which the Gospel worketh as well as small 3. That good which they had was wrought only by some â—eraps or parcels of the same holy Truth that is contained in the Scriptures And therefore even so much Truth among the Heathens as proficed them to any Reformation was the word of God and owned by him Quer. 6. Do you believe that Jesus Christ did rise again from the dead or not and that he and his Disciples did work those many uncontrolled Miracles or not If you do believe it then what need you further testimony to prove the doctrine to be of God or to prove that there is a Life to come Shall the Captain of our Salvation himself Rise from the dead and conquer death and ascend up into Heaven to shew us that there is a Life to come and yet will you not believe it Or would God lend to any man his Power to confirm a false doctrine to the world If so then 1. It would be God himself that should mislead us For it is he that worketh the Miracles or granteth special Power to the instrument to do it 2. Man should be unavoidably misled For if a man rise from the Dead and raise others and give to thousands the guifts of Languages healing and the like and all this have no greater contrary evidence from God of some contradiction or controllment I am unavoidably deceived and neither my greatest innocency or diligence or any other help from men could possibly relieve me And he that can believe that the Infinitely Powerful Wise and Good is either necessitated or disposed to deceive the world and Rule them by deceit and falshood and to lend his power to confirm a doctrine that he hateth and is against himself this man indeed believeth not that there is any God 3. Even the Brutists themselves and all the Infidels with whom we talk will confess that if they should see Christ Rise or see such Miracles they would believe and therefore they do confess that they are cogent Evidence to those that know of them Obj. Did not the sorcerrers in Egypt work Miracles Ans 1. Wonders they did but not Miracles 2. They were controlled and shamed and disowned by God by Moses his contradictory conqueting Miracles Obj. But some might have dyed between the Magicians wonders and Moses controlment and so have been unavoidably lost Answ 1. The time was neer and that not likely of those that knew of them 2. At the first wonder of the Magicians Aarons Rod swallowed up their Rods Exod. 7. 12. and therefore the conquest obliged them to suspend belief of the other 3. The Miracles of Moses were not to reveal a new doctrine of salvation that could not otherwise be known but partly to convince Pharaoh that the Lord was God and partly to cause him to let go the Israelites The peoples salvation lay not on the later and the former they had abundant means to know by the works and light of Nature it self And the Magicians wonders were not to reveal a New false doctrine any further then to contend againg Moses Miracles and if they had yet being against the doctrine of the whole Creation that revealeth the Creator no man could be excusable for believing them because God hath given so full a testimony before against them so that this objection is plainly but an impertinent cavil But I doubt not but you will say that you are not sure that Christ rose again and that ever such Miracles were done I Ask therefore Quer. 7. Whether it be possible that so many and so wise and godly men as their writings prove them should give up their lives and all that they had and could have hoped for in this world to perswade the world that they saw Christ Risen if it were false and to draw them to believe a falshood that tended to the worldly ruine of them all Quer. 8. And is it possible that if they had been so bad and mad that so many thousands would have believed them when their own frequent Miracles Language c. were the witness of their fidelity to which they openly appealed and this in the very age and place where all these things might easily be confuted if untrue If I should pretend to convince the world by Languages not learned and by other Miracles and guifts which I never had would countreys or any sober persons believe me or should I not be the common scorn Would the Churches of the world have been planted by pretended Miracles that never were would they all have given up estates and lives upon an evident lye It was easie for them all to see and hear whether these things were done or not And therefore he that seeth those Churches which were the proper effects of Miracles may know the Cause A real effect had a real cause Quer. 9. Was it possible that so many hundred or thousand persons dispersed about the world on a sudden could without coming neer each other agree both upon one and the same false doctrine throughout and on the same practices to deceive the world Quer. 10. Is it possible that among so many thousands that torments or death or common ingennity would not have forced some to have repented and opened the deceits of all the rest Quer. 11. Is it possible that so many Hereticks that did fall from them and set against the true Aposles would none of them have disclosed the deceit if really the Miracles had not been done Quer. 12. Is it possible that none of the Jews their bitter Enemies nor any of the Learned Romans of that age would have discovered the fraud and by writing confuted the matters of fact being publik and if false so easily confuted Where are the Books that ever any one of them wrote to disprove any of these Miracles If you say The Christians burnt them give us the least proof of it if you can When did any Jew complain of such a thing Nay how could the dispersed persecuted Christians destroy the writings of their reigning enemies The writings of Jews and Romans then written remain to this day and had fuller humane advantages of preservation then any that are against them No Jews or Romans complained or to do this day complain of such a thing nor tell us of any such writings of theirs that ever were in the world Quer. 13. Nay the Jews confessed the Miracles themselves and had no shift left for their unbelief but by Blaspheming the Holy Ghost and saying that they were done by the Power of the devil Quer. 14. All the dispersed Churches and Christians of the world have universally concurred in delivering us down these matters of fact and the Writings that contain them and this as a thing that they grounded all their hope of Salvation on and for which they contemned this present world And the Enemies that gainsaid their doctrine did not gainsay these matters of fact Could this be feigned Quer. 15. Have I not fully manifested in my
wailing and gnashing of teeth Mat. 13. 42 50. You are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God who will give to every man according to his works Rom. 2. 5 6. You are sowing in pleasure to the flesh in eating and drinking and mirth and honour but you shall reap in corruption lamentation and woe Gal. 6. 7 8. For woe to you that now laugh for you shall mourn and weep Woe to you that are rich and have no better but want the everlasting riches for you have received your conselation Woe to you that are full and yet are empty of Christ and grace for you shall hunger Luke 6. 