Whereas now a Sound and True Faith disputes no Commands sticks at no Opposition for the greater the Hardship and Difficulty the more our Duty and Obedience So that in short we may go a great way in a fair Profession of Religion but if we refuse or decline the difficult Parts Duties or Instances of it wherewith God may try and exercise our Faith This is a Rebellion against or a Dissertion of Christ and his Doctrin A being ashamed of him and his Words for every Christian should be ready to say with the Apostle Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Fourthly Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my Words may signify such as act contrary to the true Interest and real Advantage of that Faith and Religion which they profess And this part or instance carries in it the guilt of all the foregoing Evils and goes a considerable step further to make a fair Pretence and glorious Profession of Religion only to disgrace abuse or betray it is the most aggravating Circumstance of Guilt and Condemnation and seems to be the very case of Judas himself who was one of our Saviours professed Disciples attended him constantly heard his gracious Words saw his Miracles and was a constant Partaker of his Goodness yet who but this was the Villain that betrayed him And therefore our Lord upon that Occasion seems to bespeak this Wretch in such a manner as methinks goes home and cuts to the very quick when he said as 't is St. Matth. 26.50 and St. Luke 22.48 Friend wherefore art thou come Judas betrayest thou the Son of Man with a Kiss Betrayest thou who was so near to me and so much obliged by me If any wise to injure or desert our Religion or upon any account to be ashamed of Christ is infinitely dangerous to promote or forward a contrary Interest and to be our selves helpful and instrumental to the ruin or prejudice of that our own very Faith and Profession is the highest Dishonour we can offer to God and our Religion and the utmost violation of all Honesty and Conscience And having thus given you an Account of this great and dangerous Evil of being ashamed of Christ and his Words and shewed to you what it is or wherein it doth Consist Being 1. An utter Renouncing our Religion 2. An external Disowning of it 3. An Aversion to some of its more difficult Duties Or 4. Such Actions and Proceedings as are contrary to the Interest of Christ and his Doctrine I proceed according to the Method propounded to Consider in the 2. Place What are the Temptations to this so great and dangerous Evil. And they are generally such as these 1. Base and Unworthy Complyance 2. Secular Gain or Interest 3. The Fear or Danger of Suffering 1. This great Evil is too often occasioned through Base and Unworthy Complyance Though Religion or the Concern of our Souls is the most serious and weighty matter in the whole World yet nothing is so much trifled with and disregarded and rendered plyant to every turn and occasion as if the mode of the Times eminent Examples and prophane Scoffs and Derisions were to be the Rule and Standard of what we were to believe or do in these great and momentous Affairs Men being too often become really ashamed of Christ and his Words in a Sinfull and Adulterous Generation Wherein our Saviour refers to the very Cause or Occasion here laid down for their so doing as if it were unseemly to own and profess Christ and his True Religion amidst a Generation of Wicked and Sinful Men. Wherein they think it strange if you run not with them into the same excess of Riot speaking Evil of you 1. Pet. 4.4 Great Examples and Importunate Solicitations are very powerful with most men who are too easily carried away with the Stream and follow a multitude to do Evil But the Temptations is as Unwarrantable as what it ends in And such the Emperour Constantius thought it to be in that memorable Case which is thus related by Eusebius Constantius the Father of Constantine had this Device came into his Head that may be a paradox to hear as it was strange to practice He put it to the choice of all his Courtiers about him even to the very Judges themselves or such as were placed in the chief Stations of Authority Whether they would Sacrifice to Devils and remain in his Palace in their wonted Honour or upon refusal be removed from his Favour and Presence Whereupon when the Court became divided and some went one and some another way the Excellent Prince discovering himself Those that yielded he Reproached for their Cowardice and Hypocrisie but greatly Approved and Commended those that kept their Integrity to God looking on those as Traytors to their God and so not worthy the Favour of their Prince For how said He shall they be imagined to be Faithful to their King who are found False to God himself And therefore utterly Banished them from his Presence But they that were Firm and True to God and their Religion such he did believe would be just and faithful to Himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He made them the Protectors and principle Officers of his Kingdom saying They were worthy to be ranked in the number of his Bosom Friends and Dearest Relations and to be valued and esteemed above his highest Treasures Herein acting agreeable to that Prudent and Pious Resolution of David Mine Eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me He that walks in a perfect way or is perfect in the way He shall serve me He that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight or shall not be established Ps 101.6 7. This is the First Thing Base and Unworthy Complyance is very frequently the Occasion of Mens being ashamed of Christ and his Words Whereupon follows in the Second Place as another great Inducement or Temptation hereunto Secular Gain or Interest Which our Saviour hath respect to in the Case before us as one Occasion of this great Evil saying as he doth Ver. 36. What shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul c. Intimating the great Prejudices and Discouragements against him and his Doctrin were the Solicitations or Temptations of Things here below Which yet in the greatest Enjoyments were no wise able to compensate the great Evil they were thereby seduced to of being ashamed of Christ and his Words Now secular Wealth or Greatness is such a powerful Ingagement against all kind of Goodness That the Devil reserved this Temptation for the last and therefore it 's like looked on it as the
greatest he could use And which he hoped might prevail even upon our Saviour himself For he sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them And saith unto him all these Things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Now what could not prevail upon him is God knows too powerful with many of us who either through the Ambition of our Spirits or the Necessity of Nature are by our secular Interest too often carried beyond the bounds of our Duties and hereby made complyant to Unjust and Dishonourable Practices And may not the Apostle seem to have reference to the worst Consequences this way in the 2 Pet. 2. There shall be false Preachers amongst you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies And through Covetousness shall they with feigned Words make Merchandise of you But now we may the less wonder at that unhappy influence which this Vice hath over Faith and a good Conscience when we remember that Covetousness or the Love of Secular Gain and Interest did make Christ's own Disciple shamefully forsake him and basely betray him to his most Malicious Persecutors and Murtherers One of the Twelve called Judas Iscariot went unto the Chief Priest and said unto them What will ye give me and I will deliver him unto you and they covenanted with him for Thirty pieces of Silver Matth. 26.15 And if the value of about Three Pound Fifteen Shillings could prompt a Disciple to this horrid Treachery we may be apt to suspect at least that a more additional Temptation this way may have too much prevalency upon mean and sordid Spirits Wherefore Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any Man Love the World the Love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2.15 So powerful are the things here below to keep or to withdraw Men from a hearty Love and Regard of God and Religion The Third and Last thing prevalent to this most fatal Evil and Impiety is The Fear or Danger of present Sufferings A Life of Ease Pleasure and Plenty is grateful to all Men whereupon many do readily imbrace the smooth side of Religion But Suffering and Persecution are things contrary to Flesh and Blood and are indeed severe and terrible Tryals such as will even shake the most steady and resolute Christian Wherefore to speak with the Apostle in this Case also Who is sufficient for these things And whatever Men may now think or talk of it at a distance yet if ever God should call us to this fiery Tryal it will require a most steady Faith together with extraordinary assistance of the Divine Spirit to carry us through such extreme Hardship and Difficulty Peter who was so constant with our Saviour and who was withal so brisk plain and generous in his Profession of Christ and so resolved as nothing could be more And who its reasonable to think was in his own Judgment firm and immoveable was yet we know strangely surprised and utterly confounded when it came to the pinch insomuch that hardly ever Man was guilty of such a base and sudden Revolt He found when Danger was very near and threatning quite different Judgments and Apprehensions of things then when he considered it only at a distance as will be the case of every Man whom God calls to this most severe and difficult Duty There are great and unavoidable Prejudices and Reluctances in human Nature against Torments or Sufferings and very strange Perplexities and Misgivings of Mind in that great Change from this to another World Besides there must needs be unconceiveable Convulsions arise in us from our Injury or Loss in those things that are instrumental to our present Ease and Comforts and therefore our Saviour might well put that Question Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of and to be haptized with the Baptism that I am Baptized Matth. 