great a Work it requires that they should presently without delay set upon it 1. Working for Salvation is the undoing our former Works First It is a Work in which Sinners must undo all that they have wrought in their whole Lives before Oh Sinner think what hast thou been doing this twenty thirty forty Years or more Hast thou not instead of working out thine own Salvation with Fear and Trembling been working out thine own Condemnation without Fear or Trembling Hast thou not been working the Works of Darkness Hast thou not been working the Works of thy Father the Devil as our Saviour tells the Jews Truly this is not so much working as making of Work all this must be undone again or you your selves must be for ever undone you must unrip and unravel your whole Lives by a deep and bitter Repentance you are gone far in the way that leads to Death and Destruction and you must tread back every Step and at every Step shed many salt and briny Tears before ever you come into the Way that leads to Life and Happiness and is it not yet time to begin Can the Work of so many Years be undone think you in one moment No Sin and Satan make their Works more durable and lasting than to be so easily and speedily spoiled It were the Work of an Age yea of Eternity it self if possibly we could so spend it rather than of a few faint late Thoughts to get an Humiliation deep enough and a Sorrow sad enough to bear any the least proportion to any of the least Sins that we have committed Do not hope or think that your many great and sinful Actions shall ever be blown away with a slight and general Confession or that ever they shall be wash'd away with a slight and overly Repentance What says holy David Psal 56.8 Thou tellest my Wanderings put thou my Tears into thy Bottle Thou hast my Wandrings by Number but thou hast also my Tears by Measure There must be some proportion betwixt the Humiliation and the Sins great Sins call for great Sorrow and long continuance in Sin requires a continued and prolonged Repentance Is it not then yet high time to begin Have you not already made Work enough for your whole Lives should they be longer than they are like to be Nay and will not every Day of your Lives make Work enough for it self What says our Saviour Mat. 8.34 Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof Truly the Evils that we every Day commit is sufficient Work for the Sorrow and Repentance of that Day to undo Now then begin this undoing Work the longer you delay still the more will lie upon your Hands still the more Sins you have to repent of We already complain That the Work God hath set us is too hard and too grievous and yet such foolish Creatures are we that we make it more and more difficult by our Delays adding to the strictness of Gods Commands the necessity of a severe Repentance And therefore it is Prudence as well as Duty to begin this repenting this undoing Work betimes that so the greatness of the Work and the shortness of the time to do it in may not at last dismay and confound us 2. Variety of Duties to be perform'd in working out of Salvation Secondly Consider the great variety of Duties that must be gone through in the working out of Salvation and this will evince how great a Work it is A Christian's Work is a Life full of Actions and Imployments there should be no gap nor void space at all in it but all should be filled up with Duties ranked in their several Orders that as soon as he passeth through one he should enter upon another that where one leaves him another may find him Thus a Christian should go from one Duty to another from hearing the Word to Meditation from Meditation unto Prayer from Prayer to the acting of Grace and in all there should be much striving and strugling with the Heart and much carefulness and circumspection over the Way and Life Now there are Four great and usual Duties every Man hath to do Four Duties incumbent on all Christians which is enough to fill up all the time of his Life were it stretched and tenter'd out to the end of our time First 1. To get the Truth of Grace He is to get the Truth and Reality of Grace wrought in him this is his first and general Work And this will cost a Man much Sweat and Anguish for this he must suffer many Pangs and Throws of the New Birth and shall lye under many Fears and Jealousies lest Hypocrisy and Presumption should cause him to mistake in a Matter of such infinite Concernment Secondly He is to draw forth 2. To act Grace and to act this Grace when once it is wrought in him This is the next Work of a true Christian continually to act Faith Love Patience Humility and to let all have their perfect Work And there is no moment of a Man's Life so idle but all may administer some Occasion or Object for the exercise of Grace 3. To grow in Grace Thirdly A Christian's next Work is continually to grow and increase in Grace To go from Strength to Strength to be changed from Glory to Glory Still to be adding Cubits to his spiritual Stature till he is grown to such a height and tallness in Grace that his Head shall reach into Heaven and be Crowned there in absolute Perfection with a Crown of Glory and Immortality Here is that Work that will keep you in Imployment all your Days and if you can find one spare minute in your whole Lives wherein you have not some Duty to perform then give over and sit still But besides all this 