viz. that we ought not to rely upon Scripture even for those Articles without believing of which we can have no sufficient Ground to rely upon the Authority of their Church For I would fain know is it clear and plain from Scripture that the present Catholick Church of every Age hath Authority to define the Articles of Faith and that in all its Definitions it is infallible and that the present Church of Rome is this Catholick Church If so how come those Texts upon which those Articles are founded to be understood in a quite different Sense not only by us but by the greatest Part of the Primitive Fathers as hath been abundantly proved by Protestant Writers Supposing that we should be so blinded by our Partiality to our own Tenets as to misapprehend plain and clear Expressions of Scripture it is very strange methinks that the Fathers who were never engaged in the Controversy and so could not be biass'd either one way or t'other should yet misapprehend them too What is this but to say that let Men be never so indifferent yet they may be easily mistaken in the Sense of very plain and clear Expressions and if so what signifies either Speaking or Writing But to proceed to some Instances will any modest Man in the World affirm that the Church of Rome's infallibility in defining Articles of Faith to all succeeding Generations is more plainly exprest in those Words of our Saviour Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church than the Divinity of our Saviour is in the Beginning of the first Chaper of St. Iohn's Gospel where it is expresly affirmed that he is God whereas in the other there is not the least mention either of the Church of Rome or of Infallibility or defining Articles of Faith Why may we not then as well depend upon the one Text for the Article of our Saviour's Divinity as upon the other for that of the Church of Rome's Infallibility Again are there not innumerable Texts of Scripture wherein the Articles of Remission of Sin the Resurrection of the Dead the last Iudgment and the World to come are at least as plainly exprest as the present Church of Rome's Infallibility is in any of those Texts that are urged in the Defence of it and therefore if we believe the later upon the Authority of Scripture notwithstanding the pretended Obscurity of it why may we not as well upon the same Authority believe all the former since the former are at least as plainly exprest as the later Either therefore the Scripture is plain enough to be relyed upon as to this Article of the Church of Rome's Infallibility or it is not if it be not we have no Ground for our Dependence upon the Authority of her Definitions and Proposals if it be it 's plain enough to be relyed upon in all other necessary Articles of Faith since these are all as plainly at least expres'd in Scripture as that For if we may not rely upon Scripture because it is not plain then where it is equally plain it is equally to be relyed on 3. That when we come to rely upon this Church's Authority we are exposed to far greater Uncertainties than while we relied upon the Authority of Scripture For in the first place we are of all sides agreed that the Scripture is infallible and that such and such Writings are Parts of Scripture and therefore are absolutely secure that if we follow the true Sense of it it cannot mislead us But the much greater Part of Christians deny that the Church of Rome is infallible even the Church of Rome it self owns the Authority we rely on to be infallible but all Christians all the World over besides those of her own Communion disallow hers to be so and to forsake our Dependence upon an Infallibility which all own to rely upon an Infallibility which but few in Comparison admit is certainly a very dangerous Venture And then Secondly As for the Infallibility of Scripture we are certain where to find it viz. in every Text and in every Proposition therein contained which being all the Word of God must be all infallible But as for the Infallibility of the Roman Church as they have handled the Matter it is almost as difficult to find as to prove it some cry lo it is here and some lo it is there some place it in the Pope only others in the Pope and his College of Cardinals some in the Pope presiding in a General Council others in a General Council whether the Pope preside in it or no. So that in this Church it seems there is Infallibility somewhere but what are we the better for it if we know not where to find it If we go to the Pope for it there have been two or three Popes at once that have decreed against one another and therefore one or t'other of them to be sure were mistaken How then shall we know which is the true infallible one And when I have found the true Pope others tell me I am not yet arrived at the Seat of Infallibility until I have found him in his College of Cardinals and when I have found him here I am still to seek seeing I find the same Pope Eugenius the Fourth for Instance decreeing one Thing in his College of Cardinals and the quite contrary in a general Council and therefore I am sure he could not be infallible in both Therefore others send me to the Pope in a General Council but when I come thither I find my self at a Loss again because I meet with several Instances of one Pope's defining one Thing in one General Council and another Pope the quite contrary in another and therefore in one or t'other Council I am sure the one or t'other Pope was mistaken And as for General Councils themselves there are sundry of them which are owned by some and rejected by others of the principal