20.22 This he tells us shall be the Portion of some but upon this Rock very many have made Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience having proved the greatest cause of Mens being Ashamed of Christ and his Words in an Adulterous and Sinful Generation Having thus considered what that is which our Saviour here warns us against by our being Ashamed of Christ and his Words And Secondly What are or may be the Temptations thereunto I proceed to consider in the Third place The great Guilt or Aggravation hereof which will largely appear to us from the Consideration of these following Particulars 1. Thus to be Ashamed of Christ and his Words is the greatest Disservice and Scandal to Religion For if we consider the Expression according to a meer literal acceptation That is ever more looked upon as most Base and Scandalous which Men are loth or ashamed to own or acknowledge Certain it is That a Disowning or Dissertion of Christ and his Religion in whatever way or kind we do it is an open Declaration to the World of our great dislike thereof a plain Repentance of what we have professed and as it were Advice or Precaution to others against all future concern or regard for God and Religion The Actions of such a Man do seem to speak the Sense of his Mind after this or the like manner All the whole business of Religion is meer Noise Cheat or Imposture And whatever Men talk or say about it is all vain and insignificant Why should we wait on the Lord any longer It is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance Therefore they say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways What is the Almighty that we should serve him And what profit should we have if we pray unto him In short That Religion is not worth the Owning which a Man cannot Suffer Bleed and Dye for 2. And this brings us to a Second Aggravation thereof That it is the highest Indignity or Dishonour to God Such is imply'd in the very Expression for it Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my Words So that to be thus guilty is to assront God and is a perfect and open Defiance to Heaven it self for 't is the peculiar and immediate Cause of God who is the Author of Religion for whose sake and on whose account this is Instituted and Enjoyn'd us So that thus basely to desert or any wise to forsake or deny him is not only a withdrawing our Fealty and Allegiance from him but the setting up a profess'd Hostility and Rebellion against him and a down-right Declaration that we will not have Him to reign over us In a Word This is the greatest Obstinacy the most daring Provocation the highest Treachery that a mortal Creature can be guilty of against the most gracious and almighty Being of God and carries every thing in it that may render it exceeding Sinful 3. Another great Aggravation hereof is That it is contrary to the Sentiments of our
call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me For that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel They despised all my reproof Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices Whence we proceed to consider Fifthly A consequence of most dreadful Ruin and Destruction for the great End and Design of that his most Solemn coming to Judgment is to pass an irrevocable Sentence of Happiness or Misery on all Mankind and so accordingly this here before us must signify or imply the most dreadful Case or Condemnation of such Sinners at that Day This then shall be their Sentence Depart ye Cursed into the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And the very worst place in this shall be assigned them They shall have their Portion with Hypocrites for such they are in the highest Nature and Degree They who believe in God and do thus shamefully Dissemble with him or deny him in an Adulterous and Sinful Generation when it may be most Glorious or Necessary to own or attest his Truth strictly to maintain Faith and a good Conscience are the most Guilty and shall be the most Miserable of all Men in another World Of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the holy Angels And having thus as briefly and as plainly as I could set forth the dreadful Punishment of such Men especially as here intimated or represented by our Saviour I think it may be very needfull and requisite to propound in the Fifth and Last place The means to avoid this so very Great and Dangerous Evil. In order whereunto I shall lay down these following Rules or Directions 1. Let us consider The shortness and great uncertainty of this present Life This being a most likely means to prevent all Temptations to this Evil which are occasioned through Mens overmuch Concern or Fondness for this present World This as we before observed doth too often make us withdraw our Thoughts from God and become Treacherous against him Wherefore if Men would learn to set a due Estimate on Things here below and consider these Worldly Pleasures and Enjoyments as they are in themselves mean and transitory and that as Solomon saith All is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit We should be less desirous or inclined to purchase them at so high a Price Is a little temporal Interest that may soon come to nothing Is a vain blast of Honour or Ambition or any thing that we can aim at in this World Satisfactory and Lasting Why then should they any wise dissettle us in the great Concerns of Faith and Religion Can any Thing in this World be worth the buying at so dear a Rate The fashion of this World saith the Apostle passeth away And would we but esteem of it accordingly it would induce us to have meaner thoughts of Things here below and set them upon