but too fatally succesful for Many says he shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of And in the next Chapter he goes on to foretel the near approach of those Judgments which our Saviour Christ had so often denounced against the Jews and in which those complying Christians were in like manner to be involved And by both these Considerations he finally in the Close of all stirs them up both to a Care of themselves and to a Constancy in their Profession Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Error of the Wicked fall from your own stedfastness But grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to Him be Glory both now and for ever Amen Such was the occasion of these words and the prosecution of them at this time will engage Me to explain the nature and to exhort you to the practice of two Duties than which I know none more proper for our serious Consideration Growth in Grace and Stedfastness in Religion and from both which there are but too many Seducers on every hand to turn us aside I shall pursue both in this following Order I. I will shew you what the true nature of that stedfastness in Religion is to which our Text here exhorts us II. By what Motives especially it was that the Apostle stirr'd up the Christians to whom he wrote and that I would now crave leave to exhort you to such a stedfastness III. How highly both necessary in its self it is but especially how advantageous to this great End that we should all of us endeavour what in us lies to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And first I. What the true nature of that stedfastness in Religion is to which our Text exhorts us and which I am from thence to recommend to you For 't is not every firmness that deserves the name of a true and rational stedfastness and a man may as well exceed by a perverse unwarrantable resolution not to hearken to any Motives tho' never so reasonable to change his Opinion as by an unfix'd and irresolute temper abandon himself to every wind of Doctrine that shall come to turn him aside from it Constancy in Religion is a Vertue that like all others must be regulated by Prudence It must be firm but it must be well-grounded too And he who would go about at all adventures to recommend a perseverance in that Faith whatever it be in which a man has been born and bred without allowing a just enquiry to be made into the Grounds of it and even a liberty to forsake it too should they prove less solid than they ought to be He may indeed provide for their security who chance to be already in the right way but shall render it utterly impossible for those that are not ever to come to the knowledge of it It is not therefore such a blind stedfastness as this a constancy in our Religion whether it be good or bad that either the Apostle here means or that I would now recommend to you This would be to make a plea for Obstinacy rather than Constancy whil'st by such a Rule it would be the duty of a Jew to remain a Jew a Heathen a Heathen for a Papist or Socinian to continue all their lives Papist or Socinian no less than for One of the Church of England to be firm and stedfast to the Faith and Communion of it That which I understand by a true stedfastness is this When a man is upon rational and good Grounds evidently perswaded of the Truth and Purity of his Religion then to resolve to stick close to it and not suffer any base unworthy Motives to draw him aside from it Our Religion must first be well grounded and then it will be true stedfastness to adhere to it And therefore to give such necessary directions as may suffice for the practice of this Duty I must distinctly consider it in both its respects and as it stands in the Middle between the two Extremes of a blind Obstinacy on the one hand and of a weak Instability on the other and by either of which the true nature of it will become equally destroy'd First then He that will be truly stedfast in his Religion must take heed that he does not mistake Obstinacy for Stedfastness This is an Error so much the rather to be remarked on this occasion in that a daily experience sadly shows us at once both the danger and easiness of such a mistake It is a strange perverseness in some men that they make it no less than a mortal sin to have any doubts though never so reasonable of any the least Doctrine they have once been taught to profess And there is hardly an Immorality so heinous and provoking so contrary to the Honour of God and so destructive of Salvation which their Spiritual Guides will not sooner overpass than such a Scruple Insomuch that by the express Order of the Church which I am now speaking of 't is made a part of mens solemn reception into their Communion the very condition of being admitted into a state of Proselytism with them not only to abjure for the present all those Tenets which they are pleased to call Heretical but also to imprecate upon their heads all the miseries of Eternal Torments if ever they suffer themselves BY ANY OCCASION OR ARGUMENTS WHATSOEVER to be hereafter better instructed This is in good truth to make a Faction of Religion 't is a Combination rather than a Constancy And what wretched effects it has upon the minds of those unfortunate deluded men that have once suffered themselves to be thus engaged appears in this That no rational Motives no Arguments though never so clear are almost able to work upon them The sad Vow they have made recurs continually upon their minds They have sworn to continue where they are gone at all adventures and therefore they now as obstinately resolve never to return to the Truth as they once weakly suffered themselves to be seduced from it To avoid such an unhappy Obstinacy as this and be constant in our Religion upon such rational Grounds as may justifie us before God and Man from the charge of a pertinacious firmness we may please to observe these following directions 1 st Let our Religion be founded in Knowledg i. e. Let us be clearly and evidently convinced of the Truth of that to which we do adhere and then we may be sure we cannot be justly charged with Obstinacy for our adhering to it He who takes up his Religion upon trust that receives all the Articles of his Creed by wholesale believes as his Church believes but it may be knows not either what that is or wherefore he does so 't is evident that such a credulous Disciple as this may be blindly
Tempers or our Circumstances lay us the most open and this will presently both shew us our danger and how we ought to fortify our selves against it But thô to enter therefore upon all the particular Devices of Satan whereby he leads Men into sin be a work as needless as it would be infinite yet some general remarks there are which we may do well to make in order to our security And 1 st It is commonly the first step which the Devil takes towards the leading Men into sin to perswade them to a Carelesness and Indifference in their duty Whil'st Men are warm and vigorous in the practice of Piety zealous of God's Honour and sincere in the pursuance of what makes for it 't is plain the Enemy can get but very little advantage of us But if instead of this we live only in a form of Godliness and regard not the power of it If we are negligent and unconcern'd for Religion and take but little notice of what it requires of us We are then ready for the Tempter to make his Assault upon us And 't will be no hard matter to deceive that Man into the commission of sin who is already but very little affected with the sense of his duty nor takes any great care for the fulfilling of it 2 dly Another device whereby the Devil often gets an advantage of us not only to hinder our Piety but even to lead us into the greatest violations of it is by the Customs and Opinion of the World I have before observed what Slaves we are the very best of us to these things They corrupt our Practice and debauch our very Reason and Vnderstanding And we may at this day find many things in the practice of mankind become the praise and accomplishment of a Gentleman which were we to examine them by the Rules of the Gospel would be seen to have no part in the Character of a Christian And then I need not say how fatally dangerous that must be to lead us into sin which is able so far to deceive our very Consciences as not to be thought to carry any guilt or shame in the commission of it And these are such Devices whereby the Devil oftentimes draws men into Sin I will add only two more whereby when once men are engaged in a course of sin he is wont to strengthen and confirm them in it viz. 1 st An unreasonable Hope of God's Mercy And 2 dly A vain dependance on their own future Repentance That is to say They sin on now in prospect of amendment hereafter and then they make no doubt but that they shall find favour and mercy with God as well as other sinners in the like circumstances have done before them But O God! what a desperate reliance is this whereon to venture all the Hopes and Glories of Eternity For tell me O Sinner whoever thou art that thus projectest a future Amendment after thou hast taken thy fill of Pleasure and art no longer able to pursue thy Sins and thy Debaucheries What security hast thou that That God whom thou so despisest shall continue thy life to thee and give thee any such Time and Opportunity to repent Canst thou command the Sun that it should stand still and put a stop to thy days that thou may'st the more freely follow thy Revels and thy Delights Or canst thou hope when thou lyest down on thy last Bed with Hezekiah to add a new Series of Years to thy expiring breath by then lifting up thy profane Heart and thy deceitful Voice to That God whom thou hast so long continued to offend Nay but couldst thou do this and so arrive to the time thou hast assign'd for this Work Art thou sure thou shalt then be in a Capacity of fulfilling it There is a time when there shall be no more any opportunity for Repentance tho' we should have otherwise leisure enough for the accomplishing of it And sure if any such is the most likely to be that Season which Wicked Men have lay'd out for their return to their duty in order to their going on for the present in their evil doings Nor is there any reason why that man should expect Grace to repent at the last who all his life long has neglected and despised the Offers of it I will not now say how unfit a time that of Old Age and Sickness is for so great an undertaking When the Soul as well as Body is feeble and impotent when the Memory is decay'd the Reason fails and our Affections are dull our Zeal is cold and all our thoughts taken up with the horrors of Hell and the sense of those Infirmities under which the Body labours But sure I am all these things ought to convince men of the desperate folly and even madness of such a procrastination and to engage them whil'st they have yet the time to lay hold upon that Mercy which it may be they shall hereafter neither have Grace nor Opportunity to implore But I must not pursue these things any further nor shall I make any Application of what I have already offer'd but without more enlargement will conclude all with the words of the Church O God who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers that by reason of the frailty of our Nature we cannot always stand upright Grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom c. OF Stedfastness in Religion A SERMON Preached before the PRINCE and PRINCESS OF DENMARK August 5 th 1688. 2 PET. III. 17 18. Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness But grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him be Glory both now and for ever Amen THese words are not only the Close of this Epistle but also the Application of all that the Apostle before had written in it And for the understanding of them we must observe That the design of St. Peter in this Address to the Christians dispersed abroad among the Jews and now under great temptations either to corrupt or to abandon that Faith that had once been delivered to them was to exhort and stir them up to a constant continuance in their Profession and not to suffer themselves whether by the cunning Artifice of Some or by the open Violence of Others to be either totally frightned out of their Religion or to be misled into any false Doctrines contrary to the Truth and Purity which they had been taught In the beginning of the second Chapter he speaks of certain false Teachers that were crept in amongst them and made it their great endeavour by any means to bring in damnable Heresies And he foresaw that their wicked Industry would be likely to prove