Doctors of the Roman Communion And even when Councils are legally assembled there are so many nice Disputes among them what it is that makes them General and when it is that they act Conciliariter as they call it that is so as to render their Decrees perpetually and universally obliging that though we were resolved to build our Faith upon the Authority of this Church yet if we will use that Caution in believing that we ought to do in a Matter of so great Moment we should find our selves involved in greater Uncertainties concerning these Things than we are concerning the Sense even of the most difficult Places of Scripture But then Thirdly When we are pass'd over all these Difficulties we are still at as great a Loss to understand what is the Sense of the Church to be believed by us as what is the Sense of Scripture For the Church hath no other way to deliver her Sense to us but either by Oral Tradition that is by Word of Mouth or by Writing If She deliver her Sense to me by
the Peoples Minds and Manners St. Paul tells us the quite contrary These Things were our Examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they i. e. the Israelites in the Wilderness lusted Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come 1 Cor. 10. 6 7 8 9 10 11. Whereas this Objection urges that there are sundry Passages in Scripture which should the People read would excite evil Thoughts in their Minds The same St. Paul tells us That all Scripture is profitable not only for Doctrine and Reproof but also for correction for instruction in righteousness 2 Tim. 3. 16. Whereas this Objection pretends that it would be very unsafe for young People especially to be allowed the Scripture because there are several amorous Stories and Passages in it which will be apt to suggest wanton Thoughts to their gay and amorous Fancies David it is plain was of a quite contrary Mind for wherewith saith he shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Psal. 119. 9. than which two Passages what Assertions can be more contrary one to another 4. And lastly That supposing this Objection to be thus â—ar true that there are some Passages in Scripture which may sometimes occasionally excite bad Thoughts in Mens Minds yet this is no just Reason why the Use of Scripture should be forbid to the People For every Thing which the People occasionally make bad Uses of is for that Reason to be forbid to them even Prayer and the Sacraments and the Profession of Christianity ought to be forbidden them as well as the Scripture seeing of the one as well as of the other many People do occasionally make very bad Uses So long as the Scripture is good in it self and apt in its own Nature to instruct and edifie those that read it this is sufficient not only to warrant the Peoples Use of it but to enjoyn and require it and if it sometimes occasion corrupt Thoughts in corrupt Minds this is no more a Reason why the People should be deprived of the Light of it than some bad Mens making ill Use of the Light of the Sun is why the Sun should be extinguished or why the People should be for ever shut up from the Light of it in dark and dismal Dungeons But as for those very Passages of Scripture which do sometimes occasion ill Thoughts in Mens Minds they are so far from doing it of their own Natures that as they are delivered in Scripture there is nothing more naturally apt to repress bad Thoughts and to arm and fortifie Mens Minds against them As for instance The bad Examples recorded in Scripture are generally delivered with infamous Characters severe Prohibitions and dreadful Instances of God's Vengeance attending them which render them much more apt to repress than to excite evil Thoughts in Mens Minds to quicken them to Prayer and Watchfulness against Temptations and when at any Time they have been overcome by them to encourage them to Repentance or when they have overcome them to stir them up to a grateful Acknowledgment of that preventing and assisting Grace of God by which they have been enabled to resist and repel them These are the natural Uses of those bad Examples recorded in Scripture and therefore if instead of making these Uses of them some Men pervert them to bad Purposes that is their Faults and not the Scriptures It is sufficient that the bad Examples in Scripture as they are there recorded are in themselves of excellent Use to the People but should Men be deprived of the Use of every good Thing they abuse I would fain know what one good Thing would be left free to their Enjoyment And now having proved at large the Peoples Right and Obligation to Use and Search the Holy Scripture and answered the main Objections against it I shall conclude with these two Inferences from the whole 1. If the People are obliged to acquaint themselves with Scripture then they are obliged to receive upon the Authority of Scripture those Divine Truths which it proposes to their Belief For to what other end should we be obliged to read and consult the Word of God but only that we may learn from it what is his Mind and Will but how should we learn from Scripture what God's Mind is if we are not to believe what he therein declares upon Scripture Authority If I must not believe when I read the Scripture that this is God's Mind because the Scripture says so it is impossible I should ever learn God's Mind by reading it and consequently I am obliged to read it to no Purpose For there is nothing can teach me what God's Mind is but that which gives me sufficient Ground to believe that what it teaches is the Mind of God When therefore I read the