of a day or an hour or a Sermon the holy Scripture quite contrary-wise represents it as the business of a mans whole life and requires that men not only set out well but that they make a daily and gradual progression towards Heaven forasmuch as it tells us that otherwise he who hath begun in the spirit may end in the flesh and that a man may return with the Dog to his vomit c. and then the latter end of such a man is worse than the beginning 5. Another mistake not inferiour to any of the former either in respect of errour or danger is about the power and authority of Conscience viz. When men perswade themselves that all is right and true which they are satisfied of in their Consciences and that it is lawful for them to do whatsoever that dictates to them or allows them in as if Conscience were not a thing to be ruled but to rule and were invested with a kind of Soveraignty so that it were a Law to it self and to others also If you reprove some mans opinion instead of arguments for it he tells you it is his Conscience and that 's enough or if you blame some action of his life he regards not your reprehensions for saith he my Conscience smites me not for it and therefore I am safe or if you forewarn him of some counsels or undertakings as tending to Sedition and publick disturbance it is no matter it is his Conscience and he must pursue it The mischief of this is very intolerable for by this means the most foolish and extravagant actions are justified and the malefactor rendered incorrigible being both hardened in his sin and in his sufferings for if it come to that you cannot convince such men for they have a testimony within them which is infallible and in confidence of that whensoever you bring an Argument which they cannot answer they reject and defy it as a temptation of the Devil If you rebuke them you blaspheme the holy Spirit if you go about to restrain them you violate the most sacred Prerogative of Conscience and are gulty of the only sacriledge which in their opinion can be committed and which is worst of all thus God is intitled to the very passions and follies of such men and to all the extravagancies in the World for if it be their Conscience God must patronize it and bear the blame of all Now one would justly wonder what these men think this thing called Conscience to be surely no less than some God Almighty within them and so indeed several expressions of them seem to intimate But certainly if they thought Conscience to be nothing else but a mans own mind or opinion or perswasion or practical Judgment which certainly it is and no more they could not either in reason or modesty think fit that this should have such a paramount Authority as to bear all down before it at least they could not imagine that their peculiar phancy or humour their particular Education or Idiopathy their ignorance or stubbornness should be lawless and uncontroulable For if mens opinions or perswasions are infallible what is instruction for if the light within be sufficient what is the light of holy Scripture for if Conscience be a guide to it self to what purpose are spiritual Guides provided by divine wisdom for our conduct and if that may not be restrained in its extravagancy wherefore were Laws made and Magistrates appointed So that either this wild notion of the power of Conscience must be false or else Instruction and Education are useless Magistracy and Ministry impertinent and both Laws and Scripture of no effect And if notwithstanding this notion be imbraced it is plainly impossible that such men should live either holily or comfortably Not holily because Conscience thus left alone to it self without guide or rule will in all likelihood follow mens temper and inclination and then a mans most beloved Lusts shall be the dictate of his Conscience Not comfortably because he that is destitute of a Law and a guide to resolve him in difficulties must needs if he consider and be sensible of any thing at all be perplexed with perpetual disputes and endless scrupulosity upon every undertaking But it will be pretended that there is no help for it but when all is done men must and will follow their own Consciences forasmuch as Discourse or Laws or Scripture signify nothing till they are applied by Conscience they indeed may give aim or may be of the nature of evidence in a Cause but it is Conscience which collects the result and he that complies not with that is guilty of sin whether the Evidence was well summed up or no. To this purpose some passages of Scripture are usually misapplied e. g. Let a man be perswaded in his own mind Rom. 14. 5. That which is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14. 