Work not to be done without the assistance of God's Grace and there is little reason to expect that God will afford his Grace to those who reject and despise the Counsels of his word The Doctrine of Salvation contain'd in the Holy Scriptures and the Promises and Threatnings of God's word are the ordinary Means which God hath appointed for the Conversion of Men and to bring them to Repentance and if we sincerely use these means we may confidently expect the concurrence of God's Grace to make them effectual but if we neglect and resist these means in confidence that God should attempt our Recovery by some extraordinary ways though he should gratifie our presumptuous and unreasonable Curiosity so far as to send one from the dead to testifie unto us yet we have no reason to expect the assistance of his Grace to make such a Conviction effectual to our Repentance when we have so long despised his word and resisted his Spirit which are the power of God unto Salvation Without his Grace and Assistance the most probable means will prove ineffectual to alter and change our corrupt Natures by Grace we are saved and that not of our selves it is the Gift of God This Grace is revealed to us in the Gospel and the Assistances of it are conveyed to us by the Gospel and it is great presumption to promise to our selves the assistance of God's Grace in any other way than he hath been pleased to promise it to us And thus I have shewn you as briefly and plainly as I could how unlikely it is that those who obstinately reject a clear and publick Revelation of God should be effectually convinced and brought to Repentance by any Apparitions from the dead I shall only make two or three Inferences from this Discourse which I have made and so conclude 1 st Since the Scriptures are the publick and standing Revelation of God's Will to Men and the ordinary Means of Salvation we may hence conclude That People ought to have them in such a Language as they can understand This our Saviour plainly supposeth in the Discourse which he represents between Abraham and the Rich Man desiring that Lazarus might be sent from the dead to his Brethren to testifie unto them to which Request Abraham would not have given this Answer and Advice they have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them had he supposed that the Scriptures then were or for the future ought to be lockt up from the People in an unknown Tongue for the Rich Man might very well have replied nay Father Abraham but they are not permitted to have Moses and the Prophets in such a Language as they can understand and therefore there is more need why one should be sent from the Dead to testifie unto them Nor would Abraham have said again if they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded For how should Men hear what they cannot understand so as to be persuaded by it It is evident then that our Saviour according to the Reasoning of this Parable takes it for granted that the Holy Scriptures are the standing and ordinary means of bringing Men to Faith and Repentance and that the People are to have the free use of them But since our Saviour's time the Church of Rome hath found a mighty inconvenience in this and therefore hath taken the Scriptures out of the Hands of the People They will not now let them have Moses and the Prophets the Gospel of our blessed Saviour and the Writings of his Apostles because they are really afraid they should hear them and by hearing of them be convinced and perswaded of the Errors and Corruptions of their Church but instead of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament they have put into their Hands a Legend of famous Apparitions of Men from the Dead testifying unto them concerning Purgatory and Transubstantiation and the Worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and the great benefit and refreshment which Souls in Purgatory have by the Indulgences of the Pope and the Prayers of the living put up to Saints and Angels on their behalf so that in the Church of Rome quite contrary to our Saviour's method Men are persuaded of their Religion of their New Articles of Faith and Ways of Worship not by Moses and the Prophets not by the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures for they every where testifie against them but by absurd Romances and ill-contriv'd Fictions of Apparitions from the Dead I will dismiss this matter with this one Observation that however interested and confident Men may set a bold face upon any thing yet it cannot to considerate Men but seem a very hard case that there should be no salvation to be had out of the Church of Rome and yet the ordinary and in our Saviour's Judgment the most effectual Means of Salvation are not to be had in it But I pass from this to that which does more immediately concern our Practice 2 dly Let us hear and obey that publick Revelation of God's Will which in so much Mercy to Mankind he hath been pleased to afford to us This is an inestimable Priviledge and Advantage which the world in many Ages was destitute of having no other Guide to conduct them to eternal Happiness but the Light of Nature and some particular Revelations which now and then God was pleased to make of his Will to Men But now God hath set up a great and standing Light in the world the Doctrine of the holy Scriptures and by the Gospel of his blessed Son hath given the knowledge of Salvation to all Men for the remission of their Sins through the tender Mercies of God whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace to convince us of the Error of our ways and to direct us in our Duty We upon whom the ends of the world are come do enjoy all the Advantages of divine Revelation which the world ever had and as great as the world ever shall have God in these last days hath spoken unto us by his Son and if we will not hear him God will imploy no other extraordinary Prophet and Messenger to us If the wrath of God so clearly revealed from Heaven by the Gospel of our blessed Saviour against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men if the Terror of the great day and the fear of eternal Torment if the dreadful Sufferings of the Son of God for our Sins and the merciful offers of Pardon and Reconciliation in his Blood and the glorious hopes of eternal Life and Happiness will not prevail with us to leave our Sins and to amend our Lives we have no reason to expect that God should use any farther means to reclaim us that he should ever make any more Attempts for our Recovery And therefore 3 dly and lastly Those who are
him to shew them a Sign from Heaven It seems they expected that God should give some immediate Testimony to him from Heaven as he did to Elias when Fire came down from Heaven and consumed his Enemies And particularly they expected that when he was upon the Cross if he were the true Messias he should have come down and saved himself And because he did not answer their Expectation in this they concluded him an Impostor Now what could be more unreasonable when he had wrought so many other and great Miracles perversly to insist upon some particular kind of Miracle which they fancied As if God were bound to gratifie the Curiosity of Men and as if our Saviour were not as much declared to be the Son of God by rising again from the Dead as if he had come down from the Cross Fourthly As to his Conversation they had these three Exceptions 1. That he used no severity in his Habit or Diet took too much Freedom as they thought came Eating and Drinking that is he freely used the Creatures of God for the end for which they were given with Temperance and Thanksgiving and did not lay those rigorous Restraints upon himself in these matters which many that were esteemed the most Religious among them used to do But he plainly shews them that this Exception was meerly out of their Prejudice against him For if he had come in the way of Austerity they would have rejected him as well They were resolved to find Fault with him whatever he did Matth. 11.16 Whereunto shall I liken this Generation John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking and they say He hath a Devil He lived in a more austere and melancholly way he came in the way of Righteousness used great Strictness and Severity in his Habit and Diet and this they took Exception at Our Saviour was of a quite contrary Temper and that did not please them neither The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say behold a Wine-bibber and a Glutton So that let our Saviour have done what he would he could not have carried himself so as to have escaped the Censures of Men so peevishly and perversly disposed 2. That he kept Company with Publicans and Sinners To which Exception nothing can be more reasonable than our Saviour's own Answer that he was sent to be a Physician to the World to call Sinners to Repentance and therefore they had no Reason to be angry or think it strange if he conversed with his Patients among whom his proper Imployment lay 3. They objected to him Prophaneness in breaking the Sabbath and that surely was plain that he could not be of God if he kept not the Sabbath-day The Truth was he had healed one on the Sabbath-day To this our Saviour gives a most reasonable and satisfactory Answer that surely it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath-day that that was but a Positive Institution but works of Mercy are Natural and Moral Duties and God himself had declared that he would have even his own Institutions to give way to those greater Duties that are of natural and eternal Obligation I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice And then from the End of the Sabbath The Sabbath was made for the Rest and Refreshment of Man and therefore could