to premise 1. That by the streight way to Heaven I understand as it is plain the Author of this Epistle does the way which God hath revealed in his Gospel the same which is there called the way that leadeth unto Life Mat. 7.14.22.16 Act. 16.17 2 Pet. 2.15 Heb. 10.20 the way of God in Truth the way of Salvation the right way the new and living way which Christ hath consecrated for us that is the Method which the Son of God by his Incarnation and Preaching the Gospel hath put us into for the attainment of Everlasting Life and Happiness 2. By the sure finding of this Way upon a due and careful enquiry I mean that Ordinary Christians by applying themselves to the study of the Scriptures the Sacred Records of our Religion with a clear and honest intention by imploring the Divine Asssistance and making that use they ought of their Spiritual Guides may certainly attain to the knowledge of all the Truths which are necessary to be believed and of the Duties required of them to be done in order to their Eternal Salvation And this is as much as any man that is sincerely inquisitive after the Way to Heaven can desire For who that is so can desire to be more than certain of his way thither Or to have a better Foundation for his Faith and Practice than the Authority of God himself who if there be any such thing as Infallibity in men must be the Author of it Now to prove that we may be certain of our way to Heaven without the help of an Infallible Guide I shall endeavour to make good these following Assertions 1. That the Blessed Author of our Religion hath left us a certain Rule to direct us to Eternal Life That there is such a Rule is as evident as that the Gospel is the Word of God or that the Doctrine of Christ is contained in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles And in this all Christians are agreed Even the Romanists themselves allow the Scripture to be the Infallible Rule tho they are no great Friends to the Usefulness or Perfection of it But still we have a greater Authority than this I mean that of the Scriptures themselves which declare that they were written Joh. 10. ult that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God i. e. to be the Rule of our Christian Faith and that Believing we might have Life through his Name Tit. 2.11 12. That they teach us a Rule of Life and are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.15 And hence the Primitive Fathers and the First General Councils appealed to the Scriptures as the True Standard of Christianity and condemned the Ancient Hereticks by the Authority of them In those days the manner was to set the Holy Oracles in the midst of the Councils to signifie that they ought to be consulted in all their Debates and that nothing ought to be imposed upon the Faith of Christians or decreed to be an Article of Religion but what may be found in the Gospel and is so determined by that Infallible Rule 2. Christ having left such a Rule to his Church it must be supposed to be Intelligible i. e. capable of being understood and applied by those that are to use it as a Rule Otherwise it can never serve the Great End it was given for to say which is the highest Reflexion that can be upon the Wisdom of him that gave it The Gospel pretends to shew us a streight way to Heaven but to what purpose if we can never find it by its directions If we must use it as a Rule we must learn from it what we are to believe and practise And if we must do so I think that is a plain and unanswerable Argument that we may do it For assuredly God would never make a shew of bringing us to Heaven by a Means which he certainly knows would fail us if we trust to it 3. The Institution of Pastors and Ministers in the Church for the instruction of private persons in the meaning of this Rule undeniably proves that our Saviours meaning was that all Christians should understand it themselves And then it is evident they may do it so far as they are concern'd and are qualified to judge in other matters For what use is there of Teachers but to assist and inform our Understandings and help us to make a Right Judgment of Things Or what benefit is there of being taught if we may not use our Judgment when it is rightly informed and be permitted to know when it is and when not This I am sure is the natural priviledge of Mankind and I do not know one natural right that our Saviour by any Institution of his deprives us of And certainly of all others he would never bar us of this because his Doctrine would be of little use to us without it For what sway is the Gospel like to bear upon our Minds or which way can it influence our lives till we know the true Sense and Uses of it which it is impossible we should unless we may exercise our own Judgments upon them Let my Guide be never so Knowing or Infallible 't is not his without my own knowledge that can make me sure of my way And therefore unless he has a way to conveigh his Great Knowledge into me and if he has it is surely through my understanding I am but just where I was without him and never like to make any Spiritual Improvement by him 'T is the Interest I confess of some Teachers that their Disciples should not see which way they lead them But those whom Christ hath ordained to this Office are sent to open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness unto Light that they themselves may see the things which belong to their Eternal Peace 4. Christians without distinction are expresly required to search the Scriptures and to prove all things by them as the Rule and Standard of Truth and certainty in matters of Religion Search the Scriptures saith our Saviour for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life John 5.39 implying that as there is a Treasure in the Scriptures a clear discovery of the Way to Eternal Life so it may be certainly found by those that duly search for it And if it may be found in the Scriptures of the Old Testament to which our Saviour here directs his Disciples there can be no reason we should despair of finding it in the New being infallibly assured 2 Tim. 1.10 that Life and Immortality were brought to the Light of the Gospel i.e. were more Emphatically Discovered being set in a better Light to us Christians by the New and Brighter Revelations of the Gospel than they were of Old to the Jews by all the Writings of Moses and the Prophets And then if we seek for Life and Immortality and follow the directions of this