person both to consider and if it may be to prevent the enduring of them And however men may please to put the Evil Day far from them and hope that it shall not because it is their Interest that it should not too soon overtake them yet neither can any of us say how soon it may come upon us and were it at never so great a distance yet let us but remember that when it does come it brings an Eternity along with it and we shall be forced to confess That no present Considerations how great soever they may seem to be are yet fit to stand in competition with it He must be a very foolish or a very necessitous man indeed that would part with the certain reversion of a Thousand Pounds a Year for the obtaining a present Peny And yet such or rather God knows infinitely greater is the folly of that man who for any secular advantages whatsoever sells his Soul and thereby not only loses his title to all the Joys and Glories of Heaven but exchanges them for a dreadful Portion of Fire and Brimstone for ever Blessed Saviour What is there in all those little Enjoyments men here pursue with so much greediness that for the sake of them We should deny Thee and that Faith which must save us when we appear before thee in Judgment Behold yet a little while and there We must stand to render a strict Account of all our actions and receive according to what we have done in the body whether it be good or evil And what then will all these Interests and Advantages avail us What profit shall we then have tho' we could have gain'd the whole World when we shall have lost our own Souls for the doing of it How will it then please us that we have renounc'd our Faith to preserve those little Enjoyments that are now no more but the sad punishment of the soul Apostacy to which they have tempted us will continue for ever Certainly were the complying Hypocrite but capable of reflecting what shall be the end of his Apostacy could he but once think with the Prophet Who can dwell with everlasting burnings he would need no other motive to convince him of the folly of such Courtly compliance and to keep him from falling away from his own stedfastness 3 dly But the Apostle adds yet another Motive and which having mention'd I shall conclude We have seen the sad the unspeakable and what is yet more the eternal misery of him that falls from his stedfastness Could I now represent to you the as infinite Reward of the constant Christian could I delineate to you but a small part of those Joys which are prepared for such an One what an illustrious Crown of Glory shall adorn his triumphant Head to all Eternity I might then hope to have fully accomplish'd the design of this Exhortation and to have effectually secured you against falling away from your stedfastness But this is an Argument above my Capacity to illustrate Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor does it enter into the heart of man to conceive what God has prepared for them that love him We have neither thoughts to imagine any thing comparable to its greatness much less words to express it And methinks even this should be enough to recommend it to us that we are not able to express it That its Excellency so far surpasses whatever experience we can pretend to of any felicity in this life that we cannot so much as found upon it any tolerable apprehensions of the Joys and Glories of the other At least this I am sure that it ought to be more than enough to convince you how incomparably more worthy our desires and pursuits such a reward of our firmness is than whatsoever can be offered to draw us aside from it And now having shown you both what it is to be truly stedfast in our Faith and how great an Obligation there lies upon us so to be what remains but that I briefly close all with the last particular I proposed to speak to III. How highly necessary in its self but especially how advantageous to this great end it is that we should all of us endeavour what in us lies To grow in Grace and in the Knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I could wish I had some longer time to improve as I ought this great and useful Exhortation But I have insisted too long already and therefore may not enlarge upon it The duty in short recommended to us is this That we should seriously endeavour according to our several opportunities to encrease every day in our Knowledg and Vnderstanding of the Gospel of Christ and in a suitable practice and performance of it And he who truly makes it his business to do this need never fear falling away from his stedfastness His Knowledg will teach him what is the right way and the Grace of God rooted in his heart will establish him that no unworthy Considerations shall ever be able to draw him aside from it 1. For what concerns the former of these Knowledg he must understand but very little of the true Spirit of Christianity that is not able at the first sight to discover the illusion of those false Teachers that are at present the most busie amongst us * Christianity is a Gospel of Peace and Charity It commands us to love and to do good to all men even our very enemies To bless them that curse us to do good to them that hate us and to pray for those that despitefully use us and persecute us And can those be its Disciples who scatter nothing but hatred and malice confusion and disorder whereever they come and make it a matter of conscience to root out and destroy from off the earth all those that differ from them The very foundation of whose Religion consists in a Maxim of the most detestable uncharitableness That all must be damned that are not of their Persuasion * Christianity is a wise and reasonable Religion a Religion becoming a most wise God to plant and rational creatures to embrace But our new Teachers are for a blind and unreasonable Piety They are for a Faith and a Worship full of the greatest contradictions And esteem the true Character of a thorough-pac'd Believer to be to believe not only without any just grounds but even contrary to the common Sense and Reason of mankind * Christianity is an honest an upright a sincere Religion a Religion that requires the greatest plainness and simplicity in all our words and actions And can those be Christians who are wholly made up of Fraud and Dissimulation who palliate the very Doctrine they profess deny the very Articles of their Faith when it is requisite thereby to seduce men to their Party and plainly show that they value not what they do or say as often as the mother-interest of their Church requires them to deceive * Christianity teahces us to worship
but One God and one only Mediator between God and Man Christ Jesus But our New-Masters are not thus content They set up if not more Gods yet I am sure more Objects of their Religious Worship more Mediators than one and teach men to address their Prayers more frequently through the Merits and Intercession of their new Advocates to whose Patronage they have committed themselves than through His who is the true Christians only Advocate Christ blessed for ever * Christianity forbids us to make any graven Images the likeness of any thing in Heaven above to Bow down before it and worship it These false Prophets set up their Images in every Church and bow down to the work of their hands For this end they consecrate them with many Abominations And however some think fit to dissemble it yet others speak it boldly out as the Doctrine of their Church That the very same Religious Worship is to be given to the Cross of Christ that is paid to Him that suffered upon it * Christianity commands us to pray in a tongue which the Church understands that so the unlearned may be able to say Amen at our giving of thanks Our New Guides direct men to pray in a tongue which to be sure the people do not and which sometimes even the Priest too that officiates understands as little as they * Christianity is a Religion that teaches men to be meek and humble not to think of themselves above what they ought to think but when they have done all to say they are unprofitable servants But our new Teachers have not so learnt of Christ. They know a little better how to value their own performances Instead of saying they are unprofitable servants they teach men to value themselves on the account of their Merits to look upon Heaven to be but an equal recompence of their Piety nay yet more that they may live so as to make God a Debtor to them beyond all the Glories of Eternity and to merit a Crown both for themselves and others * In short for there is indeed no end of the contradiction Christianity commands us to take bread to bless it and break it To take Wine bless it and pour it out and eat and drink at the Holy Table in remembrance of that Death and Passion which our Blessed Saviour once for all underwent upon the Cross for us But what now do our new Instructors They tell us here is neither Bread nor Wine to be eaten or drunk that they are I know not how converted into the very Natural Substance of Christ's Body and Blood That he was not offered up once for all but is here again as truly offered as ever he was upon the Cross That thereby a new Expiation is made for the Sins both of the dead and the living and thô our Saviour has as expresly commanded both kinds as either yet they declare that one is sufficient for the people to partake of and accordingly they give no more to them Thus you see how very little a Knowlege of our Lord and his Religion will suffice to show that there cannot be any just cause for any one to forsake the Communion of our Church to plunge himself into such an abyss of Error and Superstition as this And then if he be but equally advanced 2 dly In Grace too this will certainly secure him that no base motive no danger or Interest shall be able to prevail with him so to do Let the Seducer display all the seeming advantages of such a change Let him with his Master the Devil set us up upon the high mountain of our own vain imaginations There let him