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church_n	believe_v	faith_n	infallible_a	11,098	5	9.7148	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62634	Several discourses viz. Proving Jesus to be the Messias. The prejudices against Jesus and his religion consider'd. Jesus the Son of God, proved by his Resurrection. The danger of apostacy from Christianity. Christ the author: obedience the condition of salvation. The possibility and necessity of gospel obedience, and its consistence with free grace. The authority of Jesus Christ, with the commission and promise which he gave to his apostles. The difficulties of a Christian life consider'd. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Children of this world wiser than the children of light. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the fifth volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708,	1698 (1698)	Wing T1262A; ESTC R222204	187,258	485

and yet some of the worst of Men have been very eminent for this The Pharisees were the most exact People in the World in matter of external Ceremony and Devotion and yet for all this our Saviour plainly tells them that they were farther from the Kingdom of God than those who seemed to be farthest than Publicans and Harlots and that because they were so very bad under so great a pretence of Devotion therefore they should receive the greater Damnation Not but that External Devotion is a necessary expression of Religion and highly acceptable to God when it proceeds from a pious and devout Mind and when Men are really such in their Hearts and Lives as their external Devotion represents them to be But when the outward Garb of Religion is only made a Cloak for Sin and Wickedness when there is nothing within to answer all the Shew that we see without nothing is more odious and abominable to God These are mere Engins and Puppits in Religion all the Motions we see without proceed from an artificial Contrivance and not from any inward Principle of Life and as no Creature is more ridiculous than an Ape because the Beast makes some pretence to human Shape so nothing is more fulsome than this hypocritical Devotion because it looks like Religion but is the farthest from it of any thing in the World 5thly Others confide very much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Priviledges and Advantages which they have thereby above others of getting to Heaven Thus the Jews confined Salvation to themselves and looked upon all the rest of the World as excluded from it And not only so but they believed that by one means or other every Israelite should be saved So that they were the Jewish Catholick Church out of which there was no hope of Salvation for any The same Pretence is made by some Christians at this day who engross Salvation to themselves and will allow none to go to Heaven out of the Communion of their Church and have so ordered the matter that hardly any that are in it can miscarry They are Members of an infallible Church which cannot possibly err in Matters of Faith they have not only eat and drunk in Christ's presence but have eat and drunk his very Corporal Presence the natural Substance of his Flesh and Blood they have not only our blessed Saviour but innumerable other Intercessors in Heaven they have not only their own Merits to plead for them but in case they be defective they may have the Merits of others assigned and made over to them out of the infinite Stock and Treasure of the Church upon which they may challenge Eternal Life as of right and due belonging to them and by a due course of Confession and Absolution may quit scores with God for all their Sins from time to time Or if they have neglected all this they may after the most flagitious course of Life upon Attrition that is upon some Trouble for Sin out of fear of Hell and Damnation joyned with Confession and Absolution get to Heaven at last provided the Priest mean honestly and do not for want of Intention deprive them of the saving Benefit and Effect of this Sacrament But is it possible Men can be deluded at this Rate as to think that Confidence of their own good Condition and want of Charity to others will carry them to Heaven That any Church hath the Priviledge to save impenitent Sinners And they are really impenitent who do not exercise such a Repentance as the Gospel plainly requires and if Men die in this state whatever Church they are of the great Judge of the World hath told us that he will not know them but will bid them to depart from him because they have been Workers of Iniquity 6thly Others think that their Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them But Zeal if it be not according to Knowledge if it be mistaken in its Object or be irregular and excessive in the degree is so far from being a Virtue that it may be a great Sin and Fault and tho' it be for the Truth yet if it be destitute of Charity and separated from the Virtues of a good Life it will not avail us So St. Paul tells us that tho' a Man should give his Body to be burnt yet if he have not Charity it is nothing 7thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion and this sure willdo the business And it is very true and certain in experience that Religion may have a considerable Awe and Influence upon Men's Hearts and Lives and yet they may fall short of Happiness Men may in many considerable Instances perform their Duty to God and Man and yet the retaining of one Lust the practice of any one known Sin may hinder them from entring in at the strait Gate Herod did not only hear John gladly but did many things in Obedience to