not be presumed to be intended to his Prejudice The Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath Fifthly Another great Prejudice against him was that Persons of the greatest Knowledge and Authority among them did not embrace his Doctrine John 7.48 Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees believed on him So that here was the infallible Rule and Authority of their Church against him There is no doubt but the Example and Authority of our Guides ought to sway very much with us and over-rule us in doubtful Cases but not against plain and convincing Evidence there we ought to follow and obey God rather than Men. There is sometimes a visible and palpable Corruption in those who are to lead us they may have an Interest to oppose the Truth And thus it was with the Pharisees and Rulers at that Time and so it hath been among Christians in the great Degeneracy of the Roman Church The Christian Religion was never more endangered nor never more corrupted than by those who have been in greatest Authority in that Church who ought to have understood Relegion best and have been the principal Support of it Men may err but God cannot So that when God sends a Prophet or by his Word does plainly declare his Will to us Human Example and Authority ceaseth and is of no force The last Prejudice I shall mention which the Jews had against our Saviour and his Doctrine was that it did abolish and supercede their Religion as of no longer Use and Continuance though it was plain it was instituted by God This had been a very specious Pretence indeed had not this been part of their Religion and had not their own Prophets foretold that the Messias should come and perfect what was wanting and defective in their Institution It was expresly said in their Law That God would raise unto them another Prophet like to Moses and that they should hear him when he came So that in truth it was the Accomplishment of all those Revelations which were made to the Jews and did not reprove the Jewish Religion as false but as imperfect And did not contradict and overthrow but perfect and fulfil the Law and the Prophets And thus I have gone over the chief Exceptions and Offences which the Jews took at our Saviour and his Doctrine and I hope sufficiently shown the Unreasonableness of them I have not now time to proceed to what remains But by what hath been said you may easily see upon what slight and unreasonable Grounds Men may be prejudiced against the best Person and Things and yet be very confident all the while that they are in the Right For so no doubt many of the Jews who opposed our Saviour and his Doctrine thought themselves to be Therefore it concerns us to put on Meekness and Humility and Modesty that we may able to judge impartially of things and our Minds may be preserved free and indifferent to receive the Truths of God when they are offer'd to us Otherwise Self-Conceit and Passion will so blind our Minds and biass our Judgments that we shall be unable to discern and unwilling to entertain the plain est and most evident Truths We see here by the sad Example of the Jews that by giving way to Passion and cherishing Pride and Self-Conceit Men may be so deeply prejudiced against the Truth as to resist the clearest Light and reject even Salvation it self when it is offer'd to them So that it is not in vain that the Scripture saith let every Man be swift to hear and slow to Wrath for the Wrath of Man worketh not the righteousness of God and exhorts us so earnestly to receive with
any Consideration of Religion would in most Cases urge us to 4. As to the case of Persecution for Religion besides that it does not now happen so frequently as it did in the beginning of Christianity nay very seldom in comparison if all things be consider'd it cannot be thought unreasonable both because Religion offers to us in Consideration of our present Sufferings a Happiness unspeakably greater than that which we forego for the sake of Religion and because when it happens God does extraordinarily enable Men to go through it with Courage and Comfort as we see in the Examples of the primitive Christians who in great Numbers of all Tempers and Ages did voluntarily chuse to give up themselves to these Sufferings when there was no necessity laid upon them but fair terms of Retreat were offer'd to them by their Enemies It is one thing when a Man suffers by the Law and cannot help it and another thing when Men may avoid suffering In the former Case Men submit to necessity and bear it as well as they can in the latter Case if Men suffer it is a sign they firmly believe the Reward of it and if they suffer chearfully and with Joy as most of the Martyrs did it is a plain Evidence that God affords them extraordinary Support in their Sufferings and then the Case is not very hard when Religion puts them upon nothing but what it gives them cause and enables them to rejoice in the doing of it Fifthly It is objected That the Christian Religion is apt to dispirit Men and to break the Courage and Vigor of their Minds by the Precepts of Patience and Humility and Meekness and of forgiving Injuries and the like This Objection hath made a great Noise in the World and hath been urged by Men of great Reputation and a deep insight into the Tempers of Men and the Affairs of the World It is said to be particularly insisted upon by Machiavel and very likely it may though I think that elsewhere he is pleased to speak with Terms of Respect not only of Religion in general but likewise of the Christian Religion and which seems very much to contradict the other he says in the first Book of his Discourses upon Livy Ch. 11. That the Greatness and Success of Rome is chiefly to be ascribed to their Piety and Religion and that Rome was more indebted to Numa Pompilius for settling Religion among them than to Romulus the Founder of their State and the Reason he gives is much to our present Purpose For says he without Religion there can be no Military Discipline Religion being the Foundation of good Laws and good Discipline And particularly he commends the Samnites who betook themselves to Religion as their last and best Remedy to make Men couragious nothing being more apt to raise Men's Spirits than Religion But howsoever this Objection be I dare appeal both to Reason and Experience for the Confutation of it 1. To Reason and that as to these two things 1. That the Christian Religion is apt to plant in the Minds of Men Principles of the greatest Resolution and truest Courage It teacheth Men upon the best and most rational Grounds to despise Dangers yea and Death it self the greatest and most formidable Evil in this World and this Principle is likely to inspire Men with the greatest Courage for what need he fear any thing in this World who fears not Death after which there is nothing in this World to be feared And this the Christian Religion does by giving Men the assurance of another Life and a Happiness infinitely greater than any is to be enjoyed in this World And in order to the securing of this Happiness it teacheth Men to be holy and just and to exercise a good Conscience both toward God and Man which is the only way to free a Man from all inward and tormenting Fears of what may happen to him after Death This makes the righteous Man to be as Solomon says bold as a Lion Nothing renders a Man more undaunted as to Death and the Consequences of it than the Peace of his own Mind for a Man not to be conscious to himself of having wilfully displeased him who alone can make us happy or miserable in the other World So that a good Man being secure of the Favour of God may upon that Account reasonably hope for a greater Happiness after Death than other Men Whereas a bad Man if he be sober and have his Senses awakened to a serious Consideration of things cannot but be afraid to dye and be extremely anxious and solicitous what will become of him in another World And surely it would make the stoutest Man breathing afraid to venture upon Death when he sees Hell beyond it Possibly there may be some Monsters of Men who may have so far suppress'd the Sense of Religion and stupified their Consciences as in a good Measure to have conquer'd the fears of Death and of the Consequences of it But this happens but to a very few as the Poet tells us in the Person of an Epicurean Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Atque metus omnes inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari There are very few that attain to this Temper and but at some times So that if Vice and Wickedness do generally break the Firmness of Men's Spirits it remains that nothing but Religion can generally give Men Courage against Death And this the Christian Religion does eminently to those who live according to it our blessed Saviour having delivered us from the fear of Death by conquering Death for us and giving us Assurance of the glorious Rewards of another Life 2. Meekness and Patience and Humility and Modesty and such Virtues of Christianity do not in Reason tend to dispirit Men and break their true Courage but only to regulate it and take away the Fierceness and Bruitishness of it This we see in Experience that Men of the truest Courage have many times least of Pride and Insolence of Passion and Fierceness Those who are better bred are commonly of more gentle and civil Dispositions But yet they do not therefore want true Courage though they have not the Roughness and Fool-hardiness of Men of ruder Breeding So in a true Christian Courage and Greatness of Mind is very consistent with Meekness and Patience and Humility Not that all good Men are very couragious there is much of this in the Natural Tempers of Men which Religion does not quite alter But that which I am concerned to maintain is that Christianity is no hindrance to Mens Courage and that caeteris paribus supposing Men of equal Tempers no Man hath so much Reason to be valiant as he that hath a good Conscience I do not mean a blustering and boisterous and rash Courage but a sober and calm and fixt Valour 2. I appeal to Experience for the Truth of this Did ever greater Courage and Contempt of Death appear