24 25. These are the words of Christ himself and therefore true if Christ be true Yea more then this let me have leave to tell you for why should I not tell you of your greatest folly and that which is necessary for you to know As long as you neglect the One thing necessary you are acting the part of the most deadly enemies against your selves No enemy that you have in all the world could do that against you as you do against your selves You abhorr the Devil and I blame you not for his malice and enmity deserveth it But you do much worse against your selves then the Devil himself could ever do To tempt you to sin is not so much as to Consent to it and commit it He can but entice you and not constrain you It is you that are the neglecters of your Maker and Redeemer and the wilful rejecters of your own felicity Satan doth bad enough against you by temptation but you do worse by yielding and sinning much worse then all the Devils in hell could do against you For God hath not given all of them so much power over you as he hath given you over your selves Lord what a distracted case is the ungodly world in They hate any man else that they do but imagine is their enemy Though he do but diminish their worldly wealth or honour they cannot forgive him If a man give one of them a box on the ear he cannot bear it And as for the Devil who is the common enemy they spit at his name and think they bless themselves from him And yet these same men do spend all their care and time and labour in doing more against themselves then all their enemies could do in earth or hell and are worse then Devils to themselves and yet they never fall out with themselves for it but can forgive themselves as easily as if they did themselves no harm This is true too true Sirs as harsh as it seemeth to your ears And if it displease you to hear of it bethink your selves what it is to do it and how God and all wise men must judge of you that have no more mercy on your selves Certainly it is much worse to do it then to tell you what you do God tells men of their sin and God doth nothing but what is good but it is themselves only that commit it I beseech you do but understand what you are doing as long as the One thing necessary is neglected by you 4. Consider also that whatsoever else you have been doing in the world if you have not done the One thing needful you have unman'd your selves and lived below your Reason and in plain English you have lived as be sides your wits I give you no harder language then God himself hath frequently given you in his Word and then you will shortly give your selves if you repent not yea and sooner if you do repent If you have in this the use of your Reason you must needs know what you have your Reason for And I beseech you tell me for what you have it if not to serve and please your Maker and prepare for your everlasting state Is it only that you may know how to plow and sow and follow your trades and pleasure in the world and satisfie your flesh a little while and then die as the beasts that perish None of you I suppose will say so that calls himself a Christian If God had made you for no higher things then beasts he would have given you no higher faculties and endowments As they be not made to enjoy God so they have no knowledge of him he sendeth not his Word to them and calleth them not to learn the knowledge of his will But you know or may know that there is a God and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him and are capable of Loving him intending him and serving him and therefore of enjoying him Beasts are not ruled by the hopes and fears of a life after this For their nature and end do not require it But men must be thus ruled or else there can be no sufficient ruling of them in an ordinary way Which shews that the Nature of man is capable of the things which are the matter of their hopes and fears Verily Sirs I think as to any good that cometh by it there is very little difference between having Reason and having none if we had nothing to do with it but cunningly to lay up our food and make provision for this corruptible flesh and had not another life to mind It were no such great difference in my opinion as it commonly goes for whether we were men or dogs if it were only for the matters of this transitory life For though I may not deny but yet man were the nobler creature yet alas the difference would be but graduall and small as an Ape or Dog excells a Swine And as to his Happiness it is doubtful whether Man would not have the worst of it For as brutes have not mans knowledge so they have not his toil and trouble of mind his care and fear and griefs and disappointments Nor have they so terrible fore-thoughts of death through all their lives as man must have much less such fears of what would follow after death And therefore I may boldly say that you have thrown away your wits and laid by your Reason as to the principal use of it if you have forgot or have not chiefly sought the One thing necessary Where were your wits when a lump of flesh was preferred before immortal souls and when the trouble and dung of a transitory world was more esteemed then God and endless Glory Where were your wits when you might have had Christ and Life in him and his pardoning healing sanctifying grace and you had no mind of him and were not sensible of your necessity and past him by with as much neglect as if you could have been saved without him When you might long ago have made sure of Heaven and now you are even ready to drop into Hell and stay but for a Feaver or Consumption or some other disease to cut the thred and turn the key unless a speedy sound conversion shall yet prevent it What have you done in
Let him take all there is no living quietly by 〈…〉 A dog at his carrion or a swine in his trough is not more greedy then many of these sensualists that labour of the Caninus appâ—titus to their trash But to Holiness they have no appetite and are worse then indifferent to the things that are inâ—…sirable They have no covetousuess for the things which 〈…〉 commanded earnestly to covet 1 Cor. 12 31. They have â—…tle hunger and thirst after righteousness that a very little or none will satisfie them Here they are pleading alwayes for â—â—deration and against too much and too earnest and too long And all is too much with them that is above stark naught or dead hypocrisie and all is too earnest and too long that would make Religion seem a business or would engage them to seem serious in their own profession or put them past jeast in the worship of God and the matters of their salvation Let but their servants or children neglect their worldly business which I confess they should not do and they shall hear of it with both ears But if they sin against God or neglect his Word or Worship they shall meet with more patience then Eli's sons did A cold reproof is usually the best and it is well if they be not encouraged in their sin and if a child or servant that begins to be serious for salvation be not rebuked derided and hindred by them If on their dayes of labour they over-sleep themselves they shall be sure to be called up to work and good reason but when do they call them up to prayer When do they urge them to read or consider or conferr of the things that concern their everlasting life The Lords own day which is appointed to be set apart for matters of this nature is wasted in idleness or worldly talk Come at any time into their company and you may have talk enough and too much of news or of other mens matters of their worldly business sports and pleasures But about God and their salvation they have so little to say and that so heartlesly and on the by as if they were things that belonged not to their care and duty and no whit concerned them Talk with them about the renovation of the soul and the nature of holiness and the life to come and you shall find them almost as dumb as a fish or as dry as a chip or as erroneous or insensible as those that speak but words by rote to shew you how little they savour or mind the things of the Spirit The most understand not matters of this nature nor much desire or care to understand them If one would teach 〈…〉 personally they are too old to be catechized or to learn though not too old to be ignorant of the matters which they were made for and are preserved for in the world They are too wise to learn to be wise and too good to be taught how to be good â—…ough not too wise to follow the seducements of the Devil â—…he world nor too good to be the slaves of Satan and the deâ—…rs and enemies of goodness If they do any thing which theâ—… a serving of God it is some cold and heartless use of wordâ—…ake themselves believe that for all their sins they shall be saved so that God will call that a serving of their sins and abomination which they call a serving of God Some