4. Christians must labour for Assurance of Grace Fourthly Another Work of a Christian is earnestly to labour after the Evidence and Assurance of Grace in himself Give all diligence says the Apostle to make your Calling and Election sure Still a Christian must be ascending ascending from a probable Conjecture to a good Persuasion from a good Persuasion to a full Assurance from that to a Rejoycing with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory These now are the general Works that should take up the Lives of Christians and to these are subservient almost an infinite number of Particulars some whereof are means whereby these great Things are obtained others are Concomitants or the Effects and Fruits of them but I will not so much as mention any of them now For shame then O Christians since that your Work is so great why will you sit still as if you knew not how to imploy your selves Besides there is great variety in your Work and this usually breeds some kind of Delight You are not always to be toiling and drudging at the same thing But as Bees fly from one Flower to another and suck sweetness from each of them
learned Predecessors for with such has that See been blessed ever since the Reformation And undoubtedly his Death will be extreamly lamented in that Country and sure I am the Poor will have great reason to bewail it for to them he was exceeding generous and charitable and gave great Sums every Year amongst them besides the Tenth of his Revenues which he constantly laid by for such uses and did also allow good Yearly Pensions to Students in the University to Ministers Widows and other distressed Persons and did put Children to Trades and largely contribute to the Building and Repairing of some Churches and designed greater things if God had spared him to return But alas he is gone and our poor unsetled Church has an extraordinary loss in him 'T is a sharp Stroke an additional Judgment to lose him now But to God's Holy Will we must submit as he willingly and chearfully did when Death approached He resigned all with great Christian Courage and discoursed Philosophically and Divinely of the Vanity and Uncertainty of all Sublunary Things and setled all his Desires upon the Things above and not long before his death he discoursed of the Necessity and Sincerity of Repentance and Uniform Obedience in such a manner and inveighed with such any Holy Zeal against the Sins of these Nations as might make the greatest Debauchees of our Age quake and tremble to have heard him And then with reflecting on himself he did with great Grief and Sorrow with Sighs and Tears bewail the least Failures of his Life and spent his Last Days in Self-examination in Repentance and Prayer and with great Devotion received the Holy Sacrament in which he found much Joy and Comfort and had such Inward Peace and Antepasts of Bliss that he longed to be dissolved and to be with Christ and did very often beg of God to take him And on Thursday last his Prayer was heard and God in his Mercy took him out of the Troubles of this Life and called him up amongst the Blessed and changed his Fading Mitre into a Crown of Eternal Glory What then remains but that we imitate his Virtue honour his Memory and commit his Body to his Dormitory there to sleep till the Resurrection when he and all who have been diligent and industrious painful and laborious in the Ministry and have been Precedents of Piety and Holiness of Justice and Integrity will meet their Flocks with Joy and Comfort and for turning them to Righteousness shall shine as Stars for ever and ever Which God grant we may all do c. A TABLE OF THE Discourses Sermons IN THIS VOLUME PRactical Christianity Recommended urg'd and Encourag'd in working out our own Salvation Or A Discourse on Philippians 2.12 13. Wherefore my Beloved as ye have always Obeyed not as in my Presence only but now much more in my Absence work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good Pleasure The Assurance of Heaven and Salvation a powerful Motive to serve God with Fear In a Discourse on Hebrews 12.28 29. Wherefore we having received a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear For our God is a Consuming Fire A Discourse of the Nature Corruption and Renewing of the Conscience With Accounts of the Moment of having a Conscience void of Offence to God and Men from Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men. A Discourse upon Perseverance in Prayer With Exhortations thereunto On 1 Thess 5.17 Pray without ceasing A Discourse upon the Omnipresence of God With the Improvements thereof From Psal 139.7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me BOOKS Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer in two Volumes in Quarto The Vanity of the World with other Sermons in 8 vo Sermons or Discourses on several Scriptures in Four Volumes in Octavo The Almost Christian discovered in some Sermons on Acts 26.28 All these written by the Right Reverend Father in God Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-derry Bishop Vsher's Life and Letters By Dr. Parr in Folio 's Body of Divinity or the Sum and Substance of the Christian Religion Folio 's 22 Sermons on several Subjects Fol. Josephus's History of the Jews Folio Dr. Bates's Harmony of the Divine Attributes Octavo Charron of Wisdom in three Books All Dr. Anthony Walker 's Works