against them and I punished them often in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even to strange Cities Gal. 1.13 14. Ye have heard says he of my conversation in times past in the Jews Religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it being exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers 1 Tim. 1.13 Who was before a blasphemer and a persecuter and injurious So that he chargeth himself with the guilt of Blasphemy and Murder and a most furious and outrageous Persecution of Good Men for which elsewhere he pronounceth himself the chief of Sinners From whence it evidently appears that Men may do the most Wicked and Damnable Sins out of a zeal for God And this was the case of many of the Jews as our Saviour foretold that the time should come when they should kill men thinking they did God good Service But yet for all this the Apostles of our Lord make no scruple to charge them with downright Murder Acts 2.23 speaking of their putting our Saviour to death whom ye by wicked hands have crucified and slain And Acts 7.52 The just One of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers Yet notwithstanding their Sin was of this high Nature in it self yet it was some mitigation of the fault of the Persons that they did these things out of an ignorant zeal and rendred them more capable of the Mercy of God upon their repentance And upon this account our Saviour interceded with God for Mercy for them Father forgive them for they know not what they do St. Peter also pleads the same in mitigation of their fault Acts 3.17 And now brethren I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your rulers And St. Paul tells us that he found mercy upon his repentance on this account 1 Tim. 1.13 But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief But still for all this wicked things done out of Conscience and Zeal for God are Damnable and will prove so without repentance I shall now draw some Inferences from this Discourse by way of Application 1. If it be so necessary that our Zeal be directed by knowledge this shews us how dangerous a thing Zeal is in the weak and ignorant sort of People Zeal is an Edg-Tool which Children in understanding should not meddle withal and yet it most frequently possesseth the weakest Minds and commonly by how much the less knowing People are by so much the more zealous they are And in the Church of Rome where Knowledge is professedly discouraged and supprest in the common People Zeal is mightily countenanced and cherish'd And they make great use of it for this blind and furious Zeal is that which inspires diem to do such Cruel and Barbarous things as were hardly ever acted among the Heathen Zeal is only fit for wise Men but it is chiefly in Fashion among Fools Nay it is dangerous in the hands of wise Men and to be govern'd and kept in with a strict Rein otherwise it will transport them to the doing of Undue and Irregular things Moses one of the wisest and best of Men and most likely to govern and manage his Zeal as he ought and to keep aloof from all Excess and Extravagance being the meekest Man upon Earth yet he was so surprised upon a sudden occasion that in a fit of zeal he let fall the Two Tables of the Law which he had but just received from God and dasht them in pieces A true Emblem of an ungoverned zeal in the transport whereof even Good Men are apt to forget the Laws of God and let them fall out of their Hands and to break all the Obligations of Natural and Moral Duties 2. From hence we plainly see that Men may do the worst and wickedest things out of a Zeal for God and Religion Thus it was among the Jews who engrost Salvation to themselves and denyed the possibility of it to all the world besides and the Church of Rome have taken Copy by them as in an arrogant conceit of themselves so in the blindness and fury and uncharitableness of their Zeal towards all who refuse to submit to their Authority and Directions And as the Teachers and Rulers of the Jewish Church did of old so do the Church of Rome now They take away the Key of Knowledge from the People and will neither enter into the kingdom of Heaven themselves nor suffer those that would to enter in They Brand for Hereticks those who make the Holy Scriptures the Rule of their Faith and Worship as St. Paul tells us the Jews did in his Time Acts 24.14 After the way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets They Establish the Merit of their own Righteousness not submitting to the Righteousness of God by the Faith of Jesus Christ So St. Paul tells us the Jews did in the Verse immediately after the Text For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God And as the Jews Anathematiz'd and Excommunicated the first Christians and Persecuted them to the Death as our Saviour foretold That the time would come when they should put them out of their Synagogues yea and kill them thinking they did God good service so the Church of Rome hath for many Ages used the sincere Professors of the same Religion Persecuting them first with Excommunication and then with Fire and Faggot and with all the violence and fury in the world endeavouring the utter extirpation and ruine of them by bloody Croisado's and a barbarous Inquisition by treacherous Massacres and all sorts of hellish Plots and Machinations witness the monstrous Design of this day never to be remembred or mentioned without horror To have destroyed at one blow and have swallowed up in one common ruine our King and Prince and Nobles and the Represent ative Body of the whole Nation witness the bloody Massacre of Ireland and all their wicked Designs and Practices continued to this very day 3. And lastly That zeal for God and Religion does not alter the Nature of Actions done upon that account Persecution and Murder of the sincere Professors of Religion are Damnable Sins and no zeal for God and Religion can excuse them or take away the guilt of them zeal for God will justifie no Action that we do unless there be discretion to justifie our zeal There is nothing oftner misleads Men than a misguided Zeal it is an ignis fatuus a false fire which often leads Men into Boggs and Precipices it appears in the Night in dark and ignorant and weak minds and offers it self a guide to those who have lost their way it is one of the most ungovernable Passions of Human Nature and therefore requires great knowledge and judgment to manage