of them will confess that Holiness is good but they hope God will be merciful to them without it And some do so hate it that it is a displeasing irksom thing to them to hear any serious discourse of holiness and they detest and deride those as fanatick troublesome Precisians that diligently seek the One thing necessary So that if the Belief of the most may be judged by their practices we may confidently say that they do not practically believe that ever they shall be brought to Judgement or that there is any Heaven or Hell to be expected and that their confession of the truth of the holy Scriptures and their profession of the Articles of the Christian Faith are no proofs that they heartily take them to be true Who can be such a stranger to the world as not to see that this as the case of the greatest part of men And which is worst of all they go on in this course against all that can be said to them and will give no impartial considerate hearing to the truth which would recover them to their wits but live as if it would be a felicity to them in Hell to think that they came thither by wilful resolution and in despight of the remedy And is it not a sad prospect to a man that believeth the Word of God and the life to come to look upon such a distracted world O Sirs if Jesus Christ be wise that condemneth their course and them then certainly all these men are fools And if Christ knew what he said we must needs think that they know not what they do O what is the matter that reasonable men should have no more use of their reason in things of such importance then thus to neglect their everlasting state for a thing of naught Did God make them unreasonable or give them understandings uncapable of things of such high concernment Or rather have 〈…〉 not drowned their reason in sensuality and wilfully poisoâ—…th malicious aversness to God and Holiness What is â—…ter that the One thing needful is no more regarded Hath God made them believe that they shall dwell here for ever and never die No surely this is so gross a lye that the Devil himself cannot make them believe it They know that they musâ—… sure as they are alive And yet they prepare not but wâ—…eir dayes in scraping in this dunghill world as if they werâ—…o no further Did God never warn them by a Sermon or 〈…〉 to prepare for the life which they must live for ever Yes â—…y a time but they would take no warning Did God never â—â—ll them that after this life there is another where they must live in endless joy or torment Yes and they professed that they did believe it They heard it an hundred times over till they were weary of hearing it Did God make them believe that they shall die like beasts that have no further to go nor any other life to live No if they do believe this it is the Devil and not God that maketh them believe it What then is the matter that the One thing needful is no more regarded Hath God shut up their souls in desperation so that it is in vain to seek or trouble themselves for that of which there is no hope Oh no! his compassion hath provided them a full remedy by the death of his Son Redemption is procured and he hath made them a deed of gift of Christ and pardon and eternal life and tendred it to them that upon theâ—â— acceptance it may be
what is thy word that we should regard it before the Word of God Quest 27. Dost thou not know that by thy speaking against a diligent holy life thou gratifyest the Devil and openly servest him and saist the very things that he would have thee say What can more please him and advance his Kingdom and suit his malicious ends then to stop and cool men in the service of the Lord and make them believe that holiness is but a needless thing If the Devil might have leave to walk visibly among men and speak to them in their language he would speak to them as thou dost and say the same things which he 〈…〉 into thy mouth and would do all that he could to keep men from a holy life And darest thou thus openly play his part Quest 28. Canst thou think when eternal life is at the stake that a man so weak in the midst of so many hindrances and enemies hath cause to count his diligence unnecessary When Satan like a roaring Lyon is seeking day and night to devour thee 1 Pet. 5. 8. when his malice subtilty and diligence is so great and so unwearied when his instruments are so many so subtile and so powerful when the world aboundeth round about thee with such dangerous enticing snares and baits when thy trayterous flesh so near thee is thy most perilous enemy uncessantly drawing thee from God unto the creature and when thou art so impotent to resist all these assaults art thou then in a condition fit to cry out against the greatest diligence for thy soul Should a man going up the sleepest hill when it is for his life be afraid of going too fast When thou hast done all thou canst it is well for thee that ever thou wast born if it suffice If weaknesses and enemies cause such a difficulty that the righteous themselves are scarcely saved that is with much ado is it then time for thee to ask What needs so much ado Quest 29. Dâ—st thou not deal exceeding unthankfully and unequally with God When he thinks not the Sun and Moon and all the creatures too good to serve thee nor all his mercies too great for thee no not the blood of his beloved Son nor his Spirit nor Heaven it self if thou wilt accept them in his way wilt thou think thy best too good for him and thy most diligent service to be too much When thy All is next to Nothing and thy Best doth not profit the Almighty but thy self and the gain will be thy own If a man should think it too much to put off his hat and thank thee when thou hast given him a thousand pound or to go a mile for thee when thou hast saved his life thou wouldst say he were not a man but a monster of ingratitude But thy unthankfulness is ten thousand-fold worse to God who would deliver thee from everlasting torments and give thee everlasting glory and save thee from Satan and all thy sins if thou wilt but take his safe remedies and thou churlishly refusest as if all were not worth so much ado Quest 30. Dost thou know what a life it is that thou accountesâ— an unnecessary toil It is a life of the greatest Safety Commodity Honour and Delight besides the justice and honesty of it of any in the world and indeed thou canst not choose any other but at thy peril and to thy greatest loss and ruine and to thy present and everlasting shame and sorrow It is the sweetest and most pleasant life on earth that thou ignorantly accountest such a tedious toyl The manifestation of this shall be my work in the second Part of this Discourse And now I dare affirm that when the dreadful God shall shortly judge thee who hast read or heard these words it will be found indelibly written upon thy Conscience that thou hadst here such Reasons laid before thee to prove the Necessity of a serious diligent holy life as all the wit in earth or Hell is not able solidly to confute and that an ungodly sensual life is most unreasonable and that if after this thou continue in an unsanctified fleshly state thou shall justly perish as one that wilfully refused salvation as in despight of God his mercies and his messengers and of the plainest undenyable Truth and Reason And that in refusing to be a SAINT thou madest thy self in the greatest matters no better then a BRUTE wilfully subjecting thy Reason to thy sensuality and judging thy self unmeet for everlasting Happiness BUt here I know the self-deceiving Hypocrite will object That all this that I am proving so diligently is confest and nothing to the point in question Which is not Whether One thing be needful and Holiness be of Necessity to salvation For who denyeth this But the question is Whether it be this Puritanical precise way of serving God which only deserves the name of Holiness and Whether they be net as truly godly and sanctified that say their prayers morning and night and go to Church on Sundayes and follow their businesses the rest of the week without