be adored To conclude Let MARY be held in Honour but let God be Adored Now to this God who alone has infinite Perfections and is a God hearing Prayer let us ascribe as is most due Salvation and Glory and Power and Praise and Thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen FINIS ADVERTISEMENT Of Books published by the Reverend Dr. WAKE THere having been lately a little trifling Discourse concerning the Blessed Sacrament published and spread abroad in the Name of Dr. Wake dedicated to the Princess of Denmark it is thought convenient here to let the World know how great an injury has been done to him in it To prevent such Practises for the time to come the Reader is desired to take notice that the Doctor has yet published no other Books than what are here subjoined nor will ever hereafter set his Mark where he is not willing to write his Name Printed for Richard Chiswell AN Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church 4 to A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against Monsieur de Meaux and his Vindicator The SECOND PART A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is prefixed a Large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Two Discourses of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead A Continuation of the Controversie between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a full Account of the Books that have been of late written on Both sides Preparation for Death being a Letter sent to a Young Gentlewoman in France in a Distemper of which she died Printed for William Rogers A Discourse concerning the Nature of Idolatry in which a late Author viz. the Bishop of Oxford's true and only Notion of Idolatry is considered and confuted 4 to The Sum of a Conference between Dr. Clagert and F. P. Gooden about Transubstantiation Published by this Author with a Preface Printed for Richard Chiswell and William Rogers TWo Sermons One before the King and Queen the other before the House of Commons Both Reprinted in this present Collection Other Tracts by the same Author A Sermon Preached at Paris on the 30 th of January S.V. 1681 5. The Present State of the Controversie Sure and Honest Means for Conversion of all Hereticks and wholsom Advice and Expedients for the Reformation of the Church The Preface by this Author A Letter from several French Ministers fled into Germany upon the account of the Persecution in France to such of their Brethren in England as approved the King's Declaration touching Liberty of Conscience Translated from the Original French * Mat. xi 15 xiii 9.43 Mat vii 16 Luk. xiv 35 c. 2 Cor. v. 11 Mat. xiii 8 2 Tim. iii. 5 Joh. xv 22 1 Cor. i. 12 Ib. ver· 17 18 19· and 2 Cor. iv 13 2 Cor. iv 5 1 Cor. ix 22 1 Cor. vi 7 2 Tim. iv 3 Aristot. Eth. Nic. lib. 1. c. 1. Rom. xii 17 Mat. v. 44 Luke xi 41 xvi 9 1 Co. i. 18 21 23 25. John vii 17 Luke viii 14 Ib. Mat. xxii 15 Mat. x. 16 Andronic Rhod. Par. Eth. Nic. l. 1. cap. 4. Jo. v. 44 Jo. xii 42 43. Jo. viii 47 1 Joh. iv ver 6. col cum vers 4 5. John iii. 19 c. Acts xxiv 16. Rom. i. 28 See Pontif R. Ordo ad reconcil Haer. Luke xii 47 1 Cor. â—â— 14. Acts. xvi 14 Luke xi 13 See chap. xxxi 19 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‡ See Munster and Fagius on v. 1 of this Chapter Crit. M. Vol 1. Titus ii 11 Psal. lviii 5 Mat. xvi 26 Psal. 132.3 4. Hos. v. 15 Isa. xxvi 9 See the Commination used on Ash-wednesday 2 Cor. iv 5 1 Cor. iv 5 See 1 Cor. v. 1 See the Rhemists Annot. on this Chap. Catholick Scriptur Point 26. of Indulgences n. 6. Mat. vii 14 1 Tim. iv 8 Prov. iii. 17 Maâ— xvi 24 Psal. xiv 1 Morin de Poenir l. 8. c. 4. n. 26. 1 Jo. iii. 21 Psa. 130.4 1 Joh 19. Phil. ii 12 Card Perron See this more at large Serm. VI VII Collect for the iv th Sund. after Epiph. Jude iii. V. 1. V. 2. See the R. Pontific O. d. ad Reconcil Haerer Spondeo sub Anathematis Obligatione Mâ— nunquam Quorumlibet suasionibus vel quocunque alâ—o modo ad Reversurum Et si quod absit ab hâc me unitate aliquâ Occasione vel Argumento divisero perjurii Reatum incurrens aeternae obligatus poenae Inveniar c. Acts iv 19 II. Chap. ver 18. 2. 1 Cor. II 9. Mat. v. 44 1 Tim. ii 5 2 d Com. Aquin. his School 1 Cor. xiv Mat. iv 8 Heb. xi 25 26. Heb. xi 35 Dan. iii. 15. 16. 17. 18. Mat. x. 28 Matth. x. 32. 33. Acts xxiii v. 23 c. Ib. v. 12 14 16. Joh. xvi 2 Acts xxiv 23 v. 24 See Grotius and Dr. Hammond on that Verse which in our Translation seems to imply quite otherwise viz. That he had a perfect knowledg of the Jewish Law Josephus Hist. l. 20. Tacitus Hist. l. 5. Verse 2. Verse 24. Acts xvii 31 Rom. xiv 10 2 Cor. v. 10 1 Thess. iv 15 c. 1 Cor. xv Matt. xxv 31 c. Rom. ii 6 c. Gen. xviii 25 Wisd. v. 4â— 5. v. 24 2 Cor. v. 10 ‡ Tacitus Hist. lib. v. c. 9. says of him That per omnem saevitiam ac libidinem jus regium servili ingenio exercuit Et annal l xii c. 54. cuncta malefacta sibi impune ratus tanta potentia subnixo * Joseph Antiq. Jud. l. 20. c. 5. pag. 616. Basil. 1544. The Account of which see above p. 159. Act. ii 37 Eccl. xi 9 Mat. xxv 41 The Socâ—nians 1st Deny Immortality to the wicked Smalc contr Frantz p. 415. Volkelius lib. iii. cap. 11.12 2dly They affirm That they shall be for ever destroyed Smalc l. c. Volk l. c. pag. 73. and cap. 33. pag. 133. Socinus in 1 John 2.17 Bibl. Fr Pol. p. 178. Woltzogen in Mat. iii. 12 and in Mat. xxv 46 And that 3dly By Fire Schlicting comm in Hebr. x. 27 apud Crellium in Bibl. Fratr Polon T. 1. see his Paraphr on the same vers ibid. Mat. xiii 42.xxii.13 xxv 41 46. Mar. ix 43 c· compared with Rev. xiv 10.xx.10 Rom. ii 5 6 8 9. Add for the reality of the pains Mat. xi