they might do any thing and that whosoever opposed the Authority of so ancient and good a Church must needs be very bad Men and deserve to be proceeded against in the severest manner As if any pretence of Piety could give a Priviledge to do wickedly and by how much the Wiser and Holier any Man took himself to be he might do so much the worse things There is another remarkable Instance of this in St. Paul who out of a blind and furious Zeal for the Traditions of his Fathers Persecuted the true Church of God by Imprisonment and Death and all manner of Cruelties and all this while he verily thought that he was in the right and that he ought to do all these things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth And if God had not in a miraculous manner checkt him in his course and changed his Mind he would have spent his whole life in that course of Persecution and Cruelty and would with Pope Paul the IV. upon his Death-Bed have recommended the Inquisition or if he could have thought of any thing more severe to the chief Priests and Rulers of the Jewish Church I will not trouble you with nearer Instances tho' the Jewish Church is not the only Church in the World that hath countenanced the Destruction and Extirpation of those who differed from them as a piece of very acceptable Service to God and meritorious of the Pardon of their Sins 5. I observe that such Actions as these are never the less horribly Wicked and Impious notwithstanding the good Mind with which and the good End for which they are done The Jews were not excused from the guilt of Persecution and Murder for all they thought they did well in killing the Disciples of our Lord. For to make an Action good and acceptable to God the goodness of all Causes and of all Circumstances must concur and any one defect in any of these does vitiate the whole Action and spoil the goodness of it We must do it with a good Mind being verily perswaded that what we do is good and acceptable to God in which sense St. Paul saith that whatever is not of Faith is Sin and we must do it for a good End for the Honour of God and the Service of Religion and the Benefit and Edification of Men. But there is one thing wanting yet which is often forgotten but is mainly considerable viz. what we do with a Good Mind and to a Good End must be Good and Lawful in it self commanded or allowed or at least not forbidden by God If it be what good Circumstances soever may belong to the Action the whole Action is stark naught because the very Matter and Substance of it is Evil and Unlawful and Damnable tho' done for never so good an End So St. Paul tells us that they who said they might do evil that good might come their damnation was just He tells us indeed that some would have charged this Doctrine upon the Christians and particularly upon himself but he rejects it with the greatest detestation and which is not unworthy of our observation in his Epistle to the Roman Church as if the Spirit of God to whom all Times are present had particularly directed him to give this Caution to that Church that in future Ages they might be warned against so Pernicious a Principle and all wicked Practices that are consequent upon it And we find that St. Paul after his Conversion did think it no sufficient Plea and Excuse for himself and his Persecution of the Christian Profession that what he did was out of Zeal for God and his true Religion as he was verily perswaded but notwithstanding that acknowledged himself a Murderer and one of the greatest Sinners for which without the great Mercy of God he had perisht everlastingly 6. And lastly I observe that the Corruption of the best things is the worst Religion is certainly the highest Accomplishment and Perfection of Humane Nature and Zeal for God and his Truth an excellent Quality and highly acceptable to God and yet nothing is more barbarous and spurs Men on to more horrid Impieties than a blind zeal for God and false and mistaken Principles in the matter of Religion Our Saviour compares the Christian Religion and the Ministers and Professors of it to Salt and Light The most useful and delightful things in the World Religion enlightens the minds of Men and directs them in the way wherein we should go it seasons the Spirits and Manners of Men and preserves them from being Putrified and Corrupted but if the Salt lose its savour if that which should season other things be tainted it self it is thenceforth the most insipid and offensive thing in the World good for nothing but to be cast upon the Dunghil if the light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness Mistakes and false Principles are no where so pernicious and of such mischievous Consequence as in Religion A blind and misguided Zeal in Religion is enough to spoil the best Nature and Disposition in the World St. Paul for ought appears was of himself of a very kind and compassionate Nature and yet what a Fury did his