of the true ancient Religion and the only true Church of God upon Earth or by the terrour of Heathen persecution which was so hot against them at that time And to this end the Author of this Epistle doth by great variety of arguments demonstrate the excellency of the Christian Religion above the Jewish dispensation and shews at large that in all those respects upon which the Jews valued themselves and their Religion as namely upon the account of their Lawgiver their High-Priests and their Sacrifices the Christian Religion had every way the advantage of them And having made this clear he concludes with an earnest exhortation to them to continue stedfast in the profession of this excellent Religion which was revealed to them by the Son of God the true propitiatory Sacrifice and the great High-Priest of their profession and into which they had solemnly been initiated and admitted by Baptism vers 19 20 21 22. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh and having an high-priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith that is let us sincerly serve God with a firm persuasion of the Truth and Excellency of this Holy Religion into the Profession whereof we were solemnly admitted by Baptism for that is undoubtedly the meaning of the following words having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washt with pure water the Water with which our Bodies are washt in Baptism signifying our spiritual Regeneration and the purging of our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God From all which he concludes Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering This refers to that solemn Profession of Faith which was made by all Christians at their Baptism and which is contained in the ancient Creed of the Christian Church called by the ancient Fathers The Rule of Faith Let us hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us firmly retain the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 4. 14. Seeing then we have a great high-priest which is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us take fast hold of our profession So here in the Text the Apostle upon the same Consideration exhorts Christians to retain or hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Confession or Profession of their hope that is the Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead and everlasting Life which was the Conclusion of that Faith or Creed whereof in Baptism they made a Solemn Profession Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith or Hope without wavering the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inflexible unmoveable steady and not apt to waver and be shaken by every Wind of contrary Doctrine nor by the Blasts and Storms of Persecution For he is faithful that hath promised If we continue faithful and steady to God he will be faithful to make good all the Promises which he hath made to us In the words thus explained there are Two things which I shall distinctly consider I. The Exhortation Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering And II. The Argument or Encouragement used to enâ—â—â—ce it He is faithful that promised so I begin with the I. The Exhortation to be constant and steady in the Profession of the Christian Religion Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering In the handling of this and that we may the better understand the true meaning of this Exhortation here in the Text I shall do these two things 1. I shall shew Negatively wherein this Constancy and Steadiness in the Profession of the true Religion does not consist And here I shall remove one or two things which are thought by some to be inconsistent with Constancy and Steadfastness in Religion 2. I shall shew Positively what is implied in a Constant and Steady Profession of the true Religion 1. I shall shew Negatively what Constancy and Steadfastness in the Profession of the true Religion does not imply And there are two things which are thought by some to be imply'd in holding fast the profession of our faith without wavering 1. That Men should not take the liberty to examine their Religion and enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of it 2. That men should obstinately refuse to hear any Reasons that can be brought against the true Religion as they think which they have once entertained 1. That Men should not take the liberty to examine their Religion and to enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of it This I think is so far from being forbidden in this Exhortation that on the contrary I doubt not to make it appear that a free and impartial Enquiry into the Grounds and Reasons of our Religion and a thorough Tryal and Examination of them is one of the best Means to confirm and establish us in the Profession of it I mean that all Persons that are capable of it should do it and that they will find great benefit and advantage by it For I do not think that this is a Duty equally and indifferently incumbent upon all nor indeed fit and proper for all Persons because all are not equally capable of doing it There are two sorts of Persons that are in a great measure incapable of doing it 1. Children 2. Such grown Persons as are of a very mean and low capacity and improvement of Understanding Children are not fit to examine but only to learn and believe what is taught them by their Parents and Teachers They are fit to have the fear of God and the Principles of the true Religion instilled into them but they are by no means fit to discern between a true and false Religion and to chuse for themselves and to make a change of their Religion as hath of late been allowed to them in a Nation not far from us and by publick Edict declared that Children at Seven Years Old are fit to chuse and to change their Religion Which is the first Law I ever heard of that allows Children of that Age to do any act for themselves that is of Consequence and Importance to them for the remaining part of their Lives and which they shall stand obliged to perform and make good They are indeed Baptized according to the custome and usage of the Christian Church in their Infancy but they do not enter into this Obligation themselves but their Sureties undertake for them that when they come to Age they shall take this Promise upon themselves and confirm and make it good But surely they can do no Act for themselves and in their own Name at that Age which can be obligatory They can neither make any Contracts that shall be valid nor incur any Debt nor oblige themselves by any Promise nor chuse themselves a Guardian nor do any Act that may bring
Priledges are omitted by plain Fact and Evidence of things themselves their Supremacy in that the far greatest part of the Christian Church neither is at this day nor can be shewn by the Records of any Age ever to have been subject to the Bishop of Rome or to have acknowledged his Authority and Jurisdiction over them and the Infallibility of the Pope whether with or without a General Council about which they still differ though Infallibility was devised on purpose to determine all differences I say this Infallibility where-ever it is pretended to be is plainly confuted by the contradictory Definitions of several Popes and Councils for if they have contradicted one another as is plain beyond all contradiction in several instances then there must of necessity be an Error on one side and there can be no so certain demonstration that any one is infallible as evident Error and Mistake is of the contrary Next their concealing both the Rule of Religion and the Practice of it in the Worship and Service of God from the People in an unknown Tongue and their administring the Communion to the People in one kind only contrary to clear Scripture and the plain Institution of our Blessed Saviour and then their Worship of Images and Invocation of Angels and Saints and the Blessed Virgin in the same Solemn manner and for the same Blessings and Benefits which we beg of God himself contrary to the express Word of God which commands us to Worship the Lord our God and to serve him only and which declares that as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator between God and Man Christ Jesus but one Mediator not only of Redemption but of Intercession too for the Apostle there speaks of a Mediator of Intercession by whom only we are to offer up our Prayers which are to be put up to God only and which expresly forbids Men to worship any Image or likeness And the Learned Men of their own Church acknowledge that there is neither Precept nor Example for these Practices in Scripture and that they were not used in the Christian Church for several Ages and this acknowledgment we think very considerable since so great a part of their Religion especially as it is practised among the People is contained in these points for the Service of God in an Unknown Tongue and withholding the Scriptures from the People they do not pretend so much as One Testimony of any Father for the first 600 Years and nothing certainly can be more unreasonable in it self than to deny People the best means of knowing the Will of God and not to permit them to understand what is done in the publick Worship of God and what Prayers are put up to him in the Church The two great Doctrines of Transubstantiation and Purgatory are acknowledged by many of their own Learned Writers to have no certain Foundation in Scripture and that there are seven Sacraments of the Christian Religion tho' it be now made an Article of Faith by the Council of Trent is a thing which cannot be shewn in any Council or Father for above a Thousand Years after Christ. And we find no mention of this Number of the Sacraments till the Age of Peter Lombard the Father of the Schoolmen That the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches tho' that also be one of the new Articles of Pope Pius the IV. his Creed which their Priests are by a Solemn Oath obliged to believe and teach yet is it most evidently false That she is not the Mother of all Churches is plain because Jerusalem was certainly so for there certainly was the first Christian Church and from thence all the Christian Churches in the World derive themselves that she is not tho' she fain would be the Mistress of all Churches is as evident because the greatest part of the Christian Church does at this day and always did deny that she hath any Authority or Supremacy over them Now these are the principal matters in difference betwixt us and if these Points and a few more be pared off from Popery that which remains of their Religion is the same with ours that is the true Ancient Christianity III. I shall shew that our Religion hath many clear advantages of theirs not only very considerable in themselves but very obvious and discernable to an ordinary capacity upon the very first proposal of them as 1. That our Religion agrees perfectly with the Scriptures and all points both of our Belief and Practice esteemed by us as necessary to Salvation are there contained even our Enemies themselves being Judges We Worship the Lord our God and him only do we serve We do not fall down before Images and Worship them we address all our Prayers to God alone by the only Mediation and Intercession of his Son Jesus Christ as he himself hath given us Commandment and as St. Paul doth plainly direct giving us this plain and Substantial Reason for it Because as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus The publick Worship and Service of God is perform'd by us in a Language which we understand according to St. Paul's express Order and Direction and the universal Practice of the ancient Church and the Nature and Reason of the thing it self We administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in both kinds according to our Saviour's Example and plain Institution and the continual Practice of all the Christian Churches in the World for above a Thousand Years 2. We believe nothing as necessary to Salvation but what hath been owned in all Ages to be the Christian Doctrine and is acknowleged so to be by the Church of Rome it self and we receive the whole Faith of the Primitive Christian Church viz. What ever is contained in the Apostles Creed and in the Explications of that in the Creeds of the Four first General Councills By which it plainly appears that all points of Faith in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are meer Innovations and plain Additions to the ancient Christian Faith But all that we believe is acknowledged by them to be undoubtedly the ancient Christian Faith 3. There is nothing wanting in our Church and Religion whether in Matter of Faith or Practice which either the Scripture makes necessary to Salvation or was so esteem'd by the Christian Church for the first Five Hundred Years and we trust that what was sufficient for the Salvation of Christians in the best Ages of Christianity for Five Hundred Years together may be so still and we are very well content to venture our Salvation upon the same terms that they did 4. Our Religion is not only free from all Idolatrous Worship but even from all Suspicion and probable Charge of any such thing but this the Church of Rome is not as is acknowledged by her most Learned Champions and as no Man of Ingenuity can deny And