shew us all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the glories of them and to compleat the Parallel let him if he can add too All these things are mine and to whomsoever I will I can give them if thou wilt therefore renounce thy Faith and fall down and worship me all shall be thine By Grace we shall learn to despise them all This will convince us that there can be no true honour in dissembling a mans conscience and prostituting his Soul his Religion and his God to a little present advantage That the Riches of this world are but vanity that the true treasure is in Heaven In a word That the favour of the greatest Monarch is not worth the purchasing if to obtain that we must lose the favour of God for ever Let him shift the Scene instead of all these advantages let him set forth all the dangers that either the Devil can suggest or his own more furious Zeal invent By Grace we shall be able to despise even those too This will teach us that there is a God in Heaven who shall laugh them to scorn and whose Counsel it is that when all is done shall stand That if he pleases to protect us 't is not all their malice that can do us the least injury But that should he either for our Punishment or our Trial expose us to their rage yet still we ought with Moses to esteem the reproach of Christ beyond all the treasures of Egypt and chuse rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season This was the brave resolution of the Saints of old They were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection When Nebuchadnezzar commanded the three Children in Daniel to worship the golden image which he had set up they regarded neither the Majesty of the King nor the Threats of his fiery furnace They told him plainly That they were not careful to please him in that matter that their God if he pleased both could and would deliver them out of his hand But if not yet Be it known to thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up And the same has been the spirit of our forerunners in the Faith they have overcome all the fiery darts of the Devil whilst that Blessed Saviour who first gave the Command has ever since inspired his followers with strength and resolution to fulfil it Fear not them who can kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but fear him who can cast both soul and body into hell-fire yea I say unto you fear him Here then let us exercise our selves Let us be stedfast to our Faith and that we may be so Let us grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Seducers amongst us are many they are diligent and watchful by any means to draw us into their Nets and God knows both their Religion and their Arguments are but too much adapted to our Passions and our Interests and may therefore be but too likely to prevail upon us But Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware Behold I have
we ought not to rely either upon the one or upon the other It remains therefore that unless we will overthrow all the measures of Christian Charity towards our Neighbour and the common Truth I do not say both of their Faith and of our own but even of Christianity it self nay and of all Religion and Reason in general We must conclude That good Christians may differ from one another in matters of lesser moment without any just Reflection either upon themselves or their Religion But here therefore I must desire not to be misunderstood For when I say that Christians may without any danger to themselves or disparagement to the Truth of their Religion differ with one another I mean only as the Terms of my Proposition expresly shew in lesser matters such as do not concern the Fundamentals of Faith nor destroy the Worship of God nor are otherwise so clearly revealed but that Wise and Good Men after all their Enquiries may still continue to differ in their Opinions concerning them For otherwise if Interest and Prejudice blind men's Eyes and they err because they resolve they will not be convinced and so by their own Fault continue in Mistakes contrary to the Foundation of Faith and destructive of Piety If for instance Men will profess to believe but in One God and yet worship Thousands If they will read over the second Commandment and nevertheless both make and bow down before Graven Images in despite of it If whilst they acknowledge Christ to have instituted the Blessed Eucharist in both kinds they command it to be administred but in One and pray in an unknown Tongue tho' S. Paul has spent almost a whole Chapter to shew the Folly and Unreasonableness of it These are Errors in which I am not concerned and tho I should be unwilling even here at all adventures to pronounce any Sentence against the Men yet I must needs say That Religion cannot be very sound which stands corrupted with so many and such fundamental Abuses And this makes the difference between those Errors for which we separate from the Church of Rome and those Controversies which sometimes arise among Protestants themselves The former are in matters of the greatest consequence such as tend directly to overthrow the Integrity of Faith and the Purity of our Worship and therefore such as are in their own nature destructive of the very Essentials of Christianity Whereas our Differences do not at all concern the Foundations either of Faith or Worship and are therefore such in which Good Men if they be otherwise diligent and sincere in their Enquiry may differ without any Prejudice to themselves or any just Reflection upon the Truth of their common Profession Which being thus cleared in answer to the little Endeavours of one of the latest of our Adversaries against us upon this Account I go on Secondly to shew Secondly That such differences as these ought not to hinder such persons from agreeing together not only in a common Charity but if it be possible in a common Worship of God too This is what S. Paul here expresly exhorts these dissenting Christians to and earnestly praies to God that he might see accomplished in them That when they came together to the publick Offices of the Church to offer up their common Prayers and Thanksgivings to Him they might do it not only in the same Form of Words but with the same Affection of Mind too both towards God and towards one another Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one Mind and one Mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such was their Duty to one another then and we ought certainly no less to esteem the same to be our Duty towards one another now And 1. As to the business of Charity God forbid that any Differences in Religion whatsoever much less such little ones as those we are now speaking of should ever make us deny that to our fellow Christians 'T is true indeed our Saviour Christ once foretold to his Disciples That there should rise up Men from among their Brethren who should upon this account not only put them out of their Synagogues but even think that it was a matter of Religion to kill them But they were Jews not Christians who were to do this and He expresly adds That 't was their ignorance of Him and his Religion that should carry them on to so furious and intemperate a Zeal For these things saies he shall they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor Me. And we must confess it to the scandal of our Holy Religion that there are a sort of Men who call themselves Christians now that still continue to fulfil this Prophecy in the very Letter of it who not only cast us out of their Synagogues that we should not much complain of and as far as in them lies cut us off from all the Hopes of Salvation too but to compleat the parallel openly arm the whole World against us and teach Men to believe that 't is a Work of Piety to root us out of it and therefore that whosoever killeth us does do God service But in this as well as in the rest of their Errors they give us but the more effectually to understand how little they have in them of the true Spirit of Christianity for sure such things as these they could never do but only that as our Saviour in that other case before said they have not known the Father nor Him And I hope I shall need no Argument to perswade you not to be mis-led by that which we all of us so justly lament as one of the most deplorable Corruptions even of Popery it self Christianity commands us to love our Enemies and sure then we cannot but think it very highly reasonable not to hate our Brethren but especially on such an account as if it be once admitted will in this divided state of the Church utterly drive the very name of brotherly Love and Charity out of it seeing by whatsoever Arguments we shall go about to justifie our uncharitableness to any Others they will all equally warrant them to with-hold in like manner their Charity from us There is no honest sincere Christian how erroneous soever he may be but what at least is perswaded that he is in the right and looks upon Us to be as far from the Truth by differing from him as We esteem Him for not agreeing with us Now if upon the sole account of such Differences it be lawful for us to hate Another we must for the very same Reason allow it to be as lawful for Him also to hate Us. Thus shall we at once invert the Characteristick of our Religion By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another and turn it into the quite contrary Note
produces a 4 th And which is the last Cause I shall now mention of that Incogitancy I am here complaining of viz. That men are apt to Procrastinate this great Affair They resolve they will one time or other consider but never heartily and effectually do so This is certainly a very great and yet I fear a very general fault and such as perhaps has ruined more souls than any one thing again in the whole world It is a hard matter totally to silence Conscience and stifle all the thoughts of Piety and Religion But our unhappiness is that when we are thus put in mind of our duty we either content our selves with some very slight and superficial Consideration of it or else we put off our Consciences as Felix did St. Paul to a more convenient Season Thus some refer these kind of thoughts to Old Age and never come to it but go down into the Grave before they have made any just provision for it Others it may be set it a shorter date but then still some business or hindrance interposes and then another time is fix'd and that too is disappointed and thus our lives run on but the great work of Considering is still to come It may be at length God's Grace is withdrawn and Conscience grows weary of being any longer importunate when it has been so often denied And thus when we thought to have consider'd we find neither will nor strength nor opportunity so to do How much the more earnestly may I beg leave to exhort you this day no longer to defer so great and to be sure so necessary a work as this and to that end that you will pass on with me to the Third Point I proposed to speak to III. Of the Practice of Consideration The Sum whereof in general will appear from the resolution which I shall give to these Two Enquiries 1 st How or after what manner 2 dly When or at what times this is to be done by us 1 st For the former of these how we are to practice this Consideration I reply That we must do it by a serious and