and reserved for us in another place which will abundantly recompense and make amends to us for all the Troubles and Sufferings of this Life And yet it is strange to see how fast most Men cling to Life and that even in Old Age how they catch at every Twig that may but hold them up a little while and how fondly they hanker after a miserable Life when there is nothing more of Pleasure to be enjoy'd nothing more of Satisfaction to be expected and hoped for in it When they are just putting in to the Port and one would think should rejoyce at their very Hearts that they see Land yet how glad would they be then of any cross Wind that would carry them back into the Sea again As if they loved to be tost and were fond of Storms and Tempests Nay the very best of us even after we have made that acknowledgment of David I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with thee as all my Fathers were are apt with him to be still importuning God for a little longer Life O spare me a little that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more And when God hath granted us this Request then we would be spared yet a little longer But let us remember that God did not design us to continue always in this World and that he hath on purpose made it so uneasie to us to make us willing to leave it and that so long as we linger here below we are detained from our Happiness While we are present in the Body we are absent from the Lord. This Consideration made St. Paul so desirous to be dissolved because he knew that when his Earthly House of this Tabernacle was dissolved he should have a much better Habitation a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens This was that which made him so full of Joy and Triumph at the Thoughts of his leaving the World 2 Tim. 4. 6. I am now ready says he to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which God the righteous Judge shall give me in that day Nay the Consideration of this tho but obscurely apprehended by them did raise the Spirits of the wiser and better Heathen and fill them with great Joy and Comfort at the Thoughts of their Dissolution With what Constancy and Evenness of Mind did Socrates receive the Sentence of Death And with what excellent Discourse did he entertain his Friends just before he drank off the Fatal Cup and after he had taken it down whilst Death was gradually seizing upon him One can hardly without a very sensible Transport read Cato's Discourse concerning his Death as it is represented by Tully in his Book of Old Age. I am says he transported with a Desire of seeing my Fore-fathers those Excellent Persons of whom I have Heard and Read and Written and now I am going to them I would not willingly be drawn back into this World again Quod si quis Deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam in cunis vagiam valde recusem If some God would offer me at this Age to be a Child again and to cry in the Cradle I would earnestly refuse it and upon no terms accept it And now that my Race is almost run and my Course just finished how loth should I be to be brought back and made to begin again For what Advantage is there in Life Nay rather what Labour and Trouble is there not in it But let the Benefit of it be what it will there is certainly some Measure of Life as well as of other things and Men ought to know when they have enough of it O praeclarum diem cum in illud animorum consilium caetumque proficiscar cum ex hac turbâ colluvione discedam O Blessed and Glorious Day when I shall go to that great Council and Assembly of Spirits and have got out of this Tumult and Sink And if a Heathen who had but some obscure Glimmerings of another Life and of the Blessed State of departed Souls could speak thus chearfully of Death how much more may We who have a clear and undoubted Revelation of these things and to whom Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel V. We should alway prefer our Duty and the keeping of a good Conscience before all the World because it it is in truth infinitely more valuable if so be our Souls be immortal and do survive in another World and we must there give a strict Account of all the Actions done by us in this Life and receive the Sentence of Eternal Happiness or Misery according to the things done in the Body whether they be Good or whether they be Evil. For as our Saviour argues concerning the case of denying him and his Truth to avoid temporal Suffering and Death What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul When we are tempted by temporal Interest and Advantage or by the Fear of present Loss and Suffering to deny or dissemble our Religion to do any thing that is sinful in any kind and contrary to our Duty and Conscience let us ask our selves What will be the Profit and Advantage of it What if for fear of Men and what they can do to me I incur the Wrath and Displeasure of Almighty God This is infinitely more to be dreaded and these Frowns are a thousand times more terrible than the bitterest Wrath and cruelest Malice of Men. What if to preserve this frail and mortal Body I shall evidently hazard the Loss of my Immortal Soul and to escape a Temporal Inconvenience I forfeit Everlasting Happiness and plunge my self into Eternal Misery and Ruine Would not this be a wild Bargain and a mad Exchange for any Temporal Gain and Advantage to lose the things that are Eternal And for the pleasing of our selves for a little while to make our selves miserable for ever If we confess our selves to be Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth and are perswaded of the Promises of God concerning an Heavenly Country where we hope to arrive after the few and evil days of our Pilgrimage are over let us not by complying with the Humours of Strangers and the vitious Customs and Practices of an Evil World bar our selves of our Hopes and banish our selves from that happy Place to which we all profess we are going We pretend to be travelling towards Heaven but if we make shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience we destroy our own Hopes of ever arriving at that happy Port. We do not live up to our Expectation of a future Happiness if the unseen Glories of another World do not raise us above all the Temptations
