a Man should be very fit and able to judge of that which they esteem the main and fundamental Point of all namely which is the True Church and Religion and of the Reasons and Arguments whereby they pretend to demonstrate it and of the true Meaning of those Texts of Scripture whereby they pretend to prove theirs to be the only True Church and yet should be wholly unable to judge of particular Points of Faith or of the True Sense of any Texts of Scripture that can be produced for the Proof of those Points Is it so very prudent in all the particular Points of Faith for a Man to rely upon the Judgment of the Church because She is infallible and not to trust his own Judgment about them because He is fallible and may be deceived And is it prudent likewise for this Man to trust his own Judgment in the main Business of all namely Which is the true Church and Religion concerning which he is as fallible in his Judgment and as liable to be deceived as in the Particular Points And if he be mistaken in the main Point they must grant his Mistake to be fatal because his Sincerity as to all the rest depends upon it This is a great Mystery and Riddle that every particular Man should have so sufficient a Judgment as to this main and fundamental Business Which is the True Church and Religion and should have no Judgment at all about particular Points fit to be trusted and relied upon As if there were a certain Judgment and Prudence quoad hoc and as if all Men's Understandings were so framed as to be very judicious and discerning in this main Point of Religion but to be weak and dangerous and blind as to all particular Points Or as if a Man might have a very good Judgment and be fit to be trusted and relyed upon before he come into their Church but from the very moment he enters into it his Judgment were quite lost and good for nothing For this in effect and by interpretation they say when they allow a Man to be very able to judge which is the true Church and Religion but so soon as he hath discovered and embraced that to have no Judgment of his own afterwards of any Point of Religion whatsoever and a very tempting Argument it is to any Man that hath Judgment to enter into that Church 2. Another Art they use with their intended Proselyte in order to his makeing a right choice of his Religion is to caution him to hear and read only the Arguments and Books which are on one side But now admitting their designed Proselyte to be just such a Judge and so far as they will allow him to be and no farther viz. Which is the true Church but to have no Fitness and Ability at all to judge of particular Points of Faith yet methinks they put a very odd Condition and untoward Restraint upon this Judge in telling him as they certainly use to do those whom they would pervert That he must have no Discourse nor read any Books but only on that side which they would gain him to because that is the way to perplex and confound him so that he shall never be able to come to a clear Judgment and Resolution in the Matter But will any Man admit this way of proceeding in a Temporal Case This is just as if in a Cause of the greatest consequence the Councel on one side should go about to persuade the Judge that it is only fit to hear what he hath to say in the Case that he will open it very plainly and state the Matter in difference of clearly and impartially and bring such strong Reasons and Proofs for what he says that he shall not need to hear any thing on the other side but may proceed to Judgment without any more ado But if when the matter is thus laid before him so plainly and is even ripe for Judgment he will trouble himself needlesly to hear the other side this will cast him back where they first began and bring the Matter to an endless wrangling and so confound and puzzle his Understanding that he shall never be able to pass any clear Judgment in the Cause What think we would a Judge say to such a bold and senseless Pleader The Case is the same and the Absurdity every whit as gross and palpable in pressing any Man to make a Judgment in a Matter which infinitely more concerns him upon hearing only the Reasons and Arguments on one side 3. Another Art which they use in makeing Proselytes is to possess them that there is but One thing that they are mainly concern'd to enquire into and that is this Since there is but one true Catholick Church of Christ upon Earth out of which there is no Salvation to be had Which that True Church is And when they have found that out that will teach them in a most Infallible way the True Faith and Religion and all things that are necessary to be believed or done by them in order to their Salvation so that they have nothing to do but to satisfie themselves in this single Enquiry Which is the True Catholick Church of Christ This is the Vnum necessarium the one thing necessary and when they have found out this and are satisfied about it they need to enquire no farther this Church will fully instruct and satisfie them in all other things And this I cannot deny to be a very Artificial way of proceeding and to serve their purpose very well for they have these two great Advantages by it 1. That it makes the work short and saves them a great deal of labour by bringing the whole Business to one single Enquiry and when they have gained this Point that this single Question is all that they need to be satisfied in then they have nothing to do but to ply and puzzle the Man with their Motives of Credibility and Marks of the true Church and to shew as well as they can how these Marks agree to Their Church and are all to be found in it and in no other and to set out to the best advantage the Glorious Priviledges of Their Church the Miraculous things that have been and are still daily done in it and the innumerable multitude of their Saints and Martyrs and if these General Things take and sink into them their work is in effect done 2. Another great Advantage they have by it is That by bringing them to this Method they divert and keep them off from the many Objects against their Church and Religion namely the Errors and Corruptions which we charge them withal For this is the thing they are afraid of and will by no means be brought to to vindicate and make good their Innovations in Faith and Practice so plainly in many things contrary to Scripture and to the Faith and Practice of the Primitive Church as the Doctrines of Transubstantiation of Purgatory the Popes Supremacy
word with joy and endure for a while but when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word presently they are offended not that they did not believe the Word but their Faith had taken no deep root and therefore it withered The weakness and wavering of Mens Faith makes them unstable and inconstant in their course because they are not of one mind but divided betwixt two interests that of this world and the other and the double minded man as St. James tells us is unstable in all his ways It is generally a true rule so much wavering as we see in the actions and lives of Men so much weakness there is in their Faith and therefore he that would know what any Man firmly believes let him attend to his actions more than to his professions If any Man live so as no Man that heartily believes the Christian Religion can live it is not credible that such a Man doth firmly believe the Christian Religion He says he does but there is a greater evidence in the case than words there is Testimonium rei the Man's actions are to the contrary and they do best declare the inward sense of the Man Did Men firmly believe that there is a God that governs the world and that he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge it in righteousnes and that all mankind shall shortly appear before him and give an account of themselves and all their actions to him and that those who have kept the Faith and a good Conscience and have lived soberly and righteously and godly in this present world shall be unspeakably and eternally happy but the fearful and unbelieving those who out of fear or interest have deserted the Faith or lived wicked lives shall have their portion in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone I say were Men firmly persuaded of these things it is hardly credible that any Man should make a wrong choice and forsake the ways of Truth and Righteousness upon any temptation whatsoever Faith even in temporal matters is a mighty principle of action and will make Men to attempt and undergo strange and difficult things The Faith of the Gospel ought to be much more operative and powerful because the Objects of Hope and Fear which it presents to us are far greater and more considerable than any thing that this world can tempt or terrifie us withall Would we but by Faith make present to our minds the invisible things of another world the happiness of Heaven and the terrors of Hell and were we as verily persuaded of them as if they were in our view how should we despise all the pleasures and terrors of this world And with what ease should we resist and repel all those temptations which would seduce us from our duty or draw us into sin A firm and unshaken belief of these things would effectually remove all those mountains of difficulty and discouragement which Men fancy to themselves in the ways of Religion To him that believeth all things are possible and most things would be easie 2. Another reason of this wrong choice is want of consideration for this would strengthen our Faith and make it more vigorous and powerful And indeed a Faith which is well rooted and establishould doth suppose a wise and deep consideration of things and the want of this is a great cause of the fatal miscarriage of Men that they do not sit down and consider with themselves seriously how much Religion is their interest and how much it will cost them to be true to it and to persevere in it to the end We suffer our selves to be governed by sense and to be transported with present things but do not consider our future and lasting interest and the whole duration of an immortal Soul And this is the reason why so many men are hurried away by the present and sensible delights of this world because they will not take time to think of what will be hereafter For it is not to be imagined but that the Man who hath seriously considered what sin is the shortness of its pleasure and the eternity of its punishment should resolve to forsake sin and to live a holy and virtuous life To conclude this whole Discourse If Men did but seriously believe the great principles of Religion the Being and the Providence of God the immortality of their Souls the glorious rewards and the dreadful punishments of another world they could not possibly make so imprudent a choice as we see a great part of mankind to do they could not be induced to forsake God and Religion for any temporal interest and advantage to renounce the favour of Heaven and all their hopes of happiness in another world for any thing that this world can afford nay not for the whole world if it were offered to them For as our Saviour reasons in this very case of forsaking our Religion for any temporal interest or consideration what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul When ever any of us are tempted in this kind let that solemn declaration of our Saviour and our Judge be continually in our minds he that confesseth me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven but whosever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father with his holy Angels And we have great cause to thank God to see so many in this day of tryal and hour of temptation to adhere with so much resolution and constancy to their Holy Religion and to prefer the keeping of Faith and a good Conscience to all earthly considerations and advantages And this very thing that so many hold their Religion so fast and are so loth to part with it gives great hopes that they intend to make good use of it and to frame their lives according to the holy rules and precepts of it which alone can give us peace whilst we live and comfort when we come to die and after death secure to us the possession of a happiness large as our wishes and lasting as our Souls To which God of his Infinite Goodness bring us all for his mercy's sake in Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised THE main Scope and design of this Epistle to the Hebrews is to persuade the Jews who were newly converted to Christianity to continue stedfast in the profession of that Holy and Excellent Religion which they had embraced and not to be removed from it either by the subtile insinuations of their Brethren the Jews who pretended that they were in possession
than in the Son of God Who is at the right hand of his Father to appear in the Presence of God for us we are sure that God always hears the Petitions which we put up to him and so does the Son of God by whom we put them up to the Father because he also is God blessed for evermore But we are not sure that the Angels and Saints hear our Prayers because we are sure that they are neither Omniscient nor Omnipresent and we are not sure nor probably certain that our Prayers are made known to them any other way there being no Revelation of God to that purpose we are sure that God hath declared himself to be a jealous God and that he will not give his Honour to another and we are not sure but that Prayer is part of the Honour which is due to God alone and if it were not we can hardly think but that God should be so far from being pleased with our making so frequent use of those other Mediators and Intercessors and from granting our desires the sooner upon that account That on the contrary we have reason to think he should be highly offended when he himself is ready to receive all our Petitions and hath appointed a great Mediator to that purpose to see more Addresses made to and by the Angels and Saints and Blessed Virgin than to himself by his Blessed Son and to see the Worship of himself almost jostled out by the Devotion of People to Saints and Angels and the Blessed Mother of our Lord a thing which he never Commanded and which so far as appears by Scripture never came into his mind I have been the longer upon this matter to shew how unreasonable and needless at the best this more than half part of the Religion of the Church of Rome is and how safely it may be let alone But now on the other hand if they be mistaken in these things as we can demonstrate from Scripture they are the danger is infinitely great on that side for then they oppose an Institution of Christ who appointed the Sacrament to be received in both kinds and they involve themselves in a great danger of the guilt of Idolatry and our common Christianity in the scandal and reproach of it And this without any necessity since God hath required none of these things at our hands and after all the bustle which hath been made about them the utmost they pretend which yet they are not able to make good is that these things may Lawfully be done and at the same time they cannot deny but that if the Church had not enjoyned them they might Lawfully be let alone and can any thing be more unreasonable than so pertinaciously to insist upon things so hard I might say impossible to be defended or excused and which by their own acknowledgment are of no great weight and necessity in which we are certainly safe in not doing them if they should prove Lawful but if they do not prove so they are in a most dangerous condition so that here is certain safety on the one hand and the danger of damnation on the other which is as great odds as is possible And they must not tell us that they are in no danger because they are infallible and cannot be mistaken they must prove that point a great deal better than they have yet done before it can signifie any thing either to our Satisfaction or their Safety I might have insisted more largely upon each of these Particulars any one of which is of weight to incline a Man to that Religion which hath such an advantage on its side but all of them together makes so Powerful an Argument to an unprejudiced Person as must almost irresistably determine his choice for most of the Particulars are so evident that they cannot upon the very mention and proposal of them be denied to be clear Advantages on our side And now to use the words of St. Peter I testifie unto you that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand that the Reformed Religion which we profess and which by the goodness of God is by Law established in this Nation is the true Ancient Christianity the Faith which was at first delivered to the Saints and which is conveyed down to us in the Writings of the Apostles and the Evangelists of our Lord and Saviour Remember therefore how you have received and heard and hold fast for he is Faithful that hath promised which is the Second part of the Text the encouragement which the Apostle gives us to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering he is Faithful that hath promised to give us his Holy Spirit to lead us into all Truth to stablish strengthen and settle us in the Profession of it to support and comfort us under all Tryals and Temptations and to seal us up to the day of Redemption and he is faithful that hath promised to reward our constancy and fidelity to him and his Truth with a Crown of everlasting life and Glory Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmoveable and alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord for he is faithful that hath promised and let us provoke one another to Charity and Good Works which are the great Ornament and Glory of any Religion and so much the more because the day approacheth in which God will judge the belief and lives of Men by Jesus Christ not according to the imperious and uncharitable dictates of any Church but according to the Gospel of his Son To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Now the God of Peace which brought again from the Dead the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you Perfect in every good word and work working in you that which is pleasing in his Sight And the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your Hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. A SERMON 2 COR. V. 7. For we walk by Faith not by Sight IN the latter part of the former Chapter the Apostle declares what it was that was the great support of Christians under the Persecutions and Sufferings which befel them viz. the Assurance of a Blessed Resurrection to another life Verse 14. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus for which cause saith he verse 16. we faint not but though our outward Man perish our inward Man is renewed day by day that is though our Bodies by Reason of the Hardships and Sufferings which we undergo are continually decaying and declining yet our Minds grow every day more healthful and vigorous and gain new strength and resolution by contemplating the Glory and Reward of another World and as it were feeding upon