viz. The Sinfulness and Danger of delaying Repentance The Vertuous Woman or the Life of the Countess of Warwick The Vertuous Wife or the Life of Mrs. Eliz. Walker His Sermons of Water-drinking Preached at Tunbridge-wells c. The Worthy Communicant a Treatise shewing the due Order of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The 17th Edition By Jeremiah Dyke The Poor Doubting Christian drawn unto Christ By Thomas Hooker Ovid's Metamorphosis in English Verse By George Sandys Aesop's Fables in Prose with Cuts Solitude improved by Divine Meditation By Nathaniel Ranew late Rector of Felsted in Essex Practical Discourses concerning Death and Heaven By Nathaniel Ranew Correction Instruction or a Treatise of Afflictions By Tho. Case The Principles of Christian Religion with a brief Method of the Doctrine thereof By Bishop Vsher The sinfulness of Sin and the fulness of Christ In two Sermons By W. Bridge Practical Christianity RECOMMENDED Urg'd Encourag'd In working out our own SALVATION OR A DISCOURSE ON Philippians ii 12 13. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. Practical CHRISTIANITY Recommended Vrged and Encouraged In Working out our own SALVATION Phil. ii 12.13 Wherefore my Beloved as ye have always Obeyed not as in my Presence only but now much more in my Absence work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good Pleasure THE whole Sum of Christianity is Comprehended in two Points in Knowledg Introduction and in Obedience The one is Conversant about things Supernaturally Revealed and the other about Duties Supernaturally Performed Now although there be so wide a difference between these two yet where they are suffered to run on in a course they will one fall into the other and Gospel Revelations will make way for and lead unto Gospel Obedience Yea indeed there is no Divine Truth how Abstracted how Sublime and Speculative soever it may
Case you would do And Secondly So absolutely depend and rely upon the alone Merits of Jesus Christ for your Justification and Salvation as if you never had performed an Act of Obedience in all your Life This is the right Gospel-frame of Obedience so to work as if you were only to be saved by your own Merits and withal so to rest on the Merits of Christ as if you had never wrought any thing It is a difficult thing to give to each of these its Due in our Practice When we Work we are too apt to neglect Christ and when we rely on Christ we are too apt to neglect Working But that Christian hath got the right skill and art of Obedience that can mingle these two together that can with one Hand work the Works of God and yet at the same time with the other Hand lay fast hold on the Merits of Jesus Christ Let this Antinomian Principle be for ever rooted out of the Minds of Men that our working is derogatory to Christs Work Never more think Christ hath done all your Work for you for that is unbecoming the free Spirit of the Gospel but labour for that Salvation that he hath purchased and merited Could ever such senseless Objections prevail with those Men who ever seriously read that Scripture in Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Were this place seriously ponder'd over by Men they would be ashamed to Object any longer that our Duties and Works are derogatory to the purchase of Christ for he gave himself for this end that he might purchase such a People that might be zealous of good Works But truly when Sloth and Ignorance meet together if you tell Men what Powers their Natures have to work and how necessary Obedience is to Salvation that thereby we might excite and quicken their Hearts to Obedience they with the Sluggard fold their Arms in their Bosom doing nothing telling us these Doctrins are Arminianism and flat Popery whereas in Deed and in Truth they are as far distant from either of them as Light is from Darkness it is their Ignorance and Sloth only that makes them think so But deceive not your selves this Doctrin is such that whether it take hold on your Judgments and Understandings now I know not but this I know assuredly it shall take hold of your Consciences either here or hereafter and then it will not suffice you to make this Excuse either that you had no Power to do any thing or that Christ hath already done all Things for you And so much for the Second Objection Object 3 Thirdly Others may Object That this Duty of working out of our Salvation is inconsistent with and prejudicial to the freeness of Gods Grace by which alone we are saved If God save them only that work for Salvation how then doth he save them freely and that by Grace we are saved Answ 1 First In general I answer That Salvation upon our Working and Obedience is free Salvation and that for four Reasons 1. Working for Salvation is our Duty and so not meritorious First Because all our working is a natural Duty that we owe to God as Creatures to their Creator Had God required the same Things of us that now he doth and never propounded a Reward to incourage us he had been just and we had been as absolutely and as indispensably obliged to obey as now we are We have not so great a Right to Salvation as God hath to our Obedience God can challenge our Service and Obedience from us because of our natural Bond and Obligation as well as from that voluntary Covenant where into we have entred with God to be Obedient but we can only plead for