they did This as they ought they would find that there are as I shew in the Discourse certain Qualifications and Conditions requisite to True Christian Suffering and that without These no Man can justly pretend to It and if any should challenge the Title they would certainly miss of the Crown of the Martyr But enough of This I wish You do not think it more than enough howsoever it be I am satisfied of Your Candor and Goodness and depend upon These Your Patronage and Favourable Acceptance I do now stand in need of and do greatly value and do here beg I must confess I cannot be sorry for what I have done indeed I must have offer'd violence to my Nature and could not have easily excus'd my self had I not now that so fair an Opportunity presents it self us'd my Endeavours my Honest tho Mean Endeavours to convince Men of their Errours and let them see the Injustice of their Clamours against the Easiest and Best of Governments And why may not the Honesty of my Design bear me out as well as the bare Pretence of it does others I must needs say I see no Reason for it But indeed the Design is not only Honest it is Great and Noble Loud is the Noise and Many are the Complaints of Persecution and I fear of dangerous consequence they are Complaining of the Government being a kind of Libelling and Persecuting it So that to remove These is to Ease the Government to do something towards it is a proportionably Good and Laudable Office and even for him who endeavours it only his Design is as Good and Great though his Success be not That the several Persons by whom These Offences come may become daily more and more satisfied of the Guilt and the Vnwarrantableness of them and that You may long continue among us for This and other Excellent Purposes That we may long see as now we do the Happy Effects of Your Diligence and Faithfulness in Your Administration of Justice of Your Care and Prudence in a very Regular Family and of Your Excellent Example joyn'd to the vigorous Endeavours of the Worthy Pastor in a very Conformable Parish And that Heaven would Bless You and Yours with all Health and Happiness Spiritual and Temporal is the hearty Prayer of Honour'd Sir Your most Obliged and most Obedient Servant John Howell A DISCOURSE ON PERSECUTION OR Suffering for Christ's Sake WHatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just and of good report if they promise any thing of Satisfaction of Complacency and Delight they are readily observ'd they are chearfully obey'd upon the least Intimation or slightest Injunction Men hardly need the Exhortation of a Saviour or an Apostle to think of these things But where there is any thing that suits not with their Interest or their Natures where there is any thing clashes with their Temporal Designs or the Gratification of their Carnal Appetites here they are apt to cry with the Disciples in the Gospel This is a Hard Saying who can hear it or with Naaman the Syrian In This thing the Lord pardon thy Servant The truth is He that in stead of Reason consults only Flesh and Blood cannot very easily yield to the Hurting of the one or the Exhausting of the other To desire the Tortures of the Rack or the Scorchings of the Flames looks like a ridiculous piece of Gallantry an Extravagancy allowable only in Romance or Phrenzy I mean to the meer Carnalist to one that sees not beyond the Grave But whoso looks within himself and has an eye to the Recompense of Reward and perceives the Influence the Aids and Comforts of the Holy Spirit and expects more can if he would please defie his Executioner and dare him into a severer Treatment And indeed if we consider things as we ought we shall find that Happiness and Misery are not to be measured by the Enjoyments or Sufferings of this Life that a Man may in wisdom prefer a Gibbet to a Crown and be happy under the Severities even of an Inquisition For tho Pains and Tortures are uncouth and irksom though they grate upon the Flesh and grieve the Spirit yet Nature her self recommends them to us not only as Expedient but as extremely Desirable as those that will work for us a far Greater a more Certain and more Durable Good for Such they will always prove we may depend upon it when our God who desires our Happiness and is able to procure it appoints them for us We readily assent to our Physicians Prescriptions take Potions tho never so Vnpleasant suffer our Members to be Coup'd Cauteriz'd or otherwise Tortur'd and all in expectation or it may be but Deluding Hopes of an Vncertain Recovery And yet this is no more than what is reasonable no more than what Nature prescribes when she teaches us the Doctrine of Self-preservation when she enclines us to the love of our selves and to the pursuit of our Chiefest Good How much more reasonable therefore is it how much more a Dictate of Nature that we should bear a Light Affliction which is but for a Moment in order to a Great and Sure Reward in order to an Eternity of Happiness the Certain Recompence of Suffering here for Christ as I shall have occasion to shew before I have done with you At present it may suffice to observe That the Apostle looks upon it as an Instance of the Divine Favour which he could not well do if there were not a future Reward annex'd to it Vnto you it is given says he in the behalf of Christ not only to Believe on him but also to Suffer for his sake Phil. 1.29 I shall bring what I have to say into this Order 1. I shall inquire When a Man may be