Scripture and find such a Proposition plainly asserted in it is this a sufficient Ground or no for me to believe it to be the Mind of God If it be then the Authority of Scripture is a sufficient Ground for my Belief If it be not then the Scripture cannot teach me what God's Mind is because it cannot give me sufficient Ground to believe any one Proposition in it to be the Mind of God We are told indeed that we are not to receive the Sense of the Scripture from the Scripture but from the Church who alone hath Authority to Expound it to us and whose Expositions in all Matters of Faith are infallible But if this be so to what End should we read the Scripture seeing the only End of Reading is to learn the Sense of what we read which according to this Principle is not to be learnt from Scripture So that though there be no other wise End of reading the Scripture but only to learn from it what it means yet it seems for Men to read it for this End is a perfect Labour in Vain seeing it is not from the Scripture but from the Church that they are to learn the Meaning of Scripture For as for the Scripture if these Men are to be believed it is nothing but a heap of unsensed Characters so they expresly term it But what do they mean by it Is it that the Scripture consists of a company of Letters and Syllables and Words that carry with them no determinate Sense that God Almighty hath written and published a Book to the World that means nothing If so then when the Church by its infallible Authority pretends to expound the Scripture Her meaning is not to expound the
be the Church and yet still be mistaken In short no Authority can render me infallibly certain but that which is infallible no Infallibility can render me infallibly certain but that of which I have an infallible Certainty Either therefore the Scripture can render me infallibly certain of the Infallibility of their Church and if it cannot I am sure nothing can or it cannot if it can why may it not as well render me infallibly certain of other Principles of Christianity which are at least as plainly revealed in it as that If it cannot how can I be infallibly certain that any Thing she defines and declares to me is true If then the Authority of Scripture can give us an infallible Certainty we have as just a Pretence to it as They it being upon this Authority that we ground our Faith if it cannot neither they nor we can justly pretend to it because they can no otherwise be infallibly certain of their own Infallibility but by Scripture But the Truth of it is God never intended either that they or we should be infallibly certain in the Matters of our Religion for after all the Means of Certainty that he hath given us he still supposes that we may err and plainly tells us that there must be Heresies and that even from among the Members of the true Church where infallible Certainty is if it be any where there should arise false Teachers who should bring in damnable Doctrines which could never have happened if he had left any such Means to his Church as should render her Children infallibly certain All that he designed was to leave us such sufficient Means of Certainty in Religion as that we might not err either dangerously or damnably without our own Fault He hath left us his Word and in that hath plainly discovered to us all that is necessary for us to believe in order to eternal Life He hath left us a standing Ministry in his Church to explain his Word to us and to guide us in the Paths of Righteousness and Truth but still he requires us to search the one and attend to the other with honest humble and teachable Minds and if we do not we may err not only dangerously but damnably and it is but fit and just we should But if we diligently search the Scripture and faithfully rely upon its Authority without doing of which we search it in vain if we sincerely attend to the publick Ministry with Minds prepared to receive the Truth in the Love of it though we may possibly err in Matters of less Moment yet as to all Things necessary to our eternal Salvation our Faith shall be inviolably secured and this is as much as any honest Man needs or as any honest Church can promise 2. From hence also I infer that in the Matters of our Faith and Religion God doth expect that we should make use of our own Reason and Judgment For to what End should he put us upon searching the Scriptures but that thereby we may inform our selves what those Things are which he hath required us to believe and practise But if it were his Mind that we should wholly rely upon the Authority of our Church or of our Spiritual â—â—ids and submit our Faith to their Dictates without any Examination what a needless and impertâ—â—â—nt Imployment would this be for us to search and consult the Scriptures Consult them for what it we are not to follow their Guidance and Direction and to take the Measures of our Faith and Manners from them And if for this End God hath obliged us to consult them as to be sure it can be for no other End then he hath obliged us to imploy our own Reason and Judgment to consider what they say and enquire what they mean otherwise he hath obliged us to consult them to no Purpose It is as evident therefore that God will have us use our own Reason and Judgment in discerning what we are to believe and what not in Religion and not lazily rely upon others to see and discern and believe for us as it is that he would have us search and consult the Scriptures and that I think is evident enough from what hath been said to any one that is not resolved to admit of a Conviction