Deliverance from the Dominion of Sin and our being instated in the Freedom we have discoursed of would be a mighty Motive to the doing our utmost to be set at Liberty What a Motive then is this Vast Additional Happiness which our Lord hath given us the most unquestionable Assurance of We can never be sufficiently affected with those words of the Apostle Rom. 6. 21 22. What fruit had ye then of those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness anâ— the end everlasting life Can we have such a Hope as this such a Blessed Hope as the Apostle calls it and not heartily endeavour to purifie our selves as God is pure S. Iohn tells us that he who hath this hope will do so Hath our most Gracious Lord made to his Free Servants such a promise as this of entering into his Rest his Glorious and Eternal Rest how should we fear lest by continuing in subjection to our vile Affections we should at last fall short of it Good Lord That such a prize as this should be set before us and we not press hard forward towards it That such Blessedness should be Purchased for and Offered to those who have no esteem or value for it But had much rather be wretched Bondslaves and Vassals to the Devil and their Lusts than Reign with Christ in his Everlasting Kingdom How many shall lament this inexpressible Folly in a sad Eternity And this brings me to the Last Motive I shall speak to viz. Sixthly If it be possible that this with the foregoing Motives should not prevail there is another behind which is suited to the most Disingenuous Stubborn and Inflexible Tempers and must needs subdue them if any thing will Namely The most Dismal Threatnings our Saviour hath pronounced against those who will not Accept the Liberty he offereth them and become his Freemen As such will be necessarily exceedingly miserable beyond what they are here when they leave this world through the Fury of their Corrupt Appetites there being no objects in the other state to appease it or to afford them the least satisfaction or gratification so our Lord hath declared that They shall be cast into outer Darkness where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Matth. 8. 12. That they shall be cast into a Furnace of Fire Matth. 13. 42. That He will say unto them at the last Day Depart from me ye cursed into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25. 41. And his Apostle S. Paul hath told such what their Doom shall be in 2 Thess. 1. 7 8 9. viz. That the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his Mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his power When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired of all them that believe Then shall we discern the vastest difference imaginable between the states of the Righteous and the Wicked of those who have through the Spirit mortified the deeds of the body and those who have lived after the flesh The Former sort of men as the same Apostle saith shall live that is a most inexpressibly Happy and Glorious life The Latter shall die that is the Second death or be Eternally Miserable One shall be taken and the other left One shall be saved the Other damned One shall be received into the Blessed Mansions above and crowned with Immortal Bliss and Glory the other shall be tumbled down into Hell and have his portion in the lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone Did I say that these Fearful Threatnings are designed to awaken the most Disingenuous Stupid and Obdurate Souls I fear there are Few who do not find that they have need sometimes of seriously considering them and laying them to heart And when we feel the principle of ingenuity most unactive as also that those Motives that excite our Hope have but a weak influence as it is possible we may at certain times be in so dull and heavy a Temper as that we may be but very little affected with them then should we rouse up our selves out of our Lethargick stupidity by employing our Thoughts upon the Terrors of the Lord the most Terrible Threatnings of the Gospel And now what think we Hath not our Blessed Lord done Abundantly enough to make us Free indeed To set us at Liberty from Sin and to Righteousness In that he hath not only shewn us What it is to be made Free and wherein our Liberty consisteth And given us the best Means by the use of which as we ought we shall be set at Liberty And purchased such Grace for us as whereby we may be successful in the use of those Means if we will not neglect them But also hath given us such Motives as those we have now discoursed of to prevail with our Wills not to receive that Grace in vain And as for these Motives can the Heart of Man conceive any more powerful No surely nor could it unassisted by Divine Revelation conceive any that are the thousandth part so powerful But besides all this as hath been intimated the Blessed Spirit of God is ready so to inforce these Motives upon us if we will endeavour to think seriously upon them as that they shall effectually do what they are designed for And not only so but he also begins with us and by