considerable and allow it self in the breach or neglect of the rest no nor with observing the Duties of one Table of the Law if it overlook the other no nor with obedience to all the Commandments of God one only excepted St. James puts this case and determines That he that keeps the whole Law saving that he offends in one point is guilty of all that is is not sincere in his obedience to the rest and therefore we must take great heed that we do not set the Commandments of God at odds and dash the two Tables of the Law against one another lest as St. James says we break the whole Law And yet I fear this is too common a fault even amongst those who make a great profession of Piety that they are not sufficiently sensible of the obligation and necessity of the Duties of the second Table and of the excellency of those Graces and Vertues which respect our Carriage and Conversation with one another Men do not seem to consider that God did not give Laws to us for his own sake but ours and therefore that he did not only design that we should Honour him but that we should be happy in one another for which reason he joyns with our humble and dutiful Deportment towards himself the Offices of Justice and Charity towards others Mich. 6. 8. He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And 1 John 4. 21. This Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also And yet it is too visible that many who make a great profession of Piety towards God are very defective in Moral Duties very unpeaceable and turbulent in their Spirits very peevish and passionate very conceited and censorious as if their profession of Godliness did exempt them from the care and practice of Christian Vertues But we must not so fix our eye upon Heaven as to forget that we walk upon the Earth and to neglect the ordering of our steps and Conversation among Men lest while we are gazing upon the Stars we fall into the Ditch of gross and foul Immorality It is very possible that Men may be devout and zealous in Religion very nice and scrupulous about the Worship and Service of God and yet because of their palpable defect in points of Justice and Honesty of Meekness and Humility of Peace and Charity may be gross and odious Hypocrites for Men must not think for some acts either of outward or inward Piety to compound with God for the neglect of Mercy and Judgment or to demand it as a right from Men to be excused from the great Duties and Vertues of Humane Conversation or pretend to be above them because they relate chiefly to this World and to the temporal happiness of Men as if it were the priviledge of great Devotion to give a license to Men to be peevish and froward sower and morose supercilious and censorious in their behaviour towards others Men must have a great care that they be not intent upon the outward parts of Religion to the prejudice of inward and real goodness and that they do not so use the means of Religion as to neglect and lose the main end of it that they do not place all Religion in Fasting and outward Mortification for though these things be very useful and necessary in their place if they be discreetly managed and made subservient to the great ends of Religion yet it is often seen that Men have so unequal a respect to the several parts of their Duty that Fasting and Corporal severity those meager and lean Duties of Piety in comparison do like Pharaoh's lean kine devour and eat up almost all the goodly and well-favoured the great and substantial Duties of the Christian Life and therefore Men must take great heed lest whilst they are so intent upon mortifying themselves they do not mortifie Vertue and good Nature Humility and Meekness and Charity things highly valuable in themselves and amiable in the eyes of Men and in the sight of God of great price For the neglect of the Moral Duties of the second Table is not only a mighty scandal to Religion but of pernicious consequence many other ways A fierce and ill governed an ignorant and injudicious Zeal for the Honour of God and something or other belonging necessarily as they think to his true Worship and Service hath made many Men do many unreasonable immoral and impious things of which History will furnish us with innumerable instances in the practice of the Jesuits and other Zealots of the Church of Rome and there are not wanting too many examples of this kind amongst our selves for Men that are not sober and considerate in their Religion but give themselves up to the conduct of blind prejudice and furious zeal do easily perswade themselves that any thing is lawful which they strongly fancy to tend to the Honour of God and to the advancement of the cause of Religion hence some have proceeded to that height of absurdity in their Zeal for their Religion and Church as to think it not only lawful but highly commendable and meritorious to equivocate upon Oath and break Faith with Hereticks and to destroy all those that differ from them as if it were Piety in some cases to lie for the Truth and to kill Men for God's sake So that if we would approve the integrity of our hearts to God and evidence to our selves the sincerity of our Obedience we ought impartially to regard all the Laws of God and every part of our Duty and if we do not our heart is not upright with God 'T is observable that sincerity in Scripture is often call'd by the name of Integrity and Perfection because it is integrated and made up of all the parts of our Duty 6. The last evidence I shall mention of the sincerity of our Religion is if it hold out against persecution and endure the fiery tryal this is the utmost proof of our integrity when we are called to bear the Cross to be willing then to expose all our worldly interest and even life it self for the Cause of God and Religion this is a tryal which God doth not always call his faithful Servants to but they are always to be prepared for it in the purpose and resolution of their minds this our Saviour makes the great mark of a true Disciple if any man saith he will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me this is a certain sign that Men have received the word into good ground and are well rooted in their Religion when they are not shaken by these fierce assaults for many as our Saviour tells us hear the word and with joy receive it but having not root in themselves they endure but for a while and when persecution or tribulation ariseth because of
after the reality of Religion always remembring that a sincere Piety doth not consist in shew but substance not in appearance but in effect that the Spirit of true Religion is still and calm charitable and peaceable making as little shew and stir as is possible that a truly and sincerely good Man does not affect vain Ostentation and an unseasonable discovery of his good Qualities but endeavours rather really to be than to seem Religious and of the two rather seeks to conceal his Piety than to set it out with pomp gives his Alms privately prays to God in secret and makes no appearance of Religion but in such fruits and effects as cannot be hid in the quiet and silent vertues of Humility and Meekness and Patience of Peace and Charity in governing his Passions and taking heed not to offend with his Tongue by slander and calumny by envious detraction or rash censure or by any word or action that may be to the hurt and prejudice of his Neighbour But on the contrary it is a very ill sign if a Man affect to make a great noise and bustle about Religion if he blow a Trumpet before his good Works and by extraordinary shews of Devotion summon the Eyes of Men to behold him and do as it were call aloud to them to take notice of his Piety and to come to see his zeal for the Lord of Hosts It is not impossible but such a Man with all his vanity and ostentation may have some real goodness in him but he is as the Hypocrites are and does as like one as is possible and by the mighty shew that he makes to wise and considerate Men greatly brings in question the sincerity of his Religion And with the sincerity of our Piety towards God let us joyn the simplicity and integrity of Manners in our Conversation with Men let us strictly charge our selves to use truth and plainness in all our words and doings let our Tongue be ever the true Interpreter of our Mind and our Expressions the lively Image of our Thoughts and Affections and our outward actions exactly agreeable to our inward purposes and intentions Amongst too many other Instances of the great corruption and degeneracy of the Age wherein we live the great and general want of sincerity in Conversation is none of the least the World is grown so full of Dissimulation and Complement that Mens words are hardly any signification of their thoughts and if any Man measure his words by his heart and speak as he thinks and do not express more kindness to every man than men usually have for any man he can hardly escape the censure of rudeness and want of breeding The old English plainness and sincerity that generous integrity of Nature and honesty of Disposition which always argues true greatness of mind and is usually accompanied with undaunted courage and resolution is in a great measure lost amongst us there hath been a long endeavour to transform us into foreign Manners and Fashions and to bring us to a servile imitation of none of the best of our Neighbours in some of the worst of their Qualities The Dialect of Conversation is now adays so swell'd with Vanity and Complement and so surfeited as I may say of expressions of kindness and respect that if a man that lived an Age or two ago should return into the World again he would really want a Dictionary to help him to understand his own Language and to know the true intrinsick value of the phrase in fashion and would hardly at first believe at what a low rate the highest strains and expressions of kindness imaginable do commonly pass in currant payment and when he should come to understand it it would be a great while before he could bring himself with a good Countenance and a good Conscience to converse with Men upon equal terms and in their own way And in truth it is hard to say whether it should more provoke our contempt or our pity to hear what solemn expressions of respect and kindness will pass between men almost upon no occasion how great honour and esteem they will declare for one whom perhaps they never heard of or saw before and how entirely they are all on the sudden devoted to his service and interest for no reason how infinitely and eternally obliged to him for no benefit and how extremely they will be concerned for him yea and afflicted too for no cause I know it is said in justification of this hollow kind of Conversation that there is no harm no real deceit in Complement but the matter is well enough so long as we understand one another Et verba valent ut Nummi Words are like Money and when the currant value of them is generally understood no Man is cheated by them this is something if such words were any thing but being brought into the Account they are meer Cyphers However it is still a just matter of complaint that sincerity and plainness are out of fashion and that our Language is running into a Lye that Men have almost quite perverted the use of Speech and made words to signifie nothing that the greatest part of the Conversation of Mankind and of their intercourse with one another is little else but driving a Trade of Dissimulation insomuch that it would make a Man heartily sick and weary of the World to see the little sincerity that is in use and practice among Men and tempt him to break out into that melancholy Complaint and Wish of the Prophet Jer. 9. O that I had in the Wilderness a lodging-place of way-faring men that I might leave my people and go from them for they are all Adulterers and an assembly of treacherous Men and they bend their tongue like their bow for lies but have no courage for the truth upon earth Take ye heed every one of his Neighbour and trust ye not in any Brother for every Brother will utterly supplant and every Neighbour will walk with slanders Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit one speaketh peaceably to his Neighbour but in his heart he lieth in wait Shall not I visit for these things saith the Lord and shall not my Soul be avenged of such a Nation as this Such were the Manners of the people of Israel at that time which were both the forerunner and the cause of those terrible Calamities which befell them afterwards and this Character agrees but too well to the present Age which is so wretchedly void of Truth and Sincerity for which reason there is the greater need to recommend this Virtue to us which seems to be fled from us that truth and righteousness may return and glory may dwell in our land and God may shew his mercy upon us and grant us his Salvation and Righteousness and Peace may kiss each other To this end give me leave to offer these following Considerations First That Sincerity is the highest commendation and the very best Character that
this be a good way then we do and must call in the assistance of reason for the proof of our Religion 4. Let it be considered farther that the highest commendations that are given in Scripture to any ones Faith are given upon account of the reasonableness of it Abraham's Faith is famous and made a pattern to all generations because he reasoned himself into it notwithstanding the objections to the contrary and he did not blindly break through these objections and wink hard at them but he look'd them in the face and gave himself reasonable satisfaction concerning them The Centurian's Faith is commended by our Saviour Math. 8. 11. Because when his Servant was sick he did not desire him to come to his house but to speak the word only and his Servant should be healed For he reasoned thus I am a man under authority having Souldiers under me and I say to this man go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my Servant do this and he doth it Now if he that was himself under authority could thus command those that were under him much more could he that had a divine Power and Commission do what he pleased by his word And our Saviour is so far from reprehending him for reasoning himself into this belief that he admires his Faith so much the more for the reasonableness of it v. 10. When Jesus heard this he marvelled and said to them that followed him verily I say unto you I have not found so great Faith no not in Israel Inlike manner our Saviour commends the Woman of Canaan's Faith because she enforc't it so reasonably Matthew 15. 22. She sued to him to help her Daughter but he answered her not a word and when his Disciples could not prevail with him to mind her yet still the prest him saying Lord help me and when he repulsed her with this severe answer It is not meet to take the Childrens bread and cast it to dogs she made this quick and modest reply truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their Masters Table She acknowledgeth her own unworthiness but yet believes his goodness to be such that he will not utterly reject those who humbly seek to him upon which he gives her this testimony O woman great is thy faith The Apostles were divinely inspired and yet the Bereans are commended because they enquired and satisfied themselves in the reasons of their belief before they assented to the doctrine which was delivered to them even by Teachers that certainly were Infallible 5. None are reproved in Scripture for their unbelief but where sufficient reason and evidence was offered to them The Israelites are generally blamed for their Infidelity but then it was after such mighty wonders had been wrought for their Conviction The Jews in our Saviours time are not condemned simply for their unbelief but for not believing when there was such clear evidence offered to them So our Saviour himself says If I had not done amongst them the works which no other man did they had not had sin Thomas indeed is blamed for the perverseness of his unbelief because he would believe nothing but what he himself saw Lastly To shew this yet more plainly let us consider the great inconvenience and absurdity of declining the use of Reason in matters of Religion There can be no greater prejudice to Religion than to decline this tryal To say we have no Reason for our Religion is to say it is unreasonable Indeed it is Reason enough for any Article of our Faith that God hath revealed it because this is one of the strongest and most cogent reasons for the belief of any thing But when we say God hath revealed any thing we must be ready to prove it or else we say nothing If we turn off Reason here we level the best Religion in the World with the wildest and most absurd Enthusiams And it does not alter the case much to give Reason ill names to call it blind and carnal Reason Our best reason is but very short and imperfect But since it is no better we must make use of it as it is and make the best of it Before I pass from this Argument I cannot but observe that both the extremes of those who differ from our Church are generally great Declamers against the use of Reason in matters of Faith If they find their account in it 't is well for our parts we apprehend no manner of inconvenience in having Reason on our side nor need we to desire a better evidence that any Man is in the wrong than to hear him declare against Reason and thereby to acknowledge that reason is against him Men may vilifie Reason as much as they please and tho being reviled she reviles not again yet in a more still and gentle way she commonly hath her full revenge upon all those that rail at her I have often wonder'd that people can with patience endure to hear their Teachers and Guides talk against Reason and not only so but they pay them the greater submission and veneration for it One would think this but an odd way to gain authority over the minds of Men but some skilful and designing men have found by experience that it is a very good way to recommend them to the ignorant as Nurses use to endear themselves to Children by perpetual noise and nonsense III. I observe that God obligeth no Man to believe plain and evident Contradictions as matters of Faith Abraham could not reasonably have believed this second revelation to have been from God if he had not found some way to reconcile it with the first For tho a Man were never so much disposed to submit his Reason to divine Revelation yet it is not possible for any Man to believe God against God himself Some Men seem to think that they oblige God mightily by believing plain contradictions But the matter is quite otherwise He that made Man a reasonable Creature cannot take it kindly from any Man to debase his workmanship by making himself unreasonable And therefore as no service or obedience so no Faith is acceptable unto God but what is reasonable if it be not so it may be confidence or presumption but it is not Faith for he that can believe plain contradictions may believe any thing how absurd soever because nothing can be more absurd than the belief of a plain contradiction and he that can believe any thing believes nothing upon good grounds because to him Truth and Falsehood are all one 4. I observe that the great cause of the defect of Mens obedience is the weakness of their Faith Did we believe the commands of God in the Gospel and his promises and threatnings as firmly as Abraham believed God in this case what should we not be ready to do or suffer in obedience to him If our Faith were but as strong and vigorous as his was the effects of it would be as
Why would he refuse a Kingdom which was offered to him with so fair an oportunity of doing so much good That which seems to have prevailed with Moses was this That he could not accept the offer without forsaking God and renouncing his Religion for considering how strangely the Egyptians were addicted to Idolatry he could never hope to be accepted for Heir of that Kingdom unless he would violate his Conscience either by abandoning or dissembling his Religion And how unlikely it was that he should prevail with them to change their Religion he might easily judge by the example of Joseph who tho he had so much authority and esteem amongst them by having been so great a Benefactor to their Nation yet he could never move them in the least in that matter Now seeing he had no hopes of attaining or enjoying that dignity without sinning grievously against God he would not purchase a Kingdom at so unconscionable a price And as for the deliverance of his people he was content to trust the providence and promise of God for that and in the mean time was resolved rather to take a part in the afflictions of God's people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season From the words thus explained I shall take occasion to consider these Four things I. Moses's self-denial in preferring and choosing a state of afflicted piety before any sinful enjoyments whatsoever before the greatest earthly happiness and prosperity when it was not to be attained and enjoyed upon other terms than of sinning against God II. I shall consider those circumstances of this self-denial of Moses which do very much commend and set off the virtue of it III. The prudence and reasonableness of this choice in preferring a state of afflicted Piety and Virtue before the greatest prosperity and pleasure of a sinful course IV. Supposing this choice to be reasonable I shall inquire how it comes to pass that so many make another choice I. We will consider Moses his self-denial in preferring a state of afflicted piety before the greatest earthly happiness and prosperity when it is not to be enjoyed upon other terms than of sining against God He was adopted Heir of the Kingdom of Egypt one of the greatest and most flourishing Kingdoms then in the World But he could not hope to attain to this dignity and to secure himself in the possession of it upon other terms than of complying with that Nation in their Idolatrous Religion and Worship Now being brought up in the belief of the true God the God of Israel by his Mother to whom Pharaoh's Daughter had committed him he could not without great violence to his Conscience and the principles of his Education renounce the true God and fall off to the Idolatry of the Egyptians And for this reason he refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the worshipers of the true God than to have the temporary enjoyment of any thing that was not to be had without sin for so the word ought to be render'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin So here was Moses his self-denial that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the worshipers of the true God than to gain a Kingdom by the renouncing of God and Religion II. We will consider those circumstances of his self denial which do very much commend and set off the virtue of it 1. What it was he refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh ' s Daughter that is to be Heir of one of the greatest and most flourishing Kingdoms in the world a temptation so great that the Devil himself could not find out one much greater when he set upon the Son of God to tempt him to fall down and worship him And when we consider for what inconsiderable things some men sell their Religion and their Consciences we shall think it no small temptation which Moses here resisted Si violandum est jus regnandi causâ violandum est If a Man would do any unjust thing and violate his Religion and Conscience he would not do it for less than a Kingdom and it would be a very hard bargain even upon those terms 2. Consider not only what he refused but what he chose in the place of it a state of great affliction and suffering Had he refused a Kingdom and chosen the quiet condition of a Subject of middle rank beneath envy and above contempt his self-denial had not been so great nay perhaps he had made a wise choice in the account of the wiseest men in preferring a plentiful and quiet retirement before the cares of a Crown and the burthen of publick Government But it is very rare to find a Man that would choose rather to be opprest and persecuted than to be a Prince and to have the sweet power to use others as he pleased 3. Consider how fair a prospect he had of enjoying this Kingdom if he could but have come up to the terms of it He did not reject it because he despaired of attaining it for he had all the right that a good title could give him being adopted Heir to it and yet he refused it To which I may add that his breeding was such as might easily kindle ambitious thoughts in him He was brought up in Pharaoh's Court and was the Darling and Favourite of it exceeding beautiful as Josephus tells us and learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians than which no two qualities are more apt to puff up and swell a Man with big thoughts of himself They that are bred in a low condition never think of a Kingdom Men not being apt to aspire to things which are remote and at a great distance from them But nothing is more rare in persons of great and generous minds than such a self-denial as this 4. Let it be considered in the last place that this was a deliberate choice not any rash and sudain determination made by him when he was of incompetent age to make a true judgment of things And this the Apostle takes notice of in the Text as a very memorable circumstance that when he was come to years he refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter And St. Stephen tells us that he was full forty years old when he made this choice Acts 7. 23. When he was full forty years old it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel When he was of ripest judgment and in the height of his prosperity and reputation he made this choice for it is said in the verse before that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and mighty in word and deed that is he was in great reputation for his Wisdom and Valour This seems to refer to other passages of his Life which are not recorded in the Scripture History but related at large by Josephus out of Historians extant in his time For he tells that when