small Dust upon the Balance What Temptation of this World can stand against that Argument of our Saviour if it be seriously weighed and considered 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 If we would consider Things impartially and weigh them in a just and equal Balance the Things which concern our Bodies and this present Life are of no Consideration in comparison of the great and vast Concernments of our immortal Souls and the happy or miserable Condition of our Bodies and Souls to all Eternity And Religion is a Matter of this vast Concernment and therefore not to be bargained away and parted with by us for the greatest Things this World can offer There is no greater Sign of a sordid Spirit than to put a high Value upon Things of little Worth and no greater Mark of Folly than to make an unequal Bargain to part with Things of greatest Price for a slender and trifling Consideration As if a Man of great Fortune and Estate should sell the Inheritance of it for a Picture which when he hath it will not perhaps yield so much as will maintain him for one Year The Folly is so much the greater in Things of infinitely greater Value as for a Man to quit God and Religion to sell the Truth and his Soul and to part with his Everlasting Inheritance for a convenient Service for a good Customer and some present Advantage in his Trade and Profession or indeed for any Condition which the foolish Language of this World cal's a high Place or a great Preferment The Things which these Men part with upon these cheap Terms God and his Truth and Religion are to those who understand themselves and the just Value of their Immortal Souls Things of inestimable Worth and not to be parted with by a considerate Man for any Price that this World can bid And those who are to be bought out of their Religion upon such low Terms and so easily parted from it 't is much to be feared that they have little or no Religion to hold fast 2. As we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against the Temptations and Allurements of this World so likewise against the Terrors of it Fear is a Passion of great force and if Men be not very resolute and constant will be apt to stagger them and to move them from their stedfastness And therefore when the Case of Suffering and Persecution for the Truth happens we had need to hold fast the Profession of our Faith Our Saviour in the Parable of the Sower tells us that there were many that heard the Word and with joy received it but when Persecution and Tribulation arose because of the Word presently they were offended And though blessed be God this be not now our Case yet there was a Time when it was the general Case of Christians in the first beginning of Christianity and for several Ages after though with some Intermission and Intervals of Ease It was then a general Rule and the common Expectation of Christians That through many Tribulations they must enter into the Kingdom of God and that if any Man will live Godly in Christ Jesus he must suffer Persecution And in several Ages since those Primitive Times the sincere Professors of Religion have in divers places been exposed to most grievous Sufferings and Persecutions for the Truth And even at this day in several Places the faithful Servants of God are exercised with the sharpest and sorest Tryals that perhaps were ever heard of in any Age and for the sake of God and the constant Profession of his true Religion are tormented and killed all the day long and are accounted as Sheep for the slaughter It is Their hard Lot to be called to these cruel and bitter Sufferings and Our happy Opportunity to be call'd upon for their Relief Those of them I mean that have escaped that terrible Storm and Tempest and have taken Refuge and Sanctuary here among us and out of His Majesty's great Humanity and Goodness are by his Publick Letters recommended to the Charity of the whole Nation by the Name of Distressed Protestants Let us consider how much easier Our Lot and Our Duty is than Theirs as much as it is easier to compassionate the Sufferings and to relieve the Distresses of Others than to be such Sufferers and in such Distress Our Selves Let us make Their Case our Own and then we our selves will be the best Judges how it is fit for us to demean our selves towards them and to what degree we ought to extend our Charity and Compassion to them Let us put on their Case and Circumstances and suppose that We were the Sufferers and had fled to Them for Refuge the same Pity and Commiseration the same tender Regard and Consideration of our sad Case the same liberal and effectual Relief that we should desire and expect and be glad to have shewn and afforded to our