Greater Light we may be sure to make Streight Paths for our Feet till we come to the Perfect Fruition of them Nor are we commanded only to search the Scriptures but to prove all things by them to try the Spirits whether they be of God 1 Thes 5.21 1 Job 1.4 Luk. 12.57 and to judge of our selves what is Right That is we must use our own Reason and Judgment in comparing matters in Controversie with the Infallible Rule of Scripture For some Rule we must have to Prove and Try and Judge by And it is plain the Scripture takes no notice of any other Rule but it self and that of Modern and Unwritten Tradition as Opposite to it And this is security enough against any Dangerous Error considering that the Gospel is as much a standing Revelation to the Christian Church as the Law and the Prophets were to the Jews 5. We find the happy Effect of this Course so far that persons of ordinary capacity after a competent Trial of it do rightly believe and understand all that is necessary to their Eternal Salvation The necessary Articles of Religion are so visible in the Scriptures that it is the hardest thing that can be for an Ingenious Reader to overlook them That there is but One God that He only ought to be Worshipped that he sent his Only Begotten to Die for us that he Died and Rose again that as many as Repent of their Sins Believe and Obey the Gospel shall be Saved These and other Principles of Religion are so clearly and fully exprest in Scripture that there is no need of an Infallible Interpreter to certifie for them A common Understanding with the ordinary Means of Knowledge can reach the Discovery I mean without the help of a Roman Telescope or standing upon the Shoulders of St. Peters's pretended Successor This we know the Certainty of we feel it in our selves and we see the Demonstration of it in ten thousand Instances and do not think the worse of our Faith for being Protestant i. e. immediately Grounded upon the Evidence and Authority of Scripture We look upon it as our Inviolable Birth right to judge of Plain Truths when we see them And for this we have the general Sense of Mankind on our side and cannot think it reasonable to put it to any man to judge for us whether or no there is a God a Christ or a Heaven That all necessary Truths are plain is allowed by all Christians but those that make Articles of Faith necessary to Salvation which are so far from being plain that there is not the least mention of them in the whole Gospel And if all things that are Necessary are Plain then I hope a plain man may judge of them and without asking leave of any other man may believe them and so doing he certainly is in a state of Salvation And then the Church that declares he is not cannot be Infallible unless a Church can Err and be Infallible at the same instant 6. It is far easier for men who implore the Direction of God and use the Helps which he affords them to find their way to Heaven in the Scriptures than to find an Infallible Guide on Earth to lead them to it It must be granted that there are Obscure as well as Plain Passages in Scripture Some Places so very Dark and Intricate that they even Pose the most skilful and judicious Guides But thn our Happiness is that our Way does not lie Thorough them and that there is Light enough in innumerable other places to direct our Steps and to bring us in a Streight Line to Everlasting Bliss and Perfection I do not say that every thing tht concerns our Salvation is so clearly revealed that no man can be ignorant of it But that we may know as much as is needful for us if we apply our minds to it and laying aside all prejudice against the Truth beg of God to Preserve us from Error all which we have great encouragement to do since he has promised us the assistance of his Spirit in the search of Truth The Church of Rome indeed offers to put us into a shorter and easier Method of finding out Truth and to bring us to a Guide that will Infallibly shew us every step of our way So that we need not be at the Pains of any Tedious Inquiries nor any longer in danger of missing our Aim in them through the weakness of our own Fallible Judgments And who would not gladly embrace so Free and kind an Offer as this provided there be no Trick or Fallacy it it The Tryal of which will appear if the Proposes of this way of certainty be able to satisfy us in a few reasonable Cases without which as great as the Courtesy seems to be we cnnot prudently Accept of their Offer If a man should freely proffer me the Indies I must say it is a very Noble Gift if he can make it good and when he has convinced me that he can I will thankfully accept it from him but before he can give me Satisfaction about it I find ther must be a few words exchanged between us and therefore if he Pleases I desire him to tell me how he came to be the Owner of so vast a Treasure which is or lately was in the possession of so many Great and Potent Princes And which way he will put me into Possession of it c. If he cannot Answer these Queries as I believe he cannot I am sure he can never conveigh the Indies to me and therefor I will never trouble my Head more about them And thus I fear it will fall