequently a base and undervaluing conception of it as the Greek word that expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth That which makes men Superstitious is such an opinion of God as represents him a very Angry and Captious Being but yet such a one too as may be aâ—…oned and pacified by a great care and exactness in certain little matters in performances and abstinences of an insignificant and very trivial nature Now the Ancient Author of the Epistle to Diognetus therein acquaints him that the Primitive Christians were no such squeamish or conceited Creatures as to live in a different way from the people among whom they inhabited and saith that they distinguish'd themselves from their Neighbors and other folk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither by civil customes nor a certain language or phrases or tone proper to themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. nor that they affected to make themselves notifiâ—…d by any peculiarities that is in harmless matters as a foolish Sect among our selves and some other fanciful people now adays do I design not here so tedious a work as that of examining particulars by the Rule we have given but only to shew in the general that we may be satisfied concerning the Extent of our Christian â—…berty by well weighing the Design of Christianitâ—… and may understand what kind of things must needs be free to us under the Gospel-dispensation and what not leaving it to the Reader to make application and consider the nature of particulars by comparing them with this Rule But I presume I need not mind him that I suppose all this while that whatsoever is plainly commanded and forbidden in the Gospel must be done and forborn by him though he should not be sagacious enough to discern how every thing there commanded is serviceable or forbidden is injurious to the Design of Holiness For surely none can doubt but that they ought to understand me in what I have asserted to have this meaning onely viz. That as to those things which the Gospel speaketh nothing in particular and clearly concerning the best course we can take in order to our knowing to what Heads to refer them whether to that of things commanded or to that of forbidden or to that of Indifferent things is to examine them by this General Rule viz. the Design of Christianity But to conclude this The great difference between the Mosaical Law and the Gospel as to its preceptive part is this That by the former a vast multitude of perfectly Indifferent things were imposed and many such also prohibited But by the latter onely those things are injoyned that are in their own nature of indispensable necessity or such as are means and helps towards them And there is nothing thereby forbidden but it is so because it is evil and is not therefore evil onely because forbidden There is nothing either commanded or forbidden in our Saviour's Religion but as it is in order to our good so is it in order to such a good too as consists in the Reformation and Renovation of our lives and natures So that I say our past Discourse concerning the Design of Christianity may give us great light as to the knowledge of what kind of things we that are under the Gospel-dispensation must do and are matter of necessary duty must not do and are matter of sin and may do or leave undone without sin CHAP. XXIV The Eighth Inference That it is the most unaccountable thing to do that which is Essentially Evil in defence of the Christian Religion or of any opinions presumed to be Doctrines relating thereunto The Pope and Church of Rome most prodigiously guilty in this particular And not a few of those that profess Enmity against Popery too lyable also to the same charge EIghthly It may be plainly inferred from what hath been said of the Design of Christianity That it is the most strangely unaccountable thing for men in defence or favour of that way of Religion which they take to be most truly the Christian or of any opinions that are presumed by them to be Doctrines thereunto belonging to do that which is essentially and in its own nature evil For these act quite contrary to the Design of the Christian Religion and so consequently do what lyeâ—…h in therâ—… to spoil it and render it a 〈◊〉 and insignificant thing by the coâ—… 〈◊〉 take for the advancement of it The Pope and Church of Rome are most prodigiously guilty of this madness they doing the most plainly vicious and immoral actions imaginable to promote the Interest as they pretend of that which they call the Catholique Faith For their imposing of their own sences upon the Word of God and then Persecuting Burning and Damning men for not subscribing to theirs as to God's words can be no better than an Act of Devilish pride and barbarous cruelty It is so of the former in that it is a compelling men to acknowledge their wisdom to be such as that it may not be suspected in the least measure no not in the determination of points that are the most doubtful and disputable Nay neither in such Opinions and Practices of theirs as most apparently contradict a multitude of Texts of the holy Scriptures And moreover in endeavouring to force all men to act and think as they do in matters of Religion they with Luciâ—…erian arrogance usurp the Empire of Almighty God and sway that Scepter over mens consciences which is his peculiarly And I need not say that they are therein no whit less cruel than they are proud For what greater cruelty can there be than to inflict upon people the saddest of calamities and the horridest tortures whereof the instances are innumerable for such things as they cannot have the least cause to think they are able to help and which they have also the greatest reason to conclude they are not at all blame worthy for I say what can be greater cruelty than this is except their designing thereby to terrifie men to the owning of Doctrines and doing actions perfectly against the clearest sense of their minds and expresâ—…est Dictates of their Consciences which is an exercise of no less cruelty towards their Souls than the other is towards their Bodies And what Villanies are there which the Pope and his Proselytes have stuck at committing for the Propagation of their Religion Such as exciting subjects to take arms against their lawful Sovereigns to whom they are obliged in the bonds of most Solemn Oaths Poisoning and Sâ—…abbing of Princes the most barbarous Massacres that any History can give account of In short what Frauds and Perfidiousness what Treachery what Impostures what Peâ—…juries what Cruelties and horrid out-rages have they thought too wicked to be undertaken and persisted in for the sake of HOLY CHURCH But I would I could say that of all that are