selves let us give to them and then I am sure they will want no fitting Comfort and Support from us We enjoy blessed be the Goodness of God to us great Peace and Plenty and Freedom from Evil and Suffering And surely one of the best Means to have these Blessings continued to us and our Tranquility prolonged is to consider and relieve those who want the Blessings which we enjoy and the readiest way to provoke God to deprive us of these Blessings is to shut up the Bowels of our Compassion from our Distressed Brethren God can easily change the Scene and make our Sufferings if not in the same kind yet in one kind or other equal to theirs and then we shall remember the Afflictions of Joseph and say as his Brethren did when they fell into Trouble We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this Distress come upon us God alone knows what Storms the Devil may yet raise in the World before the End of it And therefore it concerns all Christians in all Times and Places who have taken upon them the Profession of Christ's Religion to consider well before-hand and to calculate the Dangers and Sufferings it may expose them to and to arm our selves with Resolution and Patience against the fiercest Assaults of Temptation considering the Shortness of all Temporal Afflictions and Sufferings in comparison of the Eternal and Glorious Reward of them and the Lightness of them too in comparison of the endless and intolerable Torments of another World to which every Man exposeth himself who forsakes God and renounceth his Truth and wounds his Conscience to avoid Temporal Sufferings And though Fear in many Cases especially if it be of Death and extream Suffering be a great Excuse for several Actions because it may Cadere in constantem virum happen to a resolute Man Yet in
and honour him and that the outward expressions of our Piety and Obedience to him are the genuine issue of our inward apprehensions of him and affections towards him and this no doubt our Saviour intended in the first place in the Character of this good Man that he was a Man of a real and substantial and unaffected Piety and in truth what he appeared to be that he did sincerely love God and his Truth and was ready to embrace it whenever it was fairly proposed to him as did plainly appear in his Carriage towards our Saviour for when Philip invited him to come and see him he did not conceal the prejudice and objection he had against him grounded upon a common but uncharitable Proverb That out of Nazareth ariseth no Prophet but having an honest and sincere mind he was not so carried away by a popular prejudice as not to have patience to be better informed and therefore was easily perswaded to go and see our Saviour and to discourse with him himself and being satisfied that he was the Messias he presently owns him for such calling him the Son of God and the King of Israel and because sincerity is the very heart and substance of Religion it concerns us not only to endeavour after this temper and disposition but to enquire into the nature and properties of it that we may know when we have it and may have the comfort of it I shall mention five or six Properties of a sincere Piety by which Men may sufficiently know the integrity of their hearts towards God 1. Our Piety is then sincere when the chief reasons and predominant motives of it are Religious and I call that a Religious or rational motive which regards God and another World in opposition to Men and to our present temporal Advantages when the principal and swaying motives of our Piety are a sense of God's Authority over us and of our Duty and Obligation to him a fear of his Displeasure and Threatnings and the hopes of the Glorious Reward which he hath promised to Obedience these motives are properly Religious because they respect God and are the Arguments to Obedience which he himself offers to us to perswade us to our Duty and that is a sincere Piety which is wrought in us by these Considerations how unequally soever mixed for even in the most of Men Fear does many times prevail more than Love and in case of great temptation may preserve Men from sin when perhaps no other consideration will do it On the contrary that is an unsincere Piety to which we are moved meerly by the regard of Men and the consideration of some temporal Advantages and when these have the chief influence upon us it is easie for any Man to discern in himself for he that will carefully observe himself can hardly be ignorant of the true spring and motive of his own actions but there is one sign whereby a Man may certainly know that his heart is not right towards God and that is if when these motives are absent our Piety and Zeal for the true Religion doth either cease or be sensibly cooled and abated as if Impiety or Popery or any thing else that is bad begin to be in fashion and to have the Countenance of great Examples if those whom we fear and upon whom we depend do discover any inclination that way if the garb of Religion cease to be for our interest or in the revolution of things happen to be contrary to it if in any of these cases we let fall the profession of our Religion or neglect the practice of it this is a plain and undeniable demonstration of the insincerity of our former Piety 2. A sincere Piety must be rooted in the heart and be a living principle within us for as the Apostle reasons in another case he is not a Jew who is one outwardly but he who is one inwardly and in the heart