think of that never-ending Duration of Torment to come that after we have consumed Millions of Millions of Ages on the Rack we have still an eternal Hell behind and are as far distant from the End of our Misery as we were when it first began O! now if we could die and be insensible for ever what welcome Tidings would it be how gladly should we receive that fatal Blow that could put an End to a woful Eternity But now it will be in vain for us to cry O Death Death have mercy upon us and dispatch us quickly into an eternal Grave For Death is deaf and cannot hear every Moment it stabs and wounds but woe is me it cannot kill it strikes and strikes but cannot strike home and so is forced to continue as strugling under the Pangs of an immortal Death If there were any Prospect of an End of our Misery though it were after a Million of Ages this would give some Ease to the languishing Sufferer But never never O how that fatal Word stabs the wretched Soul and rankles its Anguish into eternal Desparation For to be in extream Misery and see no End of it is the Perfection of Hell and the utmost Possibility of Damnation And thus have I endeavoured to represent unto you the fearful Mulcts our Souls are liable to in the other World which are such as one would think were sufficient to awaken the most stupid and insensible Creature II. I now pass on to the second thing proposed which was to shew you upon what Accounts it is that our Souls are liable to these dreadful Things or what it is that exposes us to the Danger of them In general it is our own Sin and Wickedness which doth not only incense the holy God against us who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity and provoke and urge him to inflict these endless Miseries upon us as the just Retributions of our desperate Folly and Obstinacy but doth also by its own natural Causality prepare us for and sink us into that miserable State So that if God should not damn us yet our own Wickedness would the Misery of Damnation being little else but the Perfection and Consummation of Sin For the Sting of eternal as well as temporal Death is Sin and it is Goodness and Wickedness that makes Heaven and Hell those two opposite Hemispheres of the Invisible World and as if Goodness were plucked out of Heaven it would cease to be Heaven and be overcast immediately with the dismal Shades of Hell so if Wickedness were banished out of Hell it would be Hell no longer but presently clear up into Light and Serenity and shine forth into a glorious Heaven But wheresoever Sin and Wickedness reigns there is Hell and Damnation in its necessary Causes Since therefore in necessary Causes that which is the Cause of the Cause is also the Cause of the Effect our best way to be resolved what it is that renders us liable to these future Miseries will be to enquire what it is that renders us liable to fall into a sinful Condition at the present for whatsoever renders us liable to Sin must necessarily expose us to the Danger of Misery Now the Danger of our falling into and continuing in a State of Sin proceeds from these following Causes 1. From the natural Liberty of our Wills to Good and Evil. 2ly From the many Temptations to Evil among which we are placed 3ly From the more close and intimate Access which these Temptations have to us than the contrary Motives to Goodness 4ly From the great Correspondence of these Temptations with the corrupt Inclinations of our Nature 5ly From the unwearied Diligence and great Subtilty of the Devil to make Use of and apply these Temptations to us 6ly From the plausible Pretences we are furnished with to excuse and justify our Compliance with them 7ly From the extream Difficulty which this our Compliance brings us under to reject and vanquish them for the future 1. We are liable to fall into a sinful State and from thence into eternal Misery from the natural Liberty of our Wills to Good and Evil. If indeed we were necessarily determined to Good our Happiness would be intailed upon our Natures and it would be as impossible for us to be miserable as it is for the Fire to freeze or for the Ice to burn but to be so determined I am apt to think is not consistent with the condition of a Creature For to be good by a natural Necessity requires an infallible Understanding or a Mind that is infinitely removed from all Possibility of being deceived and mistaken and this no finite Mind can be But how should the Will be in all particulars necessarily determined to what is Right so long as it is under the Conduct of a fallible Mind that hath a natural Possibility of misleading it So that to be naturally necessarily and essentially good seems to be an incommunicable Prerogative of the Divine Nature according to that of our Saviour There is none good save one and that is God Luke 18.19 For since no Will can be essentially good but that which is guided by an infallible Mind and no Mind can be essentially infallible but that which is infinite in Knowledge it hence necessarily follows that to be free to Good and Evil is as natural to reasonable Creatures as it is to be finite in Knowledge and Understanding 'T is true the greater Light of Knowledge there is in the Mind the less Freedom to Evil there must be in the Will unless it hath some antecedent Biass and Inclination to Evil and consequently the Angels being of far more intelligent Natures than we Men must needs be naturally less free to Evil but yet that even they are naturally free to it is evident for that some of them have actually lapsed into Devils and if they are so by their Natures then much more are we by ours who are so much their Inferiours in the rational World For as we are finite Intelligences we must necessarily have some Degree of Freedom to Evil in us but as we are of the lowermost Rank of Intelligences we must naturally have greater Degrees of this Freedom in us than any other Order of intelligent Natures And if this were all yet this very Condition of our Natures renders us more liable to degenerate into an evil and sinful State than any other kind of reasonable Creatures If we were now in a State of perfect Innocence yet of all intelligent Creatures we should have the greatest Reason to apprehend the Danger of our Fall because being the least intelligent we have the greatest Freedom to Evil and consequently are on that Account in the greatest danger of falling into it By the very Condition of our Natures we are of all rational Creatures placed nearest to the Brinks of the fatal Precipice and therefore have most Reason to apprehend the Danger of falling headlong into it For doubtless among innocent