Dictates as essentiael to Christianity which the Scripturs and the next Ancient and venerable Writings do assure us are not There are those that call us Hereticks and have often proved us so as clearly as Fire and Faggot can do it because we are so strait-laced as to Believe but just so many Truths and Articles of Faith as were at first delivered to the Saints And are so Nice and Humorous as not to Believe the flattest contradictions to them There is a Church that for several Ages and in several Councils hath Decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks i.e. the most Orthodox Christians by Fire and Sword and fairly Recommended it as an Eminent Test of Catholick Zeal Others at least there have been who with mighty Confidence pretended to secret motions and Immediate Warrants from Heaven to Worry and Destroy all that should withstand them and their Doctrin I might tire you with instances of both kinds and make it appear that the Zeal of Christians against One another hath in point of Fierceness and Cruelty far exceeded the Pattern in the Text. For the Proof of this I might but desire you to take a short Review of the Ruines which Romish Zeal hath made in Protestant Countries from our own to the very borders of the Ottoman Empire To keep nearest home I might appeal to the Holy League of France for the Utter Extirpation of the Reform'd Religion And to the Barbarous Usage of more than many Thousand Christians in the United Provinces Grot. Annal lib. 1. I mean before the Quarrel began with the Civil Government I might refer you to Inquisitions Invasions and Massacres to the Burning Zeal of the Marian days and the Powder Conspiracy here in England that Master-piece of Inhumanity design'd no doubt to make amends for the long Peace and Tranquility we enjoyed under the Pious and gentle Reign of our Immortal Virgin Queen After these it were cold and endless to mention all the Impious and Unnatural Artifices of the Agents of Rome against the Lives of our Princes the felicity of our Government Foulis Hist of Romish Treasons and Vsurp and the Vitals of our Religion One thing in the general you may observe that when ever the Church of Rome hath lost any thing by dint of Argument she hath presently betaken her self to sharper and deadlier Weapons for the Recovery of it And methinks it is the least of Wonders that a ChurchPamper'd with Power and Wealth and Honours that thinks her self fit to give Law to the whole Christian World and that it is her Unquestionable Right and Duty by all possible means to do it should not wave her Principles and content her self to admonish and Weep over Obstinate Hereticks as our Blessed Lord did over Jerusalem when her designs call for Blood and Cruelty and 't is apparent that Men will not be made Obedient without them On the other hand there has been another sort of men that under pretence of Refining the Reformation have shamefully violated the Pure and Undefiled Religion that came from Heaven And for this I might refer you to the Wicked Outrages of the Anabaptists at Munster and the Terrible Battles which have been fought for little Phansies and affected singularities in Religion I might call to your Remembrance the many Insurrections and what I even Tremble to speak of the horrid Murther of the late Arch-Bishop in Scotland I might desire you to reflect upon the fierce and bloody Attempts which in our Memory and Nation have been managed upon the fifth Monarchy Principles In a word I might carry you to the Tombs of Kings Nobles and Prelates of worthy Patriots and Ministers of Justice of Preachers and Ambassadors of Peace who by hands lifted up to Heaven have been offered to use the Apostles Phrase upon the Sacrifice and Service of your Faith which some call Heresie and according to which we now Worship the God of our Fathers Now to apply these Allusions to the purpose of the Text I shall only observe to you that the chief Actors and Parties in them have at one time or other confest that they verily thought they were engaged in a good Cause many Apologies have been made and many volumes have been written for them Yea many have sealed it with their Blood and pronounc't it with their last breath that the things they did and Dyed for as ill as they look'd towards the World were done out of Zeal to God and Religion that is they thonght they ought to have done them as contrary and Dishonourable as they really were to the Name of Jesus I come now in the second place 2. To shew whece it is that Men are liable to be thus Misguided by Erroneous Principles and Transported with this Extravagant and destructive Zeal I confess 't is very natural to men to be warm and zealous for their own Doctrines and Sentimests ill so much that they that have the Truth on their side have not always the Charity and Good-Nature that should attend it But that this Inclination should so mightily raise the Spleen and fire the Spirits of Men That it should grow so violent Quarrelsome and Impetuous as to scorn the Restraint of Laws both Divine and Humane and break down all the Fonces of Government to set up the Kingdom fo Christ which is not of this World That the Disciples of so meek a Master as our Saviour was and the Professors of so Charitable and obliging so Holy and Healing an Institution as Christianity is should think themselves bound to promote every Crude Opinion with the Sword Nay that inspired and as they call themselves Infallible Men should be so much out of the way so exceedingly fierce and angry with all that are not of their Minds as to devote them to Present and Eternal Ruine These things are so extreamly full of Scandal and Contradiction that without a Demonstration of the Truth it were scarce Charity to believe the possibility of them But let us do that Right to Christianity and our selves as to see where the fault lyes and what it is that under the pretence of Conscience has wrought so much Misery and Coufusion in the Christian World To assign all the causes of these Evils would require more Time and Patience than the present occasion will allow I shall therefore confine my self to such as I think have the greatest Interest in them and are best able to answer for them 1. The first is Bad Education which has a strange Influence upon the Spirits and Persuasions of Men and is able to change the sweetest natural Dispositions into the Bitterest and fiercest Tempers The great Spring and Mover of Humane Actions in the Judgment of the Mind and therefore the first Information of the Judgment which is the Business of Education must have a mighty stroke in the Conduct of the Life of Man and the rather because the Impressions we receive of things while our Minds are free from all suspition and Prejudice are