impartial Enquiry both into our selves and into our Religion by a diligent and strict examination what our Duty towards God is and what our own Performances have been and ought to be of it 1. As to the former part of this Consideration Our duty towards God I shall not need say any thing to shew how necessary this is to be well understood by us I am persuaded there is no one how negligent soever he may have been in his performance of it but what is sufficiently convinced of his obligations to it I will rather complain that in a matter so necessary that our Eternal Salvation depends upon it and God be thanked so easie too to the very meanest capacity there should nevertheless so many continue in as utter an ignorance of it as if we too were some of those who encourage a blind Obedience and esteem an ungrounded Assent to be the best Faith and Ignorance indeed the Mother of Devotion It has been the fault of many in the practice of this kind of Consideration to fix their thoughts wholly upon some parts of their Religion but to take little or no notice at all of the rest Thus many run away with the Promises of the Gospel but never consider what they have to entitle them to those Promises Others on the contrary look wholly on the difficulty of its Commands and as if that had given them a final release from all endeavours to fulfil them they conclude that 't is impossible for them ever to be able to live as they ought to do and that therefore 't is in vain to try whether they can or no. Some when they read the great and no doubt very just Elogies of Faith in St. Paul stop there and never trouble themselves either to consider what that Faith is which S. Paul speaks of much less to go on to St. James and there see the necessity of good works too They sit down contented that they have a right faith They are members of a Pure Reform'd Church on the one hand or else of an unerrable infallible Catholick Church on the other and so all is secure As if the espousing such or such an Interest or Party were an unquestionable mark of Election and all that God requires in order to our Salvation Many are the mistakes of this kind which men are apt to fall into in the Consideration of their Duty and to all which I will only offer this one plain Rule for their direction That whosoever will consider it as he ought must do it universally he must leave no part of his Religion unexamined being assured of this That whatsoever Consideration does any way contribute to lessen Practice nay rather does not very much serve to help and promote it is false and imperfect and if he stops there will certainly deceive and ruin him in the end 2. For the other part of our Consideration our Selves two things there are on which the Practice of it must chiefly terminate viz. 1. What our State is with reference to what is past 2. How to govern our selves for the time to come It would require some longer time than I may presume to allow to this Discourse but barely to enumerate the several Rules and Cautions to be observed in the doing of this With what Care and Diligence with what Exactness and Particularity in a word with what Piety and Sincerity we must proceed in all this and search into the real Grounds we have either to hope or fear and accordingly give God the Glory whether by a patient continuance in that Piety which we have hitherto practised or by our Repentance for those sins we have unhappily committed This is a work which I have always thought the proper business of a Casuist or if you will of a Confessor rather than a Preacher General Rules seldom come up to particular mens conditions Nor is it possible for the most exact Discourse to give any satisfaction comparable to those directions which our Church therefore exhorts us to seek by a free opening of our Condition to some of those who are appointed by God to be our Guides in these matters And to them therefore let me beseech all those who are sensible of any want of farther Instruction in this matter to address themselves for such Advice as neither the Nature nor Limits of this Discourse permit me to offer to them As for the other thing proposed in order to the Practice of this Duty 2 dly When or at what Times this is to be done by us If the question be concerning the last sort of Consideration I just now mentioned that of our Actions 't is evident that this must be perpetual because it has so necessary an influence upon all Moral Actions The same Prudence which directs every wise man before he acts to sit down and consider what he is going
their progress in Piety and that is a Principle of Compliment and Good Breeding When they neglect their duty it may be do that which they know to be contrary to it but yet rather than be thought rude and precise rather than they will disturb Company or be markt out as singular they will do as others do and so disobey God for fear of disobliging men That this is a Case which very often occurs in the method of our present Conversation in the World is not to be denied Now then consider I beseech you what the Contest here is and what the issue most certainly will be God and Man are the Parties concerned and the question is Whether your Duty towards him or your Civility towards the other ought to preponderate Whether you should go to Heaven with a few singular out-of-fashion Christians or for company sake take the broad road tho you know that it leads to Eternal Damnation And now when the choice is so plain methinks it should be no hard matter to persuade men to despise such a Principle as this To convince them that their Salvation is a concern of too great importance to be submitted to these formalities and that 't is to push the Compliment a great deal too far to be damned rather than be thought ill bred But 3 dly A Third Device whereby the Devil oftentimes endeavours to hinder mens progress in Religion is by filling their minds with groundless fears and scruples as to their Eternal Salvation It is a matter of sad Consideration to think what discouragements many Christians labour under in the discharge of their duty who either wanting a Capacity to receive a satisfaction or indulging a close and melancholly disposition so long till they are at last incapable of any live in doubts and fears and perplexities of mind and it may be by degrees wholly cast off all thoughts of Religion since they cannot find any peace or satisfaction in it Now tho such troubles as these may much more easily be prevented before they arrive than removed after yet there are ways to encounter even this Device too of our Enemy and to render it of no force to hinder our Piety To which end 1 st If any fears or scruples of this kind arise in your minds examine your selves and see whether there be any real grounds or foundation for them Whether your lives have been such as may give you just cause to apprehend your selves in danger of losing your souls If there be nothing of this kind which you can discover to support such fears then consider with your selves that the tenor of God's Threats and Promises is very plain and easie to be understood That he will never condemn any man in another world but for living in a disobedience to his Commands in This. That our duty is clear and express and that Conscience when sincerely examined will not fail to tell us whether we do truly fulfil it or no. And therefore that as St. John says Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God But should the case be otherwise should you find your selves in never so dangerous a course of sin yet still 't is in your power by God's Assistance to deliver your selves out of it And then There is mercy with God that he may be feared So that be your state at the present never so dangerous yet if you will even now lay hold upon his Mercy if ye will yet repent and return unto the Lord your God and confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and the blood of Christ shall cleanse you from all unrighteousness But now 2 dly If your Case be dubious and neither these nor any other reflections are able to give you that satisfaction you desire yet should not this move you to give way to the Tempter but rather should engage you to set your selves the more diligently to this work to call in some Spiritual Guide to your assistance and if upon a sincere opening of your state to him neither can he find out any grounds for your fears and scruples your doubts and your apprehensions you ought then to labour by all means to possess your Souls in Peace and to conclude That these Terrors are only the Devices of the Devil to discourage you in your duty not any real causes for doubt or despair And yet 3 dly Thô neither by these nor any other means you should ever be able totally to overcome these difficulties yet ought not this to make you ever the less careful of going on still in a serious discharge of your duty Nay on the contrary it ought to make you the more zealous and diligent in the performance of it A man that lives here all his life in such perplexities if yet he fulfils that obedience and practices that repentance which God requires may nevertheless be saved at the last But he that upon any of these grounds neglects this tho he goes on never so securely and comfortably in his evil way shall certainly fall into ruin and destruction in the end And since such fears as these arise from an apprehension that we do not live so well nor serve God so sincerely as we ought to do the best means when all is done to remove them is if it be possible to out-live even our own apprehensions and to serve God so truly and heartily as not to be able to doubt but that we shall find a reward for it at his hands I shall add but one thing more in this Case 4 thly and it is this Be not discouraged nor think your Faith imperfect or your Religion vain because you find your selves still attended with some fears and anxieties about your future state St. Paul not only allows this but exhorts us with his Philipians To work out our own salvation with fear and trembling To be without all concern in a matter of such moment were to be stupid and insensible rather than religious And when we come to appear before Christ in Judgment we shall be sentenced not according to our own Opinions or Apprehensions of our selves whether good or evil but according to the Sincerity of our Lives to the Extent of our Charity and to the Truth of our Repentance And all these supported and made perfect by the Merits and Satisfaction of a most Gracious and Merciful Redeemer who will pity and pardon beyond what we are able to express or to conceive But 4 thly And to conclude this Point The last Device by which the Devil in these days especially has endeavoured to hinder our Piety is by turning that Zeal into Strifes and Disputes about Religion which ought to have been employed on the Practice of it For indeed were we now to enquire what the great demonstration of all our Zeal is both in the Priests and the People what other account should we be able to bring back than this That they are