out in the case of an Infallible Guide to all Christians who were there such a Church or Person as they boast of at Rome that could infallibly solve all Doubts and put an end to all Controversies in Religion were richly worth both the Indies together But before I accept of the Conduct of this Guide I must desire to be satisfied in a few things in reference to him As 1. How I may be certain that there is such a Guide or Judg of Controversies For I find there is a great Controversy in the Church about it And if I can never be assured that there is such an one till he has ended all Controversies which is the great blessing the Church of Rome Promises from him 't is in vain in this Age of Controversies to enquire any farther after him But suppose it were not may I or any other Protestant determine this Controversy by the use of our own Fallible Judgments If we may then it seems a Fallible Judgment may do more sometimes than an Infallible Judg. However a Fallible Judgment is all the Judgment that we have and if by it we may be certain of an Infallible Guide which at Rome goes for a leading Article of Faith I see no Reason why we may not by the same means be certain of all the Rest and if we may
and Tranquility of Mind in this World and Eternal Rest and Glory in that which is to come Then follows the Exhortation of which the Text is part Wherefore lift up the Hands which hang down and the feeble Knees and make streight Paths for your Feet By Paths we are to understand the General Course of our Actions which are then Streight when they lie even with the Rule that God has given us to Frame and Govern them by For streightness has a necessary relation to a Rule and consists in an evenness or adequate conformity to it And then we do make our Paths streight when we take due care to understand our Rule and being well assured of the rectitude of it to order our Actions so as to make them Answerable to it and when we have begun well to hold on our Course without any stop or deviation from it Now the Gospel being the Rule of the Christian Life the meaning of the Apostles Exhortation to the Hebrews who began to waver in the Profession of it must be this Having a Streight and Perfect Rule before you see that your Actions be conformable to it Don't faint at any Discouragements or follow any crooked and deceitful Paths but keep to them that are streight as the Gospel leads you which is the Direct and Infallible Way to Everlasting Bliss and Happiness From the Words thus explained there are three things observable of which I shall speak in their order 1. That there is a Streight and Direct way to Heaven and Happiness 2. That this Way may be certainly found with due care and enquiry 3. That having found the Streight Way to Heaven we ought to be very careful and exact in walking in it and not yield to any Temptation to forsake it 1st Observ That there is a streight and direct Way to Heaven and Happiness This is supposed in the Text which exhorts the Hebrews to make use of this Way and implies that they were already in some measure acquainted with it And well might the Apostle suppose that there is such a Way without being at the pains to prove it when it is universally owned by all that believe there is any such thing as True Religion in the World and that is all the World but the Atheist that is of no Religion Very many indeed are mistaken in their Way to Heaven But that there is a streight and certain Way thither was never denied by the Professors of any Religion for they all pretend to be in the Right Way how wide soever they are in Opinion and Practice from one another All the Controversie is which of those several Paths which men take to be the streight and plain Way to Heaven is truly so And certainly to know this is a matter of very great concernment and deserves a very serious and impartial Enquiry for tho a man may fall into the right way by chance that never enquires after it which is the case of those that Profess the True Religion for no other reason but because they were instructed in it from their Infancy yet 't is no virtue in such a man that he is in the right Nay he does not so much as know that he is and so long is in danger of being toss'd about and carried off from one Church and Religion to another according as the Wind of Doctrine sits and the Tide of Preferment turns He that takes his Religion upon Trust and never examines the Grounds and Reasons of it may be easily persuaded that he has no Reason to be Obstinate in it especially when he is like to be a loser by the hand and is fairly offered another that promises the Life that now is and pretends to give Infallible Security for that which is to come And hence St. Peter admonisheth the Christians that fled out of Judea for the freedom of their Religion 1 Pet. 3.15 to be always ready to give an Answer to every man that should ask them a Reason of the Hope that is in them i. e. to be able to defend their Religion and themselves by declaring as often as their Adversaries urged them to it what certain Grounds and Reasons they had for it And in truth a Religion without Rational Grounds and Motives to induce us to the Belief