IMPRIMATUR Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã Sacris Septemb. 4. 1689. SERMONS AND DISCOURSES ON Several Occasions By WILLIAM WAKE D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties and Preacher to the Honourable Society of GRAYS-INN LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard And W. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXC TO The RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir WILL. RAWLINSON Kt. One of the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal of England Sir JOHN HOLT Kt. Lord Chief Justice of England TO The HONOURABLE Sir WILL. GREGORY Kt. One of the Justices of Their Majesties Court of Kings-Bench Sir JOHN POWELL Kt. Sir THO. ROOKESBY Kt. Justices of Their Majesties Court of Common-Pleas Sir EDWARD NEVILL Kt. Sir JOHN TURTON Kt. Barons of Their Majesties Court of Exchequer TO The WORSHIPFUL THE MASTERS OF THE BENCH AND TO The Rest of the MEMBERS OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF GRAYS-INN HAving a long time designed to make some publick acknowledgment of my great Obligations to you I could not tell in what way more properly to do it than by presenting to you a small Collection of some of those Discourses which I have lately had the Honour to Preach before you 'T is upon this acount that I now crave leave to Prefix your Names to these Sermons Both as a Testimony of that particular Respect I owe to you and to let the World see what Persons they are by whom I have the Happiness to be Countenanced and Encouraged in my Ministry Such whose Integrity and Abilities have rendred them at Once both the Support and Ornament of our Courts of Justice Whose firmness to the true Interest of our Church and Government in the Worst of Times have set them above the power of Malice to Calumniate Who by suffering heretofore rather than they would betray either the Liberties of their Countrey or their Own Consciences have effectually convinced all Impartial men That as it cannot be Ignorance of our Laws and Constitution so neither is it Interest or any other unworthy Design but the clear Evidence of Right that engages them to that Submission they now pay to the Present Government And who that they may long possess those Places they so worthily fill and be the Honour of the Bench as the Rest of the Society are of the Profession is the Hearty Prayer of Him who with all possible Respect will always remain Your most Obliged Humble Servant WILLIAM WAKE The CONTENTS SERMON I. OF the Qualifications required to a Profitable Hearing of God's Word Luke viii 8 He that hath ears to hear let him hear SERMON II. Of the Benefit and Practice of Consideration Deuter. xxxii 29 O! that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end SERMON III. Of the Devices of Satan 2 Cor. ii 11 For we are not ignorant of his devices SERMON IV. Of stedfastness in Religion 2 Pet. iii. 17 18. Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness But grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him be Glory both now and for ever Amen SERMON V. Of the Reasonableness and Terrors of the future Judgment Acts xxiv 25 And as he reason'd of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled and answer'd Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee SERMON VI. Of the Causes of mens delaying their Repentance Acts xxiv 25 Felix trembled and answer'd Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee SERMON VII Of the Danger of mens delaying their Repentance Acts xxiv 25 Felix trembled and answer'd Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee SERMON VIII An Exhortation to mutual Charity and Union among Protestants Rom. xv 5 6 7. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God SERMON IX Of the Nature and Benefit of a publick Humiliation Joel ii 12 13. Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil SERMON X. Of Contending Earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Jude 3. Beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you That you should Earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered to the saints DISCOURSE I. Of the Nature and End of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper 1 Cor. xi 24 This do in Remembrance of Me. DISCOURE II. Of the Honour due to the Blessed Virgin Luke i. 48 49. For behold from henceforth all Generations shall call me blessed For he that is Mighty hath done for me great things and holy is his name ERRATA SErm 1. p. 27. l. 6. r. Christ's Ib. l. 24. r. an Indisposition Serm. 3. p. 80. l. 16. r. may we Serm. 5. p. 161. l. 3. r. he so much ib. l. 15. r. Interests p. 182. l. 1. personally r. presently Serm. 6. p. 190. l. 10. dele been p. 202. l. 19. r. than as they Serm. 8. p. 264. l. 17. r. in the Faith Serm. 11. p. 383. l. 11. marg r. illustre Serm. 12. p. 471. l. 23. r. do not esteem l. 24. dele not p. 480. l. 13. these r. those p. 493. l. 7. r. ordinarily OF THE QUALIFICATIONS Required to a Profitable Hearing OF GOD's WORD A SERMON Preach'd on the Gospel for Sexagesima-Sunday AT GRAYS-INN 1689. LUKE VIII 8 He that hath Ears to hear let him Hear THE Words are a kind of Proverbial Expression with which our Blessed Saviour very frequently concludes his Discourses to his Disciples the more to engage them to a just Attention to and Consideration of that holy Gospel which he delivered unto them And the import whereof we cannot better learn than from that excellent Parable to which they are here subjoin'd A Sower went out to sow his Seed and as he sowed some fell by the way-side and it was trodden down and the fowls of the air devoured it And some fell upon a Rock and as soon as it was sprung up it withered away because it lacked moisture And some fell among Thorns and the Thorns sprang up with it and choaked it And other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit an hundred-fold
