satisfaction in matters of Religion as any thing of man can be or doe For the Truths of God once taught the world by Christ and his Apostles being unchangeable for ever and our Bibles which are the onely Rule to measure Religion by continuing one and the same for ever that which was an Errour in those times must needs be Errour still and that which was a Truth in those days must needs be a Truth still And if we cannot think of any more proper means for the right understanding of Scripture and the discovery of Truth and Errours then the deliberate and unanimous Judgment of so many hundred pious learned and unbiassed men assembled together then certainly the Determinations of those Ancient Councils are very considerable Evidences for Truth and against Errour and the rather because they consisted of such persons who besides their eminent Piety and Learning had the great Advantage of living nearer the Apostles Age and thereby were the better able to inform themselves and us too what was certainly believed and done in the very Infancy of the Church 3. The Writings of the Ancient Fathers those especially that lived within the first Six Centuries where-ever they agree and are not since corrupted or maimed by the fraud and forgeries of the Roman Church are of singular use in this matter too That Ignatius Clemens Origen Athanasius Cyril Nazianzene Basil Chrysostom Hierom Augustine and some others were indeed Persons of great Devotion and excellent Parts cannot be denied And although some of these great Names in some particular matters had their peculiar Mistakes and shew'd themselves to be but men yet in all Points where we find an unanimous Consent amongst them we are to have so much veneration for their Authority as not easily to suspect or contradict it True it is if we take these Fathers singly man by man where we find any of them alone in their Opinions as Origen in reference to the Punishments of Hell and Saint Augustine in reference to Infants that die unbaptized we are not in this case much more obliged to accept their Judgment then the Judgment of some person yet alive who perhaps may be as Pious and Learned as some of them But if we take all the Fathers that lived within six hundred years after Christ together and in the lump where we find them one in Judgment they are enough to make a wiser Council then any one Age could probably afford a Council certainly of more Value and far greater Credit then that Conventicle of Trent wherein there sate sometimes at least little more then 40 Bishops and some of those but meerly Titular and suborned too And upon this score the Church of Rome must needs excuse us that we do rather adhere to the united Judgment of so many Ancient Fathers then to those late Decrees and Canons of Trent which contradict them 'T is well known to our Adversaries of Rome that in the great Controversies betwixt us and them we appeal to the most Ancient Councils and Fathers whom we look upon as the most impartial and able Judges the whole matter in question we offer to their Decision and are willing to stand or fall as they determine But alas there 's no Tribunal like Saint Peter's Chair one Pope is of more value with them then ten Saint Augustines Nor indeed can we blame them for where the Cause is notoriously bad it were strange Imprudence to refer it to any other Vmpires and Arbitratours save onely such who are prepossest with the strongest Prejudice and obliged by the greatest Interests to defend and own it And thus stands the case with the Roman Church But as for us where matters are doubtful and Scriptures are not clear we dare not run to uncertain Traditions and the pretended Infallibility of Popes but rather to Ancient Councils and Fathers from whom we do rationally expect more satisfactory Resolutions and far better Comments But 4. There are several Systems of Divinity Confessions of Faith short Abridgments of Christian Religion that are especially to unlearned persons great helps in this matter too And here methinks those Ancient Creeds of the Apostles Nice and Athanasius which are so generally received by the Church of God are of great Authority to settle our Judgment in the main and most necessary Points of Faith Whatever contradicts any one Article delivered and contained therein may be justly suspected of Heresie Errour and Innovation And as for other Doctrines Practices and matters of Discipline we may have recourse and that with good satisfaction to the known Articles of the Church of England the Book of Homilies and that excellent Liturgy of ours which that of Saint Chrysostom or Basil doth not transcend and perhaps not match Besides these there are many choice and excellent Catechisms composed by men that were Pious Learned and Judicious acquainted with Scriptures well versed in the Primitive Councils and Fathers These short Catechisms compiled by persons of singular Endowments and approved by the Church are little less then so many contracted Bibles containing in them whatever man is obliged to know and delivering enough in plain and easie terms to inform us in matters of Practice to secure us from Errours and confirm our Judgments in all the great Points of Faith So then the Summe of all is this We are obliged to examine the matters of our Religion by the written Word of God but because this Word in some material cases according to the different Fansies or Interests of men hath different Interpretations given concerning its true sense and meaning 't is our onely way for our better satisfaction to betake our selves to the most able faithful and unbiassed Judges and they are the most Ancient Councils the Primitive Fathers publick Confessions of Faith and Orthodox Catechisms set forth or approved by the Church of God Vses I. Consider how much to blame those persons are who without any Examination whatsoever take up their Religion barely upon Trust We are thus commanded in the Text Prove all things but alas we are so far from this that we will prove nothing and although perhaps we pretend to abhorr the Religion of Rome yet so far do we act like Papists that an Implicit Faith serves our turn 'T is the great Imprudence and Crime of many persons who are so supine and careless that they will not examine their Religion but withall 't is the sad Calamity of some others who are so sottish and ignorant that indeed they cannot That we are required to prove our Faith and of what concern it is so to doe we have already seen and that all matters of this nature must be judged by the Word of God and that in doubtful cases to be expounded by Ancient Councils and Fathers hath been already shewed Yea but what 's all this to the man that 's utterly unlearned and ignorant Can that man prove his Religion by the Word of God who knows it not can that man help himself in
