expecting a reward so that to deny him our hearts is to joyn Sacrilege and folly together when we rob God and impoverish our selves We are all covetous of Life and of Life too in its best estate For though sin has corrupted mens choice of the way yet it has not blasted their desires of the end But our Lord has farther provided those desires should not be frustrated if we follow his rule and strictly adhere to his Commands in mortifying our affections and lusts and as it were spirituallizing the whole man to be thereby fitted for his Kingdom It is from us he expects this work should be performed and not from age Age may indeed prove the mortifier of a Lust but withall it kills the service Little is the glory of overcoming the Tempter when he does not assault us but to break fleshly motions in all their strength this is a true Conquest Neither should it be thought strange for any Disciple to deny thus self in Christianity for Heaven being the object of that work will easily destroy the Miracle of doing it How can any of us contemplate the happiness above and yet not be willing to forsake his proper sins sins how colour'd soever yet in the midst of their Varnish deform'd Where is true beauty but that of Life which only in the Counterfeit we admire where is true wealth but that of Immortality which only in the Glitter we esteem since then such a fair and substantial Treasure is there offer'd us we ought like wise-men to determine our choice and forsaking the vanities of other objects become fixt and settled in our endeavours that we may obtain and compass that Good which yields so bright so weighty so glorious a recompence to the Pursuer The Fourth Discourse Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again THe Justification of a Sinner and the way God has prescribed to save men by is so mistaken in the world that no Point has begot more disputes nor is there any Theme wherein Scripture has more suffer'd Yet this quarrel amongst men cannot be charg'd upon any want of evidence in this particular but either an humour of pride to contradict or the interest of a Party to pursue or the prejudice of Opinion to defend have been the main cause of that contention Would we come with a sincere mind to the reading of the Word especially the Writings of this Apostle we should find the difficulty of that Truth clear'd and the glorious effects of Christs Mediatorship laid open upon which our Justifying does depend Now for the better handling this Text which I have here chosen to discuss I shall a little explain the verse before it by reason of their necessary connexion together In which verse we may observe 1. The Triumphant Challenge he makes summoning any Adversary to appear in Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who will charge or accuse 2. The Ground of his confidence how little that Accusation would avail because of the mercy of the Judge that acquits the offendor It is God that justifies 3. The limitation of the Charge in respect of the party against whom it is drawn and the limitation of the act of Justifying Grace in respect of the party to whom it belongs Who will lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifies that is those Elect where by Gods Elect he means the same that are spoken of in the first verse of the Chapter namely such as are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is who perform all the conditions required in the New Covenant For these alone are the chosen of God whom He has decreed to reward with Eternal Life But because the grace of Justification does necessarily suppose a work of Satisfaction since the goodness of God could have no place for justifying a sinner were not the way first made by attoning his Justice he therefore proceeds in my Text to clear that point and show whence Pardoning Mercy springs namely from Christs undertaking our Cause and reconciling us to his Father by the vertue of his Mediatorship Acts 4.11 12. He indeed is the Stone upon which all our salvation is built so that without him there neither is nor can be given either Pardon of sin here or Glory hereafter Hence the Apostle with regard to his satisfaction does further urge and more strongly confirm what he laid down in the former verse Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again The words contain in them a True Believers full discharge and the Reason or Ground of it The fulness of the discharge is held forth in that Question Who is he that condemneth The reason of it is exprest in that double work of our Redeemer but one of them more dignified than the other It is Christ that died yea rather is risen again The sense of the whole may be resolv'd into these Three Propositions 1. That there is a Proper and Peculiar Vertue to be ascribed to Christs Death in the act of redeeming us 2. That there are Proper and Peculiar Advantages in Christs Rising above that Death 3. That Christs Death in particular but more eminently his Rising has procur'd the Saints freedom from Condemnation 1. That there is a Proper and Peculiar Vertue to be ascribed to Christs Death in the act of Redeeming us In the handling of it I shall premise some Truths First I take for granted what Scripture so clearly reveals that the breach of a Positive Law which was given to Adam in Paradise did not onely involve him but his Posterity too in the Curse there threatned so that the propagation of Mankind from him was but the propagation of persons condemn'd all of us being lyable thereby to Death Temporal and Eternal Secondly though God considered in his Absolute Power could forgive Man the sin he had committed yet considered in the Decree he had made of punishing his Sin and as a Governour bound to maintain it so he was hindred from the exercise of that power Thirdly No creature could possibly reverse that Decree nor expiate the violation of this Governours Authority for want of a Satisfaction which He demanded For where was the Creature that could give it Angels withdraw from the brightness of Gods Glory how then would they flee from the Fire of his wrath Man cannot bear the punishment due to one of his own how then would he sustain the sins of a World Had either of them been deputed to this Task they had sunk under it poor Mankind had been lost and God still unreconcil'd For to the work of Satisfying him Srength as well as Innocence is required but the Creature at best is too weak to intercede the price of its suffering too mean the merit of which cannot extend to another and so Divine Justice instead of accepting would quite devour the Sacrifice Therefore
DIATRIBAE OR Discourses UPON SELECT TEXTS Wherein Several weighty Truths are handled and applyed against the PAPIST AND THE SOCINIAN By HENRY BAGSHAW D. D. LONDON Printed by T. H. for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard 1680. TO The Right Honourable and Reverend Father in God Nathaniel Lord Bishop of Durham My Lord I Have been long doubtful in my thoughts what Subjects to handle under so great a variety of Christian Truths but I do not doubt in the least where I should fix my Dedication since your Lordship may challenge all my endeavours whether I be barely consider'd as a Member of your Diocess or farther as planted by your self under the noble Influence of your Favour As a Member there is due from me all the Reverence of an Esteem as one planted there is requisite the peculiar tribute of a thankful mind in a return of some Fruit to your hands The Discourses I here offer to your Lordships view and from thence to the World how weakly soever they are written yet I am sure they have weight of matter and worth of Patronage to defend them I here open from Scripture First that heynous sin of Imprisoning Truth and the justness of Gods vengeance reveal'd Next the natural Inference from Divine Promises which is the exercise of all Piety Thirdly the cogent reason of adhering to our Lord Christ because He has words of Eternal life for his followers Last of all the proper Benefit of his Death in that work of Justifying us and the Peculiar Advantages of his Rising In all which points I have strictly confin'd my self within my Circle and as occasion led me reflected upon Two great Enemies to Christianity which are the Papist and the Socinian the one crying up his Diana which is the Church the other magnifying as false a Goddess which is his own Reason to overthrow it I need not here publish your Lordships Zeal for our Protestant Church which you have abundantly demonstrated to your own Clergy nor the prudence of your Government which we all taste of but since I am made so singular an Instance of your kindness both as to present and future encouragement I take leave to mention it to the world and withall to acquaint your Lordship That the great Temptation I had to write was my Sense of it where I hoped I might erect some lasting Memorial or if the poorness of what is written should hinder life yet the Candid Reader might give it one by considering your Lordships Name and the Gratitude of the Writer I am my Noble Lord Your Lordships Most obliged and ever faithful Servant Henry Bagshaw Houghton le spring Sept. 30. 1679. The First Discourse Rom. 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness THese words have reference to the sixteenth verse of the Chapter wherein the Apostle stoutly defends the Charge of his Ministry because the Gospel he preached though it might seem to have a weak Subject a Crucified Saviour and as weak a Deliverer of that Subject a despised Messenger yet was the Power of God to Salvation How it prov'd such an effectual Instrument in Gods hands to convert the World He farther illustrates by the Methods and Rules of it as being a full revelation of his Will both to accept the imperfect righteousness of men and to punish their wilful disobedience In the one it sutes it self to our highest Hopes by that blessed Life it propounds in the other it is applied to our greatest Fears by that cursed Death it threatens so that none can possibly escape the force of Religion except at the same time their own passions be destroyd Now what is Gods rule of saving men by he tells us in the Verse foregoing my Text and with what clearness of discovery the Gospel lays open the Justifi-fication of a Sinner and Faith the condition prescribed but lest this Faith should be mistaken as if Heaven were the reward of a naked Belief and a bare relyance on Christ might buy out his purchase he checks our confidence by another Manifestation of Gods Justice against Sinners As the Just shall live by Faith whereby He means Faith that is the Principle of a new life so the Wicked shall die for their Impenitence and both these states the Gospel reveals a Light sent us from above to work doubly upon Earth in refreshing the Saint and consuming the Malefactor For the wrath of God c. Whether the scope of these words be directed against the Gentiles who were such Rebels to Nature or against a mungrel sort of them the Gnosticks who were such corrupters of the Gospel I shall not here examine but consider them barely in themselves as they point out to us a General Truth which is this That the wrath of God against all kind of sin but especially the sin of those who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness is plainly discovered in the Gospel In the management of this Truth it will be necessary to enquire into these particulars 1. Into the Nature of Gods Wrath what it implyes 2. Why the Revelation of his Wrath is more peculiarly ascrib'd to the Gospel 3. How justly it is exercised upon those Sinners who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness I. Into the Nature of Gods Wrath what it implyes The holy Pen-men of Scripture that borrowed our Passions to express the manner of Gods dealing with us teach us withal to abstract from the weakness of them Passions in us shew the imperfectness of our beings that we need such Principles to act by and the imperfectness too of our State in that Trouble follows their Motion And particularly this passion of Wrath is attended with a double one either if you regard the disturbance it raises in the Soul upon the sense of an Injury or the poor limiting of it to Time in its effects of punishing in neither sense can it belong to God for could He be disturbed when provok'd He would lose the Happiness of his State could He be limited in his Vengeance He would lose the Glory of his Power Therefore his Wrath in this place can signifie nothing else but a settled decree or fixt will of punishing sin eternally This is a revenge proper to God and it is this alone makes the Transgressor fear In this sense it is taken by John the Baptist when he warns his hearers to flee from the Wrath to come and by St. Paul when he speaks of the day of Wrath styl'd so with an Emphasis to distinguish it from Gods other days of Execution in this world Here a Day of Justice may rather be termed Night for its darkness and Providence it self seems to be clouded even in those Thunderbolts that come down but the Day wherein the sinners eternal Portion will be assigned is a clear one for it derives its distinguishing light from the scorching Flame that preys on him Did not God
to the excellency of that discovery For the whole Mosaïck Oeconomy was made up of Types and Figures and a thick Night continually overspread their Tabernacle Their Promises and Curses literally concerned the things of this life and it required a piercing Faith spiritually to interpret them a vulgar eye would surely stay upon the Surface but for to be able to take in the depth this must proceed from a strong enlightning which we read only a few were blest with that like Moses were carried up to see the hidden things of the Mount when the generality stood below and saw nothing but Clouds There was then great need of a Saviour to appear whether we regard Jew or Gentile and that not only for the work of saving Mankind but for redeeming Truth which was so obscur'd by the one and lost by the other Now Christ has discharg'd his Office in this particular and for this Prophet alone was reserv'd all the glory of Divine Revelation who being the express Image of his Fathers Person was the Signifier also of his Will in the brightest Character We know in the Creation Light was Gods first work but in restoring of Religion his last He judg'd it not fit to bring bright day on his People at first but by degrees to prepare their weak sight that it might be the better confirm'd and when the full time came the Gospel was published which put an end to farther discoveries and seal'd up the Vision This being premis'd it remains I should speak one word to shew how Gods wrath by way of eminency is revealed in the Gospel which will appear by considering 1. The Cleerness of it in the Letter 2. The Publick Promulgation of it to the World 1. For the Clearness of the Letter nothing can be more lively shown than the Sinners Hell whose Worm is said not to dye neither is his Fire quenched Nor does the Second Death cease from hurting him Should we now conclude with the Socïnian Eternal Punishment to be nothing else but Perdition or a Negation of Existence we must flatly deny those phrases of Scripture before mentioned for the Worm it self dies if its prey does so the Fire is put out if the matter it feeds upon be not lasting and the Second Death is not in the least hurtful if it imply nothing of torment But besides were this granted them what 's become of the fierceness of Gods wrath when neither felt nor endured Where is his Judgment and severe reckoning with evil doers if they partake with Brutes in their end It is folly to fear where Justice is not known and consequently a wide gap is opened by such men to all impiety when they take off the Terrors of Death leaving men as unconcern'd to be nothing an hundred years hence as an hundred years past to be unborn O the vanity of that Reason they pretend to which breaks the Authority of Gods Laws O the cruelty of their Compassion to Mans nature whereby Religion it self is destroy'd But Christ has otherwise instructed the World and knowing it needful that Everlasting Punishment should be equally set before us with Life Eternal He has joyned them both in the Sentence that we might be every way convinc'd Eternity is our lot and therefore a full motive to Duty In the Old Testament Tophet or the Valley of the Children of Hinnom where their Sons and Daughters were sacrificed to Moloch was used by the Prophet Isaiah as his greatest Type and Representation of Hell But how short it fell of a Gospel-description will be made evident if we consult the place the number it was prepared for and the time of its burning the place though deep yet had bottom the number though great yet was limited to one People and the time of its burning though fierce yet had end On the contrary the Gospel reveals a bottomless Gulf a multitude of all Nations that enter and a perpetual duration of their torments So that here we have a clear light of the Letter wherein the Jews were defective Neither does the excellency of a Revelation stop here but we may consider in the second place 2. The Publick Promulgation of it to the World and the Seal it carries of an Universal Publishing answerable to the Majesty of him that came to set up an Universall Kingdom Behold the Sentence of Divine Wrath was before hid with the Jews but now the knowledg of it spreads into all parts and so it proves a new Light in regard of its extent through all quarters That Sun of righteousness that has risen shines round about not only with healing under his wings to preserve but with Flames too of vengeance to consume And this He manifested here on Earth when he proclaimed the Glad-tydings of Salvation and pronounc'd many a Blessing upon his People yet lest they should forget the Justice of a Saviour Woes and Threatnings were ushered in to allay and temper all his Ministry Therefore those that heard him had reason to fear and not think themselves freed from Legal terrors since the Thunder of Sinai continued still though the Darkness of it was gone And as He thus awed them with his own Teaching so He commissioned his Servants to do likewise when He sent them abroad to teach all Nations Mercy alone was not their Theme nor the riches of Divine Grace in mans Redemption which is such welcome news to the receiver but the Curse was also annext and the Charge of future Judgment that if the former did please the latter might bind Before this Ignorance might be some way pleaded by the Gentiles that they obeyed not Gods Law when Life and Immortality were not known but after these were cleared up in the Gospel then their Condemnation was perfected For now they could be no longer termed unhappy for sitting in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death which is a kind of Sanctuary to the Pleader but Wicked for loving the Shadow which is the beginning of Hell Upon this account He no more winks or spares but judicially eying their steps denounces against them his heaviest Judgment I know many refer the Revelation of Gods Wrath to the Experiments of it in the world and make his outward Judgments upon sinners as so many Witnesses to confirm it But were no higher meant than those Instances we should be still in the dark convinc'd perhaps he was wroth but not wroth to a distinction wherein Justice is revealed None can spell out Characters of Providence nor read the special Hand-writing upon the Wall without the benefit of Vision What is all our sight of a just God here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Riddle a Riddle that has busied Philosophers to resolve and hardned their doubts by the enquiry If Wrath be manifested let the bad feel its burden but alas Gods Tempests here seem onely to fall upon his own Chosen They may call it Grace thus to suffer but it is Grace not seen nor acknowledged by others all
am sure such as these are the Greatest Persecutors of our Lord. The putting of a Reed into his hand before he should suffer was but the mocking of his Power but to put a Sword into his hand that is come to save us is a flat denyal of his Goodness and so they impiously number him with the Transgressors I need not farther enlarge on this Subject nor demonstrate the wildness of their Tenet which both our Saviours Life and manner of Government the Commands and Practise of the Apostles the Examples of primitive Martyrs and in a word the Profession of the best Saints has condemn'd But this by the way It here lies upon me to prove how Christs words are the proper words of Eternal Life which may be easily made out from that Gospel he has deliver'd to his Church wherein we find him 1. A Minister in that He has fully reveal'd it to the World 2. A Purchaser in that he has acquired a right to bestow it 3. A Worker in that He has made the Doctrine of it effectual to Salvation I. A Minister in that he has fully reveal'd it to the World as He did also the Doctrine of Eternal Death which I before handled And He has revealed this Life in a way of Authority and Sweetness proper to himself at once forcing us to assent to the truth of that evidence and raising our affections to pursue it He therefore delivered it in such a Style that might powerfully engage us both ways as when He did not onely expresly mention the thing it self but likewise described it by such inviting Characters as Joy Glory the Kingdom of Heaven nay in a peculiar Emphasis the Kingdom where Life and Immortality are enthron'd Now who is there but must acknowledge the blindness that cover'd the Gentile World till this Great Prophet came to enlighten us For we sat in darkness and in the very shadow of Death which encompassed us round and beset us and took away from us any farther Prospect not to be open'd nor enlarg'd till this Light came which gave us Knowledg and Salvation What force soever there may be in Natural Religion which some boast of yet the great Masters of those Schools which taught it were miserably dimsighted as to any future state of Life and Happiness except wee 'l say a walk in Elysium for Wandring Souls or a wretched Pilgrimage through several Bodies be a proper Condition to be desired Yet thus did the best of those Writers dream who apprehended well enough a God and his Worship and though they might deliver fine notions of both yet fancy came in to corrupt all with gross devices and foolish mixtures in their Reward Hence the morality even of their Chiefest was suited to their Principles that is They had the Shadow of a Good Life as they had the Shadow of Immortality The greatest height of vertue they ever arriv'd to was but to disguise their Passions and by stopping some foul effects of them to consult a Fame of well-doing whereas the seed and root of a corruption was still cherished and lust secretly ruled in their hearts and lives for want of a discovery which we Christians enjoy about the eternal Wages of our deeds Upon this account Tertullian and the rest of the Ancients had sufficient ground to condemn their choicest Philosophy since the study of it was followed with no other fruit than this That it serv'd for Paint to hide Vice but prov'd no Antidote to expell it But if Natural Reason did thus fail must we also complain of any defect in those Inspirations which Gods own Prophets were assisted with No for the words they delivered were words of life onely the Jews that heard them were in their nonage bred up at first with milk and honey and that Infant-food of a Carnal Promise and therefore it was judg'd fit by Divine Wisdom to wean them by degrees from these outward things and not allow them a Spiritual Diet of perfect happiness till they arrived at the strength of a Masculine Understanding But the Prophets themselves had that state revealed to them in all its clearness only that Discipline which their Hearers were under causi'd it to be dispenc'd to them by a Figurative application But Christ came in the very fulness of time when Life and Immortality were to be shown and He answer'd that fulness by his own Teaching so that all those Prophets who went before him serv'd but like the light of a Morning-star to usher in the brightness of that discovery Let us consider him in the next place II. As a Purchaser in that He acquir'd a right to bestow it And this Title He has to such a donation by that Price he laid down for his own People when He bought them out of their old Thraldom and cancell'd that forfeiture they had made of Life Eternal by the merits of his Death and the infinite Satisfaction of his Sufferings His Gospel is the Evidence of this his Purchase wherein Eternal Life and our Lords Propriety is declard whereby He is qualified not only to possess it in himself but to conferre that Inheritance upon others And therefore to him we must have recourse in all our Devotions and upon his Merits alone ground our addresses Heb. 7.25 who is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him But the Romanists seem to have found out other Purchasers at least many Sharers with him in that Prerogative when dividing the Vertue of his Mediation they fly to Saints and Angels by a solemn invocation of them to intercede What is this else but an Idolatrous act when the Creature is set up by them for a peculiar Object they must adore and for a Meritorious Helper they should trust to or wherein do they differ from the old Heathens who worshipped their Demons or Inferiour Gods as intermediate Agents with the Supreme If they upon that score were condemned as Idolaters by the ancient maintainers of our Religion certainly a like charge does most deservedly fall upon such Worshippers that parcel out and communicate Divine Glory nay the Charge is much heavier in this respect because the Heathens were ignorant of Gods will but for Christians this way to beg life it is to libel Gods Word that speaks otherwise it is to exclude his Son from his own Office and Royalty in whose Name we are bid to pray and by whom alone we have access to our Heavenly Father nay it is repugnant to the condition of those Spirits above who can neither hear every mans prayers throughout the world nor look into the hearts of those that call on them Yet O ye blessed Saints and Angels if ye can behold such Worshippers as these men see with what wicked Plots and bloody hands they offer Incense Can ye possibly accept their Prayers No none can accept them but their own Martyrs But all Worship how innocent soever is rejected in Heaven where the God of it alone is
with that contemplation no more than we are with the prospect of Shores and Havens that receive us safe from a Storm How is the soul quieted to think that those evils it suffers are passing away and a settled rest is prepared With what peace does it apprehend a moments danger when a perfect Liberty is the recompence This and much more does a blest Eternity import and through that encouragement is a Christian arm'd to encounter any affliction And so we read what a stoutness of spirit was rais'd in the Primitive Professors that preach'd up Christianity and ventur'd all upon it A bare Faith did not carry them to that act but a Faith that was grounded upon the Heavenliness of the Doctrine Courage of Martyrs and Power of Miracles strong Promises that will infer as strong Conclusions except wee 'l say Heaven and Earth were combin'd together in a plot to abuse and the abuse too must be this viz. a cheating of an Idolatrous world into good living Let the Scoffer count it madness to quit Sense for a Good that is yet hid from him I could tell him that even a Present Good is invisible for we want time to discern it for its shortness we want a Substance to be discern'd for its emptiness whereas an eternal one is invisible for its transcendent fulness Thither does right Reason drive us and a true principle of Self-love it being our interest to seek a Treasure that will not fail us But should we take the opposite state to This Life namely Eternal Death which is the Curse he threatens to those that deny him here we are ty'd to our Masters service by a sure chain which the dread of Omnipotence puts on Earthly Powers can awe their Subjects and justly too with what they are able outwardly to inflict yet Death being the utmost stroke of that Justice seems indeed but a retreat from it But the Grave how free and quiet soever it be is no Sanctuary to keep us from Gods hand It dissolves our Bodies but not his Government who watches every particle of our dust and locks it up safe for an after-summons but the Soul He makes the the immediate subject of his Tribunal Therefore the highest homage may be well demanded of us upon whom the highest Soveraignty is shown I confess none come up from the dead to tell us this news no they cannot for the Judges Sentence binds them to their seats where their great part is suffering and if they could 't is useless no ways tending to settle our Faith but rather confirming our suspicion that in Satans Errand some Ghost may be employed If Scripture which St. Peter calls a light that shineth in a dark place be with all its evidence of Divine Witnesses disown'd how can we believe a testimony from the Damn'd that would be sure to bring with them all their night to deceive This then can be no objection The true one is form'd by our own corrupt hearts and we are apt to question the Evil-day because we would not be checkt nor controll'd in our finning In the mean time we baffle that design by starting such a doubt which unsettling the soul in its pleasures does thereby hinder it from enjoying them We labour to be Scepticks that we may offend and after we are so we find our selves pain'd with that Uncertainty Oh let us be wise for our latter end and choose to serve our God by a true Faith since our endeavouring to shake it does but wake Conscience to torture us Hitherto I have handled the Argument St. Peter lays down for following his Lord and by the way toucht upon the Sinners Judgment I have shown the nobleness of Faith the authority of Truth and the excellent manner of revealing it by Christ above all those discoveries that were made The natural result from all is this that we would seriously inquire whether we can better our life under another service and if that be not possible then immediately list our selves his Disciples in all the watchfulness of Devotion As to the matter of Inquiry it becomes us as men not to take any Master upon trust or the custome of others Credulity is proper to Children that are weak and want sinews but the strength of Wisdom consists in this to prove all things and not be easily govern'd in our actings Yet this childish weakness are most men subject to in their main end when they relinquish their own Faculties that would lead them to Christianity and suffer themselves to be led by a Customary Discipline that destroys it What that teaching is and how far it extends every one knows The mind is not taught here but the brutish part and some transient reward propounded to encourag it Transient I call it with respect to those two Masters that rule over us Flesh and the World which pretend to nothing higher in their offers of Good for all the colour they have to invite us is only the gratifying of our senses for a few moments onely Satan makes bold to counterfeit our Lord and wears his shape in a full promise that so his hook may the better fasten and catch our appetite when he tempts us He has therefore in readiness for his followers words of Eternal Life as he had for Eve but those very words prove fatal for with the same breath he kills the Sholar that hears him What other effect can be look'd for from a Serpent condemn'd who delights in the spreading of his plague and knows no other liberty from torment than that pleasure he takes in enlarging his Hell To this end he continues down the poyson of that Doctrine Eat and live sin and be happy in the mouths of his False-Prophets who are very busie to reconcile Faith with an Evil Conscience and would fain compound up a Religion of Flesh which are arts indeed to draw many after them in regard they bribe their Sensuality But let us see the issue of all this and what fruit there is in obeying such Doctrines when the Good there promised is blown away with our breath and instead of light we find darkness On the contrary under Christs rule we have an Eternal Life tendred to us in all certainty and the condition He requires of us is an excellent part of that Life since it gives us a proper Eye to enjoy it The condition I mean is Purity of Heart a Grace that doubly profits the Soul first in refining our natures next in strengthening us to see Glory Who would not endeavour to be thus qualified for Heaven Can any corruption move us to forfeit Security and can there be greater security than the Good here promised Mans Knowledge you will grant is much exalted in foreseeing future things but his Reason is more advanc'd in pursuing them And whither would we go from our Lord Other Offerers of happiness do betray us He onely can save To him Nature has subjected us as being made Gratitude as being redeem'd Interest as