any more ado Answ Either it is the substance of holy duties or but the circumstances which you quarrel at as Puritanical and precise If it be only the circumstances as Whether we should receive the Lords Supper standing or kneeling or sitting Whether we should pray publickly without Book or on the Book and Whether a Scripture-form or another be better and Whether a continued speech or versicles anthems and oft-repeated words and sentences be better What form of Church Government is best â— by Diocesane Bishops or by all the Pastors and the like It is not of such things as these that I am pleading with thee Though some of them are matters of considerable moment for the helping or hindring men in godliness yet it is greater matters then these that I am now contending for Agree with us practically in the substance in Faith Repentance Love Obedience Mortification Heavenliness Humility Patience and serious diligence and zeal in all and then I am none of those that will condemn or censure you but one that will rejoyce in you as those that I hope to rejoyce with for ever But if it be the substantial duties of godliness that you resist while you own but the Name of godliness in the general I must tell you that it is not Names and Generals that will save you nor prove that you have your selves one spark of Grace Nothing more eafie and common then for the most ungodly to say they are all for a godly life and God forbid that any should be against it when yet they hate and reject it indeed when it comes to the practice of those particular duties in which it doth consist It is not godliness that they hate and reproach but it is fervent prayer holy conference meditation self-denyal mortification of the desires of the flesh heavenly mindedness c. In general they will say that Gods Law must be
ashamed 2 John 10. If there come any to you and bring not this doctrine receive him not into your house neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds Jam. 5. 16. Confess your faults one to another Josh 7. 19. Give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him and tell me now what thou hast done hide it not from me Prov. 28. 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Doth not all this justifie the exercise of Discipline and condemn the neglect of it 9. But saith the impious person why make they such a difference between themselves and other men extolling themselves as the only servants of the Lord and condemning others as ungodly and children of the Devil and terrifying mens consciences with the fears of hell Answ If any do so against such as are sanctified and renewed and have the Spirit of Christ and live to God they deal uncharitably and if you dislike their censoriousness so do I and so do all the sober considerate servants of the Lord. But if it be only against the carnal unsanctified world that they do thus it is God that maketh the difference and not they Do you not find the whole Scripture dividing all the world into two ranks the godly and the ungodly the regenerate and unregenerate the converted and unconverted the sanctified and unsanctified the carnal and the spiritual the earthly-minded and the heavenly-minded the pardoned and unpardoned the justified and unjustified the children of God and the enemies of God the servants of God and of the Devil the heirs of heaven and the heirs of hell To prove this would be to repeat the Bible Read Psalm 1. 37. 15. 10. Matth. 5. Rom. 8. Joh. 3. Matth. 13. 1 Joh 3. c. Do you not find Christ himself acquainting you before hand that one sort shall be set at his right hand in judgement and the other at his left and one part sent to life everlasting and the other to everlasting punishment Matth. 25. Do they speak any moâ—e of the everlasting torments the worm that dyeth not the fire that is unquenchable then Christ himself hath done Matth. 13. 2 Thes 1. c. Do you love to be flattered into Hell and deceived in a matter of everlasting consequence Is it not better for you to search your hearts and try whether you have the spirit of Christ or not and then search the Scripture and try whether any maâ— be his that hath not his spirit Rom. 8. 9. or can be saved that iâ— not converted and born again of the spirit Matth. 18. 3. John 3. 3 6. Examine your selves whether you be in the faith Prâ—â— your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates 2 Cor. 12. 5. 10. But you will say that the Reason of your distaste against these that are so forward in Religion is that they are inwardly â—â— bad as others and as proud and worldly and why do they not excell others in good works as much as they do in their deâ—â—tions Answ 1. So they do according to their ability Twenty years tryal and more I have had of them since I was a Minister of Christ and I can truly say that ordinarily I have known of many a shilling if not pounds that have come from the purses of these that you call Puritanes and precise for one groat or penny that I have known come from most others about me of their rank to any pious and charitable use But all that are godly aâ—â— not rich and though Christ extolleth the widows two mites the standers by regarded them not Matth. 12. 42. 43. 2 Cor. 8. 12. If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not And he that hath said Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven Matth. 6. 1. hath hereby kept his servants from making the world acquainted with much of their deeds of charity And for the sins of the heart that you charge them with they 〈◊〉 known to none but God unless they be discovered in their lives But malice in all ages hath been used to such unproved slanders of the servants of the Lord. 2. But suppose them as bad as malice doth imagine Is that any reason why both they and you should not be better It is Holiness and not sin that I am pleading for Is their godliness and care of their salvation necessary or not If it be why do you not imitate them in that and if you know any fault in them take warning and avoid it But be not so mad as to run into Hell because some fall in the way to Heaven or some miss the way that seemed to go thither Imitate not the Judas in Christs family but the rest of his Disciples and that not in their falls but in their faith and piety All that shall be saved have both Holiness towards God and Justice and Charity to men The wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits Jam. 3. 17. If you want the first you are ungodly if the later you are hypocrites And if the hypocrite and the ungodly will stand snarling here at one another they shall perish together in that misery that will convince them that neither of them were the heirs of life when Saints indeed and none but they shall live with Christ Object But it is but a few that are of so strict a mind and life and shall none be saved but these few Answ Christ hath told you whom he will save He will not falsifie his word nor take the unsanctified into heaven for want of company He hath told you that the gate is strait and the way narrow that leads to life and few there be that find it Matth. 7. 13 14. and that it is a little flock to whom the Father will give the Kingdom Luke 12. 32. You shall not want company in heaven nor find comfort in your company in hell But if you would have the number of the godly to be greater why do you not increase it by your joyning with them Why do not all the Town and Parish agree together and bind themselves in a Covenant to serve and seek the Lord as the Israelites Josh 24. 2 Chron. 15. 12 13. O happy people that will thus accord and heartily perform it And now Beloved Hearers I have finished this first Part of my task and proved to you the Necessity of a Holy life That One thing is needful while you pittifully cumber your selves about many things is the message that from Christ I have been hitherto delivering to you What say you