his Doctrine and yet he was a very bad Man The Pharisee thanked God and it may be truly that he was not like other Men an extortioner or unjust or an adulterer and yet the penitent Publican was justified before him The young Man who came to our Saviour to know what he should do to enter into Life and of whom our Saviour testifies that he was not far from the Kingdom of God and that he wanted but one thing yet for want of that he miscarried And St. James assures us that if a Man keep the whole Law and yet fail in one point he is guilty of all If we be workers of Iniquity in any one kind Christ will disown us and bid us depart from him 8thly Others rely upon the Sincerity of their Repentance and Conversion whereby they are put into a state of Grace from whence they can never finally fall They did once very heartily repent of their wicked Lives and did change their Course and were really reformed and continued a great while in that good Course And all this may be certainly true but it is as certain that they are relapsed into their former evil Course And if so the Prophet hath told us their Doom that if the righteous Man forsake his Righteousness his Righteousness shall not be remembred but in the Sin that he hath sinned in that shall he die So that a Righteous Man may turn from his Righteousress and commit Iniquity and dye in it For the Prophet doth not here as some vainly pretend put a case which is impossible in Fact should happen unless they will say that the other Case which he puts together with it of the wicked Mans turning away from his wickedness and doing that which is lawful and right is likewise impossible which God forbid And that Men may fall from a state of Grace is no matter of Discouragement to good Men but a good caution against Security and an Argument

6. 5. those miraculous Powers which accompanied the first preaching of the Gospel are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Powers of the World to come that is of the Gospel Age. So that this last Age of the Gospel is that which the Scripture by way of Eminency calls the Age those that went before are constantly call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ages in the plural number So we find Eph. 3. 9. the Gospel is call'd the dispensation of the Mystery that was hid in God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Ages and you have the same Phrase Col. 1. 26. Upon the same account the expiration of the Jewish State is in Scripture called the last times and the last days Heb. 1. 2. But in these last days God hath spoken to us by his Son 1 Cor. 10. 11. These things are written for our Admonition upon whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ends of the Ages are come In the same Sense the Apostle Heb. 9. 26. speaking of Christ says that he appeared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of the Ages to take away Sin that is at the Conclusion of the Ages which had gone before in the last Age. So that if we will be governed in the Interpretation of this Text by the constant use of this Phrase in Scripture the Letter of this Promise will extend to the end of the World 2. But however this be it is certain that the Reason of this Promise does extend to all those that should succeed the Apostles in their Ministry to the end of the World I will suppose now to give our Adversaries their utmost scope that which we have no reason to grant that the Letter of this Promise reacheth only to the Apostles and their Age and that our Saviour's meaning was no more but this that he would send down the holy Ghost upon them in miraculous Gifts to qualifie and inable them for the speedy planting and propagating of the Gospel in the World and that he would be with them 'till this Work was done Now supposing there were nothing more than this intended in the letter of it this ought not much to trouble us so long as it is certain that the Reason of it does extend to the Successors of the Apostles in all Ages of the World I do not mean that the Reason of this Promise does give us sufficient Assurance that God will assist the Teachers and Governours of his Church in all Ages in the same extraordinary manner as he did the Apostles because there is not the like reason and necessity for it but that we have sufficient Assurance from the Reason of this Promise that God will not be wanting to us in such fitting and necessary Assistance as the state of Religion and the welfare of it in every Age shall require For can we imagine that God would use such extraordinary means to plant a Religion in the World and take no care of it afterwards That he who had begun so good a Work so great and glorious a Design would let it fall to the ground for want of any thing that was necessary to the Support of it This is reasonable in it self but we are not also without good ground for thus extending the general reason of particular Promises beyond the Letter of them The Apostle hath gone before us in this for Heb. 13. 