of the Infallibility of their Church of their Seven Sacraments Instituted by Christ and of the Intention of the Priest being necessary to the Validity and Virtue of the Sacraments and then several of their Practices as of the Worship of Images of the Invocation of Angels and Saints of the Service of God and the Scriptures in an Vnknown Tongue and the Communion in one Kind and several other things so plainly contrary to the Scriptures and the Practice and Usage of the Primitive Church that almost the meanest Capacity may easily be made sensible and convinced of it These are sore places which they desire not to have touched and therefore they use all possible Artifice to keep Men at a distance from them partly because the particular discussion of them is tedious and it requires more than ordinary Skill to say any thing that is tenable for them and so to paint and varnish them over as to hide the Corruptions and Deformities of them but chiefly because they are conscious to themselves that as in all these Points they are upon the Defensive so they are also upon very great Disadvantages and therefore to avoid if it be possible being troubled with them they have devised this shorter and easier and more convenient way of making Proselytes Not that they are always able to keep themselves thus within their Trenches but are sometimes whether they will or no drawn out to Encounter some of these Objections but they rid themselves of them as soon and as dexterously as they can by telling those that make them that they will hereafter give them full Satisfaction to all these Matters when they are gotten over the first and main Enquiry Which is the true Church For if they can keep them to this Point and gain them to it they can deal with them more easily in the rest for when they can once swallow this Principle That the Church of Rome is the One True Catholick Church and consequently as they have told them all along Infallible this Infallibility of the Church once entertained will cover a multitude of particular Errors and Mistakes and it will very much help to cure the weakness and defects of some particular Doctrines and Practices and at least to silence and over-rule all Objections against them So that the benefit and advantage of this Method is visibly and at first sight very great and therefore no wonder they are so steady and constant to it and do so obstinately insist upon it But how convenient soever it be to them it is I am sure very unreasonable in it self and that upon these Accounts 1. Because the True Church doth not constitute and make the True Christian Faith and Doctrine but it is the True Christian Faith and Doctrine the Profession whereof makes the True Church and therefore in Reason and Order of Nature the first Enquiry must be What is the True Faith and Doctrine of Christ which by him was delivered to the Apostles and by them publish'd and made known to the World and by their Writings Transmitted and Conveyed down to us And this being found every Society of Christians which holds this Doctrine is a True Part of the Catholick Church and all the Christians throughout the World that agree in this Doctrine are the One True Catholick Church 2. The Enquiry about the True Church can have no Issue even according to their own way of proceeding without a due Examination of the particular Doctrines and Practices of that Church the Communion whereof they would perswade a Man to embrace We will admit at present this to be the first Enquiry Which is the True Church Let us now see in what way they manage this to gain Men over to their Church They tell them that the Church of Rome is the One True Catholick Church of Christ. The truth of this Assertion we will particularly examine afterwards when we come to consider the next step of their Method in dealing with their Converts At present I shall only take notice in the General what way they take to prove this Assertion namely That the Church of Rome is the One True Catholick Church and that is by the Notes and Marks of the True Church which they call their Motives of Credibility because by these they design to perswade them that the Church of Rome is the One True Catholick Church I shall not now reckon up all the Notes and Marks which they give of the True Church but only observe that one of their Principal Marks of the True Church is this That the Faith and Doctrine of it be agreeable to the Doctrine of the Primitive and Apostolick Church i. e. to the Doctrine delivered by our Saviour and his Apostles And this Bellarmine makes one of the Marks of the True Church And they must unavoidably make it so because the True Faith and Doctrine of Christ is that which indeed Constitutes the True Church But if this be an Essential Mark of the True Church then no Man can possibly know the Church of Rome to be the True Church till he have examin'd the particular Doctrines and Practices of it and the Agreement of them with the Primitive Doctrine and Practice of Christianity and this necessarily draws on and engages them in a dispute of the particular Points and Differences betwixt us which is the very thing they would avoid by this Method and which I have now plainly shewed they cannot do because they cannot possibly prove their Church to be the True Church without shewing the Conformity of their Doctrines and Practices to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive and Apostolick Church and this will give them work enough and will whether they will or no draw them out of their Hold and Fastness which is to amuse People with a general Enquiry Which is the true Church without descending to the Examination of their particular Doctrines and Practices But this they must of necessity come to before they can prove by the Notes and Marks of the True Church that theirs is the True Church And this is a Demonstration that their Method of Satisfaction as it is Unnatural and Unreasonable so it cannot serve the purpose they aim at by it which is to divert Men from the Examination of the particular Points in Difference between the Church of Rome and Us and to gain them over to them by a wile and trick because the very Method they take to prove themselves to be the True Catholick Church will enforce them to justifie all their particular Doctrines and Practices before they can finish this Proof And here we fix our foot That the single Question and Point upon which they would put the whole Issue of the Matter cannot possibly be brought to any reasonable Issue without a particular Discussion and Examination of the Points in Difference betwixt Their Church and Ours and when they can make out these to be agreeable to the Primitive Doctrine and Practice of the Christian Church
Church And this is a Glorious Priviledge indeed if they could prove that they had it and that it would be so certain a remedy against Heresie and give a final Decision to all Controversies But there is not one tittle of all this of which they are able to give any tenable Proof For 1. All the pretence for their Infallibility relyes upon the truth of the former Proposition That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church and That they say is Infallible And I have already shewn that That Proposition is not only destitute of any good Proof but is as evidently false as that a Part of a thing is the Whole 2. But supposing it were true That the Roman Church were the Catholick Church yet it is neither evident in it self nor can be proved by them that the Catholick Church of every Age is Infallible in deciding all Controversies of Religion It is granted by all Christians that our Saviour and his Apostles were Infallible in the delivery of the Christian Doctrine and they proved their Infallibility by Miracles and this was necessary at first for the Security of our Faith but this Doctrine being once Delivered and Transmitted down to us in the Holy Scriptures Written by the Evangelists and Apostles who were Infallibly assisted by the Holy Ghost we have now a certain and Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice which with the assistance and instruction of those Guides and Pastors which Christ hath appointed in his Church is sufficiently plain in all things necessary And as there is no evidence of the Continuance of Infallibility in the Guides and Pastors of the Church in the Ages which followed the Apostles because Miracles are long since ceased so there is no need of the Continuance of it for the Preservation of the True Faith and Religion because God hath sufficiently provided for that by that Infallible Rule of Faith and Manners which he hath left to his Church in the Holy Scriptures which are every way sufficient and able to make both Pastors and People wise unto Salvation 3. As for a certain Remedy against Heresie it is certain God never intended there should be any no more than he hath provided a certain Remedy against Sin and Vice which surely is every whit as contrary to the Christian Religion and therefore as fit to be provided against as Heresie But it is certain in Experience that God hath provided no certain and effectual Remedy against Sin and Vice for which I can give no other reason but that God does that which He thinks best and fittest and not what We are apt to think to be so Besides that Infallibility is not a certain Remedy against Heresie The Apostles were certainly Infallible and yet they could neither prevent nor extinguish Heresie which never more abounded than in the Apostles Times And Saint Paul expresly tells us 1 Cor. 1. 19. That there must be Heresies that they which are approved may be made manifest And St. Peter the 2 Epist. 2. 1. That there should be false Teachers among Christians who should privily bring in damnable Heresies and that many should follow their pernicious ways But now if there must be Heresies either the Church must not be Infallible or Infallibility in the Church is no certain Remedy against them I proceed to the next Step they make viz. 6ly That Christ hath always a Visible Church upon Earth and that They can shew a Church which from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath always made a Visible Profession of the same Doctrines and Practices which are now believed and practised in the Church of Rome but that We can shew no Visible Church that from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath always opposed the Church of Rome in those Doctrines and Practices which we now revile and find fault with in their Church That Christ hath always had and ever shall have to the end of the World a Visible Church Professing and Practising his True Faith and Religion is agreed on both sides But We say that he hath no where promised that This shall be free from all Errors and Corruptions in Faith and Practice This the Churches Planted by the Apostles themselves were not even in Their times and during Their abode amongst them and yet they were true parts of the Christian Catholick Church In the following Ages Errors and Corruptions and Superstitions did by degrees creep in and grow up in several parts of the Church as St. Austin and others of the Fathers complain of their Times Since that several Famous Parts of the Christian Church both in Asia and Africa have not only been greatly corrupted but have Apostatiz'd from the Faith so that in many Places there are hardly any Footsteps of Christianity among them But yet still Christ hath had in all these Ages a Visible Church upon Earth tho' perhaps no Part of it at all times free from some Errors and Corruptions and in several Parts of it great Corruptions both in Faith and Practice and in none I think more and longer than in the Church of Rome for all she boasts her self like Old Babylon Isa. 47. 7 8. That she is a Lady for ever and says in her heart I am and none else besides me And like the Church of Laodicea Revel 3. 17. which said I am rich and increased with Goods and have need of nothing When the Spirit of God saith that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and knew it not Thus the Church of Rome boasts that She hath in all Ages been the True Visible Church of Christ and none besides her free from all Errors in Doctrine and Corruptions in Practice and that from the Age of Christ and his Apostles she hath always professed the same Doctrines and Practices which she does at this day Can any thing be more shameless than this Did they always believe Transubstantiation Let their Pope Gelasius speak for them who expresly denies that in the Sacrament there is any Substantial change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Was this always an Article of their Faith and necessary to be believed by all Christians Let Scotus and several other of their Schoolmen and Learned Writers speak for them Was Purgatory always believed in the Roman Church as it is now defined in the Council of Trent Let several of their Learned Men speak In what Father in what Council before that of Trent do they find Christ to have Instituted just Seven Sacraments neither more nor less And for Practices in their Religion they themselves will not say that in the Ancient Christian Church the Scriptures were with-held from the People and lockt up in an Unknown Tongue and that the Publick Service of God the Prayers and Lessons were Read and the Sacraments Celebrated in an Unknown Tongue and that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was given to the People only in one Kind Where do they find in Holy