Things above And hereupon we should be fully convinc'd That Truth and Religion were the only solid and lasting Comforts and that we have nothing here so valuable as Faith and a good Conscience But if we are still resolved to make Mammon our God and to prefer the Pleasure or Interest of this World before all Things it is to be expected and not wondered at that Men should be ashamed of Christ and his Words in this Adulterous and Sinful Generation 2. Let us duly consider and reflect-upon The great Concern and Interest of our Soul Which seems to be the very means or remedy here propounded by our Saviour himself for the prevention of so great an Evil Ver. 36. For what shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul Whâ—soever therefore shall be c. Suppose we could promote the highest Interest here in this World yet this is not able to preponderate or make amends for the Loss or Damage we sustain thereby or undergo for it Our Souls or Spirits are of a most durable and lasting Nature Now Religion promotes their great and highest Interest by adhearing closely to Faith and a good Conscience We procure the Love and Favour of God which is better than Life it self We lay up an incorruptable Treasure in Heaven We secure our best part That which is indeed only and properly our selves Let us then but value these our Souls at a due and reasonable Rate and we shall not be apt to be seduced by unworthy Compliances to renounce or be ashamed of our highest Interest and to cast away our selves for ever Would we thus frequently think of and deeply consider the great Value and Interest of our immortal Souls it would happily secure our falling into so great an Evil and most effectually subdue all kind of Temptations to it unless Men were disposed to run themselves upon the most apparent Ruin and Destruction And this will bring me to a 3. Thing requisite thereunto A due and frequent Examination of our present Faith and Religion 'T is a duty plainly laid down and strictly injoyned by the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates A firmness in Faith doth necessary imply a precious Knowledge and Understanding of it for we cannot be said to be withdrawn from what we do not first own and understand Now 't is much to be feared and suspected That too many who seem to be very Resolute and make a very great Noise about Faith and Religion do not rightly if at all conceive or apprehend what they mean by them For Men are apt to take up with Hear-say Education or the like Whereas that Faith is only and properly ours which we embrace upon our own Knowledge or Approbation And now to prevent or avoid the Evil before us let us duly weigh and consider how we are disposed and qualified in the great and weighty Matters of Religion There is much talk and a great noise made about it in the World But doth my Soul rightly apprehend or consider what is meant by it or what is the design of it Do I believe the Word of God and those great and mysterious Truths he hath discovered to me Am I afraid of his Judgments assured of his Promises and convinced of his Veracity in all Things Do I trust upon his Power Mercy and Goodness And am I assured of his just Anger and Severity Am I convinced and perswaded in the Truth and Excellency of those Things I profess to believe And is all this firmly fixed and rooted in my Soul Not in Word or in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth And do I believe with all my Heart with all my Soul and with all my Mind Hereupon
I may say with the Apostle Beloved if in these things our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God And this will be such a Qualification as will keep us steady and immovable against all Opposition We shall have that Conviction from within and those regular Motions in our Hearts as will dispose us to a sutable Behaviour in all our Actions For as a good Tree cannot bring forth corrupt Fruit so a Mind well Principled and Indued will be evermore happily disposed to Subdue and Conquer whatever may tempt us to this Sin And believe me it requires a firm and well settled Faith to bear us up against all those Hardships and Difficulties that oppose us in our Christian State Whence you see how necessary and requisite it is seriously and often to consider the Case between God and our Souls to become every day more and more confirmed and settled in the great and weighty Concerns of our Faith and our Religion And hereupon we may do well in our present Circumstances to consider the Nature and Excellency of that Faith which is professed among us that we grow in it more and more and be firm and constant to it For we enjoy God be blessed a Faith truly Orthodox and Catholick in the best and purest Church upon Earth That doth not prohibit or lock up the holy Scriptures from any but doth enjoyn and practice the constant and daily Use and Reading of them Where Sacraments are administer'd as Christ enjoyn'd them in a most grave solemn and decent Manner Whose Prayers are most pious and heavenly every way suted to our several Wants and Necessities and able to warm our Souls with a most fervent Zeal and Devotion Let us study to improve in the knowledge and practice of this Faith which will happily secure us from all dangerous Errors and Superstition Here