be so it is plain there is no need of the Guide we are seeking for and then I doubt after all our searching we shall never be able to find him But there is one Argument above all that there is no such Guide viz. That Christ never Promised There should be one always in his Church And without a Promise from him we can never be certain that there is We know what is pretended in this matter and what Texts are produce for it but after the strictest and most deliberate Enquiry into the meaning of them we can find no evidence of any such Promise nor discern the least shadow or Footstep of a visible Infallible Guide We own indeed that God has Promised the Guidance of his Spirit to all that desire the Knowledg of his Ways but we the rather think that he has not promised any other Infallible Guide than this For what need is there of the Inward Direction of the Spirit in the Search of Truth when we have a Guide at hand that can lead us Infallibly into it and save us the labour of searching after it But did not our Saviour Promise to send his Spirit upon the Apostles and were not they Infallible Guides True but did he Promise to make their Successors in all Ages Infallible too If he did every Successor has an equal Claim And then how comes the Church of Rome to talk of but one Infallible Guidfe since the Death of the Apostles and to Appropriate that extraordinary favour to here self If he did not she must shew us a particular Charter or Promise that Infallibility should never depart from the See of Rome and when she does that we may allow her to be Infallible But supposing that Christ had promised an Infallible Guide it may be convenient to know 2. Whether or no he has given him Authourity to suspend the Judgment of all Christians in matters of Religion This we must say is a distinct Power from Infallibility unless we can imagin that our Saviour and his Apostles tho they were infallible did not know the extent of their Power For 't is plain they did not affect any such Authority or treat their Disciples in this manner but both required them to prove the Truths which they heard Act. 17.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and commended their Ingenuity in proving them by the Scriptures Besides a Guide whose Directions we must blindly follow without examinig the Grounds and Tendency of them seems to be a very improper means of bringing men to Heaven For surely God did design that in the exercise of our Religion we should act like men and not lay aside our Reasonand Judgment as things that are dangerous to our salvation 'T is true not to Judge at all is a certain way not to err but it is a very blind and unlikely way to bring men to the knowledge of the Truth without which their Obedience can never be a Reasonable Service And theresore if any Church or Person under colour of Infallibility shall assume an absolute Authority over the Consciences of men before I resign up my Judgment to them I must desire to be informed not only how they come to be infallible but what Commission they have to oblige me to believe as they please and to strangle my own Sense and Reason if they offer to oppose any Doctrine of theirs tho never so absurd or contradictory to them But suppose still there were Reasons to convince me that there is an infallible Judge and that there ought to be no Judge besides him yet because he cannot be useful to me till I know who he is there is another great Question to be resolved before I can prudently commit my self to him viz. How I may certainly know where to find him And here I meet with one vast Discouragement at the very entrance into this enquiry Namely that the same Church which alone pretends to this Infallible Guide is very uncer tain who he is Some chain Infallibility to St. Peter's Chair and place it in the Person of the Pope But this is the most Interessed Party as depending entirely upon the Pleasure of him whom they call Infallible Others send us to General Councils some of whcih have condemn'd the Pope for an Heretick and contradicted the Decrees of former Councils But then what think we of Oral Tradition Or the Doctrine of the Universal Churcvh conveighed by Father to Son from the Apostles Time down to the Present Age The General consent I confess of the Christian Church so far as it reaches is an excellent means to find out the sense of Scripture But we are not speaking now of Tradition or the Church as a Witness of Truth but of the Authority of any Church or Guide to prescribe a Rule of Faith and Practice by Vertue of an Insallible Assistance This is the thing we are enquiring after and where the Seat of this Authority is and all we can certainly learn hitherto is this That seeing there are so many controversies in the Church of Rome about it it will be a very hard thing to find it there And that in the Judgment of a considerable part of that Church a man may tire himself and be in quest of his Infallible guide all his Days and never come within sight of him at last For suppose he takes the Pope to be the infallible Oracle he is thought to be mistaken by all those that stand for a General council and if he go to a General council he is lost in the opinion of all that declare for single infallibility And the men for Oral tradition think they are all deceived that look for infallibility in any one Person or Party in the Church What must we do now that have so much choice of infallible guides and nothing to determine our choice Many we pick and choose at a venture But that cannot be safe because they have occasion sometimes to lead contrary to one another and therefore cannot be all infakubke and none of them speaks of more infallible guides than one Must we then weigh their Reasons and the Scriptures they produce for their several claims These we have often heard and considered and cannot but admire the confidence of men who pretend to sound the infallibility and other Prerogatives of the Bishop and Church of Rome upon Texts that speak not the least Syllable of them Whereas matters of this importance ought to be exprest in the easiest and plainnest Words that he that runs may read them If not only the Peace and Unity of the Church but every man's salvation depends as our Adversaries must say upon the Right understanding of there Texts we have that confidence in the Goodness of our Saviour that we certainly believe he would not expect we should find out a meaning in therm that by no good Rule of Interpretation can be collected from them And for this Reason we cannot think our selves obliged when any thing is said