good the forementioned charge of Idolatry and of other Impious Practices and Principles against them that it is unimaginable how it should be possible that any who are not stark-blind or resolved that they will not see should not acknowledge them And as for the elaborate tricks whereby they endeavour to justifie themselves from those Accusations and to perswade the World that they are undeserved they may doubtless whensoever they shall have a mind to it devise others no less plausible with as little pains to make forcing of Virgins no Rape lying with other folks Wives no Adultery cutting of Purses no Theft Robbing of Churches no Sacrilege and in one word they may with as little exercise of their brains invent ways to do whatsoever is most flatly forbidden in the ten Commandments without being guilty of transgressing any one of them I might proceed to instance in very many other Doctrines of the Romish Church which by what we have said of the Christian Religion we may be perfectly assured are Anti-Christian but I will onely adde two or three more As their asserting the Insufficiency of the holy Scriptures for mens salvation and denying them to be the Sole Rule of Faith and joyning with them their own paltry Traditions as equally necessary to be believed and this against the express words of S. Paul to Timothy 2 Epist. 3 Chap. where he tells him that the holy Scriptures are able to make him wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Iesus And that All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in Righteousness That the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works And their teaching that the Gospel is obscure and difficult to be understood even in things necessary to be believed and practised Which as it makes it greatly inefficacious for the purpose which we have proved it is designed for so doth it open a gap for vile interpretations of any part of it and exposeth it to the power of Heretiques and especially of the Romish ones to make it a mere Nose of Wax Which none can doubt that consider also therewith their Doctrine of Implicite Faith and that other upon which it is grounded viz. That of the Infallibility of their Church which as the Iesuites define is seated in the Pope's Chair But whether it be asserted that the Popes have an unerring faculty or they and their General Councils together this Doctrine being received as by them it is without the least ground for unquestionably true doth greatly hazard nay and even necessitate the betraying of men to the very worst both of opinions and practices whensoever this pretended infallible guide shall be pleas'd to propose them to them And whosoever believes it must to use the words of M r Chillingworth be prepared in mind to esteem vertue vice and vice vertue Christianity Anti-christianism and Antichristianism Christianity if the Pope shall so determine And this Doctrine without doubt is that which causeth those of the Papists to stick so fast in silthy 〈◊〉 and to persist so obstinately in their foul errours who are not detained therein by the love of gain with which their Popes and other Ecclesiasticks by the means of diverse of them are mightily enriched or by the dear affection they bear to their other lusts which they are so exactly fitteâ—… for the satisfaction of Their Doctrines being very many of them so ridiculously absurd plainly false and of such dangerous consequence I say nothing else certainly could hold the sincerer sort of Papists in the belief of them but this consideration that any one of them being let go their great Dagon of the Churches Infallibility must necessarily to the ground with it I might also instance in their Doctrine of the Dispensableness of the most Solemn Oaths which is no less destructive to Humane Society than it is to Piety And in that of the Popes power to absolve Subjects from their Allegiance to their lawful Sovereigns And to them adde a great number of Maximes of the most famous order among them the Iesuites and Resolutions of Cases of Conscience which are as wicked and destructive of a holy Life as the Devil himself can well devise But to be employed with Hercules in emptying the Augean stable would be as acceptable a work as stirring so far in this nasty Sink Whosoever shall peruse the Mystery of Iesuitism may find more than enough there to turn his stomach though it should be none of the most squeamish and quezy and to make him stand astonished and bless him that ever such loathsome and abominable stuff should come from persons that derive their name from the Holy Iesus But to hasten to the conclusion of this Chapter the most pure and holy Religion of our Saviour hath the Church of Rome defiled with as impure and unholy opinions and practices and hath taken the most effectual course not only to render it a feeble and insignificant thing for accomplishing the Design for which it was intended by the Blessed Founder of it but also to make it unhappily successful in serving the directly contrary The great Mystery of Godliness hath she transformed into a grand Mystery of Iniquity and by that means most excessively confirmed its professed enemies the Iews and Mahumetans in their enmity against it And for my own part I should not stick to say as did Averroes when he observed that the Popish Christians adored that they ate Sit anima mea cum Philosophis Let my soul take its fate with the Philosophers in the other world did I think Christianity to be such a Religion as she makes it As much as I admire it now I should then prefer that of Socrates Plato and Cicero very far before it Though I abhor so far to imitate the Papists in the Devilishly cruel uncharitableness as to pronounce them all in a state of damnation yet I dare assert with the greatest and most undoubted confidence that all that continue in Communion with that degenerated and Apostate Church run infinite hazards And moreover that it is impossible that any sincere persons should give an explicite and understanding assent to all her Doctrines but that whosoever can find in his heart to practise upon them can be nothing better than a shamefully debauched and immoral wretch Nor is it conceivable what should induce any to exchange the Reformed for the Popish Religion as too many have of late done that have but a competent understanding of both besides the desire of serving some corrupt interest And we plainly see that the generality of those that turn Apostates from the Church of England to that of Rome are such people as were a Scandal to her while they continued in her And that Atheism and Popery are the common Sanctuaries to which the most abominably vicious and profane of this Age do betake themselves CHAP. XVIII The Third Inference That these two sorts