to plunge our selves into all those endless Miseries which the loss of our Souls implies What then remains but that being seriously affected with the Sense of our Danger we presently awake out of our Security and with the deepest Concern for our immortal Souls cry out with St. Peter's Auditors Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved Verisly when I reflect upon the strange Unconcernedness of Men about their future Condition I am tempted to think either that they do not believe that they have an immortal Soul in them or that if they do they believe it is impossible it should for ever miscarry For how is it conceivable that Men who in other matters are so solicitous when their Interest is at Stake and exposed to the least Hazard should believe that they have Souls in Danger of perishing for ever and yet take no more Care or Regard of them but like the forgetful Mother who when her House was on Fire to save her Goods forgot her Child lay out all their thoughts upon the little Concerns of this frail and mortal Life and in the mean time forget their precious Souls and leave them perishing in the Flames of Perdition O stupid Creature what art thou made of that canst consider that thou hast an immortal Soul surrounded with so many Dangers of being lost for ever and yet be no more concerned for its Preservation Methinks if thou hadst any Sense in thee having a Prospect of such endless Miseries before thee the remotest Possibility of falling into them should be enough to startle and awake thee but when thou art so near the Brink of those Miseries and hast so many Causes round about thee shoving thee forward and thrusting thee headlong down into them and yet be no more concerned at it is such a Prodigy of sensless Stupidity as Heaven and Earth may justly be astonished at 'T is true if the Danger thou art in were such as is impossible to be evaded it would then be the wisest Course thou couldst take to concern thy self as little as may be about it but rather to live merrily whilst thou mayst and not antedate thy Misery by thinking of the dismal Futurity But God be praised this is not our Case though our Condition be dangerous yet it is far from desperate for if we will use our honest Endeavour and vigorously exert the Faculties of our Nature we not only may but shall escape There are indeed a great many Causes of our Danger a great many Enemies concurring to our Ruin but none of these are able to effect it unless we our selves joyn hands in the fatal Conspiracy If we will be but faithful Friends to our selves and true to our own eternal Interest it will be beyond the power of all those Causes together to do us any material Injury For blessed be the good God those that are for us are far greater and mightier than those that are against us against us we have the World the Flesh and the Devil the weakest of which is I confess a dangerous and puissant Enemy but for us we have God and Angels and our own Reason assisted with the most invincible Motives with vast and glorious Promises that stand beckoning to us with Crowns of Immortality in their Hands to call us off from the Pursuit of our Lusts to the Practice of Virtue and Religion with direful Threatnings that are continually Alarming and warning us of the dreadful Consequents of our Sins and sundry other such mighty I had almost said Almighty Motives as if we would seriously attend to would certainly render our Souls impregnable against all the Temptations of Vice And besides our Reason thus Armed and Accountered we have on our side the Holy Angels of God who are always ready to prompt us to and assist us in our Duty and to second us in all our spiritual Combats against the Enemies of our Souls And besides all these we have with us the Almighty Spirit of God who upon our sincere Desires and honest Endeavours is engaged to aid us and co-operate with us in working out our Salvation whose Grace is abundantly sufficient for us to strengthen us in our Weakness to support us under our greatest Difficulties and carry us on victoriously through the most violent Temptations And being back't with such mighty Auxiliaries how is it possible that we should miscarry unless we are resolved to betray our selves and give fire to the fatal Trains of our Enemies and if we are so bent there is no Remedy for our Obstinacy and it is just and fit we should be left to the dismal and pitiless Effect of our own Folly and Madness For if when we see our sleves in so much danger and it is yet in our Power to escape if we please we will notwithstanding precipitate our selves into Ruin all the World must agree upon an impartial Inquisition for the Blood of our Souls that we murdered our selves that God is just and that his hands are clean from any stain of our Blood and that our own Ruin is wholly owing to our own invincible Obstinacy III. I proceed now to the Third Proposition That our renouncing of Christ and his Religion will most certainly infer the loss of our Souls For as I have shewed you these Words are urged by our Saviour as a Motive to deter his