obstinate but he cannot be wisely stedfast in the Faith A good Christian must be able to give some more reasonable account of his Faith than this if ever he means to be securely firm in the Profession of it His Creed must be founded on some better Authority than a bare Credulity And 't will be a very useless Plea at the last day that a man believed as his Church believed when he might have had the opportunity of a better information should he chance by so doing to live and dye in a damnable Heresie unless he can render some tolerable account either wherefore his Church believed so or at least wherefore it was that he submitted himself so servilely to her Authority But he that believes with knowledg because he is clearly and evidently perswaded that it is the Truth need never fear either the danger or imputation of such an Obstinacy for his firmness in adhering to his Faith If for instance a Member of the Church of England reads in his Bible those express words of the Second Commandment Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above c. Thou shalt not Bow down to it nor Worship it If he looks forward to the History of the New Testament and there in the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist sees those words Drink ye ALL of this in as plain and legible Characters as those others Take and Eat and thereupon resolves never to be prevailed upon either to Bow down himself before an Image or to give up his Right to the Cup as well as to the Bread in that Holy Sacrament whatever glosses may be made or pretences be used to induce him to either 'T is evident that such a Firmness as this cannot be called Obstinacy unless these Scriptures be no longer the Word of God or that no longer a Principle of Scripture that in matters of plain and undoubted Command we are to obey God rather than man And in these and the like instances where the matter is clear even to demonstration there is no doubt to be made but that such Knowledg will certainly secure us against the charge and danger of Obstinacy But because all points in debate are not thus Evident but on the contrary many are not a little obscure therefore for the securing our selves from danger in our adherence to these too we must to our Knowledg add 2 dly A sincere zeal to discover the truth with an affectionate Charity to those that differ from us In such Cases as this thô we must believe and profess according to what appears to us at present to be the Truth yet since the Evidence is not such as to exclude all possibility of our being mistaken our adherence to it must be qualified with this reserve neither rashly to censure those who are otherwise minded nor obstinately to resolve never to change our Opinion if we should perhaps be hereafter convinced that we ought to do so Now in order hereunto it is not necessary that a Man should either fluctuate in his present Faith or not be firmly persuaded that he shall never see any reason to forsake it It is sufficient to take off the imputation of obstinacy that our stedfastness be such as not to exclude either a readiness of being better informed if that be possible or of making upon all occasions a strict and impartial enquiry into the Grounds and Reason of our Faith or even of hearing freely whatever objections can fairly be brought against it And all this with a sincere desire and stedfast resolution to discover and embrace the Truth wheresoever it lies Whether it be that which we now suppose to be so or whether it shall be found to be on the contrary side He who is thus disposed in his mind at all times to receive instruction and never presumes rashly to condemn any one that is thus in like manner disposed however otherwise disagreeing in Opinion from Him need never fear that his firmness is any other than that Wise and Christian stedfastness which our Text requires not such an obstinacy as both that and we most justly detest and condemn But here then we must look to the other extreme and take heed lest for fear of being perversly constant to our Faith we fall into a weak and criminal Instability To prevent this these three things may be consider'd 1 st That we carefully avoid all Vnworthy Motives of changing our Religion 2 dly That we be not too apt to entertain an ill Opinion of it 3 dly That if any Arguments shall at any time be brought against it that may deserve our considering we then be sure to give Them that due and diligent Examination that we ought to do I st He that will be stedfast in the Faith must above all things take heed to arm himself against all unworthy Motives of changing his Religion It is very sad to consider what unchristian means are made use of by some persons to propagate their Religion And a Man need almost no other assurance that it cannot be from God than to see the Professors of it pursue such methods for the promoting of its Interest as most certainly never came down from above Thus if a Man's fortunes be mean or his ambition great If Religion has not taken so deep root in his Soul as to enable him to overcome the flatteries and temptations of a present Interest and Advantage then there shall not be wanting a seducer presently to shew him that he must needs be out of the right way because it is not that which leads to preferment And 't is great odds but a good Place or an Honourable Title will quickly appear a more infallible mark of the true Church than any that Scripture or Antiquity can furnish to the contrary If this will not do and Interest cannot prevail then the other governing passion of our Minds mens fears are tried Instead of these allurements the False Teacher now thunders out Hell and Damnation against us Nothing but Curses and Anathema's to be expected by us if we continue firm in our Faith And it shall be none of the Prophets nor his Churches fault if all the Horrors and Miseries of this present life be not employ'd against us in charity to prevent our falling into the Everlasting Punishments of the next The Truth is I am ashamed to recount what unworthy means some have not been ashamed to make use of to promote their Religion and draw us away from our stedfastness France and Savoy Hungary and Germany The Old World and the New have all and that but very lately been witnesses what ways it is that Popery has and does and if ever it means effectually to prevail must take to propagate its interest Animus meminisse horret luctúque refugit Now he that shall be so unhappy as to suffer himself by any of these motives which a constant Man might and ought to have overcome
to be seduced from the right Faith he may deserve indeed to be pitied now but I fear he will hardly be hereafter excused But it is not sufficient to secure our selves against this danger He that will be constant in his Religion as he ought to be must see 2 dly That he be not too apt to entertain an ill Opinion of it For if it be Obstinacy on the one hand not to admit of any Conviction thò never so clear and reasonable it is certainly a great Weakness on the other to be affrighted at every shadow of an Argument and to put it in the power of every little Disputer to prejudice us against our Religion because one who is its professed Enemy rails against it and pretends it is a very ill One He would I believe be thought a very credulous person indeed who should begin to stagger and fall into a trembling thô he saw himself upon plain and even Ground because a bold and fanciful man is very positive that 't is a precipice And doubtless that Man is no less to be pitied that is frighted for fear he should be in the wrong thô he has the undoubted Authority of Scripture and Antiquity nay and even of Sense and Reason too on his side as often as every Common-place Trifler shall think fit to run over his division upon the Church the Antiquity Succession Infallibility of it and without either Modesty or Proof call us Hereticks If Men have Reason on their side if they have Scripture for what they say let them on God's Name produce it We are always ready to consider and to submit to such convictions But otherwise to think to perswade us that we are in utter darkness when we see the Sun shining in our faces That we must be damned for not believing that what we see and tast and know to be but a bit of Bread is not the Body of a Man That they are not Infallible who are actually involved in the grossest Errors In a word That our Church had no being before Luther every Article of whose Faith is founded upon the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and has been professed in all Ages of the Church from the Apostles to this day this is certainly one of the most unreasonable things in the whole World and what ought not by any means to stagger our stedfastness And now having secured our selves on both these sides it only remains to preserve our Constancy 3 dly That if at any time any Arguments should be offer'd to us that may deserve our regard we then be sure to give them that due and wise Examination that we ought to do It is a very great Weakness and indeed a very great fault in many persons that if at any time they begin to doubt in their belief of any part of their Faith which they have been taught to profess they presently abandon their own Guides and run for satisfaction to those who are the professed Enemies of their Religion From henceforth they hear nothing but what is ill of their Church they are taught more and more to suspect the way that they are in and then 't is odds but a very little examination suffices to make them leave it This is certainly a very great fault and will one day prove of very dangerous consequence What such persons may think of changing their Religion I cannot tell but sure I am our greatest Charity will hardly enable us to entertain any very comfortable Opinion of them Nor are they such as those that we either say or believe may be saved notwithstanding the errors and corruptions of that Church with which they Communicate He that will make a safe change from one Religion to another must not think it enough to enquire into one or two points and having received a satisfaction in them embrace all the rest at a venture for their sakes but he must pass distinctly through every Article in debate He must enquire not only whether the Church of which he is at present a Member be not mistaken in some points it may be there is no Church in the World that is absolutely free from all kind of Error But whether those mistakes be of such a consequence that he cannot communicate any longer with it on the account of them When this is done the greatest difficulty will still remain to examine with the same diligence every Article of that other Church to which he is tempted For else thô he should have reason to forsake his own Church he will yet be but little advantaged if he goes to another that is as bad or it may be worse than that If there he should find the most part well yet so that there are but any One or Two things so Erroneous as to oblige him to profess what he thinks to be false or to practice what is unlawful even this will be sufficient to hinder him from reconciling himself to it And in all this there must be a serious and diligent and impartial search There must be no prejudice in favour of the One or against the Other no desire that the Truth should be on this side rather than on that In short nothing must be omitted whereby he might reasonably have got a better Information And to all this Care there must be added fervent Prayer to God for his assistance He who falls away from his first Faith on any lesser convicton than this can never excuse himself from a criminal lightness in a matter of such concern And for him that sincerely does this I shall for my part be content that he should leave the Church of England whenever he can be thus convinced that any other but especially that the Church of Rome is a safer way to Salvation And this may suffice to have been said to the first particular What that stedfastness in Religion is to which our Text exhorts us I go on 2 dly to shew II. Upon what Motives it was that the Apostle here stirred up the Christians to whom he wrote and that I am now in like manner to exhort you to such a stedfastness Now these our Text reduces to this One General Consideration That they both understood their danger and were expresly forewarn'd by his Epistle how careful it would behove them to be to arm themselves against it Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before Beware And doubtless it is not only a great security but ought to be also a great engagement to such a vigilance to be thus expresly forewarned of our danger And he who either neglecting or despising the Admonition suffers himself to be seduced from his own stedfastness must certainly be utterly inexcusable both in the sight of God and Man for his Inconstancy But that which will aggravate this neglect yet much more is the consideration of those Motives by which the Apostle here cautions them to Beware and which therefore I must lay a little more distinctly before you Now such