in all Ages and Sexes and Conditions of Men than in the primitive Martyrs Were any of the Heathen Soldiers comparable to the Christian Legion for Resolution and Courage even the Heathens themselves being Judges The Religion of Mahomet seems to be contrived to inspire Men with Fierceness and Desperateness of Resolution and yet I do not find but that generally where there hath been any equality for Number the Christians have been superior to them in Valour and have given greater Instances of Resolution and Courage than the Turks have done So that I wonder upon what Grounds this Objection hath been taken up against Christianity when there is nothing either in the Nature of this Religion or from the Experience of the World to give any tolerable Countenance to it And surely the best way to know what Effect any Religion is likely to have upon the Minds of Men is to consider what Effects it hath had in the constant Experience of Mankind There remains the other two Objections which I mention'd but I must reserve them to another Opportunity SERMON III. The Prejudices against Jesus and his Religion consider'd MATTH XI 6 And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me FROM these Words I proposed to consider these Two Things I. The Prejudices and Objections which the World at first had and many still have against our Blessed Saviour and his Religion II. That it is a great Happiness to escape the common Prejudices which Men are apt to entertain against Religion Vol. V. I have considered those Objections which the Jews and Heathen Philosophers made against our Saviour and his Religion And II. Those which at this Day are insisted upon by the secret and open Enemies of our Religion And I mentioned seven the two last of which I shall now speak to Sixthly It is objected That there are many Divisions and Factions among Christians This I confess is a great Reproach and Scandal to our Religion but no sufficient Argument against it And 1. To lessen and abate the Force of this Objection it is to be consider'd that a very great part of the Divisions that are among those that are call'd Christians are about things that do not concern the Essentials of Christianity and therefore they are no Argument that Christianity is not true because they bring no Suspicion of Doubt and Uncertainty upon the Fundamentals of Christianity which all agree in though they differ in other things 'T is true indeed they are very undecent and contrary to the Nature and Precepts of the Christian Religion Ser. 3. which above any Religion in the World does strictly require Love and Unity They take off much from the Strength and Beauty of our Religion but do by no means destroy the Truth of it 2. How many and great soever they may be yet they can with no Colour of Reason be imputed to the Christian Religion as giving any Cause and Encouragement to them however by Accident it may be the Occasion of them For no Man doubts but that the best thing in the World may be perverted by bad Men and made an Occasion of a great deal of Mischief in the World and yet be very innocent of all that Mischief No Man can deny but that Christianity does strictly enjoin Love and Peace and Unity among all the Members of that Profession and so far as Christians are factious and unpeaceable so far they are no Christians So that a Man may as well except against Philosophy because of the Differences that were among the Philosophers and say there was no Truth among them because they were not all agreed in all Things as call the Truth of Christianity in question for the differences that are among Christians Nay a Man might every whit as well except against Laws and Government because notwithstanding them there are frequent Seditions and Rebellions infinite Suits and Controversies occasion'd even by the very Laws But no Man was ever so unreasonable as to think this a good Reason against Laws and Government 3. The Divisions of Christians are so far from being an Argument against Christianity that on the contrary they are an Argument that Men should embrace Christianity more heartily and make more Conscience of obeying the Precepts of it And if they did this the greatest part of those Contentions and uncharitable Animosities which are among them would presently cease If the Christian Religion were truly entertained and Men did seriously mind the Precepts of it and give up themselves to the Obedience of its Laws Differences would not be easily commenced nor so vehemently prosecuted nor so pertinaciously continued in as they are Men would not upon every slight Reason and little Doubt and Scruple rend and tear the Body of Christ in pieces and separate themselves from the Communion of the Church they live in and in which they were baptized and received their Christianity If Men seriously consider'd and truly understood what they do when they divide the Church of Christ upon little Scruples and Pretences they would hardly be able to think themselves Christians whilst they continued in these unchristian and uncharitable Practices If Men would but be or do what Christianity requires there would be no occasion for this Objection and if Men will not Christian Religion is not to be blamed for it but those that act so contrary to the plain Precepts and Directions of it I proceed to the Seventh and last Objection The vicious and wicked Lives of a great part of the Professors of Christianity This is a heavy Objection indeed and such an one that though we may justly be ashamed to own the Truth of it yet can we not have the face to deny it 'T is so sad a Truth that it is enough to confound us and to fill all our Faces with Shame and Blushing But yet it is an Objection not so strong against Christianity as it is shameful to Christians And notwithstanding the utmost Force of it we have no cause to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ but the Gospel of Christ may justly be ashamed of us For whatever we be The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto Salvation The Natural Tendency of it is to reform and save Men and the wrath of God is therein revealed against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men however they may detain the Truths of God in Vnrighteousness and not suffer them to have their due and proper Influence upon their Hearts and Lives But that I may give a more clear and particular Answer to it I desire you to attend to these following Considerations 1. It cannot be denied but that Christianity hath had once very great and marvellous Effects upon the Hearts and Lives of Men. And for this I appeal to the Lives and Manners of the Primitive Christians for which we have not only the Testimony of our own Books and Writers but even of the Adversaries of our Religion What Reformation Christianity at first
of Temptation if we be not continually vigilant and upon our Guard Not confident in our selves because we stand by Faith and Faith is the gift of God therefore as the Apostle infers we should not be high-minded but fear Men may have gone a great way in Christianity and have been sincere in the Profession of it and yet afterwards may apostatize in the foulest manner not only fall off to a vicious Life but even desert the Profession of their Religion I would to God the Experience of the World did not give us too much Reason to believe the Possibility of this When we see so many revolt from the Profession of the Reformed Religion to the Corruptions and Superstitions of Rome And others from a religious and sober Life to plunge themselves into all kind of Lewdness and Debauchery and it is to be feared into Atheism and Infidelity Can we doubt any longer whether it be possible for Christians to fall away I wish we were as certain of the possibility of their Recovery as we are of their Falling and that we had as many Examples of the one as of the other Let us then be very vigilant over our selves and according to the Apostle's Exhortation 2 Pet. 3.17 Seeing we know these things before beware lest we also being led away with the Error of the wicked fall from our own stedfastness 2 dly This shews us how great an Aggravation it is for Men to Sin against the Means of Knowledge which the Gospel affords and the Mercies which it offers unto them That which aggravated the Sin of these Persons was that after they were once enlightned that is at their Baptism were instructed in the Christian Doctrine the clearest and most perfect Revelation that ever was made of God's Will to Mankind that after they were justified freely by God's Grace and had received Remission of Sins and had many other Benefits conferred upon them that after all this they should fall off from this Holy Religion This was that which did so heighten and enflame their Guilt and made their Case so near desperate The two great aggravations of Crimes are Wilfulness and Ingratitude if a Crime be wilfully committed and committed against one that hath obliged us by the greatest Favours and Benefits Now he commits a fault wilfully who does it against the clear knowledge of his Duty Ignorance excuseth for so far as a Man is ignorant of the Evil he does so far the Action is involuntary but knowledge makes it to be a wilful Fault And this is a more peculiar Aggravation of the Sins of Christians because God hath afforded them the greatest means and opportunities of Knowledge that Revelation