Salvation because God hath made a Promise that he will save those that Obey Whether God had made that Promise or not yet he might have required the same Obedience from us that now he doth because we owe it to him naturally by our Creation And is it not now free Grace and Mercy that when God might have required Obedience without a Reward that yet he will bestow Salvation according to that Obedience See what our Saviour saith in Luke 17. Luke 17.9 10. Doth the Master thank the Servant because he did the things that he was commanded to do I trow not So even ye likewise when you have done all those things that are commanded you say we are unprofitable Servants for when we have done all we have but done that which was our Duty to do Yea and our Duty it was to do it though God had never made a Promise to reward what we have done We are unprofitable Servants and deserve not so much as Thanks Doth the Master thank the Servant because he did the things that were commanded I trow not And if we do not merit Thanks when we have done our utmost how then can we merit Salvation 2. Our Obedience is imperfect in this Life Secondly Our Obedience is imperfect in this Life it is full of cracks and flaws And if to accept and reward the most perfect Obedience with Salvation be an Act of Mercy and free Grace as it is because it is our Duty if there were no Salvation promised how much more is free Grace magnified and glorified in accepting and rewarding a weak and imperfect Obedience with that Salvation which the most perfect Obedience cannot deserve For when we have done all we have done but that which was our Duty to do and if we could say so doth the Master thank the Servant No But alas in many things we offend all Now to reward that with eternal Salvation that deserves eternal Damnation to reward that Work with Life that deserves to be rewarded with Death what is this but the effect of rich and glorious Grace What is this but to bestow Heaven not according to Merit but rather according to our Demerit 3. There is no comparison between Salvation and our Obedience Thirdly Because there is no comparison betwixt Salvation and our Obediences and therefore free Grace shines forth still It is free Grace though we do obey We obey as Creatures God rewards as a God our Obedience is Temporal but our Reward is Eternal our Obedience is mixed with Rebellion but the Reward hath no mixture to take off the fulness and sweetness of it Therefore it is free Grace still to give an infinite Reward to so mean an Obedience betwixt which Obedience and Reward there is no comparison or proportion Fourthly Though we are commanded to obey 4. Grace whereby we obey is the Gift of God yet that Grace whereby we do obey is the Gift of God It is he that works in us this Obedience which he rewards with Salvation And must not this then be wholly of free Grace To save upon an Obedience wrought in us by God himself it is to save
than when they first believed that they are perfecting Holiness in the fear of God and every Day growing nearer unto Heaven and Happiness than other And though these Works of theirs are now imperfect yet they shall be shortly finished and consummate in Glory Well then if Pleasure and Delight do affect you here you see is that which is solid and substantial it springs from Success in your Work and from that suitableness that is in your renewed part thereunto also And therefore the more Work the greater Delight you find because the greater progress you make and the more suitable to it your Will becomes Nay your Delight is of the same Nature with that which you shall enjoy in Heaven The Work the Blessed are there imploy'd in is of the same Nature with yours only their suitableness to it is perfect and therefore their Delight and Pleasure is perfect And accordingly the more suitable your Hearts are to your Work the more Delight and Pleasure you will find in it This is that makes Heaven a place of Happiness because there is no Corruption no Body of Sin and Death there to make those Duties that are there required from glorified Saints to be irksom and grievous to them 2. The Reward of working for Salvation Secondly Consider the exceeding greatness of your Reward Doth Job fear God for nought was the Cavil of Satan when God applauded himself that he had such a Servant as Job was upon the Earth The Devil himself thought it no wonder that Job should fear and serve a rewarding God a God whose Hands are as full of Blessings as his Mouth is full of Commands And yet what were these great Something 's that the Devil envies Job for and thinks every one would have done as much as he if they had but as great a Recompence for it It was but Hedging of him about Job 1.10 but blessing of the Works of his Hands and increasing of his Substance as it is in Job 1. Why alas these are poor mean Rewards to what God intends to bestow such Rewards they are as that God still reckons himself in Arrears to his Children till he hath given them something better than he can bestow upon them here upon Earth These Things he casts but as Crumbs unto Dogs when he reserves a far better Portion for his Children And yet Satan thinks Job well paid for his Service in having of these lower Enjoyments in causing the Works of his Hands to prosper Doth Job serve God for nought And therefore if Satan doth not wonder that Job fears and serves God for Temporal