them give occasion to the enemies of Christianity to reproach all the professors of it as most silthy and impure creatures I know it is commonly said that those Calumnies proceeded purely from the Heathens malicious invention but it is apparent that those vile Hereticks gave occasion to them But that the Christians were so far from being guilty of such monstrous crimes that they did lead most inoffensive and good lives doth abundantly appear by the Apologies that diverse of the Fathers made to the Heathen Emperors and people in their behalf Iustin Martyr in his Apology to Antoninus Pius hath this saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is our interest that all persons should make a narrow inquisition into our lives and doctrine and to expose them to the view of every one And he afterwards tells that Emperor That his people had nothing to lay to their charge truly but their bare name Christians And again That they which in times past took pleasure in unclean practices do live now that they are become converts to Christianity pure and chast lives They which used magical arts do now consecrate and devote themselves to the eternal and good God They which preferred the incomes of their money and possessions before all things else do now cast them into the common stock and communicate them to any that stand in need They which once hated each other and mutually engaged in bloody battles and according to the custom would not keep a common fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with those that were not of the same tribe now live lovingly and familiarly together with them That now they pray for their very enemies and those which persecute them with unjust hatred they endeavour to win to them by perswasions that they also living according to the honest precepts of Christ may have the same hope and gain the same reward with themselves from the great Governour and Lord of the world Athenagoras in his Apology saith thus to the Emperors Aurelius Antoninus and Aurelius Commodus As very gracious and benign as you are to all others you have no care of us who are called Christians for ye suffer us who commit no evil nay who as shall hereafter appear do behave our selves of all men most piously and justly both towards God and your Government to be vexed to be put to flight from place to place and to be violently dealt with And then he adds some lines after If any of you can convict us of any great or small crime we are ready to bear the most severe punishment that can be inflicted upon us And speaking of the Calumnies that some had fastened upon them he saith If you can find that these things are true spare no age no sex but utterly root us up and destroy us with our wives and children if you can prove that any of us live like to beasts c. And there is very much to the same purpose in Tertullian's Apology Where he tels the Roman Governours That they dealt otherwise with the Christians than with any other whom they accounted Malefactors For whereas they tortured others to make them confess the faults they were accused of they tortured these to make them deny themselves to be Christians And that having no crime besides to lay to their charge which carried the least shew of truth their professing themselves to be no Christians would at at any time procure for them their absolution And to this objection that there are some Christians that do excedere à regula disciplnae depart from the rules of their Religion and live disorderly here turneth this answer Desinunt tamen Christiani haberi penes nos But those that do so are no longer by us accounted Christians And by the way let me recite Rigaltius his short note upon this passage At perseverant hodiè in nomine et numero Christianorum qui vitam omnem vivunt Antichristi But those now adays do retain the name and society of Christians which live altogether Antichristian lives And proceeds he Tolle publicanos c. Take away Publicans and a wretched rabble which he musters together et frigebunt hodiernorum Ecclesiae Christianorum and our present Christian Churches will be lamentably weak small and insignificant things From these few citations out of the Apologies of the forementioned Fathers to which may be added abundance more of the same nature both out of them and others we may judge what rare success the Gospel had in the first ages and what a vast difference there is between the Christians of those and of these daies that is between the Christians that were under persecution and those that since have lived in ease and prosperity When the Christian Religion came to be the Religion of Nations and to be owned and encouraged by Emperors and Rulers then was the whole vast Roman Empire quickly perswaded to march under its Banner and the very worst of men for fashions sake and in expectation of Temporal Advantages came flocking into the Church of Christ. Nay the worse men were and the less of conscience they had the more forward might they then be so to do the more haste they might make to renounce their former Religion and take upon them the Profession of Christianity And no sooner was the Church set in the warm sun-shine of worldly Riches and Honours but it is apparent she was insensibly over-run with those noisome vermine which have bred and multiplyed ever since even for many Centuries of years in her If any shall doubt whether the forementioned Fathers might not give too good a character of the Christians whose cause they pleaded I desire them to consider whether or no it be imaginable that they should so do seeing their enemies to whom they wrote their defences of them could easily they living among them have discovered the falsity of their commendations And we find them frequently appealing to the Heathens own Consciences whether they themselves did not believe that to be no other than the truth which they said of them And moreover we have them ever and anon triumphing over them and provoking them to shew such effects of their Philosophy and way of Religion as they themselves could witness were produced by the Gospel of Christ. Nay and we have their Adversaries themselves giving them a very high Character Tertullian in his forementioned Apology saith that Pliny the second who was a persecutor of Christians wrote thus to the Emperour Trajan from the Province where he ruled under him viz. That Besides their Resolute refusing to offer Sacrifice he could learn nothing concerning their Religion but that they held Meetings before day to sing praises to Christ and God and to engage their Sect in solemn Leagues forbidding Murther Adultery Deceit Disloyalty and all other wickednesses And in a now extant Epistle of his to that Emperor we find him giving him this information viz. That some that had renounced Christianity and now worshipped his