of the true ancient Religion and the only true Church of God upon Earth or by the terrour of Heathen persecution which was so hot against them at that time And to this end the Author of this Epistle doth by great variety of arguments demonstrate the excellency of the Christian Religion above the Jewish dispensation and shews at large that in all those respects upon which the Jews valued themselves and their Religion as namely upon the account of their Lawgiver their High-Priests and their Sacrifices the Christian Religion had every way the advantage of them And having made this clear he concludes with an earnest exhortation to them to continue stedfast in the profession of this excellent Religion which was revealed to them by the Son of God the true propitiatory Sacrifice and the great High-Priest of their profession and into which they had solemnly been initiated and admitted by Baptism vers 19 20 21 22. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh and having an high-priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith that is let us sincerly serve God with a firm persuasion of the Truth and Excellency of this Holy Religion into the Profession whereof we were solemnly admitted by Baptism for that is undoubtedly the meaning of the following words having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washt with pure water the Water with which our Bodies are washt in Baptism signifying our spiritual Regeneration and the purging of our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God From all which he concludes Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering This refers to that solemn Profession of Faith which was made by all Christians at their Baptism and which is contained in the ancient Creed of the Christian Church called by the ancient Fathers The Rule of Faith Let us hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us firmly retain the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 4. 14. Seeing then we have a great high-priest which is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us take fast hold of our profession So here in the Text the Apostle upon the same Consideration exhorts Christians to retain or hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Confession or Profession of their hope that is the Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead and everlasting Life which was the Conclusion of that Faith or Creed whereof in Baptism they made a Solemn Profession Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith or Hope without wavering the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inflexible unmoveable steady and not apt to waver and be shaken by every Wind of contrary Doctrine nor by the Blasts and Storms of Persecution For he is faithful that hath promised If we continue faithful and steady to God he will be faithful to make good all the Promises which he hath made to us In the words thus explained there are Two things which I shall distinctly consider I. The Exhortation Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering And II. The Argument or Encouragement used to enâ—â—â—ce it He is faithful that promised so I begin with the I. The Exhortation to be constant and steady in the Profession of the Christian Religion Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering In the handling of this and that we may the better understand the true meaning of this Exhortation here in the Text I shall do these two things 1. I shall shew Negatively wherein this Constancy and Steadiness in the Profession of the true Religion does not consist And here I shall remove one or two things which are thought by some to be inconsistent with Constancy and Steadfastness in Religion 2. I shall shew Positively what is implied in a Constant and Steady Profession of the true Religion 1. I shall shew Negatively what Constancy and Steadfastness in the Profession of the true Religion does not imply And there are two things which are thought by some to be imply'd in holding fast the profession of our faith without wavering 1. That Men should not take the liberty to examine their Religion and enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of it 2. That men should obstinately refuse to hear any Reasons that can be brought against the true Religion as they think which they have once entertained 1. That Men should not take the liberty to examine their Religion and to enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of it This I think is so far from being forbidden in this Exhortation that on the contrary I doubt not to make it appear that a free and impartial Enquiry into the Grounds and Reasons of our Religion and a thorough Tryal and Examination of them is one of the best Means to confirm and establish us in the Profession of it I mean that all Persons that are capable of it should do it and that they will find great benefit and advantage by it For I do not think that this is a Duty equally and indifferently incumbent upon all nor indeed fit and proper for all Persons because all are not equally capable of doing it There are two sorts of Persons that are in a great measure incapable of doing it 1. Children 2. Such grown Persons as are of a very mean and low capacity and improvement of Understanding Children are not fit to examine but only to learn and believe what is taught them by their Parents and Teachers They are fit to have the fear of God and the Principles of the true Religion instilled into them but they are by no means fit to discern between a true and false Religion and to chuse for themselves and to make a change of their Religion as hath of late been allowed to them in a Nation not far from us and by publick Edict declared that Children at Seven Years Old are fit to chuse and to change their Religion Which is the first Law I ever heard of that allows Children of that Age to do any act for themselves that is of Consequence and Importance to them for the remaining part of their Lives and which they shall stand obliged to perform and make good They are indeed Baptized according to the custome and usage of the Christian Church in their Infancy but they do not enter into this Obligation themselves but their Sureties undertake for them that when they come to Age they shall take this Promise upon themselves and confirm and make it good But surely they can do no Act for themselves and in their own Name at that Age which can be obligatory They can neither make any Contracts that shall be valid nor incur any Debt nor oblige themselves by any Promise nor chuse themselves a Guardian nor do any Act that may bring
them under an Inconvenience when they shall come at Age. And can we think them of discretion sufficient at that time to do a thing of the greatest Moment and Consequence of all other and which will concern them to all Eternity namely to chuse their Religion There is indeed one Part of one Religion which we all know which Children at Seven Years of Age are fit I do not say to judge of but to be as fond of and to practise to as good purpose as those of riper Years and that is to worship Images to tell their Beads to say their Prayers and to be present at the Service of God in an unknown Tongue and this they are more likely to chuse at that Age than those who are of riper and more improv'd Understandings and if they do not chuse it at that time it is ten to one they will not chuse it afterwards I shall say no more of this but that it is a very extraordinary Law and such as perhaps was never thought of before from the beginning of the World Thus much for Children As for grown Persons who are of a very low and mean capacity of Understanding and either by reason of the weakness of their Faculties or other Disadvantages which they lye under are in little or no probability of improving themselves These are always to be considered as in the condition of Children and Learners and therefore must of necessity in things which are not plain and obvious to the meanest Capacities trust and rely upon the Judgment of others And it is really much wiser and safer for them so to do than to depend upon their own Judgments and to lean to their own Understandings and such Persons if they be modest and humble and pray earnestly to God for his Assistance and Direction and are careful to practise what they know and to live up to the best Light and Knowledge which they have shall not miscarry meerly for want of those farther degrees of Knowledge which they had no Capacity nor Opportunity to attain because their Ignorance is unavoidable and God will require no more of them than he hath given them and will not call them to account for the improvement of those Talents which he never committed to them And if they be led into any dangerous Error by the negligence or ill conduct of those under whose Care and Instruction the Providence of God permitted them to be placed God will not impute it to them as a Fault Because in the Circumstances in which they were they took the best and wisest course that they could to come to the knowledge of the Truth by being willing to learn what they could of those whom they took to be wiser than themselves But for such Persons who by the maturity of their Age and by the natural strength and clearness of their Understandings or by the due exercise and improvement of them are capable of enquiring into and understanding the Grounds of their Religion and discerning the difference betwixt Truth and Error I do not mean in unnecessary Points and matters of deepest Learning and Speculation but in matters necessary to Salvation it is certainly very reasonable that such Persons should examine their Religion and understand the Reasons and Grounds of it And this must either be granted to be reasonable or else every man must continue in that Religion in which he happens to be fixt by Education or for any other Reason to pitch upon when he comes to Years and makes his free Choice For if this be a good Principle that no Man is to examine his Religion but take it as it is and to believe it and rest satisfied with it Then every Man is to remain in the Religion which he first lights upon whether by Choice or the Chance of his Education For he ought not to change but upon Reason and Reason he can have none unless he be allowed to examine his Religion and to compare it with others that by the Comparison he may discern which is best and ought in reason to be preferred in his Choice For to him that will not or is not permitted to search into the Grounds of any Religion all Religions are alike as all things are of the same Colour to him that is always kept in the dark or if he happens to come into the Light dares not open his Eyes and make use of them to discern the different Colours of things But this is evidently and at first sight unreasonable because at this rate every Man that hath once entertained an Errour and a false Religion must forever continue in it For if he be not allowed to examine it he can never have Reason to change and to make a change without Reason is certainly unreasonable and mere Vanity and Inconstancy And yet for ought I can see this is the Principle which the Church of Rome doth with great Zeal and Earnestness inculcate upon their People discouraging all Doubts and Inquiries about their Religion as Temptations of the Devil and all Examinations of the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion as an inclination and dangerous step towards Heresie For what else can they mean by taking the Scriptures out of the hands of the People and locking them up from them in an unknown Tongue by requiring them absolutely to submit their Judgments and to resign them up to that which they are pleased to call the Catholick Church and Implicitly to believe as She believes tho they know not what that is This is in Truth to believe as their Priest tells them for that is all the teaching Part of the Church and all the Rule of Faith that the common People are acquainted with And it is not sufficient to say in this matter that when Men are in the Truth and of the right Religion and in the Bosom of the true Church they ought to rest satisfied and to examine and enquire no farther For this is manifestly unreasonable and that upon these Three accounts 1. Because this is a plain and shameful begging of the thing in Question and that which every Church and every Religion doth almost with equal Confidence pretend to That Theirs is the only right Religion and the only true Church And these Pretences are all alike reasonable to him that never examined the Grounds of any of them nor hath compar'd them together And therefore it is the vainest thing in the World for the Church of Rome to pretend that all Religions in the World ought to be examined but Theirs Because Theirs and none else is the true Religion For this which they say so confidently of it That it is the true Religion no Man can know till he have examined it and searched into the Grounds of it and hath considered the Objections which are against it So that it is fond Partiality to say that Their Religion is not to be examined by the people that profess it but that all other Religions ought to be examined or
rather because they are different from That which they presume to be the only true Religion ought to be condemned at all adventures without any farther enquiry This I say is fond Partiality because every Religion and every Church may for ought that appears to any man that is not permitted to examine things impartially say the same for themselves and with as much Reason and if so then either every Religion ought to permit it self to be examined or else no man ought to examine his own Religion whatever it be and consequently Jews and Turks and Heathens and Hereticks ought all to continue as they are and none of them to change because they cannot reasonably change without examining both that Religion which they leave and that which they embrace instead of it 2. Admitting this Pretence were true that They are the true Church and have the true Religion This is so far from being a Reason why they should not permit it to be examined that on the contrary it is one of the best Reasons in the World why they should allow it to be examined and why they may safely suffer it to be so They should permit it to be tryed that men may upon good Reason be satisfied that it is the true Religion And they may safely suffer it to be done because if They be sure that the Grounds of their Religion be firm and good I am sure they will be never the worse for being examined and look'd into But I appeal to every Man's Reason whether it be not an ill Sign that they are not so sure that the Grounds of their Religion are solid and firm and such as will abide the Tryal that they are so very loth to have them searcht into and examined This cannot but tempt a wise Man to suspect that their Church is not founded upon a Rock and that they themselves know something that is amiss in their Religion which makes them so loth to have it try'd and brought to the Touch. 3. It is certain among all Christians that the Doctrine preached by the Apostles was the true Faith of Christ and yet they never forbad the Christians to examine whether it were so or not Nay on the contrary they frequently exhort them to try and examine their Religion and whether that Doctrine which they had delivered to them was the true Faith of Christ. So St. Paul 2 Corinth 13. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves And again 1 Thes. 5. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good intimating to us that in order to the holding fast the Profession of our Faith it is requisite to prove and try it And so likewise St. John's Ep. 1. 4. 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world And he gives a very notable mark whereby we may know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error The Spirit of Error carries on a worldly Interest and Design and the Doctrines of it tend to Secular Power and Greatness vers 5. They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them Acts 17. 11. St. Luke commends it as an argument of a more noble and generous Spirit in the Beroeans that they examined the Doctrine which the Apostles preacht whether it were agreeable to the Scriptures and this without Disparagement to their Infallibility These saith he were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so They were ready to receive the Word but not blindly and with an implicit Faith but using due Care to examine the Doctrines which they were taught and to see if they were agreeable to that Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures which they had before received It seems they were not willing to admit and swallow Contradictions in their Faith And we desire no more of the Church of Rome than that they would encourage the people to search the Scriptures daily and to examine whether their Doctrines be according to them We would be glad to hear the Pope and a General Council commend to the People the searching of the Scriptures and to try their Definitions of Faith and Decrees of Worship by that Rule to see whether what they have defined and decreed to be believed and practised be agreeable to it their Worship of Images their solemn Invocation of Angels and of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints departed the Sacrament under one kind only the publick Prayers and Service of God in an unknown Tongue the frequent Repetition of the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christs Body and Blood in the Mass. Had the Beroeans been at the Council of Trent and pleaded their Right to search the Scriptures whether these things were so I doubt they would have been thought very troublesome and impertinent and would not have been praised by the Pope and Council for their pains as they are by St. Luke You see then upon the whole matter that it is a very groundless and suspicious Pretence of the Church of Rome that because They are Infallibly in the right and Theirs is the true Religion therefore their people must not be permitted to examine it The Doctrine of the Apostles was undoubtedly the true Faith of Christ and yet they not only permitted the people to examine it but exhorted and encouraged them so to do and commended them for it And any Man that hath the Spirit of a Man must abhor to submit to this Slavery not to be allowed to examine his Religion and to enquire freely into the Grounds and Reasons of it and would break with any Church in the World upon this single Point and would tell them plainly if your Religion be too good to be Examined I doubt it is too bad to be Believed If it be said that the allowing of this Liberty is the way to make people perpetually doubting and unsettled I do utterly deny this and do on the contrary with good Reason affirm that it is apt to have the contrary effect There being in reason no better way to establish any man in the belief of any thing than to let him see that there are very good Grounds and Reasons for what he believes which no man can ever see that is not permitted to examine whether there be such Reasons or not So that besides the Reasonablness of the thing it is of great benefit and advantage to us And that upon these Accounts 1. To arm us against Seducers He that hath examined his Religion and tryed the Grounds of it is most able to maintain them and make them good against all Assaults that may be made upon us to move us from our Stedfastness Whereas he that hath not examined and consequently does not understand the Reasons of his Religion is liable to be tossed to and fro and to