And indeed seeing our Reason is the noblest Faculty we have it would be very strange if God should not allow it to intermeddle in the highest and most important Affair wherein he hath engaged us and seeing it is our Reason only that renders us capable of Religion what an odd Thing would it be for God to forbid us making use of our Reason in the most important Concerns of Religion that is indistinguishing what is true Religion from what is false and what we ought to believe from what we ought to reject I know it is pretended by those who urge the absolute Necessity of submitting our Reason to the Church that they allow Men to make Use of their own Reason and Judgment in discovering which the true Church is and that all they contend for is only this that when once Men have found the true Church they ought to enquire no farther but immediately to deliver up their Reason and Understanding to it and believe every Thing it believes without any farther Examination So that before Men come into their Church it seems they are allowed to see for themselves but after they are in they must wink and follow their Guides and depute them to see and understand for them which to such Men as are not quite sick of their own Reason and Understandings should methinks be a great Temptation to keep them out of their Church for ever For if I may judge for my self while I am out of it but must not while I am in it I must be very fond of parting with my own Eyes and Reason if ever I come into it at all But suppose I was always in it and had been bred up in its Communion from my Infancy will they allow me when I come to the full use of my Reason fairly to question whether theirs be the only true Church or no and to hear the Reasons and examine the Scriptures and consult the Doctors on both sides No by no means this I am forbid under the Penalty of being deprived of the Benefit of Priestly Absolution So that in short they will allow me to make Use of my Reason if I have been bred an Heretick in order to my Reconciliation to their Church but if I have never been an Heretick I must never use my Reason to examine the Truth either of my Church or Religion that is to say I may use my Reason when there is no other Remedy and I must continue a Heretick if I do not But it were much better that I had never had Occasion to use my Reason at all So that according to these Men the Use of our Reason in Religion is only the least of two Evils
to believe such Things as are obscure and doubtful and uncertain and of which they can have no certain Knowledge Either the Necessaries to Salvation must be plainly and clearly expres'd in Scripture or we have not sufficient Reason to believe them and to say God will damn us for not believing those Things which he hath not given us sufficient Reason to believe is to charge him with the most outragious Oppression and Injustice But we are told that though God hath not clearly revealed to us in Scripture those Things which he hath obliged us to believe upon Pain of Damnation yet he hath left us sufficient Reason to believe them for he hath left us to the Conduct of an infallible Church that is to say of the present Church of Rome in all Ages whom he hath authorized to explain and define to us all Things that are necessary to be believed which we are to receive upon her Authority and not upon the Scriptures so that if we firmly believe what She defines and proposes to us we are sure to believe all Things that are necessary to be believed Now in Answer to this Objection which indeed is the great Foundation that the Faith of those of the present Church of Rome relies on I desire these Things may be seriously considered 1. That before we can reasonably rely upon the Authority of the present Church of Rome in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith there are sundry Things that we must believe upon the Authority of Scripture 2. That these Things which we must believe from Scripture before we can rely upon the Authority of that Church are at least as obscurely revealed in Scripture as any other Article of our Christian Faith 3. That after all these Things upon our relying on that Church's Authority we are left to the same or greater Uncertainties than upon our relying upon the Authority of Scripture 4. That in relying upon the Authority of Scripture we are left to no other Uncertainties than just what is necessary to render our Faith vertuous and rewardable whereas by relying upon the Authority of that Church supposing it to be a certain Ground as it is pretended our Faith would have little or nothing of Virtue in it 1. That before we can reasonably rely upon the Authority of that Church in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith there are sundry Things that we must believe upon the Authority of Scripture As for Instance we must in the first Place believe that there is a Church or Society of Christians separated from the World or incorporated by a peculiar Divine Charter Now whether there be such a Church or no is a Question that must be resolved by the Scripture and not by the Church because to believe that there is a Church because the Church saith there is a Church is to take that for granted which is the Thing in Question Secondly We must believe that this Church hath Authority to define and propose to us the Articles of our Faith which must also for the same Reason be believed on the Authority of the Scripture and not of the Church For to believe that there is a Church that hath Authority to propose to us the Articles of our Faith is to believe that