23. and he that doubteth is damn'd c. I do confess here is something of truth in this Plea but blended with a great deal of errour and here I verily believe lies the rise or occasion of the perswasion of the extravagant authority of Conscience But when we consider wisely the truth is no more but this that a mans Conscience ought to go along with him in the acts of his Obedience to the Law or that he ought to be perswaded the thing is lawful to be done before he does it otherwise he doth violence to himself and condemns his own act But it doth not follow that therefore it is lawful to do whatsoever he is perswaded of in his Conscience or that it is not his duty to do any thing but what he is so perswaded of for this abrogates all the Laws both of God and Man and makes their Legislations to depend upon private consent If therefore any man through ignorance or prejudice or any such cause shall have his Conscience alienated from the Law or dictating otherwise to him this as it cannot make a Law so neither can it discharge him from the obligation of one All that this works is that it puts a man into so sad a case that he may sin both ways that is both in obeying and in disobeying but because he is brought into this strait by his own default it is evident this cannot acquit his Conscience for one sin is no discharge for another That therefore which he hath now to do is first to inform his Conscience better and then to comply with the rule And that this is the true state of this Case will appear beyond all exception by the resolution of our Saviour himself in two passages of the Gospel the former Matt. 6. 23. if the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness Where first he supposes that the principles of a mans mind or Conscience may be very false and erroneous and then pronounces that he that is in such a Case is in a very deplorable condition forasmuch as the errour
the Assemblies of Gods Servants 3. And more particularly let him not neglect the opportunities of receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper as often as they are presented to him unless some weighty occasion hinder or disable him It is well known to have been the use of the primitive Church to administer this holy Sacrament as often as it held any solemn Assembly for divine worship and the Christians then as duly received it as they came to Church nor did the frequency of it abate their reverence to it but highly increased it rather And this office they therefore called the Communion because it was the symbol of a compleat member of the Church and the fullest instance of that Society To have been kept from it by any accident was then looked upon as a great Calamity but to be debarred from it by the censure of the Church was as dreadful to them as the Sentence of Death They sought to be restored to it with tears with prostrations in SackCloth and Ashes with all the intercession of their Friends and all the interests they could make There was no need in those times to use arguments to convince men of the duty or repeated exhortations to press them to the performance of it the Ministers of the Church had no trouble in answering objections against it or removing impertinent scruples about it much less was there any occasion to urge the observance of it by humane Laws for they remembred it was instituted by their Saviour on the same night in which he was betrayed for the Commemoration of his Passion and recommended to their observance by the most obliging circumstances they found the constant solemnity of it setled in all Churches by the Apostles and they were well aware of the unspeakable comforts of it Now the reason of all these things holds as much in these times as then saving that men are not so conscientious and devout as they were for in the first place it hath been the custom of the Church in all times since to make this Sacrament the badge and cognizance of her members until of late those have pretended to be Churches where there was neither Order nor Unity neither Sacraments administred nor indeed persons qualified to administer them and it 's great pity and shame that such an unhappy novelty should prescribe against all Antiquity And then secondly as for the institution of this Sacrament by our Saviour it is manifest that he did not deliver himself by way of counsel and advice so as to leave it to our discretion or courtesy to observe this Sacrament or omit it but by express and positive command Do this in remembrance of me and therefore there is no room for the cavil against mixt Communion as if we were excused from celebrating the Lord's Supper because others do it unworthily which is as much as to say because some do it as they should not I may chuse whether I will do it at all But as I said here is an express command that we do it and therefore we have no liberty to omit it upon any such pretence And upon the same account it will be in vain to pretend I am not prepared for it and therefore must be excused for when our Lord hath made it our duty to do it it is our duty also to do it as we should do and the neglect of one duty will not excuse another i. e. our sin of unpreparedness will be no apology for our sin in total omission of the Sacrament The whole truth is here are two things required of us one expressed and the other implied the express duty is that we celebrate the memorial of our Saviours Passion the implied duty is that this be done with such preparation as agrees with so sacred a mystery both these therefore are to be performed for as my coming to the Sacrament will not excuse my coming unpreparedly so much less will my unpreparedness excuse my not coming at all But of the two it seems far the more pardonable to come though somewhat unpreparedly than not to come because of unpreparedness for that is neither to come nor prepare neither I say though neither ought to be done yet it is