THE TRIALL OF RELIGIONS WITH CAUTIONS To the Members of the REFORMED CHVRCH AGAINST Defection to the ROMAN By FRAN. GREGORY D. D. Rectour of Hambleton in the County of Bucks and one of his Majestie 's Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed by E. Flesher for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty Anno 1674. To the Right Reverend Father in God WALTER Lord Bishop of Worcester and Dean of his Majestie 's Chappel c. MY LORD 'T IS well known to every man that hath the least Acquaintance with our late and modern Historians or Divines that the Adversaries of our Faith have been very Industrious and Active ever since the happy Reformation of our Religion to reduce the Superstitions of the Roman Church once more into Ours That such Attempts may not onely be still continued but prosecuted with greater Vigour the Emissaries of Rome taking occasion from our late Confusions and present Indulgence have encouraged themselves to come amongst us as all men believe in unusual numbers though not without their wonted Disguise and Vizards What their Business is no man is ignorant and that they want no Arts to carry on their Designs who doth not know If Flattery and Courtship can prevail with Persons of Quality if external Pomp and Pageantry can prevail with our Ladies of Honour if Ostentation and shews of Devotion can prevail with Religious and Pious Souls if Indulgence and Liberty can move the man of Pleasure if Gold and Silver can tempt the Poor if Promises of Pardon can work upon and win over the Guilty if Sophistry and Fallacies can perswade the Weak and Ignorant they want them not But certainly that which gives our Enemies the greater Advantage against us is the gross Ignorance and desperate Debauchery of this unhappy Age wherein we live the Ignorant Person doth not know the Debauched Person doth not care what Religion is best 'T is no difficult Task for some subtle Priest or Jesuit to reason an Ignorant man out of his Faith nor is it an hard matter to perswade a Vicious Person that hath no Religion indeed to pretend any even the Roman if some secular Advantage doth so require These Confiderations might well give me just occasion to compose these Sermons wherein my present Design was to confirm my own Parishioners in their present Faith and to warn them against all Temptations to the Roman That I have now made them publick 't is not as if I thought that the Church of England wants them no whosoever is acquainted with the Works of our Learned and Reverend Divines already extant Hooker Whitaker Reynolds Jewel Laud Morton Davenant Featly and many other deceased or yet alive must needs acknowledge that as there is no Church so capable of a sound Defence as ours so there is none better provided with it But yet notwithstanding as the very little Finger may afford some Help even to the strongest Arm so perhaps the weakest of God's Servants may lend some small Assistance towards the establishment of that Religion which is already so well maintained with the strongest Arguments and those managed by better Heads and Hands My former experiences of your Lordship's Favour have emboldned me to dedicate this Discourse to your Lordship's Name not that I think it worth your View but that I know it wants so great a Protection No man can blame me for chusing such a Guardian whom the world knows to be so willing to encourage the Friends of True Religion and so able to confute its Adversaries And the Truth is I am not in the least Capacity by any other means to testifie that cordial Respect and Veneration which my self and every man else that loves our Church must needs have for your Lordship 's inward Worth and Personal Excellencies nor could I think of any other way to make a Gratefull and Publick Acknowledgement of those various Obligations which your Lordship hath laid upon the meanest of God's Servants and our Churche's Sons FRAN. GREGORY THE TRIALL OF RELIGIONS WITH CAUTIONS to the Members of the Reformed Church against Defection to the Roman 1 THESS 5.21 Prove all things hold fast that which is good WE reade in Sacred Writ and Ecclesiastical History that the Christian Church in its infancy as well as the Jewish in its elder years had in it several persons that were really endued by God with the spirit of Prophecy and others who did but pretend it Where-ever God had his Church the Devil endeavoured to have his Synagogue too To that end it was the great design and policy of Hell to send its Residentiaries and Legates amongst those persons where Heaven had its commissioned and faithfull Embassadours If Christ send forth his Simon Peter the Devil will send forth his Simon Magus too if Christ send forth a Saint John a Saint Paul and other Apostles the Devil will not fail to send forth a Cerinthus a Marcion and other Hereticks too The true Prophets of those times did reveal nothing else but what was certainly the mind of God but the false Prophets and counterfeit Apostles delivered the Suggestions of Satan or at best the Dreams and Fancies of their own fantastick brain And yet so politick was the Devil that he veiled his Errours with a disguise of Truth and that with so much artifice that it was no easie matter for the young Novices of that Age who were but lately become Proselytes to Christ to distinguish betwixt false Doctrines and true betwixt tares and wheat betwixt the Devil's counterfeit and God's real Pearls In this conjuncture of time when Hereticks pretended to be Evangelists when wild Enthusiasts acted by the Devil pretended to be inspired of God when at the same season and in the self-same places Divine Truths were preached by some and devillish Errours broached by others the Servants of God and Apostles of Christ who were entrusted with the Concerns of his Church and the care of his Souls could not but think themselves obliged to do whatever in them lay that their late Converts to the Christian Faith might not either unworily admit what was indeed an Errour nor yet unadvisedly reject what was indeed a Truth To prevent this double Hazzard Saint John 1 John 4.1 doth thus command them Try the spirits whether they are of God There was it seems even thus early in the Church a great variety of spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theophylact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Oecumenius Prophets true and prophets false and yet even these Impostours too pretended to be from God Well what must the Christians doe in such a case as this Must they receive all Doctrines because some were certainly true or must they reject all because some were certainly false No such matter the Apostle gives them and us another Rule to walk by and that 's this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Try the spirits Be not rash in receiving be not rash in rejecting neither Perhaps the Doctrines that are delivered by such and such
may be from God and if so what a sin would it be to slight them but withall 't is possible that such and such Doctrines delivered by such and such Pretenders may be from the Devil and if so what a danger must it be to entertain them Wherefore that both extremes may be avoided that ye may be able to distinguish Truth from Errour that ye may know the Devil's Emissaries from Christ's Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theophylact prove examine pass a mature and deliberate Judgment and that 's one great part of that advice which Saint Paul gives us in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prove all things Whatever Doctrine is broached among you though it bring along with it the fairest pretences imaginable yet because it may possibly prove too light put it in the balance and try its weight because it may possibly prove a counterfeit bring it to the Touchstone and try its sincerity and if upon this strict enquiry it prove not right let it goe but if it be found Orthodox sound and good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hold it fast So then the Text commends to our Practice a double Act each of which relates to matters of Religion For 1. We are required 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prove them to examine all Doctrines Principles and Practices whether they be right such as the Holy Scriptures recommend or at least allow 'T is our business to consider as Cornelius à Lapide words it an sint Prophetiae an instinctus spiritûs humani whether they are the Revelations of God or the Inventions and Imaginations of men 2. We are required after this strict Examination and Judgement passed to dismiss whatever is naught but to retain and hold fast that all that and onely that which proves to be good and consequently from God So that the whole business of the Text will lie in these Two Conclusions 1. That every person whatsoever is highly obliged to examine the nature of that Religion which is recommended to him 2. That after an impartial and strict Enquiry that Religion and onely that which proves to be good right and true must be stoutly asserted constantly retained and held fast for ever The First Doctrine That all persons whatsoever do highly stand obliged to examine the nature of that Religion which is recommended to them But here two things may be demanded 1. It may be demanded whether all persons whatever are fit to judge for themselves in matters of Religion Is every man so well qualified as to be in a capacity of defining Points of Faith and Worship Shall every illiterate and bold Mechanick presume so far as to suspect any Doctrine which the Church delivers or scruple any Practice which she recommends I answer Certain it is there is a very signal respect and a very great veneration due to the Church of God and doubtless where matters are difficult and Points are controverted 't is our safest course to consider the Determination of the true Church and to acquiesce in Her Judgement rather then in our own But in other cases where the Word of God is express and plain where we have an intelligible and easie Rule we are not obliged to take up our Religion upon other mens credit in those matters wherein our own Reason can best secure us 'T is our Saviour's command Matt. 11.15 He that hath an ear to hear let him hear so say we He that hath an eye to see let him see Methinks where the Object is clear and visible especially if it be of great concern too it were high Imprudence to rely upon another man's sight since God hath given us eyes of our own that may see as well and be trusted better And certainly it were an act of the greatest folly to depend barely upon other mens judgements for those grand Concerns of Eternity about which God hath given us rational Souls and all other means that are sufficient and requisite to inform our selves But if perhaps through sin and vice we have debauched our own Reason if we have extinguished that light which our great Creatour set up within us and by so doing have disabled our selves to obey the Command in my Text we have then just occasion to condemn our selves but none to blame that God who did as well give us an eye as bid us see And doubtless since God hath given to every man an understanding faculty and the use of Reason to be employed for his own advantage it must needs be the very highest Tyranny to interdict any person the improvement and exercise of that Reason but especially about the great Concerns of that immortal Soul wherein that Reason of his hath its proper Seat and onely Residence And since this personal and private examination of our Religion is that which our God commands and our Reason doth enable us to methinks no true Church of Christ should ever dislike or quarrel at it 't is not possible that a true Church should disallow what God requires 't is not possible that a true Mother should rob her Children of that without which they can neither be Christians nor Men. No 't is for the Whore of Babylon to close up her bastards eyes lest perhaps they should discover the nakedness of their Mother 't is for the Church of Rome to deny her Proselytes in all matters of Religion the exercise of their own Reason lest perhaps they should detect the weakness and want of hers But as for the Church of England so sure is she that her Religion is right that she doth not onely allow but encourage her Sons to bring it to the Test such are her Doctrines and such are her usages that she doth rather provoke then decline the strictest Triall the Truths which she teacheth are so Divine the Customes which she retains are so Apostolical that like so many true and orient Pearls the more they are examined searched and tried the brighter do they shine And if so if to examine the matters of our Religion be an act of Obedience to God if it be the way to bring honour to our Church and satisfaction to our selves what should hinder us except it be that gross and foul Ignorance of ours which will indeed destroy our Ability but never take off our Obligation But 2. From this great Command in the Text Prove all things it may be yet demanded thus Must we then turn Scepticks in Religion must we always hang in doubt and never fix must we for ever be examining and so come to no settled Resolution in Points of Faith and Worship I answer 'T is certain that these Inferences can never be gathered from that which God requires in the Text our proving all things will be so far from introducing Scepticism and uncertainties in matters of Religion that 't is the surest way in the world to expell banish and root them out it will be so far from shaking our Faith that 't is indeed the most likely means to
the understanding of difficult Scriptures by the Assistence of those Councils and Fathers to whom he is but a stranger And this is the case of those poor people who are bred up under the Tyranny of the Roman Church they cannot obey the Command in my Text because they are kept in Ignorance they cannot doe what Saint John requires they cannot try the spirits because that onely Touchstone is denied them they are in no capacity to weigh the matters of their Religion because they are not suffered so much as once to touch the Scales But alas this gross Ignorance which is their sad Calamity is our grievous Crime that utter Inability of obeying God and proving all things which ariseth from their invincible Necessity springs from our Carelesness and Choice 'T is sure enough that we have sufficient means to inform our selves of our Religion we have Bibles to reade in our families we have the Scriptures expounded in our Churches we have many excellent Catechisms and other Books within our reach and yet how ignorant still We are so far from being able to give a satisfactory Account of our Religion in its several Branches that there are many amongst us who do not know so much as what Religion means what Christianity is who Christ was what he hath done or what he requires from us Certainly if such persons do take upon them the profession of any Religion they must needs doe it upon Trust and how that 's done we may see in 3 Particulars 1. There are some persons who take up their Religion barely upon the Trust and Credit of their Parents and Progenitours who owned such and such a Profession and continued therein perhaps to their very dying-day And the truth is the very highest Account that many an one can give for his Faith and Worship is but this It was the old Religion of his Family it was the Faith and Worship of his Fathers and therefore his too insomuch that persons generally are not made but born Christians as well as men and do commonly receive their Faith as well as their Flesh ex Traduce barely by Propagation 'T is true Christianity which certainly is the Religion of God is that which we all profess but in the mean time there are but few amongst us that examine the Principles upon which this Religion stands nor do we consider the Designs to which this Religion tends onely we take it up from our Fore-fathers as if it were barely bequeathed us amongst other Legacies or left us as a part of our Inheritance It must be confessed that true Religion preserved for us and transmitted to us by the Care and Piety of our Progenitours is a blessed Inheritance indeed such an Inheritance so great and so glorious that we are concerned if in any case much more in this to prove our Father's Will and to consider how sutable it is to both the Testaments of that better Father which is in Heaven 2. There are some persons who take up their Religion barely upon the Trust and Credit of vulgar and publick Examples What Religion we find established in the Kingdom exercised in the Church and commonly professed throughout the Neighbourhood that we do not stand to examine but immediately embrace We make our Faith a matter not of Election and Choice but barely of Imitation Doubtless there 's many a Soul amongst us that professeth himself to be a Christian not because he knoweth the Truth Reasonableness and Excellence of Christianity but because he had the good fortune to be bred and live in Christendome Suppose a man bred among the Persians this man adores the Sun and makes that his Deity take a man bred amongst the Turks this man's Bible is the Alcoran and that Impostour Mahomet little less then his God Suppose a man bred up in Spain France or Italy this man forsooth though he knows not why proves a Roman Catholick he owns the Pope let him be who he will to be his Grand-father and that Church or if you will that Whore to be his Grand-mother too Well give me a man bred up in England 't is ten to one but this man proves a Protestant But why all this Why alas we take up our Religion not from the Convictions of our own Judgments but barely from the force of Examples and the meer power of Education 3. There are some persons who take up their Religion upon the Trust Credit or Commands of Princes Certainly man who is a wise knowing and noble Creature of the very next degree to Angels may easily convince himself how unreasonable a thing it is that he should adore and worship any thing that is so far from being a Deity that he evidently seeth and certainly knoweth that it is his own Inferiour and much below himself And yet notwithstanding if Jeroboam set up his Calves if Nebuchadnezzar erect his Image and command their Subjects to adore them who almost disputes it But alas we need not look back so far as the times of the Jewish Church for pregnant Instances our own Chronicles will tell us that whilest the Kings of England were Slaves to the Pope so dull and sottish so easie and pliable were the People as to be so too and since our Princes have justly shook off the Roman Yoke the Subjects have generally been if not so Religious yet so Conformable as to become Protestants too Tell me Sirs if the Roman Religion be good why did the People of England cast it off but if the Roman Religion be stark naught as certainly 't is why did the People of England ever own it Doubtless these General and sudden Turns of Religion these Vniversal and Epidemical Changes of our Faith and Worship which do not arise from any mature Deliberation and new Convictions are evident Demonstrations that men take up or lay down their Religion just as they do their Fashion 't is this or that according as the Court thinks fit to alter as if to believe as the King believes and to doe as the King doeth were a part of that Allegeance which we owe him But is this indeed to obey the great Command in my Text Prove all things 'T is sure the Kings of England do not pretend like that Vsurper at Rome that they cannot erre nor is it imagined by any that there is any more Infallibility annexed to the Prince's Throne then to the Pope's Chair No we are required and deeply concerned too to examine the Grounds of that Religion which the King's Laws do establish and if we find as upon strict Search we certainly shall that the present Religion of our Church commended to us by the King 's own Example and confirmed by his Laws is warranted by the Word of God by the Canons of Ancient Councils by the joint Testimony of the Primitive Fathers and many received Confessions of Faith let us then bless our God that we have as yet a Prince who styles himself really is and declares his resolution
indeed a great Vnhappiness but that we need not fear since our Protestant Prince resolves to defend it and us to lose our Religion by Force and violence but to surrender it our selves through the cunning Pretences of our Adversaries and our own gross Mistakes were methinks the fouler Disgrace The Honour of man doth not lie in his Strength but in his Prudence nor is it our Discredit to have feeble Hands but weak and impotent Heads And certain it is since God hath given us an understanding Heart and since that Vnderstanding of ours hath no Employment so honourable as the Defence of our Faith we cannot possibly bring upon our selves any greater Disparagement by any means imaginable then by suffering our selves to be basely baffled even to the loss of that Reason that makes us men and that Religion that makes us Saints 2. There are some persons that forsake the true Religion barely because the Examples of other men who doe so to invite them to it That we are indeed obliged to follow the Examples of all good men in all good things there 's nothing surer Learn of me saith our Blessed Saviour Matth. 11.29 and Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ saith the great Apostle 1 Cor. 11.1 But alas in stead of following the example of Christ who to the loss of his bloud witnessed a good confession in stead of following the example of Saint Paul who proved a Martyr for that Religion which he owned we tread in the steps of Julian that base Apostate perhaps we see such and such a neighbour one that hath the name of a Scholar one that hath the repute of a Religious and Charitable person we see even such an one change his Religion and upon that account we think fit to doe so too But tell me Sirs is it not a shame for persons that have their wits about them to make the examples of other men their great or onely Motive to cast off their present Religion and embrace a new one 'T is no new thing for such and such Professours who make great shews of Religion and pass in the world for real Saints to prove mere Jugglers and upon every small occasion to renounce their Faith The Evangelist tells us John 6.66 Many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him some little offence they took at his Doctrine and away they marched and that by Troups Well what saith our Blessed Saviour concerning this The next words tell us Jesus said unto the Twelve Will ye also go away There is a considerable number of my Disciples faln off and gone but what then shall their example encourage you to be gone too We reade that Saint Peter himself that otherwise brave and gallant Person was so far prevailed with as to deny his Lord but what of that is Peter's example a sufficient warrant for the other Disciples to deny him too What it is that moves such and such a person to alter his Religion we are not sure whether he doe it from false and rotten Principles whether he doe it to base and unworthy Ends whether he be not cheated in his Judgment and merely trepanned of his Faith we cannot tell and yet shall we be like him Nay more 't is possible that men may prove such great Dissemblers as for some by end or other to enter upon some new Profession and yet reserve their former Judgment still 't is possible for men to act as Proselytes to a new Religion and yet inwardly to approve their old one still and yet shall we be like them No the Alteration of our Religion is a thing of weight and moment such weight and such moment that we cannot safely doe it without better grounds then any man's Example can afford us 'T is dangerous for us to take our measures from other persons whose weak Abilities to defend their Religion or wicked Intentions in leaving it we do not know What though such and such persons whether profane or ignorant or hypocritical are become Papists and have now left our Church shall we therefore leave our Mother's bosome too shall we also shew our selves to be in the number of those rotten Leaves that drop one after another till the poor Tree that bore them be left quite naked No if we are indeed Christ's real and faithful Disciples whatever becomes of others whatever contrary Examples may lie before and tempt us yet let us vigorously hold fast our most holy Faith if we are indeed Christ's Flock though perhaps the Goats may rove and wander yet let us as becomes his Sheep indeed keep close within that excellent Pasture where he himself hath in mercy placed us Sure I am the Roman Church if a Church it be 't is not like ours and why then should any foolish Examples induce us to make a Change We would not tread in any man's steps that should lead us to those dangerous Precipices where he must needs hazard his own neck and ours too Well that 's the case the Roman Religion if it be not certainly damnable yet 't is very dangerous sure 't is more dangerous to all new comers then to most of its native Professours What hazard the Proselyte runs our Blessed Saviour doth thus inform us Matt. 23.15 Ye compass sea and land to make one Proselyte and when he is made ye make him twofold more the child of Hell then your selves 'T is certainly thus with every besotted Soul that forsakes the Reformed Religion wherein he was bred and becomes a Proselyte to the Roman Church his Crime is higher and his Danger is more and if so shall any Example lead you thither Tell me shall we imitate the poor Sheep not in their Innocence but in their Folly shall we act like that silly Flock which follows the Bel weather even although he lead them into the briars that tear or into the ditch that drowns them Remember the Church of England that hath brought us forth is well able to nurse and breed us too the Mother that hath born us wants no breasts to feed us and if so why should we suffer our selves to be seduced by any fond Examples to leave our own Dam and suck a stranger's dug and such a dug too as runs with Poison in stead of Milk 3. There are some persons that forsake the true Religion and take up a false barely because that Debauchery and those Vices which they will not leave do so incline them 'T is not onely the weak Head but the wicked Heart 't is not onely the depraved Judgment but the depraved Conversation too that makes a great Alteration and that for the worse in some mens Religion Our Saviour indeed hath told us Matt. 21.31 The Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God It seems by this expression that many wicked persons of those times changed their Religion and became Proselytes to the Christian Faith But withall certain it is that these persons who thus changed their Religion
did change their Conversation too as they came off from their Judaism in Profession so they came off from their Heathenism in Practice too they came over to a Religion that was so far from allowing their former Crimes that it did both command and help them to leave them Thus stood the case in our Saviour's time but how is it in ours We hear sometimes of persons and great ones too that are altering their Religion but what is their motive Is it because their present Faith is unsound and naught is it because they design to embrace a better Religion and to lead much better lives Alas there is no such matter but their present Religion is too nice and tender for them the Church of England doth not allow men their wanton Mistresses their painted Jezebels their perfumed Concubines we dare not teach that Fornication and Whoredome are but trivial sins and may upon easie terms be bought off at pleasure No the Gallants of our Age that resolve to goe on in sin do find the Reformed Religion too strict for their unreformed lives and upon that score there 's no Church for them like that of Rome That 's a pleasing Religion indeed that grants a publick allowance of Stews that 's a welcome Religion indeed that sets but an easie rate upon Iniquity and if perhaps the Priest shall be so rigid and sour as upon Confession to impose a Penance 't is commonly such as shall not balance the pleasure of the Sin or if it do there 's an Indulgence to be had even such a Pardon and that upon easie terms as shall secure the Sinner so they tell him not onely from the Clamours of his foul and guilty Conscience not onely from the present Censures of the Church but from the pains of Purgatory yea and of Hell too But tell me Sirs shall we change our Religion upon such a score as this What shame what dishonour would it bring us Shall the world justly say that such and such a person hath left his Religion barely because he would not leave his Sin such and such a man is become a Papist because he resolves to live like a Beast But by the way though men are determined to indulge their corrupted nature and so far to gratifie their Lusts as for their sakes to alter their Profession yet methinks as they shame themselves so they do not much oblige their new Religion by making it to be thought their Bawd 'T is sure that true Religion doth aggravate and greaten Sin but what Religion then is that which doth not onely extenuate and mince but even invite it too True Religion sides with Heaven but O cursed Religion that takes part with Hell and courts men thither Well then let Rome applaud herself and triumph as she please in the Access of such Proselytes as repair to her expecting from her the Patronage of their Vices 't is the great honour of our Church that its Doctrines and Laws are too strict for such Offendours And doubtless that signal Holiness of our Religion which moves such notorious Transgressours to renounce and leave it doth lay the stronger obligation upon every man that is good to embrace defend and hold it fast 'T is a main proof that our Religion is from God that it abhors every Vice crieth down every Sin and exacts from us pure Hearts and holy Lives And if upon that very score we do not like it the more is our shame because 't is an infallible sign that we have not in us the Fear of God no nor the Reason of Men. For doubtless that person is so far from being a Christian that he is worse then a Brute who by casting off his Religion barely because 't is strict declares to the world and must needs assure himself that he loves some cursed Lust better then an immortal Soul that he chuseth rather to serve his Sin then to serve his God 4. There are some persons who quit a Religion that 's good and take up one that 's naught because some secular Interest invites them to it See this in 2 Particulars 1. The hopes of Profit Preferments Honours some worldly Advantage or other doth prevail sometimes with such and such persons to alter their Religion and that for the worse too 'T is very possible that at some times and in some places a man's Religion may stand betwixt him and his gain betwixt him and some considerable Advancement in the world In this case the man perhaps for a while may be at a stand he disputes with himself whether 't is better to gratifie his Conscience or his Interest But at length the temptation prevails he thinks it better to serve himself then his Maker and to part with his present Religion rather then with his present Hopes I remember what a Complaint Saint Paul makes of this to Timothy 2 Tim. 4.10 Demas hath forsaken me But what moved him thus to forsake his friend and his Religion both at once The account is this having loved this present world The Sinner considers that the main Rewards of Religion if there be any such things do lie elsewhere and are but in Reversion yea but the World hath something for him in hand and this Consideration tempts and overcomes O how many Souls And with this kind of Vermin doth the Roman Church bait her Hooks and catch her most considerable Fish 'T is well known that some learned men of our Nation have now and then deserted our Church and run away to Rome but what should be the matter what drives men hence and what invites them thither Alas the Church of England how well soever it seem provided yet it hath been so curtailed and pinched that it hath not an Estate left for every Son 't is otherwise at Rome their Monasteries are flourishing their Abbies are fat their Bishopricks are numerous and rich and what is more what Hypocrite would not be encouraged by the hopes of a Cardinal's Cap and the possibility of a Triple Crown Certain it is so direfull are the effects of Discontent and Pride and so inviting are the Promises of some secular and great Advantage that men who grow too sensible of their own Parts and Merits from their want of Preferments at home and their hopes thereof abroad will even quit their Religion forsake their Mother's bosome and accept the Embraces of that Roman Whore because she is better able to lap up in Scarlet But is this indeed a sufficient ground for the changing of our Religion doth it indeed make for our honour to prove so having and so mercenary as to cast off the true Service of God and accept the Devil's Drudgery and that barely in hopes of some better and present Vails Sure it is the nature and practice of true Religion is gentile and honourable and as sure it is the nature and practice of Idolatry and Superstition is sordid base and vile and if so then methinks no ingenuous Soul no man that
off that slender Objection which some inconsiderate persons are wont to make against our excellent Liturgy as if it were the worse because derived as they say from the Roman Missal For what if the Reformers of our Religion took that very Book which was then the Rule of Divine Service throughout the Kingdom and after a serious Enquiry into all its Parts and Offices razed and blotted out whatever deserved the Spunge shall we blame them if after they had thus proved all things which is the first Command in the Text they did also in obedience to the second hold fast that which is good When Solomon was to build the Temple I do not find that he liked his Materials one jot the worse because they were fetcht from Hiram who was a mere Pagan and an Idolatrous King no the Cedars being good though presented by a wicked hand yet Solomon liked them and so did God Almighty too The case is much like ours When those eminent Persons of our Nation under the happy Reigns of Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth had leave and opportunity to rebuild God's House and repair the wofull Ruines of his Religion their great care was to furnish themselves with good Materials not much regarding whence they had them Their business was not to erect a new Church but mend an old one and in so doing they did no more then what is usually done by those persons who are not so much to build as to repair Put the case that a man take a ruinous house in pieces with a design to contrive and raise it better shall we condemn this man for a fool if throwing away whatever Stones and Timber prove to be naught and rotten he do use such old Materials as do appear firm and sound even as new ones Thus stood the case with the Reformers of our Church They were encouraged to new mould that old Religion which had been corrupted well they took it in pieces they considered all its Parts whatever was naught and vicious they laid aside but whatever was good they still retained and who can justly blame them Pray tell me if Gold be right if it be cleansed and scoured what is it the worse for being found upon a Dunghil And if the Liturgy of our Church be such Gold indeed if it be so well purified and so throughly reformed that it exceeds all Liturgies besides what is it the worse if perhaps some parcels of it were borrowed from the same Rome from which peradventure after the Invasion of the Pagan Saxons we recovered by the hand of Austin the Monk our very Bibles too What our Concern is my Text informs us Prove all things search try examine that Service of our Church which our Reformers have recommended to us and when once that 's done if we find it innocent good and holy here 's our duty Hold it fast III. Consider how much to blame those persons are who out of Ignorance or Debauchery from Hopes or Fears or the prevalence of such and such Examples have deserted the Reformed Religion and embraced the Roman Religion shall I say or Superstition Such persons in stead of obeying the great Command of my Text have most shamefully broke it in stead of holding fast that which is good they have very unworthily let it goe That the Reformed Religion is certainly good that the Roman Religion where it differs from ours is certainly naught many pious and learned Divines of our own and other Churches have proved by such Arguments as the Pope and all his Councils can never answer without Sophistry and with Satisfaction They have proved the Reformed Religion to be that very Religion which Christ and his Apostles taught the world that Religion which the most Ancient and wisest Councils ratified that Religion which the most early and judicious Fathers have confirmed that Religion which Pagan Tyrants persecuted that Religion which enabled the Martyrs with Comfort and Joy to kiss the Stake and embrace the Flame that Religion which teacheth man to serve his God obey his Prince and love his Neighbour And if so if the Reformed Religion be indeed the Religion of God whereas that of Rome in many things is but the mere Invention of man if the Reformed Religion teach us the Worship of God alone whereas that of Rome requires the Adoration of Creatures too if the Reformed Religion teach us to obey and honour even wicked Rulers whereas that of Rome teacheth the deposing and assassination of all Princes how good soever that do not please them if the Reformed Religion doth protest against the Breach of sacred Oaths and other Sins whereas that of Rome dispenseth with them in a word if the Reformed Religion be certainly good and that of Rome stark naught I beseech you by all that tender respect which you have for your Comfort in this world or your Interest in the next by all that regard which you have for Christ and his Church for the honour of God or the Soul of man Be stedfast be unmovable be not trepanned out of your Religion be not surprized nor cheated nor yet be scared and frighted out of your most holy Faith O remember what my Text commands Hold fast that which is good Why Sirs my soul for yours your present Religion is such 't is good 't is holy 't is a Religion that advanceth Vertue and beats down Vice 't is a Religion that exalteth Christ and layeth the Creature low 't is a Religion that pleaseth God and saves man and if so will you cast it off and change it for a worse Shall we be so much like Aesop's Dog as to exchange Substances for mere Shadows Shall we be such Naturals and perfect Fools as to exchange Pearls of value for splendid and gawdy Trifles It s true indeed the Religion of Rome doth transcend and out-shine ours in external Pomp and bravery but what then 't is not this which takes with God and why should it take with man There is many a dissembling Hypocrite that makes a more glorious shew then the real Saint the dirty Comets do outblaze the real Star and yet shall we like them better no 't is not for men but children to be taken with Babies and Puppets Secure your selves that the Religion of Rome though it be magnificent and pompous yet 't is naught though it seem never so fair and fine yet 't is rotten be confident that if you change you change for the worse you cannot change but you must dishonour God and undoe your selves I tell you again 't is worse far worse to be made and turned a Papist then to be bred one The man that is so bred from his Infancy though his case be dangerous enough yet here is something that extenuateth his Sin he neither doth nor perhaps for want of all better means can know any thing that 's better and upon that score as he may justly plead so peradventure God may mercifully spare his Ignorance But however it fares with him it will be worse with that person who being bred in the Reformed Church where no means are wanting for his Confirmation in the Protestant Faith which he there embraced doth notwithstanding upon this or that Pretence cast it off turn Romanist and thereby doth at once become an Idolater and an Apostate too How God may deal with those who are born and bred in the Roman Church that are devout in their way and think themselves right I cannot tell but as for the Protestant who might know and yet is ignorant if he be betrayed by that supine and inexcusable Ignorance of his or tempted some other way to the Change of his Religion his Sin is greater his Shame is greater and his Danger is greater too and so great that 't is more then probable that whosoever doth thus remove from the True Church of England to that Corrupted one of Rome without a timely Repentance and a serious Recantation his next remove will be from Earth to Hell Δόξα Θεῷ FINIS * Euseb Hist l. 5. pag. 196.