not our Relations or our Friends onely but also all Mankind and to do good to all without exception though especially to the Houshold of Faith to good men Nay our Saviour hath laid a strict charge upon us not to exclude our malicious enemies from our love that is of benevolence but to pray for them that despitefully use us and to Bless those that Curse us Which Law as harshly as it sounds to Carnal Persons they themselves cannot but acknowledge that what it enjoyneth is heroically and highly vertuous Secondly The Christian Precepts require the most Intensive Holiness Not onely Negative but Positive as was now intimated that is Not onely the forbearance of what is evil but the performance also of what is good Not onely Holiness of Actions and Words but likewise of Affections and Thoughts The worship of God with the Spirit as well as with the outward man a Holy frame and habit of mind as well as a holy life They forbid cherishing sin in the heart as well as practising it in the Conversation They make Iusting after a Woman Adultery as well as the Gross Act of Uncleanness They make Malice Murther as well as Killing They forbid Coveting no less than defrauding and being in love with this worlds goods as much as getting them by unlawful means And I shall digress so far as to say That there is infinite Reason that Thoughts and the inward workings of mens souls should be restrained by Laws upon these two accounts First Because Irregular Thoughts and Affections are the immediate Depravers of Mens Natures and therefore it is as necessary in order to the design of making men Holy that these should be forbidden as that evil Actions and Words should But suppose this were otherwise Yet Secondly Laws made against evil words and Actions would signifie very little if men were left at liberty as to their Thoughts and Affections It would be to very little purpose to forbid men to do evil if they might think and love it For where the sparks of Sin are kept glowing in the Soul how can they be kept from breaking out into a Flame in the Life From the abundance of the Heart the Mouth will speak and the Hands act But to proceed The Precepts of the Gospel command us not onely to perform good Actions but also to do them after a right manner with right ends c. or in one word from good Principles Whatsoever we do to do it heartily as to the Lord and not as to men To be fervent in Spirit in our service of God To do all to the glory of God To be holy as he that hath called us is Holy in all manner of Conversation To be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Which Precepts shew that we ought to imitate him not onely in the matter of our actions but likewise in the qualifications of them Among which that which I said is Essential to true Holiness is a principal one namely To do good actions for those Reasons which moved God to enjoyn them and I adde which make it pleasing to him to perform them himself viz. because they are either in themselves and upon their own account excellent worthy and most fit to be done or are made so to be by some Circumstance Our whole Duty to God and our Neighbour as our Saviour hath told us is comprehended in the love of them But the love of God required by him is a most Intense love we are commanded to love him with all the Heart and Soul mind and strength And that of our Neighbour which he hath made our duty is such as for the kind of it is like the love which we bear to our selves such as will not permit us to wrong him in his good name any more than in his estate or person such as will not allow us rashly to speak or so much as think ill of him such as will cause us to put the best constructions on those actions of his that are capable of various interpretations c. And for the degree such as will make us willing to lay down our very lives for him that is for the promoting of his eternal happiness To summe up all together We are commanded to adde to our faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity To behave our selves in all respects towards our Creatour as becometh his Creatures and those which are under unspeakable obligations to him Towards one another as becometh those that are indued with the same Common nature and according to the diverse relations engagements and other Circumstances we stand in each to other and Towards our selves according as the Dignity of our Natures require we should In short whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest Whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report whatsoever things have vertue and praise in them are the objects of the Christian Precepts and by them recommended to us Let any one read but our Saviours incomparable Sermon upon the Mount the 12 th to the Romans and the third Chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians and well consider them and it will be strange should he find it difficult to assent to the truth of that Proposition Even Trypho himself in the Dialogue betwixt Iustin Martyr and him confessed that the Precepts contained in the Book called the Gospel are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great and Admirable He saith indeed that they are so admirable as that he suspected them not to be by Humane Nature Observable but in that he spake not unlike to himself that is a prejudiced and Carnal Iew. If it be now objected that notwithstanding what hath been said concerning the Christian Precepts recommending the most elevated Vertue to be practised by us it is acknowledged by all Sober Christians that they are not