and without this all outward acts of Piety and Devotion are hypocrisie a picture of Religion and a form of Godliness without the life and power of it 3. A Third Evidence of a sincere Piety is when Men are Religious in private and in secret as well as in publick and in the open view of Men he is truly devout who is so in his Family and in his Closet where he hath no Witness but God and his own Soul as well as in the Church he is a downright honest Man who will make good his Word and perform his Promise when no proof can be made of it and no Law compel him to it as readily as if there had been an hundred Witnesses of it he is sincerely just who will not detain from another his right though he be ignorant of it nor wrong any Man tho' he could do it with all the secresie and safety in the World who will not impose upon anothers ignorance or unskilfulness tho never so much to his own benefit and advantage he is truly Charitable who would not only as soon but rather sooner give his Alms in secret than in the sight of Men and he is truly grateful who when there is occasion and opportunity will acknowledge a kindness and requite a benefit to the Relations of his Deceased Friend though he be sure that all memory of the Obligation dyed with him and that none are conscious to it but God and his own Conscience And indeed there is scarce any act of Piety and Vertue the sincerity of which may not by this evidence be known to us As on the contrary a Man may for certain conclude himself a Hypocrite if he be not the same in the presence of God and his own Conscience that he is in the sight of Men. 4. Another Evidence of a sincere Piety is a constant tenour of goodness in the general course of our Lives I do not now speak of the first beginnings of Piety in new Converts which are many times very imperfect and such as afford little or no evidence of a Man's sincerity but in those who have made any considerable progress in goodness the habits of any known sin and the wilful and deliberate neglect of our Duties and even the single acts of more hainous Crimes will bring in question our sincerity and are by no means to be sheltred under the name of infirmity for these the Grace of God if we be not wanting to our selves will inable us to subdue and he is not sincerely good who doth not seriously endeavour to be as good as he can and does not make use of that Grace which God is ready to afford to all the purposes though not of a perfect yet of a sincere obedience to the Laws of God 5. Another Evidence of a sincere Piety is that our obedience to God be uniform and universal equally respecting all the Laws of God and every part of our Duty that it do not content it self with an especial regard to some Precepts of the Law though never so
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
of the Priest is necessary to the Validity and Virtue of the Sacraments then there is no Religion in the World that runs the Salvation of Men upon more and greater Hazards and Uncertainties and such as by no Care and Diligence of Man in working out his own Salvation are to be avoided and prevented As for the easier Terms of Salvation which they offer to Men they signifie nothing if they be not able to make them good which no Man can reasonably believe they can do that hath read the Bible and doth in any good measure understand the Nature of God and the Design of Religion For Instance That after the long Course of a most lewd and flagitious Life a Man may be reconciled to God and have his Sins forgiven at the last Gasp upon Confession of them to the Priest with that imperfect degree of Contrition for them which they call Attrition together with the Absolution of the Priest Now Attrition is a Trouble for Sin meerly for fear of the Punishment of it And this together with Confession and the Absolution of the Priest without any Hatred of Sin for the Evil and Contrariety of it to the holy Nature and Law of God and without the least Spark of Love to God will do the Sinner's business and put him into a state of Grace and Salvation without any other Grace or Disposition for Salvation but only the Fear of Hell and Damnation This I confess is easie but the great Difficulty is to believe it to be true And certainly no man that ever seriously considered the Nature of God and Religion can ever be persuaded to build the Hopes of his Salvation upon such a Quick-sand The Absolution of all the Priests in the World will not procure the Forgiveness of God for any Man that is not disposed for his Mercy by such a Repentance as the Gospel requires which I am sure is very different from that which is required by the Council of Trent They that offer Heaven to Men upon so very large and loose Terms give great Cause to suspect that they will never make good their Offer the Terms are so unreasonably cheap and easie that there must be some Fraud and False Dealing And on the other hand nothing ought to recommend our Religion more to a wise and considerate Man than that the Terms of Salvation which we propose to Men viz. Faith and Repentance and a sincere Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel manifested in the Tenure of a Holy and Virtuous Life are not only perfectly agreeable to the plain and constant Declaration of Holy Scripture but do likewise naturally tend to engage Men most effectually to a good Life and thereby to make them meet to be made partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And therefore every body ought to be afraid of a Religion which makes such lavish Offers of Salvation and to take heed how he ventures his Soul upon them For if after all the Hopes that are given of Salvation upon such and such Terms the Sinner do really miscarry and miss of Heaven it is but very ill Comfort to him to be put into a Fools Paradise for a Minute or two before he leaves the World and the next Moment after to find himself in the place of Torments I proceed to the 5. And Last Particular I mentioned as implied in the Exhortation here in the Text viz. That we 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 gain Proselytes to their Party and Faction To this purpose there are several Cautions given by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles Matth. 