revenge our selves upon you for we are so great a part of the Empire that by but departing from you we should utterly destroy it and affright you with your own Solitude and leave you more enemies than loyal Subjects And so far were they from making use of the advantages they had to deliver themselves by the way of violence That as not long after he saith to them they prayed for the Emperours and those in Authority under them for peace and a quiet state of affairs among them and as some where he adds very ready also to give them assistance against their enemies The story of the Thebaean Legion is wonderful to astonishment it consisted of just six thousand six hundred sixty and six men and all Christian. These when Maximianus Caesar went about to compel them to offer Sacrifice to the heathenish Gods at a place called Octodurum they fled to another called Agaunum when he sent after them to require them to obey that his command they drew up together into a Body and with one voice professed that they could not do it Maximianus thereupon commanded that every tenth man of them should be slain upon the place which accordingly was immediately done without the least resistance Mauritius the General of this Legion thus addressed himself to the Souldiers Quà m timui ne quisquam quod Armatis facile est c. How fearful was I lest any of you being in Arms and therefore no hard matter to do it should attempt the defending of your selves and by that means prevent a happy and most glorious death And so goes on most excellently to encourage them rather to submit to death than resist their Emperour When every tenth man was slain the Emperour repeated his command to the survivers and they all thus answered Milites quidem Caesar tui sumus c. We are it is confessed thy Souldiers O Caesar for the defence of the Roman Republique nor have we ever proved either traytors or cowards but this command of thine we cannot obey For know we are all Christians yet all our bodies shall be subject to thee c. At last Exuperius their Ensign concludes thus Non nos adversum Te Imperator armavit ipsa quae fortissima est in periculis desperatio c. Despair it self hath not armed us against thee O Emperour behold we have all our weapons in our hands and yet resist not because we had rather die innocent than live nocent And thereupon they were all put to the slaughter not a man of them once offering to defend himself You may find the Relation of this more at large taken out of Fucherius by Grotius and set down in his Book De jure Belli Pacis Origen also tells Celsus that he or any of his party were able to shew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing of Sedition that the Christians were ever guilty of And yet what Tertullian said of the Roman Empire in General this Father elsewhere in the same book speaketh of Greece and Barbary viz. That the Gospel had subdued all that Country and the greater part of this and had brought over to Godliness souls innumerable Thus you see how far the Primitive Christians were from the tumultuous fiery and boisterous Spirit that Christendom above all other parts of the world hath been since infested with And thus we have shewn that there was once a time God grant that the like may be again when the success of the Christian Religion in conquering mens lusts and rectifying their Natures was greatly answerable to the efficacy that it hath for this purpose And so we pass to the second Inference CHAP. XVII The Second Inference That we understand from what hath been said of the Design of Christianity how fearfully it is abused by those that call themselves the Roman Catholiques That the Church of Rome hath by several of her Doctrines enervated all the Precepts and the Motives to Holiness contained in the Gospel That she hath rendered the Means therein prescribed for the attainment thereof extremely ineffectual That she hath also as greatly corrupted them Diverse Instances of the Papists Idolatry Their Image worship one Instance Their praying to Saints departed another Other Impieties accompanying it mentioned Some account of their Blasphemies particularly in their Prayers to the Blessed Virgin Their worshipping the Hoast the third and Grossest instance of their Idolatry Some other of their Wicked and most Anti-christian Doctrines SEcondly By what hath been said concerning the Design of the Christian Religion we easily understand how fearfully it is abused by those that call themselves the Roman Catholiques Nor need we any other Argument to prove Popery to be nothing less than Christianity besides this viz. That the Grand Design of this is to make us holy and also aimeth at the raising of us to the most Elevated pitch of Holiness and is admirably contrived for that purpose But the Religion of the Papists as such doth most apparently tend to carry on a Design that is diametrically opposite thereunto To serve a most carnal and corrupt interest to give men security in a way of sinning and pretendeth to teach them a way to do at one and the same time effectually the most contrary and inconsistent works That is to deprave their natures and save their Souls and even in gratifying their wicked inclinations to lay a firm and safe foundation for eternal happiness So that if this as they pretend it alone is be the Christian Religion we must needs ingenuously acknowledge that what we said in the Introduction was by Celsus and Iulian charged upon it is no calumny but an accusation most just and well deserved For as the Church of Rome hath rendred diverse excellent Precepts of Holiness contained in the Gospel very in-effectual by making them Counsels onely not Commands and also not a few of its Prohibitions unnecessary by her Distinction of sins into Mortal and Venial understanding by Venial sins such as for the sake of which no man can deserve to lose the Divine favour and therefore making them really no sins So hath she enervated all the Evangelical Commandments both Positive and Negative and made them sadly insignificant by a multitude of Doctrines that are taught by her most Darling-sons and decreed or allowed by her self That one Popish Doctrine of the Non-necessity of Repentance before the imminent point of Death and that though the Church requireth it upon Holy-days yet no man is bound by the Divine Law to it until that time is of it self without the help of any other sufficient to take away the force of all the holy Precepts of our Saviour and to make them utterly unsuccessful to the Embracers of it And this other goeth beyond that in aptness for this purpose viz. That mere Attrition or sorrow for sin for fear of Damnation if it be accompanied with Confession to the Priest is sufficient for Salvation For as the former maketh a Death-bed-repentance onely necessary