Mercies will it not be to the great wonder of Satan himself that you should not fear and serve God that have infinitely better Things promised to you than Temporal Mercies are Do you deserve your Breath in spending of it some few Hours in Prayer Or do you deserve your plentiful Estate by laying out some small part of it for God Why to be able to Think or Speak to enjoy Health and Strength are such Mercies though outward Mercies as can never be recompenced to God although you should think of nothing but of his Glory and speak of nothing but of his Praise although you should impair your Health and waste your Strength and languish away in the performance of holy Duties These tho' they are Obligations to Obedience yet they are not the Reward of Obedience no far higher and more glorious Things are provided promised and shall be conferred upon you if you will but work For there is First your set standing Wages and that is eternal Salvation no less And Secondly besides this there are many incident Vails accrew to God's Servants in their performance of his Service And is not here Reward and Wages enough First 1. Working for Salvation shall be rewarded with Heaven 1 Cor. 2.9 Consider there is that eternal weight of Glory that shall be the Reward of the Saints in Heaven This now is so great that it is impossible for you to conceive It is such as Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard nor hath it ever enter'd into no nor can it ever enter into the Heart of Man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him as the Apostle speaks If St. Paul were now preaching and pressing this very Consideration of the infinite glorious Reward it would possibly be expected that he who suffered a Translation and was admitted as a Spy into the Land of Promise should at his return make some Relation of it and discover something of the Riches and Glory of that Place and would not all flock about him as Men do about Travellers to enquire for a Description of the Country whence they come Who the People and Inhabitants are What are their Manners and Customs What is their Imployment Who is their King and what Subjection they yield unto him Thus inquisitive truly our Curiosity would be And yet when St. Paul purposely relates his Voyage to the other World all that he speaks of it is only this I knew a Man caught up into Paradise who heard things that no Man could nor is it lawful for any Man to utter The Glory of Heaven is such that it can never be fully known till it be fully enjoyed and yet if Heaven were ever made chrystally transparent to you if ever God opened you a Window into it and then opened the Eye of your Faith to look in by that Window think what it was that you there discovered what inaccessible Light what cherishing Love what daunting Majesty what infinite Purity what over-loading Joy what insupportable and sinking Glory what Rays and Sparklings from Crowns and Scepters but more from the Glances and Smiles of God upon the heavenly Host who forever warm and Sun themselves in his Presence And when you have thought all this then think once again that all your Thoughts are but Shadows and Glimmerings that there is Dust and Ashes in the Eye of your Faith that makes all these Discoveries come infinitely short of the Native Glory of these Things and then you may guess and guess somewhat near what Heaven is Nay as God by reason of his infinite Glory is better known to us by Negatives than by Affirmatives by what he is not than by what he is so is Heaven by reason of the greatness of its Glory better known to us by what it is not than by what it is and we may best conceive of it when it is told us There is nothing there that may affright or afflict us nothing that may grieve or trouble us nothing that may molest or disquiet us but we shall have the highest and sweetest Delight and Satisfaction that the vast and capacius Soul of Man can either receive or imagine Are you now burthened with Sin and Corruption those Infirmities that tho' they are unavoidable yet they make your Lives a Burthen to you Why the old Man shall never more molest you there that
Generousness scorn to prostitute their Consciences and to barter their precious Souls for the Gain of any of these fading and perishing Riches here below Riches that perish in the using If therefore you would keep good Consciences learn to despise the Threats and Frowns the Flatterings and Fawnings of this World look upon it as of no great concernment to you whatever in Adversity or Prosperity can happen to you in this short and frail Life Reflect upon those who groan under the Terrors of a wounded Conscience all the World cannot give them one moments Ease or Comfort yea had they the whole World at their dispose they would give it all to procure Peace yea but a Truce for a while with their own Consciences such a vain and contemptible Thing is the World in comparison of inward Tranquility and Serenity of Mind Why now thus to rate the World below the Peace and Quietness of our own Consciences is an excellent Means to preserve them clear and peaceable Fourthly 4. Strengthen your Faith If you would keep Conscience clear labour above all things to strengthen your Faith Faith is a purifying Grace Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Now Faith hath a double Influence to purifie the Heart or Conscience Faith purifies the