Disciples from forsaking him as is plain from Ver. 24 25. which necessarily supposes that upon their forsaking him this Loss would most certainly and inevitably follow In the Prosecution therefore of this Argument I shall endeavour these two things 1. To shew you what that forsaking of Christ is which infers this Loss 2. Upon what Accounts our thus forsaking him infers it 1. What that forsaking of Christ is which infers this Loss To which I answer there is a Four-Fold Forsaking of Christ which the Scripture takes notice of as capital and damnable to the Souls of Men. 1. When we forsake him by a total Apostacy 2ly When we cowardly renounce the Profession of his Doctrine or any Part of it notwithstanding we still believe and are convinced of the Truth of it 3. When by obstinate Heresy we either add to or subtract from the Faith of Christ 4ly When by any wilful Course of Disobedience we do vertually renounce the Authority of his Laws 1. We lose and forfeit our Souls when we forsake Christ by a total Apostacy from him When after we have been Baptized into his Name and thereby have made a visible Profession of our believing his Doctrines and obeying his Laws we turn Runagadoes and cast off our Belief of the one and disown our Obligation to the other we do most justly incur the Loss and Forfeiture of our Souls For so strong and cogent is the Evidence of Christianity that it is not to be supposed that any professed Christian can be either innocently or excusably seduced into a Disbelief of it For Religion being a Matter of the vastest Moment and Concern
can urge at the Judgment-Seat of Jesus Christ which here hath not been fully answered And if so how inexcusable shall we be when we come to plead our own Cause in the great Assembly of Spirits For when these Aggravations of our Disobedience shall be laid open our Guilt will apear so foul and monstrous that we shall doubtless be condemned by the unanimous Vote of all the Reasonable World and as soon as the great Judge hath pass'd his Sentence upon us our own Consciences will be forc'd to eccho Just and righteous art thou O Lord in all thy Ways Wherefore as we would not be found inexcusably guilty when we come to plead for our Lives before the Tribunal of our Saviour let us all be perswaded to return to his Service and faithfully to continue in it that so instead of Goye cursed we may hear from his Mouth that welcome Approbation Well done good and profitable Servants enter into the Joy of your Master III. I come now the last Proposition in the Text viz. And we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only Son of the Father In handling of which I shall do these two Things 1. Explain to you what this Glory of the Word was which the Apostle tells us they beheld 2. Shew you that it was the Glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father 1. What was the Glory of the Word which the Apostle tells us they beheld I answer in general By this Glory here must be understood something that is resemblant to the Glory of his dwelling in the Tabernacle because as I have already shewed you the Apostle seems plainly to refer it in that he doth not only tell us that the Word tabernacled among us which alludes to his Tabernacling among the Jews but he also tells us that they saw his Glory which alludes to that Glory of the Lord which the Jews beheld in that ancient Tabernacle Since therefore the Apostle mentions this Glory of the Word Incarnate by way of Allusion to the Glory of his Divine Presence in the Tabernacle it must necessarily bear some Resemblance or Proportion to it because else it would be no proper Allusion The best Way therefore for us to discover what this Glory of Christ was which they beheld is to consider wherein the Glory of the Divine Presence in the Tabernacle did chiefly discover it self and that you shall find was in these four Things First In a bright and luminous Appearance Secondly In exerting of an extraordinary Power Thirdly In giving Laws and Oracles Fourthly In sensible Significations of its own immaculate Sanctity and Purity And in Proportion and Correspondence to these the Glory of the Word Incarnate also must consist in these four Things 1st In the visible Splendor and Brightness with which his Person was arrayed at his Baptism and more especially at his Transfiguration 2dly In Those great and stupendous Miracles that he wrought in the Course of his Ministry 3dly In the incomparable Purity and Goodness of his Life 4thly In the surpassing Excellency and Divinity of his Doctrine 1st That Glory of the Word which St. John and the Apostles beheld consisted in that visible Splendor and Brightness with which his Person was arrayed at his Baptism and more especially at his Tranfiguration in Resemblance to that visible Splendor and Brightness in which he appeared in the Mosaick Tabernacle where it is frequently said that the Glory of the Lord abode and appeared as you may see Exod. 24.16 40.34 Which Glory t 's evident discovered its self in an extraordinary visible Splendor that shone from between the Cherubims and diffused it self thence all over that sacred Habitation And accordingly in Ezek. 43.2 it is said that the Glory of the God of Israel came from the Way of the East and the Earth shone with his Glory which denotes that it was extraordinary bright and luminous since the Earth shone with the very Reflection of it And in this same glorious Splendor was Christ arrayed first at his Baptism and afterwards at his Transfiguration For at his Baptism it is said that the Heavens were open'd unto him and that he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him Matth. 