and Practice of it is not worth the suffering or contending for But perhaps it will be said allowing that there is a streight and sure way to Happiness yet there is such variety of differing Opinions and Persuasions about it that it is hardly possible to be certain where it is or when we have found it There are so many several Paths each of which are taken to be the right by those that are accustomed to them which yet can never be because they apparently cross one another that let a man be never so confident of the Goodness of his Way there are others who are no less confident that he is in a wrong Path and must come over to them if he will set himself right and timely prevent his Eternal Errors And since there is so great a diversity of Methods in Religion and so great a Confidence on both sides how is it possible for a plain man that would fain go the nearest and the streightest way to Heaven to be sure to find it Thus the Sceptick argues against the certainty of Religion in general and the Romanist thinks there is no Argument like this to confound the Protestants and to prove the necessity of an Infallible Guide But still I hope there is no great hurt in this Argument and that a plain man may be sure of finding his way to Heaven after all the Mistakes and Controversies that there are about it tho there should be no such thing as an Infallible Guide on Earth And this I shall endeavour to clear in the handling of the second Proposition evidently implied in the Text which is this 2d Observ That the streight way to Heaven may be certainly found with due care and enquiry I mean by men of ordinary capacity sincerely using the means which God is pleased to afford them without the assistance of any Earthly Infallible Guide Otherwise in vain did the Apostle admonish the Hebrews to make streight Paths for their Feet For supposing them uncapable of discerning between streight and crooked Paths either for want of a Rule to guide them or a faculty to apply their Rule to the several ways that were proposed to them it was to no purpose to give them any advice in this matter They that must judge of their Guides by the Rule of Scripture as all Christians are required to do must judge of their Rule first And they that cannot judge of a streight Rule when it lies before them cannot judge of an Infallible Guide As he that has not the wit to know when a Line is streight can be no competent Judge of a Perfect Mathematician For the fuller explication of this Truth it may be proper
to premise 1. That by the streight way to Heaven I understand as it is plain the Author of this Epistle does the way which God hath revealed in his Gospel the same which is there called the way that leadeth unto Life Mat. 7.14.22.16 Act. 16.17 2 Pet. 2.15 Heb. 10.20 the way of God in Truth the way of Salvation the right way the new and living way which Christ hath consecrated for us that is the Method which the Son of God by his Incarnation and Preaching the Gospel hath put us into for the attainment of Everlasting Life and Happiness 2. By the sure finding of this Way upon a due and careful enquiry I mean that Ordinary Christians by applying themselves to the study of the Scriptures the Sacred Records of our Religion with a clear and honest intention by imploring the Divine Asssistance and making that use they ought of their Spiritual Guides may certainly attain to the knowledge of all the Truths which are necessary to be believed and of the Duties required of them to be done in order to their Eternal Salvation And this is as much as any man that is sincerely inquisitive after the Way to Heaven can desire For who that is so can desire to be more than certain of his way thither Or to have a better Foundation for his Faith and Practice than the Authority of God himself who if there be any such thing as Infallibity in men must be the Author of it Now to prove that we may be certain of our way to Heaven without the help of an Infallible Guide I shall endeavour to make good these following Assertions 1. That the Blessed Author of our Religion hath left us a certain Rule to direct us to Eternal Life That there is such a Rule is as evident as that the Gospel is the Word of God or that the Doctrine of Christ is contained in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles And in this all Christians are agreed Even the Romanists themselves allow the Scripture to be the Infallible Rule tho they are no great Friends to the Usefulness or Perfection of it But still we have a greater Authority than this I mean that of the Scriptures themselves which declare that they were written Joh. 10. ult that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God i. e. to be the Rule of our Christian Faith and that Believing we might have Life through his Name Tit. 2.11 12. That they teach us a Rule of Life and are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.15 And hence the Primitive Fathers and the First General Councils appealed to the Scriptures as the True Standard of Christianity and condemned the Ancient Hereticks by the Authority of them In those days the manner was to set the Holy Oracles in the midst of the