his secret suggestions excites us to the due Consideration of them and the use of whatsoever Means we are directed to for the pulling down of strong holds and casting down every imagination and every high thing that advanceth it self against the Scepter and Government of Christ in our Souls and the bringing every thought and all that is within us to the obedience of Christ. And thus doth he work in us both to will and to do as to Do so to Will of his own good pleasure or of his free and undeserved mercy to us And therefore what encouragement have we to put the Apostles inference from that Doctrine into Practice namely To work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling That is to work out our own Deliverance from the Dominion of Sin and our Slavish subjection thereunto with great Diligence and Solicitude SECT III. Containing the Inferences from each of the Arguments of the foregoing Sections CHAP. X. Which treats of the First Inference from the First Proposition That the most Excellent Liberty doth consist in an Intire Compliance with the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness Or in Freedom from the Dominion of Sinful Affections Namely That those are most Vnreasonable and Depraved People who complain of the Divine Laws as intolerable Intrenchments upon their Liberty Where
minds being so employed about things which were in themselves neither Good nor Evil but only by reason of Divine injunctions and prohibitions Not that this great evil was necessarily occasioned thereby God forbid we should think so but 't was through their own default otherwise there could have been no truly good people among them as there were innumerable just as we see at this day there are too many of a certain Profession who by means of their continual dabling in matter are of so gross and course intellectuals that they seem almost uncapable of any Idea and conception of things immaterial and incorporeal Which is a great Unhappiness but as great a Fault So that this we have now said suggests to us another reason for the putting a period to the Ceremonial Law in order to the introduction of that excellent and Divine Liberty which we assert to be eminently Christian Liberty Because that the love of Righteousness and Goodness under that notion is necessary thereunto as shall be farther shewn hereafter And it is an evidence of a Soul imprisoned in Sense and sunk in Selfishness to love Virtue and Goodness merely for its dowry and the external Advantages that accrue by it and not for its own sake As also to avoid sin only for the sake of the uneasie and sad circumstances that attend it having no sense of its Moral Turpitude Lastly Whereas I have shewed that by the observation of the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness a man is delivered from all immoderate Self-love to his own Bodily and Particular concerns and acquireth that Generosity and Nobleness of spirit whereby he is carried forth and enlarged to the love of God in the first place and a hearty concern for the General welfare of his Fellow-creatures the Iews by the occasion of the forementioned Law became less free as Freedom is opposed to Confinement For they being paled in and separated from the rest of the world by a Religion peculiar to themselves and it being forbidden by their Law to contract Marriages or have any intimacy and that they should so much as eat with the Gentiles though 't was but necessary they should be so restrained for the more effectual preventing their falling into Idolatry and being infected with their other wicked customs and corrupt manners to which they were naturally very strangely inclined yet by this means they generally became wofully Narrow-spirited and contracted in their Love and took occasion from hence to banish all from their Kindness and Charity that were not of their own Nation and their own Religion And therefore for this reason also it was highly fit that our Saviour should take off all future Obligation to the Observance of this Law his design being to Ampliate and Enlarge mens minds by the most Universal and Unlimited Charity in imitation of himself who was a Propitiation not only for the sins of the Iewish Nation but also of the whole World And for this reason particularly S. Paul tells the Ephesians This Law was Abolished Chap. 2. 14 15 16. For he is our peace who hath made both one Jews and Gentiles and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances or having Abolished by his Sufferings the Ceremonial Law which was such a Make-bate between the Iews and Gentiles for to make himself of twain one new man so making peace And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body on the Cross having slain the enmity thereby And that in the general the great work of setting men perfectly at Liberty from the power of their Lusts and the making them free to all holy Obedience was designed by the nullifying this Law is asserted by the Apostle Rom. 7. 