rather because they are different from That which they presume to be the only true Religion ought to be condemned at all adventures without any farther enquiry This I say is fond Partiality because every Religion and every Church may for ought that appears to any man that is not permitted to examine things impartially say the same for themselves and with as much Reason and if so then either every Religion ought to permit it self to be examined or else no man ought to examine his own Religion whatever it be and consequently Jews and Turks and Heathens and Hereticks ought all to continue as they are and none of them to change because they cannot reasonably change without examining both that Religion which they leave and that which they embrace instead of it 2. Admitting this Pretence were true that They are the true Church and have the true Religion This is so far from being a Reason why they should not permit it to be examined that on the contrary it is one of the best Reasons in the World why they should allow it to be examined and why they may safely suffer it to be so They should permit it to be tryed that men may upon good Reason be satisfied that it is the true Religion And they may safely suffer it to be done because if They be sure that the Grounds of their Religion be firm and good I am sure they will be never the worse for being examined and look'd into But I appeal to every Man's Reason whether it be not an ill Sign that they are not so sure that the Grounds of their Religion are solid and firm and such as will abide the Tryal that they are so very loth to have them searcht into and examined This cannot but tempt a wise Man to suspect that their Church is not founded upon a Rock and that they themselves know something that is amiss in their Religion which makes them so loth to have it try'd and brought to the Touch. 3. It is certain among all Christians that the Doctrine preached by the Apostles was the true Faith of Christ and yet they never forbad the Christians to examine whether it were so or not Nay on the contrary they frequently exhort them to try and examine their Religion and whether that Doctrine which they had delivered to them was the true Faith of Christ. So St. Paul 2 Corinth 13. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves And again 1 Thes. 5. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good intimating to us that in order to the holding fast the Profession of our Faith it is requisite to prove and try it And so likewise St. John's Ep. 1. 4. 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world And he gives a very notable mark whereby we may know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error The Spirit of Error carries on a worldly Interest and Design and the Doctrines of it tend to Secular Power and Greatness vers 5. They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them Acts 17. 11. St. Luke commends it as an argument of a more noble and generous Spirit in the Beroeans that they examined the Doctrine which the Apostles preacht whether it were agreeable to the Scriptures and this without Disparagement to their Infallibility These saith he were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so They were ready to receive the Word but not blindly and with an implicit Faith but using due Care to examine the Doctrines which they were taught and to see if they were agreeable to that Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures which they had before received It seems they were not willing to admit and swallow Contradictions in their Faith And we desire no more of the Church of Rome than that they would encourage the people to search the Scriptures daily and to examine whether their Doctrines be according to them We would be glad to hear the Pope and a General Council commend to the People the searching of the Scriptures and to try their Definitions of Faith and Decrees of Worship by that Rule to see whether what they have defined and decreed to be believed and practised be agreeable to it their Worship of Images their solemn Invocation of Angels and of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints departed the Sacrament under one kind only the publick Prayers and Service of God in an unknown Tongue the frequent Repetition of the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christs Body and Blood in the Mass. Had the Beroeans been at the Council of Trent and pleaded their Right to search the Scriptures whether these things were so I doubt they would have been thought very troublesome and impertinent and would not have been praised by the Pope and Council for their pains as they are by St. Luke You see then upon the whole matter that it is a very groundless and suspicious Pretence of the Church of Rome that because They are Infallibly in the right and Theirs is the true Religion therefore their people must not be permitted to examine it The Doctrine of the Apostles was undoubtedly the true Faith of Christ and yet they not only permitted the people to examine it but exhorted and encouraged them so to do and commended them for it And any Man that hath the Spirit of a Man must abhor to submit to this Slavery not to be allowed to examine his Religion and to enquire freely into the Grounds and Reasons of it and would break with any Church in the World upon this single Point and would tell them plainly if your Religion be too good to be Examined I doubt it is too bad to be Believed If it be said that the allowing of this Liberty is the way to make people perpetually doubting and unsettled I do utterly deny this and do on the contrary with good Reason affirm that it is apt to have the contrary effect There being in reason no better way to establish any man in the belief of any thing than to let him see that there are very good Grounds and Reasons for what he believes which no man can ever see that is not permitted to examine whether there be such Reasons or not So that besides the Reasonablness of the thing it is of great benefit and advantage to us And that upon these Accounts 1. To arm us against Seducers He that hath examined his Religion and tryed the Grounds of it is most able to maintain them and make them good against all Assaults that may be made upon us to move us from our Stedfastness Whereas he that hath not examined and consequently does not understand the Reasons of his Religion is liable to be tossed to and fro and to
is faithful that promised I Have already made entrance into these Words which I told you do contain in them I. An Exhortation to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering II. An Argument or Encouragement thereto because he is Faithful that promised If we continue stedfast and faithful to God we shall find him faithful to us in making good all the Promises which he hath made to us whether of Aid and Support or of Recompence and Reward of our Fidelity to him I have begun to handle the First part of the Text viz. The Apoostles Exhortation to Christians to be constant and steady in their Religion Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render without wavering signifies inflexible and unmovable not apt to waver and to be shaken with every Wind of contrary Doctrine nor by the Blasts and Storms of Persecution And that we might the better comprehend the full and true meaning of this Exhortation I propounded to do these Two things 1. To shew Negatively wherein this Constancy and Steadiness in the Profession of the true Religion doth not consist And 2. To shew Positively what is implied and intended here by the Apostle in holding fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering 1. To shew Negatively wherein this Constancy and the Steadiness in the Profession of the true Religion doth not consist This I spake to the last Day and shewed at large that there are Two things which are not contained and intended in this Exhortation 1. That Men should not have the Liberty to examine their Religion and to enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of it Such I mean as are capable of this examination and enquiry which some I shewed are not as Children who while they are in that state are only fit to learn and believe what is taught them by their Parents and Teachers And likewise such grown Persons as either by the natural Weakness of their Faculties or by some great Disadvantage of Education are of a very low and mean Capacity and Improvement of Understanding These are to be considered as in the condition of Children and Learners and therefore must of necessity trust and rely upon the Judgment of others 2. This holding fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering does not imply that when Men upon examination and enquiry are settled as they think and verily believe in the true Religion they should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason that can be offer'd againg them Both these Principles I shew'd to be unreasonable and Arguments of a bad Cause and Religion I shall now proceed to explain the meaning of this Exhortation To hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering by shewing in the Second place what it is that is implied in the constant and steady Profession of the true Faith and Religion namely That when upon due search and examination we are fully satisfied that it is the true Religion which we have embraced or as St. Peter expresses it 1st Epistle 5. 12. That this is the true Grace of God wherein we stand that then we should adhere stedfastly to it and hold it fast and not suffer it to be wrested from us nor our selves to be moved from it by any Pretences or Insinuations or Temptations whatsoever For there is a great deal of difference between the Confidence and Stedfastness of an Ignorant Man who hath never considered Things and enquired into the Grounds of them and the Assurance and Settlement of one who hath been well instructed in his Religion and hath taken pains to search and examine to the bottom the Grounds and Reasons of what he holds and professeth to believe The first is meer Wilfulness and Obstinacy A Man hath entertained and drank in such Principles of Religion by Education or hath taken them up by Chance but he hath no Reason for them and yet however he came by them he is resolved to hold them fast and not to part with them The other is the Resolution and Constancy of a Wise Man He hath embraced his Religion upon good Grounds and he sees no Reason to alter it and therefore is resolved to stick to it and to hold fast the Profession of it stedfastly to the end And to this purpose there are many Exhortations and Cautions scattered up and down the Writings of the holy Apostles as that we should be stedfast and unmoveable established in the Truth rooted and grounded in the Faith and that we should hold fast that which is good and not suffer our selves to be carried to and fro with every wind of Doctrine through the slight of Men and the cunning craftiness of those that lie in wait to deceive that we should not be removed from him that hath called us unto the grace of Christ unto another Gospel that we should stand fast in one Spirit and one Mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel and be â—n nothing terrifled by our Adversaries and that if occasion be we should contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints and here in the Text That we should hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering For the explaining of this I shall do two Things 1. Consider what it is that we are to hold fast namely the profession of our Faith And 2. How we are to hold it fast or what is implied in holding fast the profession of our Faith without wavering 1. What it is that we are to hold fast namely the profession of our Faith i. e. of the Christian Faith or Religion For I told you before that this Profession or Confession of our Faith or Hope as the word properly signifies is an Allusion to that Profession of Faith which was made by all those who were admitted Members of the Christian Church by Baptism of which the Apostle makes mention immediately before the Text when he says Let us draw near in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure Water And then it follows Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering The Profession of Faith which we made in our Baptisms and which by the Ancient Fathers is call'd the Rule of Faith and which is now contain'd in that which we call the Apostles Creed and which is called by St. Paul Rom. 6. 17. the Form of Doctrine which was delivered to them i. e. to all Christians and 2 Tim. 1. 13. the Form of sound Words Hold fast saith he the Form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus and by St. Jude The Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints So that it is the first and ancient Faith of the Christian Church delivered to them by Christ and his Apostles which we are here exhorted to hold fast the necessary and fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith
and by consequence all those Truths which have a necessary Connexion with those Articles and are implied in them and by plain Consequence are to be deduced from them It is not the doubtful and uncertain Traditions of Men nor the partial Dictates and Doctrines of any Church since the Primitive Times which are not contained in the Holy Scriptures and the Ancient Creeds of the Christian Church but have been since declared and imposed upon the Christian World though with never so confident a pretence of Antiquity in the Doctrines and of Infallibility in the Proposers of them These are no part of that Faith which we are either to profess or to hold fast because we have no reason to admit the Pretences by virtue whereof those Doctrines or Practices are imposed being able to make it good and having effectually done it that those Doctrines are not of Primitive Antiquity and that the Church which proposeth them hath no more claim to Infallibility than all other Parts of the Christian Church which since the Apostles time is none at all In a word No other Doctrines which are not sufficiently revealed in Scripture either in express Terms or by plain and necessary Consequence nor any Rites of Worship nor Matters of Practice which are not commanded in Scripture are to be esteemed any part of that Faith in Re-Religion the Profession whereof the Apostle here Commands all Christians to hold fast without wavering much less any Doctrines or Practices which are repugnant to the Word of God and to the Faith and Practice of the first Ages of Christianity of which kind I shall have occasion in my following Discourse to instance in several Particulars In the mean time I shall only observe That that Faith and Religion which we profess and which by God's Grace we have ever held fast is that which hath been acknowledg'd by all Christian Churches in all Ages to have been the ancient Catholick and Apostolick Faith and cannot as to any part or tittle of it be denied to be so even by the Church of Rome her self I proceed to the II d Thing which I proposed to consider namely how we are to hold fast the profession of our Faith or what is implied by the Apostle in this Exhortation To hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering And I think these following Particulars may very well be supposed to be implied in it 1. That we should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support their Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind 3. Against all the Temptations and Terrours of the World 4. Against all vain Promises of being put into a safer Condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier terms in another Religion 5. Against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busie and disputing Men whose Design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to gain Proselytes to their own Party and Faction I shall go over these with as much Clearness and Brevity as I can 1. We should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence All Religion is either Natural or Instituted The Rule of Natural Religion is the common Reason of Mankind The Rule of Instituted Religion is divine Revelation or the Word of God which all Christians before the Council of Trent did agree to be contained in the Holy Scriptures So that nothing can pretend to be Religion but what can be proved to be so One or both of those ways either by Scripture or by Reason or by both And how confident soever Men may be of Opinions destitute of this Proof any Man that understands the Grounds of Religion will without any more ado reject them for want of this proof and notwithstanding any pretended Authority or Infallibility of the Church that imposeth them will have no more Consideration and Regard of them than of the confident Dictates and Assertions of any Enthusiast whatsoever because there is no reason to have regard to any Man's Confidence if the Arguments and Reasons which he brings bear no proportion to it We see in Experience that Confidence is generally ill grounded and is a kind of Passion in the Understanding and is commonly made use of like Fury and Force to supply for the weakness and want of Argument If a Man can prove what he says by good Argument there is no need of Confidence to back and support it We may at any time trust a plain and substantial Reason and leave it to make its own way and to bear out its self But if the man's Reasons and Arguments be not good his Confidence adds nothing of real Force to them in the Opinion of Wise men and tends only to its own Confusion Arguments are like Powder which will carry and do execution according to its true strength and all the rest is but noise And generally none are so much to be suspected of Errour or a Design to deceive as those that pretend most confidently to Inspiration and Infallibility As we see in all sorts of Enthusiasts who pretend to Inspiration although we have nothing but their own word for it for they work no Miracles And all pretence to Inspiration and Infallibility without Miracle whether it be in particular Persons or in whole Churches is Enthusiastical i. e. a Pretence to Inspiration without any Proof of it And therefore St. Paul was not moved by the Boasting and Confidence of the false Apostles because they gave no Proof and Evidence of their Divine Inspiration and Commission as he had done for which he appeals to the Sense of Men Whether he had not wrought great Miracles which the false Apostles had not done though they had the confidence to give out themselves to be Apostles as well as he 2 Cor. 12. 11 12. I am says he become a fool in glorying ye have compelled me And truly the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds And Rev. 2. 2. Christ there commends the Church of Ephesus because she had tried them which said they were Apostles but were not and had found them liars And as we are not to believe every one that says he is an Apostle so neither every one that pretends to be a Successor of the Apostles and to be endued with the same Spirit of Infallibility that they were For these also when they are tried whether they be the Successors of the Apostles or not may be found Liars And therefore St. John cautions Christians not to believe every spirit that is every one that pretends to divine Inspiration and the Spirit of God but to try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World 1 Joh. 4. 1. And therefore the Confidence of Men
Profession of our Faith without wavering is not meant that those who are capable of examining the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion should blindly hold it fast against the best Reasons that can be offered because upon these terms every Man must continue in the Religion in which he happens to be fixt by Education or an ill choice be his Religion true or false without Examining and looking into it whether it be right or wrong for till a Man examines every Man thinks his Religion right That which the Apostle here exhorts Christians to hold fast is the Ancient Faith of which all Christians make a solemn profession in their Baptism as plainly appears from the context And this Profession of our Faith we are to hold in the following instances which I shall but briefly mention without enlarging upon them 1. We are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to plain Scripture and Reason and to the common Sense of Mankind 3. Against all the Temptations and Terrors of the World against the Temptations of Fashion and Example and of Worldly Interest and Advantage and against all Terrors and Sufferings of Persecution 4. Against all vain promises of being put into a safer condition and groundless hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier terms than the Gospel hath proposed in some other Church and Religion Lastly We are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busie and disputing Men whose design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to make Proselytes to their Party and Faction But without entring into these particulars I shall in order to Establishment in the Reformed Religion which we profess in opposition to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome apply my self at this time to make a short comparison betwixt the Religion which we profess and that of the Church of Rome That we may discern on which side the advantage of Truth lies and in making this comparison I shall insist upon Three things which will bring the matter to an issue and are I think sufficient to determine every sober and considerate Man which of these he ought in Reason and with regard to the safety of his Soul to embrace And they are these I. That we govern our Belief and Practice in matters of Religion by the true ancient Rule of Christianity the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures But the Church of Rome for the maintenance of their Errors and Corruptions have been forced to devise a new Rule never owned by the Primitive Church nor by the Ancient Fathers and Councils of it II. That the Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are either contrary to this Rule or destitute of the Warrant and Authority of it and are plain Additions to the ancient Christianity and Corruptions of it III. That our Religion hath many clear Advantages of that of the Church of Rome not only very considerable in themselves but very obvious and discernable to an ordinary capacity upon the first proposal of them I shall be as brief in these as I can I. That we govern our belief and Practice in matters of Religion by the true ancient Rule of Christianity the Word of God contain'd in the Holy Scriptures But the Church of Rome for the maintaining of their Errors and Corruptions have been forced to devise a new Rule never owned by the Primitive Church nor by the Ancient Councils and Fathers of it That is they have joined with the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures the unwritten Traditions of their Church concerning several points of their Faith and Practice which they acknowledge cannot be proved from Scripture and these they call the unwritten Word of God and the Council of Trent hath decreed them to be of equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures and that they do receive and venerate them with the same pious Affection and Reverence and all this contrary to the express declaration and unanimous consent of all the Ancient Councils and Fathers of the Christian Church as I have already shewn and this never declar'd to be a point of Faith till it was decreed not much above a Hundred Years ago in the Council of Trent and this surely if any thing is a Matter of great consequence to presume to alter the Ancient Rule of Christian Doctrine and Practice and to enlarge it and add to it at their pleasure But the Church of Rome having made so great a change in the Doctrine and Practice of Christianity it became consequently necessary to make a change of the Rule And therefore with great Reason did the Council of Trent take this into consideration in the first place and put it in the front of their Decrees because it was to be the foundation and main proof of the following Definitions of Faith and Decrees of Practice for which without this new Rule there had been no colour II. The Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are either contrary to the true Rule or destitute of the Warrant and Authority of it and plain Additions to the Ancient Christianity and Corruptions of it the Truth of this will best appear by instancing in some of the principal Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us As for their two great Fundamental Doctrines of the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome over all the Christians in the world and the Infallibility of their Church there is not one word in Scripture concerning these Priviledges nay it is little less than a demonstration that they have no such Priviledges that St. Paul in a long Epistle to the Church of Rome takes no notice of them That the Church of Rome either then was or was to be soon after the Mother and Mistress of all Churches which is now grown to be an Article of Faith in the Church of Rome and yet it is hardly to be imagined that he could have omitted to take notice of such remarkable Priviledges of their Bishops and Church above any in the world had he known they had belonged to them So that in all probability he was ignorant of those mighty Prerogatives of the Church of Rome otherwise it cannot be but that he would have written with more deference and submission to this Seat of Infallibility and Center of Unity he would certainly have paid a greater Respect to this Mother and Mistress of all Churches where the Head of the Church and Vicar of Christ either was already seated or by the appointment of Christ was designed for ever to fix his Throne and establish his Residence but there is not one word or the least intimation of any such thing throughout this whole Epistle nor in any other part of the New Testament Besides that both these pretended
than in the Son of God Who is at the right hand of his Father to appear in the Presence of God for us we are sure that God always hears the Petitions which we put up to him and so does the Son of God by whom we put them up to the Father because he also is God blessed for evermore But we are not sure that the Angels and Saints hear our Prayers because we are sure that they are neither Omniscient nor Omnipresent and we are not sure nor probably certain that our Prayers are made known to them any other way there being no Revelation of God to that purpose we are sure that God hath declared himself to be a jealous God and that he will not give his Honour to another and we are not sure but that Prayer is part of the Honour which is due to God alone and if it were not we can hardly think but that God should be so far from being pleased with our making so frequent use of those other Mediators and Intercessors and from granting our desires the sooner upon that account That on the contrary we have reason to think he should be highly offended when he himself is ready to receive all our Petitions and hath appointed a great Mediator to that purpose to see more Addresses made to and by the Angels and Saints and Blessed Virgin than to himself by his Blessed Son and to see the Worship of himself almost jostled out by the Devotion of People to Saints and Angels and the Blessed Mother of our Lord a thing which he never Commanded and which so far as appears by Scripture never came into his mind I have been the longer upon this matter to shew how unreasonable and needless at the best this more than half part of the Religion of the Church of Rome is and how safely it may be let alone But now on the other hand if they be mistaken in these things as we can demonstrate from Scripture they are the danger is infinitely great on that side for then they oppose an Institution of Christ who appointed the Sacrament to be received in both kinds and they involve themselves in a great danger of the guilt of Idolatry and our common Christianity in the scandal and reproach of it And this without any necessity since God hath required none of these things at our hands and after all the bustle which hath been made about them the utmost they pretend which yet they are not able to make good is that these things may Lawfully be done and at the same time they cannot deny but that if the Church had not enjoyned them they might Lawfully be let alone and can any thing be more unreasonable than so pertinaciously to insist upon things so hard I might say impossible to be defended or excused and which by their own acknowledgment are of no great weight and necessity in which we are certainly safe in not doing them if they should prove Lawful but if they do not prove so they are in a most dangerous condition so that here is certain safety on the one hand and the danger of damnation on the other which is as great odds as is possible And they must not tell us that they are in no danger because they are infallible and cannot be mistaken they must prove that point a great deal better than they have yet done before it can