but too fatally succesful for Many says he shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of And in the next Chapter he goes on to foretel the near approach of those Judgments which our Saviour Christ had so often denounced against the Jews and in which those complying Christians were in like manner to be involved And by both these Considerations he finally in the Close of all stirs them up both to a Care of themselves and to a Constancy in their Profession Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Error of the Wicked fall from your own stedfastness But grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to Him be Glory both now and for ever Amen Such was the occasion of these words and the prosecution of them at this time will engage Me to explain the nature and to exhort you to the practice of two Duties than which I know none more proper for our serious Consideration Growth in Grace and Stedfastness in Religion and from both which there are but too many Seducers on every hand to turn us aside I shall pursue both in this following Order I. I will shew you what the true nature of that stedfastness in Religion is to which our Text here exhorts us II. By what Motives especially it was that the Apostle stirr'd up the Christians to whom he wrote and that I would now crave leave to exhort you to such a stedfastness III. How highly both necessary in its self it is but especially how advantageous to this great End that we should all of us endeavour what in us lies to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And first I. What the true nature of that stedfastness in Religion is to which our Text exhorts us and which I am from thence to recommend to you For 't is not every firmness that deserves the name of a true and rational stedfastness and a man may as well exceed by a perverse unwarrantable resolution not to hearken to any Motives tho' never so reasonable to change his Opinion as by an unfix'd and irresolute temper abandon himself to every wind of Doctrine that shall come to turn him aside from it Constancy in Religion is a Vertue that like all others must be regulated by Prudence It must be firm but it must be well-grounded too And he who would go about at all adventures to recommend a perseverance in that Faith whatever it be in which a man has been born and bred without allowing a just enquiry to be made into the Grounds of it and even a liberty to forsake it too should they prove less solid than they ought to be He may indeed provide for their security who chance to be already in the right way but shall render it utterly impossible for those that are not ever to come to the knowledge of it It is not therefore such a blind stedfastness as this a constancy in our Religion whether it be good or bad that either the Apostle here means or that I would now recommend to you This would be to make a plea for Obstinacy rather than Constancy whil'st by such a Rule it would be the duty of a Jew to remain a Jew a Heathen a Heathen for a Papist or Socinian to continue all their lives Papist or Socinian no less than for One of the Church of England to be firm and stedfast to the Faith and Communion of it That which I understand by a true stedfastness is this When a man is upon rational and good Grounds evidently perswaded of the Truth and Purity of his Religion then to resolve to stick close to it and not suffer any base unworthy Motives to draw him aside from it Our Religion must first be well grounded and then it will be true stedfastness to adhere to it And therefore to give such necessary directions as may suffice for the practice of this Duty I must distinctly consider it in both its respects and as it stands in the Middle between the two Extremes of a blind Obstinacy on the one hand and of a weak Instability on the other and by either of which the true nature of it will become equally destroy'd First then He that will be truly stedfast in his Religion must take heed that he does not mistake Obstinacy for Stedfastness This is an Error so much the rather to be remarked on this occasion in that a daily experience sadly shows us at once both the danger and easiness of such a mistake It is a strange perverseness in some men that they make it no less than a mortal sin to have any doubts though never so reasonable of any the least Doctrine they have once been taught to profess And there is hardly an Immorality so heinous and provoking so contrary to the Honour of God and so destructive of Salvation which their Spiritual Guides will not sooner overpass than such a Scruple Insomuch that by the express Order of the Church which I am now speaking of 't is made a part of mens solemn reception into their Communion the very condition of being admitted into a state of Proselytism with them not only to abjure for the present all those Tenets which they are pleased to call Heretical but also to imprecate upon their heads all the miseries of Eternal Torments if ever they suffer themselves BY ANY OCCASION OR ARGUMENTS WHATSOEVER to be hereafter better instructed This is in good truth to make a Faction of Religion 't is a Combination rather than a Constancy And what wretched effects it has upon the minds of those unfortunate deluded men that have once suffered themselves to be thus engaged appears in this That no rational Motives no Arguments though never so clear are almost able to work upon them The sad Vow they have made recurs continually upon their minds They have sworn to continue where they are gone at all adventures and therefore they now as obstinately resolve never to return to the Truth as they once weakly suffered themselves to be seduced from it To avoid such an unhappy Obstinacy as this and be constant in our Religion upon such rational Grounds as may justifie us before God and Man from the charge of a pertinacious firmness we may please to observe these following directions 1 st Let our Religion be founded in Knowledg i. e. Let us be clearly and evidently convinced of the Truth of that to which we do adhere and then we may be sure we cannot be justly charged with Obstinacy for our adhering to it He who takes up his Religion upon trust that receives all the Articles of his Creed by wholesale believes as his Church believes but it may be knows not either what that is or wherefore he does so 't is evident that such a credulous Disciple as this may be blindly
obstinate but he cannot be wisely stedfast in the Faith A good Christian must be able to give some more reasonable account of his Faith than this if ever he means to be securely firm in the Profession of it His Creed must be founded on some better Authority than a bare Credulity And 't will be a very useless Plea at the last day that a man believed as his Church believed when he might have had the opportunity of a better information should he chance by so doing to live and dye in a damnable Heresie unless he can render some tolerable account either wherefore his Church believed so or at least wherefore it was that he submitted himself so servilely to her Authority But he that believes with knowledg because he is clearly and evidently perswaded that it is the Truth need never fear either the danger or imputation of such an Obstinacy for his firmness in adhering to his Faith If for instance a Member of the Church of England reads in his Bible those express words of the Second Commandment Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above c. Thou shalt not Bow down to it nor Worship it If he looks forward to the History of the New Testament and there in the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist sees those words Drink ye ALL of this in as plain and legible Characters as those others Take and Eat and thereupon resolves never to be prevailed upon either to Bow down himself before an Image or to give up his Right to the Cup as well as to the Bread in that Holy Sacrament whatever glosses may be made or pretences be used to induce him to either 'T is evident that such a Firmness as this cannot be called Obstinacy unless these Scriptures be no longer the Word of God or that no longer a Principle of Scripture that in matters of plain and undoubted Command we are to obey God rather than man And in these and the like instances where the matter is clear even to demonstration there is no doubt to be made but that such Knowledg will certainly secure us against the charge and danger of Obstinacy But because all points in debate are not thus Evident but on the contrary many are not a little obscure therefore for the securing our selves from danger in our adherence to these too we must to our Knowledg add 2 dly A sincere zeal to discover the truth with an affectionate Charity to those that differ from us In such Cases as this thô we must believe and profess according to what appears to us at present to be the Truth yet since the Evidence is not such as to exclude all possibility of our being mistaken our adherence to it must be qualified with this reserve neither rashly to censure those who are otherwise minded nor obstinately to resolve never to change our Opinion if we should perhaps be hereafter convinced that we ought to do so Now in order hereunto it is not necessary that a Man should either fluctuate in his present Faith or not be firmly persuaded that he shall never see any reason to forsake it It is sufficient to take off the imputation of obstinacy that our stedfastness be such as not to exclude either a readiness of being better informed if that be possible or of making upon all occasions a strict and impartial enquiry into the Grounds and Reason of our Faith or even of hearing freely whatever objections can fairly be brought against it And all this with a sincere desire and stedfast resolution to discover and embrace the Truth wheresoever it lies Whether it be that which we now suppose to be so or whether it shall be found to be on the contrary side He who is thus disposed in his mind at all times to receive instruction and never presumes rashly to condemn any one that is thus in like manner disposed however otherwise disagreeing in Opinion from Him need never fear that his firmness is any other than that Wise and Christian stedfastness which our Text requires not such an obstinacy as both that and we most justly detest and condemn But here then we must look to the other extreme and take heed lest for fear of being perversly constant to our Faith we fall into a weak and criminal Instability To prevent this these three things may be consider'd 1 st That we carefully avoid all Vnworthy Motives of changing our Religion 2 dly That we be not too apt to entertain an ill Opinion of it 3 dly That if any Arguments shall at any time be brought against it that may deserve our considering we then be sure to give Them that due and diligent Examination that we ought to do I st He that will be stedfast in the Faith must above all things take heed to arm himself against all unworthy Motives of changing his Religion It is very sad to consider what unchristian means are made use of by some persons to propagate their Religion And a Man need almost no other assurance that it cannot be from God than to see the Professors of it pursue such methods for the promoting of its Interest as most certainly never came down from above Thus if a Man's fortunes be mean or his ambition great If Religion has not taken so deep root in his Soul as to enable him to overcome the flatteries and temptations of a present Interest and Advantage then there shall not be wanting a seducer presently to shew him that he must needs be out of the right way because it is not that which leads to preferment And 't is great odds but a good Place or an Honourable Title will quickly appear a more infallible mark of the true Church than any that Scripture or Antiquity can furnish to the contrary If this will not do and Interest cannot prevail then the other governing passion of our Minds mens fears are tried Instead of these allurements the False Teacher now thunders out Hell and Damnation against us Nothing but Curses and Anathema's to be expected by us if we continue firm in our Faith And it shall be none of the Prophets nor his Churches fault if all the Horrors and Miseries of this present life be not employ'd against us in charity to prevent our falling into the Everlasting Punishments of the next The Truth is I am ashamed to recount what unworthy means some have not been ashamed to make use of to promote their Religion and draw us away from our stedfastness France and Savoy Hungary and Germany The Old World and the New have all and that but very lately been witnesses what ways it is that Popery has and does and if ever it means effectually to prevail must take to propagate its interest Animus meminisse horret luctúque refugit Now he that shall be so unhappy as to suffer himself by any of these motives which a constant Man might and ought to have overcome
to be seduced from the right Faith he may deserve indeed to be pitied now but I fear he will hardly be hereafter excused But it is not sufficient to secure our selves against this danger He that will be constant in his Religion as he ought to be must see 2 dly That he be not too apt to entertain an ill Opinion of it For if it be Obstinacy on the one hand not to admit of any Conviction thò never so clear and reasonable it is certainly a great Weakness on the other to be affrighted at every shadow of an Argument and to put it in the power of every little Disputer to prejudice us against our Religion because one who is its professed Enemy rails against it and pretends it is a very ill One He would I believe be thought a very credulous person indeed who should begin to stagger and fall into a trembling thô he saw himself upon plain and even Ground because a bold and fanciful man is very positive that 't is a precipice And doubtless that Man is no less to be pitied that is frighted for fear he should be in the wrong thô he has the undoubted Authority of Scripture and Antiquity nay and even of Sense and Reason too on his side as often as every Common-place Trifler shall think fit to run over his division upon the Church the Antiquity Succession Infallibility of it and without either Modesty or Proof call us Hereticks If Men have Reason on their side if they have Scripture for what they say let them on God's Name produce it We are always ready to consider and to submit to such convictions But otherwise to think to perswade us that we are in utter darkness when we see the Sun shining in our faces That we must be damned for not believing that what we see and tast and know to be but a bit of Bread is not the Body of a Man That they are not Infallible who are actually involved in the grossest Errors In a word That our Church had no being before Luther every Article of whose Faith is founded upon the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and has been professed in all Ages of the Church from the Apostles to this day this is certainly one of the most unreasonable things in the whole World and what ought not by any means to stagger our stedfastness And now having secured our selves on both these sides it only remains to preserve our Constancy 3 dly That if at any time any Arguments should be offer'd to us that may deserve our regard we then be sure to give them that due and wise Examination that we ought to do It is a very great Weakness and indeed a very great fault in many persons that if at any time they begin to doubt in their belief of any part of their Faith which they have been taught to profess they presently abandon their own Guides and run for satisfaction to those who are the professed Enemies of their Religion From henceforth they hear nothing but what is ill of their Church they are taught more and more to suspect the way that they are in and then 't is odds but a very little examination suffices to make them leave it This is certainly a very great fault and will one day prove of very dangerous consequence What such persons may think of changing their Religion I cannot tell but sure I am our greatest Charity will hardly enable us to entertain any very comfortable Opinion of them Nor are they such as those that we either say or believe may be saved notwithstanding the errors and corruptions of that Church with which they Communicate He that will make a safe change from one Religion to another must not think it enough to enquire into one or two points and having received a satisfaction in them embrace all the rest at a venture for their sakes but he must pass distinctly through every Article in debate He must enquire not only whether the Church of which he is at present a Member be not mistaken in some points it may be there is no Church in the World that is absolutely free from all kind of Error But whether those mistakes be of such a consequence that he cannot communicate any longer with it on the account of them When this is done the greatest difficulty will still remain to examine with the same diligence every Article of that other Church to which he is tempted For else thô he should have reason to forsake his own Church he will yet be but little advantaged if he goes to another that is as bad or it may be worse than that If there he should find the most part well yet so that there are but any One or Two things so Erroneous as to oblige him to profess what he thinks to be false or to practice what is unlawful even this will be sufficient to hinder him from reconciling himself to it And in all this there must be a serious and diligent and impartial search There must be no prejudice in favour of the One or against the Other no desire that the Truth should be on this side rather than on that In short nothing must be omitted whereby he might reasonably have got a better Information And to all this Care there must be added fervent Prayer to God for his assistance He who falls away from his first Faith on any lesser convicton than this can never excuse himself from a criminal lightness in a matter of such concern And for him that sincerely does this I shall for my part be content that he should leave the Church of England whenever he can be thus convinced that any other but especially that the Church of Rome is a safer way to Salvation And this may suffice to have been said to the first particular What that stedfastness in Religion is to which our Text exhorts us I go on 2 dly to shew II. Upon what Motives it was that the Apostle here stirred up the Christians to whom he wrote and that I am now in like manner to exhort you to such a stedfastness Now these our Text reduces to this One General Consideration That they both understood their danger and were expresly forewarn'd by his Epistle how careful it would behove them to be to arm themselves against it Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before Beware And doubtless it is not only a great security but ought to be also a great engagement to such a vigilance to be thus expresly forewarned of our danger And he who either neglecting or despising the Admonition suffers himself to be seduced from his own stedfastness must certainly be utterly inexcusable both in the sight of God and Man for his Inconstancy But that which will aggravate this neglect yet much more is the consideration of those Motives by which the Apostle here cautions them to Beware and which therefore I must lay a little more distinctly before you Now such
were especially these two 1 st The dangerousness of those seducers that were crept in amongst them And this not so much in respect of their cunning and diligence thô that too were considerable as of the motives they used to draw them from their stedfastness There are it may be scarce any two things in the World the weakness and corruption of Man's Nature consider'd more apt to seduce than an easie Practice supported with high Pretences when both the way that is offer'd is extremely agreeable to our loose inclinations and the Proponent wonderfully confident in the tender of it And both these St. Peter here tells us were to be found in the Hereticks against whom he forewarns them And indeed 't was upon this account especially that he seemed to be so apprehensive of their prevailing For when says he they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonness And therefore as he said before ver 2. Many shall follow their pernicious or rather as both the Original Greek and our own Marginal Note read it their loose their lascivious ways But 2 dly Another danger there was and that no less to be considered than the foregoing The Christians to whom he wrote were under some trial and persecution for the Faith of Christ and these Hereticks who chiefly provided for the ease and quiet of this present life had found out a remedy against that danger too They taught That it was lawful on these occasions to dissemble or even to deny their Faith and not to run any such hazards for it Now this to weak minds could not but be a strong temptation to comply with them Men for the most part are very easie in believing that which they very much desire should be true And therefore no wonder if our Apostle thought himself highly concern'd amidst all these dangers to exhort them to beware lest being led away with the error of the wicked they should fall from their own stedfastness Such was the state of these Christians and I shall not need to make any Application But now if as we have seen their dangers so we shall also consider the Arguments which the Apostle here urges to confirm their Constancy we shall be forced to acknowledge them to be such as ought in all reason to have prevailed with them For 1 st As to the temptations before mentioned they are indeed but too apt to seduce because we are few of us so wise or so good as we ought to be but to an upright and sincere Christian they will appear exceeding inconsiderable and even detestable Confidence and Assurance stagger weak minds but if destitute of solid reason they only argue to wise men the vanity of the Undertaker and render the Man and his Cause the more ridiculous And for the other dangers the fear of Persecution and the looseness of their Morals he must be a strange sort of Christian indeed whom such considerations can prevail with to fall from his stedfastness and hardly worth the while for any Church to get or to preserve And tho' I should be glad by any honest and Christian means to promote the Interests and enlarge the Borders of the Church of England yet I must confess that I am so little concern'd for such Members as these that on the contrary I could almost wish that all those who will not be perswaded to live Christianly in our Communion would be so kind to us as to live Vnchristianly out of it rather than in it The loss of Ten thousand such Proselytes would only lessen our number but neither our Honour nor our Interest nay perhaps would rather help to promote both For I should then begin to hope that God had indeed a Blessing in store for us could I once see these Jonas's cast out for whose sake perhaps it is that the present Storm is fallen upon us and whose departure from us may therefore for ought I know be the likeliest means to restore to us the Blessing of Peace and Security again But if there be then nothing in these temptations that should draw us aside from our stedfastness I am sure 2 dly There is more than enough in what St. Peter here offers to engage us to continue firm to it And because I may not now enlarge my self I will rather point it out to you than insist upon it For 1 st It is with us now as it was with the Christians in St. Peter's time Those who would draw us away from our stedfastness to the true Catholic Faith would bring in dangerous I am unwilling with the Apostle to say damnable Heresies in the stead of it We do indeed charitably hope That they who by the Providence of God have been born in a different Communion from us and bred up all their lives not only in an utter ignorance of the right Faith but in an irreconcilable hatred to it who have been taught to damn us as Heretics and Schismatics and to value themselves upon the score of their own pretended Catholicism if they are otherwise sincere in that Faith which they profess and repent them truly of their sins but especially of their uncharitableness to those that differ from them may through the extraordinary mercy of God be saved notwithstanding such their Errors But for us who know their delusions that whil'st they damn all others as Hereticks they are indeed themselves the most perverse and obstinate that ever were should we forsake our Truth and go over to them that little Argument so often used on these occasions That we confess men may be saved in their Church but that they utterly deny they can be so in Ours and therefore that it is better to be on theirs i. e. the safer side would stand us in small stead and for all this Sophistry we should certainly run a very great hazard of being damn'd for falling away from our own stedfastness But 2 dly A second Motive which our Apostle here offers to engage us to such a constancy will arise from the consideration of the exceeding great punishment that shall be the consequence of such an Apostacy Now that in this case was so much the more to be consider'd in that the punishment which St. Peter here speaks of was to fall upon them even in this present world The Prophecies of Christ for the Destruction of the Jews being now just ready to be accomplish'd and in which the Apostatizing Christians were also to be involved But however I neither have nor would desire to have any such prospect with reference to the Seducers and their Proselytes in our days whose Conversion tho' I heartily wish yet I thank God I never did I hope I never shall desire their Destruction yet certainly the Argument ought never the less to be consider'd because it respects only the Miseries of another life There is more than enough in the consideration of Eternal Torments to move the most indifferent
Whilst we make our hatred to our Brother the great mark of our Zeal for our Religion and conclude him to love Christ the most who the least loves his fellow Christian. How much rather ought we to consider with our Apostle the love of our dear Master to us even whilst we were yet his Enemies and love those whom we ought to hope notwithstanding all their Errors are yet still his Friends and not think those unworthy of our Charity whom we piously presume God will not think unworthy of his Favour We suppose them to be mistaken in those things wherein they differ from us and perhaps they are so but yet we must consider that we our selves also are but Men and therefore may err and They as verily think Us in the wrong as we do Them And for ought I know we must leave it to the Day of Judgment to decide the Controversie which of us is in the right In the mean time if they are mistaken I am sure our uncharitableness is not the way to convince them of their Error but may rather indispose them to consider the weight of our Arguments as they ought whilst they see so little regard in our Affections towards them In short if we are indeed what we esteem our selves to be the strong in the Faith let us then remember that tho' Charity be their Duty too as well as ours yet 't is to such as We are especially that St. Paul addresses the Exhortation of the Text to bear the Infirmities of the Weak and to receive one another as Christ also hath recived us to the Glory of God But 2. Such Differences as these ought not only not to lessen our Charity but if it be possible not to hinder us from joyning together in the same common Worship of God with one another This was what these dissenting Christians notwithstanding all their Heats and Contentions nevertheless still continued to do They did with one Mouth glorifie God even when their Differences would not suffer them to do it with one Heart They united together in a common Worship of God tho' they could not unite either in Opinion or Affection with one another Indeed where Mens Errors are such as do utterly subvert the very Essentials of our Religious Worship it is there in vain to hope for any Communion in the Publick Service of God with them We must not destroy the Principles of Christianity out of a Zeal to enlarge the Communion of Christians He would be a very condescending Votary indeed who for the sake of praying to God with the Papist would pray to the Blessed Virgin and Saints too with him Who rather than be excluded their Churches would bow down before their Images and not only worship their Host but even give up his Right to the Cup in the Eucharist only that he might receive that holy Sacrament in their Company It is no doubt a very desirable thing to lessen the differences of Christians and enlarge their Communion as far as ever we can And it has never gone well with the Church of Christ since Men have been so narrow-spirited as to mix the Controversies of Faith with their Publick Forms of Worship and have made their Liturgies instead of being Offices of Devotion to God become Tests and Censures of the Opinions of their Brethren But yet when all is done the Truths of Christianity must not be sacrificed to the Peace of Christians nor the Honour of God be given up to keep up a Vnity and Communion with one another But where Mens Differences are in Points that do not at all affect their Religious Service or not so much but that God may be very well worshipp'd and yet Communion with our fellow Christians preserved too in such cases as this our dissentions ought not only not to lessen our Charity but not to break our Vnity neither We may continue to differ as the Christians in my Text did and yet with one Mind and one Mouth glorifie God as St. Paul exhorted them to do And this brings me to the Third and Last Point Thirdly That to this End it is the Duty of all of us but especially of the stronger Christians not only to Pray for such a Union but also as they have opportunity heartily to labour themselves and earnestly to stir up all others to endeavour after it I do not believe there is any good Christian so little affected with those unhappy Divisions under which the Church at this day labours as not both heartily to deplore them and to think that nothing could be too much that might innocently be done on all hands for the redressing of them But then I am sure the natural Consequence of this must be what both my Text and this Discourse are designed to exhort you to viz. That we ought every one of us not only heartily to pray for such a Vnion but also as we have opportunity earnestly to labour for the attainment of it Indeed for what concerns the whole Body of the Catholick Church on Earth so many are the Disputes that have arisen among the several Parties and Communions of it and some of them in Points so near to the Foundations of Christianity that whilst Men resolve to keep