Establisht Religion of the Nation but because we have throughly tryed and examined the Grounds of it because we have proved it by a Rule which cannot fail us and do find it to be the very Religion which Christ and his Apostles have revealed in the Gospel Now if we have taken up our Religion upon due confidweration and Judgment it very highly concerns us for the sake of it to live according to its excellent Rules and Precepts and to be as steddy in our walk as we pretend to be sure of our way to Heaven If we go wide from the Paths we have made streight and do not Obey the Doctrine we profess to believe upon clear and convincing Evidence we condemn our selves and give just Occasion to the Adversary to triumph over us and to twist us with the great need we had of a Reformation to make us worse than we need to have been without it We put a sharper Weapon into their hands than any they were ever able to forge against it A Witty Men may make a hard shift to say something for Romish Errors but there is not a word to be spoken for an Antichristian Life With what face can we inveigh against Popish Indulgences while we allow our selves as great a liberty in sinning as they do If we are heedless and undevout in our Prayers we may blush to say we cannot dispence with Latin Service because it is an hinderance to Devotion And is it not much at one whether he that in the holy Sacrament eateth or drinketh Judgment to himself does it in both Kinds or but One Or what signisies a change or no change in the substance of the Elements to him that discerns not the Lords Body Or why may not an Implicit Faith serve to make an Empty Profession as well as any Protestant Faith in the World And indeed if that were all we design by being Protestants it were hardly worth the while to be so For as without Faith it is Impossible to Please God So without Holiness as the Apostle tells us in the verse immediately after the Text No man shall see the Lord. We that are Protestants profess a great Veneration of the Scriptures both as a Rule of Faith and Manners And therefore we can never excuse our selves if we do not Govern our Lives as well as our Judgments and Opinions by them And there are those that will not excuse our Religion but raise Objections against it out of those very Actions it expresly Condemns and Warns us of the Infinite Danger of It is I confess very unreasonable that Religion should Answer for the Faults which it Aimes to Rectify Yet it must be Own'd a Real and Mighty Prejudice to it to be Contradicted by its own Professors and Betrayed by those that pretend a Hearty Zeal and Concernment for it And we have the more Reason to be Cautious on this hand because our Religion is so Excellent in it self and so fully Justified by its Learned Advocates that it requires nothing more for its Defence and Vindication from t is than that we should Adorn it by our Holy Conversations and keep the Enemy out of those Breaches which our Divisions have made and our Lusts have Widen'd for them And this is our Proper Post In which we may do Excellent service tho we may not be so fit to engage in the Field of Controversies merely by Exercising our selves unto Godliness by keeping to the Plain Rules and standing to the Principles of our Holy Religion This I say is our Proper Task And by this means we shall utterly Defeat our Adversaries and put them to the same strait that Daniel did the Caldeans Dan. 6.5 by leaving them no Occasion against us Except it be Concerning the Law of our God And for that we give them leave to Try their utmost skill And if by fair Reasoning and Arguments such as are fit to be used in the great Concernment of mens Eternal Salvation they can Win the Victory let them wear it I wish the mean while we could clear our selves as well as we can our Religion I wish we could all shew out of a Pure Conversation that our Lives are measured by the Laws as our Faith is by the Revelations of the Gospel I do not speak this as if I thought our Adversaries had the advantage of us in this respect but because it may be Justly expected that we who have the best Religion should live at the best Rate That we who pretend to understand what we believe and to know whom we Worship and have Renounc't the Errours and Corruptions that spoil the Religion of other men should be extreamly careful that we do not Blemish our own That we do not stain the Purity of our Profession and Furnish Men with Objections against it by our vain and vicious Conversations Let us consider the Necessity of walking by the Rules and obeying the Laws of our Religion in order to our own safety and Happiness Tho a Man knew every Foot of his Way to Heaven and were Acquainted with all the Crooked and Deceitful Paths which others are lost and Bewildred in yet if he will not make use of his knowledge to Direct his Steps and keep on in the way he should go he can never arrive to that Blessed Place We must not think to Fly to Heaven with a Wish or to be saved by being Orthodox or excused from doing our Duty because we know it Tho we had all knowledge and all Faith without Obedience and Holiness of Life I know not of what importance they would be to us but only to Intitle us to the greater Damnation The Sanctions of the Gospel are the same to Men of all Persuasions The worst of which will hardly Deny that a good Life is as Necessary to make a good Christian as a sound and Orthodox Faith So that 't is not Believing as the Church Believes nor Believing the Truth as it is in Jesus nor Relying upon him for salvation that can bring us to Heaven while we bid Defiance to his Laws Heb. 5.9 For he is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them only that Obey him If we are ill Men it matters not what we are besides Any Religion will serve a wicked Man as well as the Best And become him a great deal better than the Pure and Undefiled Religion which the Son of God brought down from Heaven with him And which of all Religions in the World Denounceth the most Terrible Threatnings against its own Professors that Reject the Mild and Reasonable Conditions of it Rom. 2.7.8 To them that by patient Continuance in Well-doing Seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality It promises Eternal Life But unto them that Obey not the Truth how Zealous soever they may be in the Defence and Profession of it It denounceth Indignation and wrath Tribulation and Anguish without Respect of Persons upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil. So that if we live