Councils to signifie that they ought to be consulted in all their Debates and that nothing ought to be imposed upon the Faith of Christians or decreed to be an Article of Religion but what may be found in the Gospel and is so determined by that Infallible Rule 2. Christ having left such a Rule to his Church it must be supposed to be Intelligible i. e. capable of being understood and applied by those that are to use it as a Rule Otherwise it can never serve the Great End it was given for to say which is the highest Reflexion that can be upon the Wisdom of him that gave it The Gospel pretends to shew us a streight way to Heaven but to what purpose if we can never find it by its directions If we must use it as a Rule we must learn from it what we are to believe and practise And if we must do so I think that is a plain and unanswerable Argument that we may do it For assuredly God would never make a shew of bringing us to Heaven by a Means which he certainly knows would fail us if we trust to it 3. The Institution of Pastors and Ministers in the Church for the instruction of private persons in the meaning of this Rule undeniably proves that our Saviours meaning was that all Christians should understand it themselves And then it is evident they may do it so far as they are concern'd and are qualified to judge in other matters For what use is there of Teachers but to assist and inform our Understandings and help us to make a Right Judgment of Things Or what benefit is there of being taught if we may not use our Judgment when it is rightly informed and be permitted to know when it is and when not This I am sure is the natural priviledge of Mankind and I do not know one natural right that our Saviour by any Institution of his deprives us of And certainly of all others he would never bar us of this because his Doctrine would be of little use to us without it For what sway is the Gospel like to bear upon our Minds or which way can it influence our lives till we know the true Sense and Uses of it which it is impossible we should unless we may exercise our own Judgments upon them Let my Guide be never so Knowing or Infallible 't is not his without my own knowledge that can make me sure of my way And therefore unless he has a way to conveigh his Great Knowledge into me and if he has it is surely through my understanding I am but just where I was without him and never like to make any Spiritual Improvement by him 'T is the Interest I confess of some Teachers that their Disciples should not see which way they lead them But those whom Christ hath ordained to this Office are sent to open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness unto Light that they themselves may see the things which belong to their Eternal Peace 4. Christians without distinction are expresly required to search the Scriptures and to prove all things by them as the Rule and Standard of Truth and certainty in matters of Religion Search the Scriptures saith our Saviour for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life John 5.39 implying that as there is a Treasure in the Scriptures a clear discovery of the Way to Eternal Life so it may be certainly found by those that duly search for it And if it may be found in the Scriptures of the Old Testament to which our Saviour here directs his Disciples there can be no reason we should despair of finding it in the New being infallibly assured 2 Tim. 1.10 that Life and Immortality were brought to the Light of the Gospel i.e. were more Emphatically Discovered being set in a better Light to us Christians by the New and Brighter Revelations of the Gospel than they were of Old to the Jews by all the Writings of Moses and the Prophets And then if we seek for Life and Immortality and follow the directions of this
and dye in our Sins 't is not material what Church we Live or Dye in Communion with While we are in Bondage to our Lusts all the Absolutions in the World can do us no Good If we study to serve and Please God we need not any Indulgencies from Men And if we do not we shall be never the better for them I must needs say after all that has been said on both sides I cannot see the least Reason we have to Change our Religion To leave the streight Path we are in and to go about by the Saints to our Redeemer and by Purgatory to Heaven to leave the Holy Scriptures which were written for our Instruction and to Turn to Legends and stories of Saints which a serious Man would think were composed only for Merriment and Diversion But tho we have no Reason at all to Change our Religion yet surely there is great Reason for many of us to make Considerable alterations in our Lives to change almost the whole Frame and Tenour of them and to reform our selves who call our selves the Reformed 'T is not only for the Credit of our Profession that our Lives be uniform to it but our Immortal Honour and Interest depend upon it We lose the Crown of Life if we faint in the Race that is set before us and there is no other way to escape everlasting Death than to persist in the way that leadeth to Life Eternal If a man should tempt you to renounce your Faith I verily hope the Danger of