signifie any thing either to our Satisfaction or their Safety I might have insisted more largely upon each of these Particulars any one of which is of weight to incline a Man to that Religion which hath such an advantage on its side but all of them together makes so Powerful an Argument to an unprejudiced Person as must almost irresistably determine his choice for most of the Particulars are so evident that they cannot upon the very mention and proposal of them be denied to be clear Advantages on our side And now to use the words of St. Peter I testifie unto you that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand that the Reformed Religion which we profess and which by the goodness of God is by Law established in this Nation is the true Ancient Christianity the Faith which was at first delivered to the Saints and which is conveyed down to us in the Writings of the Apostles and the Evangelists of our Lord and Saviour Remember therefore how you have received and heard and hold fast for he is Faithful that hath promised which is the Second part of the Text the encouragement which the Apostle gives us to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering he is Faithful that hath promised to give us his Holy Spirit to lead us into all Truth to stablish strengthen and settle us in the Profession of it to support and comfort us under all Tryals and Temptations and to seal us up to the day of Redemption and he is faithful that hath promised to reward our constancy and fidelity to him and his Truth with a Crown of everlasting life and Glory Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmoveable and alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord for he is faithful that hath promised and let us provoke one another to Charity and Good Works which are the great Ornament and Glory of any Religion and so much the more because the day approacheth in which God will judge the belief and lives of Men by Jesus Christ not according to the imperious and uncharitable dictates of any Church but according to the Gospel of his Son To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Now the God of Peace which brought again from the Dead the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you Perfect in every good word and work working in you that which is pleasing in his Sight And the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your Hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. A SERMON 2 COR. V. 7. For we walk by Faith not by Sight IN the latter part of the former Chapter the Apostle declares what it was that was the great support of Christians under the Persecutions and Sufferings which befel them viz. the Assurance of a Blessed Resurrection to another life Verse 14. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus for which cause saith he verse 16. we faint not but though our outward Man perish our inward Man is renewed day by day that is though our Bodies by Reason of the Hardships and Sufferings which we undergo are continually decaying and declining yet our Minds grow every day more healthful and vigorous and gain new strength and resolution by contemplating the Glory and Reward of another World and as it were feeding upon
them by Faith for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen And he resumes the same Argument again at the beginning of this Chapter for we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God a House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens that is we are firmly perswaded that when we die we shall but exchange these Earthly and Perishing Bodies these Houses of Clay for a Heavenly Mansion which will never decay nor come to ruine from whence he concludes Verse 6. Therefore we are always confident 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore what ever happens to us we are always of good courage and see no reason to be afraid of Death knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord that is since our continuance in the Body is to our disadvantage and while we live we are absent from our Happiness and when we die we shall then enter upon the Possession of it That which gives us this confidence and good courage is our Faith for tho' we be not actually possest of this Happiness which we speak of yet we have a firm perswasion of the reality of it which is enough to support our Spirits and keep up our Courage under all afflictions and adversities whatsoever Verse 7. for we walk by Faith not by Sight These words come in by way of Parenthesis in which the Apostle declares in general what is the swaying and governing Principle of a Christian life not only in case of persecution and affliction but under all events and in every condition of Humane life and that is Faith in opposition to Sight and present Enjoyment we walk by Faith and not by Sight We walk by Faith what ever Principle sways and governs a Mans life and actions he is said to walk and live by it And as here a Christian is said to walk by Faith so elsewhere the just is said to live by Faith Faith is the Principle which animates all his resolutions and actions And not by Sight The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the thing it self in present view and possession in opposition to a firm perswasion of things future and invisible Sight is the thing in Hand and Faith the thing only in Hope and Expectation Sight is a clear view and apprehension of things present and near to us Faith an obscure discovery and apprehension of things at a distance So the Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 13. 12. Now we see through a Glass darkly this is Faith but then face to face this is present sight as one Man sees another face to face and thus likewise the same Apostle distinguisheth betwixt Hope and Sight Rom. 8. 24. 25. Hope that is seen is not Hope for what a Man sees why doth he yet Hope for it but if we Hope for that which we see not then do we with patience wait for it Sight is possession and enjoyment Faith is the firm perswasion and expectation of a thing and this the Apostle tells us was the governing principle of a Christian's life for we walk by Faith and not by Sight from which words I shall observe these Three things I. That Faith is the Governing Principle and that which bears the great sway in the Life and Actions of a Christian we walk by Faith that is we Order and Govern our Lives in the Power and Virtue of this Principle II. Faith is a degree of assent inferiour to that of Sense This is sufficient-intimated in the opposition betwixt Faith and Sight He had said before that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord and gives this as a Reason and Proof of our absence from the Lord for we walk by Faith and not by Sight that is whilst we are in the Body we do not see and enjoy but believe and expect if we were present with the Lord then Faith would cease and be turned into Sight but tho' we have not that assurance of another world which we shall have when we come to see and enjoy these things yet we are firmly perswaded of them III. Notwithstanding Faith be an inferiour degree of Assurance yet 't is a Principle of sufficient power to govern our Lives we walk by Faith it is such an Assurance as hath an influence upon our Lives I. That Faith is the Governing Principle and that which bears the great sway in the Life and Actions of a Christian We walk by Faith that is we Order and Govern our Lives in the Power and Virtue of this Principle A Christian's Life consists in obedience to the will of God that is in a readiness to do what he commands and in a willingness to suffer what he calls us to and the great Arguments and Incouragements hereto are such things as are the Objects of Faith and not of Sense such things as are absent and future and not present and in possession for Instance the Belief of an invisible God of a secret Power and Providence that Orders and Governs all things that can bless or blast us and all our Designs and Undertakings according as we demean our selves towards him and endeavour to approve our selves to him the Perswasion of a secret aid and influence always ready at hand to keep us from Evil and to strengthen and assist us to that which is good more especially the firm Belief and expectation of the Happiness of Heaven and the glorious Rewards of another world which tho' they be now at a distance and invisible to us yet being grounded upon the Promise of God that cannot lie shall certainly be made good And this Faith this firm Perswasion of absent and invisible things the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us was the great Principle of the Piety and Virtue of good Men from the beginning of the World This he calls Ch. 11. verse 1. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the confident expectation of things hoped for and the proof or evidence of things not seen viz. a firm perswasion of the Being and Providence of God and of the Truth and Faithfulness of his Promises Such was the Faith of Abel he believed that there was a God and that he was a rewarder of those that faithfully serve him Such was the Faith of Noah who being warned of God of things at a great distance and not seen as yet notwithstanding believed the Divine Prediction concerning the Flood and prepared an Ark Such also was the Faith of Abraham concerning a numerous Posterity by Isaac and the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan and such likewise was the Faith of Moses he did as firmly believe the invisible God and the recompence of reward as if he had beheld them with his eyes And of this Recompence of Reward we Christians have
a much clearer revelation and much greater assurance than former Ages and Generations had and the firm belief and perswasion of this is the great Motive and Argument to a Holy life The hope which is set before us of obtaining the Happiness and the fear of incurring the Misery of another world This made the Primitive Christians with so much patience to bear the Sufferings and Persecutions with so much constancy to venture upon the dangers and inconveniencies which the love of God and Religion exposed them to Under the former Dispensation of the Law tho good Men received good hopes of the Rewards of another life yet these things were but obscurely revealed to them and the great inducements of Obedience were Temporal Rewards and Punishments the promises of long life and peace and plenty and prosperity in that good Land which God had given them and the threatnings of War and Famine and Pestilence and being delivered into Captivity But now under the Gospel Life and Immortality are brought to light and the great Arguments that bear sway with Christians are the Promises of Everlasting Life and the Threatnings of Eternal Misery and the firm Belief and Persuasion of these is now the great Principle that governs the Lives and Actions of good Men for what will not Men do that are really persuaded that as they do demean themselves in this World it will fare with them in the other That the Wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment and the Righteous into Life Eternal I proceed to the II. Observation namely That Faith is a Degree of Assent inferiour to that of Sense This is intimated in the Opposition betwixt Faith and Sight We walk by Faith and not by Sight that is we believe these things and are confidently persuaded of the truth of them tho we never saw them and consequently cannot possibly have that Degree of Assurance concerning the Joys of Heaven and the Torments of Hell which those have who enjoy the One and endure the Other There are different Degrees of Assurance concerning things arising from the different Degrees of Evidence we have for them The highest Degree of Evidence we have for any thing is our own Sense and Experience and this is so firm and strong that it is not to be shaken by the utmost Pretence of a Rational Demonstration Men will trust their own Senses and Experience against any subtilty of Reason whatsoever But there are inferiour degrees of Assurance concerning things as the Testimony and Authority of Persons every way credible and this Assurance we have in this state concerning the things of another World we believe with great Reason that we have the Testimony of God concerning them which is the highest kind of Evidence in it self and we have all the reasonable assurance we can desire that God hath testified these things and this is the utmost assurance which things future and at a distance are capable of But yet it is an unreasonable obstinacy to deny that this falls very much short of that degree of assurance which those Persons have concerning these things who are now in the other World and have the Sense and Experience of these things and this is not only intimated here in the Text in the Opposition of Faith and Sight but is plainly exprest in other Texts of Scripture 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. We know now but in part but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away That degree of knowledge and assurance which we have in this Life is very imperfect in comparison to what we shall have hereafter and Verse 12. We now see as through a Glass darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a Riddle in which there is always a great deal of Obscurity all which Expressions are certainly intended by way of abatement and diminution to the certainty of Faith because it is plain that by that which is in part or imperfect the Apostle means Faith and Hope which he tells us shall cease when that which is perfect meaning Vision and Sight is come We see likewise in Experience that the Faith and Hope of the best Christians in this Life is accompanied with doubting concerning these things and all doubting is a degree of uncertainty but those blessed Souls who are entred upon the Possession of Glory and Happiness and those miserable Wretches who lye groaning under the Wrath of God and the Severity of his Justice cannot