that the blessed time so long wrapped up in sacred Prophecy is indeed now ready to be revealed When the Church of Christ being purged from those Corruptions that have so long defaced its Beauty shall again appear in its primitive Purity When all Heresie and Schism being every where abolished and the Mystery of Iniquity laid fully open and the Man of Sin destroyed true Religion and sincere Piety shall again reign throughout the World God himself shall pitch his Tabernacle among us and dwell with us and we shall be his People and he shall be our God O Blessed State of the Church Militant here on Earth the glorious Antepast of that Peace and Piety which God has prepared for his Church Triumphant in Heaven Who would not wish to see those days when a general Reformation and a true Zeal and a perfect Charity passing through the World we should All be united in the same Faith the same Worship the same Communion and Fellowship one with another When all Pride and Prejudice all Interests and Designs being submitted to the Honour of God and the discharge of our Duty the Holy Scriptures shall again triumph over the vain Traditions of Men and Religion no longer take its denomination from little Sects and Factions but we shall all be content with the same common primitive Names of Christians and Brethren and live together as becomes our Character in Brotherly Love and Christian Charity with one another And who can tell but such a Change as this and which we have otherwise some reason to believe is nigh at hand may even now break forth from the midst of us would we but all seriously labour to perfect the Great Work which the Providence of God has so gloriously begun among us and establish that Love and Vnity among our selves which may afterwards diffuse it self from us into all the other Parts of the Christian World besides But however whether we shall ever see I do not say such a Blessed Effect as this but even any good Effect at all of our Endeavours here on Earth or no yet this we are sure we shall not lose our Reward in Heaven When to have contributed tho' in the least degree to the healing of those divisions we so unhappily labour under shall be esteemed a greater Honour than to have silenced all the Cavils of our Enemies and even to have pray'd and wish'd for it and where we could not any otherwise have contributed our selves but to have exhorted others to it shall be rewarded with Blessings more than all the Stars in the Firmament for number Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ To Him be Honour and Praise for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preach'd before the Honourable House of Commons AT St. MARGARET'S WESTMINSTER June 5 th 1689. Being The FAST-DAY Appointed by the KING and QUEEN'S Proclamation TO Implore the Blessing of Almighty God upon Their MAJESTIES Forces by Sea and Land and Success in the War now declared against the FRENCH KING Jovis 6 o die Junii 1689. Resolved THat the Thanks of this House be given to Mr. Wake for the Sermon he Preached before them yesterday And that he be desired to Print the same Ordered THat Mr. Grey do give him the Thanks and acquaint him with the Desires of this House accordingly Paul Jodrell Cl. Dom. Com. OF THE Nature and Benefit OF A PUBLICK HUMILIATION JOEL ii 12 13. Therefore also now saith the LORD Turn ye even to Me with all your heart and with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the LORD your God for He is Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of great Kindness and repenteth Him of the Evil. THough the time of this Prophecy be uncertain so that neither the Jewish Rabbins nor Christian Antiquaries are able to give us any tolerable Account of it yet is the Design plain and the words of my Text a most proper and pathetick enforcement of the great duty of this day to turn unto the Lord our God with all our Heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning for he is Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of great Kindness and repenteth him of the Evil. If we look into the foregoing Chapter we shall there find an astonishing Account of the great Evils that were just ready to befall the Jews for their Sins But that which is yet more surprising is That though all this was about to come upon them yet were they nevertheless insensible of their danger nor took any the least care to prevent their utter desolation To awaken a stupid and inconsiderate People a Nation dead in Sin and Security in the beginning of this Chapter he prepares a lofty and magnificent Scene He sets before them a Prophecy of yet greater dangers than any they had hitherto experimented and that in a manner so unusual with such a Pomp of Words and in such Triumphant Expressions as carry a terror even in the Repetition of them Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion sound an Allarm in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble for the day of the LORD cometh for it is nigh at hand A day of darkness and of glooâ—iness a day of Clouds and of thick darkness as the Morning spread upon the Mountains a great People and a strong there hath not been ever the like neither shall be any more after it A fire devours before them and behind them a flame burneth The Land is as the Garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate Wilderness The Earth shall quake before them the Heavens shall tremble the Sun and the Moon shall be dark and the Stars shall withdraw their shining Whatever be the Import of these Phrases whether by the mighty and terrible Host here spoken of we are only to understand that swarm of Locusts and other Insects that we are before told were utterly to devour all the Fruits of the Land Or whether under the Character of these we shall with most Interpreters comprehend the numerous and mighty Armies of the Chaldeans and Babylonians which at divers times brought such Desolations as we read of upon the Jews This is plain that we have here the denunciation of some Judgment worthy of God and great as the sins and incorrigibleness that occasion'd it And now who would not here expect the final desolation of such a People as this But behold God even yet in his Anger remembers Mercy and tho' they had hitherto neglected all the Calls and Invitations of his holy Prophets to Repentance yet He resolves once more to try whether they would now at least in their dangers hearken to his Admonitions He raises up Joel at once both to set before
our Religion from Destruction And by the Blessing of God he accomplish'd it in a manner so extraordinary in all its Circumstances as I think should not suffer us to doubt from whose Providence it was that this Redemption was sent to us This was the Lord's doing and whatever it is I am sure ought to be marvellous in our Eyes And may I think be a final I hope it shall be an effectual Confirmation to us of this Great Engagement of our Text to turn to him with all our hearts viz. That he is a God repenting him of the evil and therefore whose Mercy if we now truly do so we may securely depend upon both for the forgiveness of our sins and for our deliverance from those dangers which our sins have so justly exposed us to And now what remains but that having all these great Encouragements such Promises or rather such an Earnest of God's Favour to us we resolve every of one of us seriously to comply with the great Design both of this Day and of this Discourse and by our sincere Repentance for our past Offences obtain that Blessing we so much desire both for our Country and for our Religion Never was there a time wherein we had greater Reason to hope for God's Acceptance than at this Day and such an Occasion as this to implore his Favour there may not perhaps again occur in the Course of many Ages For indeed what is it that we are now assembled to recommend to His Mercy but in Effect the preservation of our Selves our Laws our Liberties and our Religion against the Violence of those who have long conspired both Their and Our Destruction That be would preside in our Councils and go forth with our Armies and so direct the one and prosper the other that we may again enjoy the Blessings of Peace and Security that there may be no decay no leading into Captivity and no just complaining in our Streets And this he will do if we be not our selves wanting to our own Preservation Only let us act as becomes Good Christians and True Englishmen let us do all things for the Glory of God and for the Safety Honour and Welfare of our Country In the words of Joab to his Brother Abishai upon an Occasion not much different from our own at this time Let us be strong and of good Courage and let us play the Men for our People and for the Cities of our God and then he will not fail us nor forsake us But if instead of pursuing the things that make for our Peace we shall still go on to precipitate our own Destruction If when we are call'd this Day to turn unto the LORD our God with all our hearts and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning we shall instead thereof fast only for strife and for debate If when we should be here prostrating our selves before the LORD to implore the Completion of that Great Deliverance he has begun to work for us we shall on the contrary continue ungratefully to murmur against his Providence and be ready almost to implead his Justice for what he has already done and with those repining Israelites of old be looking back again to our Egyptian Bondage when we are brought even within prospect of the Promised Land In a word If when we should be uniting our selves against the Common Enemy of our Country and Christendom we shall suffer a Spirit of Faâ—tion and Sedition of Mutiny and Discontent of private Interests and unseasonable Resentments to distract our