of Persons are most extremely sottish 1. Such as expect to have their share in the Salvation of the Gospel without true Holiness 2. Such much more as encourage themselves by the Grace of the Gospel in Unholiness THirdly There is nothing we are more assured of by what hath been discoursed of the Design of Christianity than that these two sorts of persons are guilty of extreme sottishness Namely Those that expect to have a share in the Salvation of the Gospel without true Holiness And much more Those that encourage themselves by the grace of the Gospel in their Unholiness First Those that expect to have their share in the Salvation of the Gospel without true Holiness I fear me that such people are not consined within the limits of the Romish Church but that a vast number of Protestants also may be deservedly accused upon this account But by so much more sottish are these than the Papists by how much better things their Religion teacheth them than the Papists doth Though I must likewise with sadness acknowledge that too many opinions have been unhappily foisted into it that give too great encouragement to a careless life But that those which promise to themselves an interest in the Salvation purchased by Jesus Christ either from their Baptism and partaking of certain Christian priveleges or from their being of such or such a Sect and Mode of Professors or from their supposed Orthodoxy and good belief and zeal against erroneous Doctrines or from their imagining Christ's Righteousness theirs and applying the Promises to themselves or from their abstaining from the grosser and more scandalous sins or from their doing some externally good actions and have in the mean time no care to be universally obedient to mortifie every lust and to obtain an inward principle of Holiness that those I say which thus do are guilty of most egregious and stupid folly is most manifest from what hath been discoursed of the Design of Christianity For we have shewn not only that Reformation of Life from the practice and purification of heart from the liking of sin are as plainly as can be asserted in the Gospel to be absolutely necessary to give men a right to the promises of it but also that its Great Salvation doth even consist in it that Salvation from sin is the grand Design of the Christian Religion and that from wrath is the Result of this I will instance in two more Scriptures for the farther proof of this The Apostle S. Paul saith Ephes. 2. 5 c. Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Iesus That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Iesus For by Grace ye are saved through faith or by the means of believing the Gospel and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Where by the Salvation which the Ephesian Christians are said to have obtained and in the bestowing of which upon them the exceeding Riches of God's Grace appeared is plainly to be understood their deliverance from their former Heathenish Impieties and sinful Practices And so is it interpreted by our best Expositors Again it is said Titus 3. 5. Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us how saved us it follows by the washing of Regeneration Renewing of the holy Ghost Our Saviour giveth â—…ase to our Sin-sick Souls by recovering them to health And his Salvation first consisteth in curing our wounds and secondarily in freeing us from the smart occasioned by them S. Peter tells the Christians that by his stripes they were healed 1 Pet. 2. 24. It being a quotation out of Isaiah 53. 5. Clemens Alexandrinus in the second book of his Stromat hath this saying to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pardon doth not so much consist in Remission as in Healing That is the pardon of the Gospel doth chiefly discover it self in curing men of their sins in delivering sinners from the power of them rather than from the mere punishment due to them By which words that learned Father declared that he looked upon the subduing of sin as a more eminent act of grace than the bare forgiveness of it Now would that man be accounted any better than a perfect Ideot who being sorely hurt should expect from his Chirurgion perfect â—…ase when he will not permit him to apply any plaister for the healing of his wound Or that being deadly sick should look that his Physician should deliver him from his pain when he will not take any course he prescribes for the removal of the distemper that is the cause of it But of far greater folly are all those guilty who will not be perswaded to part with their Sins and yet hope for the Salvation of their Souls He that looketh for this expects that which implyeth a most palpable contradiction and is impossible in its own nature to be effected It hath been fully enough shewn that mere deliverance from misery cannot possibly be without deliverance from sin and much less Eternal Blessedness in the Enjoyment of God Secondly But how excessively mad then are those which turn the grace of God declared in the Gospel into wantonness and take encouragement from the abundant kindness and good will therein expressed to wretched sinners with the more security and boldness to commit sin We read of such in the Epistle of S. Iude And God knows there are too many such in these our days But seeing it is so grosly foolish a thing for men to hope to be saved notwithstanding their living in the allowance of known sins what desperate Madness then is it to be imboldened in ungodly practices by the offers Christ makes of pardon and salvation to them These declare that they look upon the Design of Christianity not onely as different from what it hath been demonstrated it is but also as directly opposite and perfectly contrary thereunto These do not only judge their Saviour to be no friend to holiness but to be the greatest enemy likewise to it and a Minister of sin and wickedness They make him to be the very servant of the Devil in stead of coming to destroy his works They make the Christian Religion more vile by â—…ar than that of Mahomet and such a Religion as those which have but the least spark of goodness must needs abominate Shall we Sin saith the Apostle that Grace may abound God forbid Those that think they can magnifie the free-grace of God in Christ by thus doing or that they may take encouragement from it to continue in sin do make this grace unworthy of mens acceptance and no grace at all Nay they make Almighty God the greatest enemy to Mankind in sending his Son Jesus and
person of the most holy Trinity must needs be false As also those that make Religion to be a mere Passive thing wholly God's work and not at all ours or that cramp men and perswade them that they are utterly void of the least ability to co-operate with the grace of God or to do any thing towards their own salvation or any way whatsoever discourage them from the diligent prosecution of Holiness or deprive us of any help afforded us towards our gaining and growth in grace either by putting a slur upon the written word in advancing above it the light within men and in Enthusiastical pretences to immediate Revelations c. Or else by teaching men to sleight any one Ordinance of the Gospel c. Or such Doctrines as tend to introduce confusion into the Church of Christ and to deprive it of all Government and Order or in short that give countenance to any Immorality whatsoever I say as sure as the Christian Religion is true and that what we have proved to be the Design thereof is so such Doctrines as these must needs be false What our Saviour saith of false Prophets is as true of most Doctrines By their fruits you shall know them we may understand whether they have any relation to Christianity or no by the Design they drive at and their evident consequences And I may adde that we may make a shrewd guess what those particular wayes and modes of Religion are which the various Sects we are cantonized into have espoused to themselves and