Conscience two ways First 1. As it is a dogmatical Faith and so it doth it morally A dogmatical Faith keeps the Conscience clear and pure and that morally Secondly A justifying and a saving Faith purifies the Conscience and that mystically First 1. What a dogmatical Faith is A dogmatical Faith keeps the Conscience clear and pure A dogmatical Faith I call that which hath for its Object the whole revealed Truth of God and it is nothing but a firm undoubting Assent to the Verity and Certainty of whatever is contained in the Holy Scriptures upon no other Account and Reason than meerly the Authority and Veracity of God who is the Author of it This is a dogmatical or an historical Faith which though it be not Justifying as the Papists hold yet is it of a mighty Influence to sanctifie the Heart and to keep the Conscience and Conversation inoffensive and this it doth in a moral way For did but Men believe that Heaven is so unconceivably glorious sparkling with Light flowing with Pleasure resounding with Praises a Place where Joy and Bliss ever dwells and where we shall dwell too in an endless Eternity in the Smiles and Love of God if now but for a few short Years we strive to live holily did we but as really believe these Things to be true and certain as we know those Things to be true and certain that we see with our very Eyes what manner of Christians would this force us to be in all Holiness and Godliness of Conversation cleansing our selves from all Pollutions both of Flesh and Spirit Wherefore is it that the Promise of some temporal Reward the hopes of some mean Preferment from some great Person is of Force sufficient to make Men obsequious to them And yet the Promises that God himself hath made of Heaven and Glory in comparison of which to promise Crowns and Scepters is but to promise Pebbles and Gugaws work so little effect upon the generality of Men to allure them from Sin to a holy Life Whence is it but that Men believe not that Heaven is so glorious as the Scripture describes it to be Nay indeed if they would speak their Minds they are not yet sure whether there be a Heaven or not it is from their Unbelief Did Men but believe the insupportable Wrath of God those Horrors and Torments that Fire and Sulphur that Stench and Darkness those burning Chains and those fiery Whips the Woe and Anguish of the Damned in Hell which are as far from being utterable as they are from being tollerable did they as certainly believe these Things as if they believe them not they shall certainly feel them would they dare still to venture on to treasure up Wrath to themselves against the day of Wrath Would they still dare by wounding their Consciences now enrage them to their own Wounding and Smart for ever hereafter Would they dare to do it did they believe these Things Did they but believe that Conscience will be revenged seven fold on them for all the Wrongs and Violence that they have done it This Worm that they now carry in their Breasts frozen and benum'd shall be heated by the Fire of Hell and fly upon them and sting their Souls with a burning and flaming Anguish Did they believe this would they not be careful to give no Offence to their Consciences Would they not be as careful to avoid all Sin that arms the Terrors of Hell against them as they have Reason to think a damned Wretch in Hell who hath had the Experience of these Things would do if God would release him out of it with a Promise that he shall for ever escape it upon the same Terms that he hath promised us Think with your selves what effect the Sense and Feeling of those dreadful Things would have upon such a one to make him rigorously conscientious that in nothing he provoke so terrible a God or offend and irritate a revenging Conscience that will be sure to repay him home sevenfold into his own Bosom why the same carefulness and circumspection would it work in all of us did we as firmly and strongly believe those Things to be true as God hath evidently and clearly revealed them to be true in his Word It is true these Things we all know and we persuade our selves that we do believe them Do we not profess to believe that Jesus Christ shall judge both Quick and Dead and that all shall receive Rewards according to their Works those that have done Well shall receive the Reward of eternal Life and those that have done Ill the Reward of eternal Death These Things we may indeed profess to believe and these Things we may frequently represent to our own Thoughts but the weak and small Influence that these Things have to over-awe our Consciences evinceth clearly that this is not Faith but Fancy It is a wavering unevident Opinion that we have taken up and that we call by the Name of Faith for did we live in the Belief of these Truths we should no more dare to sin against our Consciences than if we saw Hell flaming before these Eyes of ours and knew that upon the next Sin we commit we were to be cast into it And thus you see a dogmatical Faith is a great Help to purifie the Heart and to keep the Conscience clear and inoffensive 2. As Faith justifies so it purifies the Conscience mystically 2. A justifying Faith also is of great use to purifie the Conscience And this it doth not morally by any natural Influence or Efficacy of its own but only mystically as it applies to the Soul the Blood of Jesus Christ that Blood that alone takes away