which God hath made of his Will to the World by our Blessed Saviour is the clearest Light that ever Mankind had and the mercies which the Gospel brings are the greatest that ever were offer'd to the Sons of Men the free Pardon and Remission of all our Sins and the assistance of God's Grace and Holy Spirit to help the weakness of our Nature and enable us to do what God requires of us So that we who sin after Baptism after the knowledge of Christianity and those great Blessings which the Gospel bestows on Mankind are of all Persons in the World the most inexcusable The Sins of Heathens bear no proportion to ours because they never enjoyed those means of Knowledge never had those Blessings conferred upon them which Christians are partakers of so that we may apply to our selves those severe words of the Apostle in this Epistle How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Hear how our Saviour aggravates the Faults of Men upon this account of the wilfulness of them and their being committed against the express Knowledge of God's Will Luke 12.47 48. The Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more The Means and Mercies of the Gospel are so many Talents committed to our Trust of the neglect whereof a severe Account will be taken at the Day of Judgment If we be wilful offenders there is no Excuse for us and little hopes of Pardon If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth says the Apostle in this Epistle there remains no more sacrifice for sin I know the Apostle speaks this particularly of the Sin of Apostacy from Christianity but it is in proportion true of all other Sins which those who have received the Knowledge of the Truth are guilty of They who after they have entertained Christianity and made some progress in it and been in some measure reformed by it do again relapse into any vicious course do thereby render their Condition very dangerous So St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 2.20 21. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them Therefore we may do well to consider seriously what we do when under the Means and Opportunities of Knowledge which the Gospel affords us and the inestimable Blessings and Favours which it confers upon us we live in any wicked and vicious course Our Sins are not of a common rate when they have so much of Wilfulness and Unworthiness in them If Men shall be severely punish'd for living against the Light of Nature what vengeance shall be poured on those who offend against the Glorious Light of the Gospel This is the Condemnation that Light is come c. 3 dly The Consideration of what hath been said is Matter of Comfort to those who upon every Failing and Infirmity are afraid they have committed the unpardonable Sin and that it is impossible for them to be restor'd by Repentance There are many who being of a dark and melancholy Temper are apt to represent things worse to themselves than there is reason for and do many times fancy themselves guilty of great Crimes in the doing or neglecting of those things which in their nature are indifferent and are apt to aggravate and blow up every little Infirmity into an unpardonable Sin Most Men are apt to extenuate their Sins and not to be sensible enough of the Evil and Heinousness of them but it is the peculiar Infelicity of Melancholy Persons to look upon their Faults as blacker and greater than in truth they are and whatsoever they hear and read in Scripture that is spoken against the grossest and most enormous Offenders they apply to themselves and when they hear of the Sin against the Holy Ghost and the Sin unto Death
Father Son and Holy Ghost is meant the initiating of Men by this solemn Rite or Ceremony into the Christian Religion upon their profession of the necessary Doctrines of it concerning the Father Son and Holy Ghost and a solemn Stipulation and Engagement to live according to those Doctrines Which promise of a suitable Life and Practice was likewise made at the same time as Justin Martyr and other of the ancient Fathers do testify But before I leave this Head it is very fit to take particular notice what use the Anabaptists make of this Text so as in effect to lay the whole stress of their Cause upon it as if by virtue of this Command of our Saviour's and the manner wherein it is exprest all Infants even those of Christian Parents who are themselves already admitted into the new Covenant of the Gospel were excluded from Baptism because it is here said by our Saviour Go ye and disciple all Nations baptizing them from whence they infer and very clearly and strongly as they think that none are to be baptized but such as are first throughly instructed in the Christian Religion and made Disciples which Infants are not but only those who are grown to some Maturity of Years and Understanding But the Opinion and Practice of the ancient Church in this matter is a sufficient Bar to this Inference at least to the clearness of it And indeed it cannot reasonably be imagined that the Apostles who had all of them been bred up in the Jewish Religion which constantly and by virtue of a divine Precept and Institution admitted Infants into that Church and to the benefits of that Covenant by the Rite of Circumcision and likewise the Infants of Proselytes by Baptism as I observed before I say no Man can reasonably imagine that the Apostles could understand our Saviour as intending by any consequence from this Text to exclude the Children of Christians out of the Christian Church and to debar them of the benefits of the New Covenant of the Gospel The Children of Christians being every whit as capable of being taken into this new Covenant and of partaking of the Benefits of it as Children of the Jews were of being admitted into the old Unless we will suppose which at first sight seems very harsh and unreasonable that by the terms of the Christian Religion Children are in a much worse condition than the Children of the Jews were under the Law So that the parity of Reason being so plain nothing less than an express Prohibition from our Saviour and an exception of Children from Baptism can be thought sufficient to deprive the Children of Christians of any Privilege of which the Jewish were capable For the plain meaning of this Commission to the Apostles is to go and proselyte all Nations to the Christian Religion and to admit them solemnly into it by Baptism as the Jews were wont to proselyte Men to their Religion by Circumcision and Baptism by which Rites also they took in the Children of the Proselytes upon promise that when they came to Years they should continue in that Religion And if this was our Saviour's meaning the Apostles had no reason from the Tenor of their Commission to understand that the Children of Christian Proselytes were any more excluded than the Children of Proselytes to the Jewish Religion unless our Saviour had expresly excepted them for it is a favourable Case and in a matter of Privilege and therefore ought not to be determined to debar Children of it upon any obscure consequence from a Text which it is certain was never so understood by the Christian Church for 1500 Years together I have done with the first part of their Commission which was to disciple or proselyte all Nations to the Christian Religion and to admit them into the Christian Church by the Rite or Sacrament of Baptism I proceed to consider the Second part of their Commission which was to instruct Men in the Precepts and Duties of a Christian Life teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you You see how their Commission bounds and limits them they were to teach others those Precepts which Christ had taught and deliver'd to them they had no Power by virtue of this Commission to make new Laws which should be of universal and perpetual Obligation and consequently necessary to the Salvation of all Christians they were only to be the Publishers but not the Authors of this new Religion And therefore St. Paul when the Corinthians consulted him about several things relating to Marriage and Virginity he only gives his advice but would not take upon him to make a Law in those cases that should be binding to all Christians And for the same Reason Christians do generally at this day think themselves absolved from the Obligation of that Canon which was made even in a Council of the Apostles as to all those Branches of it the reason whereof is now câ—ased But notwithstanding this the Authority which our Saviour conferred upon his Apostles to teach his Doctrine does in the nature of it necessarily imply a Power of governing the Societies of Christians under such Officers and by such Rules as are most suitable to the nature of such a Society and most fit to promote the great Ends of the Christian Religion For without this power of governing they cannot be suppos'd to be endowed with sufficient Authority to teach and therefore in pursuance of this Commission we find that the Apostles did govern the Societies of Christians by such Rules and Constitutions as were fitted to the then present circumstances of Christianity And as they did appoint temporary Officers upon emergent Occasions so they constituted others that were of perpetual use in the Church for the instructing and governing of Christians and that in such a subordination to one another as would be most effectual to the attaining of the end of Government which subordination of Governors hath not only been used in all Religions but in all the well regulated Civil Societies that ever were in the World And this may suffice to have spoken of the second part of their Commission The Third and last thing in the Text is the Promise which our Saviour here makes for the encouragement of the Apostles in this Work Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world that is tho' I be going from you in person yet I will still be present with you by my Power and Spirit And surely this must needs be a great Encouragement to have him engaged for their Assistance who had all power in heaven and earth committed to him as he tells them at the 18 th verse I shall endeavour therefore as far as the time will permit to explain to you the true meaning and extent of this Promise That it is primarily made to the Apostles no man can doubt that considers that it was spoken to them immediately by our Saviour and in regard to them the