are so fond of by the proper and most distinguishing effects of them If we perceive that they make the great sticklers for them to differ from others chiefly in unconcernednes about the most important substantial duties of Morality and in laying the greatest weight upon certain little Trifles and placing their Religion in mere externals or that the things whereby they are most peculiarly discriminated from other folk are spiritual pride and fond conceitedness of themselves and a scornful and fierce behaviour towards those that approve not of their way uncharitableness morosity and peevishness a seditious ungovernable and untameable spirit c. I say if we observe such as these to be the most distinguishing effects of their several Modes and Forms we have sufficient reason from thence alone greatly to presume that they have not the stamp of Ius Christianum upon them that they are not of Christ but of their own invention The wisdom that is from above is quite another thing and begets perfectly other kind of effects as shall be shewn hereafter But to return The Design of the Gospel is as was said the Great Standard by which we are to judge of the Truth of Opinions Those that seem to us to oppose this Design we are bound to suspect because they do so but those which apparently do this we must with heartiest indignation reject And though we should meet with some places of Scripture that at first sight may seem to favour them we may not be stumbled upon that account but be confident that whatsoever is their true meaning as sure as they have God for their Author they cannot possibly patronize any such Doctrines And lastly in examining which of two opinions is true that oppose each other and do seem to be much a like befriended by the holy Scriptures it is doubtless a very safe course to consider as impartially as we can which doth tend most to serve the great End of Christianity and to prefer that which we are perswaded doth so CHAP. XXI How we are to judge of the Necessity of Doctrines either to be embraced or rejected A brief discourse of the Nature of Points Fundamental How we may know whether we embrace all such and whether we hold not any destructive and damnable Errours SEcondly The Design of Christianity is the great measure whereby we are to judge as of the Truth so also of the Necessity of Doctrines either to be embraced or rejected First We may thereby understand in what degree we ought to esteem those Necessary to be by all received which we our selves are convinc'd of the Truth of or which of such are Fundamental Points of the Christian Faith and which not First It is plain That in the general those and those only are primarily and in their own nature Fundamentals which are absolutely necessary to accomplish in us that Design Such as without the knowledge and belief of which it is impossible to acquire that Inward Righteousness and true Holiness which the Christian Religion aimeth at the introduction of It is in it self absolutely necessary not to be ignorant of or disbelieve any of those Points upon which the effecting of the great business of the Gospel in us doth necessarily depend The particulars of these I shall not stand to enumerate because as will appear from what will be said anon it is not needful to have a just Table of them And besides any one that understands wherein the nature of true Holiness lyeth may be able sufficiently to inform himself what they are Secondly It is as evident That those points of Faith are secondarily Fundamental the disbelief of which cannot consist with true Holiness in those to whom the Gospel is sufficiently made known although they are not in their own nature such as that Holiness is not in some degree or other attainable without the belief of them And in the number of these are all such Doctrines as are with indisputable clearness revealed to us Now the belief of these though it is not in it self any more than in higher or lower degrees profitable yet is it even absolutely necessary from an external cause though not from the nature of the Points themselves viz. In regard of their being delivered with such abundant perspicuity as that nothing can cause men to refuse to admit them but that which argueth them to be stark naught and to have some unworthy and base end in so doing But we must take notice here that all such Points as these are not of equal necessity to be received by all Christians because that in regard of the diversity of their capacities educations and other means and advantages some of them may be most plainly perceived by some to be delivered in the Scriptures which cannot be so by others with the like ease And in the second place what hath been said of Fundamental Truths is applicable by the Rule of Contraries to the opposite Errours as I need not shew Now then would we know whether we embrace all the Fundamentals of Christianity and are guilty of no damnable and destructive errours among the great diversity and contrariety of Opinions that this kingdom abounds with I think I may say above all other parts of Christendom our onely way is to examine our selves impartially after this manner Am I sincerely willing to obey my Creatour and Redeemer in all things commanded by them Do I entertain and harbour no lust in my
Example as both he and his Apostles have often enough assured us he did were more seriously considered it could not possibly be that the Design of his Gospel and that wherein consists the Power of Godliness and Soul of Christianity should be by so many so very miserably mistaken as we see it is The Conclusion WHat remaineth now but that we sedulously and with the greatest concernedness betake our selves to find that which hath been proved to be the Design of Christanity accomplish'd in our Hearts and Lives That we endeavour above all things in the World to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are called and that our Conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ And by that means make it appear to our selves and others that we are not in the number of those wretched Souls on whom the knowledge of the most incomparable Religion is merely thrown away and bestowed to very ill or to no purpose That we place the Kingdom of God not in Word but in Power and our Christianity not in letting our Tongues loose but in bridling both them and our exorbitant Affections That we make less Noise be less Disputacious and more Obedient That we Talk and Cavil less and Be and Live better As well knowing that an Objecting quarrelsome and wrangling humour serves to no better end than eating out the heart and life of all true Religion Let us Exercise our selves unto Reall and Substantial Godliness and in keeping our Consciences void of offence both towards God and towards men and in Studying the Gospel to inable us not to Discourse or onely to Believe but also and above all things to Do well Let us esteem Christianity a Principle of such Vigour Spriteliness and Activity as to be assured of nothing