said to suffer for Christ's sake 2. I shall shew That those among us who renounce our Communion and suffer for it do very unjustly pretend to Suffering for Christ 3. I shall shew That all those Christians who suffer rather than they will conform to the Church of Rome do truly and really suffer for Christ Provided always that they do not allow themselves in any known Sins but that they equally heartily forsake them all 4. I shall consider the Excellency and Usefulness of true and real Suffering for Christ 5. And lastly I shall offer some Motives to a resolute and chearful Suffering at what time soever it shall please God to call us thereto 1. Then I am to inquire When a Man may be said to suffer for Christs sake And that will be found to be then and only then when these three Circumstances concur 1. When his Cause is good 2. When he has a Call 3. When he has heartily forsaken all his Sins 1. That a Man may be said to Suffer for Christ's sake 't is requir'd that his Cause be good As no Man ought to Die or think any Suffering acceptable but when 't is for a Truth so all kinds of
being possible as it is to serve Christ and Belial God and Mammon In truth it amazes me to consider how any Man should fancy that he Dies to avoid Sin and yet at that very time entertain and cherish Sin in his Bosom For is it to be imagin'd that he should Die rather than offend God in one Point when he actually offends him in another Is' t to be imagin'd that he should Die for the Love of Christ when he does not shew any Love where he chiefly ought in keeping His Commandments Or in other Words that he should Love the Lord his God with all his Heart when he suffers Sin to lodge there too Believe me vain Man whosoever thou art if This be thy Case thou art under a Delusion For alas one little puny Vice will be enough to keep thee from a Crown and which is worse will be enough to weigh thee down to Hell For there is nothing can alter the Nature of Sin no Sufferings but those of our Saviour can wash away the Guilt of it and nothing but an unfeign'd Repentance can make even These available to thee if thou look pleasantly on any one Sin if thou give it thine Heart and wilt never shake Hands with it thy Sufferings will not Salvation it self cannot save thee Thus I have given as I humbly conceive the true Notion and Requisites of Suffering for Christ And this prepares the way for the second thing propos'd which was 2. To shew That those among us who renounce our Communion and Suffer for it do very unjustly pretend to Suffering for Christ And this we shall easily do from the Principles now laid down For if no Man may be said to Suffer for Christ but he whose Cause is good who has a Call and has heartily Forsaken all his Sins it is visible to the weakest Eye that the Persons I am speaking of do very vainly pretend to it neither of these being their Case For 1. Their Cause is not good They do not Suffer for any Article of Faith nor any Matter of Duty but on the contrary for pure Disobedience to the Laws of the Land And now These do not require any thing to be Believed or Done but what is agreeable with or not contrary to the Laws of God and we are in all such Cases to be subject to the Higher Powers we are to submit to every such Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake So that to disobey the Laws of the Land those I mean which are not purely Penal is in very deed to disobey the Laws of God and if their Transgression of those Laws be not then neither is their Suffering for it in Obedience to the Laws of God and if so we are to look to the Rule That cannot be Suffering for Christ's sake which is not in Obedience to some Law of God 2. They have no Call They are not under a Necessity of Suffering or Sinning Themselves do many of them acknowledge That there 's nothing sinful in our Communion and so many of them I reckon self-condemned and for the rest if they know any thing so let them produce it let them make it appear I am sure they cannot and would they but peruse those Useful and Excellent Discourses which are lately written for their Satisfaction herein they must needs see and if they have any spark of Ingenuity yea or any sense of Religion as I hope they have they must needs acknowledge too the unreasonableness of such a Charge and chuse rather than complain of their Sufferings to repent of the Occasion 3. They have not heartily forsaken all their Sins That Schism is a Sin a great one is allow'd on all hands and that those who divide and separate from us are engag'd in a Schism is not to be deny'd For Schism in plain English is nothing else but Division or Separation and in Scripture-language is the Division of or Separation from the Holy Catholick Church And to suppose that they do not separate from the Catholick Church who separate from Ours which is a sound a pure and considerable part of it is as absurd as it is to imagine that the Hand may be divided cut off from the Arm and yet continue still a Member of the Body So then it is very clear that all those who make a Separation from Our Church forasmuch as it must be a causeless Separation will be found guilty of a very deadly Sin of a Sin that certainly unchurches them destroys their Membership and all their Relation to Christ's Body the Church insomuch that they are very greatly mistaken who think they may suffer for Him in these Circumstances Indeed it is impossible in the Judgment of the Fathers and so it is in the Nature