EIGHT SERMONS PREACHED On Several Occasions BY NATHANAEL WHALEY Rector of Broughton in Northamptonshire LONDON Printed for John Everingham at the Star in Ludgate-Street near the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard 1695. Imprimatur Carolus Alstton R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. a Sacris April 30 1695. THE PREFACE TO THE Reader THE true End of Printing Sermons is to promote the Belief and Practice of Christianity Which must be at a low Ebb while the Witty part of the World is Floating in Scepticism and the Heavier sinking into down-right Atheism and Sensuality And This I think is so good an End in it self that it certainly needs no Excuse For I know not why any Man may not venture upon doing Good without asking leave of the World or Pleading the Importunity of Friends or craving a Protection for it All the Discouragement lies in the Difficulty there is in reaching this excellent End especially in this Singular and Confident Age in which He is no Body almost that has not an Opinion by himself And he is counted a very easie Man that will resign it to a stronger Judgment for being reduced to a Contradiction or two or convinc'd of a few untoward Consequences of it But however this be I think it becomes the Ministers of Religion to perswade Men if it be possible to be Wise and Happy and while the Scriptures are of any Authority with them to Admonish them of the Truths which belong to their Eternal Peace And this I can truly say is the Design of the following Sermons The two first of which are framed to shew the great Difference there is between a stable and well-grounded Faith and meer Confidence and Opinion or between the Faith of Abraham which carried him through the greatest Tryals and Difficulties and the Presumption of a Pharisee which did as strange things in their kind For as Abraham by Faith offered up his Son in Obedience to God So Saul by the impulse of his Opinions Persecuted the Children of Abrahams Faith and verily thought till our Saviour called to him out of Heaven as the Angel did to Abraham that he was doing the Will of God even when he was going to make a Sacrifice of Christianity it self The Design of the Third and Fourth Sermons is to represent the extream Danger of Impenitency under the Powerful means of Grace and of Trusting to a late or Death-Bed Repentance These I fear are very Grating and Unpleasant Subjects But I the rather think they require the plainer dealing and must needs say in reference to the Latter that upon the Review I cannot esteem it any breach of Charity to have wrested a Text perhaps more frequently mis-applyed than any other in the Gospel out of the hands of those that were never Fairly in possession of it and are apt as St. Peter speaks of some others to wrest it to their Own Destruction The Fifth was delivered at a time when great Endeavours were used to turn us out of the streight Way to Heaven Which gave occasion to shew the Grounds of our Protestant Faith and the great Advantages it has above the Romish in point of certainty How much Reason we have to adhere to the Doctrine of our own Church and to adorn it by the Purity of our Lives and Examples And the Way to do this is described and recommended in the following Discourse concerning our Improvement in all Christian Vertues and Graces And were we once perswaded to govern our Lives by the Principles of our Religion we might justly hope to Enjoy them more and perhaps much longer than we do We should think it no Dishonour to suffer those that Affront and Despitefully use us to live out the short term of Life which God and Nature hath set them and make better Use of the shortness and uncertainty of our Own to bring us to which happy Temper is the Design of the two last Sermons As to the Composure of these few Discourses the Reader will find enough to exercise his Candour and Ingenuity All I can hope for is That they may be serviceable in some measure to the Lovers of Truth for whose sakes they are Published that the Venture will be the more Pardonable because my Infirmities at present are such as hinder the Discharge of the Ordinary Duties of my Function God grant his Blessing to all Faithful Endeavours to Preserve the Truth and Promote Peace and Piety The Contents SERMON I. The Power and Efficacy of Faith Heb. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac And he that had received the Promises Offered up his Only begotten Son Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called SERMON II. The Danger of a mis-inform'd Conscience or mistaken Principles in Religion Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth SERMON III. Of the different Dispensations of Grace and of Impenitency under the best Means of Salvation Matth. 11.21.22 Wo unto thee Chorazin Wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty Works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have Repented long agō in Sack-cloth and Ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you SERMON IV. The Case of a Late or Death-Bed Repentance Matth. 20.9 And when they came that were Hired about the Eleventh Hour they received every Man a Penny SERMON V. The Streight and Certain Way to Happiness Hebr. 12.13 Make streight Paths for your Feet SERMON VI. Of Growth in Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 But Grow in Grace SERMON VII Of Murther particularly Duelling and Self-Murther Matth. 5.21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of Old time Thou shalt not Kill SERMON VIII Of the shortness and Instability of Humane Life James 4.14 For what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Sermon I. Concerning the Power and Efficacy of Faith Hebr. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed Offered up Isaac and he that had rerceived the Promises Offered up his Only begotten Son Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called THE Author of this Epistle discourseth in this Chapter of two Eminent Points of Knowledge the Nature of Divine Faith and the mighty Power and Efficacy of it In the first Verse he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a grounded Expectation of things hoped for and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conviction of things not seen ver 3.5 c. such as the Creation of this and the Existence of a better World And this shews the Nature of Faith to lye in a firm Perswasion of Truths and Promises grounded upon the Testimony of God and not upon any sensible Evidence of the Reality of them And accordingly the Holy Men whose Faith is so much magnifyed in this Chapter ver 13.