5 6. For when we were in the flesh or under those Carnal Ordinances the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter That is when we were under the Law the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sinful Affections which were heightned thereby through our own blindness in not looking beyond the letter of the Law did so work in us as to render us so much the more obnoxious to death But now we are delivered by our Saviour Christ from that Law it being dead or abrogated that in stead of a mere External Obedience and a company of Bodily Washings we should for the future be inwardly pure and spiritually obedient To conclude this Argument Wheresoever we find Liberty or Freedom mentioned throughout the New Testament as that which belongeth to us under the notion of Christians as that which we are beholden to the Gospel dispensation for it is still I dare affirm to be understood either of Liberty from Sin the Power and the Punishment thereof or of Liberty from the Ceremonial and purely Mosaical Law This I assert upon a particular consideration of all those Texts wherein any thing is said relating to Liberty And therefore this latter Deliverance being principally intended in order to the former the former viz. that from Sin must necessarily be the Christian Liberty Fourthly None but the Israelites were obliged to the Observance of this Law Indeed in order to a Gentiles partaking of the Iewish Priviledges in the Land of Canaan it was necessary he should be Circumcised and become as their phrase was a Proselyte of Iustice and so make himself a debtor to the whole Law But it was not necessary to his Acceptance with God and Eternal Happiness to yield obedience to this Law It was sufficient for him to worship the true God and renounce Idolatry and to follow the Dictates of the Law of Nature Even the Iews themselves as ill affected as they were towards the Gentiles did acknowledge no more to be necessary than the Observation of the Seven Precepts of Noah to their having their part in Seculo futuro and therefore they permitted the Proselytes of the Gate to worship in the Outward Court of the Temple Which was therefore called Atrium Gentium immundorum The Court of the Gentiles and the Vnclean And thus as it appears from the three foregoing Arguments that Liberty from Sin and to Righteousness is the Eminent Christian Liberty which is procured for the World taking in the Iews so from this fourth 't is as evident that it is the only Christian Liberty which is procured and purchased for us Gentiles There is no other Liberty mentioned either by our Saviour or his Apostles besides this from the Power and Dominion of Sin wherein we always include deliverance from the sad consequents thereof which we Gentiles are obliged to Christianity for or which we are invested with under the notion of Christians CHAP. VI. What course our Lord hath taken to
account of such Disgrace Contempt and ill usage from Rude People as is not to be compared with that which He underwent When we consider how our Blessed Saviour Forgave those who Thirsted after his Bloud and were never satisfied till they had put him to the most shameful and most cruel Death and not only Forgave them himself but Entreated his Father and that even in the midst of his Torments when his Spirit one would think should be most highly exasperated to forgive them too I say when we consider this how can it be difficult to disswade our selves from Meditating Revenge upon any Provocations whatsoever Surely we must needs be very powerfully inclined to forgive our Enemies When we call to mind how He exprest his love to his very Murderers even so as to design the greatest good to them by the means of that whereby they designed the greatest evil to him can we be averse to the bearing Good will to those who are ill affected towards us to the Blessing of those that Curse us and Praying for those that despightfully use us When we consider how this Mighty Person humbled himself even to the washing his Disciples Feet and declared that He came not to be ministred unto but to minister can We contemptible Wretches cherish the least spark of Pride in our Souls Can We despise the meanest of our Fellow-creatures or think our selves too Great or too Good to condescend to the lowest Offices of Love whereby we may serve our Brethren When we consider with what submission to the Divine Will our Blessed Lord indured the most exquisite Pains both of Soul and Body though He never deserved them by the least offence but was always most perfectly obedient to his Father can this be other than a most forcible motive to us who have Merited so ill at the Hands of God quietly to submit to his good Pleasure in Afflicting us whenas in so doing he doth always punish us far less than our iniquities deserve When we consider how well satisfied our Saviour was to be in poor low Circumstances and not to have so much as a Cottage of his own to put his Head in though he was Lord of all Is it imaginable that We should aspire at High and Great things and having Food and Raiment not be Content who are less than the least of all God's mercies And lastly Will not