3.16 where by the Holy Ghost's descending like a Dove it is not necessary we should understand his descending in the Shape or Form of a Dove but that in some glorious Form or Appearance he descended in the same manner as a Dove descends and therefore St. Luke expresses it thus And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily Shape like a Dove upon him Luke 3.22 that is he descended in some very glorious and visible Appearance in the same Manner as Doves are wont to descend when they come down from the Skes and pitch upon the Earth But what that Shape was in which he appeared is not here expressed but that which seems to be most probable is this that the Holy Ghost assuming a Body of Light or surrounded as it were with a Guard of Angels appearing in luminous Forms came down from above just as a Dove with his Wings Spread forth is observed to do and lighted upon our Saviour's Head and the Reason why I think so is this both because where-ever any mention is made of God's or the Holy Ghost's appearing in an indefinite Form it is always in a Body of Light and visible Splendor of which I have given you sundry Instances and also because it seems to have been a very early Tradition in the Church that it was in a very glorious Appearance of Light that the Holy Ghost came down upon our Saviour And therefore in the Gospel of the Nazarens as Grotius observes it 's said that upon the Holy Ghosts Descent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immediately a great Light shone round about the Place and Justin Martyr speaking of our Saviour's Baptism saith expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there was a Fire lighted in the River Jordan that is the Water immediately after he was baptized in it seemed to be all on Fire by the Reflection of that bright and flaming Appearance in which the Holy Ghost descended upon him so that while he wore this Crown of visible Light his Head as the Painters are wont to express it was circled round with the Rays of that Glory in which he was wont to appear from between the Cherubims And this Glory of his was questionless seen by many of the Apostles who were sundry of them Disciples to John the Baptist and so may reasonably be supposed to be present at the Baptism of our Saviour And as for his Transfiguration upon Mount Tabor it is said that upon it his Face did shine as the Sun and that his Raiment was white as the Light or as St. Luke expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is his Raiment was like the Whiteness of a Flash of Lightning Luke 9.29 So that from Head to Foot he was all inrobed in a visible Glory and
to the People and that in so doing he not only gave them a Right but also laid on them an Obligation to Read them I have already shewed If therefore the Reading the Scripture by the People be such an unavoidable In let of Error and Heresie as this Objection pretends it was doubtless very unadvisedly done of God to publish such a dangerous Book to the World which those for whom he published and to whom he directed it cannot familiarly converse with without eminent Peril of being infected with Heresie And if the Scripture be such a quarrelsome Knife as these Men say it is that the People can hardly touch it without cutting their Fingers they are certainly more beholding to the Church for taking it from them than they are to God for bestowing it on them 3. This Objection makes as much at least against the Priests Reading the Scripture as the People For most of those Heresies that have been broacht to the People were first brewed by the Priests from whose Lips the People do commonly derive their Errors as well as their Knowledge Witness those famous Heresies with which the Christian World hath been so distracted from one Generation to another such as the Novatian the Donatist the Arian the Pelagian the Eutichian the Eunomian all which Counterfeits and a great many more were first coined by the Clergy and dispersed for current Christianity among the Laity And therefore if this Pretence that the Reading of Scripture opens a Gap to Heresie be a sufficient Reason why the Laity should not Read it it is a much more sufficient Reason why the Clergy should not Read it For it requires Skill and Learning as well to wrest the Scripture into such false Senses as are likely to impose upon the World as to interpret it into its true Sense and I am very sure that it ordinarily requires more Wit and Art to extort from the Scripture probable Errors than it doth to discover by it necessary Truth and if so then if the danger of letting in Heresies is a true Reason why any should not Read it it is much more a true Reason why the Learned should not Read it than the Vnlearned and confequently why the Priests should not Read it than the People seeing the former are more qualified to extract Heresies from it than the later If therefore this Objection signifie any Thing it must be this That it is a very dangerous thing for any Body to Read the Bible that this same Divine Book which God thought fit to publish to the World and which the Primitive Church thought fit to oblige all that were able to Peruse and Study is now become such a dangerous Inlet of Heresie that like Pandora's Box you can no sooner open it but Swarms of Errors and False Doctrines will presently fly abroad into the World so that it would be very well for the World if it were either utterly extinguished or hid in some inaccessible Repository where no Mortal Eye might ever approach it 4 This Objection expresly contradicts our Saviour and the Primitive Fathers For Matt. 22.29 our Saviour tells the Sadducees who were cavilling with him about the Resurrection Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures Had therefore the Sadducees been of the same Mind with our Objectors they would doubtless have told him by your good Leave Sir in this Point you your self are in an Error for in all Probability had we known the Scripture or been intimately acquainted with it we should have err'd much more Either therefore our Saviour was