there is a Church which we are obliged to believe and how can I believe this upon the Church's Authority unless I can believe it before I do believe it Thirdly Before we can rely upon this Church's Authority in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith we must believe that this Church is infallible for if she be not infallible how is it consistent with the Truth of God to oblige us to believe Her seeing in so doing he must oblige us whensoever She errs to believe her Errors but that She is infallible is not to be believed upon her own Authority for then her infallible Authority must be the Reason of our Belief that She is infallible that is we must believe her infallible because we believe her infallible Seeing then we cannot believe it on her own Authority if we believe it at all it must be upon the Authority of Scripture Fourthly Before we can rely upon the Church of Rome's Authority to define to us the Articles of our Faith we must believe the Church of Rome to be this infallible Church But seeing this is no self-evident Principle we must have some other Evidence besides her self to induce us to believe it and what else can that be but Scripture We are told indeed by some of her greatest Divines that there are certain Marks and Notes of a true Church peculiar to the Church of Rome by which we are obliged to believe Her the true Church such as Antiquity Vniversality Holiness of Doctrine c. But seeing no Doctrine can be holy that is not true we must be satisfied that that Church is true before we can know that it is holy so that before we can reasonably submit to her Athority we must be very well assured that her Doctrine is true and this we cannot be assured of by her Authority because that as yet is the Matter in Qustion and therefore we can be no otherwise assured of it but only by the Authority of Scripture and when we are assured beforehand by the Authority of Scripture that her Doctrines are true her Authority comes too late to assure us Seeing therefore it is evident that there are some if not all the Articles of the Roman Faith that must be known and believed by us upon the Authority of Scripture before we can safely rely upon her Authority to define them to us how can we be obliged to settle our Faith upon her Authority when as before we can reasonably admit her Authority we must believe several of the Articles of our Faith upon the Authority of Scripture For I would fain know are these Articles of Faith or no That there is a Church that this Church hath Authority to define the Articles of our Faith and that in so defining this Church is infallible and that this infallible Church is the Church of Rome If they be as they themselves own they are then there are some Articles it seems that must be believed without the Church's Authority upon the single Authority of Scripture and if some why not all why should not the Scripture be as sufficient to authorize us to believe the Rest as these since its Authority is as great in one Text as in onother Especially considering 2. That these Things which we must believe from Scripture before we can rely upon the Authority of the Church of Rome are at least as obscurely revealed in Scripture as any other Article of our Christian Faith The great Reason urged by the Romanists against our Relyance upon the Scripture for our Faith is the Obscurity of it and if this be a good Reason it proves a great deal more than they would have it
Oral Tradition how can I know what that is who never heard Her speak either in its diffused Body or in a General Council or in any other Representative unless it be that of my own Parish-Priest perhaps who for all I know may be Ignorant or Heretical and so either not understand himself the Church's Oral Tradition or wilfully pervert it to a contrary Meaning And if the Church deliver her Sense to me by Writing as She hath done in the written Decrees of her General Councils must I read over all her Decrees How should I do that who understand not so much as the Languages in which they are written Or suppose they were Translated how shall I know that they are faithfully render'd any more than I do that the Scripture is so But suppose I were certain of this and should thereupon proceed to read them alass I find in them a great many difficult and dubious Expressions yea and at least seeming Contradictions to each other how then can I be more certain of the true Sense of these Writings than of the Sense of the Writings of Scripture But you will say the Church hath digested her Sense of all her Articles of Faith into a plain Creed and Catechism viz. that of the Council of Trent whereby the plainest Reader may without any laborious Enquiries be readily instructed what he ought to believe This I confess is something but as for those Articles of Faith wherein We and the Church of Rome are agreed we find them as plainly expressed in Scripture as in that Creed and Catechism and therefore we have Reason to believe that if those Articles wherein we disagree had ever been intended for Articles of Faith they would have been as plainly express'd there as these but 't is no wonder we should not find them plainly express'd there when we cannot find them express'd there at all But do we not find that the Scriptures even in the plainest Expressions of Articles of Faith have yet been perverted by Hereticks into a contrary Meaning And what then Are not the Words of Councils as liable to be perverted into a contrary Meaning as the Words of Scripture For do not the Roman Doctors differ as much about the Sense of