more than that it cannot possibly Be where it doth not Act and that the lives of those that are indued with it cannot but bear witness to the Force of it Let us do what lyeth in us to Convince our Atheists that the Religion of the Blessed Jesus is no Trick or Device and our Wanton and Loose Christians that it no Notional business or Speculative Science by letting them see most Excellent effects produced in our selves by it By shewing them how Sober and Temperate how Chaste how severely Just how Meek and Peaceable how Humble how Patient and Submissive to the Will of God how Loving and Charitable what Contemners of this World and Confiders in God we are enabled to be by the Power of it Let us declare that we are not mere Professours of Faith in Christ Jesus by doing Acts worthy of such a Faith That we are not barely Relyers on Christ's Righteousness by being Imitatours of it by being righteous as he was righteous That we do truly believe the Christian Doctrine by chearfully complying with the Christian Precepts Hereby let us know that we do indeed know him that we keep his Commandments By our care thus to do shall our minds as hath been shewn be inlightned in all Necessary Truth It was by their care to Do the Will of God that the Primitive Christians obtained the right Knowledge of it And there is no such Method for the acquiring of all useful knowledge as this is By this means shall we also be kept Constant in the True Profession of the Faith The Obedient is the only Christian that is out of danger even of a Total Apostacy nor can there be any sure hold of any one that is not Obedient He whose Great Design it is to keep the Commandments of God and his Son Jesus is the onely Solid Stable and Settled man Our Saviour hath likened him unto a Wise man which built his house upon a Rock which notwithstanding that the rain descended and floods came and the winds blew and all beat upon it fell not because it was founded upon a Rock And on the contrary he hath compared those that hear but do not his sayings to a Foolish man which built his house upon the Sands which when assaulted by a Tempest fell and great was the fall of it 'T is no strange thing to see a very highly Professing if he be not as conscienciously Living a Christian tossed up and down like a wave of the Sea and carried away with every Wind of Doctrine but so will not the Obedient Person be He may 't is confessed alter his opinion in the less weighty and more obscurely delivered Points but those which belong to the main body and substance of Christianity and are plainly revealed as all such are he will inseparably adhere to By this means will our Knowledge be sanctisied and made useful but without the care of Obedience it will be utterly unprofitable nay of very hurtful and mischievous Consequence Whatsoever Christian knowledge is not impregnated with answerable Goodness but is unaccompanied with Christian Practice is not onely an insipid and jejune but also a flatulent thing that in stead of nourishing is apt to swell and extremely puff up the Souls of men I mean to make them proud and highly opinionated of their own worth censorious and contemners of other People and of a conceited and pragmatical a contentious and unpeaceable behaviour And there iâ—…no man but may observe too too many of our great pretenders to Christianity unhappily Exemplifying and demonstrating by their practices this sad truth By this means shall we convince Gain-sayers more than by any Arguments But they are never like to be perswaded that our Iudgements are Orthodox while they perceive our Conversations to be Heretical Wicked men are an infinite discredit to any party they side with and do it mighty disservice I wish we of the Church of England did not know this by very woful Experience And on the other hand a good life cannot but be of exceeding great force to draw Dissenters to the embracing of our Religion We see that mere Pretences to great Sanctity do strangely make Proselytes to several Forms that have nothing besides to set them ofâ—… and commend them And as for obstinate Persons who are peremptorily resolved that they will by no means be prevailed with to come over to us they will however be greatly disabled from reproaching our Religion when they are convinc'd that it hath excellent effects on the Professours of it Or at least neither their Reproaches nor any Attempts whatsoever against it could then ever have success or be able to do any thing to its considerable prejudice Nor would that idle and sensless talk whereby some Hot-headed people endeavour to prove us an Anti-Christian Church be by many if by any listened to could they discern among us more Christian Lives could they be once satisâ—…ied that we esteem it our Principal interest and concernment to make our selves and others really and Substantially good So is the Will of God saith S. Peter that with well-doing ye may put to Silence the Ignorance of foolish men By this means shall we pass
chearfully through this sad world and in the middest of our thoughts within us will solid comforts delight our Souls Little do those think what Happiness they deprive themselves of even in this life that place their Religion in any thing more than an Universal respect to their Saviour's Precepts There is no true Christian that 〈◊〉 to be told That the more careful 〈◊〉 is to obey God the more sweetly hâ—… enjoys himself Nor That a Vertuous and Holy Life doth several ways bring in a constant Revenue of Peace and Pleasure even such as no Earthly thing can afford any that deserves to be nam'd on the same day with it Every good man feels that Christ's yoke is not less Pleasant than it is Easie nor his Burthen more Light than it is Delightful And that all his ways are upon many accounts ways of Pleasantness and all his Paths Peace So that were there no other Reward to be hoped for but what dayly attends them it would be most unquestionably our Interest to walk in them and to forsake all other for them And there is no one of Christ's Disciples that by Experience understands what his Blessed Master's injunctions are that would be content to be eased though he might of them Or that would accept of a Quiâ—…tus est from performing the Duties required by him though he should have it offered him even with the Broad Seal of Heaven which is impossible to be supposed affixed to it But lastly by this means shall we obtain when we depart hence the End of our Faith even the Salvation of our Souls and arrive at a most Happy and Glorious Immortality By the pursuance of real and Universal Righteousness shall we certainly obtain the Crown of Righteousness which our righteous Redeemer hath purchased for us and God the Righteous Iudge will give unto us An exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory we shall assuredly reap if we faint not and be not weary of Well-doing Glory Honour and Peace is the undoubted portion of every Soul that worketh good And Blessed are they that do his Commandments for