Councils and divide us against one another What can we then expect but that God should at last give us over into the hands of our Enemies and make those that hate us to rule over us Wherefore now arise O ye Worthies ye Chosen and Counsellors of our Israel Consult consider and resolve And may the God of Heaven the God before whom we are here assembled this Day He who has and does and we trust will still deliver us our Rock and our Defence against the Face of our Enemies so direct and prosper all your Consultations that the Children which are yet unborn may rise up in their Generations and call you Blessed when they shall enjoy the Benefits of that Peace and Security which we trust shall descend to them through your Wise and Vigorous Resolutions Behold this day the Eyes not of your own Nation only but of all the Nations round about us fix'd upon you The Fortunes I do not say of every single Person among you tho' that were somewhat nor yet of your own Country and Religion only which ought to be much more valued but what is still more considerable than all this the Fortunes of all the Reformed Churches and distressed Countries of Europe depending on the Success of our present Enterprizes This is the fatal Crisis that must secure or ruine both them and us for ever May the Consideration of all these things inspire every one of you with a Spirit suitable both to our present Needs and to that great trust that is here committed to you A Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding a Spirit of Prudence and Discretion a Spirit of Charity and Moderation but above all with a Spirit of Piety and Vnity that being endu'd with all these excellent Qualities ye may become the Repairers of our Breaches the Restorers of our almost lost and trampled Liberties the Defenders of our Faith the Support of your Country the Avengers of your barbarously abus'd Allies the Scourge and Terror of the Vniversal Enemy of Truth Peace Religion Nature In short of all the common Laws and Rights both of God and of all Mankind May your Councils be govern'd with such a Calmness and Temper as may settle and compose all the unquiet and dissatisfied Spirits if there be any yet remaining among us and suffer none to regret our wonderful Preservation but those only whose fury had once prompted them to attempt and whose Principles still carry them on to desire even when they are not able to accomplish our Destruction May your Resolutions be as speedy as the publick Necessities are pressing and their Execution be accompanied with a Fidelity and Success that may equal not only our Expectation but even our very Hopes and our Desires And for the obtaining of all these Blessings and whatever else may serve to make these Kingdoms Happy May we all this day fast the fast which the Lord has chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the Oppressed go free Let us confess our wickedness and be sorry for our sins Let us turn to the LORD our God with all our heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Let us deal our Bread to the Hungry and bring the Poor to our Houses So shall we call and the Lord shall answer we shall cry and he shall say Here I am Our light shall break forth as
it would have been impossible for us ever to have come to the knowledge of it to be most dear to us and not upon any account to be forsaken by us But when to this we shall add That these Truths are not matters of meer Speculation only to employ the Mind and exercise the Soul in the Contemplation of them That the concern here is not a useless Theoreme which whether we believe or not we are neither at all the worse now nor shall be ever the less happy hereafter but such by our keeping or betraying whereof we shall finally be Happy or Miserable for ever That therefore to give up these Truths is to become the vilest Traditors the Betrayers not only of our Religion but of our Souls too and that to all Eternity we cannot certainly but think it to be very much our concern to take the advice of the Apostle and earnestly contend for the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints Such is the necessity of this Contention And two things there were wherein St. Jude here exhorted them to the Practice of it proportionable to the two great dangers to which I have before said these Christians were then exposed For First The Christians to whom he wrote were at this time actually under a Persecution for their Faith and by consequence under great Temptations to Apostatize from it And this danger was by so much the more to be apprehended for that a sort of Hereticks were crept in among them who the better to preserve themselves from those Evils which Christianity then brought upon all the faithful Professors of it had among their other Errors set up this for one That it was lawful in such Tryals to dissemble their Faith and to escape Persecution for it Now in Opposition to this base Cowardise of these Men we must first interpret the Contention here spoken of to imply a firmness and resolution of Mind to undergo any Evils rather than to deny their Religion That they should not like those vile Hereticks seek by unworthy Compliances to preserve themselves from danger and ruine their Souls in the other World to save their Lives and to preserve the little Interests of this And the same should be the resolution of every good Christian now Persecution ought to be so far from affrighting him from his Faith that he ought then most firmly to adhere to it when he sees others the most violent in opposing it What tho' he should be called to suffer for it Death ought never to amaze that Man who is able to look forward into Heaven beyond it and there see that Crown of Glory which these light afflictions that are but for a moment shall place upon his Head for all Eternity A true Christian is never greater than when he is under the Cross Nor can any thing be more glorious to the Faithful Disciple than to follow his dear Master not only in Well-doing but if the Will of God be so in patient Suffering too What shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us But Secondly This was not the only danger they were then likely to run nor it may be the greatest And the hazard of corrupting their Religion by the Artifices of those Hereticks who were unawares crept in among them was yet more to be apprehended than their total Apostatizing from it And therefore St. Jude here exhorts them to contend earnestly for the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints i. e. to be very wary and circumspect to maintain it in that purity in which they had received it and not suffer any little Sophistry or Insinuations of their Enemies to lead them into any Errors contrary to the truth of it And indeed whosoever shall look into the Annals of the Church will find this to have ever been the more fatal danger of the two And that the Devil has in all Ages gain'd more by the secret cunning of his false Teachers than by the open violence of his Persecutors There 's many a Christian who has carriage enough to Die for his Faith that yet has not Skill enough to defend it And those whose business it is to deceive never fail to set most upon such as they think are the least able to do so And therefore it cannot certainly but be very advisable in us all and especially for those who are the most ignorant to be very careful of themselves as to this matter Not to hearken to every little Pretender that will but undertake to lead them but if any such offers himself to them to draw them away from the right Faith either absolutely to reject him or rather to bring him forth unto the light to refer him to their Teachers who instruct them in the Truth and who are therefore the fittest to defend the Interests of it And so maintain that wise indifference which ought to be the resolution of every good Man in the search of all but especially of divine Truth neither obstinately to refuse a better Instruction whenever it shall indeed be offered to him much less to be cheated out of his Religion by Noise and Confidence by high Pretences and no Arguments and so by his easiness betray that Faith which our Apostle here calls us so earnestly to contend for And this is a Caution that cannot be unseasonable at any time But yet some times there are wherein 't is more especially to be recommended to Christians And such was that wherein St. Jude wrote this Epistle Which therefore brings me to my next Point III. Of the reason which the Christians at that time had more especially thus to contend for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints I shall not now say any thing of that general Obligation which lyes upon all Christians thus to contend for the Faith viz. the Eternal Salvation of their Souls according as they are careful or not in so doing though this ought certainly to have always its weight too with us both because I have already said somewhat to this before and because I am now only to consider the particular Reasons which those to whom St. Jude here wrote had at that time so to do And those whethersoever of the two things we consider which I have before shewn they were herein exhorted to are such as ought very much to have engaged their care in this Contention For First As to the renouncing of their Faith They were actually under a Persecution for it Their Interests their Ease their Inclinations all sollicited them so to do And as if all this were not enough some who called themselves Christians among them not only encouraged them by their Example but even maintainâ—d it
were dangerous to profess Christianity they might freely deny it and judaïze rather than suffer Persecution If their Lusts disturb'd them it was natural and therefore lawful to gratifie them and it was a great mistake to think that they ought not to do so The truth is I am ashamed to repeat in this place what Ecclesiastical Writers have delivered down to us concerning them And I shall content my self to refer you only to this short Epistle for the Character both of them and their Religion For I am much mistaken if this alone will not suffice to shew what just cause our Apostle had to fear their prevailing and that such an easie Practice supported by such high Pretences might be but too apt to gain over Proselytes to its Party Let us see therefore in the last place 4 thly By what means it was that St. Jude here exhorted the yet Orthodox Christians to contend for their Faith and secure themselves in those dangerous Times And those are principally these five 1. By a close Adherence to that Doctrine which had been delivered to them 2. By taking heed of those that would seduce them from it 3. By building themselves on their holy Faith i. e. by adding Innocency of Life to the Purity of their Faith 4. By fervent Prayer to God for his Assistance And 5. By a serious consideration of their future state These are the means which St. Jude here exhorts them to make use of to secure their Faith and they are indeed such as if duly observed will not fail to have a prosperous Effect to the end for which they are proposed 1 st The First way to contend earnestly for the Faith is To keep close to that holy Doctrine which we have received This was what the Apostle in our Text advised them to do or rather not barely to keep