plainly better to offend in the point of an implied duty than of an express one but especially it is more tolerable to commit one sin than both as he that comes not to the Lords Supper at all notoriously doth But then thirdly for the comforts of this holy Sacrament those are so vastly great that the man is as well insensible of his own good as of the honour of Christ Jesus who willfully neglects the Lords Supper For in the first place by commemorating the Passion of our Lord in that holy Feast we not only perform an office of obedience and gratitude to our Saviour but we strengthen our Faith in the efficacy of his Death and Sacrifice for the expiation of sin which affords the greatest relief to our guilty Consciences that can be And together herewith we melt our own hearts into contrition fears and sorrow for those sins of ours which required such an atonement For who can consider what his Saviour suffered and look upon him whom we have pierced and not mourn heartily for his sin and his danger Again by eating and drinking at the Lords Table we are made sensible of the happy estate of Friendship with God which we are now restored to by the intercession of our Lord Jesus Moreover by commemorating his Death and the ends and effects of it we fortify our own minds against the fear of Death and by feeding upon his body and blood we have the pledges of our own Resurrection and Immortality and to say no more though in so copious and comfortable a subject by partaking of his body and blood we become united to him and partake of the same spirit that was in him And now after all this who will make that an excuse for omitting the Sacrament that they do not find or observe that either themselves or others profit by it What is it no profit that we have done our duty and exprest our gratitude to so great a Benefactor Is it no profit to see Christ Crucified before our Eyes and to see him pour out his heart blood for Sinners Is it no profit to be made ingenuously to weep over our own sins Is it no priviledge no comfort to be admitted to the Lords Table in token of Friendship and reconciliation with him Certainly there is no body but profits something more or less by these things and if there be any man who doth not profit greatly by them he must needs have a very naughty heart indeed and had need to prepare himself and go often to the Sacrament that it may be mended But however let the good Christian gladly imbrace all opportunities of this holy solemnity and not doubt to find comfort by it 4. As for the other offices of the Church such as Prayers
a case to be that which they must always complain of but yet they never expect or desire to see it cured for these sins are thought to be only like the Canaanites in the land or some other remainder of those devoted and accursed Nations which must never be quite rooted out but be always as Thorns in the Eyes and Goads in the sides of the true Israelites i. e. tolerated but not extirpated But if this be not a very false notion what was the meaning of our Saviour when he requires us to cut off our right hand and to pluck out our right eye when either of them offend us That is that if we will enter into life we must part with the sin that is as pleasant to us as our Eyes as necessary or convenient to us as our right hand and as painful to part withal as either of them Whereas if the aforesaid Doctrine of infirmity take place with us it will save all the pains and trouble of mortification and keep the body of sin whole and intire and yet put men in hopes they may go to Heaven notwithstanding and no sin that we have a kindness to but a man may enjoy it without danger For thus it shall be one mans infirmity to be drunk another mans to swear a third mans to be seditious or censorious and in short by the benefit of a soft word or distinction together with a good opinion of a mans self he may reconcile God and Mammon Christ and Belial Hell and Heaven But this cheat is too palpable for the Plea of infirmity is only allowable in such Cases as these following namely when either ignorance or mis-information betrays a man into errour or he fails in the manner of doing that which was otherwise good for the matter of it or a great fear over-powers him or the suddenness of a temptation surprizes him before he was so much aware as to collect himself or something of like nature to these may be called sins of infirmity But assuredly that which a man knows to be a sin and yet commits it that which a man takes pleasure in and lives in the habitual practice of can never be esteemed a meer pitiable infirmity and therefore whosoever truly loves his own Soul and is in earnest for Eternity hath great reason to take care of this errour 4. A fourth danger I would give warning against is the mistaken opinion about Conversion to God which if it be rightly understood is a great solemn and divine thing and whereever it is truly accomplisht is the happiest passage of a mans whole life and the very Crisis of Eternity viz. when either a man who by unhappy Education or otherwise was betray'd to evil and mischievous opinions comes by the advantage of better information and the grace of God to be otherwise instructed and set right in his principles or especially when one who was formerly of a lewd and