mistaken Zeal make him It is hardly credible how madly he laid about him but that he himself gives us the account of it Acts 26.9 10 11. I verily thought with my self says he that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth which thing I also did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints I shut up in Prison having received authority from the Chief Priests And when they were put to death I gave my voice against them and I punished them oft in every Synagogue and compel'd them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even to strange Cities I might descend lower and give Instances both of former and later times of Emperours and Princes both Heathen and Christian that of themselves were mild and gentle and yet through a mistaken Zeal and the instigation of their Chief Priests have been carried to Cruel and Bloody things And indeed nothing gives so keen an edg even to the mildest Tempers as an erroneous and wild zeal for God and Religion it is like Quick-Silver in the back of a Sword that is not very sharp of it self which gives a mighty force and weight to its blow and makes it to cut terribly And it is very sad to consider that the zealous Prosecution of Mistakes in Religion hath produced sadder and more barbarous Effects in the World and more frequently than the ordinary Corruptions and Degeneracy of Natural light is apt to do as the decay of the richest and most generous Wines makes the sowerest Vineger so that the Pasquil or Libel against Pope Vrban the VIII upon occasion of his taking off the Brazen Roof of the Old Capitol which had held out so many Ages and that notwithstanding Rome had been so often sackt by Barbarous
By what Marks and Characters we may know that zeal which here and elsewhere in Scripture is condemned as not being according to knowledge III. How far the doing of any thing out of a zeal for God doth mitigate and extenuate the Evil of it For when the Apostle here testifies concerning the Jews that they had a zeal of God he speaks this in favour of them and by way of mitigation of their Faults When I have handled these Three Particulars I shall apply my Discourse to the present Occasion of this day I. What are the Qualifications and Properties of a zeal according to knowledge I shall mention these Three 1. That our Zeal be right in respect of its Object 2. That the Measure and Degree of it be proportioned to the Good or Evil of things about which it is conversant 3. That we pursue it by lawful ways and means 1. That our Zeal be right in respect of its Object I mean that those things which we are zealous for be certainly and considerably Good and that those things which we are zealous against be certainly and considerably Evil. A mistake in any of these quite marrs our Zeal and spoils the Virtue of it And tho' it be never so much intended for God it is not at all pleasing and acceptable to him because it is a blind and ignorant and mistaken Zeal And the hotter the worse it is not an heavenly fire that comes down from above but it is like the fire of Hell Heat without Light If we mistake Good and Evil and be zealously concerned against that which is Good or for that which is Evil the greater our Zeal is the greater is our Fault and instead of doing God and Religion Service and Credit we do the greatest Mischief and Dishonour we can to them both Or if the thing about which our Zeal is conversant be of a doubtful and uncertain nature this is not properly an Object of Zeal Men should never be earnest for or against any thing but upon clear and certain Grounds that what we contend so earnestly for is undoubtedly Good and that which we are so violent against is undoubtedly Evil If it be not we are zealous for we know not what and that I am sure is a zeal not according to knowledge And if the thing be certainly Good or Evil which we are so concerned about it must also be considerably so otherwise it will not warrant our being zealous about it All Truth is Good and all Error Bad but there are many Truths so inconsiderable and which have so small an influence upon Practice that they do not deserve our Zeal and earnest Contention about them and so likewise are there many Errors and Mistakes of so slight and inconsiderarable a Nature that it were better Men should be let alone in them than provok'd to Quarrel and Contend about them Thus that great Heat that was in the Christian Church about the Time of observing Easter was in my Opinion a Zeal not according to knowledge They were on both sides agreed in the main which was to celebrate the Memory of our Saviour's Resurrection But there were different Customs about the Time which was a matter of no such consideration as to deserve so much Heat and Zeal about it especially considering the uncharitable and mischievous Consequences of that difference 2. That our Zeal may be according to knowledge the Measure and Degree of it must be proportioned to the Good or Evil of things about which it is conversant That is an ignorant Zeal which is conversant about lesser things and unconcerned for greater Such was the Zeal of the Scribes and Pharises who were mightily concerned about external and lesser Matters but took little or no care of inward Purity and real and substantial Goodness they were very careful not to eat with unwasht hands and to make clean the outside of the cup and platter but then they were full of extortion and all unrighteousness they pay'd tythe of mint and anise and cumin but omitted the weightier things judgment mercy and fidelity or as St. Luke expresseth it they past over Judgment and the love of God A zealous strictness about external Rites and Matters of difference