Conscience sake And though the errour and commands of Councils and Parliaments excuse not à tote an illiterate Laicke that understandeth not those matters yet surely à tanto it is some excuse And sometime oppression maketh a wise man mad Eccles 7. 7. And sometime impatience prevaileth with the weak to do things unwarrantable humane passion blindeth Reason sometime Temptations prevail in this as in other cases And sometimes Hypocrites that never had any true Religion do shew their carnal dispositions and unmortified lusts and passions and pride by their rebellion against their lawful Governours and then Religion must bear the blame of the actions of those that counterfeit Religion and of those crimes which it doth most prohibite and condemn In a word Be the accusation against any particular person just or unjust nothing is more sure and clear then that he is most unjust that will charge the Christian Religion as guilty of Countenancing any Rebellions Conspiracies sedition disobedience faction or divisions Christ went before us in his own example to pay tribute to Casar and commanded us to give to Caesar the things that are Câ—sars and their false accusing him and condemning him as an offender against Caesar did no whit move him from the duty of his state of humiliation What can be more against all Treason and perfidiousness then that holy doctrine which commandeth us the exactest performance of every lawful promise much more of our Oaths and duties of Allegiance what can be more against Rebellions then that holy doctrine which teacheth us a life of patience and meekness condemning private revenge and commanding us rather to turn the other cheek to him that smiteth us and to give our coat to him that taketh away our cloak and go two miles with him that would compell us to go one that is to suffer yet more rather then revenge our selves or break peace or order or raise wars to escape such injuries It is a crucified Christ that conquered by suffering that is your example And our Religion is but our Conformity to him in his sufferings and his holiness He hath made it part of our duty to himself to obey Kings and Rulers and all Superiours not only the good but the froward and to take it patiently if we suffer for well-doing and not to return so much as a reviling dishonouring word or murmuring rebellious thought It is not fighting for our selves but following him with the Cross and forsaking all that we have that Christ hath made the work of his disciples and the necessary condition of his promise of salvation Luke 14. 33. There is no Master in all the world that so strictly commandeth Patience and forbearance and forgiving and Love and Peace and submission to one another as Jesus Christ doth He sets the hearts of all his servants on another Kingdom and tells them they have greater things to mind then riches or honours or domination upon earth He taketh the bone of contention from before them and bids them leave such things as these to the men of the world that have their portion in this life You may as honestly say that the Sun is the greatest cause of darkness as that Christ and holiness are the cause of seditions rebellions treasons or perfidiousness in the world All the world set together hath not done so much as he hath done against them If men threaten hanging and quartering to such offences Christ threatneth damnation in hell fire to them And would you wish him to inflict a sharper punishment or more severely to manifest his hatred of the crimes I tell you therefore if you should find Rebellion and Sedition among Christians it is but as you may find corruption in the bodies of the living which is contrary to life and health and to be found much more among the dead I am not here pleading for individual persons but for Christianity and Godliness If any professed Christians forsake the way of Patience and Subjection and turn to Rebellion and disloyalty they do far forsake Religion and Godliness and much more wrong and offend their heavenly master then their King and Governours Plead who will for the wickedness of such men for my part I will not I am sure Christ will not plead for their sin which he condemneth He may justifie them from it upon repentance but he will never justifie them for it and in it It is not because they are godly but for want of Godliness that any men have ever been guilty of rebellions or resisting Lawfull powers As Dr. Ward hath fully proved in his Sermon on Rom. 13. 2. Nothing more tendeth to the ruine of Rulers and people then to hearken to the Devil and the Enemies of Holiness that would perswade the world into a conjunction with them in the Enmity against the way of Godliness and the faithful servants of the Lord upon pretence that they are adversaries to Governours and Government It is a weighty truth that the foresaid Doctor begins his Sermon with Among all the stratagems of the Devil tending to the undermining of Religion and the subversion of the souls of men though there cannot be any more unreasonable yet there was never any more unhappily succesful then the creating and fomenting an Opinion in the world that Religion is an Enemy to Government and the bringing sincerity and zeal in Religion into jealousie and disgrace with the Civil Powers It was by this Jealousie blown into the heads of the High Priests and the Sanhedrim amongst the Jews and of Herod and Pontius Pilate that Christ himself was accused condemned and executed on a tree By this the Apostles were haled before the Governours of Provinces forced from one City to fly to another for this they endured bonds and sundry kinds of death It was through this fancy that the Christians for three hundred years together endured the rage of Heathen Emperours being destitute afflicted and tormented Our Lord Christ was traduced as an enemy to Caesar a man refractory to the Roman Laws and a Non-conformist to the Religion and Laws of his Countrey Thus and more that Author So that it is no new thing for the most innocent and holy and excellent persons to suffer as enemies to the Government where they lived nay it hath been the common case nor is it strange to hear Religion and Holiness charged with these crimes which they are most against As for the malicious slanders of the Papists against the Reformed Churches as if they had promoted all their Reformations by Rebellion they have been confuted sufficiently by many At this time I shall only desire the Reader that would be satisfied in this and understand the Protestant doctrine in these points to read Bishop Bilsons Difference between Christian subjection and unchristian Rebellion Especially pag. 382. and from 494. to 522. Also Hookers Eccles Polit. the last Book lately published And if he would know whether it be an Article of the very Religion of the
then if they had never heard the Gospel It is you and such as you that despise the mercies of the Lord that make it a bad world and then you impudently complain of it and charge it on them that will not be as bad as your selves and take away the candle and shut the windows that the light may not trouble you 2. Well! but say you the world was better when there was less preaching and less ado about the serving of God and our salvation I do not believe you and I will tell you why yea Why I am certain that your words are false 1. Because you contradict the Lord. God saith those times are best when there is most of the Light of the Gospel and most helps for our salvation and when the people are most Holy The increase of Light and Holiness is a principal part of the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ and of the Promises to the Gospel Church as you may see Isa 9. 2. 36. 26. 42. 6. 60. 3. Mat. 4. 16. Luk. 2. 32. Joh. 3. 19 20. The word of God is the greatest blessing under heaven together with a heart to obey and practise it Luk. 11. 28. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Psal 106. 3. 119. 1 2. 1. 1 2. God himself pronounceth them blessed that meditate day and night in his Law and that make it their whole delight and because of the increase of Light and Holiness extolleth the times of the Gospel far above those of the Law affirming the least in this Kingdom of God to be greater as to the honour and priviledge of his station then the Prophets or John Baptist Matth. 