of the Thing for a Man who is out of the Church to suffer in the true Gospel-notion of the Word for Suffering in the Gospel sense presupposes Life in the Gospel-sense That which is dead being void of Sense it feels no Pain apprehends no Evil And now the Man that is out of the Church is perfectly dead in the Gospel-reckoning for he is no Member of Christ's Body and therefore has no Life no Vital Sense or Influences from Him it being with this Mystical Body as it is with the Natural its Vertue and Influence and Vital Powers are confin'd to its own Members and whatsoever is out of the Sphere of its Activity is dead and senseless with respect to It. So then the Schismatick who is never the less out of the Church for his thrusting himself out of it can never suffer as Christ and the Gospel account Suffering because there is no Suffering without Life no Gospel suffering without Gospel-life and no Gospel-life but from Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life and there is nothing of that deriv'd from Christ but what is communicated to His Members I shall not dispute the possibility of the Salvation of those who die in a Schism but this I will say now that I am slidden into this Argument and out of pure Charity and Compassion out of a tender regard to their poor Souls I say it They are out of the ordinary way to Salvation Whether or how far they are some of them excusable for I am apt to believe and forward to allow that some of them are well-meaning and grosly ignorant I say Whether or how far the Ignorance and sincere Endeavours of these will excuse them I leave as I ought to the superabundant Mercy and Goodness of the great Judge of us all and would only advise them seriously and frequently to cast with themselves and put it home to their own Consciences whether they do seek Peace and ensue it in good earnest whether they do endeavour to the utmost of their power to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace whether they do whereto they have already attain'd walk by the same rule and mind the same thing conforming to our Church and
communicating with it as far as their Consciences give them leave If they did this as they cannot deny but they ought to do we might then hope for a general a thorow Union and Conformity we might then expect their Complaints would cease with their Sufferings the Occasion of them for certainly they that will go as far as they may in compliance with the Orders and Offices of our Church can never sit down under a thorow Conformity there being nothing requir'd or expected in our Communion but what is very decent inoffensive and orderly nothing but what may be to the edifying and satisfaction of any Man that has but his Thoughts and Reason about him I proceed 3. To shew That all those Christians who suffer rather than they will conform to the Church of Rome do truly and really suffer for Christ Provided always that they do not allow themselves in any known Sins but that they equally heartily forsake them all For the clearing of this Point likewise I need not say much An easie Reflexion on the Principles foregoing together with some few Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome will abundantly suffice Be it therefore consider'd That where the Laws of any Church or Society of Men do clash and interfere with the Laws of God the Apostolical Rule ought to be ours we are to obey God rather than Man The Reason is plain The Commands of God are directly constantly and universally binding whereas the Laws and Injunctions of Men do no farther oblige than as they agree and square with These If they do and as far as they do run counter to the Laws of God the Matter of them is sinful and they are for that Reason null and void Neither is it in the power of any Humane Law or Dispensation to make them obligatory or lawful And now this is the Case of those Christians who suffer rather than they will conform to the Church of Rome That Church requires several things to be believ'd that ought not to be believ'd as being false and erroneous repugnant to the Doctrines of Christianity and the Light of Reason It requires several things to be perform'd that cannot be perform'd without Sin without a Transgression of a Divine Law insomuch that if She should be obey'd God would be disobey'd an Universal Obedience to both being absolutely impossible Let all things be done to edifying says the Holy Spirit by the Apostle particularly forbidding all Prayers and other Publick Offices in an unknown Tongue Ay but says the Church of Rome you must pray in Latin whether it be edifying or no whether it be a Known or Unknown Tongue Our Saviour said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him Only shalt thou serve As for the worshipping of Angels in particular an Angel forbad it See thou do it not was the Charge of one of them to St. John in the Revelation And as for Saints deceas'd they do not if we will believe the Scripture and it is a part of their Happiness that they do not understand the Affairs of the World Thus Solomon tells us The Dead know nothing at all and Abraham is said to be Ignorant of us And now those that are Ignorant of us and know Nothing relating to us must be very improper Objects of our Prayers But so it is he that will he a Papist must worship Angels he must pray to Gods that neither understand nor hear him to the Souls of Departed Saints and of notorious Miscreants yea and to such Imaginary Men