flagitious life is by the grace of the Gospel now brought to a sight of his sin a sense of his danger and thereupon changes his whole course and becomes a new and holy man Both these are as I said great and solemn and happy things to be spoken of with all reverence and considered with joy and admiration But now there is a two fold mistake very common in this great affair viz. when either such a Conversion as we have now described is looked upon as universally necessary and prescribed to all men as the condition of their Salvation or else which is far worse when the whole nature of the thing is mistaken and conversion from sin to God is made to be a mere momentaneous act a kind of qualm or fit of Religion and as such is relied upon as sufficient to Salvation without an habitual course of holy life subsequent to it Both these last named are false and dangerous opinions but the evil of the former of them lies in this that it is apt to perplex the Consciences and disturb the peace of very good men viz. When those who by the blessing of God have been trained up in good principles and by his grace not only preserved from a loose and debauched life but ingaged also in a holy and virtuous course all along shall notwithstanding have it preached to them and prest upon them that they also must be converted and born again or else they shall never see the Kingdom of God This indeed was necessary and proper Doctrine from our Saviour to Nicodemus and to the generality of the Jews as well as from the Apostles to the Pagan World who had been nursed up in Ignorance Superstition and Idolatry But it was not preached to John the Baptist nor to St. John the Apostle nor to Timothy who had known the holy Scriptures from a Child 2 Tim. 3. 15. and who had been early ingaged in an holy life by the blessing of God upon the careful instructions of his Grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice 2 Tim. 1. 5. not can such Doctrine without equal indiscretion and danger be preached to several others now who are of that condition that as our Saviour saith they need no repentance But it is the latter of these opinions about Conversion which I intend in this place principally to give caution against viz. when a man who hath been formerly either of a sottish and careless or of a notoriously debaucht and profligate life shall be incouraged to think his peace is made with God from such time as he hath had a qualm come over his Conscience and been put into a mood of seriousness and devotion having been taught to date his Regeneration from hence The mischief of this mistake is very frequent and apparent for that it tempts men to grow secure before they are safe and it is very common and natural for such persons to grow careless of themselves upon a vain confidence in this kind of Conversion as if now their work were done without the trouble of bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance and amendment of life Nay further when perhaps such men have committed some such great sin as that were it not for this unhappy errour would startle their Consciences they are hereby instead of applying themselves to God by hearty repentance inclined only fondly to look back and to remember that such a time I was converted and enter'd into a state of grace and therefore all is well enough already and from hence it comes to pass also that nothing is more frequent than such mens falling from grace in this sense that is to apostatize from such hopeful beginnings for indeed they were at most but beginnings but being foolishly rested in as if they had amounted to the whole attainment of Christianity they flatter men into security first and betray them to shame afterwards And the falsity of this conceit is evident in this that whereas it makes the great business of Eternity to lie in an instantaneous act the transaction perhaps
instruct Moreover it was also the intention of our Saviour that this Church of his should be but one and Catholick imbracing all the true Believers all the World over and therefore it is called his Body and his Spouse from whence it follows that every man who will partake of the benefits which flow from him must be a part of this Body and thereby hold Communion with him by Conjunction with that which is otherwise impossible to be done than by joining with that part of the Catholick Church where it hath pleased the Divine Providence to settle our abode and habitation that is in the Parish and Neighbourhood where we dwell for without this though it 's possible we may retain the fame Faith in our hearts with the Catholick Church yet we cannot perform the offices of members nor serve the ends of such a Society The result is therefore that it is ordinarily every Christians Duty to communicate in all the offices of Christianity to submit to the Officers to be subject to the censures ahd to comply with the orders of that part of the Church amongst which the Divine Providence hath placed him I say ordinarily because it may happen that the Society of Christians amongst whom a man lives may be heretical in their Doctrine or Idolatrous in their Worship and then it will not be his sin but his duty to separate from them but bating that case and where the Doctrine is sound and the worship free from Idolatry I see not what