upon his Son and Talkt with him upon the Way to Moriah Nature should make a stand and his Heart should fail him to think what a sad Uncomfortable Errand he was going upon But we meet with nothing of all this in Abrahams deportment during the whole process of his Tryal He did not make a false step in three Days Journey to Moriah He was so far from staggering at the strangeness of things that he went on without delay and as far as appears by the History of this great Action proceeded by even and constant steps through all the Stages of his Tedious Duty Gen. 22.9 Even when he came to the Mountain which God told him of had built an Altar and laid the Wood in order upon it he did not so much as allow himself to say must I now Burn the staff of my Old-Age and the dearest Pledge of Gods Favour to me and all Ages of the World So that we see he perfectly overcame the Difficulties and surmounted the Discouragements which his way was obstructed with 2. The Power or Principle by which this Transcendent Act of Righteousness was wrought i. e. by which Abraham Prevailed with himself and over all Discouragements to offer up Isaac The Apostle ascribes it to his Faith Now Faith we know is sometimes taken for an habitual Belief or Perswasion of the Perfections Truths and Promises of God and sometimes for a single Act of this eminent Grace and there are places of which the Text is one in which it is apparently Used in both senses 1. First then the honour of this Noble Action was owing to a constant and habitual Perswasion of Divine Truths and Promises which Abraham had attained unto He had been long accustomed to believe God upon his Word and to rely upon his Truth and Faithfulness And being fully perswaded of the Reality and concernment of all that he Revealed to him it was easie for him to conclude and settle upon this great Principle of Religion that God in all things was to be Obeyed And this Perswasion was the Root of all his Piety and Submission to the Will of God Upon this he left his own Country for a strange Land and followed the Clue of God's Providence whithersoever it led him it directed his steps when he knew not whither he went and put him into a posture of Undertaking the Hardest Tryals and giving any proof of his Sincerity that God should demand of him And accordingly when God demanded his Son the Dearest thing he had in the World tho' it was against the Law of Nature in any Case but his to slay an Innocent Youth Tho it was in common esteem a Contradiction to all the Kindness and Tenderness which a Fathers Name carries in it and no less contrary to the Endearments of the Conjugal Relation Nay though it had all the Visible Marks of Unnatural Rage and Inhumanity upon it and was like to prove an Indelible Blemish to Religion tho' these considerations were no less Obvious than Weighty yet was Abraham through the Constancy of his Faith and Obedience so Naturaliz'd to the Service of God that nothing could divert him from it But I confess this does not fully clear the main Difficulty implyed in the Text Viz. That Abraham should offer up his Son by Faith while he Believed the Promises concerning his Seed it being against common Sense or Reason That if Isaac dyed without Issue His Seed should be Blessed after him So that Abraham might be a strong Believer and do great things by his Faith yet still it does not appear but that he must needs stagger while he shook the very Ground and Foundation which his Faith and Hope had rested upon as he did when he went about to destroy the promised Line and so Cut off all the Blessings that depended upon it Let us therefore have recourse to the second Notion of Faith and Consider it as it signifies 2. Some special and Eminent Act of this Grace And such we find in the present casu namely a strong Persuasion of Abraham of the Power of God to raise up Isaac from the dead And to this the context expresly ascribes his success By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac v. 19.1 c. Accounting saith the Apostle that God was able to raise him up even from the dead i. e. that he had Power to fulfill his Promise by bringing Isaac to Life again and that he would certainly do it rather than suffer the least tittle of his promise to Dye with him And now his Way tho' hard was clear and open and there was nothing to Interrupt his Obedience but what his Almighty Faith could deal withal He had doubtless considered that God had a better Interest in his Son and all his other Possessions than any he could lay claim unto And the great Reverence he had for his Wisdom and Soveraignty Hush't his Natural Affections and whereas God's Command seem'd to Oppose his promises he overcame the Difficulty too Believing that God was able to Reconcile them and bring back Isaac from the Dead by the same Power that gave him his First Being when he sprang from One as is observed in this Chapter that was as Good as Dead that is Himself that had Out-lived the Natural Power of giving Life to others We see then the Eminency of Abrahams Faith v. 12. and the support it gave him all along in his Tryal By the Direction of it he kept his Eye all the while upon God's Command and-Wink't at all the seeming contradictions that Oppos'd his Obedience to it He doubted not but that God had Power to Kill and to make alive To Command what he pleased and Reward those that Diligently Seek and Obey him In short amidst all the hard things that bore upon Abrahams Faith there was nothing appeared so Incredible to him as that God should lye or so unreasonable as to suspend his Obedience while he was Persuaded of God's Faithfulness to him And accordingly he immediately followed him in the Light and strength of his Faith without any Faultering or Regret through all the Dark Scenes of that Cloudy Providence which led him to the Sacrifice of his Only Son And that after a most Express and Emphatical Promise that in Isaac his Seed should be called And now 't is time for us to Consider how far we are concerned in this Discourse both in reference to our Faith and Practice First then 1. Hence we Learn the true Nature of Justifying Faith there being nothing plainer in Scripture than that Abrahams Faith was Imputed to him for Righteousness which certainly it had never been if he had not Obeyed the Command which was the Tryal of his Faith If Abraham then was Justifyed by the Faith which offered up his Son 't is clear that he was justifyed by a lively and working Faith And that no other Faith than this can Justify is evident if we consider that Abrahams Faith is more than