preaching of the Gospel are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Powers of the World to come that is of the Gospel-Age So that this last Age of the Gospel is that which the Scripture by way of Eminency calls the Age those that went before are constantly call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ages in the plural number So we find Eph. 3.9 the Gospel is call'd the dispensation of the Mystery that was hid in God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Ages and you have the same Phrase Col. 1.26 Upon the same account the expiration of the Jewish State is in Scripture called the last times and the last days Heb. 1.2 But in these last days God hath spoken to us by his Son 1 Cor. 10.11 These things are written for our Admonition upon whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ends of the Ages are come In the same Sense the Apostle Heb. 9.26 speaking of Christ says that he appeared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of the Ages to take away Sin that is at the Conclusion of the Ages which had gone before in the last Age. So that if we will be governed in the Interpretation of this Text by the constant use of this Phrase in Scripture the Letter of this Promise will extend to the end of the world 2. But however this be it is certain that the Reason of this Promise does extend to all those that should succeed the Apostles in their Ministry to the end of the world I will suppose now to give our Adversaries their utmost scope that which we have no reason to grant that the Letter of this Promise reacheth only to the Apostles and their Age and that our Saviour's meaning was no more but this that he would send down the Holy Ghost upon them in miraculous Gifts to qualify and enable them for the speedy planting and propagating of the Gospel in the world and that he would be with them 'till this Work was done Now supposing there were nothing more than this intended in the letter of it this ought not much to trouble us so long as it is certain that the Reason of it does extend to the Successors of the Apostles in all Ages of the world I do not mean that the Reason of this Promise does give us sufficient Assurance that God will assist the Teachers and Governors of his Church in all Ages in the same extraordinary manner as he did the Apostles because there is not the like reason and necessity for it but that we have sufficient Assurance from the Reason of this Promise that God will not be wanting to us in such fitting and necessary Assistance as the state of Religion and the welfare of it in every Age shall require For can we imagine that God would use such extraordinary means to plant a Religion in the world and take no care of it afterwards That he who had begun so good a Work so great and glorious a Design would let it fall to the ground for want of any thing that was necessary to the Support of it This is reasonable in it self but we are not also without good ground for thus extending the general reason of particular Promises beyond the Letter of them The Apostle hath gone before us in this for Heb. 13.5 6. he there extends two particular Promises of the Old Testament to all Christians Let your Conversation says he be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And again The Lord is my helper I will not fear what Man can do unto me These Promises were made to particular Persons the first of them to Joshua and the other to David but yet the Apostle applies them to all Christians and to good Men in all Ages because the general Ground and Reason of them extended so far He who gave Joshua and David this encouragement to their Duty will certainly be as good to us if we do ours And thus I have done with the first Controversie about the Sense of these Words which concerns the Circumstance of time mentioned in this Promise always to the end of the World and have plainly shewn that both the Letter and the Reason of this Promise does extend further than the Persons of the Apostles and the continuance of that Age even to all that should succeed them in their Ministry to the end of the World I come now to consider Secondly The Substance of the Promise it self namely what is meant by our Saviour's being with them And here our Adversaries of the Church of Rome would fain perswade us that this Promise is made to the Church of Rome and that the meaning of it is that that Church should always be infallible and never err in the Faith But as there is no mention of the Church of Rome in this Promise nor any where else in Scripture upon the like Occasion whereby we might be directed to understand this Promise to be made to that Church so to any unprejudiced Person the plain and obvious Sense of this Promise can be no other than this that our Saviour having commissionated the Apostles to go and preach the Christian Religion in the World he promises to assist them in this work and those that should succeed them in it to the end of the World But how any Man can construe this Promise so as to make it signifie the perpetual Infallibility of the Roman Church I cannot for my life devise and yet this is one of the main Texts upon which they build that old and tottering Fabrick of their Infallibility Here is a general Promise of Assistance to the Pastors and Governours of the Church in all Ages to the end of the World but that this Assistance shall always be to the degree of Infallibility as it was to the Apostles can neither be concluded from the letter of this Promise nor from the Reason of it much less can it be from hence concluded that the Assistance here promised if it were to the degree of Infallibility is to be limited and confined to the supream Pastor and Governour of the Roman Church That the Assistance here promised shall always be to the degree of Infallibility can by no means be concluded from the Letter of this Promise Indeed there is no Pretence or Colour for it he must have a very peculiar Sagacity that can find out in these words I am with you always a promise of infallible Assistance Is not the Promise which God made to Joshua and which the Apostle to the Hebrews applies to all Christians and to all Good Men in all Ages I will never leave thee nor forsake thee the very same in sense with this I will be with you always and yet surely no Man did ever imagine that by virtue of this Promise every Christian and every good Man is infallible But neither can it be inferr'd from the Reason of this Promise
that this Assistance shall always be to the degree of Infallibility It was so indeed to the Apostles the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost which were bestowed upon them for the more speedy and effectual planting and propagating of the Gospel in the World were a divine Testimony and Confirmation to the Doctrine which they delivered and having this divine Testimony given to them we are certain that they were secured from Error in the delivery of that Doctrine So that the Apostles had no other Infallibility but what depended upon and was evidenced by the miraculous Gifts wherewith they were endowed and therefore without the like Gifts none can with Reason pretend to the like Infallibility For Infallibility signifies an extraordinary Assistance of God's Spirit whereby those who are thus assisted are secured from Error This every confident Man may if he pleaseth pretend to but no Man is to be believed to have it but he who can give such Evidence of it as is fit to satisfie reasonable Men that he hath it Now the only sufficient Evidence of such an extraordinary Divine Assistance is the Power of Miracles This indeed is the great external Testimony of a Teacher come from God if he do such Works as none can do except God he with him and this Evidence the Prophets of old and our Saviour and his Apostles always gave of their Infallibility And if the Pope and general Councils can give the Testimony of such Miracles for their Infallibility as Moses and our Saviour and his Apostles did work we are ready to acknowledge it Such a Testimony as this would give the World a thousand times more Satisfaction concerning their Infallibility than all the subtil Arguments of Bellarmine and all their Writers But if they cannot they may dispute about it to the end of the World and every Man that hath but the same confidence may pretend to it with as much reason as they do But to proceed in my Argument here is a plain Reason why this extraordinary Assistance should be granted to the Apostles at first and another Reason as plain why it should not be continued afterwards It was reasonable and in some degree necessary that the Apostles should be thus assisted at the first publicacation of the Gospel namely to give satisfaction to the World that they were faithful and true Witnesses of the Doctrine and Miracles of Christ But since this Doctrine and these Miracles are recorded to Posterity by those very Persons that were thus assisted here is as plain a Reason why after the Gospel was planted and establisht in the World this Infallibility should cease So long as we have an infallible Foundation of Faith namely the Divine Revelation consigned