5 6. he there extends two particular Promises of the Old Testament to all Christians Let your Conversation says he be without Cove tousness and be content with such things as ye have For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And again The Lord is my helper I will not fear what Man can do unto me These Promises were made to particulur Persons the first of them to Joshua and the other to David but yet the Apostle applies them to all Christians and to good Men in all Ages because the general Ground and Reason of them extended so far He who gave Joshua and David this encouragement to their Duty will certainly be as good to us if we do ours And thus I have done with the first Controver●ie about the Sense of these Words which concerns the Circumstance of time mentioned in this Promise always to the end of the World and have plainly shewn that both the Letter and the Reason of this Promise does extend further than the Persons of the Apostles and the continuance of that Age even to all that should succeed them in their Ministry to the end of the World I come now to consider Secondly The Substance of the Promise it self namely what is meant by our Saviour's being with them And here our Adversaries of the Church of Rome would fain perswade us that this Promise is made to the Church of Rome and that the meaning of it is that that Church should always be infallible and never err in the Faith But as there is no mention of the Church of Rome in this Promise nor any where else in Scripture upon the like Occasion whereby we might be directed to understand this Promise to be made to that Church so to any unprejudiced Person the plain and obvious Sense of this Promise can be no other than this that our Saviour having commissionated the Apostles to go and preach the Christian Religion in the World he promises to assist them in this work and those that should succeed them in it to the end of the World But how any Man can construe this Promise so as to make it signifie the perpetual Infallibility of the Roman Church I cannot for my life devise and yet this is one of the main Texts upon which they build that old and tottering Fabrick of their Infallibility Here is a general Promise of Assistance to the Pastors and Governours of the Church in all Ages to the end of the World but that this Assistance shall always be to the degree of Infallibility as it was to the Apostles can neither be concluded from the letter of this Promise nor from the Reason of it much less can it be from hence concluded that the Assistance here promised if it were to the degree of Infallibility is to be limited and confined to the supream Pastor and Governor of the Roman Church That the Assistance here promised shall always be to the degree of Infallibility can by no means be concluded from the Letter of this Promise Indeed there is no Pretence or Colour for it he must have a very peculiar Sagacity that can find out in these words I am with you always a promise of infallible Assistance Is not the Promise which God made to Joshua and which the Apostle to the Hebrews applies to all Christians and to all Good Men in all Ages I will never leave thee nor forsake thee the very same in sense with this I will be with you always and yet surely no Man did ever imagine that by virtue of this Promise every Christian and every

his own Kingdom 2. They pretended that though he did many great Works yet he gave them no Sign from Heaven Matt. 16. 1. it is said They desired him to shew them a Sign from Heaven It seems they expected that God should give some immediate Testimony to him from Heaven as he did to Elias when Fire came down from Heaven and consumed his Enemies And particularly they expected that when he was upon the Cross if he were the true Messias he should have come down and saved himself And because he did not answer their Expectation in this they concluded him an Impostor Now what could be more unreasonable when he had wrought so many other and great Miracles perversly to insist upon some particular kind of Miracle which they fancied As if God were bound to gratifie the Curiosity of Men and as if our Saviour were not as much declared to be the Son of God by rising again from the Dead as if he had come down from the Cross Fourthly As to his Conversation they had these three Exceptions 1. That he used no severity in his Habit or Diet took too much Freedom as they thought came Eating and Drinking that is he freely used the Creatures of God for the end for which they were given with Temperance and Thanksgiving and did not lay those rigorous Restraints upon himself in these matters which many that were esteemed the most Religious among them used to do But he plainly shews them that this Exception was meerly out of their Prejudice against him For if he had come in the way of Austerity they would have rejected him as well They were resolved to find Fault with him whatever he did Matth. 11. 16. Whereunto shall I liken this Generation John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking and they say He hath a Devil He lived in a more austere and melancholy way he came in the way of Righteousness used great Strictness and Severity in his Habit and Diet and this they took Exception at Our Saviour was of a quite contrary Temper and that did not please them neither The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say behold a Wine-bibber and a Glutton So that let our Saviour have done what he would he could not have carried himself so as to have escaped the Censures of Men so peevishly and perversly disposed 2. That he kept Company with Publicans and Sinners To which Exception nothing can be more reasonable than our Saviour's own Answer that he was sent to be a Physician to the World to call Sinners to Repentance and therefore they had no Reason to be angry or think it strange if he conversed with his Patients among whom his proper Imployment lay 3. They objected to him Prophaneness in breaking the Sabbath and that surely was plain that he could not be of God if he kept not the Sabbath-day The Truth was he had healed one on the Sabbath-day To this our Saviour gives a most reasonable and satisfactory Answer that surely it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath-day that that was but a Positive Institution but works of Mercy are Natural and Moral Duties and God himself had declared that he would have even his own Institutions to give way to those greater Duties that are of natural and eternal Obligation I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice And then from the End of the Sabbath The Sabbath was made for the Rest and Refreshment of Man and therefore could not be presumed to be intended to his Prejudice The Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath Fifthly Another great Prejudice against him was that Persons of the greatest Knowledge and Authority among them did not embrace his Doctrine John 7. 48. Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees believed on him So that here was the infallible Rule and Authority of their Church against him There is no doubt but the Example and Authority of our Guides ought to sway very much with us and over-rule us in doubtful Cases but not against plain and convincing Evidence there we ought to follow and obey God rather than Men. There is sometimes a visible and palpable Corruption in those who are to lead us they may have an Interest to oppose the Truth And thus it was with the Pharisees and Rulers at that Time And so it hath been among Christians in the great Degeneracy of the Roman Church The Christian Religion was never more endangered nor never more corrupted than by those who have been in greatest Authority in that Church who ought to have understood Religion best and have been the principal Support of it Men may err but God cannot So that when God sends a Prophet or by his Word does plainly declare his Will to us Human Example and Authority ceaseth and is of no force The last Prejudice I shall mention which the Jews had against our Saviour and his Doctrine was that it did abolish and supersede their Religion as of no longer Use and Continuance though it was plain it was instituted by God This had been a very specious Pretence indeed had not this been part of their Religion and had not their own Prophets foretold that the Messias should come and perfect what was wanting and defective in their Institution It was expresly said in their Law That God would raise unto them another Prophet like to Moses and that they should hear him when he came So that in Truth it was the Accomplishment of all those Revelations which were made to the Jews and did not reprove the Jewish Religion as false but as imperfect And did not contradict and overthrow but perfect and fulfill the Law and the Prophets And thus I have gone over the chief Exceptions and Offences which the Jews took at our Saviour and his Doctrine and I hope sufficiently shown the Unreasonableness of them I have not now time to proceed to what remains But by what hath been said you may easily see upon what slight and unreasonable Grounds Men may be prejudiced against the best Person and Things and yet be very confident all the while that they are in the Right For so no doubt many of the Jews who opposed our Saviour and his Doctrine thought themselves to be Therefore it concerns us to put on Meekness and Humility and Modesty that we way be able to judge impartially of things and our Minds may be preserved free and indifferent to receive the Truths of God when they are offer'd to us Otherwise Self-Conceit and Passion will so blind our Minds and biass our Judgments that we shall be unable to discern and unwilling to entertain the plainest and most evident Truths We see here by the sad Example of the Jews that by giving way to Passion and cherishing Pride and Self-Conceit Men may be so deeply prejudiced against the Truth as to resist the clearest Light and reject even Salvation it self when it is offer'd to them So that it is not in vain that the Scripture saith

shall be revealed in us The consideration whereof was that which made the Primitive Christians to triumph in their Sufferings and in the midst of all their Tribulations to rejoyce in the hopes of the Glory of God because their Sufferings did really prepare and make way for their Glory So the same Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 4. 17. 18. Our light Afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen for the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal 3dly and lastly The assurance of our future Reward is a mighty Encouragement to Obedience and a Holy Life What greater Encouragement can we have than this that all the good which we do in this World will accompany us into the other That when we rest from our labours our works will follow us That when we shall be stript of other things and parted from them these will still remain with us and bear us company Our Riches and Honours our sensual Pleasures and Enjoyments will all take their leave of us when we leave this World nay many times they do not accompany us so far as the Grave but take occasion to forsake us when we have the greatest need and use of them but Piety and Virtue are that better part which cannot be taken from us All the good actions which we do in this World will go along with us into the other and through the Merits of our Redeemer procure for us at the hands of a Gracious and Merciful God a Glorious and Eternal Reward not according to the meanness of our Services but according to the Bounty of his Mind and the vastness of his Treasures and Estate Now what an encouragement is this to Holiness and Obedience to consider that it will all be our own another day to be assured that whoever serves God faithfully and does suffer for him patiently does lay up so much Treasure for himself