possibly if they would have any doubt concerning the Truth and Reality of these things But however contentious Men may dispute against common Sense this is so plain a Truth that I will not labour in the farther Proof of it nor indeed is it reasonable while we are in this state to expect that degree of assurance concerning the Rewards and Punishments of another Life which the sight and sensible experience of them would give us and that upon these Two Accounts 1. Because our present state will not admit it and 2. If it would it is not reasonable we should have it 1. Our present state will not admit it for while we are in this World it is not possible we should have that sensible Experiment and Tryal how things are in the other The things of the other World are remote from us and far out of our Sight and we cannot have any experimental knowledge of them till we our selves enter into that state Those who are already past into it know how things are those happy Souls who live in the reviving presence of God and are possest of those joys which we cannot now conceive understand these things in another manner and have a more perfect assurance concerning them than it is possible for any Man to have in this World and those wretched and miserable Spirits who feel the vengeance of God and are plunged into the Horrors of Eternal Darkness do believe upon irresistable evidence and have other kind of Convictions of the Reality of that state and the insupportable Misery of it than any Man is capable of in this World 2. If our present state would admit of this high degree of assurance it is not fit and reasonable that we should have it such an over-powering evidence would quite take away the virtue of Faith and much lessen that of Obedience Put the case that every Man some considerable time before his departure out of this Life were permitted to visit the other World to assure him how things are there to view the Mansions of the Blessed and to survey the dark and loathsome Prisons of the Damned to hear the lamentable outcrys of Miserable and Despairing Souls and to see the inconceivable Anguish and Torments they are in after this what virtue would it be in any Man to believe these things He that had been there and seen them could not dis-believe them if he would Faith in this case would not be virtue but necessity and therefore it is observable that our Saviour doth not Pronounce
Virtues doth in its own Nature tend both to the Welfare of Particular Persons and to the Peace and Prosperity of Mankind But that which ought to weigh very much with us is That we have abundantly more Assurance of the Recompence of another World than we have of many things in this World which yet have a greater Influence upon our Actions and govern the Lives of the most prudent and considerate Men. Men generally hazard their Lives and Estates upon Terms of greater Uncertainty than the Assurance which we have of another World Men venture to take Physick upon probable Grounds of the Integrity and Skill of their Physician and yet the want of either of these may hazard their Lives and Men take Physick upon greater Odds for it certainly causeth Pain and Sickness and doth but uncertainly procure and recover Health the Patient is sure to be made sick but not certain to be made well and yet the Danger of being worse if not of dying on the one Hand and the Hope of Success and Recovery on the other make this Hazard and Trouble reasonable Men venture their whole Estates to Places which they never saw and that there are such Places they have only the concurrent Testimony and Agreement of Men nay perhaps have only spoken with them that have spoken with those that have been there No Merchant ever insisted upon the Evidence of a Miracle to be wrought to satisfie him that there were such Places as the East and West-Indies before he would venture to Trade thither And yet this Assurance God hath been pleased to give the World of a state beyond the Grave and of a blessed Immortality in another Life Now what can be the Reason that so slender Evidence so small a degree of Assurance will serve to encourage Men to seek after the things of this World with great Care and Industry and yet a great deal more will not suffice to put them effectually upon looking after the great Concernments of another World which are infinitely more considerable No other Reason of this can be given but that Men are partial in their Affections towards these things It is plain they have not the same Love for God and Religion which they have for this World and the Advantages of it and therefore it is that a less degree of Assurance will engage them to seek after the one than the other and yet the Reason is much stronger on the other side For the greater the Benefit and Good is which is offered to us we should be the more eager to seek after it and should be content to venture upon less Probability Upon excessive Odds a Man would venture upon very small Hopes for a mighty Advantage a Man would be content to run a great Hazard of his Labour and Pains upon little Assurance Where a Man's Life is concern'd every Suspicion of Danger will make a Man careful to avoid it And will nothing affright Men from Hell unless God carry them thither and shew them the place of Torments and the Flames of that Fire which shall never be quenched I do not speak this as if these things had not abundant Evidence I have shewn that they have but to convince Men how unreasonable and cruelly partial they are about the Concernments of their Souls and their Eternal Happiness 2. Supposing these things to be real and certain they are of infinite Concernment to us For what can concern us more than that Eternal and Unchangeable State in which we must be fixt and abide for ever If so vast a Concern will not move us and have no Influence upon the Government of our Lives and Actions we do not deserve the Name of Reasonable Creatures What Consideration can be set before Men who are not touched with the Sense of so great an Interest as that of our Happy or Miserable Being to all Eternity Can we be so solicitous and careful about the Concernment of a few Days and is it nothing to us what becomes of us for ever Are we so tenderly concerned to avoid Poverty and Disgrace Persecution and Suffering in this World and shall we not much more flee from the wrath which is to come and endeavour to escape the damnation of Hell Are the slight and transitory Enjoyments of this World worth so much Thought and Care And is an Eternal Inheritance in the Heavens not worth the looking after As there is no Proportion betwixt the things which are Temporal and the things which are Eternal so we ought in all Reason to be infinitely more concerned for the One than for the Other The proper Inference from all this Discourse is That we would endeavour to strengthen in our selves this great Principle of a Christian Life the Belief of another World by representing to our selves all those Arguments and Considerations which may confirm us in this Perswasion The more reasonable our Faith is and the surer grounds it is built upon the more firm it will abide when it comes to the tryal against all the impressions of temptations and assaults of Persecution If our Faith of another World be only a strong imagination of these things so soon as tribulation ariseth it will wither because it hath no root in it self Upon this account the Apostle so often exhorts Christians to endeavour to be establisht in the Truth to be rooted and grounded in the Faith that when Persecution comes they may continue stedfast and unmovable The firmness of our Belief will have a great influence upon our Lives if we be stedfast and unmovable in our perswasion of these things we shall be abundant in the work of the Lord. The Apostle joins these together 1 Cor. 15. 58. Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Stedfast and unmovable in what In the belief of a blessed Resurrection which the more firmly any Man believes the more active and industrious will he be in the Work and Service of God And that our Faith may have a constant and powerful influence upon our Lives we should frequently revolve in our Minds the thoughts of another World and of that vast Eternity which we shall shortly launch into The great disadvantage of the Arguments fetcht from another world is this That these things are at a distance from us and not sensible to us and therefore we are not apt to be so affected with them Present and sensible things weigh down all other Considerations And therefore to balance this disadvantage we should often have these Thoughts in our Minds and inculcate upon our selves the certainty of these things and the infinite concernment of them we should reason thus with our selves if these things be true and will certainly be why should they not be to me as if they were actually present Why should not I always live as if Heaven were open to my view and I saw
it but having no root in themselves they endured but for a while and when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word presently they fall off And there is likewise a partial Apostasie from Christianity when some Fundamental Article of it is denied whereby in effect and by consequence the whole Christian Faith is overthrown Of this Hymeneus and Philetus were guilty of whom the Apostle says that they erred concerning the truth saying that tbe Resurrection was past already and thereby overthrew the faith of some 2 Tim. 2. 17 18. That is they turned the Resurrection into an Allegory and did thereby really destroy a most Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion So that to make a man an Apostate it is not necessary that a man should solemnly renounce his Baptism and declare Christianity to be false there are several other ways whereby a man may bring himself under this guilt as by a silent quitting of his Religion and withdrawing himself from the Communion of all that profess it by denying an Essential Doctrine of Christianity by undermining the great End and Design of it by teaching Doctrines which directly tend to encourage Men in impenitence and a wicked course of life nay to Authorise all manner of impiety and vice in telling Men that whatever they do they cannot Sin for which the Primitive Christians did look upon the Gnosticks as no better than Apostates from Christianity and tho they retained the Name of Christians yet not to be truly and really so And there is likewise a partial Apostacy from the Christan Religion of which I shall speak under the II. Head I proposed which was to consider the several sorts and degrees of Apostacy The highest of all is the renouncing and forsaking of Christianity or of some Essential part of it which is a virtual Apostafie from it But there are several tendencies towards this which they who are guilty of are in some degree guilty of this Sin As 1. Indifferency in Religion and want of all sort of Concernment for it when a Man tho he never quitted his Religion yet is so little concerned for it that a very small Occasion or Temptation would make him do it he is contented to be reckoned in the number of those who profess it so long as it is the Fashion and he finds no great Inconvenience by it but is so indifferent in his Mind about it like Gallio who minded none of those things that he can turn himself into any other Shape when his Interest requires it so that tho he never actually deserted it yet he is 2 kind of Apostate in the preparation and disposition of his Mind And to such Persons that Title which Solomon gives to some may fitly enough be applyed they are Backsliders in Heart 2. Another tendency to this Sin and a great degree of it is withdrawing from the Publick Marks and Testimonies of the Profession of Religion by forsaking the Assemblies of Christians for the Worship and Service of God to withdraw our selves from those for fear of Danger or Suffering is a kind of Denyal of our Religion And this was the case of some in the Apostles time when Persecution grew hot and the open Profession of Christianity dangerous to avoid this Danger many appeared not in the Assemblies of Christians for fear of being observed and brought into trouble for it This the Apostle taxeth some for in this Chapter and speaketh of it as a letting go our Profession and a kind of deserting of Christianity v. 23 35. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is He doth not say they had quitted their Profession but they had but a loose hold of it and were silently stealing away from it 3. A light temper of Mind which easily receives Impressions from those who lie in wait to deceive and seduce Men from the Truth When Men are not well rooted and established in Religion they are apt to be inveigled by the crafty Insinuations of Seducers to be moved with every wind of Doctrine and to be easily shaken in Mind by every trifling piece of Sophistry that is confidently obtruded upon them for a weighty Argument Now this is a temper of Mind which disposeth Men to Apostasie and renders them an easie Prey to every one that takes a Pleasure and a Pride in making Proselytes It is true indeed a Man should always have a Mind ready to entertain Truth when it is fairly proposed to him but the main things of Religion are so plainly revealed and lie so obvious to every ordinary capacity that every Man may discern them and when he hath once entertained them ought to be stedfast and unmovable in them and not suffer himself to be whiffled out of them by any insignificant noise about the Infallibility of a Visible Church much less ought he to be moved by any Man's uncharitableness and positiveness in damning all that are not of his Mind There are some things so very plain not only in Scripture but to the common Reason of Mankind that no subtilty of Discourse no pretended Authority or even Infallibility of any Church ought to stagger us in the least about them as that we ought not or cannot believe any thing in direct contradiction to Sense and Reason that the People ought to Read and Study the Holy Scriptures and to serve God and pray to him in a Language which they understand that they ought to receive the Sacrament as our Saviour instituted and appointed it that is in both kinds that it can neither be our Duty nor Lawful to do that which God hath forbidden as he hath done the Worship of Images in the Second Commandment as plainly as words can do it Upon any one of these Points a Man would fix his foot and stand alone against the whole World 4. Another Degree of Apostasie is a departure from the Purity of the Christian Doctrine and Worship in a gross and notorious manner This is a partial tho not a total Apostasie from the Christian Religion and there have been and still are some in the World who are justly Charged with this degree of Apostasie from Religion namely such as tho they retain and profess the Belief of all the Articles of the Christian Faith and Worship the only true God and him whom he hath sent Jesus Christ yet have greatly perverted the Christian Religion by superinducing and adding new Articles of Faith and gross Corruptions and Superstitions in Worship and imposing upon Men the Belief and Practice of these as necessary to Salvation And St. Paul is my Warrant for this Censure who chargeth those who added to the Christian Religion the Necessity of Circumcision and observing the Law of Moses and thereby perverted the Gospel of Christ as guilty in some degree of Apostasie from Christianity for he calls it preaching another Gospel Gal. 1. 7 8. There be some that trouble