11. 11 12. And would you wish me to believe such ignorant men as you before the God of Heaven that contradicteth you 2. I will not believe you because your objection is nothing but a Blasphemous accusation of the Living God If it were true that Preaching is bad it is Christ then that is bad that doth command it But I am sure that Christ is not bad and that such as Blaspheme him do it to their cost It is he that hath laid a Necessity on us and woe be unto us if we preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. and that chargeth us to feed the flock of God 1 Pet. 5. 2. Yea the spirit chargeth us before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom that we preach the word and be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine If any one be to be blamed for all this preaching and stir for heaven it is Christ that chargeth it so strictly upon us And if thou dare lay the blame upon the Lord speak out and stand to it at judgement 3. I know it is false that you say that the world is the worse for all this preachig and Godliness because it is against the very office of Christ and of the Holy Ghost Christ was a diligent preacher himself and dare you accuse him for it He came into the world to bring us the Light of heavenly Truth and dare you say that it were better be without it It is the work of the Holy Ghost to illuminate and sanctifie men and do you think that he doth us hurt Christ dyed to wash and purifie by the word and Spirit the Church which is his Body that he might present it spotless to the Father Eph. 5. 26. 27. And darest thou say that Christ came to do us harm By this thy despising of his benefits thou shewest that thou hast yet no part in him or in his saving benefits but art in the gall of bitterness and bond of thy iniquities and thy heart is not right in the sight of God 4. Moreover you are not to be belived because you speak against the experience of all the Prophets and Apostles of Christ David had rather be a door keeper in the house of God then dwell in the tents of wickedness and judged a day in his Courts to be better then a thousand Psal 84. 10. and accounted them the blessed men that might even dwell in the house of God and be daily taken up in holy praise and worship Psal 65. 4. 92. 13. 23. 6. When he was forced from the house and publick worship of God it was his daily lamentation and he fainteth and panteth and longeth after the house and worship of God again Psal 42. 84. 2 3 4 5. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of hosts My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord My bea rt aad my flesh cryeth out for the living God Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praising thee Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the ways of them The Prophet Isaiah saith In the way of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee with my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early This was the mind of all the Prophets and Apostles and God hath told us that it is the practice of all blessed men to Meditate in Gods word day night Psal 1. 2. And yet will you say that it was a better world when there was less of this O self-condemning Hypocrites Why do you so much profess to honour the Prophets Apostles and Martyrs of Christ if you think that they were the troublers of the world and that their doctrine and practice makes us worse Why do you honour them with the name of Saints and yet despise both their doctrine and practice in those that do but endeavour seriously to imitate them Why keep you Holy days in remembrance of the dead Saints and say that the world in the worse for the living Saints O horrible hypocrisie to honour their names and hate their doctrine and course of life and say that the world was never good since it was troubled with such as they Do we trouble you with our Preaching and praying and our stir for heaven How would Christ and his Apostles have troubled you that went so far beyond us in all these and made a greater stir then we and turned the world as their enemies charged them up side down Act. 17. 6. so busie wâ—s Christ in preaching and doing the work of God that he neglected to eat his meat for it Joh. 4. 34. and his fleshly kindred would have laid hands on him as if he had been beside himself Mark 3. 21. It seems if you had then lived you would have been among the wicked enemies of Christ and of his Disciples and have said It was never a good world since these busie fellows made so much a doe with their Religion 5. Moreover you speak against the inward feeling and
certain experience of all true Christians in the world They all have tasted and found that excellencie in the holy ways and Ordinances of the Lord that they value them above all the world With David they esteem them above Gold and Silver Psal 119. 72. With Solomon they say that all the things that we can desire are not to be compared to them Prov. 3. 15. 8. 11. And with Job they value the word of God above their necessary food Job 23. 12. And with Paul they count all things Loss aud dung in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ Phil. 3. 7 8. They know that it is a thousand times better with them since God converted them to a holy life then it was before as well as you know that you are better in your health then you were in sickness Try whether you can make men that ever were among those where plague and war and famine raigned to believe that it was never a good world since this plague and war and famine ceased You may as soon make wise men believe this as make experienced godly men to believe that it is worse with them for their turning to the Lord and living holy heavenly lives You can never by all your doating and self-conceited prating make those believe whom God hath sanctified that they were in a better case before when they were the slaves of Satan and served sin were under the wrath and curse of God They feel that within them that will never suffer them to believe you The health of their recovered souls their experience of the Goodness of the ways of God the comforts they have had in the pardon of sin and the hopes of Glory do make them know that you talke distractedly when you tell them that they were better before or that the world is the worse for the grace of God 6. And we cannot believe you when you speak evil of a holy course because your words are against all Religion and common reason and much more destructive of the Christian faith If God be not to be Loved with all our hearts and served with our greatest care then he is not God or then there is no such thing as Religion to be regarded A God that is worse then the Creature is no God If we must not seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof Matth. 6. 33. as Christ hath commanded then it is in vain to seek it at all If there be no Heaven or Hell let us lay by all Religion But if there be that man that thinks it not worth his greatest care and diligence to be saved doth forseit the reputation of his reason with his soul Will you believe that man that saith he believeth that there is an Everlasting Glory to be sought and made sure of in this life of our pilgrimage and warfare and yet thinks it not worth our seeking for above all and worthy all our cost and labour He speaks a gross and blockish contradiction A Heaven no better then Earth is no Heaven A Heaven that is not worthy the labour of a holy life is no Heaven And a God that is not worthy of all that we can do is no God Either plainly say that you are Pagans and worse and believe not any life but this Or else live as Christians if you will be called Christians say not that you believe there is a Hell if you think a Holy life too dear to scape it 7. Yea this is not all but your words do tend to Brutishness it self Pagans did believe for the most part a life after this And Julian that Apostate Infidel himself doth prescribe to all his Idols Priests a very strict and Religious life according to the Religion which he owned and professeth that all care and temperance and piety should be used to please God and obtain the happiness to come And shall men called Christians take the very Infidels for Puritanes and be worse then Heathens If we have not another life to look after then what are we but beasts that perish If you think that you die like beasts call your selves beasts and never more own the name of men If you are not beasts but men that have you souls to save or lose to be happy or miserable for ever And is it not worth all our care labour to look after them 8. Another reason why I will never believe you that the world was better when there was less preaching and Religion is because you speak against the very end and nature of preaching and Religion For the word of God is written and preached to this very end to make men better And is that the way to undoe the world to perswade them to amend O Impudent malignant tongues What doth the word of God speak against but sin Doth it anywhere speak against any thing that is Good or doth it anywhere command you any thing that is bad Let the bitterest enemy of God upon earth say so and prove it if he can I here in defiance of the Devil and all his instruments and servants challenge them in their bitterest malice to say the worst they can of the Gospel or of true Religion and prove that ever it encouraged men to sin or that ever any was a loser by it O wonderful Must the God of heaven indite such Laws against all evil condemning it and threatning damnation for it and yet will these wretches have the faces to say that it is long of the Scripture or of Religion that the world is Evil What! Will preaching against your wickedness make you wicked If it do be it known to the faces of you that it is you and not preaching that shall be one day found to be the cause and be condemned for it Must Princes and Parliaments make Laws to hang thieves and murderers and when they have done will you say it is long of them and their Laws that men are robbed and murdered Why this is not yet so impudently unjust as you deal with God For they threaten but hanging and he threatneth everlasting damnation against sin and executeth it on all the unconverted as sure as he threatneth it And would you have him yet do more to testifie his dislike of sin Tell me thou that blasphemest the holy commands of thy Creator Wouldst thou have him do more then everlastingly to damn unconverted sinners to prove that he is no friend or cause of sin what should he do more Is there a greater plague then Hell to threaten Or wouldst thou have him do more to shew how much he loveth Goodness then to command it and perswade men daily to it and to promise Everlasting Glory for their Reward Is there any greater Reward to be promised I tell thee blasphemer to the Justifying of my Lord that all the world hath never done the thousandth part against mens faults as God hath done Never were there stricter Laws against them then his Laws And never
Eagles shall eat it To be without natural affections is the brand of highest wickedness Rom. 1. 31. and 2 Tim. 3. 3. And do you not know that it is worse to be without holy affections to the God that made you and the Christ that bought you and to despise forsake or abuse the Lord Thou hadst thy Being more from him then from thy Parents They knew not how thy parts were formed It was he that gave thee thy immortal soul It is by him that thou hast lived until now much more then on the food thou eatest or the air thou breathest in And art thou so unnatural as to be ungodly and deny him thy love and care and service that hath made thee and to call a holy heavenly life a needless toyl Deut. 32. 6. Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is he not thy Father that hath bought thee hath he not made thee and established thee If an unholy man be an honest man that is so unnatural as to cross the end of his Creation and deny his service to the Lord that made him then he is honest that spits in his Fathers face and despiseth his Mother that brought him forth 4. Do you think that he is an honest man that is unthankful It is agreed on by all the world that unthankfulness is a principal point of dishonesty He is no honest man that will abuse or despise those by whom he liveth or that have engaged him by kindness If you were so used your selves by one whose lives or estates you had preserved would you not say What an unworthy wretch is this have I deserved this usage at his hand Why all the unthankfulness against men in the world is not to be compared to thy unthankfulness against God What are the Benefits which man hath given thee in comparison of his Did ever man do any thing for thee that is comparable to thy Creation and Redemption and offering thee salvation from everlasting misery and a room with Angels in everlasting glory besides every hourâ— mercy that ever thou hadst here in this world And is that an honest man that will requite this God with prophaneness and ungodliness and return him sin for all his mercies and refuse to live a holy life Doth thy flesh deserve all thy care and labour and is this God unworthy of it and dost thou call his service a needless work If ingratitude can make a man dishonest thou art then a dishonest man But it is the business of the godly to give up themselves to him that made them and to exercise their thankfulness in their capacities for these greatest mercies 5. Do you think that a cruel unmerciful man or a loving and merciful man is the more honest Surely I shall here have all your voices He that hateth those that hurt him not and would kill them and set their houses on fire and carryeth malice in his face and speeches will be called an honest man but by few And he that is Loving and studyeth to do Good to all about him will be counted Honest Why try the ungodly and the Saints by this No more malicious men in the world then the ungodly They have an enmity even to the God that made them Col. 1. 21. and to the Christ that bought them Luke 19. 27. and to the Word of God that offereth them salvation and would lead them to eternal life and hate the Knowledge of the way of life Prov. 1. 22. They are enemies to the servants of the Lord and hate the upright that desire their salvation and would but draw them from their sins Prov. 29. 10. 9. 8. They curse those that bless them and persecute those that pray for them Matth. 5. 44. The first wicked man that was born into the world did kill his brother because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous 1 John 3. 12. But this is not their greatest cruelty They are enemies to their own salvation They will run into Hell in despight of Christ and all the Preachers in the world For there is but one way thither the way of ungodliness and that way they will go Yea that is not all but bloody wretches they would have all the Countrey do as they do and be damned with them They are angry with a man if he will not live an ungodly life and tipple and swear and do as they They revile him if he will not give over his diligent serving of the Lord which is all one as to fall out with men because they will not forseit heaven and run from God and damn their souls and all for nothing When they might more mercifully scorn us because we will not give over eating or that we will not cut our own throats And are these cruel persons honest men Is that merciless wretch an honest man that is not content to cast away his own everlasting happiness for nothing upon his fond conceits but must needs have others do so too That is not content to wrong the Lord but would have others wrong him also The Devil is Honest if these be Honest But for the Godly it is their desire their care their work to save themselves and further the salvation of all others O how they long to hear of the Conversion of Towns and Countries and how glad are they when they hear it Not for any worldly commodity to themselves but because they rejoyce at the good of others And what would they not do to promote it which they could do 6. Do you think that a perfidious unfaithful man or a faithful man that will not be hired to break his word is the honester man Sure this is no hard question neither A Knight of the Post that will say and unsay swear and forswear and will betray his dearest friend for a groat is taken by few for an honest man in comparison of him that will rather die then lye or be unfaithful Why nothing is more plain then that all you that are ungodly are treacherous to the Lord himself You are perfidious Covenant-breakers You owe him your selves wholly on the grounds that I before expressed and yet you are unfaithful to him You have all from him and you serve his enemy with it You call him your God and will not Love nor honour nor serve him as your God Mal. 1. 6. You bound your selves to him in your Baptism and many a time since by a solemn Vow or Covenant but you live in the treacherous breach of it continually You Covenanted to take the Lord for your God and yet you will not seek him nor be Ruled by him You Covenanted to take Jesus for your saviour and yet will not be saved by him from your sins Matth. 1. 21. You Covenanted to take the Holy-Ghost for your Sanctifier to purifie your hearts and lives and yet you resist his holy motions and hate his sanctifying word and work and some of you will mock at Sanctification
Book against Infidelity to which I must again dismiss you that there is a full and infallible Evidence that this Scripture was written by the Apostles and Evangelists and these Miracles done as there is that any of the Statutes of this Land are the currant Statutes of those Parliaments that are said to make them And your Lands and Lives are held by the credit of these Statutes A word or two to the objections of a Masked Infidel of this Countrey Clem. Writer Saith he Men be not commanded to believe these Statutes on pain of damnation Therefore the case is not like Answ But men are commanded to obey them upon pain of death and believing is prerequisite to obeying therefore the case is like Death is the utmost penalty that man can inflict or if there be greater it all runs on the same foundation And sure that evidence that proves men culpable for breaking mans Laws must prove him culpable for breaking Gods You have no other eyes to read the Laws of God then those by which you read mans Laws And doth it follow that God must not condemn you for breaking his Laws when men do but hang you for breaking theirs Sure Gods Laws and mans may be printed in the same Character and read with the same eyes and both have the same Natural means of delivery and yet the sin and punishment differ as the Authority doth Objection But saith he Can the Miracles confirm the Scripture when it is the Scripture that reports the Miracles Answ 1. Cannot a Statute tell you what Parliament made it and what matters of fact were the occasion and also what shal be your duty upon pain of death so that the Makers and facts shall give force unto the Law and yet the Law reveal the makers and facts Do not Church Constitutions do the same The Scripture hath two parts the History and the Doctrine May not the History confirm the doctrine and that doctrine oblige us to our duty 2. But you suppose that the Miracles and facts can only be known by a Divine belief of the History But that is false The common Evidence that all Statutes Histories and Actions in the world have to make them certain to posterity as Cicero's or Virgils Writings or Caesars Reign c. the same have the Books and Miracles of Scripture to us And by these we can know them de facto to be such before we believe them by a Divine faith And as the Scripture is a History that hath the same Evidence as the best of Histories have so it may concur with abundance of other Evidence which I have recited in my my Determination against Infidelity and in my Key for Catholicks to prove the Facts and then those Facts will fully prove the Truth of all the Doctrines which they attest and consequently we shall add to our humane Faith and Knowledge a Divine faith concerning the History it self Object 3. But saith Writer If God had means that the Scripture should be a Law to all he would not have writ it in a language which they understand not Answ Any thing will serve to make an Infidel when the mind is corrupted and deplorate Were they no Laws which the Romans wrote in Latin for the Government of all the Nations of the Roman World It was enough that the Rulers of the Previnces caused them to be so far understood by the People as was necessary to a righteous Government I mean those Laws that were added to the proper Laws of that people 2. Was there any one Language then that all the world understood And was it not enough that God appointed the Ministerial Office purposely to preserve and publish this Gospel to the world from generation to generation And is not Translating whether by Voice or Writing a part of that preaching or explication Did not the Ministers of Christ preach the same doctrine to the world then in the several languages of the Nations where they came And were not the Scriptures presently translated according to the use of the Churches Upon how silly a pretence then would your silly Imperial Majesty impose it on the God of Heaven to write his word in as many Languages as are in the world if he would be believed I 'le trouble you with no more such wretched Cavils These three are the main strength of three Pamphlets written against the Holy Scriptures and me by this Apostate Their sum is Man is man therefore we are not sure that Scripture is true or that God is God I mean Men cannot understand the minds of others but by signs All signs whether words or deeds have some ambiguity or lyableness to misunderstanding therefore nothing can be known concerning God or man by signs These are not his words but the true scope and life of all the Writings of him and all the Infidel Seekers If you chide me for troubling the Christian Reader here with so much against the Infidels and Brutists I answer 1. I did it because that sort increase and threaten the Land 2. Because the strengthening of the Belief of the best Christians is the removing the Cause of all their weakness and complaints 3. And Principally because when once the certain Truth of another Life is manifested he must be a Bedlam or worse that will not be Godly or that will open his mouth any more against a Holy Life What! is it possible for a sober man to Believe that he is so near an Everlasting Joy or Misery and yet to neglect it and oppose them that make it their chiefest care and labour to prepare for it The Brutist hath drowned his Reason and the careless Professor laid it to sleep the Malicious ungodly Professor of Christianity sights against it and only the serious Holy Christian doth use it for his Everlasting good CHAP. IV. Holiness is Best for all Societies REader if thou be but a man that hast the free use of thy reason I have already removed the greatest impediment out of thy way and said enough by confuting thy Infidelity to prove that godliness is the Better part Thou hast nothing left now to say against it but what fighteth against Reason in the open light and therefore I shall find an easier task with thy understanding in all that follows though with thy corrupted Will and Concupiscence the conflict yet may be as strong Well! if yet thou art not resolved that Diligent Serious Godliness is that Good part that all should choose and better then all thy worldly pleasures I shall now discover it to thee in these particulars 1. I shall shew you that Godliness is Best for all Societies 2. That it is Best for every Person And that 1. It is the safest way 2. It is the Honestest way 3. That it is the most gainful way 4. That it is the most Honourable way and 5. That it is the Pleasant and Delightful way Yea that there is no other true Safety Honesty Profit Honour or Delight