the Consideration of our Saviour's being such a Man of sorrows and so acquainted with griefs exceedingly deaden our desires after Sensual Pleasures Surely it must necessarily so do Thus we see how greatly exciting the Example of our Saviour is to the perfect Mortifying of those Lusts which are most strong and vigorous to the loathing and abominating those which are naturally very dear to us and to the most restless endeavours to get our Souls possessed of those Virtues and Graces which are most supernatural Thirdly Another very prevalent Motive is the Assurance our Lord hath given us that He will not take such Advantage of our Frailties and Weaknesses or Sins we fall into by mere surprize and want of due Watchfulness as to cast us off for them so long as we allow not our selves in any evil way and it is the principal design of our lives to be conformed in all things to the Laws of Righteousness There is a Prophecy concerning the Messiah Isaiah 42. 3. which our Saviour applieth to himself Matth. 12. 20. A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench c. He will not crush under foot those who fall through weakness but whatsoever good he seeth in them he will still cherish My little children saith S. Iohn these things I write unto you that ye sin not But what if through the weakness of their Flesh they should at any time be overtaken is their state then desperate No by no means for it follows And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous c. 1 Epist. 2. 1. As there are Sins unto Death so there are Sins not unto Death according to that of the same Apostle 1 Epist. 5. 17. All unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death Though all Unrighteousness be sin and the deserved wages of sin be Death yet such is the Goodness of God through Christ that all Sins shall not be unto Death but only Wilful and Presumptuous Sins And I add not these neither if not persevered in but throughly forsaken If we were liable to Eternal Ruine for such Faults as considering all our Circumstances in this state it is scarcely to be hoped we shall constantly avoid we should necessarily live in great Bondage through continual fear anxiety and disquieting thoughtfulness But on the other hand it conduceth exceedingly to the chearful pursuing our Great Work to be satisfied that it is not every Failure that shall endanger our final miscarrying And it is no small inducement to ingenuous Tempers to be so much the more solicitous to avoid Deliberate and Wilful sins because God through Christ is so ready to forgive and graciously pass by those that are not such Because he is pleased in his infinite Goodness to grant a pardon of course for these upon condition of their being in the general and habituals repented of And it is a great Motive also to such Tempers to be the more vigilant and watchful against all sins whatsoever against sins of daily incursion and infirmity as well as those which waste the Conscience And those are very ill natured and obdurate Sinners who can find in their hearts to Encourage themselves by this indulgence to sin the more freely Fourthly Another wonderful Encouragement to the careful use of the Means we are directed to for the subduing of our Lusts is our Saviours Mediation and Intercession There is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Iesus His oblation was begun on Earth but perfected in Heaven where He appears in the presence of God for us Heb. 9. 24. Those Prayers we put up in His name for things Agreeable to the Divine Will with honest and sincere hearts our Saviour inforceth with his own Intercession He ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7. 25. And for this reason as the Apostle saith in the former part of that Verse He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him That is to give them a full and complete Deliverance from the Slavery of sin and all the evil Consequents thereof Now we know that we ask what is according to the Will of God when we pray for his Grace to Mortifie our Corruptions and to set us more and more Free from their Dominion This is the Will of God even our Sanctification c. 1 Thess. 4. 3. There are many Temporal good things which God in his infinite Wisdom may see not to be good for us but He knows that whatsoever hath a necessary influence into
said to be weak through the flesh or in regard of the impetuosity and violence of mens fleshly Appetites Rom. 8. 3. Nor is there any express mention in the Ceremonial Law of any necessity of purity of heart This was only represented by the divers legal washings and other Rites the mortification of corrupt Affections was signified by the cutting off the foreskin of the flesh and the great substantial duties were veiled under dark shadows So that a man might be very punctually observant of this Law according to the mere literal sence thereof and yet his Soul remain perfectly under the power of sinful Affections And the Learned Mr. Chillingworth in his Sermon on Gal. 5. 5. saith thus even of the Moral Duties of the two Tables as they are part of the Mosaical Jewish Law viz. That they required only an external obedience and conformity to the Affirmative Precepts thereof and an abstaining from an Outward practice of the Negative They did not reach unto the Conscience no more than the National Laws of other Kingdoms do So that for example when the law of Moses forbids Adultery upon pain of death he that should in his heart lust after a Woman could not be accounted a Transgressor of Moses his law neither was he liable to the punishment therein specified Whereas the Gospel requires not only an Outward and as I may say corporal obedience to God's Commandments but also an inward sanctification of the Soul and Conscience upon the same penalty of everlasting damnation with the former And what is now said proceeds he of the Moral Precepts as they are part of Moses his law by the same proportion likewise is to be understood of the Iudicial And as for the Promises of this Law they were only of Temporal good things and therefore the Gospel is called by the Author to the Hebrews The bringing in of a better hope Chap. 7. 19. And is said to be established upon better promises Chap. 8. 6. 'T is confessed that promises of Heavenly things were contained in those of Earthly as some of the latter were Types of the former particularly the land of Canaan of the Eternal Rest in Heaven and the promises of good things in the general had those of the other life implied in them but there is not the least express mention in this Law of any Life after this I do not say in any part of the Old Testament but in this Law Now then seeing it abounded with Temporal Promises and none but such being in express terms contained therein 't is no wonder if it became an occasion to the sensual Iews of their being the more eager and vehement in prosecuting the profits honours and pleasures of this life as it was of their being the more Mercenary in their obedience The like may be said of the Threatnings of this Law they are all so expressed as if they were only of Present Temporal Evils and the Iews for the most part looking no farther than the outward letter of these Threatnings it was not to be expected that they should be excited by them to obey from any higher motive than the mere fear of such evils as those that did not look beyond the letter of the Promises were obedient only from the hope of some sensual present good And by this means especially did this Law Gender to bondage as we read it did Gal. 4. 24. The terrible manner in which the Law was given and the Threatnings of Present death or other temporal Calamities upon the Transgression thereof did occasion that slavish sear which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage in those words Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear Rom. 8. 5. God dealt with the Iews as it was most fit to deal with such a carnal such a stiff-necked stubborn and disingenuous people who would not be wrought upon and overcome by love to himself or a sense of the loveliness of Virtue and true Goodness nor regard any Laws but such as were enforced with severe present Penalties or promises of sensual good things Which obedience of theirs was most truly and properly the obedience of Slaves a Servile and Mercenary Obedience So that this Law having been abused by the Iews to the so much the more captivating them to their fleshly lusts for this reason chiefly was it laid aside namely because the Liberty which consisteth in a thorough compliance with the Rules of Righteousness the Obligation of this Law would have greatly obstructed the promoting of And the things expresly required in this Law being such as had no internal goodness in them being weak and beggarly Elements as the Apostle calls them Gal. 4. 9. the imposition of many such must needs be apt to call away mens Minds and Affections from those that are essentially and immutably good whilest the spiritual meaning of those injunctions is either not understood or not attended to And that it had this effect upon the generality of the Iews by this means is a case too plain to need to be proved And though the great substantial duties which are in their own nature Good and Necessary and of Eternal obligation were inculcated upon them by all their Prophets as well as taught by Natural Light such as Doing Iustice loving Mercy walking humbly with God and the like yet they generally were so sottish as to think that He valued Sacrifices and the other Ceremonial and External Performances of the Law so much above such Duties nay though he had expresly also declared the quite contrary as that their exact and diligent observation of those would make expiation for their remisness in these and fully satisfie for gross immoralities They trusted in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these implying that their continual attendance on the services there performed according to the prescription of the Law would effectually secure them from Divine vengeance although they refused to amend their ways and were never so immoral in their Practices And their constant Trading in Sacrifices in Rituals and Ceremonial things occasioned their having but very little sense of things Morally good so that that distinction was almost lost among them of things Positively and Morally so or things good only because commanded and things commanded because good Their being so intent upon a many little things caused them to sleight and overlook the great ones as our Saviour told the Pharisees Luke 11. 42. Ye tithe Mint and Rue and all manner of Herbs and pass over judgment and the love of God And Mat. 23. 23. Ye pay tith of Mint and Anise and Cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law judgment mercy and faith And their omitting these things was too plain an Argument alone though there is other proof of it of their having scarcely any notion of things Absolutely Immutably and Essentially Good and Evil which was occasioned as I said by their
many thousands of good Christians And it is well known that their principles are such as that they cannot be true to them and not think themselves bound in Conscience to Stab and Poison Burn and Massacre all without exception whom they call Hereticks whensoever an opportunity is put into their hands S. Paul as cruel a persecutor of Christians as he was before his Conversion did then think not onely that he did what was lawful but that he did his duty too For saith he Acts 26. 9. I verily thought with my self or I was verily perswaded in my Conscience that I ought to do many things contrary the Name of Jesus of Nazareth Among which things he reckoneth in the two following verses Shutting up many of the Saints in Prison and giving his voice against them to be put to death and compelling them to Blaspheme No man is able to imagine what dismal Effects Superstition and Enthusiasm may have upon the Mind and Conscience So that this will be easily granted me by men of any Sobriety that that which they call Liberty of Conscience must be limited by Governours if they will have any concern for the Honour of God the Welfare of Religion the Safety of the Community and the Preservation of Government it being impossible that there should be any such thing as Government if all shall be exempt from Punishment who shall plead Conscience for their Disobedience nay though they should be known to plead it never so truly Now it being so evident that Conscience may and must be restrained in its Liberty we clearly gain one point by it and that no small one viz. That Liberty of Conscience is not to be necessarily allowed under the notion of Liberty of Conscience For this Liberty as such is not an inviolable Right if it be not to be claimed in all cases without exception Secondly As to that which we call the other Extreme of over-great Severity in Restraining this Liberty no man surely will question but that there may be an erring on this hand also But how to steer betwixt Scylla and Charybdis these two extremes is I think one of the greatest difficulties And requires a conjunction of the greatest Prudence with as great Goodness But as to what measures in the general are to be taken we will adventure modestly to suggest our Thoughts in the Propositions that follow Prop. 2. No such Liberty of Conscience for so for fashions-sake wee 'l call it is by any means to be allowed as is apparently injurious to the Community and such a Liberty as can have no ill publick influence in the Church or State both may and ought to be granted The welfare of the Community with respect to both its Civil and Spiritual Interests is the business and design of Government and the welfare of particular persons as they are parts of the Community Therefore not to grant to particular persons as much Liberty of what nature soever as is consistent with the general Good or Well-being of the Whole is to hold the Reins too strait and to be over-severe and Arbitrary But it must be left to the iudgment of our Governours what measure and proportion of Liberty may be safely vouchsafed with respect to the Interest of the Community both because they are to be presumed the fittest Judges of this affair and because it is wholly inconsistent with Government for every private person to be his own Judge But as I need not add Governours are obliged as they will answer it to their Judge not to be hasty in making a judgment but to do it with the greatest wariness and deliberation because their being mistaken in this point may happen to be of very evil and mischievous consequence Prop. 3. It is a very plain case that men ought to have the Liberty of enjoying their Opinions to themselves without their being extorted by penalties from them This follows from the foregoing proposition and if that be true this can't be false For if such a Liberty ought to be granted as hath no ill Aspect upon the Community then no Body should be compelled to discover his Opinions because whilest they are kept within a mans own Breast they can do no hurt to other Folk and if they discover themselves by Overt-Acts as the Lawyers speak there is no need of using violent means for the Extorting of them Which is the cruel practice of the Roman Church and our own Nation knew it by sad experience in the Reign of Queen Mary How many excellently good Christians were then Sentenced to the Stake for their mere Refusing to Subscribe to their as wicked as false Doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Altar Prop. 4. To make Sanguinary Laws against mere Dissenting from the publick Establishment that is when Dissenting from it is not accompanied with a Factious Schismatical and Seditious opposition to it is without controversie Antichristian Tyranny Of all the indefensible practices of the now mentioned Church there is none that makes the Title of Antichrist more due to her than her prosecuting with Fire and Faggot and all manner of Cruelties men who are guilty of no other crime but that of renouncing Communion with her in her gross Corruptions But suppose her Terms of Communion were as agreeable as they are contrary to the Word of God yet would her putting men to death for their bare not submitting to those terms speak her to be utterly destitute of the true Christian Spirit And to deserve that Reprehension which her mild and gentle Master gave to his Disciples for desiring him to call for Fire from Heaven to destroy the Samaritans for refusing to receive him viz. Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them And if our Saviour was so offended with those Disciples for making that motion though He knew 't was not made deliberately but in a sudden fit of passion and that kindled too by the quick resentment they had of an high affront that was put upon his Sacred person how highly must it needs provoke him to see Christians destroying their Brethren in cool bloud and that not for so hainous a crime as Renouncing his Religion but for not being Christians of their Mode and Form Which possibly considering all their circumstances particularly their Education the prejudices of which it is the most difficult thing in the world one of them to overcome their Parts Complexions c. may be more their misfortune than their fault Besides Sanguinary Penalties or the using of extreme Rigour of any kind to compel men to come over to our way of Religion are the most improper means to effect that end that of Lactantius being as great a Truth in all Ages as it was in his and the two foregoing when the Church was subject to the Heathen Persecutors viz. Religion is a thing to which no man can be forced the Will is perswaded by
than Foolish that they would not be prevailed with to accept of Deliverance from the Burdensom Services of Moses his Law that they should be so fond of that Servile Dispensation they were under as to refuse to be Released from it Whenas the Abolishing thereof was evidenced in as full and convincing a manner as its Divine Authority before was Nay when that of the Gospel set up in the room of it was demonstrated in a far more glorious manner to be of God by Christ himself before his death by his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into Heaven and by the Spirit in the Apostles and others afterward And shall we refuse to be set at Liberty by our Saviour from the Bondage of Sin which is infinitely more heavy and unsufferable and the consequences of which are so sad and intolerable While we so do let us never blame the Iews and much less accuse them of being so perverse hard-hearted and stiff-neckt a People for then wherein we judge them we condemn our selves for we that judge them do not onely the same but a far more unaccountable thing And think we this that so judge them that have done such a thing and do the same and so much worse that we shall escape the judgment of God Nay are we able not to think that it shall be much more intolerable for us at the day of Judgment than for them if we persist in so doing We are apt to believe that no People ever deserved so ill of our Saviour as those Pharisees who ascribed his casting out Devils to the Assistance of Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils But how much better do we think those deserve of him who will not obey him after they have had far greater Evidence of his being the Son of God than they at that time were in a possibility of having And if our Saviour did accuse those of despising both Himself and his Father that sent him who would not be perswaded by his Mighty WORKS to believe in him while he was on Earth what a high Affront then do those put upon both who will not give up themselves to be ruled by him and quit the service of Satan for his service which is the same thing with not believing in him now he is in Heaven and in all his Glory This he must needs take far more unkindly and hainously at our hands And be we assured for nothing is more Evident that as he is a most unreasonable Creature who after such marvellous Evidence of Iesus his being the Son of God and now sate down on the Right Hand of the Majesty on High will not give credit to these Doctrines so he is much more Unreasonable who doth give credit to them and yet behave himself as