to turn them into jest and raillery this is not only a Renouncing of Christianity the Religion which God hath revealed but even of the Religion which is born with us and the Principles and Notions which God hath planted in every Man's Mind this is an Impiety of the First Magnitude and not to be mentioned without grief and horror and this it is to be feared hath had a great hand in those great Calamities which our eyes have seen and I pray God it do not draw down still more and greater Judgments upon this Nation But I hope there are none here that need to be cautioned against this horrible impiety and highest degree of Apostasie from the living God that which People are much more in danger of is Apostasie from the Purity of the Christian Doctrine and Worship so happily recovered by a regular Reformation and establisht amongst us by all the Authority that Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil can give it and which in Truth is no other than the Ancient and Primitive Christianity I say a defection from this to those gross Errors and Superstitions which the Reformation had paired off and freed us from I do not say that this is a total Apostasie from Christianity but it is a partial Apostasie and Defection and a very dangerous one and that those who after they have received the knowledge of the truth fall off from it into those Errors and Corruptions are highely guilty before God and their condition certainly worse and more dangerous than of those who where brought up in those Errors and Superstitions and never knew better for there are terrible threatnings in Scripture against those who fall away from the Truth which they once embraced and were convinced of If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth c. and if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him God considers every Man's Advantages and Opportunities of Knowledge and their Disadvantages likewise and makes all reasonable Allowances for them and for Men to continue in the Errors they have been always brought up in or which comes much to one in Errors which they were led into by Principles early infused into them before they were in any measure competent Judges of those matters I say for such Persons to continue in these Errors and to oppose and reject the contrary Truths against which by their Education they have received so strong and violent a Prejudice this may be in a great degree excusable and find Pardon with God upon a general Repentance for all Sins both known and unknown and cannot be reasonably charged with the Guilt of this great Sin of Apostasie But not to abide in the Truth after we have entertain'd and profess'd it having sufficient Means and Advantages of knowing it hath no Excuse I would not be rash in condemning Particular Persons of any Society or Communion of Christians provided they be sincerely devout and just and sober to the best of their Knowledge I had much rather leave them to God whose mercies are great than to pass an uncharitable Censure upon them as to their Eternal State and Condition But the Case is far otherwise where the Oportunities of Knowledge are afforded to Men and men love darkness rather than light for they who have the Means and Advantages of knowing their Master's will are answerable to God as if they had known it because if they had not been grosly negligent and wanting to themselves they might have known it And this I fear is the Case of the generality of those who have been bred up to years of Consideration and Choice in the Reformed Religion and forsake it because they do it without sufficient Reason and there are invincible Objections against it They do it without sufficient Reason because every one amongst us knows or may know upon very little Enquiry that we hold all the Articles of the Faith which are contained in the Ancient Creeds of the Christian Church and into which all Christians are baptized that we inculcate upon Men the Necessity of a Good Life and of sincere Repentance and perfect Contrition for our Sins such as is follow'd with real Reformation and Amendment of our Lives and that without this no Man can be saved by any Device whatsoever Now what Reason can any Man have to question whether he may be saved in that Faith which saved the first Christians and by believing the Twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed tho he cannot swallow the Twelve Articles which are added to it in the Creed of Pope Pius IV. every one of which besides many and great Corruptions and Superstitions in Worship are so many and invincible Objections against the Communion of the Roman Church as I could particularly shew if it had not been already done in so many learned Treatises upon this Argument What is there then that should move any reasonable Man to forsake the Communion of our Church and to quit the Reformed Religion There are Three things chiefly with which they endeavour to amuse and affright weaker Minds 1. A great Noise of Infallibility which they tell us is so excellent a means to determine and put an end to all Differences To which I shall at present only object this Prejudice That there are not wider and hotter Differences among us about any thing whatsoever than are amongst them about this admirable means of ending all Differences as where this Infallibility is feated that Men may know how to have recourse to it for the ending of Differences 2. They endeavour to fright Men with the danger of Schism But every Man knows that the Guilt of Schism lies at their Door who impose sinful Articles of Communion and not upon them who for fear of sinning against God cannot submit to those Articles which we have done and are still ready to make good to be the Case betwixt us and the Church of Rome But 3. The terrible Engine of all is their positive and confident damning of all that live and die out of the Communion of their Church This I have fully spoken to upon another Occasion and therefore shall only say at present that every Man ought to have better Thoughts of God than to believe that he who delighteh not in the death of sinners and would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth will confirm the Sentence of such uncharitable Men as take upon them to condemn Men for those things for which our Saviour in his Gospel condemns no Man And of all things in the World one would think that the Uncharitableness of any Church should be an Argument to no Man to run into its Communion I shall conclude with the Apostle's Exhortation ver 23. of this Chapter Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and provoke one another to charity and good works and so much the more because the Day approacheth in which God will judge the faith
the IV. And Last Particular which I proposed to speak to viz. To vindicate the Reasonableness of this Self-denial and Suffering for Christ which at first appearance may seem to be so very difficult And this Precept cannot be thought unreasonable if we take into Consideration these Three Things I. That He who requires this of us hath Himself given us the greatest Example of Self-denial that ever was The greatest in it self in that he denied himself more and suffered more grievous things than it is possible for any of us to do And such an Example as in the Circumstances of it is most apt and powerful to engage and oblige us to the imitation of it because all his Self-denial and Sufferings were for our sakes II. If we cosider That he hath promised all needful Supplies of his Grace to enable us to the Discharge of this difficult Duty of Self-denial and Suffering and to support and comfort us therein III. He hath assured us of a Glorious Reward of all our Sufferings and Self-denial beyond the Proportion of them both in the Degree and Duration of it I shall go over these as briefly as I can I. If we consider That He who requires us thus to deny our selves for him hath given us the greatest Example of Self-denyal that ever was Our Saviour knowing how unwelcome this Doctrine of Self-denyal and Suffering must needs be to his Disciples and how hardly this Precept would go down with them to sweeten it a little and take off the harshness of it and to prepare their Minds the better for it he tells them first of his own Sufferings that by that means he might in some measure reconcile their Minds to it when they saw that he required nothing of them but what he was ready to undergo Himself and to give them the Example of it And upon this Occasion it was that our Saviour acquaints them with the hard and difficult Terms upon which they must be his Disciples V. 21. The Evangelist tells us that Jesus began to shew unto his Disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and Chief-Priests and Scribes and be killed Then said Jesus unto his Disciples that is immediately upon this Discourse of his own Sufferings as the fittest time for it he takes the Oportunity to tell them plainly of their own Sufferings and that unless they were prepared and resolved to deny themselves so far as to suffer all manner of Persecution for his sake and the Profession of his Religion they could not be his Disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me that is let him reckon and resolve upon following that Example of Self-denyal and Suffering in which I will go before him Now the Consideration of this Example of Self-denyal and Suffering which our Saviour hath given us hath great force in it to reconcile us to this difficult Duty and to shew the Reasonableness of it 1. That He who requires us thus to deny our selves hath Himself in his own Person given us the greatest Example of self-denyal that ever was And 2. Such an Example as in all the Circumstances of it is most apt and powerful to engage and oblige us to the imitation of it because all his Self-denyal and Sufferings were for our sakes 1. He who requires us thus to deny our selves hath Himself in his own Person given us the greatest Example of Self-denyal that ever was in that he denyed himself more and suffered more grievous things than any of us can do He bore the insupportable Load of all the Sins of all Mankind and of the Wrath and Vengeance due to them Never was sorrow like to his sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce anger He was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs his visage was marred more than any mans and his form more than the sons of men i. e. He underwent more Affliction and had more Contempt poured upon him than ever was upon any of the Sons of Men and yet he endured all this with incredible Patience and Meekness with the greatest Evenness and Constancy of Mind and with the most perfect Submission and Resignation of himself to the Will of God that can be imagined Such an Example as this should be of great force to animate us with the like Courage and Resolution in lesser Dangers and Difficulties To see the Captain of our Salvation going before us and leading us on so bravely and made perfect by greater sufferings than we can ever be called to or are any ways able to undergo is no small Argument and Encouragement to us to take up our Cross and follow him The Consideration of the unknown Sufferings of the Son of God so great as we cannot well conceive of them should make all the Afflictions and Sufferings that can befall us not only tolerable but easie to us Upon this Consideration it is that the Apostle animates Christians to Patience in their Christian Course notwithstanding all the Hardships and Sufferings that attended it Heb. 12. 2. Let us run with patience the race which is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who endured the Cross and despised the Shame For consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye also be weary and faint in your minds And this Example is more Powerful for our Encouragement because therein we see the World conquered to our Hands and all the Terrours and Temptations of it baffled and subdued and thereby a cheap and easie Victory over it obtained for us By this Consideration our Saviour endeavours to inspire his Disciples with Chearfulness and Courage in this great Conflict John 16. 33. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the world 2. This Example of our Saviour is such as in all the Circumstances of it is most apt and powerful to engage and oblige us to the Imitation of it because all his Self-denyal and Sufferings were for our sakes in Pity and Kindness to us and wholly for our Benefit and Advantage We are apt to have their Example in great regard from whom we have received great Kindness and mighty Benefits This Pattern of Self-denyal and Suffering which our Religion proposeth to us is the Example of One whom we have Reason to Esteem and Love and Imitate above any Person in the World 'T is the Example of our Lord and Master of our Sovereign and our Saviour of the Founder of our Religion and of the Author and Finisher of our Faith And surely such an Example must needs carry Authority with it and command our Imitation 'T is the Example of our best Friend and greatest Benefactor of Him who laid down his Life for us and sealed his Love to us with his dearest Blood and even when we were bitter Enemies