once Recommended in Scripture as the great Pattern and Exemplar of the Faith which Justifies and that the Great Commendation of it lies in the Influence it had upon the Holiness and Obedience of his Life And then if we have not the same kind of Faith that is a Faith which makes us Obedient to the Will of God we have not that true and genuine Faith which Justifies And therefore if we Believe but do not obey the Truth we must needs fall as short of the Favour of God as we do of the Faith of Abraham For to speak freely I cannot understand what Use there is of Faith but to quicken us to do the Will of God in order to our obtaining his Favour And if this be the proper and only good Use of Faith it follows that if we separate Faith from Holiness and Obedience it loses all the Virtue which it hath to Justify us And then if we are never so Orthodox in Points of Faith what does it Profit my Brethren Can that Faith save us which cannot procure our accptance with God Have not all Wicked Men that Believe the Truths of Christianity the same Jam. 2.19 Nay the Devils as St. James observes Tremble under as good a Faith as this 'T is strange therefore that any Man of Competent Reason should think that a Dry and Barren Faith a Volatil notion in the Head that never Reaches the Heart and Life should put him into the happiest state that he can possibly attain to in this Life Or that which makes him never the better Man should yet make him the Favourite of God That a Dead and Useless Faith should do him the greatest Kindness in the World and Intitle him to Life Eternal Now if Justifying Faith be more than an Assent to Truth if besides this it be a Vital Principle of Vertue and Holiness we see what a perfect Dream the Antinomian Doctrine of Justification from Eternity is For surely no Man was Justifyed by Faith so long ago as from Eternity And if we were justifyed from Eternity our Faith comes too late to justify us and then there can be no such thing as justifying Faith And this the Patrons of this Opinion do not dissemble in their Descriptions of Faith in which they represent it as a means only of Manifesting and Applying to themselves their Personal justification from Eternity And is not this a fair step to the laying aside of the whole Gospel For let any Impartial Man judge what effect the Great Precepts and Motives of the Gospel are like to have upon those Men that conceive they have but one thing to do to satisfy themselves that they are in a justified state and that is to Believe Roundly that they were so from Eternity 2. We are taught by this Tryal not to stagger or Repine at any sharp or Mysterious Providences but to look upon them as the Wise Methods of God to prove our Sincerity and to exercise our Faith in him Of all the Excellent Men in Scripture there is none that was honoured with more Eminent Tokens of Divine Favour and Acceptance than Abraham was He was styled the Friend of God the Father of the Faithful Seed and the Heir of the World Rom. 4.13 He was Familiarly Visited by Angels from Heaven and Dignify'd with many special Revelations and glorious Promises He was the Keeper of Gods Secrets Gen. 18.17 one whom he declared his Confidence in Yea was so Highly in his Favour that God engaged himself by a Covenant with him to preserve true Religion in his Family in all future Ages and gave him a Prospect of the Day of Christ Joh. 8.56 at almost two thousand Years Distance from it And besides this Instance it has been no Unusual thing with God to single out the Best men for the sharpest Tryals and to propose them as examples of Faith and Patience to their own and all succeeding Generations as appears by the rest of the Worthies of this Chapter and the best Histories of all Ages Now shall we call this an Errour of Providence and conclude that all these Excellent Men were cast out of Gods Favour and Protection because he call'd them to such Noble Tryals for the Honour and Vindication of their Faith If not we can infer nothing either against our selves while we study to please God or against the Equity and goodness of his Providence from the Troubles and Perplexities of this present Life how extraordinary soever they may be for the Nature or Circumstances of them We should consider rather that good Men are the fittest to serve the Great ends of Providence and to teach the World Submission to the Appointments of it by their Afflictions and Tryals And this clears at once the Wisdom and goodness of God in thus training them up for those excessive Heights of Glory which are prepared in Heaven for them 3. The Carriage of Abraham in this Tryal may serve to convince the World that there is such a thing as Living by Faith that is serving God without Respect to Worldly Advantages nay in view of the greatest Losses and disappointments that can be sustained by it The looser part of Mankind has been always very apt to charge the sincere with pretending Religion for secular ends Being willing to ease themselves of the shame of their wicked and Impious Lives they would faign have the World believe that there is no such thing as true Faith and Piety That 't is nothing but Hypocrisie that gives some men the Reputation of being better than others And that the Best love the World at their Hearts as dearly as those that Proclaim their Passion for it and professedly make their Court to it And the truth is it has cost the Servants of God very dear in their several Ages to Undeceive the World in this matter and to Vindicate the Honour of Religion against the Scoffs and Infidelity of Men. For I doubt not but one special end of the Tryals and Sufferings of Good Men is to convince the World that Religion is a Reality and that there are those that chearfully serve God upon the Faith and Hope of a Better Life yea tho' it cost them their very dearest Delights and Comforts in this The Example in the Text is a Demonstration of this beyond all possibility of Evasion or Answer And since Abrahams Children have the same Kind of Faith which he himself was so Renowned for I mean a Faith which carries them through the service of God in Pursuit of a Heavenly Country and a Kingdom which hath Foundations this vindicates all True Believers to the end of Time from the Foul charge of Hypocrisie and doing their Works to be feen of Men. 'T is the Character of their Family That they Believe him that is Invisible That they live by Faith and not by Sense and are all of them Men and Women of the same Spirit and Ingenuity tho' not in the same Perfection that Abraham was
Holiness through the use of those means which he hath appointed for the increase of Holiness in us That there are degrees of Grace in good men no man ever denied And that the higher and more Perfect degrees are attained by a more frequent sincere and diligent use of the means of Grace all Divines are agreed The part therefore which every good Man hath in his Spiritual growth is to improve all Advantages for his growing better i.e. more perfect in every Grace and more Holy in all manner of Conversation And because some Graces have a more Powerful and Diffusive influence upon the Sanctification of our Hearts and Lives and the due Performance of all Christian duties than others our improvement in Grace and Holiness chiefly consists in these two things 1. In a more constant and vigorous exercise of those Radical Graces by which the Life of Holiness is conveighed into all the Branches and Instances of it Of these our Faith in God is the main and Principal Root all other Graces being Fed and Cherisht by it and Inabled to bring forth their Proper Fruits The Reason why we Love God which is both the Noblest and the strongest Motive to Obedience is because we believe that he has all Excellent and Amiable Properties in him And so the Reason why we Fear him is because we believe he is Powerful and Just and will by no means clear the Guilty And we therefore Hope in his Mercy because we believe He is Faithful that hath Promised And as Faith is the Root and Principle of these Graces so have they a Radical virtue of their own a Power I mean of Diffusing Holiness into all parts and duties of the Christirn Life Hence we are exhorted to Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and to be Rooted and Grounded in Love that we may be filled with all the Fulness of God And every man saith S. John that hath the Hope in him of seeing God as he is Purifieth himself even as he is Pure To grow therefore in these Graces is in effect to grow in all other kinds of Vertue and Goodness of God And then secondly our spiritual growth Consists 2. In being more frequently and carnestly employ'd in the several duties of Christian practice In worshiping God with more Life Zeal and Constancy In doing good with more vigour and chearfulness In bearing Afflictions with more evenness and patience In greater Industry Justice and Faithfulness in our Temporal callings In getting a more absolute sway over our Passions and reducing our affections to Farthly things to a more equal and moderate Temper In denying our selves the Liberties which have any apparent Temptation in them in Arming our selves against the insults of Inordinate anger and the sudden starts of any sinful inclinations In pruning off the undecencies of our External behaviour in abating the freedom of our Tongues and using better care to avoid all appearance of Evil. Herein lies our Proficiency in Grace and Virtue to which our endeavours in all these instances are strictly necessary if we aim as we ought at a Perfect Imitation of our great example and to grow up to the stature of the Fulness of Christ I am next to shew 2. What are the Proper and Effectual means of our Growth in Grace And here since the nature of Grace and Holiness consists in a Conformity to the Divine nature and will it is Reasonable to suppose that the same hand that drew the first Lineaments of it must give it the more Lively and Finishing strokes before it comes to perfection I mean that the work of grace should be carried on by the Operations of the Spirit through the use especially of the same means by which we were made Partakers of the Divine Nature at first And for this Reason the Ordinances of God are of Perpetual use to all Christians and the same duties required as well of the Regenerate as of those that remain in a Natural State 1. A better understanding of the will of God and Attention to the Truths revealed by his Son Jesus Christ The usefulness of this means S. Peter seems to Recommend in the Context Grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Implying that a greater measure of knowledge is a special means of growing in other Graces as is plain by that Parallel exhortation in his former Epistle Desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the pure Doctrine of the Gospel or the word delivered without any Deceit is the most Natural Food for the New Creature for promoting the Growth of it and making it every way strong and vigorous in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 In the Scriptures we have a lively Draught and Representation of the Divine Perfections In them we behold all the Glorious Revelations of God's Sacred Will to Mankind and the thoughts of his Heart from Eternity Here we meet with the kindest Invitations to the Mercy and Favour of God and the Merits of a Saviour With the most admirable Rules for the Government of our Lives the most Excellent Patterns of the Noblest Virtues and the strongest Inducements to a perfect Imitation of them The Mystery of our Redemption is here unvail'd and Heaven as it were thrown open to our view that we as the Apostle speaks with Open Face beholding as in a Glass 2 Cor. 3.18 the Glory of the Lord might be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory by the Spirit of the Lord. By frequent conversing with the Scriptures and observing the Tenour of them we shall not only attain to a competent Knowledge of our Duty but to a firm and Ruling Judgment and be thereby exempted from Error and Doubtfulness which are none of the least impediments to our thriving in Grace and Holiness By this means we shall be continually under the power of conviction The sense of our Duty will be always quick and urgent upon our Minds We shall feel the great Motives and Terrors of the Gospel the Eternal Weights of Glory and Misery pressing upon our Hopes and Fears and provoking us to every Good Work and we shall thence be furnisht with a present Answer to all Temptations to gratifie any sinful Lust or neglect the Opportunities of securing our Future Happiness So that by making the Scripture our daily Study and Meditation we shall neither wander for want of Light nor be at a stand through any mistrust of our way nor can we easily fail of making a good Progress in it being quickned upon all occasions with a present sense of our Duty and encouraged with a Prospect of our Reward 2. Regular and Constant Attendance on the Publick Ordinances of Divine Worship and Service It must be a great advantage to us to be admitted into the Special Presence of God in the Holy Assemblies of his People And having our thoughts sequestred from the World