mistaken in charging the Errour of the Sadducees upon their Ignorance of Scripture or our Objectors are mistaken in making it so necessary an Expedient for the Prevention of Error to forbid the People being acquainted with Scripture for 't is plain He and They are of quite Different Opinions in the Case But whatever their Opinion is I am sure the Primitive Fathers were of the same Opinion with our Saviour For Irenaeus writing of the Valentinian Hereticks * Lib. 3. c. 12. All those Errors they fall into because they know not the Scriptures So St. Jerom †In Ep. ad Ephes l. 3. c. 4. We must search the Scriptures with all Diligence that so as being good Exchangers we may know the lawful Coyn from the Copper And elsewhere That infinite Evils arise from Ignorance of the Scriptures and that from this Cause the greatest Part of Heresies have proceeded St. Chrysostom is of Opinion that if Men would be conversant with the Scriptures and attend to them they would not only not fall into Errors themselves but be able to rescue those that are deceived and that the Scriptures would instruct Men both in right Opinions and good Life And to name no more Theophilact tells us that nothing can deceive them who search the Holy Scriptures for that saith he is the Candle whereby the Thief is discovered But it seems according to Modern Experiments this Candle of Scripture rather serves to light the Thief into the House than to discover him when he is there and therefore it is thought necessary for honest Men's security either that it should be wholly extinguished or at least hinder'd from giving Light by being shut up in a dark Lanthorn of an Vnknown Tongue But when they who were once the honest Men are become the Thieves it is no wonder that they should thus change their Note and complain of the Light of this Candle as dangerous to them which heretofore they esteemed their greatest Securith I am sure the Reason assigined by St. Peter why some Men wrested the Scriptures to their own Destruction was not their reading the Scripture but contrary wise their not reading it enough which they that are unlearned saith he wrest to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 Vnlearned in what Why doubtless in the Holy Scripture For as to humane Learning St. Peter himself was as unlearned as they and if it were their being unlearned in Scripture that occasioned them to wrest it into an heretical Sense then it is not Mens reading the Scripture that leads them into Heresy but their not reading it enough To say therefore that the Peoples reading the Scripture is an Inlet of Heresy and to say no it is not their reading it but their not reading it enough is the Inlet of Heresy is an express Contradiction the former our Objectors say the later our Saviour his Apostles and the Primitive Church say and I think it is no hard Matter to determine which of these two Contradictions we ought to believe 5. And lastly According to this Objection the best Way to keep Men from being Hereticks is to deprive them of all Means of arriving at the Knowledge of the Truth And this I confess is a very certain Way though not a very Honest one Let Men know nothing of Religion and to be sure they cannot be Hereticks it being impossible for Men to err in their Conceptions of those Things whereof
Number of Masses Requiems and Indulgencies as will in all Probability soon procure his Dismission from those temporary Sufferings into eternal Happiness How odly soever this Doctrine may appear to his Reason to be sure it will be charming enough to his Lusts and when once a Mans Lusts are retained the Cause is half carried at the Bar of his Judgment And so in all other Instances it is a great Disadvantage to true Religion and as great an Advantage to false that Mens Faith and Reason are so much swayed and byass'd by their Lusts For though there is no Religion can be true but what is pure and holy yet it is the Holiness of true Religion that doth provoke their Lusts against it and 't is their Lusts that do provoke their Reason and when all is done there is nothing doth more strongly incline or frequently pervert depraved and wicked Minds to false Religion than its Complyance with their vicious Affections though this very Thing is one of the most certain Signs in Nature of its Falshood 3. Living in any known Course of Sin deprives Men of the greatest Encouragements to Constancy and Steadfastness in the true Religion For doubtless the highest Encouragement to Perseverance in the Truth against all Oppositions and Temptations is the Hope of those glorious Rewards that await them in the World to come 'T was this that guarded the Faith of the antient Martyrs safe through all the Rage and Cruelty of their Persecutors their having an Eye to the Recompence of Reward the Sight of which inspired the drooping Souls with an invincible Courage made them despise Racks and Wheels and Flames and exalt and triumph under the most exquisite Torments And indeed what less Encouragement than the Hope of being eternally happy within a few Moments could have enabled a Company of tender Virgins delicate Matrons infirm and aged Bishops to endure those long and dolorous Martyrdoms as many times they did when their Tormentors took their turns from Morn to Night and plyed them with all Kinds of Tortures till oftentimes they were forced to give over and confess themselves overcome either through Weariness or Compassion But now by indulging our selves in any known Course of Sin we throw away this Sovereign Cordial and leave our selves naked and destitute of all the mighty Supports it is able to give us under any Temptation to Apostacy For how can we hope for any Good from God and much less for so great a Good as a Heaven of immortal Joys amounts to whilst we persist in open Rebellion against him especially when he hath expresly suspended