as in all probability had never any Being upon Earth to the verifying of that of the Apostle in the most Literal sense An Idol is Nothing in the world Again The Scripture tells us and it is a considerable part of our Christian Faith That Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the Right-hand of God the Father Almighty and that having continued there till the end of the World from thence he shall come to judge the Quick and the Dead And our Reason tells us that a Body cannot be in two several Places at the same time insomuch that the Angel's Inference was strong and irrefragable He is not here for he is risen And yet in contradiction to the Holy Scripture in contradiction to all Sense and Reason the Church of Rome doth believe and doth exact this Belief of all her Members that he is Bodily present upon Earth where and whenever the Priest shall please to command him down that is to say as often as he shall think fit to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass for Christ himself is that Sacrifice if you 'll believe them and you must eat Him Flesh and Bones and all and believe that you do so at least declare that you believe it if you would pass for a true Roman if you would do as they do And now should you declare your firm Assent to This That you eat the real Body of the Son of God and at the same time believe nothing less why you 'd sin beyond all the Pardons and Indulgences of Rome and nothing but a sincere Repentance could set you right Indeed you would make a Declaration against your own Judgment and be evidently self condemn'd And now this is the Case of those suffering Christians we speak of They know and are assur'd that Prayer in an Unknown Tongue is unedifying and unlawful forbidden by the Apostle and unpractis'd by the Primitive Church They are fully satisfied of the sinfulness of Saint-worship and Angel-worship with the rest of the Idolatrous Practices of the Romish Church They do stedfastly believe that their Saviour is in Heaven there to abide till the Day of Judgment and therefore not on Earth They cannot reconcile the several Contradictions of the Bodily Presence in the Sacrament and being they cannot reconcile them and indeed it is impossible they should they will not nor can they believe them and being they cannot believe them they will not upon any Terms profess that they do These are the Reasons with many others which I forbear to reckon up because I need not I say These are some of the Reasons which prevail with them to stand out against all the Temptations and Terrours of Rome They cannot comply with That Church because their Compliance would be sinful and they therefore suffer because they cannot comply They embrace Suffering not out of choice not for the love of its self but out of a Principle of Obedience out of pure Obedience to plain particular Commands of God So their Cause is Good they would certainly sin if they did not suffer And That is their Call 4. I am now to consider the Excellency and Usefulness of True and real Suffering for Christ And this will appear 1. In that Persecutions and Sufferings for Christ's sake are so far from weakning and depressing Religion that they advance and improve it It must be confess'd that Persecutions may and sometimes do prevail so far as to debar those that
can turn the Heart of the most Persecuting Governour or he can hold his Hand that he shall not hurt us Blessed be God we have no reason to expect or fear any thing like Persecution but on the contrary as we do at present enjoy all the Blessings of an easie Government and a most Gracious Prince so we have abundant reason to hope for and to expect the continuance of them For Mercy and Smoothness sit triumphant on the Royal Brows there is something of the Divine Philanthropy runs in the blood and is adopted into the Royal Line and it is a symptom of an evil Mind to suspect any danger of cruelty or severity there where these good Qualities Reign Let us however put the Case for Argument sake in the very worst Circumstances That a Popish and Tyrannical Prince should Reign over us We must not oppose and fight against him for so we should fight against God For whatever his Opinions whatever his Practices be he is His Vicegerent he is appointed and substituted by Him 'T is not for us then to cry with the Sons of Belial in the Parable We will not have This man to reign over us 'T is not for us to use any Vnwarrantable Means to shut him out No This were to distrust Providence and to fight against it This were to do Evil that Good might come of it and we know the Resolve of all sober judicious Casuists in the Point That we should not commit one single Sin tho 't were to save the whole World from Destruction Now therefore if to Distrust Providence and to Fight against it be as we may reasonably conclude it is a forfeiting all our Title to the Divine Protection what security what grounds of Hope can we have or propose to our selves by any Illegal any Vnchristian Proceedings What can we hope to conquer the Almighty with our Armies or terrifie Him into a compliance with our Wishes Are we stronger than he David said My trust hath been in the Lord therefore shall I not fall So that by the Rule of Contraries we may conclude That if our Trust be not in the Lord we shall fall an unpitied Sacrifice to our own Folly and to an Offended God And indeed God himself has declar'd as much Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my