else can acquit him of Schism that separates or what can be sufficient to dissolve the obligation of joining with the Catholick Church by Conjunction with that particular Society or Member of it where he is placed Therefore let not the good Christian without flat necessity suffer himself to be alienated from the particular Church lest by so doing he lose the comforts and benefits of the Catholick Church but let it be his care and indeavour so far as it is in his power that there may be but one Church in the World as was the intention of our Saviour to this purpose let him not hearken to the fond pretences of purer Ordinances and double refined worship or to the vain boasts of greater edification in other Assemblies for besides that a man may justly expect most of Gods blessing upon those means which are most his duty to apply himself unto it is also evident that if such suggestions be attended to it will be flatly impossible that there should ever be such a thing as unity or order in the Christian Church nay these conceits will not only distract and confound the order of the Church but they serve to fill mens heads with endless disputes and their hearts with perpetual scruples about purity of administrations so that they shall rest no where but under pretence of soaring higher and higher shall ramble from one Church to another till at last they cast off all Ordinances as the highest attainment of spirituality Nor let him give ear to any peevish insinuations against the Church and publick worship upon account that there are some Rites or Ceremonies made use of which are only of humane institution for it is not only reasonable to hope that God will be well pleased with humility peaceableness and obedience to humane Laws but certain that there is no Church in the World that is or can be without some observances that have no higher original than humane institution But against these and all other such like principles of separation let him indeavour to secure himself First by dismissing the prejudices of Education and the unnecessary scrupulosities of a melancholy temper and above all acquit himself of pride and pragmaticalness and then he will easily and comfortably comply with any sound part of the Christian Church In pursuance whereof 2. He must diligently frequent all the publick offices of Religion in that Society whether it be Prayers Preaching or reading the word of God or Administration of the Sacraments c. For it is a mighty shame that a man should pretend to be of the Church who cares not how little or how seldom he comes at it and who slights the advantages of its Communion For such a man however he may hector and swagger for the notion of a Church manifestly betrays that all is but humour or interest and no true principle of Christianity at the bottom and really he doth more dishonour to that Society than the professed Schismatick doth or can do For besides that he incourages them in their contempt of it and discourages good men in their zeal for it he foments the suspicion of Atheistical men that Religion is but a politick trick to catch silly persons with whilest those that are privy to the plot keep out of the bondage of it I need not adde That he defeats the institution of our Saviour that he baulks his own Conscience if he have any and aggravates his own Damnation which are all very sad things On the other side the blessings and comforts of frequenting the offices of the Church are so many and great that it is not imaginable how any man who is convinced of the duty of Communion in general should be able to neglect the particular instances of it For besides that the Church is Gods House where he is especially present and where we meet him and place our selves under his eye and observation and from whence he usually dispenses his favours it is a great furtherance of our zeal and piety to be in the presence of one another where the example of holy fervour and devotion in one powerfully strikes and affects others There is also an extraordinary majesty in the word of God when it is not only fitted to our peculiar condition but authoritatively pronounced and applied to our Conscience by Gods Messenger Above all in Prayers when our Petitions and requests are not only put up to Almighty God by his own Minister appointed for this purpose but our weakness is relieved our spirits incouraged and we are inabled notwithstanding our private meanness or guilt to hope for acceptance and success in our desires by the concurrent Devotions of so many holy men as there join with us in the same suit and in the same words and whose united importunity besieges Heaven and prevails with Almighty Goodness for a blessing Wherefore let no man permit the private exercises of Piety it self such as Prayer reading or Meditation to supersede or hinder his attendance upon the publick offices of the Church seeing that as these yield more publick honour to the Divine Majesty so they are more effectual for our own benefit much less let sloth or too great eagerness upon the affairs of the World make us forget or neglect them but least of all let any lukewarm indifferency or Atheistical carelessness seise upon any man in this particular but let the man who glories to be of the Christian Church be sure to be found there in