where there is a visible neglect of the substantial Duties of Religion and the great Virtues of a good life is either a gross Ignorance of the true Nature of Religion or a fulsome Hypocrisie And so likewise is a loud and zealous out-cry against Rites and Ceremonies and the Imposition of indifferent things in Religion when Men can release themselves from the Obligation of Natural and Moral Duties and pass over mercy and justice and charity 3. A Zeal that is is according to knowledge must be pursued and prosecuted by Lawful and Warantable Means No Zeal for God and his Glory for his true Church and Religion will justifie the doing of that which is morally and in it self evil Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him We do not know what belongs to the Honour of God and Religion if we think to promote his Glory by means so dishonourable and offensive to him The Apostle pronounceth it a Damnable Sin for any to charge this Doctrine upon Christianity that evil may be done for a good end and to promote the glory of God Rom. 3.8 As we he slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just And yet nothing is more frequent than for a Man out of a Zeal for God and Religion to over-look the Evil and Unlawfulness of the Means they use for the advancing so good an End This is that which hath sanctified those refined Arts of Lying and Perjury by Equivocation and Mental Reservation those seditious ways of disturbing the Peace of Kingdoms by Treason and Rebellion by the Excommunicating and Disposing of Princes upon pre tence of Heresie of Extirpating those whom they please to call Hereticks by Inquisitions and Croisado's and Massacres and this not only in the opinion of private Persons but in the judgment of Popes and of General Councils I proceed in the II. Place to shew by what Marks and Characters we may know the contrary Zeal that which is not according to knowledge which is condemned here in the Text and very frequently in other Places of Scripture And tho' this may be sufficiently known by the contrary Marks and Properties which I shall but briefly mention yet to discover it more fully I shall add One or Two more very gross and sensible signs and instances of it 1. It is a zeal without knowledge that is mistaken in the proper Object of it that calls good evil and evil good a Zeal for gross Errors and Superstitions plainly contrary either to the revelation of God's Word or the light of Reason or to common Sense any or all of these cannot be a zeal according to knowledge A Zeal for the Worship of Images for praying
other terms than of denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and of living soberly righteously and godly in this present world And besides this Consideration we have the best Testimony in the World of their Unblameable Lives viz. the Testimony of their profest Enemies who did not persecute them for any personal Crimes which they charged particular Persons withal but only for their Religion acknowledging them otherwise to be very innocent and good People Particulary Pliny in his Letter to Trajan the Emperor who had given him in Charge to make particular Enquiry concerning the Christians gives this honourable Report of them That there was no fault to be found in them besides their obstinate refusal to Sacrifice to the Gods that at their Religious Meetings it was an essential part of their Worship to oblige themselves by a solemn Sacrament against Murder and Theft and Adultery and all manner of Wickedness and Vice No Christian Historian could have given a better Character of them than this Heathen Writer does But 3. The Success of the Gospel will appear yet more strange if we consider the Weakness and Meanness of the Instruments that were employed in this great Work A company of plain and illiterate Men most of them destitute of the advantages of Education went forth upon this great Design weak and unarmed unassisted by any worldy interest having no Secular Force and Power on their side to give countenance and authority to them and this not only at their first setting out but they remained under these Disadvantages for three Ages together The first Publishers of the Christian Religion offered Violence to no Man did not go about to compel any by Force to entertain the Doctrine which they Preached and to list themselves of their number they were not attended with Legions of armed Men to dispose Men for the reception of their Doctrine by Plunder and Free-Quarter by Violence and Tortures this Modern Method of Conversion was not then thought of nor did they go about to tempt and allure Men to their Way by the Promises of Temporal Rewards and by the Hopes of Riches and Honours nor did they use any artificial insinuations of Wit and Eloquence to gain upon the Minds of Men and steal their Doctrines into them but delivered themselves with the greatest plainness and simplicity and without any studied Ornaments of Speech or fine Arts of Perswasion declared plainly to them the Doctrine and Miracles the Life and Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ promising Life and Immortality to them that did believe and obey his Doctrine and threatning Eternal Wo and Misery in another World to the despisers of it And yet these contemptible Instruments notwithstanding all these disadvantages did their work effectually and by the Power of God going along with them gained numbers every day to their Religion and in a short space drew the world after them Nor did they only win over the Common People but also several Persons considerable for their Dignity and Eminent for their Learning who afterwards became zealous Assertors of Christianity and were not