Spirit that they may add sin to sin Isa 30.1 Then far be it from us to take Ill Courses for the Security of our Religion seeing all such must of necessity be uneffectual or if they were not yet that it is more Christian-like and more Prudent to engage God in our cause by an entire Submission to a hearty Acquiescence in his Dispensations for so should we Secure our Religon and our Innocency too and come what would we could but Suffer unto Death when our Religion would Advance by our Fall Spring up and Flourish by our Martyrdom So that it is every whit as Unreasonable as it is Impious to go about to Secure Religion by the breach of its Laws to secure it from Persecutions seeing it is raised promoted and ennobled by them So glorious are the effects so great is the Excellency and the Vsefulness of Suffering for Christ which yet will appear farther if we consider 2. How that it promotes Peace and Unity amongst our selves That Peace and Vnity are Excellent and Amiable I presume needs no proof especially in a Christian Countrey these being the proper badges of Christianity How very apt Persecutions are to Cement and Quiet the Minds of Men let it be our present consideration And we shall certainly find Them the most practicable 't is well if they be not the only Expedient now left for the bringing back of that Vnity which hath so long withdrawn it self is so greatly talked of and yet so little contended for in good earnest by this our Broken and miserably Divided Nation When he must pass for the best Religionist whose Tongue or Pen is keenest and traduces his Neighbour most according to Art When it is the diversion of some the business of others the Custom of very many first to create Differnces and then to maintain them To sow Divisions enflame our Disagreements and to stir up Strife all the day long What cure what remedy more proper for such Feuds and Animosities among us than that which diverts our thoughts another way and employs our Minds in our own concerns Now This is the effect of Suffering for Christs sake This the good Office of our most Cruel Persecutors For while they Persecute us from City to City they give us little leisure or opportunity to fall out by the way whilst they continually Molest and Abuse us we have little stomach or occasion to molest to abuse one another or to draw our Pens I mean unless it be for manifestos of our innocence and in the defence of our common cause So that the Pressures of our Enemies like those on Arched Buildings make our Vnion the firmer and those Storms without us as it were by an antiperistasis produce a Calm within We find this experimentally true in former times When Heathen Persecutors reign'd there was a perfect Harmony and Agreement among Christians They laid aside all Picques and Anomisities between themselves and employ'd their Minds in better thoughts They were in continual expectation of leaving This World and therefore in continual preparation for another The Clouds that hung over their Heads engag'd them as far as they might to keep at home Or if they haply wandered about 't was for their own safety not for the Destruction of their Neighbours their Friends and Countrey-men and Fellow-Christians not for the Destruction of their most bitter Enemies of those very Enemies who made them wander Hence was it that Christians then lived like true Fellow-members of Christ their Head And as they own'd one Common Religion so they embraced one and the same Fate and cheerfully marched together thro the Flames There were then no Separatists no Dissenters among them but and if their Flames like those of the Theban Brethren diffused and spread 't was not out of Enmity or Dislike but for greater Splendor for Triumph Let us in the 3d. place consider the Excellency of Suffering for Christ in those four noble Virtues which are its inseparable attendants namely Fortitude Patience Faith and Love 1. All Suffering for Christ's sake is attended with Fortitude That Christianity obliges us to be Valiant we may learn from St. Paul where he sets out the compleat Armour of a Christian He bids us take the Helmet of Salvation the Word of the Spirit and the Shield of Faith with other such like accoutrements wherewith says he you shall be able to quench all the fiery Darts of the Wicked Now what signifies an Armour to a Dastardly Spirit to one that will not dares not use it I shall take for granted then that as we are
Truth cannot place him that Suffers for them in the number of the Persecuted or indeed justifie or excuse him that Dies for them There are many Truths which don 't at all concern God or Religion and he is accessary to his own Death who freely offers his Life a Sacrifice for them To be of opinion that the Earth is Round and to Die for that Opinion rather than smother it tho he be in the right that asserts it yet is it so far from being a Vertue that 't is utterly inexcusable And for him who lost his Bishoprick upon such an account I cannot tell which to accuse most him of Obstinacy and Folly or his Adversaries of Tyranny Ignorance and incorrigible Stupidity And as those Truths which concern not Religion cannot justifie any Suffering so neither do I hold him unblamable that should lay down his Life for some Trifle some small Puntillo in Religion We reckon not all that Die in the Field good Soldiers and we have as little reason to conclude all that Die in Matters of Religion Martyrs We owe more Respect to the Commandment of