this mighty Recompence upon our constant and faithful Obedience to his Will and told us plainly before hand that we might know what to trust to that if we fail of this he will be so far from admitting us into that Place and State of Blessedness that he will banish us for ever from his Presence into outer Darkness and eternal Wretchedness and Despair When by wilful Sin therefore we have cast away our hope of Heaven what have we left to support our Constancy to the Truth if ever we should be called to suffer for it How can it be expected that rather than renounce our Religion we should be contented to part with our Goods or Liberties or Lives when all our Hope is shut up in this Life and we have no Prospect of Compensation either here or hereafter If ever therefore we would be stedfast to the Truth against all Temptations we must above all Things take Care by a holy Life to cherish and keep alive the Hopes of Heaven in our Breasts which is the only Anchor that can hold and secure us in a stormy Sea from making Shipwrack of our Faith 4. Living in any known Course of Sin weakens the natural Force of Mens Consciences which is the greatest Restraint from Apostacy Indeed for Men to apostatize from their Religion to secure their worldly Interest is a Thing so base and infamous so foul an Instance of a cowardly degenerous and prostitute Soul that if a Man were under no other Restraint but only that Sense of Honour that is lodged in all brave Minds he would scorn so mean so poor a Condescention But yet when all is done there is no such powerful Restraint upon Men as that of a good Conscience which is the natural Bridle by which God curbs our head-strong Nature and keeps it from flying out into all the wild Extravagancies it is inclined to For it is from God and in God's stead that Conscience acts who is the most powerful Being in the World When it commands it is with God's Authority when it rebukes it is with God's Majesty when it applauds it is with God's Complacency It proceeds not upon Principles of mere Policy or Prudence which require us to act this way now and anon the contrary as Circumstances after but upon the awful Principles of Divinity which oblige us by all that we can hope or fear for ever and require of us the self same Things and Actions in all Circumstances and the sole Reason it insists on is the Will of God whose Pleasure or Displeasure can make us happy or miserable for ever The Voice of Conscience is not This I judge most expedient for thee to do and this to avoid but this thou must do and this avoid as thou tenderest the Love of God and dreadest his everlasting Hatred and Revenge And it is no less than eternal Bliss that Conscience allures our Hope with and eternal Vengeance that it alarms our Fear with and if Men will not be withheld by such powerful Restraints as these what can withold them Whilst therefore a Man cherishes his Conscience by complying with it and follows its Directions this if any Thing will secure his stedfastness to the Truth against all Temptations whilst this hath any Power over him he will as soon eat Fire as sacrifice his Faith to his Interest For for a Man to renounce his Religion upon any Prospect of temporal Gain or Loss is such a flagitious Violation of all that is Sacred such a monstrous Instance of High-Treason against God such an open Blasphemy of his Truth such a bold Defyance of his Majesty and in a word such a Complication of vile Perfidy base Ingratitude and impious Falsehood that but to think of it is like looking down from a stupendous Precipice that swims the Head and strikes the Mind with Horror and Amazement so that while a Man's Conscience hath any Power over him he will no more be able to prevail with himself to commit the one than to throw himself headlong down from the other whilst he is under the Horror of the Prospect and he will find it so much more easy to endure the worst of Persecutions than to commit such an Outrage and Violence on his Conscience and undergo those horrible Reflections and stinging Remorses that must follow it But after a Man by wilful Sinning hath often wounded
ill Daughter of a bad Mother a debauched and a dissolute Conscience and consequently partaking of all its natural Bane and Malignity even as all other bad Effects do of the malignant Nature of their bad Causes But the Truth of this will more fully appear by considering the particular Evils which Mens Inconstancy to and Proneness to revolt from the true Religion implies of which I shall give you these five Instances 1. The great Impiety of it 2. The desperate Folly of it 3. The foul Dishonesty of it 4. The shameful Cowardize of it 5. The vast Hazard and Insecurity of it 1. Consider the great Impiety of it He who can part with his Religion or any Principle of it upon any other Terms than a full Conviction of the Falshood of it is either a down-right Atheist who believing no Religion to be true governs himself by this Principle That the wisest Course is to profess none but that which is uppermost and most for his Interest or a prophane and impious Wretch who though he believes his own Religion true exchanges it for another which he believes to be false upon no other Consideration but so much temporal Advantage to boot By which he plainly declares that in the Ballance of his Estimation the Odds between Truth and Falshood the Declarations of God and the Impostures of the Devil is so inconsiderable that the least Addition of the transitory Goods of this World to the later renders it of sufficient Weight to turn the Scale against the former and that for his part he is not much concerned whether the Almighty be his Friend or Foe and provided he may but enjoy his Ease and Pleasure a few Years longer here he is very well contented to part with all his Hopes and Interest in God for ever For this is the natural