ashamed to be Instructed in the Saving Knowledge of the Gospel by such mean and unlearned Persons as the Apostles were for they saw something in them more Divine and which carried with it a greater Power and Perswasion than Humane Learning and Eloquence 4. We will consider the mighty Opposition that was raised against the Gospel At its first appearance it could not be otherwise but that it must meet with a great deal of difficulty and opposition from the Lusts and Vices of Men which it did so plainly and so severely declare against and likewise from the Prejudices of Men that had been brought up in a contrary Religion no Prejudice being so strong as that which is founded in Education and of all Prejudices of Education none so obstinate and hard to be removed as those about Religion yea tho' they be never so absurd and unreasonable Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods Men are very hardly brought off from the Religion which they have been brought up in how little Ground and Reason soever there be for it the being trained up in it and having a reverence for it implanted in them in their tender Years supplies all other defects Had Men been free and indifferent in Religion when Christianity first appeared in the World and had they not had their Minds prepossest with other apprehensions of God and Religion and been inured to Rites and Superstitions of a quite different Nature from the Christian Religion or had they at that time been weary of the Superstitions of their Idolatrous Worship and been enquiring after a better way of Religion then indeed the Christian Religion had appeared with great advantage and would in all probability have been entertained with a readiness of Mind proportionable to the Reasonableness of it But this was not the Case When the Doctrine of the Gospel was first Publisht in the World the whole World both Jews and Gentiles were violently prejudiced against it and fixt in their several Religions The Jews indeed in former times had been very prone to relinquish the Worship of the True God and to fall into the Heathen Idolatry But after God had Punisht them severely for that Sin by a long Captivity they continued ever after very strict and firm to the Worship of the True God and never were they more tenacious of their Religion and Law than at that very time when our Saviour appeared in the World And though He was foretold in their Law and most particularly described in the authentick Books of their Religion the Prophets of the Old Testament yet by reason of certain groundless Traditions which they had received from the Interpreters of their Law That their Messias was to be a great Temporal Prince they conceived an invincible Prejudice against our Saviour upon account of the Mean Circumstances in which he appeared and upon this Prejudice they rejected him and put him to death and persecuted his Followers And though their Religion was much nearer to the Christian than any of the Heathen Idolatries yet upon this account of our Saviour's Mean Appearance they were much more averse to the Entertainment of it than the grossest Idolaters among the Nations Not but that their Prejudice also was very great the common People being strongly addicted to the Idolatry and Superstitions of their several Countries and the Wiser and more Learned whom they call'd their Philosophers were so puft up with a conceit of their own Knowledge and Eloquence that they despised the rudeness and simplicity of the Apostles and look'd upon their Doctrine of a Crucified Saviour as ridiculous and the Story of his Resurrection from the dead as absurd and impossible So St. Paul tells us that the Cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness But besides the Opposition which the Gospel met withal from the Lusts and Prejudices of Men
necessary if we expect the Crown of Life and hope for the same happy End which they had for none but they that continue to the end shall be saved 4. We should imitate them in the efficacy and fruitfulness of their Faith in the Practice and Virtues of a good Life Whose faith follow considering the end of their Conversation that is their Perseverance in a holy Course to the end And these must never be separated a sound Faith and a good Life Without this our Faith is barren and dead as St. James tells us ch 2. v. 17. Our Knowledge and Belief of the Christian Doctrine must manifest it self in a good Conversation Who is a wise man says the same St. James ch 3. v. 13. Who is a wise man and endowed with knowledge amongst you Let him shew-out of a good conversation his works This is a faithful saying saith St. Paul to Titus ch 3. v. 8. and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works And herein the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour were eminent Examples They lived as they Taught and Practised the Doctrine which they Preached So St. Paul strictly chargeth Timothy 1 Tim. 4.12 Be thou an example of the Believers in word in conversation in charity in faith in purity And our Saviour tells us that hereby chiefly false Prophets and Teachers might be known from the true Apostles of Christ Matth. 