to be understood in so high a sense as to require of us indefective and unspotted Holiness or at least that our Saviour will accept of and reward that Holiness which is far short of Perfect and therefore he can be no such Great Friend to it as hath been affirmed The answer is very easie and obvious viz. That our Saviour's not rigidly exacting such a degree of Holiness as amounts to Perfection proceeds from hence that the attainment of it is in this state impossible to us and therefore it is not to be attributed to his liking or allowance of the least Sin but to his Special grace and good will to fallen Mankind Nay moreover it proceeds from his passionate desire that we may be as pure and holy as our unhappy Circumstances will admit he well knowing that should he declare that nothing short of Perfection shall be accepted at our hands he would make us desperate and take the most effectual Course to cause us to
person of the most holy Trinity must needs be false As also those that make Religion to be a mere Passive thing wholly God's work and not at all ours or that cramp men and perswade them that they are utterly void of the least ability to co-operate with the grace of God or to do any thing towards their own salvation or any way whatsoever discourage them from the diligent prosecution of Holiness or deprive us of any help afforded us towards our gaining and growth in grace either by putting a slur upon the written word in advancing above it the light within men and in Enthusiastical pretences to immediate Revelations c. Or else by teaching men to sleight any one Ordinance of the Gospel c. Or such Doctrines as tend to introduce confusion into the Church of Christ and to deprive it of all Government and Order or in short that give countenance to any Immorality whatsoever I say as sure as the Christian Religion is true and that what we have proved to be the Design thereof is so such Doctrines as these must needs be false What our Saviour saith of false Prophets is as true of most Doctrines By their fruits you shall know them we may understand whether they have any relation to Christianity or no by the Design they drive at and their evident consequences And I may adde that we may make a shrewd guess what those particular wayes and modes of Religion are which the various Sects we are cantonized into have espoused to themselves and are so fond of by the proper and most distinguishing effects of them If we perceive that they make the great sticklers for them to differ from others chiefly in unconcernednes about the most important substantial duties of Morality and in laying the greatest weight upon certain little Trifles and placing their Religion in mere externals or that the things whereby they are most peculiarly discriminated from other folk are spiritual pride and fond conceitedness of themselves and a scornful and fierce behaviour towards those that approve not of their way uncharitableness morosity and peevishness a seditious ungovernable and untameable spirit c. I say if we observe such as these to be the most distinguishing effects of their several Modes and Forms we have sufficient reason from thence alone greatly to presume that they have not the stamp of Ius Christianum upon them that they are not of Christ but of their own invention The wisdom that is from above is quite another thing and begets perfectly other kind of effects as shall be shewn hereafter But to return The Design of the Gospel is as was said the Great Standard by which we are to judge of the Truth of Opinions Those that seem to us to oppose this Design we are bound to suspect because they do so but those which apparently do this we must with heartiest indignation reject And though we should meet with some places of Scripture that at first sight may seem to favour them we may not be stumbled upon that account but be confident that whatsoever is their true meaning as sure as they have God for their Author they cannot possibly patronize any such Doctrines And lastly in examining which of two opinions is true that oppose each other and do seem to be much a like befriended by the holy Scriptures it is doubtless a very safe course to consider as impartially as we can which doth tend most to serve the great End of Christianity and to prefer that which we are perswaded doth so CHAP. XXI How we are to judge of the Necessity of Doctrines either to be embraced or rejected A brief discourse of the Nature of Points Fundamental How we may know whether we embrace all such and whether we hold not any destructive and damnable Errours SEcondly The Design of Christianity is the great measure whereby we are to judge as of the Truth so also of the Necessity of Doctrines either to be embraced or rejected First We may thereby understand in what degree we ought to esteem those Necessary to be by all received which we our selves are convinc'd of the Truth of or which of such are Fundamental Points of the Christian Faith and which not First It is plain That in the general those and those only are primarily and in their own nature Fundamentals which are absolutely necessary to accomplish in us that Design Such as without the knowledge and belief of which it is impossible to acquire that Inward Righteousness and true Holiness which the Christian Religion aimeth at the introduction of It is in it self absolutely necessary not to be ignorant of or disbelieve any of those Points upon which the effecting of the great business of the Gospel in us doth necessarily depend The particulars of these I shall not