fast to their Conclusions and will not suffer the plainest Arguments to convince them of their Errors 't is in vain to hope ever to see things brought to such a Temper as we could wish in that But especially whilst that part which is the most corrupt is so far from being willing to concur to any such Vnion that on the contrary she has cut off all possibility of attaining it And by arrogating an unwarrantable Infallibility to her self and Authority over all others will neither reform her own Abuses nor admit any into her Communion that will not profess the same Errors in which she her self stands involved So that here all we can even wish for is that Men would at last be so wise as tho' they differ in Opinion yet to love as Brethren and agree together in a common Charity till we shall be so happy as to unite in a common Faith and worship of God But for us whom it has pleased God by delivering us from the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome to unite together in the common name of Protestant Reformed Christians would we but as heartily labour after Peace as we are all of us very highly exhorted to it I cannot see why we who are so happily joyn'd together in a common profession of the same Faith at least I am sure in all the necessary Points of it and I hope amidst all our lesser Differences in a common love and charity to one another should not also be united in the same common Worship of God too I will not now enter into any Dispute to shew how little reason there is for any one to separate from the Offices of the Church of England upon the account of those
sumerent tradidit Eisdem Eorumque in Sacerdotio successoribus ut offerrent praecepit per haec verba Hoc facite in meam commemorationem And Can. 2. Siquis dixerit illis verbis Hoc facite c. Christum non instituisse Apostolos Sacerdotes aut non Ordinâsse ut ipsi aliique Sacerdotes offerrent Corpus Sanguinem suam Anathema sit (h) See Catech ad Paroch par 2. de Ord. Sacram n. 50. §. tertio (i) Manifestum est quòd Homo tenetur hoc Sacramentum sumere non solùm ex statuto Ecclesiae sed ex mandato Domini dicentis Hoc facite in meam commemorationem Aquin. part 3. Qu. 80. Art 11. id Corp. (k) Estins in Sent. l. 4. dist 12. §. 11. pag. 165. l. A.B. Where having shewn that facere cannot be interpreted consecrare he adds Non enim absolutè dicitur Facite sed Hoc facite i. e. Id quod à Me à Vobis nunc fit aut factum est deinceps vos vestri Successores facite in Mei memoriâ—m Et infra â—aulus 1 Cor. 11. Illud facere etiam ad Plebem refert Edentem Bibentem de hoc Sacramento c. (l) De Euch. l. 4. c. 16. §. Haec autem (m) Ibid. l. 4. c. 25. §. Videtur tamen Where he gives this Paraphrase of our Text Id quod nunc agimus Ego dum consecro poâ—rigo vos dum accipitis comeditis frequentate deinceps usque ad mundi consummationem (n) Ibid. Paulus autem resert potissimùm illa Verba ad actionem Discipulorum id quod ex ver 26. colligitur Et planum fieri potest ex instituto proposito B. Pauli c. q. v. (o) Bellarm. ib. c 16 §Dicet aliquis His words are Neque obstat quòd S. Thomas colligit ex hoc loco esse de jure divino ut omnes aliquando sumant Eucharistiam ubi videtur intellexisse illud Hoc facite dictum esse Omnibus Nam S. Thomas non vult colligi immediatè sed mediaté Quia enim Dominus jubet Apostolis ut consecrent sumant distribuant consequenter jubet Aliis ut accipiant de manu sacerdotum distribuentium * Catech. Conc. Trid. de Ord. Sacr. n. 5. §. 4. Manibus capiti sc. ordinandi in sacerdotem ejus impositis Accipe inquit Spiritum Sanctum c. Eique Coelestem illam quam Dominus Discipulis suis dedit peccata retinendi ac remittendi potestatem tribuit And again De Sacr. Poenit. n. 71. Il. lustr verò hujus Ministerii Testimonium praebent illa Domini Verba apud S. Joann Quorum remiseritis c. neque enim omnibus sed Apostolis tantùm haec dicta fuisse constat quibus in hâc functione sacerdotes succedunt Joh. x. 18 2 Cor. iii. 5 Phil. iv 13 Isa. liii 3 4 5 6. Psal. cxxix 3 Jer. i. 12 Luk. xxii 44 Mat. xxvi 37 38. Luk. xxii 44 Mat. xxvii 46 Act. ii 27 Phil. ii 7 Heb. vii 25 Exod. xii 17 xiii 3 8 9. Exod. xiii 3 8 9. Gal. iii. 1 Phil. ii 8 Tit. ii 14 1 Cor. v. 6 7. Heb. x. 29 * Aben-Ezra vid. Fag in Exod. xii 15 * See the Instances of all the following Particulars in the 2 d Def. of the Expos. of the Doctr. of the Church of England part 2. artic 3. Of the Invocation of Saints Luk. 1.46 47. 1 Cor. xi 26 See the Litanies of the Bl. Virg. Aquin. 3. part Qu. 27 c. (a) Chrysost in Joan. Hom. 17. pag. 132 133. Edit G.L. Paris 1633. (b) August de Nat. Grat. c. 36. p. 284. b. Ed Lugd. 1664. Tâ—m 7. Contempl. vii pag. 78 c. Contempl. viii pag. 89 c. Offic. B. Virg Antver p. 1631. pag. 81. Crasset Devot envers la ste V. part 1. pag. 10 30 31 c. Contempl. on the Life and Glory of H. M. p. 4. Ibid. p. 5. Ibid. p. 13. Contempl. pag. 15. Crasset devot envers la V.M. par 1. p. 20 21 c. Crasset ver dev part 1. p. 14. Ibid. Crasset ib. Crasset p. 15 16. Suarez tom 2. in 3. disp 23 §. 2. See Lucians Dialog Mars and Mercury Crasset devot ver par 1. p. 11. Crasset par 1. p. 39 40. Ibid. p. 54. Crasset ib. p. 86. Ex libr. vi revelat S. Brigittae Card. Bona. de Div. Psalmod c. 16. p. 551. Crasset par 2. p. 309. Crasset ib. p. 314. Crasset ib. p. 321. Crasset ib. 329. Crasset par 2. trait 6. Contempl. p. 7. c. Contempl. p. 8. Ibid. p. 9. Ibid. p. 9. Ibid. p. 10. Idem ibid. Ibid. p. 12. Idem ibid. Apol. for the Contempl p. 74 82 83. Bellarm. de Purg. l. it c. 15. Bellarm. de Eccles. Triumph l. 1. c. 20. Gratian. c. 13. q. 2 de Mortuis c. 29. p. 1304 1305. Par. 1585. Sent. l. iv dist 45. Scotus in Sent. iv dist 45. q. 4. Rubio in Sent. l. iv d. 25. Bellarm. li. cc. See above Pesant in 1 Thom. qu. 12. ar 10. disp 7. Conclus 6. Exposit. of Bishop Meaux §. iv Bellarm. de Cult ss l. 3. c. 9. p. 223â— Crasset par 1. p. 14. Eccles. v. 2 Contempl. of the B. Virgin p. 23. 1 Joh. ii 1 2. Joh. xv 16 Heb. iv 1â— v. 2 Heb. iv 16 See Crasset par 1. p. 14. Crasset Devot verit par 2. trait 6. p. 34 i c. Widenfelt's Advices of the Bl. Virgin Galat. i. 9