in another World and provides lasting Comforts for himself and faithful and constant Companions that will never leave him nor forsake him Let us then do all the good we can while we have opportunity and serve God with all our might knowing that no good action that we do shall be lost and fall to the ground that every Grace and Virtue that we exercise in this life and every degree of them shall receive their full recompence at the Resurrection of the Just How should this inspire us with Resolution and Zeal and Industry in the Service of God to have such a Reward continually in our Eye how should it tempt us to our Duty to have a Crown and a Kingdom offered to us Joys unspeakable and full of Glory such things as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man And such are the things which God hath laid up for them who love him heartily and serve him faithfully in this World SERMON V. The danger of Apostacy from Christianity HEB. VI. 4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy-Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame THESE words are full of difficulties and the misunderstanding of them hath not only been an occasion of a great deal of trouble and even despair to particular persons but one of the chief Reasons why the Church of Rome did for a long time reject the Authority of this Book which by the way I cannot but take notice of as a demonstrative Instance both of the fallible Judgment of that Church and of the fallibility of Oral Tradition for St. Jerome more than once expresly tells us that in his time which was about 400 years after Christ the Church of Rome did not receive this Epistle for Canonical But it is plain that since that time whether moved by the Evidence of the thing or which is more probable by the Consent and Authority of other Churches they have received it and do at this day acknowledge it for Canonical from whence one of these two things will necessarily follow either that they were in an error for 400 years together while they rejected it or that they have since erred for a longer time in receiving it One of these is unavoidable for if the Book be Canonical now it was so from the beginning for Bellarmine himself confesseth and if he had not confessed it it is nevertheless true and certain that the Church cannot make a Book Canonical which was not so before if it was not Canonical at first it cannot be made so afterward so that let them chuse which part they will it is evident beyond all denyal that the Church of Rome hath actually erred in her Judgment concerning the Authority of this Book and one error of this kind is enough to destroy her Infallibility there being no greater Evidence that a Church is not Infallible than if it plainly appear that she hath been deceived And this also is a convincing instance of the Fallibility of Oral Tradition For if that be Infallible in delivering down to us the Canonical Books of Scripture it necessarily follows that whatever Books were delivered down to us for Canonical in one Age must have been so in all Ages and whatever was rejected in any Age must always have been rejected but we plainly see the contrary from the instance of this Epistle concerning which the Church of Rome which pretends to be the great and faithful Preserver of Tradition hath in several Ages deliver'd several things This is a peremptory instance both of the Fallibility of the Roman Church and of her Oral Tradition Having observed this by the way which I could not well pass by upon so fair an occasion I shall betake my self to the explication of these words towards which it will be no small advantage to consider the particular Phrases and Expressions in the Text. It is impossible for those who were once enlightned that is were solemnly admitted into the Church by Baptism and embraced the profession of Christianity Nothing was more frequent among the Ancients than to call Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination and those who were baptized were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlightned Persons because of that Divine Illumination which was convey'd to the minds of Men by the knowledge of Christianity the Doctrine whereof they made Profession of at their Baptism And therefore Justin Martyr tells us that by calling upon God the Father and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the name of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the enlightned Person is washed and again more expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Laver

most enormous Offenders they apply to themselves and when they hear of the Sin against the Holy Ghost and the Sin unto Death or read this Text which I am now treating of they presently conclude that they are guilty of these Sins and that this is a description of their Case Whereas the Sin against the holy Ghost is of that nature that probably none but those that saw our Saviour's Miracles are capable of committing it and excepting that there is no Sin whatsoever that is unpardonable As for the Sin unto Death and that here spoken of in the Text I have shewn that they are a total Apostacy from the Christian Religion more especially to the Heathen Idolatry which these Persons I am speaking of have no reason to imagine themselves guilty of And though great and notorious Crimes committed by Christians may come near to this and it may be very hard for those who are guilty of them to recover themselves again to Repentance yet to be sure for the common Frailties and Infirmities of Human Nature there is an open way of Pardon in the Gospel and they are many times forgiven