they have right to the Tree of Life and shall enter through the Gates into the City But if on the Contrary we foolishly satisfie our selves with an ineffectual Faith in Christ a notional knowledge and empty Profession of his Religion or a meerly external and Partial Righteousness these will be so far from intitling us to the exceeding great and precious Promises of the Gospel that they at least the three former will much heighten our misery in the world to come and excessively aggravate our Condemnation Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments from a Principle of Love to him and them for this is the whole of the Christian Man The End Errata PAge 17. line 8. for practical read partial p. 51. l. 3. r. world p. 82. l. 7. r. poverty p. 87. l. 1. r. for sin and l. 9. r. Jealousie p. 95. l. 12. r. of sin p. 115. l. 18. r. farther add p. 155. l. 27. r look p. 1â—…4 l. 7. blot out too p. 190. l. 23. r. Christians p. 211. last line for the r. their p. 224. l. 17. for in r. on p. 280. l. 17. r. need not p. 294. l. 13. r. filled p. â—…00 l. 8. r. it is In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 106. and in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 112. and in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 187. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some Books Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in S t Paul's Church-yard since the Fire A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament The third Edition by H. Hammond D. D. Ductor Dubitantium Or the Rule of Conscience in Four Books Folio The second Edition by Jer. Taylor Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles the First and late Lord Bishop of Down and Conner The Sinner Impleaded in his own Court The third Edition Whereunto is now added The love of Christ planted upon the very same Turf on which it once had been Supplanted by the extreme Love of Sin in 4 o. A Collection of Sermons upon several occasions by Tho. Pierce D. D. and President of S. Mary Magdalen-College in Oxon. A correct Coppy of some Notes concerning God's Decrees enlarged by the same Authour in 4 o. A Discourse concerning the true Notion of the Lord's Supper to which are added two Serm. by R. Cudworth D. D. in 8 o. The Unreasonableness of the Romanists requiring our Communion with the present romish-Romish-Church in 8 o. Christian Consolation Derived from five heads in Religion I. Faith II. Hope III. The Holy Spirit IV. Prayer V. The Sacraments Written by the Right Reverend Father in God John Hacket late Lord Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield Chaplain to King Charles the I. and II. in 8 o. The Profitableness of Piety an Assize Sermon Preach'd by Richard West D. D. in 4 o. West Barbary or a Narrative of the Revolutions of the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco with an account of the present Customes Sacred Civil and Domestick in 8 o. Printed at Oxon for John Willmot and are to be sold by Richard Royston The Christian Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of Receiving the Holy Communion Together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed SAVIOUR The End * Act 26. * Gal. 4. 9 Mat. 5. 17. Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie Fully to Preach as Rom. 15 19. Col. 1. 25. 1 Tim. 6. 3. * Rom. 7. Eph. â—… Mat. 50 Col. 3. 23. Rom. 12. 11. 1 Cor. 10. 31. 1 Pet. 1. 15 Mat. 5. 48. Mat. 19. 19. â—…it 3. 2. 1 Cor. 13. 5 1 John 3. 16. 2 Pet. 1. Phil. 4. 1 Tim. 4. Mat. 5. 8. vers 3. vers 7. vers 5. Rom. 2. 7. Rev. 3. 21. chap. 2. 10 Col. 1. 12. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1. 18 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Mat. 5. 22. Mat. 11. 26. â—…ha 18. 28 â—…ha 25. 42 1 John 3. 15. 〈◊〉 7. 1. Revel 21. 27. Jam. 4. 6. Matth. 23. 13 Rom 13 1 2. 1 Pet. 2. 23. Isa. 50. 6. Isa. 53. vers 7. * Iustin Martyr 2 Cor. 8. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 4. See Mat. 9. 14. to 17 Mat. 7. Mar. 5. 13 Luk. 8. 32 Matth. 8. 31 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nè malum quidem â—…lum cum turpitudiniâ—… malo comparandum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Car. Pythag. pag. 10â—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 162. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 153. 〈◊〉 lib. â—… de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ieroc pag. 78. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Comment in Epict. pag. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 70. 1 Pet. 3. Nihil Neque meum est neque cujusquam quod auferri quod eripi quod amitti potest Cicero in Paradoxis Animus hominis dives non arca appellari potest Quamvis illa sit plena dum te inanem videbo divitem non putabo In paradox Tuae libidines te torquent te arumnae premunt omnes tu dies noctesque Cruciaris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui Appetitus longius evagantur c. et non satis ratione â—…etinentur â—…c ab iis non modò animi perturbantur sed etiam Corpora licet era ipsa cernere iratorum aut corum qui aus libidine aliquâ aut metu commoti sunt aut voluptate nimiâ gestiunt quorum omnium â—…ultus voces motus statusque mutantur Cicero lib de Officiis primo See his select discourses pag. 409. Chap. 1. 5. Quòd si in hoc erro quod animos hominum immortales esse credam libenter erro nec mihi errorem quo delector dum vâ—…o extorqueri volo Sin mortuus c. Lib. 9. Sect. 4â—… 2 Cor. 5. 20. Heb. 1. 2 3 1 Tim. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 7. 〈◊〉 â—… 〈◊〉 This notion of a fine body did Tertullian retain his belief of after he was converted to Christianity and took it for the inner man spoken of in Scripture Exod. 3. 6 Matth. 22. 3â—… Rom. 1. 16 2 Cor. 10. 5. Pâ—…dag pag. 120. Oratio ad Graecoâ—… pag. 40. Dialog cum Tryph. p. 225. Pag. 2 2 Cor. 2. 16. Joh. 9. 39. Praeter obstinationem â—…on sacrificandi nihil aliud se dâ—… sacramentis eorum compeâ—…isse quà m caetus anteluâ—…anos ad canendum Christo Deo ad confoedâ—…randam Disciplinam homicidiâ—…m adulterium fraudem per fidâ—…am câ—…etera scelera prohibenâ—…es Lib. 10. Epist. 9â—… 〈◊〉 Affirmabant autem haue fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris quòd essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem seque Sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed me furta ne latroâ—…inia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati abnegarent c. Sed nihil aliud inveni quà m Superstitionem pravam immodicam Iustin. Martyr Apolog. ad Antoninum Pium Pag. 115. â—…ss 9. Pag. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 3. 8. Rom. 6. Mat. â—… â—…al 2. â—… Tim. 4. 16. Joh. 8. 〈◊〉 Mâ—…tt 5. 29 30. 1 Tim. 4. 8 Matt. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Comment in Aur. Carm. Pag. 22. Joh. 5. 18. 1 Joh. 2. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexandrin Stromat Lib. â—… Pag. 288. Mat. 7. 24. Vers. 26. 1 Pet. â—… 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 4. Rom. 2. 10 Rev. 22. 14