Construction of Mens Apostacy from the true Religion in Consideration of their worldly Interest that that Interest is in their Esteem far more eligible than God with all his Power and Goodness that it is better to be without God in the World than without Preferment and that that Man makes a very good Bargain who gets a good place in Exchange for his Maker and with the treacherous Judas fells his Saviour though it be but for thirty pieces of Silver Which is such a monstrous Degree of Impiety as one would think should be sufficient to scare and affright the most couragious Sinner that hath but the least Apprehension of God or Sense of Good and Evil. But then 2. Consider the desperate Folly of Mens abandoning their Religion in Complyance with their vicious Affections For he who without through Conviction abandons the Profession of his Religion whether it be true or false doth together with that most certainly abandon all the blessed Rewards and incur all the dreadful Penalties that true Religion promises and denounces because though his Religion perhaps may be false yet in renouncing it whilst he believes it true his Will doth as maliciously renounce the true Religion as if it really were so He thought it true and yet renounc'd it by which he plainly declares that if it had been true he would have renounced it so that whether it be true or false it 's all one to him his Will is the same his Crime and Guilt the same it is true Religion he intentionally renounces and therefore in so doing he doth intentionally renounce all his Concern and Interest in true Religion Now what a desperate piece of Folly is this for a Man to part with all his Stock in the Common Bank of Religion which if it be not a down right Sham and Imposture is of everlasting Moment and Concern to him only for a present Gratification of some vain and unreasonable Lust to divorce himself for ever from the Love of God to quit all Title and Interest in the precious Blood of the Saviour of the World only to curry a short-lived Favour with Men with Men whose Breath is in their Nostrils and who within a few Days or Years must go off the Stage and leave us here perhaps forlorn and destitute To part with all my glorious Hopes of Heaven which are my best Heaven upon Earth and which is worse with Heaven it self where I have Treasures of Bliss sufficient to maintain me in a most happy Port to eternal Ages only to gain or secure a transitory Estate or Preferment which while I have it cannot make me happy and from which erelong I shall be torn and divided and not be a Farthing the better for forever to expose ones self as a publick Spectacle of Scorn and Contempt to God and Angels and all the wise and good Part of the rational World for a short extemporary Blaze of pompous Splendor and Greatness which lies at the Mercy of every Counter-blast of Fortune and in all Probability will e'er long expire in Smoak and Stink Wretchedness and Infamy to plunge ones self head-long into all the Agonies and Torments the Horrors and Desperations of a woful Eternity only to escape a short Persecution and a glorious Martyrdom when a little after perhaps I shall suffer a great deal more and longer under the Gout or Stone or Strangury without the Comfort of dying in a brave Cause and being assured of an immortal Recompence than I could have done under the Hand of the Executioner with it And yet all these mad Pranks that Man plays at once who abandons his Religion in Complyance with his Lusts 3. Consider the soul Dishonesty of it For besides that our Religion being the most sacred Pledg committed to us by God for our own Use and the Use of our latest Posterity we cannot vicously desert and abandon it without betraying of God and falsifying our Trust to him and which is worse without squandering away the most inestimable Good that ever he committed to Men upon our own base Lusts and his most execrable Enemies which is Dishonesty blackned with the foulest Ingratitude Besides this I say by forsaking our Religion in Complyance with any lewd Affection we not only do a dishonest Thing at present but also totally discard the Obligations to Honesty for the future For there is nothing can rationally oblige a Man to be throughly honest but only his Religion or inward Sense that it is his indispensable Duty towards God before whose righteous Tribunal he must one Day give an Account of all his Actions The two great Motives of humane Action are Religion and worldly Interest Now as for Religion that consists of fix'd and unalterable Principles which will by no Means ply or bend to the Alterations of outward Affairs and Circumstances but do in all Conditions move and oblige us with equal Force and vigour whereas Worldly Interest is a fickle and mutable Thing that varies and alters with every outward Turn and Revolution So that that which is my Interest to Day may prove my Damage to Morrow and if it should whatever Part I act to
Resemblance of a sincere Conversion for till his Interest struck in with them they signified nothing with him made not the least Impression on his Mind but being back'd with that all on a suddain they are wondrous cogent and persuasive from whence it is evident that they received their Strength and Force from his Interest without the Air of which they are not able to operate and consequently that the Change of his Faith is owing to the over-ruling Interest of his Covetousness and Ambition and not at all to the Prevalence of Reason and sincere Conviction For 't was that Interest that strongly inclined him to change before ever he knew any Reason for it and then 't was that Inclination that made his Reasons and created his Convictions and let him talk what he pleases of Reason Scripture and Authority if he was strongly inclined to change before he was moved to it by Reason and Evidence it is plain that the