if he believed no such matter O that therefore we would those of us who have hitherto neglected to do it before it be too late and without farther delay Consider these things and shew our selves Men and then we shall with great Courage and Resolution make use of those Weapons which the Captain of our Salvation hath put into our hands for the Vanquishing the Enemies of our Souls which Weapons are not Carnal but Mighty through God And if we persevere in so doing then shall those who have held such a severe hand over us fly before us then shall those Lords who so subjected us and kept us under be brought under by us be our Subjects Then shall our Prison-doors fly open we shall be no longer under Restraint and Confinement We shall be our own Men and walk at Liberty We shall run and not be weary walk and not faint until we appear before God in Sion Until we are delivered from all Molestation from as well as Dominion of Sin and Satan Being made by Iesus Christ who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud Kings and Priests unto God and his Father To whom be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen THE END Books sold by Richard Royston at the Sign of the Angel in Amen-Corner THE Principles and Practices of Certain Divines of the Church of England truly Represented and Defended c. In a Free Discourse between two intimate Friends viz. Theophilus and Philalethes The Design of Christianity or A plain Demonstration and Improvement of this Proposition That the Enduing men with Inward Real Righteousness was the Ultimate End of our Saviour's Coming c. The Second Edition Both of them by the Author of this Treatise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Refranet prius libidines spernat voluptates iracundiam teneat coâ—recat avaritiam cateras animi labes repellat imperator tum incipiat aliis imperare cùm ipse improbissiâ—is dominis dedecori ac turpitudini parere desicrit dum quidem his obâ—diâ—t Imperator non modò sed liber habendus omninò non erit Si servitus sit sicut est obedientia fracti animi abjecti arbitriâ— carentis suo quis neget omnes leves omnes cupidos omnes denique improbos esse servos In his Stâ—ical Paradoxes Cùm Cupiditatum dominatus excessit alius est Dominus exortus ex Conscientiâ Peccatorum Timor quà m illa miscra quam dura scrvitus in Stoic Paradox Pudor nec in pessimos nec in optimos cadit Nam qui sibi conscius est se libero suo arbitrio constanter uti ad ca quae optima sunt novit se non debere contemni ac proinde omni contemptu superior ipsummeâ— contemnit contemptum quae magna pars est Generositatis in improbis vero summum improbitatis fastigium Enclur Eth. lib. 1. cap. 2. Dr. Patrick's O Vitae Philosophiae Dux O Virtutum indagatrix expultrixque Vitiorum Vnus dies benè ex praeceptis tuis actus peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus Mr. Iohn Smith Deut. 32. 4 Heb. 6. 18. Ezek. 18. 29. Rom. 2. 2. Iob 34. 23 Habak 1. 13. Psal. 145. 17. Iâ—m 11â— Psal. 145. 9. Ver. 8. Ezek. 33. 11. Luke 4. 18. Eph. 6. 16. Acts 15. 9. 1 Ioh. 5. 4. The Design of Christianity Ier. 7. 4. Iohn 17. 24. Chap. 14. 19. ver 3. Heb. 6. 20. Iohn 17. 24. Solus Deus est in quem Peecâ—tum non cadit Câ—etâ—ra cùm sint liberi Arbitrii possunt in utramque partem suam flectere Voluntatem Operum juga rejecta â—unt non disciplinarum Libertas in Christo non fecit Innocentie Injuriam Mannt â—extota Pictatis Sanctitatis Humanitatis Veritatis Castitatis Iustitiae Miâ—â—ricordiae Benevolentiae Pudicitiae Lib. de Pudiâ—itia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strom. Lib. 2. p. 424. Eph. 6. 5. Instit. Theol Lib. 3. cap. 8. p. 97. Non solùm autem per praevaricationem frustrati sunt Legem Dei miscentes Vinum Aquâ sed suam Legem è contrario statuerunt quae usque adhuc Pharisaica vocatur Advers Haeres Lib. 4. Cap. 25. p. 342. Chap. 17. Vid. Iust. Mart. Dial cum Trypho p. 247. Tertul ad Scap. p. 69 Rig. Orig. cont Câ—ls lib. 1. p. 34. 1 Cor. 2. 4. Contra Cels. lib. 1. p. 4. Edit Spenceri Icr. 17. 10. Rom. 13. 5. Ductor Dubitantium Book 3 chap. 1. p 21. Edit 1. Book 3. chap. 1. p. 23. Aquatenùs ad omne valet consequentia Religio cogt non potest verbis potiùs quà m verberibus res agenda est ut sit voluntas lib. 5. cap. 20. See the Learned Dean of Canterburies judicious Discourse on Josh. 24. 15. Instit. Thâ—ol Cap. 8. p. 241. See Doctor More 's Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity Bookâ— 2. Chap. 15 16. In Dâ—â—ret Greg. Lib. 1. tit 33. cap. 6. Bellarm. dâ— Amis Grat. cap. 13. Et dâ— Sacram. Euchar. l. 4. c. 19 Exam. Câ—n. Triâ— Ses. 8. cap. 1 Vid. Chem. Exam. Con. Trid. Ses. 8. cap. â— Chap. â— Sess. 14. 〈◊〉 â— Mystery of Iniquity p. 78. Polemical Discourses in fol. p. 316. Europe Speculum p. 126. Edit 1673 Europae Speculum p. 13. Europe Speculum p. 136 137 Quamvâ— sine Sacramento Poenitentiae Attritio per se ad Iustificationem perducere Peccatorem â—equeat tamen cum ad Dei gratian in Sacramento Paenitenâ—â— impetrandum disponit Sess. 14. Cap. 4. Chap. 17. Europâ—e Speculum p. 3. Pag. 〈◊〉 Phil. Iud. p. 682. Ibid. Rev. 1. 6.