in Writing and transmitted down to us by Testimony of undoubted Credit what need is there now of a fixt and standing Infallibility in the Church But having handled this Argument more at large else-where I shall insist no further upon it here I have now done with the three things I propounded to discourse upon from this Text. You have heard what Authority our Saviour had given him what Commission he gave to his Disciples and what Assistance he hath promised to the Pastors and Governors of his Church to the end of the World namely such an Assistance as is suitable to the exigencies of the Church in the several Ages and States of Christianity which Assistance was at first very extraordinary and miraculous God was pleased to give witness to the first Teachers and Publishers of the Gospel with signs and wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the holy Ghost and this at first was in a very great degree necessary it not being otherwise imaginable how Christianity could have born up against all that Force and violent Opposition which was raised against it But this extraordinary assistance was but a temporary and transient Dispensation God did as it were pass by in the strong and mighty Wind in the Earthquake and in the Fire but he was in the still Voice that is he designed to settle and continue in that Dispensation in that more calm and secret way of Assistance which offers less Violence to the Nature of Man but which was intended for the constant and permanent Dispensation So that we have no reason to think that God hath now forsaken his Church though he be not with it in so sensible and extraordinary a manner But then if any particular Church desire and expect this blessed Presence and Assistance of God's Holy Spirit we must remember that there is a Condition to be performed on our parts For how absolute soever this Promise may be in respect of the Church universal it is certainly conditional to any particular Church as sad experience in many Instances hath shewn God hath long since left the Church of Jerusalem where the Gospel was first publisht he hath left the Church of Antioch where the Believers of the Gospel were first call'd Christians he hath left the famous Churches of Asia to that degree of Desolation that the Ruins and Places of some of them are hardly at this day certainly known And this may also be the fate of any particular Church not excepting Rome her self for all her Pride and Confidence to the contrary Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God towards them that fell Severity but towards us Goodness if we continue in his Goodness otherwise we also shall be cut off This as I observed before is spoken particularly to the Roman Church the Apostle supposeth that the Church of Rome her self may be guilty of Apostacy from the Faith and cut off by Unbelief and indeed seems to foretel it which how it consists with their confident Pretence to Infallibility let them look to it And let all particular Churches look to themselves that they do not forfeit this Promise of Divine Assistance For Christ hath not so tyed himself to any particular Church but that if they forsake him he may leave them and remove his Candlestick from them There have been many sad Instances of this since the first planting of Christianity and we have no small Reason to apprehend that it may come to be our own case for certainly we have many of those marks of Ruin among us which did foretel the Destruction of the Jewish Church and Nation horrible Prophaness and Contempt of Religion Division and Animosities to the highest degree and an universal Dissoluteness and Corruption of Manners And why should we who do the same things think our selves exempted from the same Fate What can we expect but that God should deal with us as he did with them Take away the Kingdom of God from us and give it to a Nation that will bring forth the fruits of it The Condition of this great Promise here in the Text to the Pastors and Governors of the Christian Church is the faithful Execution of their Commission if they do sincerely endeavour to gain Men to the Belief and Practice of
in the latter part of the Text that many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able I proceed now to the Second part of the Text the Reason or Argument whereby this Exhortation is enforced Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Every seeking to enter in will not gain our admission into Heaven therefore there must be striving For Men may do many things in Religion and make several faint Attempts to get to Heaven and yet at last fall short of it for want of that earnest Contention and Endeavour which is necessary to the attaining of it We must make Religion our business and set about it with all our might and persevere and hold out in it if ever we hope to be admitted to Heaven for many shall seek to enter that shall be shut out Now what this seeking is which is here opposed to striving to enter in at the strait gate our Saviour declares after the Text v. 25. When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence ye are Then shall ye begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets but he shall say I tell you I know you not whence ye are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity St. Matth. mentions some other Pretences which they should make upon which they should lay claim to Heaven Mat. 7.21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that Day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity After all their seeking to enter in and notwithstanding all these Pretences they shall be shut out and be for ever banisht from the Presence of God This shall be their doom which will be much the heavier because of the disappointment of their confident expectation and hope So St. Luke tells us v 28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and ye your selves thrust out And they shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God To which St. Matthew adds Chap 8. v. 12. But the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And then our Saviour concludes Luke 13.30 Behold there are last that shall be first and first which shall be last From all which it appears with what Confidence many Men upon these false Pretences which our Saviour calls seeking to enter in shall lay claim to Heaven and how strangely they shall be disappointed of their expectation and hope when they shall find themselves cast out of Heaven who they thought had out done all others in Religion and were the only Members of the true Church and the Children and Heirs of the Kingdom and shall see others whom they thought to be out of the Pale of the true Church and excluded from all terms of Salvation come from all Quarters and find free Admission into Heaven and shall find themselves so grosly and widely mistaken that those very Persons whom they thought to be last and of all others farthest from Salvation shall be first and they themselves whom they took for the Children of the Kingdom and such as should be admitted into Heaven in the first place shall be rejected and cast out So that by seeking to enter we may understand all those things which Mâ—n may do in Religion upon which they shall pretend to lay claim to Heaven nay and confidently hope to obtain it and yet shall be shamefully disappointed and fall short of it Whatever Men think and believe and do in Religion what Privileges soever Men pretend what Ways and Means soever Men endeavour to appease the Deity and to recommend themselves to the Divine Favour and Acceptance all this is but seeking to enter in and is not that striving which our Saviour requires If Men do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity it will all signify nothing to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness Our Saviour here instanceth in Mens Profession of his Religion calling him Lord Lord in their personal Familiarity and Conversation with him by eating and drinking in his Presence and Company in their having heard him preach the Doctrine of Life and Salvation Thou hast taught in our streets in their having prophesied and wrought great Miracles in his Name and by his Power Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works These were great and glorious Things which they boasted of and yet nothing of all this will do if Men do not the Will of God notwithstanding all this he will say unto them I know ye not whence ye are depart from me ye workers of Iniquity And by a plain Parity of Reason whatever else Men do in Religion what Attempts soever Men may make to get to Heaven upon what Priviledges or Pretences soever they may lay claim to eternal Life they will certainly fall short of it if they do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity My business therefore at this time shall be to discover the several false Claims and Pretences which Men may make to Heaven and yet shall never enter into it And to this purpose I shall instance in several Particulars by one or more of which Men commonly delude themselves and are apt to entertain vain and ill-grounded hopes of eternal Salvation 1 st Some trust to the external Profession of the true Religion 2 dly Others have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they rely much upon that 3 dly There are others that find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Doctrines contained it it 4 thly Others are very strict and devout in the external Worship of God 5 thly Others confide much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Privileges and Advantages which therein they have above others of getting to Heaven 6 thly Others think their great Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them 7 thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion 8 thly Others rely much upon the Sincerity of their Repentance and Conversion whereby