be carried about with every Wind of Doctrine by the slight of Men and the cunning Craftiness of those that lie in wait to deceive For when he is attempted he will either defend his Religion or not If he undertake the Defence of it before he hath examined the Grounds of it he makes himself an easie Prey to every crafty man that will set upon him he exposeth at once himself to Danger and his Religion to Disgrace If he decline the defence of it he must be forced to take Sanctuary in that Ignorant and Obstinate Principle that because he is of an Infallible Church and sure that he is in the right therefore he never did nor will examine whether he be so or not But how is he or can he be sure that he is in the right if he have no other Reason for it but his Confidence and his being wiser in his own conceit than Seven men that can render a Reason It is a shameful thing in a wise man who is able to give a good Reason of all other Actions and parts of his Life to be able to say nothing for his Religion which concerns him more than all the rest 2. To examine and understand the Grounds of our Religion will be a good means by the assistance of Gods Grace to keep us constant to it even under the fiery Tryal When it comes to this that a man must suffer for his Religion he had need to be well established in the Belief of it which no man can so well be as he that in some good measure understands the Grounds and Reasons of his Belief A man would be well assured of the Truth and Goodness of that for which he would lay down hīs Life otherwise he dies as a Fool dies he knows not for what A man would be loth to set such a Seal to a Blank I mean to that which he hath no sufficient Ground and Reason to believe to be true which whether he hath or not no man that hath not examined the Grounds of his Religion can be well assured of This St. Peter prescribes as the best Preparative for suffering for Righteousness sake the 1st Ep. of Peter 3. 14 15. But if ye suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye And be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts that is make him the great Object of your Dread and Trust and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you 2. The holding fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering doth not imply that Men should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason against that Religion which they have embraced and think to be the true Religion As Men should examine before they chuse so after they have chosen they should be ready to be better informed if better Reason can be offered No Man ought to think himself so infallible as to be priviledged from hearing Reason and from having his Doctrines and Dictates tryed by that Test. Our Blessed Saviour himself the most Infallible Person that ever was in the World and who declared the Truth which he had heard of God yet He offered himself and his Doctrine to this Tryal John 8. 46. Which of you convinceth me of sin that is of Falsehood and Error And if I speak the truth why do ye not believe me He was sure he spake the Truth and yet for all that if they could convince him of Error and Mistake he was ready to hear any Reason they could bring to that purpose Though a Man be never so sure that he is in the true Religion and never so resolved to continue constant and stedfast in it yet Reason is always to be heard when it is fairly offered And as we ought always to be ready to give an Answer to those who ask a Reason of the Hope and Faith that is in us so ought we likewise to be ready to hear the Reasons which others do fairly offer against our Opinion and Persuasion in Religion and to debate the matter with them that if we be in the right and they in the wrong we may rectifie their Mistakes and instruct them in meekness if God peradventure may give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth We are not only to examine our Religion before we peremptorily fix upon it but after we are as we think upon the best Reason establisht and settled in it Tho we ought not to doubt and waver in our Religion upon every slight and trifling Objection that can be brought against it yet we ought always to have an Ear open to hear Reason and consider any thing of Weight and Moment that can be offered to us about it For it is a great Disparagement to Truth and argues a distrust of the Goodness of our Cause and Religion to be afraid to hear what can be said against it As if Truth were so weak that in every Conflict it were in danger to be baffled and run down and go by the worst and as if the Reasons that could be brought against it were too hard for it and not to be encounter'd by those Forces which Truth has on its side We have that honest Confidence of the Goodness of our Cause and Religion that we do not fear what can be said against it And therefore we do not forbid our people to examine the Objections of our Adversaries and to read the best Books they can write against it But the Church of Rome are so wise in their Generation that they will not permit those of their Communion to hear or read what can be said against them Nay they will not permit the people the use of the Holy Scriptures which they with us acknowledge to be at least an Essential Part of the Rule of Faith They tell their people that after they are once of their Church and Religion they ought not to hear any Reasons against it and though they be never so strong they ought not to entertain any doubt concerning it because all doubting is a Temptation of the Devil and a Mortal Sin But surely that Church is not to be heard which will not hear Reason nor that Religion to be much admired which will not allow those that have once embrac'd it to hear it ever after debated and examined This is a very suspicious Business and argues that either they have not Truth on their side or that Truth is a weak and pitiful and sneaking Thing and not able to make its party good against Error I should now have proceeded in the Second place to shew Positively what is implied in holding fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering and then to have considered the Argument and Encouragement hereto because he is faithful that promised But I shall proceed no farther at this time A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he
is faithful that promised I Have already made entrance into these Words which I told you do contain in them I. An Exhortation to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering II. An Argument or Encouragement thereto because he is Faithful that promised If we continue stedfast and faithful to God we shall find him faithful to us in making good all the Promises which he hath made to us whether of Aid and Support or of Recompence and Reward of our Fidelity to him I have begun to handle the First part of the Text viz. The Apoostles Exhortation to Christians to be constant and steady in their Religion Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render without wavering signifies inflexible and unmovable not apt to waver and to be shaken with every Wind of contrary Doctrine nor by the Blasts and Storms of Persecution And that we might the better comprehend the full and true meaning of this Exhortation I propounded to do these Two things 1. To shew Negatively wherein this Constancy and Steadiness in the Profession of the true Religion doth not consist And 2. To shew Positively what is implied and intended here by the Apostle in holding fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering 1. To shew Negatively wherein this Constancy and the Steadiness in the Profession of the true Religion doth not consist This I spake to the last Day and shewed at large that there are Two things which are not contained and intended in this Exhortation 1. That Men should not have the Liberty to examine their Religion and to enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of it Such I mean as are capable of this examination and enquiry which some I shewed are not as Children who while they are in that state are only fit to learn and believe what is taught them by their Parents and Teachers And likewise such grown Persons as either by the natural Weakness of their Faculties or by some great Disadvantage of Education are of a very low and mean Capacity and Improvement of Understanding These are to be considered as in the condition of Children and Learners and therefore must of necessity trust and rely upon the Judgment of others 2. This holding fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering does not imply that when Men upon examination and enquiry are settled as they think and verily believe in the true Religion they should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason that can be offer'd againg them Both these Principles I shew'd to be unreasonable and Arguments of a bad Cause and Religion I shall now proceed to explain the meaning of this Exhortation To hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering by shewing in the Second place what it is that is implied in the constant and steady Profession of the true Faith and Religion namely That when upon due search and examination we are fully satisfied that it is the true Religion which we have embraced or as St. Peter expresses it 1st Epistle 5. 12. That this is the true Grace of God wherein we stand that then we should adhere stedfastly to it and hold it fast and not suffer it to be wrested from us nor our selves to be moved from it by any Pretences or Insinuations or Temptations whatsoever For there is a great deal of difference between the Confidence and Stedfastness of an Ignorant Man who hath never considered Things and enquired into the Grounds of them and the Assurance and Settlement of one who hath been well instructed in his Religion and hath taken pains to search and examine to the bottom the Grounds and Reasons of what he holds and professeth to believe The first is meer Wilfulness and Obstinacy A Man hath entertained and drank in such Principles of Religion by Education or hath taken them up by Chance but he hath no Reason for them and yet however he came by them he is resolved to hold them fast and not to part with them The other is the Resolution and Constancy of a Wise Man He hath embraced his Religion upon good Grounds and he sees no Reason to alter it and therefore is resolved to stick to it and to hold fast the Profession of it stedfastly to the end And to this purpose there are many Exhortations and Cautions scattered up and down the Writings of the holy Apostles as that we should be stedfast and unmoveable established in the Truth rooted and grounded in the Faith and that we should hold fast that which is good and not suffer our selves to be carried to and fro with every wind of Doctrine through the slight of Men and the cunning craftiness of those that lie in wait to deceive that we should not be removed from him that hath called us unto the grace of Christ unto another Gospel that we should stand fast in one Spirit and one Mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel and be â—n nothing terrifled by our Adversaries and that if occasion be we should contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints and here in the Text That we should hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering For the explaining of this I shall do two Things 1. Consider what it is that we are to hold fast namely the profession of our Faith And 2. How we are to hold it fast or what is implied in holding fast the profession of our Faith without wavering 1. What it is that we are to hold fast namely the profession of our Faith i. e. of the Christian Faith or Religion For I told you before that this Profession or Confession of our Faith or Hope as the word properly signifies is an Allusion to that Profession of Faith which was made by all those who were admitted Members of the Christian Church by Baptism of which the Apostle makes mention immediately before the Text when he says Let us draw near in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure Water And then it follows Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering The Profession of Faith which we made in our Baptisms and which by the Ancient Fathers is call'd the Rule of Faith and which is now contain'd in that which we call the Apostles Creed and which is called by St. Paul Rom. 6. 17. the Form of Doctrine which was delivered to them i. e. to all Christians and 2 Tim. 1. 13. the Form of sound Words Hold fast saith he the Form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus and by St. Jude The Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints So that it is the first and ancient Faith of the Christian Church delivered to them by Christ and his Apostles which we are here exhorted to hold fast the necessary and fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith
and by consequence all those Truths which have a necessary Connexion with those Articles and are implied in them and by plain Consequence are to be deduced from them It is not the doubtful and uncertain Traditions of Men nor the partial Dictates and Doctrines of any Church since the Primitive Times which are not contained in the Holy Scriptures and the Ancient Creeds of the Christian Church but have been since declared and imposed upon the Christian World though with never so confident a pretence of Antiquity in the Doctrines and of Infallibility in the Proposers of them These are no part of that Faith which we are either to profess or to hold fast because we have no reason to admit the Pretences by virtue whereof those Doctrines or Practices are imposed being able to make it good and having effectually done it that those Doctrines are not of Primitive Antiquity and that the Church which proposeth them hath no more claim to Infallibility than all other Parts of the Christian Church which since the Apostles time is none at all In a word No other Doctrines which are not sufficiently revealed in Scripture either in express Terms or by plain and necessary Consequence nor any Rites of Worship nor Matters of Practice which are not commanded in Scripture are to be esteemed any part of that Faith in Re-Religion the Profession whereof the Apostle here Commands all Christians to hold fast without wavering much less any Doctrines or Practices which are repugnant to the Word of God and to the Faith and Practice of the first Ages of Christianity of which kind I shall have occasion in my following Discourse to instance in several Particulars In the mean time I shall only observe That that Faith and Religion which we profess and which by God's Grace we have ever held fast is that which hath been acknowledg'd by all Christian Churches in all Ages to have been the ancient Catholick and Apostolick Faith and cannot as to any part or tittle of it be denied to be so even by the Church of Rome her self I proceed to the II d Thing which I proposed to consider namely how we are to hold fast the profession of our Faith or what is implied by the Apostle in this Exhortation To hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering And I think these following Particulars may very well be supposed to be implied in it 1. That we should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support their Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind 3. Against all the Temptations and Terrours of the World 4. Against all vain Promises of being put into a safer Condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier terms in another Religion 5. Against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busie and disputing Men whose Design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to gain Proselytes to their own Party and Faction I shall go over these with as much Clearness and Brevity as I can 1. We should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence All Religion is either Natural or Instituted The Rule of Natural Religion is the common Reason of Mankind The Rule of Instituted Religion is divine Revelation or the Word of God which all Christians before the Council of Trent did agree to be contained in the Holy Scriptures So that nothing can pretend to be Religion but what can be proved to be so One or both of those ways either by Scripture or by Reason or by both And how confident soever Men may be of Opinions destitute of this Proof any Man that understands the Grounds of Religion will without any more ado reject them for want of this proof and notwithstanding any pretended Authority or Infallibility of the Church that imposeth them will have no more Consideration and Regard of them than of the confident Dictates and Assertions of any Enthusiast whatsoever because there is no reason to have regard to any Man's Confidence if the Arguments and Reasons which he brings bear no proportion to it We see in Experience that Confidence is generally ill grounded and is a kind of Passion in the Understanding and is commonly made use of like Fury and Force to supply for the weakness and want of Argument If a Man can prove what he says by good Argument there is no need of Confidence to back and support it We may at any time trust a plain and substantial Reason and leave it to make its own way and to bear out its self But if the man's Reasons and Arguments be not good his Confidence adds nothing of real Force to them in the Opinion of Wise men and tends only to its own Confusion Arguments are like Powder which will carry and do execution according to its true strength and all the rest is but noise And generally none are so much to be suspected of Errour or a Design to deceive as those that pretend most confidently to Inspiration and Infallibility As we see in all sorts of Enthusiasts who pretend to Inspiration although we have nothing but their own word for it for they work no Miracles And all pretence to Inspiration and Infallibility without Miracle whether it be in particular Persons or in whole Churches is Enthusiastical i. e. a Pretence to Inspiration without any Proof of it And therefore St. Paul was not moved by the Boasting and Confidence of the false Apostles because they gave no Proof and Evidence of their Divine Inspiration and Commission as he had done for which he appeals to the Sense of Men Whether he had not wrought great Miracles which the false Apostles had not done though they had the confidence to give out themselves to be Apostles as well as he 2 Cor. 12. 11 12. I am says he become a fool in glorying ye have compelled me And truly the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds And Rev. 2. 2. Christ there commends the Church of Ephesus because she had tried them which said they were Apostles but were not and had found them liars And as we are not to believe every one that says he is an Apostle so neither every one that pretends to be a Successor of the Apostles and to be endued with the same Spirit of Infallibility that they were For these also when they are tried whether they be the Successors of the Apostles or not may be found Liars And therefore St. John cautions Christians not to believe every spirit that is every one that pretends to divine Inspiration and the Spirit of God but to try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World 1 Joh. 4. 1. And therefore the Confidence of Men