24. 4. Take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my Name and shall deceive many Eph. 4. 14. That ye henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine by the slight of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word signifies the Cunning of Gamesters at Dice by the slight of Men and the cunning Craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive And Chap. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain Words Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain Deceit that is by Sophistry and vain Reasoning under a pretence of Philosophy Heb. 13. 9. Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines 2 Pet. 3. 17. Beware lest you also being led away with the Error of the Wicked fall from your own stedfastness And this Caution is enforc'd by an express Prediction of a great Apostasie which should happen in the Christian Church by which many should be seduced by pretence of Miracles and by several Arts of Deceit and Falshood This Apostasie St. Paul expresly foretels 2 Thess. 2. 1 2 3. We beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit that is by pretence to Inspiration nor by Word or Message nor by Letter as from us as that the Day of Christ is at hand Let no man deceive you by any means for that Day shall not come except there come a falling away and that Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition And after a particular Description of him he adds v. 9. Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and lying Wonders and in all deceitfulness of Vnrighteousness in them that perish From all which he concludes v. 15. Therefore Brethren stand fast The particular nature and kind of this Apostasie the same Apostle describes more fully 1 Tim 4. 1 2 3. Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lies in Hypocrisie i. e. under a great Pretence of Sanctity spreading their pernicious Errours forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats This is a very lively and pat Description of that great Apostasie in the Christian Church which began in the Western Part of it and hath spread it self far and wide For there the Spirit of Error and Falshood has prevailed under an Hypocritical Pretence of their being the only True Church and True Christians in the World There Marriage and several sorts of Meat are forbidden to several Ranks and Orders of Men. All the Difficulty is what is here meant by Doctrines of Devils and these certainly can be no other than Doctrines tending to Idolatry which the Scripture every where doth in a particular manner ascribe to the Devil as the Inventer and great Promoter of it And this is very much confirmed by what we find added in some ancient Greek Copies in this Text which runs thus In the latter times some shall apostatize from the Faith for they shall worship the Dead as some also in Israel worshiped And then it follows
was discovered 3. The Decretal Epistles of the Ancient Popes a large Volume of Forgeries compiled by Isidore Mercator to countenance the Usurpations of the Bishop of Rome and of which the Church of Rome made great use for several Ages and pertinaciously defended the Authority of them till the Learned Men of their own Church have at last been forced for very shame to disclaim them and to confess the Imposture of them A like instance whereto is not I hope to be shewn in any Christian Church This is that which St. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the slight of Men such as Gamesters use at Dice for to alledge false and forged Authors in this case is to play with false Dice when the Salvation of Mens Souls lie at stake 11. Our Religion hath this mighty advantage that it doth not decline Tryal and Examination which to any Man of ingenuity must needs appear a very good Sign of an honest Cause but if any Church be shy of having her Religion Examined and her Doctrines and Practices brought into the open light this gives just ground of Suspicion that she hath some distrust of them for Truth doth not seek corners nor shun the light Our Saviour hath told us who they are that love darkness rather than light viz. they whose deeds are Evil for every one saith he that doth Evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved and made manifest There needs no more to render a Religion suspected to a wise Man than to see those who profess it and make such proud boasts of the Truth and Goodness of it so fearful that it should be examin'd and lookt into and that their People should take the liberty to hear and read what can be said against it 12. We perswade Men to our Reliligion by Human and Christian ways such as our Saviour and his Apostles used by urging Men with the Authority