we are taught and enjoyn'd due Obedience to God strict Loyalty to our Prince Love and Charity to all Men. Its Doctrins are Sound and Orthodox It s Discipline Pure and Primitive And as many as walk by this Rule peace be on them and on the Israel of God And now having so Good so True and Sound a Faith and Religion if we desire and expect that God should preserve and continue it to us Let us hold fast this Profession of our Faith without wavering That nothing prevail upon us to injure desert or betray this truly Catholick and Apostolick Faith as professed in the Church of England The more we consider of or know it the better shall we like it and become the firmer in it upon a due and serious Examination and right Understanding of it We shall find it will both deserve and instruct us in a firm Constancy and Resolution against all Opposition and Difficulty whatever Finally my Brethren be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might Put on the whole Armor of God that ye may able to stand against the Wiles of the Devil For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers against spiritual Wickedness if the darkness of this World on High places wherefore take unto you the whole Armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil Day and having done all to Stand Eph. 6.10 4. It may be again requisit herein to set before us the Pattern and Example of Christ who was eminent in all Perfections but especially Remarkable for this insomuch that he himself tells us For this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear Witness unto the Truth Which he never dissembled but constantly asserted with the greatest Courage and Resolution I speak openly in the Synagogue So far was he from Fear or Cowardice and so compleat this Pattern that he underwent the extreamest Sufferings even unto Death for Truth and a good Cause This Captain of our Salvation being so Brave and Generous we are obliged both in Favour and Duty to imitate and resemble his Courage and Constancy and like him firmly maintain Truth and Integrity whatever it costs us This will resemble us to Christ at present and bring us to the Enjoyment of him hereafter Whereupon I shall conclude with the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.13 I give thee charge in the sight of God who quickneth all things and before Christ Jesus who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good Confession that thou keep this Commandment without spot unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ 5. For another prevention or direction against this great Evil let us often think and consider of that great and terrible Threatning here mentioned And that if we be ashamed of him and his Words in this Adulterous and Sinful Generation of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the holy Angels And certainly frequent and serious reflexions on that great and glorious Appearance and that his coming in such a Solemn and Terrible manner to recompence Punishment on us should preserve us firm and steadfast in all holy Duties For should it not make us even now shrink and tremble to think with our selves that he will call us to a strict Account and punish us most severely for these things another Day How shall we look or what shall we be able to say when we come to appear before him in such Majesty and Honour Wherefore if we keep the Thoughts of this so great and terrible Appearance always fresh and settled in our Minds it will make us not dare to be guilty of so great a Sin as we will answer hereafter at our utmost peril For if we deny him he also will deny us 2 Tim. 2.12 6. Let us be strict and sincere in all holy Duties That we adorn the Doctrin of Christ in all things and walk worthy of our Profession A good Faith is the most of all indanger'd by an undue and irregular Practice If by our ungodly and wicked Lives we Dishonour our Religion we make a very forward step towards a denial of it and it may be just in God quite to remove it from us If therefore we would consult the Interest of true Religion and do design or would desire the security and continuance of it Let us walk conscienciously by the Rule we profess and not dare any longer to continue practices so repugnant to all Piety and Religion remembring what the Apostle threatens some Who because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie 2 Thess 2.10 But to compleat and perfect all we must be sure to superadd in the Seventh and Last Place our most humble and hearty Prayers to Almighty God That he by his Grace or Holy Spirit would assist us against this great and fatal Evil. That he would support us under all Dangers and carry us through all Temptations That he would stablish strengthen settle us That he would graft in our Hearts the Love of his Name increase in us true Religion nourish us with all Goodness and of his great Mercy keep us in the same That he being our Ruler and Guid we may so pass through things Temporal that we finally lose not the things Eternal That so Christ our Lord may not be ashamed of us when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the holy Angels Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through Grace comfort your Hearts and stablish you in every good Word and Work 2 Thess 2.16 17. FINIS