close to it but as the Phrase here is to contend earnestly for it And that was then a most undoubted Security when the Apostles themselves taught them their Religion and so their Faith came to them without all dispute pure and uncorrupted And however we do not now pretend that Men should give up themselves so intirely to our Conduct as to stop their Ears to whatever can be said against us yet since we profess no other Faith than that which was once delivered unto the Saints since the Rule by which we go cannot be denied to contain that Faith and we desire not to be believed by you any farther than what we teach is found to be agreeable to that Rule I think we may very reasonably thus far at least make the Application even now That you ought not lightly to forsake a Faith which is built upon such a Foundation I am sure not for such a one as is built upon any other And though we are so far from encouraging a blind Obstinacy in any one that on the contrary we had rather all Men would search and see whether what we profess be not indeed that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints yet this deference we think every one ought to pay to that Church which first made him Christian and to those Guides whom God's Providence has set over him to build him up in the Faith as not lightly to forsake either them or their Doctrine but to presume for the Truth of what they already profess till they can be very clearly and evidently convinced of the contrary But 2 dly The next means proposed whereby they were to contend for the Faith was By taking heed of those who would have seduced them from it This is the general design of this whole Epistle and I have before shewn what great need there was of such a Caution Now by taking heed of Seducers I do not mean to imply that Men should be so obstinately wary as not to hearken to any thing that one of a contrary Persuasion is able to say either for his own Opinions or against ours For that were to lead Men by Faction not Reason But I mean these Two things First That we should not have our Ears so open as to hearken to every thing that any one shall think fit to offer to disquiet our Minds and disturb our Consciences without any just occasion for it Nay it may be upon the account of such things wherein we are certainly and evidently convinced that we are in the right Much less that we should seek occasion of Disputes and love to be perpetually raising Difficulties against our Religion lest we should at last provoke God to give us over to Delusion and punish our needless exposing our selves to Temptation by suffering us to be overcome by it Nor Secondly So far comply with such Persons as to give our selves up to their Seduction and become easie and willing to be deceived by them It is certainly a great weakness in any Man to go to his Enemy for the Character of his Religion To enquire concerning the Truth of those who are the profess'd Opposers of it If Men have Doubts or if their Curiosity must be gratified in starting of needless Scruples and one part only be consulted both Charity and Duty and I had almost said even common Civility too might satisfie them that they ought to be their Instructors whom God has set over them to be their Guides in Holy things rather than any others But if this be thought too great a Partiality to hear one side only and not enquire at all of the other yet at least if our Enemies may be admitted our own Guides sure ought not to be excluded but to be allowed at least to be as worthy our regard as their Adversaries Nor can I think any otherwise than that he is minded to be seduced who instead of taking heed of Hereticks seeks only to them instead of avoiding them avoids those from whom if not alone yet I am sure principally he ought to fortifie himself against them 3 dly The next means proposed for their contending for the Faith was By Innocence and Holiness of Life This St. Jude calls a Building up our selves upon our most holy Faith ver 20. And again a keeping of our selves in the love of God ver 21. And an excellent means no doubt it is to preserve the Purity of our Faith and to keep our selves from being seduced from it I shall not need to tell you how powerful a motive the want of Piety has been to most of those Errors that have infested the Church Whilst Men to gratifie their Passions have corrupted their Faith and Pride and Discontent Interest and Ambition Looseness and Indulgence more than want of Knowledge have made Men Hereticks And were we now to enquire what the true cause is that keeps up these Divisions in the Church at this day why Men should be so obstinate in Errors so plainly contrary to the very Nature of Christianity and I had almost said to the common Sense and Reason of Mankind that it even poses our
Charity to think they do not themselves know them to be so I fear the best Account we should be able to give of this matter would be That Interest and Prejudice blind their Eyes and that their Errors are as Useful and Beneficial as they are otherwise Gross and Unreasonable But would Men indeed lay aside all Humane Considerations as in things wherein Eternity is at stake they ought to do Would they with Charity and Humility seek the Truth and be as willing to discover their own as they are but too forward to censure other Mens faults In plain terms would they be Christians indeed seek nothing but the Glory of God the Peace and Unity of his Church and the Salvation of their own Souls I cannot but think that most of our Controversies would presently vanish and we should yet recover that Truth which I fear some Men have too long detain'd in Unrighteousness and been deprived of by their own fault But especially would they to this Honesty and Integrity add 4 thly The Apostle's next Direction Of fervent Prayer to God for his Assistance For certainly the Truth and Purity of Religion is so great a Good and so pleasing and acceptable to God Almighty to be implored of him that a pious and upright Man earnestly praying and heartily seeking after it shall hardly be deny'd the Happiness of being constant to the Faith if he be already in the right way or of being brought to it if he is not He who has promised the true Votary not to refuse him in any thing that is necessary or but expedient for him if he asks as he ought to do will never fail to answer him in a matter of such moment And if he does not neglect himself while he prays to God but uses such Care and Caution as St. Jude here directs us to do for our Security he need not be afraid though he were encompassed with Seducers on every side but be confident that he shall either still go on in the right way or obtain God's Pardon if after all this he should chance to be mistaken in it There is yet one means more whereby St. Jude exhorts the Christians earnestly to contend for their Faith And that is 5 thly By a serious Consideration of their future state Keep your selves says he in the love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life ver 21. And indeed it cannot be doubted but that this great Consideration which so highly influences all the other parts of a Christian Life must here also prove of a singular advantage to keep us firm and stedfast in our Faith This will make us diligent in all the rest will awaken our Care will perfect our Piety and enflame our Devotion By this we shall be secure that no worldly Considerations shall be able to prevail upon us to forsake our Religion We shall neither be moved for any Terrors to renounce it nor be cajolled by any Interests or Persuasions to give it up But we shall resolve as we ought to enquire diligently into the Grounds of our Profession to judge impartially and stedfastly follow what we are persuaded to be the right Faith that so we may be able to give a comfortable Account of our selves to God when we shall appear at his Tribunal No matter how severely we may be censured by Men for our so doing We know that Truth very often meets with and makes Enemies to the best Men. Christianity it self was once every where spoken against and St. Paul arraign'd as a Heretick But whilst with that Apostle we know wherefore we believe we shall be so far from being afraid of their Censures or ashamed of our Profession that should we for the sake of Christ as he was be brought even before the Tribunals of our Enemies we shall be able with assurance to answer for our selves as he did That after the way which they call Heresie so worship we the God of our Fathers believing all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets Such a power will this great Consideration of Eternal Life have over us to secure us in our Religion that it will actuate all the other means that have before been offer'd to establish our Faith and it self become a new defence and such as all the Sophistry and Malice of our Enemies shall not be able ever to overcome And thus have I given you as full an Account as the time would permit of the several things I proposed to consider And however I have not so closely confined my Reflections to the particular concern of those Christians to whom St. Jude wrote as not to have observed somewhat in general the use that all others ought to make of this Caution yet I will now in the close crave leave to offer two or three Reflections more which may serve to shew our own more immediate concern in it And First Let us from hence learn with what Zeal and Constancy we ought to contend for our Religion which I will be bold to say does if any in the whole World the best deserve the Character of the Text of being the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints and that without mixture of any thing corruptive of or contrary thereunto We pretend not to impose any thing either upon your Belief or Practice but what the Rule of this Faith the Holy Scriptures themselves prescribe or at least allow us to do We give no other Interpretation of Scripture than what is either so apparently the meaning of it that no impartial Person can doubt of it or else has been so universally received by the best and purest Antiquity and is otherwise so agreeable with the rest of our Faith that there can be no just cause to suspect it The Articles of our Creed are the same now which the Church has received and profess'd from the beginning and so evidently founded on the Authority of God's Word that they neither can nor do admit of any Dispute among Christians Those who the most pretend us to be defective in our Faith yet dare not say we are erroneous in what we do profess They acknowledge that what we believe is right only they think we do not believe all that we ought because not all that they would have us to do And certainly then such a Faith as this cannot but deserve to be earnestly contended for as being without all Controversie truly that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints And that so much the rather Secondly At this time when so many Seducers for I shall spare the rest of St. Jude's Character ver 4. are crept in among us and make it their great Endeavour by any means to draw us away from it I shall not repeat either the manner how I have shewn we ought to contend for our Faith against them or the Directions which from the Apostle I have before offered for the doing of it Let us only resolve