they are put into a state of Grace and become the Children of God and Heirs of everlasting Life and being once truly so they can never fall from that State so as finally to miscarry Lastly Others venture all upon a Death-bed Repentance and their Importunity with God to receive them to Mercy at the last I shall briefly go over these particulars which are the several ways whereby Men seek to enter into Heaven and hope to get thither at last and shall shew the Insufficiency of them and that there is something beyond all this necessary to be done for the attainment of Everlasting Salvation 1 st Some trust to the mere external Profession of the true Religion and think it enough to call Christ Lord Lord to be baptized in his Name and thereby to be admitted Members of the Christian Church What the Apostle says of the Profession of the Jewish Religion and the outward Badge of it Circumcision may be applied to the Profession of Christianity made in Baptism Rom. 2.17 25 28 29. Behold thou art called a Jew and restest in the Law and makest thy boast of God Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made Vncircumcision For he is not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter The Case is the same of those who make only an outward Profession of Christianity Baptism verily profiteth if we perform the Condition of that Covenant which we entred into by Baptism but if we do not our Baptism is no Baptism For he is not a Christian which is one outwardly nor is that Baptism which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Christian which is one inwardly and Baptism is of the Heart in the Spirit and not in Water only So St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 3.21 that Baptism is not only the washing of the Body with Water and the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God The Promise of eternal Life and Happiness is not made to the external Profession of Religion without the sincere and real Practice of it Why call ye me Lord Lord says our Saviour and do not the things which I say The Scripture hath no where said he that is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth and is baptized he that repenteth and is baptized shall be saved This deserves to be seriously considered by a great many Christians who have nothing to shew for their Christianity but their Names whose best Title to Heaven is their Baptism an Engagement entred into by others in their Name but never confirmed and made good by any Act of their own a thing which was done before they remember and which hath no other effect upon their Hearts and Lives than if it were quite forgotten 2 dly There are others who have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they hope that will save them But if our Knowledge in Religion though never so clear and great do not descend into our Hearts and Lives and govern our Actions all our hopes of Heaven are built upon a false and sandy Foundation So our Saviour tells us Matth. 7.26 Every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his House upon the Sand. And John 13.17 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them There is not a greater Cheat in Religion nothing wherein Men do more grosly impose upon themselves than in this matter as if the Knowledge of Religion without the Practice of it would bring Men to Heaven How diligent are many in reading and hearing the Word of God who yet take no care to practise it in their Lives Like those in the Prophet Ezek. 33.31 of whom God complains They come unto thee as the People cometh and they sit before thee as my People and they hear my words but they will not do them None do so foolishly and yet so deservedly miss of Happiness as those who are very careful to learn the way to Heaven and when they have done will take no pains at all to get thither 3 dly There are others who find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Preaching of it and this they take for a very good Sign that it hath its due effect upon them And this happens very frequently that the Word of God makes considerable Impressions upon Men for the present and they are greatly affected with it and troubled for their Sins and afraid of the Judgments of God and the terrible Vengeance of another world and upon this they take up some Resolutions of a better Course which after a little while vanish and come to nothing This was the Temper of the People of Israel they delighted to hear the Prophet speak to them in the Name of God Ezek. 33.32 And lo thou art unto them as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant Voice and can play well upon an Instrument for they hear thy words but they do them not Mark 6.20 it is said that Herod had a great reverence for John the Baptist that he observed him and heard him gladly but yet for all that he continued the same cruel and bad Man that he was before And in the Parable of the Sower Matth. 13.20 there are one sort of Hearers mention'd who when they heard the word received it with joy but having no root in themselves they endured but for a while and when Tribulation or Persecution ariseth because of the Word presently they are offended There are many Men who have sudden Motions in Religion and are mightily affected for the present but it must be a rooted and sixt Principle that will endure and hold out against great Difficulties and Opposition Acts 24.25 it is said that when St Paul reasoned of Righteousness and Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled and nothing is more frequent than for Men to be mightily startled at the Preaching of the Word when their Judgments are convinced and born down and their Consciences touched to the quick a lively representation of the Evil of Sin and the infinite Danger of a sinful Course may stir up the Passions of Grief and Fear and dart such stings into the Consciences of Men as may make them extremely restless and unquiet and work some good Thoughts and Inclinations in them towards a better Course and yet like Metals when the heat is over they may be the harder for having been melted down 4 thly Others shew great Strictness and Devotion in the Worship of God and this they hope will be accepted and cannot sail to bring them to Heaven and yet some of the worst of Men have been very eminent for this The Pharisees
were the most exact People in the world in matter of external Ceremony and Devotion and yet for all this our Saviour plainly tells them that they were farther from the Kingdom of God than those who seemed to be farthest than Publicans and Harlots and that because they were so very bad under so great a pretence of Devotion therefore they should receive the greater Damnation Not but that External Devotion is a necessary expression of Religion and highly acceptable to God when it proceeds from a pious and devout Mind and when Men are really such in their Hearts and Lives as their external Devotion represents them to be But when the outward Garb of Religion is only made a Cloak for Sin and Wickedness when there is nothing within to answer all the Shew that we see without nothing is more odious and abominable to God These are mere Engines and Puppits in Religion all the Motions we see without proceed from an artificial Contrivance and not from any inward Principle of Life and as no Creature is more ridiculous than an Ape because the Beast makes some pretence to human Shape so nothing is more fulsome than this hypocritical Devotion because it looks like Religion but is the farthest from it of any thing in the World 5 thly Others confide very much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Privileges and Advantages which they have thereby above others of getting to Heaven Thus the Jews confined Salvation to themselves and looked upon all the rest of the World as excluded from it And not only so but they believed that by one means or other every Israelite should be saved So that they were the Jewish Catholick Church out of which there was no hope of Salvation for any The same Pretence is made by some Christians at this day who engross Salvation to themselves and will allow none to go to Heaven out of the Communion of their Church and have so ordered the matter that hardly any that are in it can miscarry They are Members of an infallible Church which cannot possibly err in Matters of Faith they have not only eat and drunk in Christ's presence but have eat and drunk his very Corporal Presence the natural Substance of his Flesh and Blood they have not only our blessed Saviour but innumerable other Intercessors in Heaven they have not only their own Merits to plead for them but in case they be defective they may have the Merits of others assigned and made over to them out of the infinite Stock and Treasure of the Church upon which they may challenge Eternal Life as of right and due belonging to them and by a due course of Confession and Absolution may quit scores with God for all their Sins from time to time Or if they have neglected all this they may after the most flagitious course of Life upon Attrition that is upon some Trouble for Sin out of fear of Hell and Damnation joined with Confession and Absolution get to Heaven at last provided the Priest mean honestly and do not for want of Intention deprive them of the saving Benefit and Effect of this Sacrament But is it possible Men can be deluded at this Rate as to think that Confidence of their own good Condition and want of Charity to others will carry them to Heaven That any Church hath the Privilege to save impenitent Sinners And they are really impenitent who do not exercise such a Repentance as the Gospel plainly requires and