it to your eternal Salvation would hinder you from hearkening to him But then there is the same Danger in a Prophane and Vicious Life and therefore the same Reason to forsake every evil way to deny every sinful Appetite and Worldly Lust to be cautious of our steps and having found the Way of Truth to keep a streight and even Course to the Kingdom of Heaven Is it not an Article of our Faith that no unrighteous man shall inherit the Kingdom of God And shall we live in a perpetual Jar and Contradiction to our selves To conclude we had as good pin our Faith upon the sleeves of other men or bestow it upon any body that will take it off our hands as keep it only to rise up in Judgment against us Sermon VI. Of Growth in Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 But Grow in Grace 'T IS hard to name any of the great Rules of Christian Piety without reflecting upon the sensible Decays of it in the present Age an Age much addicted to talk and wrangle about Religion very stout and zealous in opposing and maintaining the Doctrines which divide the Christian World but very cold and careless in the necessary points of Practice without which the best Religion degenerates into Two of the worst things in the World Hypocrisie and Superstition This being our present case it concerns us to look well to our selves and seeing we know these things before as St. Peter speaks immediately before the Text to beware lest we also being led away by the Error of the Wicked the bad Opinions and ill Examples of men fall from our own stedfastness To which he adds this Excellent Advice as a certain Rule to prevent the Danger of so fatal an Apostacy But grow in Grace Grace is a Term of Various Senses and Acceptations in Scripture being frequently taken for Favour and Acceptance with God or Men for the Divine Assistance whereby we are enabled to perform the Will of God and for those Good Dispositions and Habits of the Mind which are the Genuine Effects and Product of it In the latter sense it is the same thing with Vertue and Holiness and is most properly so to be understood whenever as in the Text it is the Matter or Subject of an Exhortation Now in this Exhortation to grow in Grace these two things are plainly implied 1. A Root or Principle of Holiness actually implanted in us We must be in a state of Grace before we can make any progress or proficiency in it There must be a stock before there can be an increase a quickness in the Root before the Branches will sprout or flourish a springing of Grace and Vertue before an abounding in the fruits of Righteousness And this shews to whom the Apostles Exhortation belongs namely to men that are in a state of Holiness and have not received the Grace of God in vain 2. It is here implied That Good Men are nor meerly passive in growing better but may and must do something towards it themselves Nay the Text supposes they must do enough to make it their own Act and that the Work of Sanctification must cease if they refuse their Endeavours to farther and promote it Did the best we can do signifie nothing to the making us better there would be no room for our Endeavours and consequently no Reason for all the Counsels Admonitions and Exhortations of the Gospel to use them The Spirit of God is indeed the Author and Fountain of all Grace But then he has appointed the use of Means both in order to the Birth and Growth of it He knows therefore that by his Assistance which he is always ready to afford us we may attain to such a Growth and Perfection in Grace as is requisite to qualifie us for the highest Degrees of Glory and Happiness And by his Direction it is that we should be frequently moved and excited to use the means he hath prescribed for our improvement in Grace and Piety And this is a plain Argument that our Endeavours are very useful to this End and that as weak and imperfect as they are our proficiency in all Virtue and Goodness depends upon them Now to make this Exhortation as useful and effectual as I can I shall aim at these four things 1. To explain the nature of our Spiritual Growth 2. To shew the Proper and Effectual means to Promote it 3. To warn you of the great Hindrances and Impediments of it 4. To inforce the Apostles Exhortation by shewing what weighty Reasons and Obligations we have to be Growing in Grace 1. To explain the Nature of our Spiritual Growth The work of Grace is neither begun nor carried on by natural Principles without the mighty Aids and Operations of the Holy Spirit of God who Inables us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure Nor does a Christian grow like a Plant merely by the Influences of Heaven But by improving the assistances he Receives from thence and using the means prescribed to him for obtaining new Measures of Grace and Holiness And hence we may discover both the Principles of our growth in Grace and the manner of our growing in it The first mover in it is the good Spirit of God the giver of every goods and perfect gift And subordinate to it is the Spirit or mind of Man disposed in some degree to grow in Grace by the Grace he hath already obtain'd and excited to greater measures by the Spirit of