of God and with Arguments fetcht from another World The promise of Eternal Life and Happiness and the threatning of Eternal death and Misery which are the proper Arguments of Religion and which alone are fitted to work upon the Minds and Consciences of Men the terror and torture of death may make Men Hypocrites and awe them to profess with their Mouths what they do not believe in their Hearts but this is no proper means of converting the Soul and convincing the Minds and Consciences of Men and these violent and cruel ways cannot be denyed to have been Practised in the Church of Rome and set on foot by the Authority of Councils and greatly countenanced and encouraged by Popes themselves Witness the many Croisades for the extirpation of Hereticks the standing Cruelties of their Inquisition their occasional Massacres and Persecutions of which we have fresh Instances in every Age. But these Methods of Conversion are a certain Sign that they either disturst the Truth and Goodness of their Cause or else that they think Truth and the Arguments for it are of no force when Dragoons are their Ratio ultima the last Reason which their Cause relies upon and the best and most effectual it can afford Again we hold no Doctrines in defiance of the Senses of all Mankind such as is that of Transubstantiation which is now declared in the Church of Rome to be a Necessary Article of Faith so that a Man cannot be of that Religion unless he will renounce his Senses and believe against the clear Verdict of them in a plain sensible matter but after this I do not understand how a Man can believe any thing because by this very thing he destroys and takes away the Foundation of all Certainty if any Man forbid me to believe what I see I forbid him to believe any thing upon better and surer Evidence St. Paul saith that Faith cometh by hearing but if I cannot rely upon the certainty of Sense then the means whereby Faith is conveyed is uncertain and we may say as St. Paul doth in another case Then is our Preaching vain and your Faith also is vain Lastly To mention no more particulars as to several things used and Practised in the Church of Rome we are on the much safer side if we should happen to be mistaken about them than they are if they should be mistaken for it is certainly Lawful to read the Scriptures and Lawful to permit to the People the use of the Scriptures in a known Tongue Otherwise we must condemn the Apostles and the Primitive Church for allowing this Liberty It is certainly Lawful to have the publick Prayers and Service of God celebrated in a Language which all that joyn in it can understand It is certainly Lawful to administer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to the People in both kinds otherwise the Christian Church would not have done it for a Thousand Years It is certainly Lawful not to Worship Images not to pray to Angels or Saints or the Blessed Virgin otherwise the Primitive Church would not have forborn these Practices for Three Hundred Years as is acknowledged by those of the Church of Rome Suppose a Man should pray to God only and offer up all his Prayers to him only by Jesus Christ without making mention of any other Mediator or Intercessor with God for us relying herein upon what the Apostle says concerning our High Priest Jesus the Son of God Heb. 7 25. That he is able to save them to the utmost who come unto God by him i. e. by his Mediation and Intercession since he ever liveth to make Intercession for them might not a Man reasonably hope to obtain of God all the Blessings he stands in need of by Addressing himself only to him in the Name and by the Intercession of that one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus Nay why may not a Man reasonably think that this is both a shorter and more effectual way to obtain our requests than by turning our selves to the Angels and Saints and importuning them to solicite God for us especially if we should order the matter so as to make ten times more frequent Addresses to these than we do to God and our Blessed Saviour and in comparison of the other to neglect these we cannot certainly think any more able to help us and do us good than the great God of Heaven and Earth the God as St. Paul styles him that heareth Prayers and therefore unto him should all flesh come We cannot certainly think any Intercessor so powerful and prevalent with God as his only and dearly beloved Son offering up our Prayers to God in Heaven by vertue of that most acceptable and invaluable Sacrifice which he offered to him on Earth we cannot surely think that there is so much Goodness any where as in God that in any of the Angels or Saints or even in the Blessed Mother of our Lord there is more Mercy and Compassion for Sinners and a tenderer sense of our Infirmities