God and to the Law of Nature of Self-preservation within us than that we should Destroy our selves for so I must style it upon a Ceremony or Indifferent Point He must be of a very untractable temper who cannot yield to such petty Observances and wink at those Matters wherein there is nothing of Impiety or Immorality nothing but what he himself adjudges Indifferent But whoso Suffers on a Fundamental Point of Religion for an Article of Faith or Matter of Practise and so for the discharge of a sure and good Conscience he it is that is Persecuted for Righteousness for Christ's sake Whatsoever a Mans Sufferings are whether they be by the Cross or by the Flames by Scourgings or by Imprisonments by Slanderings or by Revilings or but the least Indignity whatsoever if this be the Cause our Saviour pronounces him Blessed and he shall be Blessed Blessed are ye says he when men shall Revile you and Persecute you meaning for Righteousness sake which he expressed before So that not onely he that Dies but he that is Revil'd also he that is any way Persecuted for Righteousness sake is so far forth a Sufferer for Christ a Martyr of his But then on the other side he that Suffers upon any any other account when it lies in his power to avoid it what Reward or Applauses soever he may receive from his own Party or Admirers he must not expect any Reward or Approbation of God for he obeys no Command no Injunction of his and has not the least Tittle in his Word to encourage him thereto 2. That a Man may be said to Suffer for Christ's sake 't is requir'd that he have a Call To Suffer for Christ when a Man is put to the severe Dilemma of his Enemies either of Denying Him or Suffering for Him is Laudable Glorious and Honourable but where This may be cautiously avoided where Death may be escap'd with the security of Religion and Reputation here Nature Prudence and Christianity teach us Preservation of Self Without God's Command we cannot Suffer Martyrdom Die we may but not Martyrs Suffer we may but not for Christ's sake for to Suffer for Christ's sake is to Suffer when he requires the same that is to say when Providence has put us under an unavoidable Necessity either of Suffering or Transgressing any Command of His for where there is such a fatal Necessity there is His Call His Appointment His Command to Suffer and it is This that makes the Martyr But and if we chuse Sufferings in any other Case we do it for our own sakes rather than His for the gratification of a Humour it may be not the pleasing Him 'T is our Fault therefore and not our Duty to draw down Evils upon our selves and These can onely entitle us to greater When we run to the Stake without a Call we may thank our selves for the Punishment of our Folly Christ will say Who hath requir'd This at your hands What Commission what Warrant have you from me You are your own Executioners will he say you are your own Murtherers and who must bear the Blame the Punishment but your selves 'T is no part of our Religion what the Romanists reckon of theirs to punish our own Iniquity with the Rod and our Sin with Scourges We have not so learn'd Christ No 't is a Call 't is a Command that must hallow our Sufferings without This we are our own Martyrs not Christ's and for any thing we can learn from his Word those Flames we run into may be but the Passage into Hell Fire I am not ignorant how that some Primitive Christians have out of great zeal invited their Executioner nay forc'd him as it were to do his Office but this was out of a Zeal not according to Knowledge and tho Infinite Goodness may have pardon'd them their Mistake being unaffected their Design noble and their Love pure and Seraphical I say tho God may as he is abundantly gracious have pardon'd accepted the Men yet we have no reason to conclude them Martyrs 3. That a Man may be said to Suffer for Christ's sake 't is requir'd that he have heartily forsaken all his Sins 'T is possible some Men out of a blind mistaken Zeal would readily Die for God and Religion yet very difficultly quit a Lust for them There may be Those who can be content to lose their Lives for their Faith but not to part with a darling Sin whether it is that they think their imaginary Martyrdom will attone for all for all their dearly-beloved Vices or that these Bosom-friends cannot hurt them as being very consistent with God's Grace and Favour or whether it be that they are possess'd with a sullen Moroseness an Enthusiastical Temper an over-hasty Desire of Glory or perhaps of an unhappy Mixture of These Now as to the Case of any such Person if indeed there be any such as I am apt to believe there have been and therefore may be again this I do affirm That whoever he be he is not a Sufferer for Christ because he harbours a profest Enemy of His. I say should any Man Die and very strongly fancy that he Dies for Christ yet if he should retain any one Lust one Sin till he Die how favourable an Opinion soever others may have of him or he of himself I cannot allow him the Crown nor indeed the Name of a Martyr no nor the plain but honest Character of a good Christian And I give this Reason for it To retain any one Sin is to retain a profest Enemy of Christ which it is not the part of a true Martyr or of a good Christian to do Indeed for the same Man to Die in Sin and to Sin or if you please to Crucifie Christ as every one does who wilfully sins against Him and yet at the same time to be Crucified for him is as far from