prevailing Motive of his Conversion was either the Fear of losing some good warm Place or the Hope of gaining some important Station or Preferment And if this be found the Truth of his Case when he comes to appear before the Tribunal of God it had been a thousand times better for him that he had never been born for then he will be found a base Deserter of his God a treacherous Judas to his Saviour and a perfidious Renegado from his Religion and according to the Quality of his Sin and Guilt receive his Portion of Damnation 4. Consider whether before you entertained any Intention to change you were fully resolved impartially to consult both sides of the Question I doubt there are too many among us that first resolve to change their Religion and then begin to enquire after Reasons and Arguments against it and that their Resolution to change is so far from being the Effect of sincere Conviction that their Conviction is the Effect of their Resolution First Some vile Affection or some temporal Interest recommends another Religion to them that either gives them leave to be wicked without Remorse or Disturbance or promises them Gain and Advancement upon which they resolve right or wrong to entertain and embrace it and then to excuse themselves to their own Consciences or to vindicate their Reputation to the World from the Scandal of being down-right Apostates they fall a hunting after Reasons and Arguments to convince themselves of the Truth of it or at least to make the World believe that it was not their Interest but their Conviction that turned them And when Men thus resolve first and enquire afterwards to be sure their Enquiry will be very partial for being fully resolved to change their Religion upon some vicious or secular Motive it is become their Interest to pick Holes in it and to reason or cavil themselves out of the Belief of it And this makes them shy of bringing the Matter under a fair and impartial Examination lest while they are seeking Reasons to overthrow their Faith they should find Reasons to establish and confirm it So that they begin their Enquiry with these secret Intentions We will listen only to one side of the Cause and leave the other to shift for it self and seek for as many Arguments as we can against our Religion but none for it We will read the Books and consult the Teachers of one side only viz. the opposite side to our present Belief and Persuasion and if among them we can but find Arguments enough to render the contrary Persuasion any way probable we will submit our Faith to it without any farther Enquiry and not trouble our selves to examine the Evidence on the other side for Fear we should be convinc'd in spight of our Teeth that the Truth lies there and then our Conscience will never let us be quiet but be perpetually clamouring against us for base and impious Apostates That this is the foul and hypocritical Intention of too many among us is notorious enough by their Practice they leap from Church to Church and from one Communion to another without any Pause or Consideration they are with us to Day and gone from us to Morrow and are such Mushroom extemporary Converts that before ever we hear they doubted of their own they are confirmed in a contrary Religion In short they steal out of their Religion so softly and with so little Noise that they are commonly gone before ever we hear they are going as if they were afraid we should stop and detain them by better Reasons and fuller Convictions Whereas had these Men any Conscience or Honesty in them they would consider that Religion is a Thing too sacred and serious to be thus dallied and trifled with and that to change ones Religion is a matter of such vast Importance as requires a long and through Consideration and a very clear and full Conviction of Mind that there is too much depends upon it to part with it upon slight Pretences and that it concerns them as much as an Eternity of Bliss amounts to not to desert it upon any other Inducement but that of a through well-weighed Persuasion of Conscience And if they had had any such honest Thoughts about them while they were under the Temptation to change they would never have admitted any Doubt of their Religion but upon great and palpable Evidence and then they would have doubted long before they would have concluded against it and not have precipiated their Judgment hand over head into a contrary Persuasion till they had first applied themselves for Resolution again and again to their old Guides and Pastors and with all due Deference to their Authority had strictly examined all their Reasons and Answers till they had throughly inspected their Arguments pro and con and equally heard both sides of the Cause till they had read advised and consulted on both sides and weighed the whole Matter over and over with the greatest Care and Exactness But when Men run away from their Religion in an Instant without ever observing this regular Process of sincere Enquiries it is a plain Case that their Wills were resolved before their Understandings and that they were converted before ever they were convinced and consequently that it was not Reason and Conviction that turned them but Lust or Interest For though when they are turned they may perhaps be very diligent to seek Conviction yet this is only an After-game which they are fain to play to save their Conscience or their Reputation 5. Consider before you entertain any Intention to change Whether it be your unfained Intention whatever shall happen to you to adhere to that side which shall appear most reasonable Perhaps you are not yet arrived to that Height of Impiety as to resolve right or wrong to change your Religion whether you find it true or false upon a just and fair Examination for this is such an horrible defiance of God such an express and absolute Renunciation of all that is