might the better comprehend the true and full meaning of this Exhortation I shewed 1. Negatively what is not meant and intended by it And I mentioned these two Particulars 1. The Apostle doth not hereby intend that those who are capable of enquiring into and examining the Grounds of their Religion should not have the Liberty to do it Nor 2. That when upon due Enquiry and Examination Men are settled as they think and verily believe in the true Faith and Religion they should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason that can be offered against their present Persuasion Both these I shewed to be unreasonable and Arguments of a bad Cause and Religion And therefore neither of them can be intended by the Apostle in this Exhortation 2. I proceeded Positively to explain the meaning of this Exhortation And to this purpose I proposed 1. To consider what it is that we are to hold fast viz. the Confession or Profession of our Faith The antient Christian Faith of which every Christian makes Profession in his Baptism For of That the Apostle here speaks as appears by the Context not the doubtful and uncertain Traditions of Men nor the imperious Dictates and Doctrines of any Church not contained in the Holy Scriptures imposed upon the Christian Church tho with never so confident a pretence of the Antiquity of the Doctrines proposed or of the Infallibility of the Proposers of them And then I proceeded in the 2. Place to shew how we are to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering And I mentioned these following Particulars as probably implied in the Apostles Exhortation 1. That we should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support their Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men against Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind 3. Against all the Temptations and Terrours of the World 4. Against all vain Promises of being put into a safer condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier Terms in another Religion 5. Against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busiy and disputing Men whose design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to gain Proselytes to their Party and Faction 1. We are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support their Confidence And of this I gave several Instances As in the Pretence of the Church of Rome to Infallibility without any Proof or Evidence of it either by Scripture or Miracles I mean such Miracles as are sufficiently attested For as for their Legends since the wisest among themselves give no credit to them I hope they do not expect that We should believe them or be moved by them And then their Pretence that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches which is now made an Article of their Creed And that the Bishop of Rome as Successor of Saint Peter there is by Divine Appointment the Supream and Vniversal Pastor of Christs Church And that it is necessary to Salvation for every humane Creature to be subject to him And lastly their Invocation and Worship of the Blessed Virgin and Saints departed without any Warrant or Example of any such thing either in Scripture or in the practice of the first Ages of the Christian Religion and without sufficient Ground to believe that they hear the Prayers which are put up to them 2. Much more are we to hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men contrary to Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind And here I instanced in the Worship of Images the Locking up of the Scriptures from the People and celebrating the publick Prayers and Service of God in an unknown Tongue in their Doctrine of Transubstantiation their Communion in one kind and their daily repetition in the Sacrifice of the Mass of the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ which was offered once for all and is of Eternal Virtue and Efficacy and therefore ought not because it needs not like Jewish Sacrifices under the Law to be repeated To these Instances which I have already spoken to I shall add one or two more as namely That to the due Administration of the Sacraments an Intention in the Minister at least to do what the Church does is requisite This is expresly defined and under an Anathema upon all that shall say otherwise by the Council of Trent Sess. the Seventh Can. 11th which is to make the Validity and Virtue of the Sacraments to depend upon the Intention of the Priest or Minister So that if in the Administration of Baptism he do not intend to Baptize the Party he pretends to Baptize then it is no Baptism and consequently the Person Baptized is not made a Member of Christ's Church nor is any Grace or special Benefit conferred upon him nor is he a Christian. So likewise in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper If the Priest do not intend to Consecrate the Host then is it no Sacrament and they that receive it receive no benefit by it and which according to their Opinion is a dreadful Consequence by the words of Consecration there is no change made of the Elements into the Body and Blood of Christ and consequently they that give Adoration to the Sacrament in such cases Worship Bread and Wine for God which is Idolatry And so likewise in their Sacrament of Penance though the Priest pronounce the words of Absolution yet if he do not intend to absolve the Penitent though he be never so truly penitent and God on his part is ready to forgive him yet if the Priest do not intend to do so there is nothing done and the Man is still in his Sin So likewise in Ordination which is another of their Sacraments if the Bishop do not intend to Ordain the Man he is no Priest and all that he does as a Priest afterwards either in Administration of Baptism or the Lords Supper or the Absolution of Penitents all is vain and of no effect Nay in Marriage which they will needs have to be a Sacrament too if the Intention of the Priest be wanting there is nothing done the Contract is null'd and they that are so Married do really live in Adultery though they do not know it nor have any suspicion of it Now this is contrary to Scripture and the whole Tenure of the Gospel which promiseth the benefit and efficacy of the Sacraments to all those that perform the Conditions of the Covenant which are required on their parts and declares forgiveness of Sins to those who confess them to God and truly repent of them And there is not the least intimation given in the Bible that the Virtue and Efficacy of the Sacraments does depend upon the Intention of him that administers them or that the Forgiveness of sins is suspended upon the Intention or Absolution of the Priest but
Foundation of the Confession of Faith will proceed and what Testimonies and Proofs she chiefly intends to make use of for the Confirmation of Doctrines and Reformation of Manners in the Church And no doubt all Men do see very plainly to what purpose this Foundation is laid of so large a Rule of Faith And this being admitted how easie is it for them to confirm and prove whatever Doctrines and Practices they have a mind to establish But if this be a new and another Foundation than That which the Great Author and Founder of our Religion hath laid and built his Church upon viz. the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles it is no matter what they build upon it And if they go about to prove any thing by the new parts of this Rule by the Apocryphal Books which they have added to the ancient Canon of the Scriptures brought down to us by the general Tradition of the Christian Church and by their pretended unwritten Traditions we do with Reason reject this kind of Proof and desire them first to prove their Rule before they pretend to prove any thing by it For we protest against this Rule as never declared and owned by the Christian Church nor proceeded upon by the ancient Fathers of the Church nor by any Council whatsoever before the Council of Trent In vain then doth the Church of Rome vaunt it self of the Antiquity of their Faith and Religion when the very Foundation and Rule of it is but of Yesterday a new thing never before known or heard of in the Christian World Whereas the Foundation and Rule of Our Religion is the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures to which Christians in all Ages have appealed as the only Rule of Faith and Life I proceed now to the 3. Thing I proposed viz. that we are to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering against all the Temptations and Terrours of the World And this seems more especially and principally to be here intended by the Apostle in this Exhortation I shall first speak of the Temptations of the World And they are chiefly these Two the Temptation of Fashion and Example And of worldly Interest and Advantage 1. Of Fashion and Example This in Truth and Reality is no strong Argument and yet in Experience and Effect it is often found to be very powerful It is frequently seen that this hath many times too great an Influence upon weak and foolish Minds Men are apt to be carried down with the Stream and to follow a Multitude in that which is evil But more especially Men are prone to be swayed by great Examples and to bend themselves to such an Obsequiousness to their Superiours and Betters that in compliance with them they are ready not only to change their Affection to Persons and Things as They do but even their Judgment also and that in the greatest and weightest Matters even in Matters of Religion and the great concernments of another World But this surely is an Argument of a poor and mean Spirit and of a weak Understanding which leans upon the Judgment of another and is in truth the lowest degree of Servility that a reasonable Creature can stoop to and even beneath That of a Slave who in the midst of his Chains and Fetters doth still retain the Freedom of his Mind and Judgment But I need not to urge this upon considerate Persons who know better how to value their Duty and Obligation to God than to be tempted to do any thing contrary thereto meerly in compliance with Fashion and Example There are some Things in Religion so very plain that a wise and good Man would stand alone in the Belief and Practice of them and not be moved in the least by the contrary Example of the whole World It was a brave Resolution of Joshua though all Men should forsake the God of Israel and run aside to other Gods yet he would not do it Joshua 24. 15. If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serve But as for me and my House we will serve the Lord. It was well resolv'd of Peter if he had not been too confident of his own Strength when he said to our Saviour Though all Men forsake thee yet will not I. 2. Another sort of Temptation and which is commonly more Powerful than Example is worldly Interest and Advantage This is a mighty Bait to a great Part of Mankind and apt to work very strongly upon the Necessities of some and upon the Covetousness and Ambition of others Some Men are tempted by Necessity which many times makes them do ugly and reproachful Things and like Esau for a Morsel of Meat to sell their Birth-right and Blessing Covetousness tempts others to be of that Religion which gives them the prospect of the greatest Earthly Advantage either for the increasing or securing of their Estates When they find that they cannot serve God and Mammon they will forsake the one and cleave to the other This was one of the great Temptations to many in the Primitive Times and a frequent Cause of Apostacy from the Faith an eager Desire of Riches and too great a Value for them as St. Paul observes 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. But they that will be Rich fall into Temptation and a Snare and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown Men in Destruction and Perdition For the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil which while some have coveted after they have erred or been seduced from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many Sorrows This was the Temptation which drew off Demas from his Religion as St. Paul tells us 2 Tim. 4. 10. Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present World Ambition is likewise a great Temptation to proud and aspiring Minds and makes many Men false to their Religion when they find it a hinderance to their Preferment and they are easily perswaded that That is the best Religion which is attended with the greatest worldly Advantages and will raise them to the highest Dignity The Devil understood very well the Force of this Temptation when he set upon our Saviour and therefore reserv'd it for the last Assault He shewed him all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them and said to him All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And when he saw this would not prevail he gave him over in despair and left him But though this be a very dazling Temptation yet there are Considerations of that Weight to be set over-against it from the Nature of Religion and the infinite Concernment of it to our immortal Souls as is sufficient to quench this fiery Dart of the Devil and to put all the Temptations of this World out of Countenance and to render all the Riches and Glory of it in comparison of the Eternal Happiness and Misery of the other World but as the very
this case of Renouncing our Religion unless it be very sudden and surprizing out of which a Man recovers himself when he comes to himself as St. Peter did or the Suffering be so extream as to put a Man besides himself for the time so as to make him say or do any thing I say in this case of Renouncing God and his Truth God will not admit Fear for a just excuse of our Apostacy which if it be unrepented of and the Scripture speaks of Repentance in that case as very difficult will be our Ruin And the Reason is because God has given us such fair Warning of it that we may be prepared for it in the Resolution of our Minds And we enter into Religion upon these Terms with a professed Expectation of Suffering and a firm Purpose to lay down our Lives for the Truth if God shall call us to it If any Man will be my Disciple says our Lord let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me And again He that loveth Life it self more than me is not worthy of me And if any Man be ashamed of me and of my Words in this unfaithful Generation of him will I be ashamed before my Father and the Holy Angels And therefore to master and subdue this Fear our Saviour hath propounded great Objects of Terror to us and a Danger infinitely more to be dreaded which every Man runs himself wilfully upon who shall quit the Profession of his Religion to avoid Temporal Sufferings Luke 12. 4 5. Fear not them that can kill the Body but after that have nothing that they can do But I will tell you whom you shall fear Fear him who after he hath killed can destroy both Body and Soul in Hell Yea I say unto you Fear him And to this dreadful Hazard every Man exposeth himself who for the Fear of Men ventures thus to offend God These are the Fearful and Vnbelievers spoken of by St. John Who shall have their Portion in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death Thus you see how we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against all Temptations and Terrors of this World I should now have proceeded to the next Particular namely that we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith against all vain Promises of being put into a safer Condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier Terms in some other Church and Religion But this I shall not now enter upon A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised IN these Words I have told you are contained these Two Parts I. An Exhortation To hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering II. An Argument or Encouragement thereto Because he is faithful that hath promised I am yet upon the First of these the Exhortation to Christians to be Constant and Steady in the Profession of their Religion Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering And that we might the better comprehend the true and full meaning of this Exhortation I shewed I. Negatively what is not meant and intended by it And I mentioned these Two Particulars 1. The Apostle doth not hereby intend that those who are capable of enquiring into and examining the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion should not have the liberty to do it Nor 2. That when upon due Enquiry and Examination Men are settled as they think and verily believe in the True Faith and Religion they should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason that can be offered against their present Persuasion for Reason when it is fairly offered is always to be heard I proceeded in the Second Place Positively to explain the Meaning of this Exhortation And to this purpose I proposed to consider 1. What it is that we are to hold fast viz. the Confession or Profession of our Faith The Ancient Christian Faith which every Christian makes Profession of in his Baptism Not the Doubtful and Uncertain Traditions of Men nor the Imperious Dictates and Doctrines of any Church which are not contained in the Holy Scriptures imposed upon the Christian World though with never so confident a Pretence of the Antiquity of the Doctrines or of the Infallibility of the Proposers of them And then I proceded in the Second Place to shew how we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering And I mentioned these following Particulars as probably implied and comprehended in the Apostles Exhortation 1. That we should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to plain Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind under both which Heads I gave several Instances of Doctrines and Practices imposed with great Confidence upon the World some without and others plainly against Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind 3. Against all the Temptations and and Terrours of the World the Temptations of Fashion and Example and of worldly Interest and Advantage and against the Terrours of Persecution and Suffering for the Truth Thus far I have gone I shall now proceed to the Two other Particulars which remain to be spoken to 4. We are to hold fast the profession of our Faith against all vain Promises of being put into a safer Condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier Terms in some other Church and Religion God hath plainly declared to us in the holy Scriptures upon what Terms and Conditions we may obtain Eternal Life and Happiness and what will certainly exclude us from it That except we repent i. e. without true Contrition for our Sins and forsaking of them we shall perish That without Holiness no man shall see the Lord That no Fornicator or Adulterer or Idolater or Covetous Person nor any one that lives in the practice of such sins shall have any Inheritance in the Kingdom of God or Christ. There is as great and unpassable a Gulf fixt between Heaven and a wicked Man as there is betwixt Heaven and Hell And when Men have done all they can to debauch and corrupt the Christian Doctrine it is impossible to reconcile a wicked Life with any reasonable and well-grounded Hopes of Happiness in another World No Church hath that Priviledge to save a Man upon any other Terms than those which our Blessed Saviour hath declared in his holy Gospel All Religions are equal in this That a bad Man can be Saved in none of them The Church of Rome pretends their Church and Religion to be the only safe and sure way to Salvation and yet if their Doctrine be true concerning the Intention of the Priest and if it be not they are much to blame in making it an Article of their Faith I say if it be true that the Intention
giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils So that the particular kind of Idolatry into which some part of the Christian Church should apostatize is here pointed at That they should worship Souls departed or the Spirits of dead Men which was part of the Heathen Idolatry into which the People of Israel did frequently relapse So that the Spirit of God doth here foretel such an Apostasie in some part of the Christian Church as the People of Israel were guilty of in falling into the Heathen Idolatry They shall be Worshipers of the Dead as the Israelites also were And this is the great and dangerous Seduction which the Christians are so much cautioned against in the New Testament and charged to hold fast the profession of the Faith against the cunning Arts and Insinuations of seducing Spirits not but as I said before that we are always to have an Ear open to Reason and to be ready to hearken and to yield to That whenever it is fairly proposed But to be over-reached and rooked out of one's Religion by little Sophistical Arts and Tricks is Childish and silly After we are upon due Trial and Examination of the Grounds of our Religion settled and established in it we ought not to suffer our selves to be removed from it by the groundless Pretences of Confident People to Infallibility and to be practised upon by Cunning Men who lie at catch to make Proselytes to their Party This is to be like Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine And we ought to be the more careful of our selves because there never was any time wherein seducing Spirits were more bold and busie to pervert Men from the Truth Against These we should hold fast our Religion as a Man would do his Money in a Crowd It passeth in the World for a great Mark of Folly when a Man and his Money are soon parted But it is a sign of much greater Folly for a Man easily to quit his Religion especially to be caught by some such gross Methods as the Seducers I am speaking of commonly use and which lie so very open to Suspicion such as ill-designing Men are wont to practise upon a young Heir when they have insinuated themselves into his Company to make a Prey of him They charge him to tell no body in what Company he hath been not to ask the Counsel and Advice of his Friends concerning what they have been persuading him to because they for their own Interest will be sure to disswade him from it Just thus do these Seducers practise upon weak People They charge them not to acquaint their Minister with whom they have been nor what Discourse they have had about Religion nor what Books have been put into their Hands because then all their kind Design and Intention towards them will be defeated But above all they must be sure to read no Books on the other side because they are no competent Judges of Points of Faith and this reading on both sides will rather confound than clear their Understandings They tell them that they have stated the matter truly and would not for all the World deceive them and they may easily perceive by their earnest Application to them that nothing but Charity and a passionate desire of the Salvation of their Souls makes them take all these Pains with them But this is so gross a way of proceeding that any Man of common understanding must needs discern by this kind Treatment that these Men can have no honest Design upon them To come then to a more particular Consideration of the Arts and Methods which they use I mean particularly those of the Church of Rome in making Proselytes to their Religion As 1. In allowing them to be very competent and sufficient Judges for themselves in the Choice of their Church and Religion that is which is the True Church and Religion in which alone Salvation is to be had and yet telling them at the same time that they are utterly incapable of judging of particular Doctrines and Points of Faith and Practice but for these they must rely upon the Judgment of an Infallible Church when they are in it otherwise they will certainly run into damnable Errors and Mistakes about these things And they must of necessity allow them to be sufficient Judges for themselves in the Choice of their Religion as will be evident by considering in what Method they proceed with their intended Proselyte They propose to him to change his Church and his Religion because he is in the wrong and they will shew him a better and such a one as is the only True one and in which alone Salvation is to be had To perswade him hereto they offer him some Reasons and Arguments or give him Books to read containing Arguments to move him to make this Change to satisfie him of the Reasonableness and to convince him of the Necessity of it Now by this way of proceeding and they can take no other they do whether they will or no make the Person whom they are endeavouring to convert a Judge for himself which Church and Religion is best that which they would have him embrace and come over to or that which they would perswade him to forsake For to what end else do they offer him Reasons and Arguments to perswade him to leave our Church and to come over to theirs but that he may consider the Force and Weight of them and having considered them may judge whether they be of force sufficient to over-rule him to make this Change So that as unwilling as they are to make particular Persons judge for themselves about Points of Faith and about the Sense of Scripture confirming those Points because this is to leave every Man to his own private Spirit and Fancy and giddy Brain yet they are compelled by Necessity and against their own Principles to allow a Man in this case of chusing his Religion to be a Judge of the Reasons and Arguments which they offer to induce him thereto So that whether they will or no they must permit him to be a Judge for himself for this once but not to make a Practice of it or to pretend this Priviledge ever after For in acknowledgment of this great Favour of being permitted to judge for himself this once which they do unwillingly grant him and upon meer Necessity he is for ever after to resign up his Judgment to the Church And tho this Liberty be allowed pro hâc vice and properly to serve a turn i. e. in order to the changing of his Religion yet he is to understand that he is no fit and competent Judge of particular Points of Faith these he must all learn from the True Church when he is in it and take them upon her Authority and in so doing he shall do very prudently because She is infallible and cannot be deceived but He may But is there any Sense in all this that
we have reason to be satisfied that the Church of Rome is a Church in the Communion whereof a Man may be safe But till that be made out they have done nothing to perswade any Man that understands himself that it is safe much less necessary to be of their Communion But if particular Points must be discussed and cleared before a Man can be satisfied in the Enquiry after the True Church then they must allow their intended Convert to be a Judge likewise of particular Points and if he be sufficient for that too before he comes into their Church I do not see of what use the Infallibility of the Church will be to him when he is in it A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised I Have already made a considerable Progress in my Discourse upon these Words in which I told you there is an Exhortation to hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and an Argument or Encouragement thereto because he is faithful that promised I am yet upon the First of these the Exhortation to hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering by which I told you the Apostle doth not intend that those who are capable of examining the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion should not have the Liberty to do it nor that when upon due Enquiry they are as they verily believe established in the true Faith and Religion they should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason that is fairly offered against their present Persuasion And then I proceeded to shew positively First What it is that we are here exhorted to hold fast viz. The Confession or Profession of our Faith the ancient Christian Faith of which every Christian makes Profession in his Baptism For it is of that the Apostle here speaks as appears plainly by the Context Secondly How we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith And of this I gave Account in these following Particulars 1. We should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to plain Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind of which I gave you particular Instances 3. Against all the Temptations and Terrors of the World 4. Against all vain Promises of being put into a safer Condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier Terms in some other Church and Religion I am now upon the 5. And Last Particular I mentioned namely That we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busie and disputing Men whose Design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to make Proselytes to their Party and Faction I have already mentioned some of the Arts which they use I mean particularly them of the Church of Rome in making Proselytes to their Religion and I have shewn the Absurdity and Unreasonableness of them As First In allowing Men to be very competent and sufficient Judges for themselves in the Choice of their Religion i. e. which is the True Church and Religion in which alone Salvation is to be had and yet telling them at the same time that they are utterly incapable of judging of particular Doctrines and Points of Faith As for these they must rely upon the Judgment of an Infallible Church and if they do not they will certainly run into damnable Errors and Mistakes And they must of necessity allow them the first a sufficient Ability to judge for themselves in the Choice of their Religion Otherwise in vain do they offer them Arguments to perswade them to Theirs if they cannot judge of the Force of them But now after this to deny them all Ability to judge of particular Doctrines and Points of Faith is a very absurd and inconsistent Pretence Secondly Another Art they use in order to their making a right Choice of their Religion is earnestly to perswade them to hear and read only the Arguments and Books on Their side Which is just as if one should go about to persuade a Judge in order to the better understanding and clearer Decision of a Cause to hear only the Council on one side Thirdly They tell them that the only thing they are to enquire into is which is the True Church the one Catholick Church mentioned in the Creed out of which there is no Salvation and when they have found that they are to rely upon the Authority of that Church which is Infallible for all other things And this Method they wisely take to avoid particular Disputes about the Innovations and Errors which we charge them withal But I have shewn at large that this cannot be the First Enquiry Because it is not the true Church that makes the true Christian Faith and Doctrine but the Profession of the true Christian Faith and Doctrine which makes the true Church Besides their way of proving Their Church to be the only true Church being by the Marks and Properties of the true Church of which the Chief is The Conformity of their Doctrines and Practices with the Primitive and Apostolical Church this unavoidably draws on an Examination of their particular Doctrines and Practices whether they be conformable to those of the Primitive and Apostolical Church before their great Enquiry Which is the True Church can be brought to any Issue which it is plain it can never be without entring into the Ocean of particular Disputes which they desire above all things to avoid So that they are never the nearer by this Method they can neither shorten their Work by it nor keep off the Examination of their particular Errors and Corruptions which are a very sore place and they cannot endure we should touch it I shall now proceed to discover some other Arts and Methods which they use in seducing People to Their Church and Religion and shall be as brief in them as I can Fourthly They pretend that the Roman Church is the Catholick Church i. e. the Visible Society of all Christians united to the Bishop of Rome as the Supream Pastor and Visible Head of Christ's Church upon Earth from whence it clearly follows That it is necessary to all Christians to joyn themselves to the Communion of the Roman Church otherwise they cannot be Members of the Catholick Church of Christ out of which there is no Salvation We grant the Consequence That if the Roman Church be the Catholick Church it is necessary to be of that Communion because out of the Catholick Church there is ordinarily no Salvation to be had But how do they prove that the Roman Church is the Catholick Church They would fain have us so civil as to take this for granted because if we do not they do not well know how to go about to prove it And indeed some things are obstinate and
Church And this is a Glorious Priviledge indeed if they could prove that they had it and that it would be so certain a remedy against Heresie and give a final Decision to all Controversies But there is not one tittle of all this of which they are able to give any tenable Proof For 1. All the pretence for their Infallibility relyes upon the truth of the former Proposition That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church and That they say is Infallible And I have already shewn that That Proposition is not only destitute of any good Proof but is as evidently false as that a Part of a thing is the Whole 2. But supposing it were true That the Roman Church were the Catholick Church yet it is neither evident in it self nor can be proved by them that the Catholick Church of every Age is Infallible in deciding all Controversies of Religion It is granted by all Christians that our Saviour and his Apostles were Infallible in the delivery of the Christian Doctrine and they proved their Infallibility by Miracles and this was necessary at first for the Security of our Faith but this Doctrine being once Delivered and Transmitted down to us in the Holy Scriptures Written by the Evangelists and Apostles who were Infallibly assisted by the Holy Ghost we have now a certain and Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice which with the assistance and instruction of those Guides and Pastors which Christ hath appointed in his Church is sufficiently plain in all things necessary And as there is no evidence of the Continuance of Infallibility in the Guides and Pastors of the Church in the Ages which followed the Apostles because Miracles are long since ceased so there is no need of the Continuance of it for the Preservation of the True Faith and Religion because God hath sufficiently provided for that by that Infallible Rule of Faith and Manners which he hath left to his Church in the Holy Scriptures which are every way sufficient and able to make both Pastors and People wise unto Salvation 3. As for a certain Remedy against Heresie it is certain God never intended there should be any no more than he hath provided a certain Remedy against Sin and Vice which surely is every whit as contrary to the Christian Religion and therefore as fit to be provided against as Heresie But it is certain in Experience that God hath provided no certain and effectual Remedy against Sin and Vice for which I can give no other reason but that God does that which He thinks best and fittest and not what We are apt to think to be so Besides that Infallibility is not a certain Remedy against Heresie The Apostles were certainly Infallible and yet they could neither prevent nor extinguish Heresie which never more abounded than in the Apostles Times And Saint Paul expresly tells us 1 Cor. 1. 19. That there must be Heresies that they which are approved may be made manifest And St. Peter the 2 Epist. 2. 1. That there should be false Teachers among Christians who should privily bring in damnable Heresies and that many should follow their pernicious ways But now if there must be Heresies either the Church must not be Infallible or Infallibility in the Church is no certain Remedy against them I proceed to the next Step they make viz. 6ly That Christ hath always a Visible Church upon Earth and that They can shew a Church which from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath always made a Visible Profession of the same Doctrines and Practices which are now believed and practised in the Church of Rome but that We can shew no Visible Church that from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath always opposed the Church of Rome in those Doctrines and Practices which we now revile and find fault with in their Church That Christ hath always had and ever shall have to the end of the World a Visible Church Professing and Practising his True Faith and Religion is agreed on both sides But We say that he hath no where promised that This shall be free from all Errors and Corruptions in Faith and Practice This the Churches Planted by the Apostles themselves were not even in Their times and during Their abode amongst them and yet they were true parts of the Christian Catholick Church In the following Ages Errors and Corruptions and Superstitions did by degrees creep in and grow up in several parts of the Church as St. Austin and others of the Fathers complain of their Times Since that several Famous Parts of the Christian Church both in Asia and Africa have not only been greatly corrupted but have Apostatiz'd from the Faith so that in many Places there are hardly any Footsteps of Christianity among them But yet still Christ hath had in all these Ages a Visible Church upon Earth tho' perhaps no Part of it at all times free from some Errors and Corruptions and in several Parts of it great Corruptions both in Faith and Practice and in none I think more and longer than in the Church of Rome for all she boasts her self like Old Babylon Isa. 47. 7 8. That she is a Lady for ever and says in her heart I am and none else besides me And like the Church of Laodicea Revel 3. 17. which said I am rich and increased with Goods and have need of nothing When the Spirit of God saith that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and knew it not Thus the Church of Rome boasts that She hath in all Ages been the True Visible Church of Christ and none besides her free from all Errors in Doctrine and Corruptions in Practice and that from the Age of Christ and his Apostles she hath always professed the same Doctrines and Practices which she does at this day Can any thing be more shameless than this Did they always believe Transubstantiation Let their Pope Gelasius speak for them who expresly denies that in the Sacrament there is any Substantial change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Was this always an Article of their Faith and necessary to be believed by all Christians Let Scotus and several other of their Schoolmen and Learned Writers speak for them Was Purgatory always believed in the Roman Church as it is now defined in the Council of Trent Let several of their Learned Men speak In what Father in what Council before that of Trent do they find Christ to have Instituted just Seven Sacraments neither more nor less And for Practices in their Religion they themselves will not say that in the Ancient Christian Church the Scriptures were with-held from the People and lockt up in an Unknown Tongue and that the Publick Service of God the Prayers and Lessons were Read and the Sacraments Celebrated in an Unknown Tongue and that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was given to the People only in one Kind Where do they find in Holy
of the Rule of Faith I know that the Council of Trent declares it for the Rule they intend to proceed upon and make use of for the Confirmation and Proof of their following Determinations and Decrees But did any of the ancient Councils of the Christian Church lay down this Rule and proceed upon it Did not Constantine the Emperour at the opening of the First General Council lay the Bible before them as the only Rule according to which they were to proceed and this with the Approbation of all those Holy Fathers that were assembled in that Council And did not following Councils proceed upon the same Rule Do any of the ancient Fathers ever mention any Rule of Christian Faith and Practice besides the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Creed which because it is an Abridgment of the necessary Articles of Christian Faith contained in the Holy Scriptures is by them frequently called the Rule of Faith Do not the same Fathers frequently and expresly say That the Scriptures are a perfect Rule and that all things are plainly contained in them which concern Faith and Life and that whatever cannot be proved by Testimony of Scripture is to be rejected All this I am sure I can make good by innumerable express Testimonies of the ancient Fathers which are well known to those that are versed in them By what Authority then hath the Council of Trent set up this new Rule unknown to the Christian Church for 1500 Years and who gave them this Authority The plain truth is the necessity of it for the Defence of the Errors and Corruptions which they had embraced and were resolved not to part with forced them to lengthen out the Rule the old Rule of the Holy Scriptures being too short for their purpose Thirdly Whereas they pretend that Holy Scripture as expounded by a private Spirit may not seem so favourable to some of their Doctrines and Practices yet as interpreted by Tradition which can only give the true Sense of Scripture it agrees very well with them I suppose they mean that whereas a private Spirit would be apt to understand some Texts of Scripture as if People were to search and read the Scripture Tradition interprets those Texts in a quite other Sense that People are not to be permitted to read the Holy Scriptures A private Spirit would be apt to understand St. Paul's Discourse in the 14th of the 1st to the Corinthians to be against Celebrating Prayer and the Service of God in an unknown Tongue as being contrary to Edification and indeed to common Sense For he says If one should come and find them speaking and praying in an unknown Tongue will they not say Ye are mad But now Tradition which only knows how to give the true Sense can reconcile this Discourse of St. Paul very easily with the Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter And so likewise the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians with the Worship of Angels and the Epistle to the Hebrews with offering the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass a Thousand times every Day And to give but one Instance more Whereas a Man by his private Spirit would be very apt to understand the Second Commandment to forbid all Worship of Images Tradition discovers the meaning of this Commandment to be that due Veneration is to be given to them So that at this rate of interpreting Scripture by Tradition it is impossible to fix any Objection from Scripture upon any Doctrine or Practice which they have a mind to maintain Fourthly Whereas they pretend the Tradition of their Church delivered from the Mouth of Christ or dictated by the Holy Spirit and brought down to them and preserved by continnal Succession in the Church to be of equal Authority with the Word of God for so the Council of Trent says That the Holy Synod doth receive and venerate these Traditions with equal pious Affection and Reverence as they do the written Word of God This we must declare against as unreasonable in it self to make Tradition conveyed by Word of Mouth from one to another through so many Ages and liable to so many Mistakes and Miscarriages to be at the distance of 1500 Years of equal Certainty and Authority with the Holy Scriptures carefully preserved and transmitted down to us because this as I said before is to make common Rumor and Report of equal Authority and Certainty with a written Record And not only so but hereby they make the Scriptures an imperfect Rule contrary to the declared Judgment of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Christian Church and so in truth they set up a new Rule of Faith whereby they change the Christian Religion For a new Rule of Faith and Religion makes a new Faith and Religion This we charge the Church of Rome with and do challenge them to shew this new Rule of Faith before the Council of Trent and consequently where their Religion was before that Council to shew a Religion consisting of all those Articles which are defined by the Council of Trent as necessary to Salvation and established upon this new Rule professed by any Christian Church in the World before that time And as they have pitch'd upon a new Rule of Faith so it is easie to see to what End For take Pope Pius IV. his Creed and we may see where the Old and New Religion parts even at the end of the Twelve Articles of the Aplostles Creed which was the ancient Christian Faith to which are added in Pope Pius his Creed Twelve Articles more defined in the Council of Trent and supported only by Tradition So that as the Scripture answers for the Twelve old Articles which are plainly contained there so Tradition is to answer for the Twelve new ones And therefore the matter was calculated very exactly when they make Tradition just of equal Authority with the Scriptures because as many Articles of Their Faith were to be made good by it and rely upon it as those which are proved by the Authority of Scripture But that Tradition is of equal Authority with the Scriptures we have nothing in the whole World for it but the bare Assertion of the Council of Trent I should now have added some other Considerations tending to confirm and establish us in our Religion against the Pretences and Insinuations of Seducing Spirits But I shall proceed no farther at present The Tenth Sermon as number'd follows THere is a mistake in Numbering of these Sermons The Tenth should be called the Ninth and so on to the end For there are but Fifteen Sermons in this Volume and should be no more A SERMON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised THESE words contain an Exhortation to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering and an Argument or Encouragement thereto because he is faithful that hath promised By the Exhortation to hold fast the