7.20 By their fruits ye shall know them And indeed we do not follow the faith of those Excellent Persons if we do not abound in all the fruits of righteousness which by Jesus Christ are to the praise and glory of God I come now to the Third and Last Thing I Proposed viz. the Encouragement to this from the Consideration of the happy state of those Persons who are proposed to us for Patterns and the glorious Reward which they are made Partakers of in another World Considering the end of their Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their egress or departure out of this Life into a Blessed and Glorious State where they have received the Crown and Reward of their Faith and Patience and Pious Conversation in this World or else which comes much to one considering the conclusion of their Lives with what Patience and Comfort they left the World and with what joyful Assurance of the happy Condition they were going to and were to continue in for ever And this is a great encouragement to Constancy and Perseverance in Faith and Holiness to see with what Chearfulness and Comfort good Men die and with what a firm and steady Perswasion of the Happiness they are entring upon For who would not be glad to leave the World in that Calmness and Serenity of Mind and comfortable Assurance of a Blessed Eternity Bad Men wish this and are ready to say with Balaam Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his But if we would have the Comfort of such a Death we must live such Lives and imitate the Faith and good Conversation of those whom we desire to resemble in the manner of their Death and to go into the same Happy State that they are in after Death If we do not make their Lives our Pattern we must not expect to be conformable to to them in the happy Manner of their Death When we hear of the Death of an eminent good Man we do not doubt but he is happy and are confident that he will meet with the Reward of his Piety and Goodness in another World If we believe this of him let us endeavour to be like him that we may attain the same Happiness which we believe him to be possest of and as the Apostle exhorts ch 6.12 Let us not be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Let us shew the same Diligence that they did that we may have the same full Assurance of Hope unto the End which they had The Inference from this Discourse which I have made upon this Argument is to shew what Use we ought to make of these excellent Examples which are set before us of the first Founders and Teachers of our Religion and what is the proper Honour and Respect which we ought to pay to their Memory Not Invocation and Adoration but a zealous Imitation of their Faith and good Conversation The greatest Honour we can do them the most acceptable to God the most grateful to them and the most beneficial to our selves is to endeavour to be like them Not to make any Images and Likeness of them to fall down before them and worship them but to Form the Image of their Faith and Virtues upon our Hearts and Lives Not to Pray to them but to Praise God for such bright and glorious Examples and to endeavour with all our Might to imitate their Faith and Patience and Piety and Humility and Meekness and Charity and all those other Virtues which were so resplendent in them And this is to remember the Founders of our Religion as we ought to follow their Faith and to consider the end of their Conversation Had the Christian Religion required or intended any such thing as of latter Times hath been practised in the World it had been as easy for the Apostle to have said Remember them that have been your Guids and have spoken to you the Word of God to erect Images to them and to worship them with due Veneration and to pray to them and make use of their Intercession But no such thing is said or the least Intimation given of it either in this Text or any other in the whole Bible but very much to the contrary Their Example indeed is frequently recommended to us for our Imitation and Encouragement and for this Reason the Providence of God hath taken particular Care that the Memory of the Apostles and so many primitive Christians and Martyrs should be transmitted to Posterity that Christians in all succeeding Ages might propound these Patterns to themselves and have perpetually before their Eyes the Piety and Virtue of their Lives and their patient and constant Sufferings for the Truth that when God shall please to call us to the like Tryal we may not be wearied and faint in our Minds but being compassed about with such a Cloud of Witnesses having so many Examples in our Eye of those who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises and do now as it were look down from their happy State upon us here below who are combating with manifold Temptations to see how we behave and acquit our selves in our Christian Course we may take encouragement to our selves from such Examples and such Spectators to run with Patience the Race which is set before us I know indeed that other Use than this hath been and is at this Day made of the Memory of the Saints and Martyrs of former Ages very dishonourable to God and
that Church will impose her Errors upon all that are of her Communion then those who refuse to comply do not sepavate themselves but are cut off do not depart but are driven out of the Communion of that Church and Separation in that case is as innocent and free from the guilt of Schism as the Cause of it is for the terms of Communion are become such that those who are convinced of those Errors and Corruptions can have no Salvation if they continue in that Communion and then I am sure their Salvation will not be endangered by leaving it or being Excommunicated out of it for that would be the hardest case in the World that Men should be Damned for continuing in the Communion of such a Church and damned likewise for being cast out of it Therefore no Man ought to be terrified because of the boldness and presumption of those who with so much Confidence and so little Charity damn all that are not of their Communion for we see plainly from the Text that Men may be in the right and surest way to Salvation and yet be Excommunicated by those