stand to enumerate because as will appear from what will be said anon it is not needful to have a just Table of them And besides any one that understands wherein the nature of true Holiness lyeth may be able sufficiently to inform himself what they are Secondly It is as evident That those points of Faith are secondarily Fundamental the disbelief of which cannot consist with true Holiness in those to whom the Gospel is sufficiently made known although they are not in their own nature such as that Holiness is not in some degree or other attainable without the belief of them And in the number of these are all such Doctrines as are with indisputable clearness revealed to us Now the belief of these though it is not in it self any more than in higher or lower degrees profitable yet is it even absolutely necessary from an external cause though not from the nature of the Points themselves viz. In regard of their being delivered with such abundant perspicuity as that nothing can cause men to refuse to admit them but that which argueth them to be stark naught and to have some unworthy and base end in so doing But we must take notice here that all such Points as these are not of equal necessity to be received by all Christians because that in regard of the diversity of their capacities educations and other means and advantages some of them may be most plainly perceived by some to be delivered in the Scriptures which cannot be so by others with the like ease And in the second place what hath been said of Fundamental Truths is applicable by the Rule of Contraries to the opposite Errours as I need not shew Now then would we know whether we embrace all the Fundamentals of Christianity and are guilty of no damnable and destructive errours among the great diversity and contrariety of Opinions that this kingdom abounds with I think I may say above all other parts of Christendom our onely way is to examine our selves impartially after this manner Am I sincerely willing to obey my Creatour and Redeemer in all things commanded by them Do I entertain and harbour no lust in my
chearfully through this sad world and in the middest of our thoughts within us will solid comforts delight our Souls Little do those think what Happiness they deprive themselves of even in this life that place their Religion in any thing more than an Universal respect to their Saviour's Precepts There is no true Christian that 〈◊〉 to be told That the more careful 〈◊〉 is to obey God the more sweetly hâ—… enjoys himself Nor That a Vertuous and Holy Life doth several ways bring in a constant Revenue of Peace and Pleasure even such as no Earthly thing can afford any that deserves to be nam'd on the same day with it Every good man feels that Christ's yoke is not less Pleasant than it is Easie nor his Burthen more Light than it is Delightful And that all his ways are upon many accounts ways of Pleasantness and all his Paths Peace So that were there no other Reward to be hoped for but what dayly attends them it would be most unquestionably our Interest to walk in them and to forsake all other for them And there is no one of Christ's Disciples that by Experience understands what his Blessed Master's injunctions are that would be content to be eased though he might of them Or that would accept of a Quiâ—…tus est from performing the Duties required by him though he should have it offered him even with the Broad Seal of Heaven which is impossible to be supposed affixed to it But lastly by this means shall we obtain when we depart hence the End of our Faith even the Salvation of our Souls and arrive at a most Happy and Glorious Immortality By the pursuance of real and Universal Righteousness shall we certainly obtain the Crown of Righteousness which our righteous Redeemer hath purchased for us and God the Righteous Iudge will give unto us An exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory we shall assuredly reap if we faint not and be not weary of Well-doing Glory Honour and Peace is the undoubted portion of every Soul that worketh good And Blessed are they that do his Commandments for they have right to the Tree of Life and shall enter through the Gates into the City But if on the Contrary we foolishly satisfie our selves with an ineffectual Faith in Christ a notional knowledge and empty Profession of his Religion or a meerly external and Partial Righteousness these will be so far from intitling us to the exceeding great and precious Promises of the Gospel that they at least the three former will much heighten our misery in the world to come and excessively aggravate our Condemnation Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments from a Principle of Love to him and them for this is the whole of the Christian Man The End Errata PAge 17. line 8. for practical read partial p. 51. l. 3. r. world p. 82. l. 7. r. poverty p. 87. l. 1. r. for sin and l. 9. r. Jealousie p. 95. l. 12. r. of sin p. 115. l. 18. r. farther add p. 155. l. 27. r look p. 1â—…4 l. 7. blot out too p. 190. l. 23. r. Christians p. 211. last line for the r. their p. 224. l. 17. for in r. on p. 280. l. 17. r. need not p. 294. l. 13. r. filled p. â—…00 l. 8. r. it is In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 106. and in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 112. and in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 187. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some Books Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in S t Paul's Church-yard since the Fire A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament The third Edition by H. Hammond D. D. Ductor Dubitantium Or the Rule of Conscience in Four Books Folio The second Edition by Jer. Taylor Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles the First and late Lord Bishop of Down and Conner The Sinner Impleaded in his own Court The third Edition Whereunto is now added The love of Christ planted upon the very same Turf on which it once had been Supplanted by the extreme Love of Sin in 4 o. A Collection of Sermons upon several occasions by Tho. Pierce D. D. and President of S. Mary Magdalen-College in Oxon. A correct Coppy of some Notes concerning God's Decrees enlarged by the same Authour in 4 o. A Discourse concerning the true Notion of the Lord's Supper to which are added two Serm. by R. Cudworth D. D. in 8 o. The Unreasonableness of the Romanists requiring our Communion with the present Romish-Church in 8 o. Christian Consolation Derived from five heads in Religion I. Faith II. Hope III. The Holy Spirit IV. Prayer V. The Sacraments Written by the Right Reverend Father in God John Hacket late Lord Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield Chaplain to King Charles the I. and II. in 8 o. The Profitableness of Piety an Assize Sermon Preach'd by Richard West D. D. in 4 o. West Barbary or a Narrative of the Revolutions of the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco with an account of the present Customes Sacred Civil and Domestick in 8 o. Printed at Oxon for John Willmot and are to be sold by Richard Royston The Christian Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of Receiving the Holy Communion Together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed SAVIOUR The End * Act 26. * Gal. 4. 9 Mat. 5. 17. Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie Fully to Preach as Rom. 15 19. Col. 1. 25. 1 Tim. 6. 3. * Rom. 7. Eph. â—… Mat. 50 Col. 3. 23. Rom. 12. 11. 1 Cor. 10. 31. 1 Pet. 1. 15 Mat. 5. 48. Mat. 19. 19. â—…it 3. 2. 1 Cor. 13. 5 1 John 3. 16. 2 Pet. 1. Phil. 4. 1 Tim. 4. Mat. 5. 8. vers 3. vers 7. vers 5. Rom. 2. 7. Rev. 3. 21. chap. 2. 10 Col. 1. 12. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1. 18 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Mat. 5. 22. Mat. 11. 26. â—…ha 18. 28 â—…ha 25. 42 1 John 3. 15. 〈◊〉 7. 1. Revel 21. 27. Jam. 4. 6. Matth. 23. 13 Rom 13 1 2. 1 Pet. 2. 23. Isa. 50. 6. Isa. 53. vers 7. * Iustin Martyr 2 Cor. 8. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 4. See Mat. 9. 14. to 17 Mat. 7. Mar. 5. 13 Luk. 8. 32 Matth. 8. 31 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nè malum quidem â—…lum cum turpitudiniâ—… malo comparandum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Car. Pythag. pag. 10â—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 162. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 153. 〈◊〉 lib. â—… de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ieroc pag. 78. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Comment in Epict. pag. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 70. 1 Pet. 3. Nihil Neque meum est neque cujusquam quod auferri quod eripi quod amitti potest Cicero in Paradoxis Animus hominis dives non arca appellari potest Quamvis illa sit plena dum te inanem videbo divitem non putabo In paradox Tuae libidines te torquent te arumnae premunt omnes tu dies noctesque Cruciaris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui Appetitus longius evagantur c. et non satis ratione â—…etinentur â—…c ab iis non modò animi perturbantur sed etiam Corpora licet era ipsa cernere iratorum aut corum qui aus libidine aliquâ aut metu commoti sunt aut voluptate nimiâ gestiunt quorum omnium â—…ultus voces motus statusque mutantur Cicero lib de Officiis primo See his select discourses pag. 409. Chap. 1. 5. Quòd si in hoc erro quod animos hominum immortales esse credam libenter erro nec mihi errorem quo delector dum vâ—…o extorqueri volo Sin mortuus c. Lib. 9. Sect. 4â—… 2 Cor. 5. 20. Heb. 1. 2 3 1 Tim. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 7. 〈◊〉 â—… 〈◊〉 This notion of a fine body did Tertullian retain his belief of after he was converted to Christianity and took it for the inner man spoken of in Scripture Exod. 3. 6 Matth. 22. 3â—… Rom. 1. 16 2 Cor. 10. 5. Pâ—…dag pag. 120. Oratio ad Graecoâ—… pag. 40. Dialog cum Tryph. p. 225. Pag. 2 2 Cor. 2. 16. Joh. 9. 39. Praeter obstinationem â—…on sacrificandi nihil aliud se dâ—… sacramentis eorum compeâ—…isse quà m caetus anteluâ—…anos ad canendum Christo Deo ad confoedâ—…randam Disciplinam homicidiâ—…m adulterium fraudem per fidâ—…am câ—…etera scelera prohibenâ—…es Lib. 10. Epist. 9â—… 〈◊〉 Affirmabant autem haue fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris quòd essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem seque Sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed me furta ne latroâ—…inia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati abnegarent c. Sed nihil aliud inveni quà m Superstitionem pravam immodicam Iustin. Martyr Apolog. ad Antoninum Pium Pag. 115. â—…ss 9. Pag. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 3. 8. Rom. 6. Mat. â—… â—…al 2. â—… Tim. 4. 16. Joh. 8. 〈◊〉 Mâ—…tt 5. 29 30. 1 Tim. 4. 8 Matt. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Comment in Aur. Carm. Pag. 22. Joh. 5. 18. 1 Joh. 2. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexandrin Stromat Lib. â—… Pag. 288. Mat. 7. 24. Vers. 26. 1 Pet. â—… 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 4. Rom. 2. 10 Rev. 22. 14