Profession of our Faith without wavering is not meant that those who are capable of examining the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion should blindly hold it fast against the best Reasons that can be offered because upon these terms every Man must continue in the Religion in which he happens to be fixt by Education or an ill choice be his Religion true or false without Examining and looking into it whether it be right or wrong for till a Man examines every Man thinks his Religion right That which the Apostle here exhorts Christians to hold fast is the Ancient Faith of which all Christians make a solemn profession in their Baptism as plainly appears from the context And this Profession of our Faith we are to hold in the following instances which I shall but briefly mention without enlarging upon them 1. We are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to plain Scripture and Reason and to the common Sense of Mankind 3. Against all the Temptations and Terrors of the World against the Temptations of Fashion and Example and of Worldly Interest and Advantage and against all Terrors and Sufferings of Persecution 4. Against all vain promises of being put into a safer condition and groundless hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier terms than the Gospel hath proposed in some other Church and Religion Lastly We are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busie and disputing Men whose design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to make Proselytes to their Party and Faction But without entring into these particulars I shall in order to Establishment in the Reformed Religion which we profess in opposition to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome apply my self at this time to make a short comparison betwixt the Religion which we profess and that of the Church of Rome That we may discern on which side the advantage of Truth lies and in making this comparison I shall insist upon Three things which will bring the matter to an issue and are I think sufficient to determine every sober and considerate Man which of these he ought in Reason and with regard to the safety of his Soul to embrace And they are these I. That we govern our Belief and Practice in matters of Religion by the true ancient Rule of Christianity the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures But the Church of Rome for the maintenance of their Errors and Corruptions have been forced to devise a new Rule never owned by the Primitive Church nor by the Ancient Fathers and Councils of it II. That the Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are either contrary to this Rule or destitute of the Warrant and Authority of it and are plain Additions to the ancient Christianity and Corruptions of it III. That our Religion hath many clear Advantages of that of the Church of Rome not only very considerable in themselves but very obvious and discernable to an ordinary capacity upon the first proposal of them I shall be as brief in these as I can I. That we govern our belief and Practice in matters of Religion by the true ancient Rule of Christianity the Word of God contain'd in the Holy Scriptures But the Church of Rome for the maintaining of their Errors and Corruptions have been forced to devise a new Rule never owned by the Primitive Church nor by the Ancient Councils and Fathers of it That is they have joined with the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures the unwritten Traditions of their Church concerning several points of their Faith and Practice which they acknowledge cannot be proved from Scripture and these they call the unwritten Word of God and the Council of Trent hath decreed them to be of equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures and that they do receive and venerate them with the same pious Affection and Reverence and all this contrary to the express declaration and unanimous consent of all the Ancient Councils and Fathers of the Christian Church as I have already shewn and this never declar'd to be a point of Faith till it was decreed not much above a Hundred Years ago in the Council of Trent and this surely if any thing is a Matter of great consequence to presume to alter the Ancient Rule of Christian Doctrine and Practice and to enlarge it and add to it at their pleasure But the Church of Rome having made so great a change in the Doctrine and Practice of Christianity it became consequently necessary to make a change of the Rule And therefore with great Reason did the Council of Trent take this into consideration in the first place and put it in the front of their Decrees because it was to be the foundation and main proof of the following Definitions of Faith and Decrees of Practice for which without this new Rule there had been no colour II. The Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are either contrary to the true Rule or destitute of the Warrant and Authority of it and plain Additions to the Ancient Christianity and Corruptions of it the Truth of this will best appear by instancing in some of the principal Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us As for their two great Fundamental Doctrines of the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome over all the Christians in the world and the Infallibility of their Church there is not one word in Scripture concerning these Priviledges nay it is little less than a demonstration that they have no such Priviledges that St. Paul in a long Epistle to the Church of Rome takes no notice of them That the Church of Rome either then was or was to be soon after the Mother and Mistress of all Churches which is now grown to be an Article of Faith in the Church of Rome and yet it is hardly to be imagined that he could have omitted to take notice of such remarkable Priviledges of their Bishops and Church above any in the world had he known they had belonged to them So that in all probability he was ignorant of those mighty Prerogatives of the Church of Rome otherwise it cannot be but that he would have written with more deference and submission to this Seat of Infallibility and Center of Unity he would certainly have paid a greater Respect to this Mother and Mistress of all Churches where the Head of the Church and Vicar of Christ either was already seated or by the appointment of Christ was designed for ever to fix his Throne and establish his Residence but there is not one word or the least intimation of any such thing throughout this whole Epistle nor in any other part of the New Testament Besides that both these pretended
Priledges are omitted by plain Fact and Evidence of things themselves their Supremacy in that the far greatest part of the Christian Church neither is at this day nor can be shewn by the Records of any Age ever to have been subject to the Bishop of Rome or to have acknowledged his Authority and Jurisdiction over them and the Infallibility of the Pope whether with or without a General Council about which they still differ though Infallibility was devised on purpose to determine all differences I say this Infallibility where-ever it is pretended to be is plainly confuted by the contradictory Definitions of several Popes and Councils for if they have contradicted one another as is plain beyond all contradiction in several instances then there must of necessity be an Error on one side and there can be no so certain demonstration that any one is infallible as evident Error and Mistake is of the contrary Next their concealing both the Rule of Religion and the Practice of it in the Worship and Service of God from the People in an unknown Tongue and their administring the Communion to the People in one kind only contrary to clear Scripture and the plain Institution of our Blessed Saviour and then their Worship of Images and Invocation of Angels and Saints and the Blessed Virgin in the same Solemn manner and for the same Blessings and Benefits which we beg of God himself contrary to the express Word of God which commands us to Worship the Lord our God and to serve him only and which declares that as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator between God and Man Christ Jesus but one Mediator not only of Redemption but of Intercession too for the Apostle there speaks of a Mediator of Intercession by whom only we are to offer up our Prayers which are to be put up to God only and which expresly forbids Men to worship any Image or likeness And the Learned Men of their own Church acknowledge that there is neither Precept nor Example for these Practices in Scripture and that they were not used in the Christian Church for several Ages and this acknowledgment we think very considerable since so great a part of their Religion especially as it is practised among the People is contained in these points for the Service of God in an Unknown Tongue and withholding the Scriptures from the People they do not pretend so much as One Testimony of any Father for the first 600 Years and nothing certainly can be more unreasonable in it self than to deny People the best means of knowing the Will of God and not to permit them to understand what is done in the publick Worship of God and what Prayers are put up to him in the Church The two great Doctrines of Transubstantiation and Purgatory are acknowledged by many of their own Learned Writers to have no certain Foundation in Scripture and that there are seven Sacraments of the Christian Religion tho' it be now made an Article of Faith by the Council of Trent is a thing which cannot be shewn in any Council or Father for above a Thousand Years after Christ. And we find no mention of this Number of the Sacraments till the Age of Peter Lombard the Father of the Schoolmen That the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches tho' that also be one of the new Articles of Pope Pius the IV. his Creed which their Priests are by a Solemn Oath obliged to believe and teach yet is it most evidently false That she is not the Mother of all Churches is plain because Jerusalem was certainly so for there certainly was the first Christian Church and from thence all the Christian Churches in the World derive themselves that she is not tho' she fain would be the Mistress of all Churches is as evident because the greatest part of the Christian Church does at this day and always did deny that she hath any Authority or Supremacy over them Now these are the principal matters in difference betwixt us and if these Points and a few more be pared off from Popery that which remains of their Religion is the same with ours that is the true Ancient Christianity III. I shall shew that our Religion hath many clear advantages of theirs not only very considerable in themselves but very obvious and discernable to an ordinary capacity upon the very first proposal of them as 1. That our Religion agrees perfectly with the Scriptures and all points both of our Belief and Practice esteemed by us as necessary to Salvation are there contained even our Enemies themselves being Judges We Worship the Lord our God and him only do we serve We do not fall down before Images and Worship them we address all our Prayers to God alone by the only Mediation and Intercession of his Son Jesus Christ as he himself hath given us Commandment and as St. Paul doth plainly direct giving us this plain and Substantial Reason for it Because as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus The publick Worship and Service of God is perform'd by us in a Language which we understand according to St. Paul's express Order and Direction and the universal Practice of the ancient Church and the Nature and Reason of the thing it self We administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in both kinds according to our Saviour's Example and plain Institution and the continual Practice of all the Christian Churches in the World for above a Thousand Years 2. We believe nothing as necessary to Salvation but what hath been owned in all Ages to be the Christian Doctrine and is acknowleged so to be by the Church of Rome it self and we receive the whole Faith of the Primitive Christian Church viz. What ever is contained in the Apostles Creed and in the Explications of that in the Creeds of the Four first General Councills By which it plainly appears that all points of Faith in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are meer Innovations and plain Additions to the ancient Christian Faith But all that we believe is acknowledged by them to be undoubtedly the ancient Christian Faith 3. There is nothing wanting in our Church and Religion whether in Matter of Faith or Practice which either the Scripture makes necessary to Salvation or was so esteem'd by the Christian Church for the first Five Hundred Years and we trust that what was sufficient for the Salvation of Christians in the best Ages of Christianity for Five Hundred Years together may be so still and we are very well content to venture our Salvation upon the same terms that they did 4. Our Religion is not only free from all Idolatrous Worship but even from all Suspicion and probable Charge of any such thing but this the Church of Rome is not as is acknowledged by her most Learned Champions and as no Man of Ingenuity can deny And
the Reason which the Learned Men give why the Worship of Images and the Invocation of Angels and Saints departed were not practised in the Primitive Church for the first Three Hundred Years is a plain acknowledgment that these Practices are very liable to the Suspicion of Idolatry for they say that the Christians did then forbear those Practices because they seem'd to come too near to the Pagan Idolatry and lest the Heathen should have taken occasion to have justified themselves if these things had been practised among Christians and they cannot now be Ignorant what Scandal they give by these Practices both to the Jews and Turks and how much they alienate them from Christianity by this Scandal nor can they chuse but be sensible upon how great disadvantage they are in defending these Practices from the Charge of Idolatry and that by all their blind Distinctions with which they raise such a Cloud and Dust they can hardly make any plausible and tollerable Defence of themselves from this Charge Insomuch that to secure their own People from discerning their Guilt in this Matter they have been put upon that shameful shift of leaving out the Second Commandment in their common Catechisms and Manuals lest the People seeing so plain a Law of God against so common a Practice of their Church should upon that Discovery have broken off from them 5. Nor is our Religion incumbered with such an endless number of superstitious and troublesom Observances as theirs infiintely is even beyond the Number of the Jewish Ceremonies to the great Burden and Scandal of the Christian Religion and the diverting of Mens Minds from the spiritual part of Religion and the more weighty and necessary Duties of the Christian Life so that in truth a devout Pastor is so taken up with the external Rites and little Observances of his Religion that he hath little or no time to make himself a good Man and to cultivate and improve his Mind in true Piety and Virtue 6. Our Religion is evidently more Charitable to all Christians that differ from us and particularly to them who by their Uncharitableness to us have done as much as is possible to discharge and damp our Charity towards them And Charity as it is one of the most essential Marks of a true Christian so it is likewise the best Mark and Ornament of a true Church and of all things that can be thought of methinks the want of Charity in any Church should be a Motive to no Man to fall in love with it and to be fond of its Communion 7. Our Religion doth not clash and interfere with any of the great Moral Duties to which all Mankind stand obliged by the Law and Light of Nature as Fidelity Mercy and Truth We do not teach Men to break Faith with Hereticks or Infidels nor to destroy and extirpate those who differ from us with Fire and Sword No such thing as Equivocation or Mental Reservation or any other Artificial way of Falshood is either taught or maintain'd either by the Doctrine or by the Casuists of our Church 8. Our Religion and all the Doctrines of it are perfectly consistent with the Peace of Civil Government and the Welfare of Humane Society We neither exempt the Clergy from Subjection to the Civil Powers nor absolve Subjects upon any pretence whatsoever from allegiance to their Princes both which Points the necessity of the one and the lawfulness of the other have been taught and stifly maintain'd in the Church of Rome not only by private Doctors but by Popes and General Councils 9. The Doctrines of our Religion are perfectly free from all Suspicion of a Worldly Interest and Design whereas the greatest part of the erroneous Doctrines with which we charge the Church of Rome are plainly calculated to promote the end of Worldly Greatness and Dominion The Pope's Kingdom is plainly of this World and the Doctrines and Maximes of it like so many Servants are ready upon all occasion to fight for him For most of them do plainly tend either to the Establishment and Enlargment of his Authority or to the Magnifying of the Priests and the giving them a perfect power over the Conscienees of the People and the keeping them in a slavish subjection and blind obedience to them And to this purpose do plainly tend the Doctrines of exempting the Clergy from the Secular Power and Jurisdiction the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for it must needs make the Priest a great Man in the Opinion of the People to believe that he can make God as they love to express it without all Reason and Reverence Of the like tendency is the Communicating of the Laity only in one kind thereby making it the sole Priviledge of the Priest to receive the Sacrament in both The with-holding the Scripture from the People and celebrating the Service of God in an unknown Tongue The Doctrine of an implicite Faith and absolute Resignation of their Judgments to their Teachers These do all directly tend to keep the People in ignorance and to bring them to a blind Obedience to the dictates of their Teachers So likewise the Necessity of the intention of the Priests to the saving Virtue and Efficacy of the Sacraments by which Doctrine the People do upon the matter depend as much upon the good will of the Priest as upon the Mercy of God for their Salvation but above all their Doctrine of the Necessity of Auricular and private Confession of all Mortal Sins commited after Baptism with all the Circumstances of them to the Priest and this not only for the ease and direction of their Consciences but as a necessary condition of having their Sins pardoned and forgiven by God By which means they make themselves Masters of all the Secrets of the People and keep them in awe by the knowledge of their faults Scire volunt secreta Domus atque inde timeri Or else their Doctrines tend to filthy lucre and the enriching of their Church As their Doctrines of Purgatory and Indulgences and their Prayers and Masses for the dead and many more Doctrines and Practices of the like kind plainly do 10. Our Religion is free from all disingenuous and dishonest Arts of maintaining and supporting it self such are clipping of ancient Authors nay and even the Authors and Writers of their own Church when they speak too freely of any Point as may be seen in their Indices Expurgatorii which much against their wills have been brought to light To which I shall only add these Three gross Forgeries which lie all at their doors and they cannot deny them to be so 1. The pretended Canon of the Council of Nice in the case of Appeals between the Church of Rome and the African Church Upon which they insisted a great while very confidently till at last they were convinced by Authentick Copies of the Canons of that Council 2. Constantine's Donation to the Pope which they kept a great stir with till the Forgery of it