names sake by all which it appears that this Self-denyal which our Saviour here requires of his Disciples is to be extended no farther than to a readiness and willingness when ever God shall call us to it to quit all our Temporal Interests and Enjoyments and even Life it self the dearest of all other and to submit to any Temporal inconvenience and suffering for his sake And thus much for the Explication of the Precept here in the Text. I proceed in the Third Place to consider the strict and indispensible Obligation of this Precept of Self-denyal and suffering for Christ and his Truth rather than to forsake and renounce them If any man will come after me or be my Disciple let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me that is upon these Terms he must be my Disciple in this manner he must follow me and in the Text I mention'd before he declares again that he that is not ready to quit all his Relations and even Life it self for his sake is not worthy of him and cannot be his Disciple and whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple so that we cannot be the Disciples of Christ nor be worthy to be called by his Name if we be not ready thus to deny our selves for his sake And not only so but if for fear of the Cross or of any temporal sufferings we should renounce and deny him he threatens to deny us before his Father which is in Heaven i. e. to deprive us of Eternal Life and to Sentence us to Everlasting Misery Matth. 10. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men him will I confess before my father which is in Heaven But whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my father which is in Heaven And Mark 8. 38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with his holy Angels that is when he cometh to Judge the World they shall not be able to stand in that Judgment for that by his being ashamed of them is meant that they shall be condemned by him is plain from what goes before V. 26 27. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul and then it follows Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words But because some have had the Confidence to tell the World that our Saviour doth not require thus much of Christians but all that he obligeth us to is to believe in him in our Hearts but not to make any outward Profession of his Religion when the Magistrate forbids it and we are in danger of suffering for it I shall therefore briefly examine what is pretended for so strange an Assertion and so directly contrary to the whole Tenor of the Gospel and to the express Words of our Saviour The Author of the Book called the Leviathan tells us That we are not only not bound to confess Christ but we are obliged to deny him in case the Magistrate require us so to do His Words are these What if the Soveraign forbid us to believe in Christ He answers Such forbidding is of no effect because Belief and Vnbelief never follows Mens Commands But what says he if we be commanded by our lawful Prince to say with our Tongues we believe not must we obey such Commands To this he answers That Profession with the Tongue is but an External thing and no more than any other Gesture whereby we signifie our Obedience and wherein a Christian holding firmly in his Heart the Faith of Christ hath the same Liberty which the Prophet Elisha allowed to Naaman But what then says he shall I answer to our Saviour saying Whosoever denieth me before Men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven His Answer is This we may say that whatsoever a Subject is compell'd to in obedience to his Soveraign and does it not in order to his own Mind but the Law of his Country the Action is not his but his Soveraign's nor is it he that in this Case denies Christ before Men but his Governour and the Laws of his Country But can any Man that in good earnest pays any degree of Reverence to our Blessed Saviour and his Religion think to baffle such plain Words by so frivolous an Answer There is no Man doubts but if the Magistrate should command Men to deny Christ he would be guilty of a great Sin in so doing but if we must obey God rather than Men and every Man must give an account of himself to God how will this excuse him that denies Christ or breaks any other Commandment of God upon the Command of the Magistrate And to put the matter out of all doubt that our Saviour forbids all that will be his Disciples upon pain of Damnation to deny him tho the Magistrate should command them to do so it is very observable that in that very place where he speaks of confessing or denying him before Men he puts this very Case of their being brought before Kings and Governours for confessing him Matth. 10. 17. Beware says he of Men for they will deliver you up to the Council and they will scourge you in their Synagogues and ye shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my sake for a testimony against them and the Gentiles But what Testimony would this be against them if Christians were bound to deny Christ at their Command But our Saviour goes on and tells them how they ought to demean themselves when they were brought before Kings and Governours v. 19. But when they shall deliver you up take ye no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in that very hour what ye shall speak But what need of any such extraordinary Assistance in the case if they had nothing to do but to deny him when they were required by the Magistrate to do it And then proceeding in the same Discourse he bids them v. 28. Not to fear them that can kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do that is not to deny him for fear of any Temporal Punishment or Suffering the Magistrate could inflict upon them but to fear and obey him who can destroy Body and Soul in Hell And upon this Discourse our Saviour concludes v. 32 33. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in Heaven but whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven And now can any thing be plainer than that our Saviour requires his Disciples to make Confession of him before Kings and Governours and not to deny him for fear of any thing which they can do