who call themselves the true Church and will not allow Salvation to any but those of their own Communion The Disciples of our Lord and Saviour were certainly very good Men and in a safe way of Salvation tho' they were Excommunicated and put out of the Synagogue by the chief Priests and the Rulers of the Jewish Church I proceed to the 3. Observation which was this that from uncharitable Censures Men do by an easie step and almost naturally proceed to Cruel Actions After the Jews had put the Disciples of our Lord out of their Synagogues and thereby concluded them to be Hereticks and Reprobates no wonder they should proceed to kill those whom they thought not worthy to live they shall put you out of their Synagogues says our Saviour and when they have done that they will soon think it a thing not only fit and reasonable but Pious and Meritorious and a good Piece of Service done to God to put you to death Uncharitableness naturally draws on Cruelty and hardens Humane Nature towards those of whom we have once conceived so hard an opinion that they are Enemies to God and his Truth And this hath been the source of the most barbarous Cruelties that have been in the world witness the severity of the Heathen Perfection of the Christians which justified it self by the Uncharitable Opinion which they had conceived of them that they were despisers of Religion and the Gods and consequently Atheists that they were pertinacious and obstinate in their Opinions that is in the Modern Stile they were Hereticks And the like uncharitable conceit among Christians hath been thought a sufficient ground even in the judgment of the Infallible Chair for the justification of several bloody Massacres and the cruel Proceedings of the Inquisition against Persons suspected of Heresie for after Men are once Sentenced to Eternal Damnation it seems a small thing to torment and destroy their Bodies 4. Men may do the vilest and most wicked things not only under a grave Pretence of Religion but out of a real Opinion and Perswasion of Mind that they do Religiously Murder is certainly one of the greatest and most crying Sins and yet our Saviour foretels that the Jews should put his Disciples to Death being verily perswaded that in so doing they should offer a most acceptable Sacrifice to God yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offers a Sacrifice to God Not but that the great Duties and Virtues of Religion are very plain and easy to be understood and so are the contrray Sins and Vices But then they are only plain to a teachable and honest and well-disposed mind to those who receive the word with meekness and are not blinded with wrath and furious Zeal to those that receive the truth into an honest heart and entertain it in the love of it they are plain to the humble and meek for the humble God will guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his ways such as these God seldom suffers to fall into fatal mistakes about their Sin or Duty so as to call good evil and evil good to call light darkness and darkness light to think Uncharitableness a Virtue and downright Murder a great Duty But if Men will give up themselves to be swayed by self-Love and self-Conceit to be governed by any base or corrupt Interest to be blinded by Prejudice and intoxicated by Pride to be transported and hurried away by violent and furious Passions no wonder if they mistake the Nature and confound the Differences of things in the plainest and most palpable cases no wonder if God give up Persons of such corrupt minds to strong delusions to believe lies It ought not to be strange to us if such Men bring their Understandings to their Wills and Interests and bend their Judgments to their Prejudices make them to stoop to their Pride and blindly to follow their Passions which way soever they lead them for God usually leaves such persons to themselves as run away from him and is not concerned to secure those from splitting upon the most dangerous Rocks who will stear their Course by no Compass but commit themselves to the wind and tide of their own Lusts and Passions In these Cases Men may take the wrong Way and yet believe themselves to be in the right they may oppose the Truth and persecute the Professors of it and be guilty of the blackest Crimes and the most horrid Impieties Malice and Hatred Blasphemy and Murder and yet all the while be verily perswaded that they are serving God and Sacrificing to him Of this we have a plain and full instance in the Scribes and Pharisees the chief Priests and Rulers among the Jews who because they sought the Honour of Men and not that which was from God and loved the Praise of Men more than the Praise of God because they were prejudiced against the Meanness of our Saviour's Birth and Condition and had upon false Grounds tho' as they thought upon the Infallibility of Tradition and of Scripture interpreted by Tradition entertain'd quite other Notion of the Messias from what he really was to be because they were proud and thought them selves too wise to learn of him and because his Doctrine of Humility and self-Denyal did thwart their Interest and bring down their Authority and Credit among the People therefore they set themselves against him with all their Might opposing his Doctrine and blasting his Reputation and persecuting him to the Death and all this while did bear up themselves with a conceit of the Antiquity and Priviledges of their Church and their profound Knowledge in the Law of God and a great External shew of Piety and Devotion and an arrogant Pretence and Usurpation of being the only Church and People of God in the World And by virtue of these Advantages they thought