it but having no root in themselves they endured but for a while and when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word presently they fall off And there is likewise a partial Apostasie from Christianity when some Fundamental Article of it is denied whereby in effect and by consequence the whole Christian Faith is overthrown Of this Hymeneus and Philetus were guilty of whom the Apostle says that they erred concerning the truth saying that tbe Resurrection was past already and thereby overthrew the faith of some 2 Tim. 2. 17 18. That is they turned the Resurrection into an Allegory and did thereby really destroy a most Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion So that to make a man an Apostate it is not necessary that a man should solemnly renounce his Baptism and declare Christianity to be false there are several other ways whereby a man may bring himself under this guilt as by a silent quitting of his Religion and withdrawing himself from the Communion of all that profess it by denying an Essential Doctrine of Christianity by undermining the great End and Design of it by teaching Doctrines which directly tend to encourage Men in impenitence and a wicked course of life nay to Authorise all manner of impiety and vice in telling Men that whatever they do they cannot Sin for which the Primitive Christians did look upon the Gnosticks as no better than Apostates from Christianity and tho they retained the Name of Christians yet not to be truly and really so And there is likewise a partial Apostacy from the Christan Religion of which I shall speak under the II. Head I proposed which was to consider the several sorts and degrees of Apostacy The highest of all is the renouncing and forsaking of Christianity or of some Essential part of it which is a virtual Apostafie from it But there are several tendencies towards this which they who are guilty of are in some degree guilty of this Sin As 1. Indifferency in Religion and want of all sort of Concernment for it when a Man tho he never quitted his Religion yet is so little concerned for it that a very small Occasion or Temptation would make him do it he is contented to be reckoned in the number of those who profess it so long as it is the Fashion and he finds no great Inconvenience by it but is so indifferent in his Mind about it like Gallio who minded none of those things that he can turn himself into any other Shape when his Interest requires it so that tho he never actually deserted it yet he is 2 kind of Apostate in the preparation and disposition of his Mind And to such Persons that Title which Solomon gives to some may fitly enough be applyed they are Backsliders in Heart 2. Another tendency to this Sin and a great degree of it is withdrawing from the Publick Marks and Testimonies of the Profession of Religion by forsaking the Assemblies of Christians for the Worship and Service of God to withdraw our selves from those for fear of Danger or Suffering is a kind of Denyal of our Religion And this was the case of some in the Apostles time when Persecution grew hot and the open Profession of Christianity dangerous to avoid this Danger many appeared not in the Assemblies of Christians for fear of being observed and brought into trouble for it This the Apostle taxeth some for in this Chapter and speaketh of it as a letting go our Profession and a kind of deserting of Christianity v. 23 35. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is He doth not say they had quitted their Profession but they had but a loose hold of it and were silently stealing away from it 3. A light temper of Mind which easily receives Impressions from those who lie in wait to deceive and seduce Men from the Truth When Men are not well rooted and established in Religion they are apt to be inveigled by the crafty Insinuations of Seducers to be moved with every wind of Doctrine and to be easily shaken in Mind by every trifling piece of Sophistry that is confidently obtruded upon them for a weighty Argument Now this is a temper of Mind which disposeth Men to Apostasie and renders them an easie Prey to every one that takes a Pleasure and a Pride in making Proselytes It is true indeed a Man should always have a Mind ready to entertain Truth when it is fairly proposed to him but the main things of Religion are so plainly revealed and lie so obvious to every ordinary capacity that every Man may discern them and when he hath once entertained them ought to be stedfast and unmovable in them and not suffer himself to be whiffled out of them by any insignificant noise about the Infallibility of a Visible Church much less ought he to be moved by any Man's uncharitableness and positiveness in damning all that are not of his Mind There are some things so very plain not only in Scripture but to the common Reason of Mankind that no subtilty of Discourse no pretended Authority or even Infallibility of any Church ought to stagger us in the least about them as that we ought not or cannot believe any thing in direct contradiction to Sense and Reason that the People ought to Read and Study the Holy Scriptures and to serve God and pray to him in a Language which they understand that they ought to receive the Sacrament as our Saviour instituted and appointed it that is in both kinds that it can neither be our Duty nor Lawful to do that which God hath forbidden as he hath done the Worship of Images in the Second Commandment as plainly as words can do it Upon any one of these Points a Man would fix his foot and stand alone against the whole World 4. Another Degree of Apostasie is a departure from the Purity of the Christian Doctrine and Worship in a gross and notorious manner This is a partial tho not a total Apostasie from the Christian Religion and there have been and still are some in the World who are justly Charged with this degree of Apostasie from Religion namely such as tho they retain and profess the Belief of all the Articles of the Christian Faith and Worship the only true God and him whom he hath sent Jesus Christ yet have greatly perverted the Christian Religion by superinducing and adding new Articles of Faith and gross Corruptions and Superstitions in Worship and imposing upon Men the Belief and Practice of these as necessary to Salvation And St. Paul is my Warrant for this Censure who chargeth those who added to the Christian Religion the Necessity of Circumcision and observing the Law of Moses and thereby perverted the Gospel of Christ as guilty in some degree of Apostasie from Christianity for he calls it preaching another Gospel Gal. 1. 7 8. There be some that trouble
and lives of men by Jesus Christ according to his Gospel A SERMON ON MATTH XVI 24. Then said Jesus unto his Disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me THEN said Jesus to his Disciples That is upon Occasion of his former Discourse with them wherein he had acquainted them with his approaching Passion that he must shortly go up to Jerusalem and there suffer many things of the Elders and Chief Priests and Scribes and at last be put to Death by them then said Jesus unto his Disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me If any man will come after me or follow me that is If any man will be my Disciple and undertake the Profession of my Religion If any man chuse and resolve to be a Christian he must be so upon these Terms he must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me He must follow me in Self-denyal and Suffering In the handling of these Words I shall do these Four things I. I shall consider the way and method which our Saviour useth in making Proselytes and gaining Men over to his Religion He offers no manner of Force and Violence to compel them to the Profession of his Religion but fairly offers it to their Consideration and Choice and tells them plainly upon what terms they must be his Disciples and if they be contented and resolved to submit to these Terms well if not it is in vain to follow him any longer for they cannot be his Disciples II. I shall endeavour to explain this Duty of Self-denyal exprest in these Words Let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me III. I shall consider the strict and indispensible Obligation of it whenever we are call'd to it Without this we cannot be Christ's Disciples if any man will come after me or be my Disciple let him deny himself IV. I shall endeavour to vindicate the reasonableness of this Precept of self-denial and suffering for Christ which at first appearance may seem to be so very harsh and difficult and I shall go over these Particulars as briefly as I can I. We will consider the way and method which our Saviour here useth in making Proselytes and gaining men over to his Religion he offers no manner of force and violence to compel men to the profession of his Religion but fairly proposeth it to their Consideration and Choice telling them plainly upon what terms they must be his Disciples if they like them and are content and resolved to submit to them well he is willing to receive them and own them for his Disciples if not it is in vain to follow him any longer For they cannot be his Disciples As on the one hand he offers them no worldly Preferment and Advantage to entice them into his Religion and to tempt them outwardly to profess what they do not inwardly believe so on the other hand he does not hale and drag them by force and awe them by the terrours of torture and death to sign the Christian Faith tho' most undoubtedly true and to confess with their mouths and subscribe with their hands what they do not believe in their hearts He did not obtrude his Sacraments upon them and plunge them into the water to Baptize them whether they would or no and thrust the Sacrament of Bread into their mouths as if men might be Worthy Receivers of that Blessed Sacrament whether they receive it willingly or no. Our Blessed Saviour the Author and Founder of our Religion made use of none of these ways of violence so contrary to the nature of man and of all Religion and especially of Christianity and fitted only to make men Hypocrites but not Converts he only says If any man will be my Disciple he useth no Arguments but such as are Spiritual and proper to work upon the Minds and Consciences of Men For as his Kingdom was not of this world so neither are the Motives and Arguments to induce Men to be his subjects taken from this world but from the endless Rewards and Punishments of another The weapons which he made use of to subdue Men to the obedience of Faith are not carnal and yet they were mighty through God to conquer the obstinacy and infidelity of men This great and infallible Teacher who certainly came from God all that he does is to propose his Religion to Men with such Evidence and such Arguments as are proper to convince Men of the Truth and Goodness of it and to perswade Men to embrace it and he acquaints them likewise with all the worldly Disadvantages of it and the hazards and sufferings that would attend it and now if upon full consideration they will make his Religion their free Choice and become his Disciples he is willing to receive them if they will not he understands the nature of Religion better than to go about to force it upon Men whether they will or no. II. I shall endeavour to explain this Duty or Precept of self-denial exprest in these words Let him deny himself and take up his cross These are difficult Terms for a Man to deny himself and take up his own Cross that is willingly to submit to all those Sufferings which the malice of Men may inflict for the sake of Christ and his Religion For this Expression of taking up one's Cross is a plain Allusion to the Roman Custom which was this That he that was condemned to be Crucified was to take his Cross upon his Shoulders and to carry it to the place of Execution this the Jews made our Saviour to do as we read Joh. 19. 17. till that being ready to faint under it and lest he should die away before he was nailed to the Cross they compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry it for him as is declar'd by the other Evangelists and yet he tells them they that will be his Disciples must follow him bearing their own Cross that is being ready if God call them to it to submit to the like sufferings for Him and his Truth which he was shortly to undergo for the Truth and for their sakes But tho these terms seem very hard yet they are not unreasonable as I shall shew in the conclusion of this Discourse Some indeed have made them so by extending this self-denyal too far attending more to the latitude of the Words than to the meaning and scope of our Saviour's Discourse For there is no doubt but that there are a great many things which may properly enough be called self-denyal which yet our Saviour never intended to oblige Christians to It is no doubt great self-denyal for a Man without any Necessity to deny himself the necessary Supports of Life for a Man to starve and make away himself But no Man certainly ever imagined that our Saviour ever intended by this Precept to enjoyn this kind of self-denyal It is
could to the Rich Man who was in Hell concerning his Brethren that were upon Earth how they might prevent their coming into that place of Torment And he directs them to the Scriptures as the best and most effectual Means to that purpose They have says he Moses and the Prophets Let them hear them Now if in the Church of God among the Jews the same Course had been taken that is now in the Church of Rome the Rich Man might and in all Reason ought to have replyed Nay Father Abraham But they have not Moses and the Prophets nor are they permitted to Read them in a Language that they can understand And therefore this Advice is of no Vse to them And then he might with Reason have press'd him as he did that one might be sent to them from the Dead to Testifie unto them But it appears that Abraham was very positive and peremptory in this Advice and that he prefers the Knowledge of the Scriptures to any other Way and Means that could be thought of and that if this had not its Effect to perswade Men to Repentance and to preserve them from Hell he did not know any thing else that was so likely to do it For he concludes If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded the One rose from the Dead And this is the Conclusion of the Parable Which plainly shews what was the main Scope and Design of our Saviour in it namely to recommend to us the Use of the Holy Scriptures as the best and most effectual Means which the Wisdom of God hath provided for the Salvation of Mankind And now any Man would be apt to think that the declared Judgment of our Saviour in the case should go a great way even with the most Infallible Church in the World However this we must say that it is in truth a very hard case to which the Church of Rome hath reduced Men that it will neither allow them Salvation out of their Church nor the best and most effectual Means of Salvation when they are in it I might say much more upon this Head but this I hope may be sufficient The next Instance shall be in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is contrary to the Scriptures which after Consecration so frequently call the Elements Bread and Wine and which without Reason or Necessity puts an absurd and impossible Sense upon those words of our Saviour This is my Body which do no more prove Transubstantiation than those words This Cup is the New Testament do prove that the material Cup which was used in the Sacrament was substantially changed into the New Testament And no more than those Texts which affirm God to have Eyes and Ears and Hands do prove that he really hath so But besides the Contrariety of this Doctrine to Scripture nothing can be more repugnant to Reason It is so big with Contradictions and so surfeited of Impossibilities that it would be Endless to reckon them up And besides all this it plainly contradicts the clear and constant Evidence of Four of our Five Senses which whoever contradicts undermines the Foundation of all Certainty And then the Communion in one kind is plainly contrary to our Saviour's Institution of the Sacrament in both kinds as they themselves acknowledge And therefore the Council of Constance being sensible of this was forced to Decree it with an express Non obstante to the Institution of Christ and the Practice of the Apostles and the Primitive Church And their Doctrine of Concomitancy as if the Blood were in the Flesh and together with it will not help the matter Because in the Sacrament Christ's Body is represented as broken and pierced and exhausted and drain'd of its Blood and his Blood is represented as shed and poured out so that one Kind can by no means contain and exhibit both The next Instance is the Repetition of Christ's Propitiatory Sacrifice in the Mass so often as That is celebrated Against all Reason because the Sacrifice of Christ once offered upon the Cross was a full and perfect Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World and therefore ought not because it needs not to be again repeated for that End in any manner whatsoever And it is directly contrary to the main Scope of a great part of this Epistle to the Hebrews which shews the Excellency of the Gospel above the Law in this respect That the Expiatory Sacrifice of the Gospel was offered once for all whereas the Sacrifices of the Law were perpetually repeated Chap. 7. 27. Speaking of Christ who needs not daily as those High-priests to offer up Sacrifices first for his own Sins and then for the Peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself Chap. 9. 26. But once in the End of the World hath he appeared to take away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed for all Men once to dye so Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many And Chap. 10. 10. By the which Will we are sanctified through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all And Verse the 12. But this Man after he had offered one Sacrifice for Sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God And Verse the 14. For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified There cannot be plainer Texts for any thing in the Bible than that this Propitiatory Sacrifice was never to be repeated And whereas they say that the Sacrifice of the Mass is an unbloody Sacrifice This instead of bringing them off doth but intangle the Matter more For if Blood be offered in the Sacrifice of the Mass how is it an unbloody Sacrifice What can be more bloody than Blood And if Blood be not offered how is it Propitiatory Since the Apostle lays it down for a Certain Rule That without shedding of Blood there is no Remission of Sins i. e. There can be no Propitiation for the Sins of the Living or the Dead which the Church of Rome affirms there is I might have added one or two Instances more and then should have proceeded to shew in the Third place That we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against all the Temtations and Terrors of the World which is more especially and principally here intended by the Apostle in this Exhortation But I shall proceed no farther at present A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised IN these words I have told you are contained I. An Exhortation to hold fast the profession of our faith or hope without wavering II. An Argument or Encouragement thereto because he is faithful that promised I am yet upon the first of these the Exhortation to Christians to be Constant and Steady in the Profession of their Religion Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering And that we