to us upon a General Repentance so that upon account of these which is commonly the case of the Persons I am speaking of there is not the least ground of Despair and though it be hard many times for such Persons to receive Comfort yet it is easie to give it and that upon sure Grounds and as clear Evidence of Scripture as there is for any thing so that the first thing that such Persons who are so apt to judge thus hardly of themselves are to be convinced of if possible is this that they ought rather to trust the Judgment of others concerning themselves than their own Imagination which is so distemper'd that it cannot make a true Representation of things I know that where Melancholy does mightily prevail it is hard to perswade People of this but 'till they be perswaded of it I am sure all the Reason in the World will signifie nothing to them 4thly This should make Men afraid of great and presumptuous Sins which come near Apostacy from Christianity such as deliberate Murder Adultery gross Fraud and Oppression or notorious and habitual Intemperance For what great difference is there whether Men renounce Christianity or professing to believe it do in their Works deny it Some of these Sins which I have mention'd particularly Murder and Adultery were ranked in the same degree with Apostacy by the Ancient Church and so severe was the Discipline of many Churches that Persons guilty of these Crimes were never admitted to the Peace and Communion of the Church again whatever Testimony they gave of their Repentance I will not say but this was too rigorous but this shews how inconsistent with Christianity these Crimes and others of the like degree of heinousness were in those days thought to be They did not indeed as Tertullian tells us think such Persons absolutely incapable of the Mercy of God but after such a Fall so notorious a Contradiction to their Christian Profession they thought it unfit afterwards that they should ever be reckon'd in the number of Christians 5thly It may be useful for us upon this Occasion to reflect a little upon the ancient Discipline of the Church which in some places as I have told you was so severe as in case of some great Crimes after Baptism as Apostacy to the Heathen Idolatry Murder and Adultery never to admit those that were guilty of them to the Peace and Communion of the Church but in all Churches was so strict as not to admit those who fell after Baptism into great and notorious Crimes to Reconciliation with the Church but after a long and tedious course of Penance after the greatest and most publick Testimonies of Sorrow and Repentance after long Fasting and Tears and the greatest signs of Humiliation that can be imagined In case of the greatest Offences they were seldom reconciled till they came to lye upon their Death-beds And in case of other scandalous Sins not 'till after the Humiliation of many Years This perhaps may be thought too great Severity but I am sure we are as much too remiss now as they were over rigorous then but were the Ancient Discipline of the Church in any degree put in practice now what case would the generality of Christians be in In what Herds and Shoals would Men be driven out of the Communion of the Church 'T is true the prodigious Degeneracy and Corruption of Christians hath long since broke these Bounds and 't is morally impossible to revive the strictness of the ancient Discipline in any measure till the World grow better but yet we ought to reflect with shame and confusion of Face upon the purer Ages of the Church and sadly to consider how few among us would in those Days have been accounted Christians and upon this Consideration to be provoked to an Emulation of those Better Times and to a Reformation of those Faults and Miscarriages which in the best days of Christianity were reckon'd inconsistent with the Christian Profession and to remember that though the Discipline of the Church be not now the same it was then yet the Judgment and Severity of God is and that those who live in any vicious course of Life though they continue in the Communion of the Church yet they shall be shut out of the Kingdom of God We are sure that the Judgment of God will be according to Truth against them which commit such things 6thly and lastly The Consideration of what hath been said should confirm and establish us in the Profession of our Holy Religion 'T is true we are not now in danger of apostatizing from Christianity to the Heathen Idolatry but we have too many sad Examples of those who apostatize from the Profession of the Gospel which they have taken upon them in Baptism to Atheism and Infidelity to all manner of Impiety and Lewdness There are many who daily fall off from the Profession of the Reformed Religion to the gross Errors and Superstitions of the Roman Church which in many things does too nearly resemble the old Pagan Idolatry And what the Apostle here says of the Apostates of his time is proportionably true of those of our days that they who thus fall away it is extreamly difficult to renew them again to Repentance And it ought to be remembred that the guilt of this kind of Apostacy hath driven some to Despair as in the Case of Spira who for resisting the Light and Convictions of his Mind was cast into those Agonies and fill'd with such Terrors as if the very pains of Hell had taken hold of him and in that fearful Despair and in the midst of those Horrors he breathed out his Soul Let us then hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering and let us take heed how we contradict the Profession of our Faith by any Impiety and Wickedness in our