if Men dye in this state whatever Church they are of the great Judge of the World hath told us that he will not know them but will bid them to depart from him because they have been Workers of Iniquity 6 thly Others think that their Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them But Zeal if it be not according to Knowledge if it be mistaken in its Object or be irregular and excessive in the degree is so far from being a Virtue that it may be a great Sin and Fault and tho' it be for the Truth yet if it be destitute of Charity and separated from the Virtues of a good Life it will not avail us So St. Paul tells us that tho' a Man should give his Body to be burnt yet if he have not Charity it is nothing 7 thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion and this sure will do the business And it is very true and certain in experience that Religion may have a considerable Awe and Influence upon Men's Hearts and Lives and yet they may fall short of Happiness Men may in many considerable Instances perform their Duty to God and Man and yet the retaining of one Lust the practice of any one known Sin may hinder them from entring in at the strait Gate Herod did not only hear John gladly but did many things in Obedience to his Doctrine and yet he was a very bad Man The Pharisee thanked God and it may be truly that he was not like other Men an extortioner or unjust or an adulterer and yet the penitent Publican was justified before him The young Man who came to our Saviour to know what he should do to enter into Life and of whom our Saviour testifies that he was not far from the Kingdom of God and that he wanted but one thing yet for want of that he miscarried And St. James assures us that if a Man keep the whole Law and yet fail in one point he is guilty of all If we be workers of Iniquity in any one kind Christ will disown us and bid us depart from him 8 thly Others rely upon the Sincerity of their Repentance and Conversion whereby they are put into a state of Grace from whence they can never finally fall They did once very heartily repent of their wicked Lives and did change their Course and were really reformed and continued a great while in that good Course And all this may be certainly true but it is as certain that they are relapsed into their former evil Course And if so the Prophet hath told us their Doom that if the righteous man forsake his Righteousness his Righteousness shall not be remembred but in the Sin that he hath sinned in that shall he die So that a Righteous Man may turn from his Righteousness and commit Iniquity and dye in it For the Prophet doth not here as some vainly pretend put a case which is impossible in Fact should happen unless they will say that the other Case which he puts together with it of the wicked Mans turning away from his wickedness and doing that which is lawful and right is likewise impossible which God forbid And that Men may fall from a state of Grace is no matter of Discouragement to good Men but a good caution against Security and an Argument to greater Care and Watchfulness according to that of the Apostle
End so directly tending to the Salvation of his Soul and the encrease of his Glory and Happiness in another World as the Actions of a worldly Man and the whole Course of his Life do to the advancing of his worldly Interests The covetous or ambitious Man seldom do any thing to the best of their knowledge that is impertinent to their End much less contrary to it through every thing that they do one may plainly see the End they aim at and that they are always true to it Whereas the best Men do many things which are plainly cross and contrary to their End and a great many more which have no relation to it and when they mind it it is rather by fits and starts than in any even course and tenor of Actions And of this we have a famous instance in that worldly and secular Church which now for several hundreds of Years hath more steadily pursued the End of secular Greatness and Dominion than any other Church hath done the Ends of true Religion the Glory of God and the Salvation of the Souls of Men so that there is hardly any Doctrine or Practice peculiar to that Church and differing from our common Christianity but it hath a direct and visible tendency to the promoting of some worldly Interest or other For instance Why do they deny the People the Holy Scriptures and the Service of God in a language which they can understand but that by keeping them in Ignorance they may have them in more perfect Slavery and Subjection to them Why do they forbid their Priests to marry but that they may have no Interest distinct from that of their Church and leave all to it when they die To what end is Auricular Confession but to keep People in awe by the knowledge of their Secrets Why must the Laity only receive the Sacrament in one kind but to draw a greater Reverence to the Priest whose Priviledge it shall be to receive in both And why is the Intention of the Priest necessary to the efficacy of the Sacraments but to perswade the People that notwithstanding the gracious Intention of God toward Mankind they cannot be saved without the good will of the Priest The Doctrines of Purgatory and Indulgences are a plain device to make their Markets of the Sins and Souls of Men. I might instance in a hundred things more in that Church which are of the same tendency This St. John foretold should be the Character of the Spirit of Antichrist that it should be a worldly Spirit and the Doctrines of it should serve a Secular Interest and Design 1 John 4.5 They are of the World and they speak from the World and the World hears them What Church is there in the world so true throughout to the Interest of Religion as this worldly Church hath been to its own Secular Power and greatness 2 dly The Children of this world are wiser in the choice of Means in order to their End and this is a great part of Wisdom For some Means will bring about an End with less pains and difficulty and expence of Time than others And the Men of the world are very ingenious in discerning the fitness and force of Means to their several Ends. To what a certainty have Men reduced all the ways and arts of Gain and growing rich and of rising to Honour and Preferment What long Trains will Men lay to bring about their desired End What subtil methods have men devised to insinuate themselves into Court and when they are there to plant themselves in the Eye of their Prince and in the Sunshine of his Favour and then they have as many ways of worming others out as of screwing themselves in But in the Concernments of our Souls and the Affairs of another world how dull and injudicious are we and how awkardly and untowardly do we apply Means to Ends as if Men were only wise to do evil but to do good had no understanding as the Prophet complains By what incongruous and irregular Means do many who would seem to be and sometimes perhaps are very zealous in Religion endeavour as they think to promote God's Glory by pious Frauds and counterfeit Miracles and telling officious Lies for God What a compass do many Men fetch to go to Heaven by innumerable devices of Will-Worship by voluntary Severities neither pleasing to God nor profitable to Men By tedious Pilgrimages and senseless Ceremonies and innumerable little external Observances of no Virtue and Efficacy in Religion and by wandring through a wilderness of Opinions and the bushes and brakes of unprofitable Questions and Controversies Whereas the way to Heaven lies plain and straight before us consisting in Simplicity of Belief and in Holiness and Innocency of Life Not but that there are great differences in the Church of Rome between the Secular Priests and the Regular between the Jansenists and the Jesuits but they still unite in a common Interest and are subject to Antichrist their common Head They do not separate from one another and excommunicate one another and declare against one another that they are not of the true Church Satan never casts out Satan and though he love Divisions among Christians yet he always takes care that his own Kingdom be not divided against it self so as to endanger the Ruin of it And whenever they have any hopeful design for the extirpation of Protestants they can lay aside their Enmities and be reconciled in such a design Then the Pope and the Kings of the Earth take counsel together and like Herod and Pilate when Christ was to be crucified can be made Friends at a days warning Whereas the Divisions â—f the true Church are pernicious to it and as we see at this Day among our selves our senseless Differences and wild Heats on both sides do contribute to the setting up of Popery and the ruin of the Reformed Religion and yet no Perswasion no Experience can make us wiser 3 dly The Children of this world are commonly more diligent in the Use of Means for the obtaining of their End they will sweat and toil and take any Pains rise up early and lie down late and eat the bread of Carefulness their thoughts are continually running upon their Business and they catch at every Opportunity of promoting it they will pinch Nature and harass it and rob themselves of their Rest and all the Comfort of their Lives to raise their Fortune and Estate What Drudges were Caesar and Alexander in the way of Fame and Ambition How did they tire themselves and others with long and tedious Marches To what Inconveniences and Dangers did they expose themselves and Thousands more What Havock and Destruction did they make in the world that they might gain to themselves the empty Title of Conquerors of it When the Men of the worlâ— engage in any Design how intent are they upon it and with what vigour do they prosecute it They do not counterfeit a Diligence and