their Councils as we do about the Sense of our Scriptures Yea and have we not a notorius Instance of it at this very Day For what can be more contrary than Belarmine's Exposition of the Trent Faith and the Bishop of Condom's And yet both allowed by the Pope who by the Authority of that Council is made sole Arbitrator of the Sense of it But then Fourthly and lastly As to the Sense of Scripture our Reliance on the Authority of that Church leaves us at as great an Uncertainty as it found us For where the Scripture designs to speak plainly as it doth in all Things necessary to salvation the Church cannot speak plainer and therefore there we may understand the Scripture as well without the Church as with it but where it doth not speak plainly the Church of Rome hath left us no infallible Commentary whereby to understand it so that where the Scripture is plain She hath not made it plainer and where it is obscure She hath left it as obscure as ever So that after all the Noise that is made of Infallibility her Doctors are fain to apply themselves to the same Methods of Understanding Scripture that is to consult the Sense of Antiquity and compare Text with Text and the like that we fallible Protestants do and when they have done all are as lyable to be mistaken as we Nay they themselves confess that even General Councils themselves may be mistaken in their Applications of Scripture that is that they may misapply them to wrong Purposes which they cannot do without mistaking the Sense of them of which there are a great many notorious Instances in the second Council of Nice which to prove it the Duty of Christians to worship Images urges God's taking Clay and making Man after his own Image and likewise that of Esay There shall be a Sign and Testimony to the Lord in the Land of Egypt and also those Passages of David Confession and Beauty is before him Lord I have loved the beauty of thy House O Lord my Face hath sought for thee O Lord I will seek after thy Countenance O Lord the light of thy Countenance is sealed over us And from that Passage As we have seen so have we heard they argue that there must be Images to look on and because it is said God is marvellous in his Saints they conclude that the Church must be deck'd with Pictures And from No man lighteth a Candle and putteth it under a bushel they wisely infer that Images must be set upon the Altar All which are as remote from their Sense as the first Verse of the first Chapter of Genesis What greater Certainty have they with their Infallibility than we without it We can know as well the Sense of plain Texts of Scripture as of plain Texts of Councils or Creeds or Catechisms and we can as easily pervert the Sense of the one as of the other And as for those that are not plain even General Councils you see for all their Infallibility may be mistaken about them as well as we So that when all comes to all by forsaking the infallible Authority of Scripture to rely upon the infallible Authority of that Church we are so far from arriving at a greater Certainty of Faith that we are involved in greater Uncertainties than ever But then 4. And lastly in relying upon the Authority of Scripture we are left to no other Uncertainties than just what are necessary to render our Faith vertuous and rewardable whereas by relying upon the Authority of the Church of Rome supposing it were as sure a Ground of Faith as it is pretended our Faith would have little or nothing of Virtue in it It is pretended though falsly you see that that Church's Authority is so sure a Ground of Faith that while a Man depends upon it he cannot be mistaken in any necessary Article of Faith which in Reality amounts to no more than this That while a Man believes as that Church believes which infallibly believes all that is necessary to Salvation he infallibly believes all that is necessary to Salvation and it is equally true that while a Man believes as the Scripture teaches which infallibly teaches all that is necessary to Salvation he infallibly believes all that is necessary to Salvation that is both are equally false For no Man can infallibly believe either the Church or Scripture because Infallibility exceeds the Capacity of humane Nature no Man can so believe either but that he may be mistaken and if he may be mistaken its possible he may not believe all that is necessary to Salvation whether he grounds his Faith upon the Church or the Scripture But because this Church pretends so to secure my Faith while I
their delicious Streams by Reason of its own overâ—lowing Gall. So that after we have finally rejected our Saviour we are neither capable of being indemnifyed from Hell nor of enjoying Heaven and having cast our selves beyond the Reach of all Mercy into a State wherein we can neither begin to be happy nor cease to be miserable our Case is desperate and there is no Remedy but our Souls must be lost and undone for ever 3ly Our forsaking of Christ infers the everlasting Loss of our Souls as it is an open Violation of the fixed and stated Condition of Mercy The fixed and immoveable Condition of the Mercy of the Gospel is that we should constantly adhere to our Saviour by a true Faith and a sincere Obedience and that whenever we fall off from him either into Infidelity or Heresy or Disobedience we should remember from whence we are fallen and return again to him by a deep and serious Repentance And indeed this Condition is so low and condescending that it was impossible for the wise God and Governour of the World to propose his Mercy to us at a lower or easier Rate and if God should have asked our Consent upon what Conditions he should propose to us the Mercies of his Gospel this would have been the utmost Favour that we could in Modesty have craved of him that he would be so gracious as to accept our unfeigned Faith and sincere Obedience and that whenever we fall off either from the one or the other he would admit us to Repentance and receive us again upon our Return and Amendment And should he have proposed his Mercy to us upon any lower Terms he must of Necessity have let go the Reins of his Government and given us a free Toleration for all manner of Wickedness Had the Condition of his Mercy been but one step lower than Repentance it had totally dissolved the Obligation of his Laws and reduced the humane World into a perfect Anarchy For should he have prostituted his Mercy to impenitent Sinners he must have made it a Refuge for obstinate Rebels to fly to and shelter themselves from the Reach of his Authority and how inconsistent would this have been with the Wisdom of his Government This therefore being the lowest Condition upon which the wise and holy God can propose his Mercy to us there is no Ground to hope that after we have rejected this and are finally fallen off from it he will make any new Proposal to us For he hath yielded as much already to the Weakness and Inconstancy of our Natures as he could possibly do with safety to his Government and if this will not suffice we may depend upon it that he will rather consent to sacrifice our Souls to his righteous Vengeance than his own Authority to our obstinate Wills So that when once we have finally rejected our Saviour and shaken hands for ever with Faith and Obedience and Repentance too we are quite beyond the Reach of any wise Mercy and then how deplorable must our Condition be when Things are reduced to this desperate Issue That God must either consent to be foolishly merciful to us or to abandon our Souls to everlasting Perdition 4ly And lastly Our forsaking of Christ infers the everlasting Loss of our Souls as it is an utter Rejection of our last Remedy For the last Remedy which God hath prepared for Mankind to heal the Malignity of their Natures and recover them from eternal Misery is the meritorious Death and Sacrifice of his blessed Son who voluntarily undertaking to be the Attorney-General and Common Representative of sinful Men suffered Death in our stead as a vicarious Mulct and Punishment for our Sins upon which the most merciful Father hath granted to all believing and truly penitent Sinners a general Indemnity from eternal Punishments to which they were bound over by their Sins and Rebellions by virtue of which Grant as soon as we believe in Christ and do thereupon sincerely repent of our Sins we are totally absolved from those everlasting Punishments whereunto they have exposed and obliged us And this Sacrifice of Christ being the last Remedy which God hath provided for our Guilt and the Grant of Pardon which God hath made in Consideration of it being confined to believing and penitent Sinners it hence necessarily follows that they who finally persist in Vnbelief or Impenitency do thereby for ever cut themselves off from all Interest in that Sacrifice and from all Title to that Pardon that is granted upon it and consequently leave themselves for ever destitute of all Hope of Pardon and Indemnity for the future So that by renouncing Christ we do renounce his Sacrifice which is the last and only Remedy we have to depend upon Hence Heb. 10. 26. we are told that if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin that is if after we have been baptized and initiated into Christianity we relapse into Infidelity or wilful Disobedience we do thereby forfeit our Interest in Christ's Sacrifice and when we have once rejected our Interest in that there remains no other Sacrifice for Sin i.e. no other Sacrifice upon which God will pardon and indemnify us So that now all that remains to us is that which follows in the next Verse viz. A certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries For when we have finally baffled our last and utmost Remedy the Condition of our Souls must needs be desperate and incurable When by our obstinate Unbelief or final Impenitence we have out-sinned the Virtue of our Saviour's Sacrifice we are out of the Reach and Compass of God's Pardon and so consequently are sunk beyond all Hopes of Recovery into endless and irreversible Damnation For now that precious Blood which if we had believed and repented would have spoke better things for us than the Blood of Abel will rise in Judgment against us and like the Blâ—od of those Souls that are under the Altar will charge and impeach and be continually imprecating the Vengeance of Heaven upon us And when that which was prepared for the last and utmost Remedy of our Souls shall be converted into their Bane and that which was intended for their Advocate shall become their Accuser when that vocal Blood and those speaking Wounds which pleaded for shall plead against and cry out instantly for Judgment upon them what can they henceforth expect but everlasting Ruin and Destruction What then remains that since our forsaking of Christ will so infallibly infer the Ruin of our Souls we all return to and cleave fast to our Saviour in our Belief and Obedience That we who are fallen off from him into a Course of wilful Sin and Disobedience immediately return again by a deep and serious Repentance For the Way in which we are walking leads directly to Destruction every Step of it is a Descent into Hell and next to the