were in expectation that it would one day become the Inheritance of their Posterity Now in this as by a Type and Shadow the Apostle represents to us the Condition of Good Men while they are passing through this World They are Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth they travel up and down the World for a time as the Patriarchs did in the Land of Canaan but are in expectation of a better and more settled Condition hereafter they desire a better Country that is an Heavenly says the Apostle at the 16 vers of this Chapter That which I design from these words is to represent to us our Present Condition in this World and to awaken us to a due Sense and serious Consideration of it It is the same Condition that all the Saints and Holy Men that are gone before us were in in this World and every one of us may say with David Psal. 39. 12. I am a Stranger with thee and a Sojourner as all my Fathers were It is a Condition very troublesome and very unsettled such as that of Pilgrims and Strangers useth to be This we must all acknowledge if we judge rightly of our present State and Condition They confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth but yet it was not without the Hope and Expectation of a better and happier Condition in Reversion So it follows just after They that say such things that is that confess themselves to be Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth declare plainly that they seek a Country This bore up the Patriarchs under all the Evils and Troubles of their Pilgrimage that they expected an Inheritance and a quiet and settled Possession of that Good Land which God had promised to them Answerably to which Good Men do expect after the few and evil days of their Pilgrimage in this World are over a Blessed Inheritance in a better Country that is an Heavenly and with blessed Abraham the Father of the Faithful They look for a City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God as it is said of that Good Patriarch at the tenth Verse of this Chapter It is very frequent not only in Scripture but in other Authors to represent our Condition in this World by that of Pilgrims and Sojourners in a foreign Country For the Mind which is the Man and our Immortal Souls which are by far the most Noble and Excellent part of our selves are the Natives of Heaven and but Pilgrims and Strangers here in the Earth and when the days of our Pilgrimage shall be over are designed to return to that Heavenly Country from which they came and to which they belong And therefore the Apostle tells us Phil. 3. 20. that Christians have relation to Heaven as their Native place and Country 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our conversation is in Heaven so we render the words but they properly signifie that Christians are Members of that City and Society which is above and tho they converse at present here below while they are passing through this World yet Heaven is the Country to which they do belong and whither they are continually tending Sedes ubi fata quietas ostendunt where a quiet Habitation and a perpetual Rest is designed and prepared for them This acknowledgment David makes concerning himself and all the People of God 1 Chron. 29. 15. For we are Strangers before thee and Sojourners as were all our Fathers Our Days on the Earth are as a Shadow and there is none abiding So likewise St. Peter 1 Pet. 1. 17. Pass the time of your Sojourning here in fear And Chap. 2. v. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly Lusts. And not only the inspired Writers of Holy Scripture but Heathen Authors do frequently make use of this Allusion Plato tells us it was a common saying and almost in every Man's Mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Life of Man is a kind of Pilgrimage And Tully in his Excellent Discourse de Senectute concerning Old Age brings in Cato describing our passage out of this World not as a departure from our Home but like a Man leaving his Inn in which he hath Lodged for a Night or two ex vitâ istâ discedo tanquam ex hospitio non tanquam ex domo commorandi enim natura Diversorium nobis non habitandi dedit When I leave this World says he I look upon my self as departing out of an Inn and not as quitting mine own Home and Habitation Nature having assigned this World to us as a place to Sojourn but not to Dwell in Which is the same with what the Apostle says in the Text concerning the Patriarchs they confessed that they were Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth and concerning all Christians Chap. 13. 14. Here we have no continuing City but we seek one to come But I do not intend to follow the Metaphor too close and to vex and torture it by pursuing all those little Parallels and Similitudes which a Lively Fancy might make or find betwixt the Condition of Strangers and Pilgrims and the Life of Man during his Abode and Passage through this World I will insist only upon Two things which seem plainly to be design'd and intended by this Metaphor and they are these 1. That our Condition in this World is very troublesom and unsettled They confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims in the Earth 2. It implies a tendency to a Future Settling and the Hopes and Expectation of a happier Condition into which we shall enter when we go out of this World For so it follows in the very next Words after the Text They confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country They that say such things that is they that acknowledge themselves to have lived in such a restless and uncertain Condition in this World travelling from one place to another as the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob did and yet pretend to be perswaded of the Goodness of God and the Faithfulness of his Promise in which he solemnly declared himself to be their God do hereby plainly shew that they expect some happier Condition hereafter wherein that great Promise of God will be made good to them to the full And these are two very weighty and useful Considerations That we should both understand our present Condition in this World and our future Hope and Expectation after our departure out of it that so we may demean our selves suitably to both these Conditions both as it is fit for those who look upon themselves as Pilgrims and Sojourners in this World and likewise as it becomes those who seek and expect a better Country and hope to be made Partakers of a blessed Immortality in another World I shall briefly speak to both these and then shew what Effect and Influence the serious Meditation of these Two Points ought to have upon every one of
in the Old Testament And such is our Condition in this World it is often Troublesom and always Uncertain and Unsettled So that whatever Degree of Worldly Felicity any Man is possest of he hath no Security that it shall continue for one Moment II. Our condition in this World being a State of Pilgrimage it implies a Tendency to a Future Settlement and the Hopes and Expectation of a Happier Condition into which we shall enter so soon as we leave this World For so it follows immediately after the Text They confessed that they were Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country They that say such things that is They that acknowledge themselves to have lived in such a Restless and Uncertain Condition in this World Travelling from one Place to another as the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob did and yet pretend to be persuaded of the Goodness of God and the faithfulness of his Promise in which He so solemnly declares Himself to be their God do hereby plainly shew that they expect some Happier Condition hereafter wherein that Great Promise of God will be made good to them to the full So that He need not be ashamed to have been called their God Having handled at large these Two Particulars I come now to shew what Influence the Consideration of them ought to have upon our Lives and Practices And if this be our Condition in this World and these our Hopes and Expectations as to another Life If we be Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth and look for a better Country that is an Heavenly this ought to have a great Influence upon us in these following Respects which I did but briefly mention before but shall now Prosecute and Press more largely I. Let us Entangle and Incumber our selves as little as we can in this our Pilgrimage Let us not Engage our Affections too far in the Pleasures and Advantages of this World because we are not to stay in it but to pass through it Upon this Consideration the Apostle St. Peter doth so earnestly exhort Christians to preserve themselves from fleshly Lusts 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly Beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims to abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul The gratifying of our inordinate Lusts and our Carnal and Sensual Inclinations is directly opposite both to the Nature of our Immortal Spirits and to their great Design and Business in this World Fleshly Lusts do not only pollute and defile but even quench and extinguish our Diviner part and do work the ruin and destruction of it they sink our Affections into the Mud and Filth of this World and do entangle and detain them there In a word they do wholly indispose and unfit us for that Pure and Spiritual and Divine Life which alone can qualifie us for our Heavenly Country and Inheritance And therefore while our Souls are Sojourning in this World we should abstain from them and preserve our selves Unspotted and Untainted by them as being altogether unuseful and perfectly contrary to the Laws and Manners of our Heavenly Country If we wallow in brutish and filthy Lusts as we pass through this World our Native Country when our Souls think to return to it will reject us and cast us out when we come to Heaven's Gate and knock there expecting to be admitted and shall cry Lord Lord open unto us He will bid us to depart from Him because we have been workers of iniquity Nothing that is unclean can enter into Heaven He who is to receive us into those Blessed Mansions hath declared it to be his Immutable Resolution and Decree that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. And therefore as ever we hope to see God in that Happy and Blissful State we must Cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the Fear of God that having render'd our selves as like Him as we can in this World we may be capable of the Blessed Sight and Enjoyment of Him in the other And as for the Advantages of this World let us not pursue them too eagerly We may take the Conveniences which fairly offer themselves to us and be content to want what we cannot Honestly have and without going out of the way of our Duty considering that we are Travellers and that a little will serve for our Passage and Accommodation in our Pilgrimage And beyond that why should we so earnestly covet more and trouble our selves for that which is not necessary to our Journey Why should we at any time deal unjustly to attain any of this World's Goods They will stand us in stead for so little a while that we can have no temptation to injure or oppress any Man to break the Peace of our Consciences and to wound our Souls for the attaining of them If the Providence of God offer them to us and bring them to our hands in the use of Honest Diligence and Lawful Means as we are not to refuse them so neither are we to set our Hearts upon them nor to suffer our Affections to be entangled in them The wisest Use we can make of them will be to do like those who traffick in Foreign Parts to consign our Estates into our own Native Country to send our Treasures before us into the other World that we may have the Benefit of them when we come there And this we may do by Alms and Charity Whatever we spend upon the Flesh we leave behind us and it will turn to no account to us in our own Country but whatever we lay out for the Relief of the Poor is so much Treasure laid out and secured to our selves against another day So our Blessed Saviour assures us Luk. 12. 33. That giving of Alms is providing for our selves Bags that wax not old a Treasure in the Heavens that faileth not II. If We be Pilgrims and Strangers then it concerns us to behave our selves with great Caution and to live blamelesly and inoffensively remembering that the Eyes of People are upon us and that those among whom we Sojourn will be very prying and curious and narrow Observers of our Manners and Carriage They that are in a strange Country are not wont to take that Liberty and Freedom which the Natives of the place may do but to keep a perpetual Guard upon themselves knowing how strictly they are observed and that they live among those who bear no Good Will to them and that every Bad Thing we do reflects upon our Nation and is a Reproach to the Country to which we belong Ye are not of the World says our Lord if ye were of the World the World would love its own but ye are not of the World therefore the World hateth you Upon this account the Apostle chargeth Christians to be Harmless and Blameless and as it becomes the Sons of God to be in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation